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The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached, Part 1 · CCC West Covina

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Father God, we thank you for tonight and a chance to spend
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time in Your Word. We are grateful for how it is
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you have provided your words in print that we might read them,
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memorize them, study them, and get to know you all the more.
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We thank you, Lord, for this New year and the opportunity you
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give to us to live for you. We trust that Lord, during this
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year, 2026, that we would really truly be committed and devoted
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to living out the things that we learn and following You in
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obedience every single day. We are grateful Lord, for your
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salvation. We're grateful for all that
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You've done. Open our hearts and minds this
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evening to behold the beautiful things out of Your law.
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We pray in Jesus name, Amen. I've come to realize the older I
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get, the more I remember all that my mother and father said
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to me when I was growing up. I kind of wish I would have
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remembered him when I was younger, but now that I'm older
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and they're with the Lord, I tend to remember more of what
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they said now, then, then. And one of my mother's favorite
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sayings was, was this. She would say to me, since
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you're a child of the king, you need to dress like the child of
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the king. She would say, since you're a
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child of the king, you need to walk like a child of the king.
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You need to talk like a child of the king.
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You need to understand that you're a Kingdom citizen and
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live in light of that. And she would repeat that over
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and over again. Remember, you're a child of the
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king, live like a child of the king.
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And she understood what the Bible says in Philippians
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chapter 3 when Paul said these words, he said for our
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citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a
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Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ. She understood that she was a
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Kingdom citizen. She also knew what Peter said in
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First Peter chapter 2 when he said, beloved, I urge you as
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aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which waves
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war against the soul. She knew that we were strangers,
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we were aliens in this land. She knew what the Apostle Paul
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said in the the book of Colossians when he said that
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you've been transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the
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Kingdom of God's dear Son, that there's a Kingdom, and when you
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become a Christian you're a child of the king.
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Over in Hebrews Chapter 11, it says this is verse #13.
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All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but
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having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance
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and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the
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earth. For those who say such things
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make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.
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And indeed, if they had been thinking of the country from
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which they went out, they would have had the opportunity to
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return. But as it is, they desire a
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better country, that is, a heavenly one.
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Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has
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prepared a city for them. Those patriarchs of the Old
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Testament understood Kingdom citizenship.
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They understood that this life was not all there was, but they
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were surely just passing through.
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They, they understood that they were aliens and strangers and
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the land that they were in was a foreign land.
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I'm afraid that today as, as Christians, we, we don't like to
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be seen as aliens and strangers in this land.
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We we want to be welcomed in this land.
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We want to be friends of the people of the land.
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We don't want to look different, we don't want to act different.
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We don't want to speak different.
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We just want to blend in with everybody else.
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But the Lord has always made it very clear from the very
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beginning that His people have been called out to be
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completely, uniquely and distinctly different than the
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people of the world. In fact, if you got your Bible,
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turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Leviticus.
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The book of Leviticus, the theme of this book is holiness.
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Be holy, for I am holy, says the Lord.
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That means that you are separate, uniquely different.
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You are set apart. So the whole theme of the book
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of Leviticus was God's blueprint for His people that would set
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them apart from the world. In Leviticus 18 verse #1 it
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says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the sons
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of Israel, and say to them, I am the Lord your God.
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You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you
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lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where
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I am bringing you. You should not walk in their
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statutes. You are to perform my judgments
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and keep my statutes to live in accord with them.
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I am the Lord your God, so you shall keep my statutes and my
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judgments by which a man may live if he does them.
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I am the Lord. The Lord brackets what he says
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with his identity. I am the Lord God.
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I am the king of all. You are not to live like those
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in Egypt. You're not to live like those in
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Canaan. You were to follow My statutes.
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You are to be different. You are not to be like them.
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And then if you follow through to the book of Deuteronomy in
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chapter 6, Moses says this in verse #10 Then it shall come
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about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which
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He swore to your father's Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to
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give you great and splendid cities which you did not build,
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and houses full of good things which you did not fill, and hewn
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cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which
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you did not plant. And you eat and are satisfied.
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Then watch yourself that you do not forget the Lord who brought
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you from the land of Egypt out of the House of slavery.
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You shall fear only the Lord your God, and you shall worship
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him and swear by his name. You shall not follow other gods,
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any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord
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your God in the midst of you is a jealous God.
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Otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against
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you, and he shall or he will wipe you off the face of the
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earth. Moses was serious.
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When you follow the Lord and you worship the Lord you, you can't
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worship and serve any other gods.
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You've been called out of slavery.
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You've been called out of Egypt. You have been delivered, you
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have been redeemed by your God. You can't be like the people of
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the world, even though you live in houses that you did not build
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and you drink from sisters that you did not dig, and you are
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able to have the fruit of the vine, but you did not plant you.
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You cannot be like the people in the land of Canaan.
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But Israel had a hard time with that.
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They had a very difficult time with that.
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They loved to be like the people of the world.
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And so when you come to the book of first Samuel, chapter 8,
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listen to the words of the Lord, verse 4.
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Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to
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Samuel at Rama. And they said to him, Behold,
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you have grown old and your sons do not walk in your ways.
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Now appoint a king for us to judge us.
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Next phrase. Like all the nations.
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We want a king like all the nations have.
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We want to be like the other nations.
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But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel, when they
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said, Give us a king to judge us.
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And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel,
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Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that
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they say to you. For they have not rejected you,
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but they have rejected me from being king over them, like all
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the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought
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them from Egypt, even to this day, and that they have forsaken
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me and served other gods, So they are doing to you also.
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Now then, listen to their voice. However, you shall solemnly warn
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them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will
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reign over them. So the Lord says to Samuel, He
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says, look, this is not about you.
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Don't take it personally, Samuel.
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They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me.
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They don't want me as their king, that they want an earthly
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king. They don't want a heavenly king.
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So don't take it personally, Samuel.
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It's about me that they have rejected.
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So give them what they want, but tell them, warn them about what
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this king will do. So Samuel does.
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He tells them exactly what the king would do.
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And verses 10 down through verse #18 it says, in fact, verse #17
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or yeah, excuse me, verse #17 He says He will take a tenth of
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your flocks, and you yourselves will become His servants.
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Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom
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you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you
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in that day. He gives them all the negatives
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about this earthly king and tells them we're not going to
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like it and you're going to cry out to the Lord, but he's not
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going to answer you. So you would think they would
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say, then we don't want that. Oh no.
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Verse 19 Nevertheless, the people refuse to listen to the
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voice of Samuel. And they said, no, but there
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shall be a king over us that we also may be like all the
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nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and
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fight our battles. We we want to be like all the
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other nations. We want a king that will fight
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for us. The Lord of armies isn't isn't
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strong enough. The King of Israel isn't mighty
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enough. We need an earthly king to to
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fight our battles for us. After all that God had done for
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them, after he led them to the wilderness, after he delivered
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them in a miraculous way by separating the Red Sea, and then
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able to walk through on dry land and all the miracles that God
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did. It just wasn't sufficient.
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We want to be like all the other nations.
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We want a king to rule over us. So in Psalm One O 6, when the
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psalmist is reviewing Israel's history, he says in verse #35
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They mingled with the nations and learned their practices and
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served their idols, which became a snare to them.
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They became just like the nations of the world.
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Read on. It says they even sacrificed
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their sons and their daughters to the demons and shed innocent
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blood. The blood of their sons and
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their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of
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Canaan, and the land was polluted with the blood.
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Thus, they became unclean in their practices and play the
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harlot in their deeds. Therefore, the anger of the Lord
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was kindled against His people, and He abhorred his inheritance.
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God warned them, but they did not listen.
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Because God has always told His people you're mine, and because
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you're mine, you can't act and be like everyone else who was
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not mine. You must be uniquely and
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distinctly different from them. That's why Peter says you're
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aliens and strangers in a foreign land.
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So by the writer of Hebrews said the fathers, the patriarchs knew
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that this was a land they were strangers in, but there was a
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city beyond that they live for. That's why Paul said in quoting
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the Old Testament in Second Corinthians chapter 6, said
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verse 17. Therefore come out from their
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midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is
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unclean. And I will welcome you.
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To be holy means to be separate, to come out from among them.
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And so the Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew
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chapter 6, verse #8 you shall not be like them.
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He's speaking about the religious leaders.
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You can't be like them because they're hypocrites.
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They live a life of duplicity. They live a life of hypocrisy.
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You can't be like them. In Matthew 5 verse #20 He says
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these words. Unless your righteousness
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exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you cannot be a part
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of my Kingdom. And the people listening to that
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would think, well, how can that possibly be?
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The Pharisees are so religious. They dress like they're
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religious, they pray like they're religious, They look
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like they're religious. They speak like they're
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religious. And you're telling us that
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unless our righteousness exceeds their righteousness, we can
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never enter the Kingdom of God. How can that possibly be?
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Because their righteousness was based on human achievement.
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God's righteousness is based on divine accomplishment.
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That's why you could say that. And so in Matthews 5-6 and
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seven, our Lord tells the people how to live like a child of the
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king, how to understand Kingdom citizenship.
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After all, he, he's the king. And the king came preaching
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about the Kingdom. In fact, that's all he preached
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about was the Kingdom. John the Baptist, the
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forerunner, would preach about the Kingdom of heaven.
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It was at hand when the king, king, he began to preach, and
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he's preached the same message that John the Baptist preached,
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that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand.
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And so as he began to preach, Matthews 5-6 and seven, tell us
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about some of the elements that would be in the sermons that
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Jesus would preach as he went from village to village, from
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town to town, preaching the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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And when you come to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthews 5-6 and
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seven, you have a record of the greatest sermon ever preached by
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the greatest preacher who has ever lived, Jesus Christ our
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Lord. And so we have the the blessed
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opportunity to spend the rest of this portion of the year through
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the springtime, into the fall, and probably even into next
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year, 2027, examining this great sermon, Matthews 5-6 and seven,
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commonly called the Sermon on the Mount.
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You can read it in about 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how
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fast you read. And there have been many
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commentaries written on Matthews 5-6 and seven, many books
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written, many devotional books written about this sermon.
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It's filled with so much. In fact, more is said in these
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three chapters than most preachers say.
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In a lifetime of sermons, this is the greatest sermon ever
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preached. And Christ is the greatest
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preacher whoever preached. And so therefore we need to
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understand exactly what he said and why he said it and how he
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said it. So we, we've given you an
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outline you can follow along with us.
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It's basically three simple points.
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It begins with the purpose of the sermon, then the preface to
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the sermon, and then we'll give you some principles about the
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sermon as way of a introduction to.
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The Sermon on the Mount. We'll begin by reading Matthew
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chapter 5, verses 1 and 2. When Jesus saw the crowds, he
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went up on the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples
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came to him. He opened his mouth and began to
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teach them. It would be so great to have
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been there on that day, to hear Jesus speak to large crowds of
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people without a microphone, and to be able to speak to them so
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they could all hear what he had to say on that day.
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But there was a purpose behind what he said, and it begins with
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the fact that he was going to identify the identity of those
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who are citizens of His Kingdom. That's why it begins with the
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Beatitudes, with blessing. And when he begins to speak
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about blessing, he says that in a way that is contrary to what
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we would say, a person who was blessed would be like.
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He says the poor, not the rich, are blessed.
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And you think, well, that's opposite of a child of the king.
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Children of the king are rich, but he says blessed are those
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who are poor children of the king.
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They, they laugh, but not according to this sermon.
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They mourn. Children of the king are
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warriors. Well, not according to this
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sermon. They're meek, they're gentle,
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they're peacemakers. Children of the king are
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protected. Not in this sermon.
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They're persecuted, they're reviled against, so much so that
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all men speak evil against them. But what Jesus does is he begins
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to help you understand the character of Kingdom citizenship
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by identifying the identity of the people who enter the Kingdom
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and grow up in the Kingdom in those first 12 verses.
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Then after he identifies the identity of those in the
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Kingdom, he articulates the authority of those in the
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Kingdom by saying that they are salt and they are light.
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Other words, their salt and as salt they will preserve
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corruption as light, they will proclaim the solution, giving
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them the authority that comes as a Kingdom citizen.
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So he interprets their identity, he articulates their authority
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and then he says the people of my Kingdom manifest a specific
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morality. That is they follow the law of
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God. They understand the laws of God
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because I didn't come to abolish the law.
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I came to fulfill the law. And therefore in fulfillment of
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the law, they understand who I am and they want to follow me.
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They want to serve me, and they become Kingdom citizens.
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And therefore they, they follow the laws as they're prescribed.
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And as He begins to to show how how they manifest his morality,
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he is showing to them that as he speaks, he says, you have heard
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that it was said by the ages of old.
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But but I say unto you, in other words, this is what you have
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heard from your scribes and from your Pharisees.
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But I saying to you, this is the way it is you.
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You have heard that it was said, you shall not murder, and thus
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you should not murder. But he says, But I say to you,
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If you hate your brother in your heart, you're already a
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murderer. He says, you have heard that it
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was said, you shall not commit adultery, and thus you should
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not commit adultery. But he says, I say unto you that
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if you look after a woman and lust for her in your heart, you
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have already committed adultery on the inside.
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So He begins to help them understand the issue of morality
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and how it applies to Kingdom citizens when it comes to
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murder, adultery, love, and reaching out to others that they
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might begin to realize that Kingdom citizens live by a
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different set of standards than those outside the Kingdom.
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And then He says these words, He says in Matthew chapter 5 verse
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#20 again, unless your righteousness exceeds that of
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the scribes and Pharisees, they'll never enter the Kingdom
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of heaven. He talks about Jeremiah 31 and
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how the Lord will be, how the law of God will be written on
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the hearts of His people, that they might want to follow the
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truth of God's word. And that's what God does.
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His children long to follow Him. So the purpose of the sermon is
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to #1 interpret the identity of Kingdom citizens, articulate the
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authority of Kingdom citizens, manifest the morality of Kingdom
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citizens. And then he prescribes the
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piety, the religious devotion of Kingdom citizens when it comes
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to giving, when it comes to praying, when it comes to
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fasting, says when it comes to giving, Kingdom citizens give
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secretly. When it when it comes to to
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fasting, Kingdom citizens do it sincerely.
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And when it comes, when it comes to praying, Kingdom citizens do
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it with simplicity. And so he sets Kingdom citizens
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apart from everybody else when it comes to religious devotion
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because there's something unique and distinctly different in
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their worship compared to the way the world worships.
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And then he goes on and portrays the priority of Kingdom citizens
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in Matthew 6, verses 19 to 24 by helping them understand that
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they are the ones who who seek the Kingdom 1st and the
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righteousness of God first. They don't serve God and serve
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money. They serve the Lord God of
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Israel. They don't worry about what
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they're going to wear or what they're going to eat or what
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they're going to drink because they have a Father in heaven who
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takes care of them, a Father in heaven who clothes them.
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They don't worry about what the world worries about.
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The world worries about those kinds of things.
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But Kingdom citizens, they don't worry about those kinds of
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things because they have a God in heaven who takes care of
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them. And so He portrays the priority
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of Kingdom citizens. And then he reveals
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responsibility of Kingdom citizens when it comes to their
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fellow citizens, when it comes to their Father in heaven, and
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when it comes to false prophets. And then he defines the duty of
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Kingdom citizens as he closes out Matthew Chapter 7.
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They build on rock, not sand. They obey the words of the Lord.
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And so you have an overview of the sermon and all that's going
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to be covered over the next several months.
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And when you come to the end in Matthew Chapter 7, it says in
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verse 28, when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds
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were amazed at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one
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having authority and not as the scribes.
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They were amazed. But note, there were no
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conversions. Nobody gave their life to
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Christ. Nobody rose up and said, yeah, I
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want to be a Kingdom citizen. I'm all in.
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No, the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest
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preacher, whoever lived. And there were no conversions as
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recorded in the Scriptures. But yet they were amazed at what
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he said, because he spoke as no other rabbi had ever spoken.
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He didn't quote anybody. He just quoted himself.
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He just said what is true. He spoke with such authority.
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He marvelled at all that He said.
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So let's move from the purpose of the sermon to the preface to
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the sermon. In chapter one of our verse 1 of
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chapter 5, it says when Jesus saw the crowds, who were these
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people who were in the crowd? We'll go back up to verse #24 it
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says the news about Him spread throughout all Syria.
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They brought to Him all who were I'll those suffering in various
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diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics, and He
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healed them. Large crowds followed Him from
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Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from
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beyond the Jordan. These are the multitudes.
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These are people that have been healed.
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They could not see, but now they can.
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They could not walk, but now, now they can.
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They had all kinds of diseases during the earthly ministry of
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Jesus. He, he pretty much banished all
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disease, all sickness, all illness from the land of Israel
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because he was the Messiah. Those were the credentials of
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the Messiah. And so he's healing all these
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people. Sure enough, they're going to
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follow him. Sure enough, they're going to be
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right on his tail. They're going to tell other
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people, look what Jesus did to me.
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Come see what he has to say, see what he's going to do next.
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And people would begin to follow.
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The crowds begin to balloon and grow increasingly every single
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day. These are are the multitudes
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next the mountain. When Jesus saw the crowds, he
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went up on the mountain. The mountain.
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It was just a mountain until Jesus made it the mountain.
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Why? Because it was just another hill
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on the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee until Jesus preached the
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Sermon and then it became the mountain.
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Now no one knows where this is. I've been to Israel and, and
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there is a place there where the Catholics have built a, a church
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there on the North Shore, the Sea of Galilee.
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And they say this is where the Sermon of the Mount was
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preached. We don't know that it, it could
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be, it could not be. There is no guarantee that that
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is the hill that Jesus spoke from.
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I've been there, I've seen it, but that doesn't mean it's the
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place. But whatever the place is, it
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was the mountain in which Jesus would address these people from.
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And because of the sermon that He preached and the impact that
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it was upon the multitudes and all that He had done, it became
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the mountain. Next, I want you to see the
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manners in which He spoke. It says when He went to the
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mountain, His disciples came to him, but He sat down.
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It says he sat down in Latin. It's called ex cathedra from the
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chair. In Catholicism, when the Pope
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speaks with, as they would say, infallibility, he sits ex
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cathedra from the chair. When rabbis would teach, they
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would teach sitting down. Sometimes I wish I could teach
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sitting down, but they would teach sitting down because that
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would mean they were speaking with authority.
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When they stood up, they, they had conversations.
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When they stood up, they, they would discuss different things.
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But formal teaching, formal authority came when the rabbi
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sat down. Jesus went up into the mountain
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and he sat down because He was speaking with great authority as
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the King of His Kingdom. Then note the message.
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It says He opened his mouth and began to teach them.
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He opened his mouth and began to teach them.
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And the message is so important because you see, He knew that
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the only way to true blessing was not because of your physical
35:11
healing, but your spiritual healing.
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Jesus knew that all those people he healed, they're still going
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to die. They're going to get old,
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they're going to get decrepit, and they're going to die.
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And the physical healing was only temporary, temporary,
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temporary. But the spiritual healing that
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would be eternal, that would be forever because it would deal
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with the soul of a man, the soul of a woman.
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And in Christ wanted to know that as he opened his mouth and
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began to speak, the words that he would give them would be the
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source of eternal life. As he began to speak, he would
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be able to portray to them to the truths of of eternal life
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and help them understand that He's the king and the people in
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my Kingdom are children of the King, and they live as Kingdom
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citizens. And this is how they live their
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lives. And this is where the true
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blessing comes from. They thought that they were
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blessed because they felt better.
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They thought they were blessed because they could see.
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They thought they were blessed because they can walk and run.
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They thought they were blessed because those who were dumb can
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now speak. They thought they were blessed
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because those who are demon possessed were set free.
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But it was just a foretaste of true blessing because true
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blessing came on the inside through the healing of a man's
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soul. That's why it's so important to
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understand this sermon and what it means to you and me today.
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So from the purpose of the sermon to the preface of the
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sermon, to the principles of the sermon, 4 things are going to
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happen over the next several months in your life.
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When you begin to understand Kingdom citizenship, when you
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begin to understand what does it mean to be a child of the king
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and to follow the word of the Lord, 4 things are going to
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happen #1 you will be blessed, you will live the blessed life.
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That's what Jesus says 9 times. Blessed, blessed, blessed,
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blessed. Blessing comes from what Jesus
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says. And the word is macario comes
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from the word macar. It's a state of blissfulness, a
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state of, of, of joy. It's a state of contentment.
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It's, it's, it's that inner peace.
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It's the inner contentment. It's the inner joy that's not
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depended upon anything circumstantial.
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That's not dependent upon anything on the outside because
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it's all happening on the inside.
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That's what Macario is. And so Christ is talking about
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true blessing, true joy, true contentment, the blessing, the
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blessing that characterizes God because it's a phrase used of
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the Lord. Psalm 68, verse #35 says blessed
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be God. Psalm 7218 blessed be the Lord
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God, the God of Israel. Psalm 11912 Blessed art thou, O
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Lord. First Timothy 6:15 He is that is
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Christ the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and
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Lord of Lords. In other words, you receive as a
39:00
believer, you become a partaker of the divine nature, and if God
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is the blessed God, then you become the blessed as God's
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children because you're a partaker of divine nature.
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And the Lord is not dependent on anything externally to suffice
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him to satisfy him. Doesn't need all that.
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And when you become a believer, you realize the things around
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you don't mean nearly as much as it did before, because what
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happens on the inside of a man, the soul of a man, changes
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everything. So over the next several weeks,
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as we go through the Beatitudes, you, you're going to begin to
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understand the blessed life. Society says if you want to be
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happy, you're going to be joyful.
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Then you, you, you got to, you got to have the right girl.
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You got to have the right guy, you got to live in the right
40:09
house, you got to drive the right kind of car, you got to
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have a certain amount of income. And Jesus says that man's life
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does not consist of the abundance of things which he
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possesses. He says don't be like them.
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You must be uniquely and distinctly different from the
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world. But we find ourselves always
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targeting the world. What do they have?
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What can we have? How can we be like them so we
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can be joyous, so we can be happy, so we can be fulfilled?
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Yet Kingdom citizens, they are uniquely and distinctly
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different. Even Solomon, who had gardens
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galore, who had parks, houses, temples, women, silver as the
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sand of the sea, gold, intellect, wisdom, knowledge, he
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was a king, said all that was vanity, all that was empty.
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It doesn't mean anything. And if Solomon says it and he
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had it all, why can't we believe him?
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But we don't. We still want more.
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We want more money. What?
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Bigger houses, bigger cars, we went finer clothes.
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We, we, we just think if we have a little bit more here or a
41:35
little bit more there, we'll, we'll finally be happy.
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No, because it's not dependent upon circumstances.
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On the outside. It's all about the Christ.
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On the inside. That's where true blessing
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comes. And the Beatitudes, the Sermon
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on the Mount will teach you the blessed life.
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It will also teach you about the baffled life.
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In other words, your life will be absolutely bewildering and
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baffling to everybody around you because you won't be like them.
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You won't act like them. You will be uniquely and
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distinctly different. Then then, then they will be
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quite perplexed. Why?
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Because in your realm, misery is the key to happiness.
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In their realm it's not. Being poor is the key to being a
42:40
child of the King, but in their mind it's not.
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In fact, even though the people were amazed at what Christ said,
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because he spoke like no one else, no one wanted to follow
43:00
him. Nobody wanted to bless life that
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He offered. Why?
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Because they didn't believe that that was the key to happiness.
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They didn't believe that that was the the route to to joy and
43:15
contentment. That they were happy, just that
43:19
they had been healed, that they were happy, that they were just
43:21
better. And now they felt better.
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Now that they looked better, everything was fine.
43:28
They didn't need what Christ offered them, but He offered it
43:33
anyway because He always preached the truth.
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And when you study the sermon and you apply the sermon, you
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live the blessed life. And the blessed life is the most
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baffling life to those around you.
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They will not understand what makes you tick.
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They will not understand that you don't have the same desires
43:59
and passions that they have the same drive that they have, That
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when you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,
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because that's your priority, everything else will be added
44:11
unto you. But you have a priority to seek
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first God's Kingdom, not your own Kingdom where the people
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around you are all trying to build their little kingdoms.
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Why? Because they are their own king.
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They don't want to serve the true king.
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That's why later on in the ministry in Luke chapter 19, the
44:32
people would say we will not have that king rule over us.
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Why? Because that king had a
44:41
different criteria than they appreciated, had a different
44:47
standard than they believed in. The third thing is that you will
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end up living the beautiful life.
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Why? Because it's the life of Christ.
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This is his life. This is who he is.
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This is how he, he lived his life.
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He, he didn't come to abolish the law.
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He came to fulfill the law and then fulfilling the law, He
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embodied everything that the law required.
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And, and he says in Matthew chapter 5 verse #48 be perfect
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even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
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Strive to live the life that Christ wants you to live.
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And because he lived that life, you've been following your
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master, your king. Live his life and that becomes
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the most beautiful life there is.
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Doctor Richard Albertson in his book No Holiness, No Heaven,
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says this. God calls us not the happiness,
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but the holiness. Of course, to be holy is a
46:06
necessity also to be happy. But we are to seek after
46:10
holiness. If we seek happiness, we should
46:14
get neither that nor holiness. And he's right.
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God wants us to be holy like him.
46:27
That's the beautiful life. It's the beauty of Christ life
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in you and through you. So listening to the sermon,
46:38
applying the sermon, following through on what Christ says, you
46:43
live the blessed life. The blessed life is the most
46:47
baffling life there is because it's totally contrary to the
46:51
world, and yet it is the most beautiful life there is.
46:57
And fourthly, you'll end up living the bold life, the strong
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life, because of the boldness of what is said.
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When you apply those things to your life, you become strong.
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You become the strength of all those round about you.
47:17
You become bold in character, bold in conversation, bold in
47:23
all the things that you do, and you live a a bold and strong and
47:29
wonderful life. And let me add another one.
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You really will live the born again life.
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For this truly is a sermon about how to be born again, how to
47:45
enter the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
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for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
47:50
It's all about being born again. It's all about having new life
47:54
in Christ. The born again life is the
47:58
beautiful life. The born again life is the bold
48:01
life. The born again life is the
48:03
blessed life. The born again life.
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Life is the most baffling life to the unbeliever because it's
48:12
totally contrary to anything they could think of.
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So let me say it to you this way.
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I shared this with the the women yesterday at the Women's Bible
48:26
Study. But let's say that every time
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you came to church, you received $100.
48:40
So you're here tonight and we're going to give you $100.
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There's a good chance you'll be back next Wednesday night
48:50
because next Wednesday night we'd give you another $100.
48:55
You come on Sundays, we we'll give you $200.
49:01
But if you came and received a hundred spot or 200 bucks, you'd
49:05
be sure to come back next Wednesday and next Sunday and
49:09
the following Sunday and the following Wednesday.
49:10
In fact, you'd probably even be on time.
49:16
Why is that? Because you'd be inviting your
49:19
friends to come with you. You come to our church, we're
49:22
going to give you 100 bucks. Really.
49:25
I'm going. You come on Sunday, we give you
49:28
200 bucks. I'm I'm there, pick me up.
49:33
I'm coming with you. If we did that within a week's
49:38
time, there would be no room for you to sit on Wednesdays and or
49:43
Sundays. People would be on the outside
49:47
looking in wanting to be in here because knowing that if they
49:50
were in here, they would receive 100 bucks or 200 bucks depending
49:55
upon Wednesday or Sunday. So having said that, listen to
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the words of our Lord. The law of your mouth is better
50:12
to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
50:22
The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and
50:31
silver pieces. In verse 127 of Psalm 119, the
50:40
psalmist says, I love your commandments above gold.
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Yes, above fine gold. When you come, we offer you
50:59
something better than $100. Amen.
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We offer you something better than $200.
51:07
We offer you something better than gold.
51:12
We give you the bread of life. We give you the word of the
51:18
living God, which is more valuable than anything else, is
51:26
more precious than anything else.
51:31
Think about that. Why isn't that enough to
51:36
motivate us to come? You know why?
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Because we value money and gold and silver pieces more than we
51:46
value the Word of God. We don't value the Word of God
51:52
nearly like we should, but the psalmist knew, the psalmist
51:58
understood that the words of the mouth coming, the words coming
52:02
out of the mouth of our Lord, are so valuable that he didn't
52:06
want to miss a one of them. He loved them so much, they were
52:12
more valuable to him than anything earthly.
52:17
And so you, we ask ourselves the question, why is it we don't say
52:20
to people, come with me because we're going to give you
52:22
something more valuable than gold, more valuable than silver,
52:26
more valuable than thousands of pieces of gold.
52:30
We're going to give you the bread of life.
52:32
We're going to feed you the bread of life.
52:35
We're going to feed you that which is absolutely sustainable
52:39
for all eternity, but yet people still don't come.
52:47
Why is that? It's because they do not value
52:53
the word of the Lord. It doesn't mean that much to
52:58
them. All the people were amazed at
53:02
the words of Jesus, but they did not heed the words of Jesus.
53:10
They weren't that valuable to them.
53:14
This auditorium should be filled on Wednesdays and Sundays
53:19
because when you come, you get something better than thousands
53:22
of pieces of gold and silver. You get the word of the living
53:26
God. But you see, for most people
53:29
that just is not sufficient. It's just not enough for them.
53:38
There's something more valuable to them than the word of the
53:42
Lord. That's why they are not here.
53:48
But through this sermon, Matthews 5-6 and seven, you will
53:53
see the value of truth, the value of the word of God, how
53:59
important it is to our lives to apply, to memorize, to live,
54:06
because it gives you true blessing, true beauty, true
54:13
boldness, like nothing ever, because it comes from the living
54:19
and abiding word of God. Let's pray, Father, we thank
54:25
you, Lord, for tonight. A brief moment you give us to
54:29
spend in your word and we thank you Lord, for how it is we can
54:34
study it in the middle of the week.
54:37
My prayer is for everyone in the room that Lord you would do a
54:41
mighty work in their heart and life, that they would see the
54:44
value of the truth of God, how it applies to them and how it is
54:50
they can live in accordance to it.
54:54
And pray, Lord, for those who come who might not even know
54:57
you, that Lord, you would come into their hearts and save their
55:03
souls, that they might truly follow You and live with us,
55:07
truly the greatest of all lives, the life as a child of the King.
55:16
Help us to understand Kingdom living, Kingdom citizenship.
55:22
Help us come to grips with the fact that you are the King, and
55:26
the King has spoken, and we as your subjects bow before you in
55:34
adoration, thanking you for all that you say and all that you do
55:41
in Jesus name, Amen.