Matthew 5-7 Summary

We saw last time in Matthew 7:13-14 that on the way to life we have two gates we can enter. The narrow gate and the wide gate. Jesus said that wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. But narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Right after that He says in verse 15,

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 

And 2 Peter 2:1-2 repeats this warning

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 

The one thing that these false prophets and false teachers rely on to gain a powerful foothold in a person’s belief is a lack of knowledge of God’s Word and this lack is no more evident than in the separating out of individual verses from their correct context.

As we said last time, there are places when individual verses can carry the weight of doctrine such as John 3:16,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

Yet even this wonderful verse is only a part of a greater teaching that gives an even more glorious picture when we look at the whole context.

So, why is this important in regard to the Sermon on the Mount?

 

The sermon on the mount is Jesus Christ talking to Jewish people and at the time of His teaching He was walking on this earth in human form. He’s there in person. He’d not yet been crucified, buried and raised from the dead. He’s teaching this sermon under the dispensation, or the time, of the Old Covenant, the Mosaic law.

This Old Covenant would eventually pass away, and a New Covenant would apply. But this hasn’t happened yet.

Jesus’s audience are Jews who are still under the Old Covenant.

Jesus is defining this Old Covenant to these Jews and showing them how impossible it is for them to keep the laws that made up the covenant.

The whole purpose is to show these people and, by extension, all of us right down to today, just how far away humans are from doing God’s will by their own works, by their own law keeping.

But Jesus is not just there to show them what failures they are and to condemn them to eternal death because they can’t keep the law.

In John 3:16-17 He says,

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 

 

You see Jesus is not just leaving these people in hopelessness, He’s showing them that the Old Covenant with its laws cannot save them, but a New Covenant is about to come into force, one which can and does save them where the Old one could not.

In this particular moment in time, Jesus is expanding on just how hopeless it is for them, as humans, to meet the standards of the Old Covenant.

Now here’s where we need to be sure of what’s happening.

Jesus reveals in the sermon that even though humans could not meet the demands of the laws in the Old Covenant it didn’t mean they weren’t God’s standard and what God required.

He makes it plain that the Old Covenant laws will always be that standard and they must be fulfilled.

 

In the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus says to them,

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 

 

See the law must still be fulfilled.  It’s just that these people, by their own efforts can’t make that happen. But Jesus Has come to accomplish this once and for all. He’ll fulfill the law.

Then He’ll bring in the New Covenant and that New Covenant, just like the old one, will be sealed in blood, His blood this time, meaning it’s impossible for God to ever go back on it. It’s a sure and certain promise.

So, then what is this New Covenant? Was it sprung on these Jewish people by surprise? Was it something they didn’t know about?

They did know about it. It was no surprise, or shouldn’t have been, because the same scriptures that gave them the Old Covenant and the Mosaic law also told them of a New Covenant.

The prophet Jeremiah prophesied to Israel 600 or so years before Christ came and in Jeremiah 31:31-34 he says,

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the LORD. 

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 

No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 

This prophesy is also backed up in the New Testament in Hebrews.

The epistle to the Hebrews was written to Hebrew, or Jewish Christians who were being told that faith in Jesus Christ was not enough. They needed to have a mix of faith and works. They had to believe in the Messiah, but also do the works of the law to be saved.

This letter set’s them straight.

 

The entire letter is incredibly revealing about the relationship between the law and salvation through Jesus and I can’t wait till we get to study it, but let’s look at it from Hebrews chapter 8:6-13,

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 

Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— 

NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD. 

FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. 

NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. 

FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.” 

In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 

 

This passage directly repeats the prophesy in Jeremaiah and brings it forward to the time that these people are living, these people who are attending the sermon on the mount. It also brings it into our day. Today!

Then in chapter 9 of Hebrews we see that in the Old Covenant the blood of bulls and goats was offered but that offering could only purify the flesh.

Hebrews 9:12

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

But then Christ came and shed His blood which did far more than the blood of sacrificial animals could do.

 

Hebrews 9:13-14

For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

 

You see, the Old Covenant and its sacrificial system could only cover sin for a time but when Christ’s blood was shed it took away sin and cleansed man’s conscience, man’s heart, and soul. It wasn’t a temporary covering; it was a permanent payment once and for all for sin. Man, no longer needed to do the works of the law to be saved. They only need to grasp this by faith.

 

Now, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus is setting the stage for this New Covenant which He Himself is bringing into reality.

He firstly brings the Old Covenant law up to a level that absolutely kills any idea that a human might be able to meet these standards.

Unfortunately, many people present at the time did in fact believe that they were already obeying the law completely and they saw themselves as righteous because of their actions and the way they lived.

They believed they were saved by their own righteousness.

The problem was that although these people were much more educated in scripture than we are today they missed the whole concept of God’s dealing with man. That man, through his nature, could not do the works required to satisfy a Holy and perfectly just God.

They made the mistake that most humans make today.

They failed to understand the depth, the level of righteousness and justice of God’s nature. They thought, and still think today, that God can just turn a blind eye to sin, like most of our judges and magistrates today. Just come up with a plausible excuse for your crimes and you’ll be let off.

This is not God! He simply cannot let sin go unpunished. His righteousness and justice prevent that ever being possible.

We must stop bringing God and His nature down to our human level.

God’s ways are much higher than our ways.

Isaiah 55:8-9

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. 

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” 

 

So how can God save His beloved humans so that they spend an eternity with Him while at the same time fulfill His perfect righteousness and justice? And how can He do this without violating the free will that He created his humans with?

The disciples saw this dilemma.

In Mathew 19:25-26 we read,

When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

 

The way God did it was to take on humanity Himself, come into His creation as a man and fulfill the Old Covenant law on all points.

No other human could do this because every human has the sin nature. It couldn’t be an angel or any other created thing because it had to be one with the free will that’s given only to humans.

He had to have the same temptations as us.

Hebrews 4:15

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Having completed this assignment perfectly He offered up His body as the ultimate sacrifice for sin. His was innocent blood you see. He was the innocent blood that all the animal sacrifices through history up to that time had been a picture of.

This is why death could not hold Him. Death had no hold over Him because He had completely fulfilled the law during His life. The wages of sin and death did not apply to Him.

There was simply no other possibility other than resurrection you see because He could not receive the wages of sin which are eternal death, eternal separation from God. He wasn’t entitled, if you like, to those wages so those wages of death were taken back, and death no longer held Him.

The truly wonderful thing is that when we, you and me, believe by faith in this story we are also like Him in that death cannot hold us because although we’re not innocent He paid the wages of death for us and we no longer need to pay them.

 

What we see here in the sermon on the mount is the stage setting of these wonderful things that were about happen in the coming few years.

 

So, at the sermon on the mount, we see a time slot that is at the end of the Old Covenant dispensation and very near the start of the New Covenant dispensation.

Now we need to understand the difference between the Gospel, the good news, about Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection and the New Covenant.

We need to go back to the prophesy of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the repeating of that prophesy in Hebrews 8:8 and we need to notice exactly what the prophesy is saying.

The first thing we should notice is who the New Covenant is being made to.

It’s being made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

 

The second thing we should notice is when this New Covenant will come into force. It comes into force quote, “after those days”. After what days? “Those days” and “that day” always speaks of the day of the Lord that begins at the start of the great tribulation, the 70^th week of Daniels prophesy, and will go on after the seven year tribulation period on into the millennium, or the thousand year reign of Christ on earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem.

 

The third thing we notice is what that new covenant actually is.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the lord: I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, ‘know the lord,’ for all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 

 

So, what have we got from all this?

Well, the New Covenant is being made to the House of Israel and the House of Judah, not with the church. The church didn’t exist at the time Jeremaiah gave the prophesy.

To get this we should understand that the Bible speaks of dispensations or time slots if you like. There’re seven dispensations. They are the dispensations of…

Innocence – Man and woman are created innocent and enjoyed unrestricted fellowship with God. This dispensation ends with sin and death as the man and woman disobey God.

Conscience – This is the dispensation where conscience guides man’s life and blood sacrifices are given to cover man’s sin.

Human Government – The dispensation of man governing themselves. Capital punishment is introduced, and man is scattered over the earth at the Tower of Babel.

Promise – The dispensation in which God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham with many blessings promised to Abraham’s heirs who believed and who obeyed the terms of the covenant.

Law – God makes a covenant with Israel that governed all aspects of life and exposed man’s dead sin nature and prepared the way for the coming Christ.

Grace – This is the present dispensation where God shows His great love and grace to man by redeeming him with His own blood and bringing in a new covenant written on the hearts of all who believe by faith. Those who believe and accept His salvation by faith become sons of God and become part of a new spiritual Kingdom of God.

Kingdom Age – This is the soon coming return of Christ to reign on the earth with the faithful for 1000 years where peace and righteousness will reign. It’s the physical Kingdom of God if you like. This dispensation ends with what’s known as the Great White Throne judgement and from then time itself ends. Eternity, timelessness is then the state all of us will find ourselves in.

 

There is another viewpoint on dispensations called hyper dispensationalism. We’re not going to discuss it here because it’s too complex and not relevant to our study except to say that most forms of hyper dispensationalism believe that Paul preached a different gospel from what the other apostles taught. Other doctrines such as soul sleep and annihilationism fall into this teaching while some even say that Satan will be saved. So, I hope you can see why we’re not interested in that view here.

 

Through these dispensations we see covenants made by God. He makes them with Adam, with Noah, Moses, Abrah, Issac and Jacob, and there’s a covenant with David and there’s this New Covenant with Israel.

This New Covenant, according to the epistle to the Hebrews, will supersede the Old Covenant.

The old covenant was based on the law of Moses, which included the Ten Commandments and various ceremonial, civil, and moral laws. The old covenant required obedience to the law and animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. It also promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The old covenant was mediated by Moses and administered by the priests and the prophets. The old covenant was ratified by the blood of animals and confirmed by a covenant meal at Mount Sinai. As we see in Exodus 19-24 and Hebrews 9:18-22.

However, and we must see this, the New Covenant will only supersede the Old one for Israel when Israel, as a nation, comes to Jesus Christ. That’s when the Old Covenant will be done away with for Israel.

This New Covenant wasn’t made with the church. The Church didn’t even exist until the New Covenant.

As we’ve seen the new Covenant was made way back in Jeremaiah 31 to the House of Israel and the House of Judah.

The Gentile Church is grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel as we learn in Romans 11 and Ephesians 2 and 3.

See, what God is doing is taking the Old Covenant of Moses and superseding it with the New Covenant in Christ’s blood at the time that Israel as a nation enters that New Covenant.

Right now, any individual Jew on the planet can become a part of the New Covenant through faith in Jesus Christ but the nation as a whole will not until as a nation they come to Jesus. They will do this as a nation during the tribulation, even though, during that time, 2 in every 3 will be killed. However, until that time that they come to faith in Jesus Christ, they’re still under the Old Covenant.

 

The Gentile Church was never under the Old Covenant.

We, the Church, were never under the blessings and the curses of the law.

You see we were already condemned by sin, just like any person today who hasn’t trusted in Christ. They’re already condemned. For the Jew the law condemns them, for the Gentile we’re already condemned. The only way out of the consequences of that condemnation is by faith in Jesus Christ.

As we’ve said the Church didn’t exist until after the resurrection of Jesus.

 

The new covenant was based on the grace of God, which was revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The new covenant required faith in Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, for the transformation of the heart. The Holy Spirit comes at the moment that a person believes.

The new covenant provided complete and eternal forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Christ. It also promised spiritual blessings and inheritance in the kingdom of God.

It was ratified, or confirmed, by the blood of Christ. As we’ve seen in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13. It’s also in Luke 2:19-20 at the Lord’s supper.

While the Old Covenant is important for the Church to understand particularly when it comes to the Nation of Israel and its relationship to the Church, the Church itself was never “under” the Old Covenant. You see, as we’ve already said it didn’t even exist until Our Lord ratified the New Covenant in His own shed blood.

 

For every Jewish person that’s ever come to Christ, the Old Covenant is finished. But for the nation, until they believe on the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the New Covenant is not in effect.

As a result, the nation, until that time, must still rely on their own works under the law of the Old Covenant to be saved and we’ve seen time and again through this Bible Study how impossible this is.

This is the same as all those, whether jews or gentiles, who reject salvation through Christ. All these will be judged on their works and again and again we see that those works fall impossibly short of God’s standard.

As we’ve said, we know from prophecy that this nation of Israel will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but there’re some terrible things that’ll play out before it does.

The Jews as a nation today are still doing what they did 2000 years ago when Jesus taught them about God’s plan through Him. That is rejecting Him as the long promised messiah.

We really need to pray for the nation of Israel.

 

So, to summarise the sermon on the mount, I hope we can see it in its right context.

It was given to Jews who are still under the Old Covenant law, and just like a great deal of scripture, it’s not to us Gentiles, However it is surely for us.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 applies to the sermon on the mount,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

I see the sermon on the mount as one of many streetlights in the Word of God, lighting the pathway of our journey of understanding. Showing us, guiding us, and filling in the gaps in our knowledge.

It helps us to get a better and truer perspective of our own attempts to earn our way into God’s favour and how futile those efforts are. It also guides us to the One and only Way by which man can be saved, by believing in the salvation that God provided freely and offers to all who believe in the scarified Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who died, was buried, and rose from the dead.

Until next time my friends may God guide you into all knowledge of Him.