After being tested by Satan and with God showing us that Jesus is a perfect man, the people come to Him and He begins the great work of teaching men. Later He would do the even greater work of saving men. He begins by telling them the character of person that was “blessed.” For example, blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the pure and the peacemaker. The world we live in is morally dark and sad. If we are the kind of person that is blessed, then Jesus says that “ye are the light of the world.”
Jesus did not put the law of the Ten Commandments aside by what He taught, but He said He came to fulfill the law. And He did. If His life had not been perfect, He could not have been the Savior.
For the rest of the sermon on the mount, Jesus compares what they had “heard” had been said by others to what “I [Jesus] say unto you.” We all need to be very careful where we get our thoughts. Are we getting them from what people say and think or are we getting them from God through our Lord Jesus and what the Bible says? How much better if we can say, “God says this,” rather than, “So-and-so says this.”
Men agree killing is bad, and people are judged for doing it, but other things like being angry when we shouldn’t be is nothing in comparison to killing. But Jesus says such anger puts a person in danger of hell fire. Man knows he is not to commit adultery and that it is sin. But Jesus says that to look upon a woman with lust is to already commit adultery in your heart. Man says there are many reasons that make it okay to divorce your wife. But Jesus says that a man is committing adultery if he divorces his wife and marries someone else for any reason except if she commits adultery. Man says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” or, as we say, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But Jesus says, No matter what they do, “love your enemies.”
1. “Blessed are the __________: for they shall obtain mercy.” Matthew 5:___
2. “__________ are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:___
3. The Lord Jesus is the only one who could say, “I am not come to destroy, but to __________” God’s perfect law. Matthew 5:___
4. Just calling someone a “fool” puts a person in danger of __________. Matthew 5:___
5. Jesus says, We are not just to love our neighbor, but we are to love our __________. Matthew 5:___