The Sermon on the Mount for Today

Host: Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible. I'm Steve Sweates. You know, a few passages of scripture are more familiar or more misunderstood than the Sermon on the Mount. Some people treat it as the entire message of Christianity, believing that if the world would simply follow these teachings, everything would be better. Others go the opposite extreme and say that it has little or nothing to say to this generation. Well, in this message, Dr. J. Vernon McGee helps us see a better way to understand it. The Sermon on the Mount isn't a program for fixing society, and it's not something to ignore either. Instead, it reveals the character of those who belong to God's kingdom. And it reminds us how deeply we need the righteousness that only Christ can give us. Before we begin, let's hear from Eden, a fellow passenger on the Bible bus, and she writes this.
Host: I first started listening to Dr. J. Vernon McGee's teaching on Through the Bible back in 1977. I'd come to America as a foreign student from Ethiopia, and those programs were such a help and encouragement as I tried to adjust to life in a new country. Since 1999, I've been a regular listener, sometimes listening to the daily program two or even three times a day on the app. Over the years, my Christian life has grown so much through Dr. McGee's teaching. I'm truly grateful for him and for everyone at the Through the Bible headquarters. Honestly, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that discovering this ministry has been one of the best things that has happened to me since I came to America. Everything else in life is temporary, but the Word of God lasts forever.
Host: It's also wonderful to hear that you are now reaching people in Ethiopia in several languages, including Amharic, Oromo, and Tigrinya. My country truly needs the clear teaching of God's Word and the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what about you? When did God's Word begin to take root in your life? How has scripture helped steady you through seasons of change? What keeps you coming back to the study in the Bible again and again? Well, you know we'd love to hear your story. So send us a note with the feedback tool in our app or email us at [email protected] or write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1.
Host: You can also leave us a voicemail anytime at 1-800-65 Bible. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the many listeners around the world who are growing in faith as they study the Bible with us. As we open the scriptures now, Lord, would you quiet our hearts and then teach us by your spirit? Help us to not only understand your truth, but to live it in everyday life. In Jesus name, Amen.
Host: Here's the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This morning, our subject is the Sermon on the Mount for today. The far right and the radical left are not only terms which apply to politics today, but also to the interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. No document has been subjected to such extreme viewpoints of interpretation as the Sermon on the Mount. As a result, it has suffered much abuse, and it's been misunderstood.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It has been hurt more in the house of its friends than any other place. Now, these two umbrellas, extreme viewpoints have been raised over this very noble document. And many think that you have to get under one or the other. I trust this morning, we'll be able to show you do not have to get under either one of them.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: First of all, let me note briefly the radical left. They see in the Sermon on the Mount the total message of the Christian faith. It is the epitome of Christianity. It is the final message and the total expression of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the known of the gospel.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It is the quid pro quo for the cross and the death of Christ. It actually is the motivation for the United Nations today. May I say that this philosophy has proven suicidal for our nation. Nothing could be further from the truth of the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount that it is to be given today to the nations of the world, and that they are to keep the Sermon on the Mount.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It is the law of the kingdom. It is the manifesto of the King. It is the platform by which Jesus Christ will come to power on this earth someday. He never intended to give the Sermon on the Mount to unregenerate man. It was never intended to give to nations today.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It was never intended to be put into operation like that, simply because you cannot put it into operation, and he never intended that it should be used in that connection. It's idiotic. And I use that statement after a great deal of thought. It's idiotic to try and get unredeemed man to live by it.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's almost absurd today, and it has made more hypocrites than anything else that I know of. For instance, the Sermon on the Mount says, resist not evil. If you follow that literally, you'd take every lock off of every door you have in your place. Why do you have it there for an ornament? Do you enjoy coming home at night and fumbling around in the dark to find the key to get into your home? No, you put it there to resist evil, to keep the thief out. But he said, resist not evil.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I say to you that reading the Sermon on the Mount ought to startle and alert us today to begin with, the word father is used 17 times in this Sermon on the Mount. Nowhere are we told in this Sermon on the Mount how that you get to the place where you become a son of God so that you can call God your Father.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Nowhere in the Old Testament will you find that. The nation Israel, as a nation, considered God father, but no individual Israelite ever went to God and called him father in a personal way. Never was in the Old Testament. Our Lord, when he gave this, is giving it to men and women who have come into a relationship with God where they now can call him Father.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And that means they have been regenerated. And you won't find anything about regeneration in the Sermon on the Mount. You'll find nothing about faith in Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. You'll find nothing about the new birth here. It is a manifesto given to those who are the citizens of the kingdom, who are already sons of God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It doesn't tell you how you become a son of God. It is to be the law of the kingdom that he shall establish on this earth. And when he's reigning down here, you can take the locks off your door. But until then, may I say, we are to resist evil. For our Lord said in another place, a strong man armed keepeth his household.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I say that that today is the should be the law of the land, if you please. Now, that's one extreme viewpoint, that we are to saddle the Sermon on the Mount on godless nations today and try to get them to abide by it. And it's pious hypocrisy to get up and ask an unregenerate man to keep the Sermon on the Mount.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The other extreme view is to the far right. They say the Sermon on the Mount has no message for this day in which we live. Fact of the matter is, they say it's even sinful to consider it as having a meaning and an application for today. May I say to you, this type of interpretation would soon destroy the Bible.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: One group would get rid of all of it but the Sermon on the Mount. And the other would get rid of the Sermon on the Mount. And after you've done that, my friend, you haven't anything left. These are two extreme viewpoints today. May I say that the Sermon on the Mount contains great spiritual principles.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And these principles are an expression of the mind and the will of Christ. The Sermon on the Mount is a manifesto of the King. It's the law of the kingdom. And will you hear me carefully? It requires the presence and power of the King to enforce it. And when he's here, he'll enforce it.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But not today. No law is any good unless it's enforced. It's not that we need more laws. We need to have them enforced. And a law, unless it is enforced, is not law, my beloved. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount is law. It will be enforced when he reigns.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the Sermon on the Mount reveals the character of the subjects of the kingdom. It reveals the inner life rather than the outward conformity. It reveals what they are. Let me give you an example. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Do you qualify? Do you know anybody who does?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If you believe today that you can qualify on that kind of basis, you're not only dead wrong, but you'll never get into his presence if it depends on the pure in heart. He's speaking about those that have been clothed with a righteousness of Christ, who have come by faith and have trusted God, and can now be called the pure in heart.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He's not telling you in the Sermon on the Mount how. He's telling you who. He doesn't tell you how you become this way. He tells you how you will act after you become a child of God. The Sermon on the Mount is theo-centric. That's a big word. That means it's God-centered.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It is not anthropocentric, which means man-centered, as the liberal claims that it is. I listened to one several years ago, making the claim that the Sermon on the Mount was anthropocentric, and for that reason, that men today should put it in force here on the earth. It's not man-centered at all. Have you ever noticed that right on this same page where we began here, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify you?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: No, sir. Glorify your Father which is in heaven. May I say it's God-centered all the way through. It is for the glory of God, if you please. Now, it will be enforced in its entirety when he is here to rule. Have you ever noticed that the second Psalm says something we don't like very much, but it's there.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He shall rule them with a rod of iron. May I say, if you have the will, a renewed, redeemed will, to want to do his will and go his way, that rod of iron won't disturb you at all. May I say it's going to be awful to the man who tries to cross it, who's in rebellion against God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And when we come to the Book of Revelation, the Holy Spirit was afraid we might have missed that. And again it is stated, He shall rule them with a rod of iron. May I say, when he's here in person, the Sermon on the Mount will be enforced to the very letter. And I personally do not think we have all what is called the Sermon on the Mount.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Only a fragment. He only took two commandments, lifted them to the nth degree. What did he do with the other eight? He lifted them also, but we don't have the record. He took two commandments. He said, if you're angry with your brother, you're guilty of murder. Is there anyone here who's not a murderer?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I see your hand? Never been angry. Man, I'm in the wrong crowd today. May I say that's law lifted to the nth degree. He said that the one that so much as looks upon a woman to lust after is guilty of adultery. Not the act, the look. Going to qualify today for the kingdom?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I say to you, my friend, the Sermon on the Mount condemns the best man that ever walked this earth. It shows that man today that he needs a savior, and he needs a clothing for his unrighteousness today. This morning, I want to examine some of the principles that are stated in the Sermon on the Mount. And I want to look at them in three different areas.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Since this is the ultimate goal for the earth, since this is expression of the mind of Christ, may I say to you, it does have a message for us today, a spiritual message. And I do believe that we ought to consider it. And certainly in this particular area, these three areas in which we're going today.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: In the sixth chapter, he deals with formalities in religion. And he condemns it. He says that a ritual is something that is done before men, but he condemns the ritual and says there must be reality because that's before God. He says that religion is not horizontal in spite of what's being said today.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That religion is perpendicular, and that a man must first of all be right with God before he can be right with anybody or anything down here. That's primary. He says that it's spiritual and it's not physical. And in his day, there was a God-given religion that had gone to seed, and it was far from God, but he'd given it and it was a ritual.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It was the ritual that was connected with the tabernacle and then with the temple. And men thought because they went through a ritual of religion down here, walking to and fro, that somehow or another, it brought them into the presence of God. And he moves into three areas. And will you listen to him?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He says, take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise, ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Now, the word alms that's used here is a word that means righteous acts. It has to do with everything that is connected with the life of a son of God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It doesn't make any difference what you do, that would cover it. Then he becomes specific. And he says, Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, and this is a different word for alms than the one that was used in verse one. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, it's the Greek word that we get our word almonary from.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We hear today of the almonary institutions. That means just a nice word for a charity institution. And that's the word that's used here. Doing your deeds of giving, if you please. Therefore, when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do, in the synagogue and in the streets, that they may have glory of men.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Now, the word hypocrite does not carry here the connotation that it does today. Today, we've made it mean an awful thing. And I think rightly so. But nevertheless, when our Lord used it, he had one thing in mind. It the word hypocrite comes from two Greek words, hypo and krino.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Krino means to answer. Hypo means to answer back. And it was a name given to actors in a play. If you have ever read the plays of Sophocles or Euripides, you will find that in those plays, that those who take the parts are called hypokrites. That is, they're called actors. They play a part.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: They are playing something that it's not real to them. They are going through motions and doing things that actually does not reveal their character at all. Now, our Lord said this, when you do things, that is, in your giving, don't be an actor. Let this thing be real with you. Now, if that's the thing that he's talking about here.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He says that you're to do this before your Father. Now, will you notice that? When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Now, he does not explain here how you become a son of God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Nowhere does he explain it in the Sermon on the Mount. The assumption is that you are a son of God. He's talking to those that are sons of God. And may I say that I think that is the terrible thing to give this to unregenerate men, and tell them this is what you're to live by.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: May I say, he never did that. And if you want to know the ones to whom he gave the Sermon on the Mount, when he went down to the top of the mount, it was his disciples who came to him and he's speaking to them. He got away from even the mob and the crowd, and he gave it to his disciples. He's speaking to those who come into a right relationship with God and who by faith in Christ are now sons of God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, will you listen to him? He says, the hypocrites, the actors that are playing at religion, that it's just a formality, and they're just going through certain outward forms. He says, when they give, they do it this way. And they did it that way in that day. They would come to a street corner and they'd blow a trumpet. And when they would blow a trumpet, why, the crowd would come. Also the poor.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the reason that they blew the trumpet, and the reason they gave as an excuse, it was the way to announce to the poor that they were going to give something away. But it was a mighty fine way of letting your neighbors know how generous you were. It was never done secretly. Always done by blowing a trumpet.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our Lord says, when you do your alms, when you do your giving, don't you go to the street corner and blow a trumpet. That's not the way you're to do. He said that these people have their reward. Now, he did say they had a reward. What is their reward? Well, why did they do it?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: They did it to be seen of men. They were seen of men. That's their reward. The transaction they had was horizontal. It was not perpendicular. They did it to be seen of men. They were seen of men. They got their reward. That ended the transaction. It had nothing to do with their relationship to God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And do you know a great deal of giving today is like that? When it's done to be seen of man, when it's done, even giving today, because even of a need. The reason that we're to give today, my beloved, is because we're giving to him. We're a priest standing at the altar, offering that which is a sacrifice acceptable to God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, will you notice, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth. And I love this. How in the world are you going to do something with your right hand and your left hand won't find out about it? May I say that the way that the right hand communicates to the left hand is through this telephone exchange up here we call the mind.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You know what he's talking about? He says that when you give, don't send a message up here to the mind because this is the proudest thing in the world. And if you give with your right hand, the message will go up there and say, boy, is he generous. And then the mind will go down and say to the left hand, man, are we wonderful?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Did you know, left hand, did you know what the right hand did? We ought to be proud of what we're doing for God. He says, let's cut this out as far as the mind is concerned. When you give, you're not giving to minister to the mind. You're not giving because it gives you a satisfaction within.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You see, we like to give because it gives us a satisfaction. You're not to minister to the mind. When you give with your right hand, your left hand is not to know because it's not to go be translated into the mind where there can be pride that enters in it. And satisfaction, well, you know, I'm giving to this cause because of the fact that, well, it does make me feel so good to give.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: My friend, when we give, we ought to give to him because of our relationship to him. Our Lord says, don't play at this thing. Don't be like a bunch of actors playing a part. Make this thing real. Make this an offering acceptable to God, a sweet savor unto him. That's the first thing.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Oh, my friend today. Our giving ought to have reality in it. That's what our Lord's talking about in the Sermon on the Mount. Now, we come to the second. Will you listen? When thou prayest, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the street, that they may be seen of man.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Because here is another matter that's not horizontal, it's perpendicular. He says that when you pray, don't do it before men at all. He says, when you pray, don't pray publicly. He says, you're to enter into your closet, and when thou shalt thy door, pray to thy Father.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You have to be a son before you can pray, which is in secret. And thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. Now, he says several things about prayer here. First, there should be sincerity in prayer. It's not the making of beautiful words. God's not interested in that.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He's actually not interested in paraphrastic sentences. He really doesn't care whether the sentence you pray is grammatically true or not. He has no angel checking you on your grammar. He is tremendously concerned that you be sincere. And then the second thing is simplicity. He wants prayer to be simple.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And not only does he want prayer to be simple, he wants it to be brief. Don't take up all of his time. Oh, you say, but God wants to hear us. Not vain repetitions that the heathen use. I was in this prayer group and a man prayed and he took over by the way. He got it right the beginning and he held it for at least 10 minutes.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He said the same thing at least one half a dozen times. And I thought, almost laughed, I thought, wouldn't it be funny if the Lord did speak out his heaven and say to him, brother, I got it the first time. You don't have to keep repeating these things in my presence. I heard you. And you are not heard because you keep repeating.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then he gave his own the sample. And the Lord's Prayer is very brief, and it's a wonderful prayer to begin with. And we do not use it here. Sometimes I'm asked the question, why don't you use it in your public service? Same reason that we do not use, Now I lay me down to sleep.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, now I lay me down to sleep is fine for little ones. You remember when you started your little one that, and then there came a day when the little one says, God bless mama, God bless daddy. Wasn't that wonderful? And then there came a day when the little one just didn't use the prayer at all that you taught them.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Prayed on his own. And then there came a day when he's doing his own prayer. And you don't go back to now I lay me down to sleep. Our Lord gave this prayer to start you to pray, to show you how to pray. I believe it's good for that. May I be personal a moment? My mother was not really saved until after I entered the ministry.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And she didn't know how to pray. And she told me, she said, I got a book that had prayers in it. And I didn't like them, but it had the Lord's Prayer in it. And she says, I just started praying it, and then I'd go on from there. And I asked her, I said, do you still use it? Oh, no, she said, now I pray on my own. Let's grow up.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's fine for beginners. Nothing wrong with the Lord's Prayer. And if you haven't learned yet to pray, start with the Lord's Prayer. It's a wonderful place to begin. But someday graduate. Pray as Paul did in the Epistle to the Ephesians, if you please. Let me move on.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The third area in which our Lord touched is the area of fasting. Someone is going to say to me this morning, but fasting is not for believers. Would you show me the scripture where that is? Well, do you think that we ought to fast today? Yes. How? Just like our Lord said.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. And a man in that day that fasted, he put on sackcloth, and he took ashes, and he threw it all over his head.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Oh, he was a, he was a sorry-looking sight. And then he'd go down the street and people would say, oh, look at him. My, isn't he pious? Isn't he religious? He's fasting. Our Lord says, when you fast, don't do like that. He's an actor. And that's one reason I do not like testimonies today.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Where some individual tells about all of the sacrifices they are making. My brother, if you're fasting, keep it to yourself. It has no value if you are going to spill it out to other folk. Make your sacrifice and keep it to yourself. Now, will you listen? Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: For they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Three times now, he's said that, they have their reward. It's, it's sarcasm. It's biting sarcasm. Our Lord knew how to use it. Never to hurt, but to be helpful.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's his caustic. Oh, that statement is an acid statement. Oh, the acidity of it. They have their reward. What is the reward of the man who prays in public? He gets the answer to his prayer? No. He wasn't praying to get an answer. He was praying before men to be seen of men. He was seen of men.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That was his reward. God never heard him. Our Lord said that the Pharisee that went up to the temple to pray, God never heard him. He heard the publican who stood afar off. And this man that is fasting, he has his reward. He wanted to be seen of men, that they could commend him and say he was, oh, that dear brother, isn't he religious?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Isn't he a wonderful saint? That's his reward. God never said it. God says, you hypocrite, you actor, you didn't do that for me. Now, immediately, someone is going to say this morning, I don't think fasting is for today. It is not commanded anywhere. Did you know it's not even commanded in the Old Testament?
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Our Lord mentions it. You find Paul mentioning it. But you go back under the legal system where a great many people think that it belongs. God gave feast days. He never gave fast days. Now, it is true, in the Yom Kippur, the great Day of Atonement, when they were grieving for their sins. That was the period of fasting.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But God was very careful to say to them, I don't want you coming into my presence like that when you're grieving. He says, when you come into my presence, I want you to wash your face. I want you to fix your hair. I want you to rejoice in my presence. If you think I want to hear you whining all the time, you're wrong.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And God gave feast days to his people. He never gave fast days anywhere. But my beloved, when sin came into the nation, you will find that on many occasions, God's high priests and the priests and the nation, they went into sackcloth and ashes. You'll find the entire city of Nineveh put on sackcloth and ashes.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And you will find that the Lord Jesus commended his own disciples and defended them for not fasting because the Pharisees came and they said, now, look, how is it John was your forerunner, and yet the disciples of John fasted and your disciples fast not. You tell us why. He said, I'll tell you why.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: As long as the bridegroom is here, you don't fast. But the day's coming when the bridegroom is going to leave, and when he leaves, there are going to be days of fasting. And there came a day when they crucified him. There came a day when he came back from the dead. There came a day and he went back to heaven. And I find them fasting. The early church fasted.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I find Paul in First Corinthians 7:5, that ye may give yourself to fasting and prayer. And in this day, when the biggest problem that we have is not getting something to eat, but eating too much, this is a day when God's people need to practice fasting, secretly. You don't tell anybody.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You don't let anybody know it. The minute that you let somebody know it, you're doing it before men. This is something that's to be done before God. And I believe that in this hour, in which we're living, the seriousness of it, would seem to demand on the part of some that there be fasting today.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: If there's sin in your life and you really mean business with God, that's the way that Paul told it to the Corinthians. There was sin in the church there. And sin in the lives of some of the believers. And he said, now, I want you to give yourself to fasting and prayer. And I think when there's sin in our lives, we do need to fast and pray.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I think that when we're in serious days, like we're in today, it wouldn't hurt to have fasting and prayer. The way we do it today is we have a banquet and prayer. But my beloved, fasting is an evidence between our souls and God that we mean business. But this is not acting. This is not to be hypocritical.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is something that is to be real. In the Sermon on the Mount, there are great many things that are for us today. Great spiritual principles. Our giving secretly, our praying secretly, our fasting secretly. These are things that you do in religion, and it's so easy for them to become a formality.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: A liturgy, an outward ritual that we go through. Our God says, our Lord took away the cover. He skins this thing alive called religion. And he said, these are things you don't do before men. You do them before your Father in heaven. And you do not do them to become a son of God.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You do them because you are a son of God. My friend, there's nothing you can do this morning that will make you a son of God, nothing. And if you today are not a child of God through faith in Christ, I want to be kind and and really nice to you. The Sermon on the Mount's not for you at all.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: To as many as received him, that is the Lord Jesus, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God. Even to those that don't do any more nor less than simply believe in his name. He has you shut up today to a cross. He's saying to you, he's saying to me, he's saying to a lost world.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: What will you do with my son who died for you on the cross? That's my issue with the lost world. Nicodemus, Mr. religious man, you must be born again. You must become a son of God through faith in Christ. Then he'd like to talk to you about the Sermon on the Mount.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I say it reverently, I do not say it flippantly, if you are not a child of God, you forget the Sermon on the Mount. You forget it until Christ becomes your savior. And you become a son of God. And you can say Father. My beloved, you've had today strong medicine.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: This is contrary to the philosophy of the world right now. But any intelligent man knows that the philosophy of the world has us in an awful mess today. God is saying to you, what do you do with my son who died for you? I want to make you a son of mine. And I can make you a son of mine.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You can't. You can't try to keep the Sermon on the Mount and become a son of God. You can't lift yourself up by the bootstraps. You can't do enough today to become a son of God. He alone can make you a son of God through faith. That's not the way the world says it. The world says, do something and you'll be somebody.
Dr. J. Vernon McGee: God says, be somebody and then you can do something. Become my son.
Host: If you enjoyed Dr. McGee's teaching, then we invite you back for a daily dose of Through the Bible. Each weekday, the Bible bus moves a little farther down God's Word one chapter at a time, discovering the wisdom, challenge, and encouragement that God has for us along the way. So why don't you hop aboard, invite a friend along with you for that ride. You can listen anytime with our app, online at TTB.org, or just call us at 1-800-65 Bible, and we'll help you find a local station that carries Through the Bible. Now, that same number, 1-800-65 Bible, is also the one to call if you'd like help choosing a resource to help deepen your own study of God's Word.
Host: One especially helpful guide is the Bible Companion for Matthew. It follows along with our study and includes summaries, scripture readings, and reflection questions designed to help you get even more out of each passage. It's great for a small group study, too, by the way. And then meet me back here next Sunday for Dr. McGee's popular sermon, Some Seed from Matthew 13. I'm Steve Swetz, and as we go, I leave you with this reminder from Psalm 119:105. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. And until next time, may the light of God's Word guide you this week.
Host: Jesus made it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store, and always at ttb.org.