0:01 We now come to the pages of the New Testament. And we turn to Matthew in chapter 1. Here we read of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It doesn't go all the way up to Adam 0:20 like in Luke chapter 3. Here it was just to prove that he descended of the royal's line of David. So it goes only up to Abraham. Probably because 0:40 probably because Matthew was writing to the Jews primarily. Now there's an expression that comes very frequently in this book. And that is the expression the kingdom of heaven. It comes 32 times. 1:05 And frequently in the Sermon on the Mount itself. We read the word heaven. So the frequency with which the word heaven and kingdom of heaven appear in 1:22 this book teaches something. That the Old Testament God's promise to Israel was essentially offering them a kingdom of this earth. And you don't read much about heaven in 1:44 the Old Testament. There was no promise of heaven to the Israelites. And the entire Old Covenant related to earthly things. If they obeyed the Lord wholeheartedly, there was no promise of anything in 2:03 heaven, but promise of plenty of things on earth. This is the fundamental difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant. And that's why 2:22 John the Baptist and Jesus began with this message, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Teaching them teaching the people that the kingdom of heaven had not yet come. It had to come in the future. 2:49 And that came on the day of Pentecost. John the Baptist and Jesus were preparing a way for that. So if we don't understand the difference between the kingdom of earth and the kingdom of heaven we will go back to Old Testament 3:09 promises and live an Old Covenant life. And that's why you find today so many Christians who are occupied with messages on faith that deal only with promises on this earth. In the New Testament when the Bible 3:33 speaks about faith in the epistles, it's not talking about earthly blessings at all. Earthly blessings are a bonus thrown in. Just like you work in a office for a 3:51 salary and may get a bonus at the end of the year. In the same way in the New Covenant, the main thing is the kingdom of heaven. And as we seek the kingdom of heaven first, the other earthly things get 4:09 added to us as a bonus. That is the main thing that we need to recognize as we begin the Gospel of Matthew. And that's why the Holy Spirit has used the expression kingdom of heaven 32 4:29 times in this book. And in the other Gospels, the same expression is called the kingdom of God. It's the same thing. But heaven is emphasized here to show 4:49 that there's a shift from earth to heaven in the New Covenant. In the Old Covenant, they were blessed with earthly blessings in earthly places. Primarily Canaan this way. 5:15 I So let's keep that in mind as we begin the Gospel of Matthew. Because that will deliver you from a lot of deception that's going on in today's Christian preaching. So coming to this first 5:39 chapter of Matthew we read here about salvation. Matthew 1:21. You shall call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Now it's a very common expression found 6:02 among believers to say I'm saved and they ask people, are you saved? That's a very good question. And a very good thing to know that we are saved. But saved from what? 6:21 It doesn't say here Jesus came to save us from hell. It says here he came to save us from our sins. And when we are saved from our sins, we automatically get saved from hell. But unfortunately, millions of 6:41 Christians want to be saved from hell who don't seem to have much interest to be saved from sin right now. So let's get this understanding of salvation also clear in the first 7:00 chapter. Not only saved from sin but as I told you we're to be saved from this earth. Because now it's a kingdom of heaven that Jesus has come to preach. So when a person says I'm saved 7:24 he needs to ask himself, saved from what? Am I saved from sin in my life? Have I overcome anger and lust and bitterness and jealousy? Have I been saved from the earth and being attracted and drawn and living for 7:43 the things of this earth? That is the question. So remember this. As soon as you come to the pages of the New Testament, the very first promise is Jesus will save his people from their sins. Not just forgive us our sins. 8:08 That is just cleaning the vessel. of the filth of our past life. But then even when our heart is cleansed from the guilt of our past life there is power in our nature that is 8:26 always dragging us down into sin. And for that, what we need is not forgiveness, but deliverance. That's why Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6 like this. Forgive us our sins. 8:48 And then deliver us from evil. So we need forgiveness and deliverance. I mean your chip in the money but not a lot. But deliverance from the power of sin in our life. And that is in the first page of the New 9:06 Testament. The kingdom of heaven is the very first message that Jesus preached in Matthew 4:17. If you just keep these two things in mind the first promise in the New Testament 9:25 to be saved from all sin. First message that Jesus preached. Repent. Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is near. Today it has already come. Repent. Receive the kingdom of heaven into your 9:43 life. So if we keep these two things in our mind as how the Gospel of Matthew begins we We be delivered from a lot of deception that's going on in today's Christian preaching. Which does not preach salvation from 10:05 sin. Does not preach repentance. Does not preach about blessings in heavenly places. And yet these are the fundamental things with which the gospel New Testament began. The devil has led Christians back into 10:24 the old covenant life. Where they had forgiveness. But no deliverance from sin. And no seeking for things in heaven. Let's look at the genealogy of Jesus in 10:41 the first 17 verses. There are four women mentioned here. It's very interesting to see who they are. We have got Tamar in verse three. And Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. And he had a 11:01 children through his daughter-in-law. It was adultery within the family. And and think of this, Jesus was planning his genealogy from heaven hundreds of years before he came to this earth. And if you were planning your genealogy, 11:24 your family line you would like to choose a pure line with a lot of rich people and good looking people etc. But see how Jesus chooses a line which from the beginning is tainted with 11:44 incest meaning adultery in the family. The second woman mentioned here is Rahab in verse five. Rahab was the most well-known prostitute 12:02 in Jericho. Would you choose such a person to be in your family line? The third woman mentioned here in verse five is Ruth. Ruth is a Moabitess we read. 12:24 Do you know who Moab was, her ancestor? Moab was the child born when Lot committed adultery with his own daughter. Would you choose a line like that? 12:41 These were the physical ancestors of Jesus. These three. And one more woman is mentioned. Who was not a physical ancestor of Jesus but who was ancestor of Joseph. 13:03 And that is Bathsheba mentioned in verse six. And there again it's a terrible story how David committed adultery with somebody else's wife. Killed her husband and married that wife. And imagine Jesus 13:24 genealogy having all these names right in the very first page. Even if that was your history I wouldn't mention it. Particularly among the Jews they had the habit of not mentioning women's names at 13:44 all. Genealogy was always the man's name. You see in Luke chapter three where which is a genealogy of Mary and Mary's name is not even mentioned. She's mentioned as the wife of Joseph. 14:07 So in Jewish genealogies you read in the Old Testament you hardly ever see the mention of a woman. Genesis or one Chronicles many genealogies you read a mention of a woman. And yet and the nine 14:30 And these are four women with a terrible history. Sexual failure. In all four cases. Ruth through her ancestor Moab. And all the others directly themselves. 14:51 Why has the Holy Spirit put that in the very first page to teach us one thing. That Jesus identified himself with sinners even though he was pure and holy as God. He didn't want the worst sinner in the 15:16 world to feel left out. And that is what we see here, his tremendous love for sinful fallen man. And what we see here is the truth of 15:37 what Jesus said I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. In the very first page. And then we read here 15:54 about Joseph wanting to put away Mary when he heard that she was pregnant. And of course everybody like everybody else Joseph assumed that she had 16:13 committed sin. Because there was never a case in the history of the world of a child being born without a father. This is the first case. Um unique because it was God himself 16:31 coming as a baby. So Joseph obviously couldn't understand that. But the wonderful thing we see here is in verse 19 Joseph was a righteous man. 16:50 And that's the first time the word righteous is mentioned in the New Testament. As a righteous man, what is the characteristic of this righteous man mentioned here? He did not want to disgrace Mary. 17:12 What should be the primary characteristic of a righteous man? That he does not want to expose the sin of other people. Look at the number of Christians who go around speaking evil about others. That itself shows that they are not 17:33 righteous. But the first mention of righteousness in the first page of the New Testament is this. I don't want to disgrace another person. I don't want to expose another person's sin. It says he wanted to put her away 17:52 secretly verse 19. That's how a righteous man behave. He wants to cover people's sins. And so we there is a good example in Joseph that all of us can follow. But when we go in chapter two 18:14 to the story of the wise men and there's something foolish that these wise men did. And that was they followed the star all the way right up to Jerusalem. And once they reached Jerusalem 18:37 they could have followed the star still. But that moment and then they said, "Oh, now we don't need to follow the star and we know that kings are always born in palaces. So once they reached Jerusalem and they 18:56 knew that Herod's palace was there they said, "We'll go there and find out. He must be there." The star is a picture of God's word. That will always lead us to Jesus. But when we stop following the star 19:19 and use our human wisdom we end up in the wrong place. And that's what happened to these wise men. They ended up in the wrong place. Because they used their human reason. It was not 19:36 in the palace that Jesus was born. Would these wise men ever have thought that he'd be born in a cowshed? So they got delayed there. I don't know how long they got delayed. So why are 19:55 But finally got no answer from Herod except what the priest said that it's somewhere in Bethlehem he'll be born. And so 20:13 they finally followed the star again. The star led them to Bethlehem. Matthew 3 we read about John the Baptist. He came baptizing in water, the first person in the Bible to baptize in water. And he told people 20:33 verse 11, I can only baptize you in water. Someone is coming after me who will baptize you in the Holy Spirit, Matthew 3:11. This is the second promise in the New Testament. The first is being saved from sin. 20:55 The second is to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. We need both of these. And Jesus comes to be baptized from him. He need not have been baptized. 21:12 But he identifies himself with sinners. He stands in line with sinners and gets baptized. There he didn't have any old man to put away. He himself, there was no old man in his 21:34 nature to put what That's what we testify to in But he still stood in line. In Matthew 4:1-11 we see three temptations. He was tempted concerning his physical 21:57 need. He was tempted with earthly riches. He was also tempted with the honor that the devil offered him. And he was tempted to seek honor for himself by jumping off the temple and landing unhurt. Each time he overcame only by quoting 22:23 God's word. The devil tempts us also today. The Bible says Jesus was tempted exactly like us. These are only three temptations. The first was a temptation to seek for physical need 22:42 without listening to God's word. And even though there was nothing wrong in turning stones into bread, cheating anybody, meeting his own need, yet Jesus' life was such that he would not do even a simple thing like that 23:00 without a leading from his father. Most people don't understand that are to live by every word that proceeds out of God's mouth. It says in Matthew 4:4. If we don't listen to God's word 23:24 speaking to us constantly, his very best for our life. The second temptation was to seek honor. It's another temptation that comes to us. Jump down and show other people that we 23:42 have faith. If I say I won't take medicine if I'm sick, I'll show I've got faith. That's stupidity. If Jesus had done that, he would have died. And a lot of people don't take medicine, die also. They don't show their faith, they show 24:01 their stupidity. And all such people you must quote this word that Jesus said, "Don't tempt the Lord your God." The third temptation was the glory of this world was offered to Jesus. 24:19 Could Jesus be attracted by the glory of the world? God he had to be tempted like us. And in all three cases he rejected it by saying, "God's word says something different." And that's how that's how he overcame temptation. 24:37 And when the devil quoted a scripture to him, he quoted another scripture. Yes, another scripture. He quoted another scripture teaching us that one scripture alone can also lead us astray. If you don't balance it with another 24:53 scripture. We learn these fundamental lessons on the first pages of Matthew's gospel. God Welcome once again to Words of Life program. We've been studying 25:16 through the Bible. Last week we began on the New Testament. We looked at a little bit at the first four chapters of Matthew. Now we want to look at chapter 5. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 25:38 are the longest sermon of Jesus mentioned anywhere in the Bible. Call the Sermon on the Mount because he preached it on a mountain. But there's one very important verse 25:57 that you need to see. Not just that it was a sermon on the mount, but verse 1, it was a sermon to his disciples. This is not what Jesus preached to the crowds. To the Pharisees he said a lot of things 26:16 in Matthew 23. But and to the people in the road sides he would preach many things. But here it says when he saw the multitudes, he took his disciples away to the mountain and preached to them. So when people who are not disciples try 26:41 to follow Matthew 5, 6, and 7, they got it all wrong. These are people to whom Jesus had said earlier in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And there we read about the call of four 27:01 of his disciples who gave up everything in order to follow Jesus. And great multitudes, verse chapter 4:25, followed him. 18 to 22 of chapter 4 we read of the 27:21 disciples. And 25, verse 25, with the multitudes. But seeing the multitudes, he left the multitudes and took the disciples. So you can't really follow the Sermon on the Mount if you're not first of all 27:41 given up everything to follow Jesus. You But you have to give up your attachment to your job. You don't have to give up your house. But you give up your attachment to your 27:59 house. You don't have to sell your car or scooter. But you got to give up your attachment to those things. A disciple is one who has no attachment to earthly things. He may use a thousand earthly things 28:17 like Jesus did, but he has no attachment He's living for the kingdom of heaven. His Jesus' message is the kingdom of heaven is near. The first verse of the Sermon on the Mount I mean the Sermon on the Mount tells us 28:37 we can possess the kingdom of heaven. It's the introduction to the whole sermon. If you don't understand this verse, it's pointless going to the rest. What is the first one? 28:56 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? We in India have seen beggars in many cities. They are poor financially. 29:16 From them we can learn what it means to be poor in spirit. They are poor in their body. So think of a beggar who comes to your gate. He comes to your house and begs for food or clothing. And you give him some food. 29:38 Maybe you give him a few rupees. He'll be back there again tomorrow morning. And he you'll ask him, "What happened to gave you yesterday?" Yesterday I gave you He'll say, "Oh, sir, that's finished yesterday. What I need is something for today." 29:58 The money you gave yesterday, he has spent because it is so little. You didn't give him 1,000 rupees. You gave a little. It's got spent. And so he has to come back. And the next day he comes back again. 30:17 We've seen that beggars coming back again and again and again and again to our gate. Now, from that we learn what it means to be poor in spirit. Why does that beggar keep coming back? He's not ashamed to come. 30:37 He recognizes his need. And he probably feels that you are one of the only generous people on the street who will help him. He doesn't go to other houses, he comes to your house. And that is how we are to 30:55 go to God. Recognizing our need every day knowing that what we receive is only enough for that day. Again, we need to go back to God next day. So, there's a verse in Proverbs chapter 4 31:14 which reads like this. In Proverbs chapter 4 it speaks about looking to the Lord for our for guidance. It speaks in verse 20. 31:35 Give attention to my words and incline your ear to my sayings. Verse 22, they are life to those who find them and health to their whole body. God's word is our life. How often should we get it? Chapter 8 31:56 Proverbs verse 34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door post. That's exactly like the beggar coming to your gate. Such a man is blessed. 32:17 And Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 5:3. Blessed is the man who comes like a spiritual beggar to God every day. What did we read in Proverbs 8? Waiting daily. That is how we are to come to God. 32:37 If you remain like that every day no matter how much we've been blessed, we still come back to God. Because our need is never-ending. We have many needs in our life. Many areas of our life where we have to 32:54 become like Jesus Christ. And if you're not aware of it then you're not poor in spirit. People who are aware of the needs of other people are not poor in spirit. God may show you the needs of others if 33:13 you're some prophet or something who has to preach to Otherwise he can only show you your need. And if you concentrate on your need, you can possess more and more and more of the kingdom of heaven all the time. Because of that he knows that. So, 33:36 that's why he makes you concentrate on other people's needs. So, after 25 years you're still poverty-stricken spiritually. So, please remember this is very important. How we can be spiritual men in God's 33:55 kingdom. Then it says, "Blessed are those who mourn." Because they lost something earthly, but mourn because they are not Christ-like. When you get to heaven, you're not going to mourn over even a loss of 10,000 rupees. 34:15 But you are going to mourn if you spend your earthly days without becoming Christ-like. It also speaks about being gentle. One who will not fight for your rights. You are meek and you allow 34:34 people to take advantage of you. You don't have to be afraid. You will inherit the whole earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why is it many Christians are not righteous? 34:53 It says here that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. Satisfied means it's like a hungry man getting as much as he wants of food. Supposing a top five-star restaurant says "Today we're going to offer food freely 35:12 to anybody as much as they want." There'd be a big rush there. Hey, we can eat this good food. And not just small helping, but till we are satisfied. That is the promise. It is righteousness 35:34 which is the best food in the world until you are satisfied. The vast majority of Christians are not righteous. I think almost all Christians pray that they'll be holy. But why is this promise not fulfilled? 35:55 Look at the condition. It doesn't say those who pray for righteousness will be satisfied. Those who hunger and thirst. There's a lot of difference between asking for something and hungering and thirsting for something. For example 36:17 many times during the day we may be thirsty for a little glass of water. We go and get a glass of water and drink it. Because in most places water is free. But supposing a glass of water cost 36:35 10,000 rupees. How many of you would want to drink a glass of water? It's okay. I can go without a glass of water the whole day. Maybe just take a little sip of 10 rupees. Because a glass of water costs 10,000 36:55 rupees. But go to a person who's been walking in the desert for four or five days. Six, seven days. Exhausted. Body completely dry. He will pay any amount for a glass of 37:15 water, even 100,000 rupees if you Because otherwise he's going to die. So that that man is hungering and thirsting for water. You may desire a glass of water. But if it's too expensive, you say no. 37:36 And that's why many Christians are not righteous. They don't hunger and Verse 7, God says he's going to be merciful to those who are merciful to other people. You want God to be merciful to you in the day of judgment. I can give you one bit of advice. 37:56 Be merciful to every single human being you meet. Whatever wrong they've done to you. Do good wherever you can to people. And you'll receive tremendous mercy from God. Show mercy to others. 38:16 Forgiving them for what wrong they did to you. And secondly, doing good when they are in need. Next is pure in heart. Those who are pure in heart will see God. To be pure in heart is different from 38:34 having a clean conscience. A clean conscience means I have not committed in my sins are all cleansed in the blood of Christ. A pure heart means a heart which has no place for anyone or anything but God. There are a lot of people with a clean 38:56 conscience. They do not have a pure heart. Because they've confessed all their sins. And that has cleansed them. But in their heart there is still place for things other than God. Evil things. Their work. 39:15 Their home. Good things. But God doesn't fill their heart. A man with a pure heart is one who loves God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind. And such a person will see God. Wherever he goes 39:34 he will see God. All around in the world. And whatever happens to him he will not see people, he'll see God. Like Jesus. in the garden of Gethsemane. Peter saw Judas. Jesus saw the Father. Peter tried to 39:53 swing his sword at the Roman soldiers. Cut somebody's ear off. I think Peter was trying to kill Judas and missed and hit some soldier. Jesus saw the Father. He didn't see Judas or the Roman 40:13 soldiers. He said, "The cup which my Father gave me, why shouldn't I drink it?" How did he see God there? How did he see the Father? When you blame and criticize people, it shows your heart is not pure because 40:32 you don't see God, you see people. See Judas Iscariot and the Roman soldiers. heart were pure, see God everywhere. See your God in control of every single thing that happens around you. Blessed are the 40:53 Who are the sons of God? We say those who accept Christ. They are the children. But how do children become sons? When they become peacemakers. When their whole passion is to be at peace with God and peace with other people. 41:12 As they have grace to bring other two people in peace with each other also. You can't go there to that ministry straight away. It has a lot of maturity and a lot of wisdom, otherwise you'll cause confusion. First of all, having been at peace with 41:30 God. And secondly, being at peace with all human beings. And finally, may God may give you a ministry to make peace between people. Then verse 10, it speaks about the next blessing is on those who are persecuted. 41:48 Blessed If you're righteous, you'll be persecuted. Because we're living in an unrighteous world. Black does not like white. And so you'll be persecuted. 42:07 But you're blessed if you're standing up for what is right and you're persecuted for that. The last blessing here is for those who are persecuted for standing up for Jesus. And many who stand up for righteousness but who won't publicly confess the name 42:26 of Jesus. And when you're insulted for Jesus' sake, all types of evil are spoken against you, how many of you believe you're a blessed man? It says you got to rejoice and be glad at such a time. So all these qualities 42:48 will make you, verse 13, the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Now you understand why the salt has lost its taste and the light light has gone out. Because Christians are not pursuing the qualities mentioned here. 43:08 And then Jesus said, "Now righteousness must be greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees, verse 20." In which way? Their righteousness was outward. Ours must be inward. Their's was, "Don't commit adultery." 43:30 Ours is, "We don't lust." Their's was, "Don't commit murder, verse 21." Ours is, "We don't get angry, verse 22." And if we do get angry, we go immediately to our brother, verse 24, 43:47 and settle matters with him. And ours is not just not committing adultery, verse 27. Even being willing to pluck out eye, verse 29, to overcome this lusting with 44:06 the eyes. That doesn't mean that we have to actually pull it out. You should have such a radical attitude. And we speak the truth not only when we have taken a vow, but always speak the 44:25 truth, verse 33. We love not only our neighbors, verse 43, but even our enemies, verse 44. This is how our righteousness must be greater than the righteousness of the Pharisees. And then he went on to say, 44:47 "Your righteousness must be greater in the sense that you don't seek honor in your religious activities." Give it secretly, chapter 6, verse 1 to 4. And when you pray, verse 5 onwards of chapter 6, don't let anybody know that 45:06 you're praying. And when you fast, verse 16 to 18, don't let anyone know you're fasting. Now most people whom I have met, Christians, 45:23 when they fast, they let people know. I found generally speaking Christians in two categories. Most of them. Some who fast and let other people subtly know that they're fasting. And the other group is those who don't 45:42 fast at all. But Jesus said you must fast and not let anybody know that you're There are few Christians like that, you must be one of them. Then he speaks about the love of money in verse 19 onwards. That you can't serve God and money, 46:03 verse 24. Now we don't have to be worried about our needs if we are seeking God's kingdom first, verse 33. Then chapter 7, verse 1 to 6, it says, "When you live such a good life, don't judge people who are not living 46:24 this life. Preach this life, but don't judge them. Especially in things that you cannot see. Judge yourself. That's why Jesus said, um see there's a log in your own eye, don't look at the 46:41 speck in your brother's And then in chapter 7, verse 7 to 12, he encourages us to pray with faith. That God is a good God, a loving Father, 46:58 who will never give us anything evil, always give us what is good. And so therefore we can choose to come to him in faith for all our needs. Then he says at the end of the Sermon on 47:18 the Mount, he uses three pictures. A gate and a way, a narrow gate, narrow way, and a broad gate and broad way. a narrow gate, way. That's one picture. 47:36 Then a good tree and a bad tree, and a good house and a bad house. This way that Jesus described is a very narrow way, which he just described. And he says in verse 14, "In the entire history of the world, 47:55 very few people will find it." Matthew 7:14. Many people will seek it, they will not find it. Because they're not willing to pay the price. I'm not expecting the world to be converted. If they get converted, it'll be to some 48:16 shallow, counterfeit Christianity. This type of discipleship, very few will find it because I believe the word of Jesus. In every city, in every village in the world, very few will find it. Many preachers know that, that's why 48:38 they don't preach it. Such preachers are false prophets. Look at their life. Don't look at their fruit. Don't look at their gift, sorry. Look at their fruit. 48:58 This is the fruit that identifies a good prophet. A good prophet is like a good tree. fruit is good. A bad fruit means false prophet. But a false prophet may have fantastic 49:16 gifts. Verse 22. Cast out demons. Do miracles. Prophesy. But he'll be rejected in the final day. Finally, two houses. If you obey all that Jesus said here, 49:35 you'll be building your house on a rock. And in time and in eternity, nothing will shake it. But if you listen to all this and say, "Oh, well, this is all impossible." And you live as you like. One day you will discover your house 49:51 will collapse. Your Christianity will collapse. So, listen to these warnings of Jesus. If you want to find out if you are a true disciple of Jesus meditate on Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Find out whether you are a disciple of 50:09 Jesus or not. God bless you.
