we're going to speak on the text of the Sermon on the Mount chapter 5 we won't read it all through because it goes from 5 to 6 to 7 and the full amount of chapters but we just read from chapter 4 look at chapter 4 and verse 23 and he went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the couple. So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics and he healed them and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan and seeing crowds he went up on the mountain and when he sat down his disciples came to him and he opened his mouth and taught them. Now some of you will have looked up Luke chapter 6 which talked about which is really a kind of a summary of the Sermon on the Mount a condensed form and which talks about him coming to a plain and them sitting down on a plain. So the rationalization is that it was a mountain but there was a flat area where they sat and took his teaching and it's the same teaching. Before we just go into the Sermon on the Mount, I want to say a few things. One is that many people have the idea that there was an idea of the kingdom in the Old Testament and that in one sense Israel was that kingdom God's special people gathered together as his kingdom people that they to a great degree flunked in their kingdom life and ministry they were to be a kingdom of priests unto all the nations or in the midst of all the nations but for all the nations and people have the idea that when Christ came there was a sort of revival of the kingdom idea and it became fresh and the people were alert because they thought, some of them thought politically that the Romans would be overthrown and the Messiah would set up his great kingdom. Many such ideas were in the air. Certainly there was great expectancy. And then it seems that whilst Jesus himself was the kingly presence and everywhere he went, it's a strange way to put it that everywhere he, the king went, there was the kingdom. But we saw the basilea means kingly power or kingly rule and it means that he rules over a group of people. We saw that in the broadest sense of the term kingdom. Everything in all creation including the multitude of heavenly bodies and so on. Not the heavenly bodies you see around here during the day. But those celestial planets and stars, all of that is part of His kingdom. That is true in the widest sense. But in the more close and intimate sense, only those are in His kingdom who belong to Him and who love Him as their King. So that's why we sang that song, the King of love, my shepherd is. People still seem to retain in their minds that the kingdom of God is something quite hard. They can gather that at the end of time when things are drawn to their climax and their close that then the kingdom will suddenly become bright and shining and full of love and joy and all the darkness will be gone. Now we need to look at some of these things in order to understand the kingdom. When we go back to the beginning of man's history and we see he was actually in the kingdom garden. And as I said last night, I don't think he's ever got that out of his memory, that we are all nostalgic for Eden. But there are some people to whom Eden, with all its beauty and its glory and its freedom from guilt and shame and all of those things, is is something which they dislike intensely, it confronts them, and the contrast between then and now they can't tolerate. And so they don't want to think good things about the kingdom. Now there are those of us who think that when man was put out of the garden, that he was unregenerate, he was depraved, and of course that's very, very true. What happened in the garden was that man was in communion with God. And we saw last night that the Godhead, the three persons, are one. The Father is the font divinitatis. He is the fountain of Godhead. And from Him continually the Son is generated, is continually dependent upon the Father's power and His love and holiness. And so the Son is His Son. and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. And in that, which we call the perichoresis, that circulatory movement of the Godhead, in which the three co-inhere, they live in one another, they serve one another, honour one another, they give to one another, and they receive from one another. And that is the true pattern for all human relationships. I'm hoping one day to write that out as clear, I've done it already in a kind of a thesis, but in a much more extended way. Because I believe that if that matter of divine relationships, if we could understand that human relationships are flow from the divine relationships, that if we are truly the children of God, we will co-inhere one another. And I think at a summer school like this, we sense the beauty and the wonder of that. And we will all honour one another, and serve one another, and give to one another, and receive from one another. And that is the true pattern of human relationships, and that was there in the garden, with all its proper, appropriate background. But when man was cast out of the garden, and you remember it was for his own good, that if he were to eat of the tree of life he would, so to speak, accept forever his pattern of rebellion for all time and eternity. And so he was put out of the garden and he was protected from his evil and the evil of the serpent. But does it mean that the change was so great that there were none who loved the Father, none who had communion with God and the answer is there were many the first one was Abel keep that in mind because in the New Testament Abel is pointed to twice in the book of Hebrews he's pointed to as the first pioneer of faith by faith Abel offered up a more excellent sacrifice than Cain and he being dead yet speaketh and so Yes, he was in faith relationship with the Eternal God. We're also told in 1 John chapter 3 that in this, the children of love, he who does righteousness and loves his brother and be not like Cain, who slew his brother, because his brother's deeds were righteous." The whole story is told there of horrific broken relationships, but Abel was the one who loved his brother, even unto death. So we have a remarkable fact there. What I want us, if we can tonight, to grasp is this. The kingdom of God has always been because God the Father is King. We'll see that in our study tonight. The Kingdom of God has always been, before even creation, and that kingly nature of God, as we saw last night, God planned, as Father, Son, and Spirit, to create the closest thing, closest creature, to being God, as could be possible. And so that sweet, rich, powerful communion between God and man flowed in the garden. Then came the fracture, but Abel loved the Lord his God with all his heart and his soul and his mind, and he loved his neighbor as himself, because he was in the kingdom. Please don't miss that great truth. The kingdom has always been. And the faithful, the ones who have pointed out to us in the 11th chapter of Hebrews, men and women of faith, have always been in the kingdom. In the New Testament we are given different windows into the kingdom. One of the most beautiful ones is in Romans 14, 17, which says that when they've been arguing about whether you should eat this food or not that food, Paul says that the kingdom of God is not matters of eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Abel knew righteousness, peace and joy. So did Seth, the one who was a substitute for him after his murder. So did all the sons of God. So have men and women of faith, who are also at the same time men and women of love. They have known righteousness, peace and joy in the kingdom. And then perhaps to cap everything is Colossians 1.13. He has transferred us from the powers of darkness. Those of us who are not in the kingdom, He has transferred us from the powers of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. The Father is King. We've been told today by the different speakers that the Son is the Son King with the Father King. He is the living image of His Father. And so He is the Son of His love, and if He, if it is His kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of His love, it is the kingdom of love. I'm going to ask you a trick question. Won't it be wonderful in that day, when the kingdom finally comes, that we can live in the love of the kingdom? Won't that be wonderful? I told it's a trick question and some of you know me and you're very wary of me when I ask a question, so we'll leave it at that. But Ian, what was wrong with that kind of question I asked? The kingdom has already come. When did it come? And I knew some would say that and I'm not trying to trick anybody, but the kingdom was there before Christ came. That, if we forget that, we do not really understand the Scriptures. Those two, that lovely song of Christmas tonight, moved us all very deeply. And we have a favourite saying that, it's Jonathan Edwards, that one day everything will be music. And just a little commercial on the way, if you've not read Beyond Mortal Love, read it. And I might get one or two testament witnesses up to talk about that. It's all music. And so the kingdom of love has always been able new love no less than you and I do. And if you are very strongly dispensationally structured, you'll say, no, we have much better love and much better peace and righteousness and joy than they did. And I just ask you to go back to the Psalms. That lovely Psalm we sang tonight, in verse the 23rd Psalm. What richer and sweeter love and fellowship with God could you have than that? Those are the sort of things we want to say. If to you it is strange, to them it is not strange to be, we can't go into all of this tonight, but you will know that, or should know rather, that when Adam was to fill up the earth with the fullness of Eden, with all its holiness and beauty and love and worship and all the rest of it, that even though he did not fulfill that, God continually moved. you would tell me, wouldn't you, that you have times of ecstatic experience of God. Now some of us may not have had them, and don't feel in fear if we haven't. some of us have never needed to have ecstatic experience, we've got such a quiet, strong, firm faith that we can live without them, but some of us have been given those ecstatic experiences and I would say that right through the ages of the kingdom, from Abel onwards to the end, the ways of the kingdom have been righteousness, peace and joy and the Holy Spirit, have been the kingdom of the Son of Islam have been the love kingdom. And I could go on and take you to more of those references to speak about that. So with that in mind, let's come now to the Sermon on the Mount. Sermon isn't a good word today, we don't like sermons too much. For some of us they're just the one time of the week we can relax. and make up for our lost sleep. But, with the idea of a sermon, you would understand that, you'd answer, yeah, well, I wasn't referring to anybody, but if, yeah, yes, that's okay. Well, this great discourse of our Lord has been taken many ways, and I urge you again, don't leave the hall tonight without getting, getting Ian's little book on the Living in the Kingdom, on the Sermon on the Mount. and it's not very expensive. But some people think that this is the way in which we're going to live when ultimately we're in the kingdom. Well, since a fair portion of this letter talks about persecution, it is not about some ideal future situation, do you see that? And I, the other day, was reading Lamentations and As some of you know that book, it was written by Jeremiah, you don't have to look it up tonight, I'll just read a few verses, but it was Jeremiah's lamentations on the visitation of God's judgments on Israel, particularly on Jerusalem, and the terrible things that were happening, rapes and murders and children being destroyed by the invading enemy and horrible things were happening. And yet, you'll recognize these words when I read them shortly. Remember my affliction and my bitterness, the wormwood and the gall. My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It's good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. They're wonderful words and they're written Just as I'm sure Greg's two songs have come out of a rich experience of God at this time, so those great words of Jeremiah came out of a rich experience of intense suffering, intense suffering. So no, It is not for some future time. Other people who have a thing for ethics say these are the finest and highest ethics in all history. There could be no doubt that folk of other religions, faiths, have said there's no higher writing than the Sermon on the Mount. And so people have taken to saying they're a collection of great ethics or morals And others are saying, no, this is the new law that Christ brought in, because the old law was deficient. What loose and wrong thinking is that? I want us to spend a little time tonight, not too many hijinks, if you know what I mean, just getting down to the solid reality of this. Not a dreary one, but a solid reality of the Sermon on the Mount. And I want us to see this, that the law of God, now I've been preaching long enough, I've been around the traps long enough, not long enough, but long enough to know something, and I'll maybe be around the traps a bit more. Like I said, one of them sprung there, one of the traps sprung. But to know It's not interesting how a little thing like that will distract 300 people, if you know what I mean. And here you've got a brilliant preacher and teacher. Never mind. The thing I was going to say is that the law of God is the law of God. It is not primarily the law from God, but it is the law of God. Now a lot of people never grasp that. Once you grasp it, it's brilliant and beautiful. In the Hebrew, the word for law is Torah. Most of us know that word, Torah. You've heard that every man is a law unto himself. Or they say, old Joe over there, he's a law unto himself. You've heard that, haven't you? Well, it is a fact that the word Torah does not just simply mean a law in the legal sense. It means much more than that. The law is technically instruction, but you have a Torah. It is your personality. It is your being. Do you know what a Jew would say of himself, of his soul, of his Torah? Do you know what he would call it? My glory. My glory. That's how he understood the glory God had given him as him. Now God's law is His own glory. God's law is the way the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit relate and work and are active. Can you follow that? Let me put it another way, that God never requires of us what He does not first do Himself. Can you follow that? You see, In every human being, because of Adam, because of the fall, every human being hates the word law, hates the word command, am I right? Has a dark view of it, am I right? But Jesus said, I delight to do thy will. Tell me, what is the essence and heart of the kingdom, when he has a people who are his, what is it that those people of his want to do? To obey. They want to obey the will of God. Our Father, who art in heaven, holy be your name in our sight, your kingdom come your will be done. Where? On earth. How? As in heaven. Do you see that? Now I'm saying tonight that I am battling away with you and for you for you to have an understanding that the kingdom is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Do you see that? That it is the kingdom of the Son of His love. That the kingdom is a very beautiful reign of the God of love. And you are His kingly people. And when we're put out of the garden, the garden wasn't put out of us. We are garden lovers. Am I right? We long for the serenity of no guilt, of no shame. We long to be free of the burden and that is living in the kingdom. That is living in the kingdom. Last night we saw that God had intended to give us the utmost, the utmost that He can give for us because we are the utmost that He has made. we are His image and He has conducted us long through the centuries, His people of faith, His people of love, He has conducted us in His kingdom and He'll conduct us to the end. But because through the onslaughts of evil and the indoctrination of evil and the sublime advertising of evil and the conforming of evil and the deceit that is soaked into the human mind and spirit because of all of that God sent at Sinai his most wonderful law. A lot of people talk about, oh you know Israel were people under the law. They didn't talk like that. They looked at his law as a glorious gift. That God had defined in history the way, the ways of love and of obedience. I delight to do thy will. our delight is in doing as well. But he sent the prophets to to correct what the corrupt priesthood had failed to teach the people. He constantly encouraged his people to say the day is coming when the kingdom will shine brilliantly and when you will press into it. And that day came with John the Baptist. It was a precursor to Christ and Christ came and said the time appointed is fulfilled the kingdom of heaven is upon the doorstep repent and believe the good news of the kingdom and Christ came to teach us what in our sinfulness and our disobedience and our rebellion and our wickedness we had rejected. He came to bring to us an understanding of the beauty and wonder of law and we're going to look at that in some ways now because that which Christ brought to us in the Sermon on the Mount is the beauty of law but because I put it that way your mind may immediately say well it's all law and you've missed the whole wonderful point is that God delights in Himself God is filled with joy at what He is. And the law that He exercises, the law does not exercise Him, or it would be greater than Him, can you see what I'm saying? It is His manner of life. And He, because we're in His image, what is it to be? If it's His manner of life, and we're in His image, what is it to be for us? Ah, now you've got it. Our manner of life. not a grinding law that is heavy upon us, not standards to be reached. Can you hear me? Does your heart sing? That's, that was why James called it the law of liberty. When you are in the place of loving obedience to the loving and gracious Father, then you are free. You're free from the condemnation of the law that comes to all sinners. You're free from that. Now you're free to see the law as you never saw it before. That's a very beautiful thing. The very law by which God himself operates. And that is what the Sermon on the Mount is. Some very thoughtful theologians have said, oh it's a radicalizing of the law. You know what radical means? It's radical means literally a radical as a root. But it's getting a new view of an old law. But it isn't really. It is getting a true view of God's eternal law. It's getting a true view of God's eternal law. Now let me tell you this, that every bit of your obedience is watched. not necessarily by big brother, but it's watched by the powers of darkness, and it's watched by men and women, too. And it is very powerful in its effects. And so if you are in the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy, the kingdom of the Son of His love, if you are in that kingdom, he said the kingdom of God is not words, but anybody can have words, but the kingdom of God is in power. Do you see that? So you're very blessed, we are very blessed. Don't, when I say you, don't feel that I'm accepting myself. We are very blessed people in the kingdom of the Father. I pause to ask you the question, do you realize that we are highly privileged, that we have been given intense, pleasurable situation in being in the kingdom? Do you see that? Abel would stand up tonight if he were here and he would tell you the wonders of his kingdom. And so would every saint down, when I say saint I mean every believer down through history and as we go on. That's a wonderful thing and I think that the reason we call the book on law sweeter than honey and more precious than gold is because that's what David said in Psalm 19, do you see that? And then Dean wrote his one, The Delight of Law. And then I've written this other one, The Eternal Law of Delight. You somehow have got to convey to people before they pick up a book on the law, for goodness sake, don't think you're going to get into legalism and heavy, you know, heavy arguments about this, that and the other. It is a delight to be in the kingdom. And we are His kingdom people and nothing will persuade me that we haven't had intense delights over the past 48 hours or so. True? That's the kingdom, His reign. Now it's interesting when you begin, He preached, we saw He went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing every disease and every infirmity among the people. So his fame spread throughout all of Syria and they brought him all the sick, the afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics and paralytics and he healed them. Great crowds followed him. You see the kingdom was in action as we were told this morning by Grant that the king was in Palestine where he went. His kingly retinue went with him and his kingly powers were there to liberate people. He said, I didn't come to the world to judge the world, but that the world through me might be saved. So that's it. We start off these Beatitudes. Do you know that the book of Revelation has seven Beatitudes? You know how they give you a prize on today? A prize if you look up the trivia and all those things, you know? Who bowled who out in 19 so-and-so? Well, I'm going to give you a trip to Bali, if you can find the seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. I've got a whole kilo of barley at home, and I'm going to give you a trip to Bali, if you find those seven beatitudes in the book. But if you look up all the blessings, all the beatitudes, which somebody once called the beautiful attitudes, and that's not a bad statement, If you look up the Beatitudes, you will find that they are so many that they can almost not be numbered. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Now, if you think I'm going to do a verse by verse exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, let me give you a heart. No, we've got a certain time when we close, so we're not going to do all of that. Blessed are the poor in spirit. And see if your version fits this version I'm reading out to you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for when the kingdom comes, it will come to them. Have you got that in yours? What have you got in yours? Speak it out loudly. Oh, is the kingdom. That's it, isn't it? It's not coming, it is, of course it's coming, it's climax, it's ultimate climax and the fullness is coming, there's no doubt about that, when we won't be walking by sight anymore, not by faith anymore, but by sight. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. See God! But no man can see God and live. But we will see God, won't we? Revelation 22, I think it's verse 4, says, We shall see Him face to face. We shall see His face. Don't get excited. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are perse... Ah, ah. I thought there was a cat somewhere, you see. I thought that to be in the kingdom was righteous as peace and joy and the Holy Spirit. Being in the kingdom, the son of his love. Being not a feeble creature, but with power. And here I find that when you are in the kingdom, you are actually persecuted. Now you see that statement of Jeremiah and lamentation was telling us Israel, Jerusalem is being torn down, its women are being raped, its babies are being butchered, but new every day are your mercies. Jeremiah was in the kingdom Remember, he had so much persecution, he said, I decide I would not preach again. He said, and I withheld it within me, but he said, my heart burned. And so I began to speak, because that's the way it is in the kingdom. I would like to have spent a lot of time tonight to talk about the principle of suffering. But I'll tell you this, you never suffer purposefully and properly and fruitfully, except it be the suffering of the kingdom. Some of us suffer for anything, heat, cold, discomfort, we're suffering, we let people know how we suffer. We're not talking about that. Some people say it's my cross, and it isn't really. The cross is suffering, but it's a suffering that has within it a love and beauty. So, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So, can you see that? We're in the kingdom, yes, but the kingdom is always being persecuted. Today we have stories coming to us from Indonesia, don't we? What have they been doing in Indonesia? They've been burning down churches, We have news coming from Pakistan of Christian villages being raided and vandalized. We have news coming from the Gujarat in India where a Christian church is being burned down. And I'm only just touching the fringe of those persecutions that are known. Other people are being persecuted for other things other than the kingdom. But those in the kingdom know that. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad." That's in Luke chapter 6, it says, and leap for joy. I haven't seen lots of leaping Christians around the place, but I suppose they're leaping in their heart. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. for as men persecuted the prophets for as so men persecuted the prophets who before you so we see that the joy of obedience the loveliness of the law the sweetness of it the honey sweetness of it is is mingled with this a suffering that comes because we are members of the kingdom we are cast out even in our own family as being different and so on many of us could give testimonies to that But you see, we hunger and thirst after righteousness. What righteousness? The righteousness of God. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. The righteousness which we sang about tonight, amazing grace, is God Himself. That righteousness by which He justifies us, but the righteousness of life, which is His, and we are His children in the kingdom. Then we're told that we're the salt of the earth. We're told that some salt loses its tang and its ability to prevent corruption and to give taste to life. We're told that we're the light of the world, a city set on a hill. What's the great city that's set on the hill? Ultimately it's the Holy City, isn't it? But in principle we're a city set on the hill and people can see by our light. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. You know, we say that we're not saved by works. You would all agree, wouldn't we? By grace you're saved, and this not of yourself is the gift of God, not of works. But somebody has said that we're not saved without good works. The whole of this sermon on the matter is telling us that God wants us to do good works, not to justify ourselves, not to become proud and self-righteous. but because that is the way they are in his kingdom. Well now, I'll just take a little bit and just make a few more observations and we'll bring our study to a close. Not rapidly, but eventually. Think not that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I've come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now, a lot of people have the strange idea, and it is an exceedingly strange idea, that no one has ever kept the law. Now, that's not a strange idea, that's true. No one has ever kept the law, but He did. And because somebody kept the law, that's... everything's okay now, we don't need any law. What a weird idea! You know, if Christ kept the law, and He did, then keeping the law is what he should have done. It's what every Jew should have done, and it's what every human being should do, is keep the law. There are no credits for keeping the law. You don't get any brownie points in heaven for keeping the law. It's a privilege for you to have the law, and it's a joy for you to obey the law. But he didn't say, I've come. You listen to this again. Think now that I've come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now what did He come not to abolish? Tell me. What did He come not to abolish? Yes, nearly every one of you said the Law, but some of you said the Law and the Prophets. And the Law and the Prophets is the substance of the whole of what we call the Old Testament. I came to fulfill everything. Everything, not only the laws given at Sinai, which is already in the hearts of men and women, they create them, but I've come to fulfill all that the prophets have spoken, the whole lot. Do you see that? And it wasn't just that he was keeping the law, that was what he had to do, and which he did in a wonderful way. And in Romans 10, some people have this idea. See, Paul says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God. But it is not enlightened, for being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law, that everyone who has faith may be justified. Now the end of the law there doesn't mean the closing off of the law. It means it's the goal of the law. The fulfillment of the law. Can you see that? The climax. And so Christ, the law spoke about Christ. All the law and the prophets spoke about Christ. And He came and He was the fulfillment of that. And so the idea of ever being justified by law can't be sustained, but there's much more to it than that. He said whenever whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven for I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven Remember he said on one occasion, the tax gatherers and the harlots go into the kingdom before you. That's a pretty radical thing to say, isn't it? Remember he said on one occasion, it's harder for a rich man to enter heaven. It is a hard thing. A thing which is almost not conceivable that a rich man may enter into the kingdom of heaven. And when he spoke in Matthew 23 to those self-righteous Pharisees, his words were not gentle, not gentle at all. And I'm saying that some of us have become so slothful, so careless, and today we are asked to be tolerant. The only thing of which you're not to be tolerant is intolerance. And that means that anything goes. Why? Because God's a good fellow. Do you remember in the Rubaiyah of Omar Khayyam, he said, Pish! He's a good fellow and will all be well. You know that terrific song of Martin Bleeby's, You Pat My Back, you know that one anyway, and it finishes up, I stab your back, you stab mine. Let me tell you, the law is not harsh, it's not rigorous, the law is not difficult to obey and the law brings its sweet rewards in obedience and don't fall for the spin doctrine of this age that everything's okay that just getting into bed with another person to whom you're not married is no longer fornication or adultery And you remember Paul warned us time and again, be not deceived, God is not mocked. Neither the idolater, nor the adulterer, nor the homosexual, nor the alcoholic, nor the glutton, nor the thief, nor the robber, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. they that do the works of the flesh shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. So please read, read regularly, read thoughtfully, contemplatively, the law of which Jesus speaks in this chapter from verse 17 right down to the end of the passage chapter 5 and I'll read from verse 43 you have heard it was said you should love your neighbor and hate your enemy but I say to you love your enemies pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?" The good fellows in the secular world do each other a good turn. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. quid pro quo. That's not love. Really love your enemies. Do good to them that hate you. You see he said earlier on, it's been said to the men of old, you shall not kill and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment. You and I can't afford one iota of anger. And that little book, The Justicemen and the Great Rage, is because people say there are things for which you're to be angry. Remember Paul says, be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. If you've got a righteous anger, and I often think there's only one who could have a righteous anger, but if we can speak of righteous anger in human beings, it's not to be held. Do you see that? And some people are holding in themselves angers for 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 years in their hearts, and they're the worst for it. They suffer because of their anger. An angry heart, I'm sorry, a tranquil mind gives life to the flesh, but passion, zina, rots the soul. Passion is envy, jealousy, anger, rots the soul. And this is what Jesus is saying to us, I show you the way of love, I show you the way of liberty, I show you the way of peace, I show you the way of joy. I was in an incident recently of which I'm ashamed, but I became angry, just like that, as often we do. And somebody very close to me came up, put her arm around me and said, blessed are the peacemakers, and I, a pang of shame shot through me, and I went to the situation to heal it, insofar as God lets us be healed in that situation. Why do we sustain that? We, we people in the kingdom have the true healing of the whole person and I say if you've got those things go to the cross where he has already destroyed them and see them destroyed in the cross. Some of us know this little book up there called Angry Heart or Tranquil Mind. Now I'm just picking these things out here and there in this great a sermon. In the sixth chapter, I'm not going to go through it, in the sixth chapter all I can say is that in my column, in my nice wide margin, my nice new Bible, I could have your father, your father, your father, your father, our father, your heavenly father, your father, your father. I often ask the question, your heavenly father, I often ask the question to unsuspecting audiences, what is the word most used in the Sermon on the Mount, and they all come up with it, blessed. How wrong they are. The word most used in the Sermon on the Mount is father, your father, your heavenly father. And your worship, your prayer, your almsgiving, your good doing, and your forgiving, all stem from the Father. They're all done in the presence of the Father. I love that one. And when you pray, go into your secret closet, they used to say. But go into a place where you can be quiet with the Father. When you pray, don't make long prayers that people will say, well, the way he can pray, but pray to your Father who's in heaven, and He will reward you in secret. When you give, He'll reward you in secret. And so, it's the law of the Father. It's not the law in the sense that we dislike, but it is the way of the Father. The way the Father is with the Son is with us, You know, the one thing Jesus wanted to do before he went to be with his father was to talk with his disciples. And we're told for 40 days he spoke on the things concerning the kingdom. And he talked about not many days hence you'll be baptized in the Holy Spirit. They put the two together because they knew the Spirit's coming and the Kingdom, as John the Baptist knew and Jesus knew. The Spirit's coming was related to the Kingdom and the Kingdom to the Spirit. And so the Spirit is also the Spirit of the Kingdom. And in my thinking, I've come to the conclusion that the law of the Kingdom is summed up in the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit are my criteria for life. Everything that I see, I ask, does it have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, temperance or self-control, faith? Can I gauge the quality of a thing by that? I believe that's the kingdom, the life of the kingdom is the fruit of the Spirit. He has poured the love of God into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who's been given to us. And then when you come to the seventh chapter, the last chapter, you're given very clear teaching on so many things. I don't want to take them up one by one tonight. But here is the matter of judgment. Judge that you be not judged, for with what judgment you pronounce, you'll be judged. And the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there's a big log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eyes. What a lot of wonderful teaching has given us. Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under your foot and turn to attack you. Somebody said to me, now that you're just about 80, what is the great thing that you have come to? Well, I think that when you're 80, it's just 10 more years than when you were 70. And so time is not really what figures, it's the life you have lived in the kingdom. And I think the one great gift that old age has, if you can call it old age, is wisdom. Wisdom. There are a lot of things once which irritated me and I wish I was overly preoccupied and now they just seem to be just not worth even expending any energy or sweat on. And that's not being losing your levels, your standards, it's the other way around really. Ask and it'll be given you. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it'll be open to you. You know that lovely passage? And, you know, I needed a new Bible. I'd worn out three of these and I needed a new one. So I asked in a letter and somebody rang me up and they'd had this book there from before when they were married, never been used. And I said, well, thank you so much. Well, if you don't ask, you won't get. So I was going out, Laura and I were going out of our carport the other day and I said, car's looking a bit old, isn't it? And I told the class Thursday morning, and they laughed with that sepulchral laugh, do you know what I mean? Like, you're not getting at us, are you? One might never know. And then just as we come to the last, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. but he who does the will of my father which is in heaven. That's the law of love of the kingdom. On that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name and then I'll declare to them I never knew you. Depart from me you evildoers. That makes us stand and think, doesn't it? Remember in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I'm become as a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And though I have all understanding and he says I have the gift of prophecy and things like that, he said and have not love, they are nothing. And he said, though I have faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. The law of the kingdom is the law of love. Or if you want to put an adjective to it, the law of holy love. I remember as children how we used to sing build on the rock the rock that ever stands you remember that build on the rock and not upon the sands you need not fear the storm or the earthquake shock if you build on the rock and so on and it's a good little song keeps in our minds everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who has built his house upon the rock and the rains fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock and everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house from the sand and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell and great was the fall thereafter and how many tragedies we've seen I have been privileged to see generation after generation and I have watched young people in school and in university you wouldn't believe it but I was young once and I never thought I'd be old just like all the lovely young people here tonight are absolutely sure they will never grow old they know technically that's what happens to people but not really to them and I work with some old people and they don't think of themselves as being old They just think of themselves as being alive. That's not a bad idea. Getting reminiscent in my old age, aren't I? But you know, you young people who have your marvellous music, we used to have modern music, pop tunes. I used to write hymns to pop tunes of the day. Could you believe it? Yes, you could really, because there was some sense to music. Anyway, you know... But you just see, you do see that all of these things, and I see some of the people who are the most enthusiastic of all, are now today godless people. That's true. Bill Anderson, who used to be the head of a teaching college in Sydney, once did his, I think it was William May, he did his thesis on what's called the Evangelical Union, and he researched the people who were the leaders in the Evangelical Union, the leaders in the different situations, and he discovered that only one out of four of those leaders remained a Christian. And that was when things were much better morally. Today we've had a moral collapse, and there's rottenness in the community. That's what he discovered then. And so don't laugh. You can sing a little song about building on the rock, but unless you build on the rock, it'll happen to you and to me. And to me I say, Paul says, I buffet my body and keep it in subjection, lest I, who have preached to others, might myself become a castaway. Now I don't think he meant that he would lose his salvation, but he meant that the actual term means I'll be put on the shelf, as useless, as inoperable. And I say to you tonight, take hold of what Jesus said, that hear those words and do them, don't just study them, do them and when Jesus finished these sayings the crowds were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes some must have become used to doing academic studies We know in new academic studies that such and such a point is verified by such and such a person and then there are others that oppose that but there's another group of people who verify those and then and so you get all your materials together and you're supposed to have an authoritative thesis or book or whatever. But in the kingdom we know the will