THE Sermon on the Mount is not the proclamation of the plan of redemption. It is a setting forth of the great moral and spiritual truths that should control the hearts of those already born of God. Unregenerate men could never attain to the high and holy standards that Jesus made known as becoming for all who would seek to follow Him. To the flesh, these principles are only condemnatory, for no one has lived up to them apart from divine grace, and therefore, like the Law given at Sinai, they only show up the corruption of the natural heart and shut men up to judgment. But when one knows Christ, he is enabled by the Spirit to live this supernatural life.
“Where cross the crowded ways of life,
Where sound the cries of race and clan,
Above the noise of selfish strife,
We hear Thy voice, O Son of Man!
In haunts of wretchedness and need,
On shadowed thresholds dark with fears,
From paths where hide the lures of greed,
We catch the vision of Thy tears.
The cup of water giv’n for Thee,
Still holds the freshness of Thy grace;
Yet long these multitudes to see
The sweet compassion of Thy face.”
—Frank Mason North.