Short Intro to Matthew 5:1-2

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/12/2020 9:03 AM

My Worship Time                                                                            Focus:  Intro to Matthew 5:1-2

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 5:1-2

            Message of the verses:  “1 And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying,”

            First thing I want to mention is that this will be a very short SD.  Second thing I want to mention again is that we are about to embark on what could be the longest section of Scripture that we have ever looked at and that would be what is called “The Sermon on the Mount.”  This covers Matthew chapters 5-7, and perhaps we will not even finish this section by the end of this year, but I know that this will be a very important study for all of us.  John MacArthur entitles what is chapter 12 in his first commentary on Matthew “The Great Sermon of the Great King.”  We have mentioned that Matthew’s gospel is about the King, and of course that King is our Lord Jesus Christ who will one day soon set on the throne of David in Jerusalem and will be there for 1000 years.  What a day that will be when He takes His seat on David’s throne ruling from Jerusalem, ruling the entire world while on planet earth.  Things will be a lot different then, when the King returns to take His seat in Jerusalem.

            As mentioned this will be a very short SD as I will quote three short paragraphs from the introduction from John MacArthur’s commentary in order to set the stage for what we will be studying from the first two verses in Matthew chapter 5.

            “Until this point in Matthew, Jesus’ words have been limited (4:17, 19) and reference to His teachings general (4:23).  Now, in one powerfully comprehensive yet compact message, the Lord sets forth the foundational truths of the gospel of the kingdom He came to proclaim.

            “Here begins what has traditionally been called the Sermon on the Mount.  Though Jesus repeated many of these truths on other occasions, chapters 5-7 record one continuous message of the Lord, delivered at one specific time.  As we will see, these were revolutionary truths to the minds of those Jewish religionists who heard them, and have continued to explode with great impact on the minds of readers for nearly two thousand years.

            “He is the manifesto of the new Monarch, who ushers in a new age with a new message.”

            Lord willing we will begin with the first Main point “The Context” which will have four sub-sections under it as the first one is “The Biblical Contest” which is the one we will begin with in our next SD.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Our Pastor went through this section on the Sermon on the Mount and so as I begin to look at the introduction to it then it is my desire that the Spirit of God will continue to teach me the great truths of it.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As I posted one of my older SD’s on my other blog in this section I desired that the Lord teach me contentment, and I suppose that along with humility is an ongoing process.  I also desire to have great joy as I study God’s Word each day.  We continue with a short quote from “The Strategy of Satan.”  “If you have only the Word, without prayer, you will have light without heat; but if you have prayer without the Word, you will be in danger of becoming a fanatic—heat without light or ‘zeal…not in accordance with knowledge’ (Rom. 10:2).  The important thing in prayer is to yield your will to God’s will in the matters that you pray about.

            “When you have taken these three steps, you will have surrendered yourself totally to the Lord—body, mind and will.  The Spirit of God will be able to work in you and give you victory.  The Holy Spirit uses the Word.”  He goes on to quote two passages which I, too will quote:

13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe”(1 Thessalonians 2:13).

20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Eph. 3:20).  

3/12/2020 9:32 AM