The Teachings of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount

In the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had made four points. First, He had told His listeners to be poor in spirit which meant that they should have a heart and a mind that would be open to His instructions. Second, He had made some specific promises to those that are poor in spirit, mourning over their spiritual condition, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, and makers of peace. He had then spoken to those people that would be persecuted for His name's sake. He had spoken to those that had had a responsibility to be salt and light. Third, He had shared His high view of the scriptures and had showed that His life and His ministry would not contradict anything that the Jewish people had been taught in the Old Testament. Fourth, He had showed His deity by presenting a higher lifestyle for His followers on such matters as anger, adultery, divorce, making oaths, self-sacrifice, and dealing with one's enemies.

In the second part of His sermon, He had given advice about how the saints of God should conduct their lives. He had openly criticized the scribes and the Pharisees because of their hypocritical giving of alms and because of their long public prayers. He had also taught His listeners how they should pray. He had spoken to them about the importance of forgiving others because forgiven people should be forgiving people. He had then concluded the second part of His sermon by emphasizing how important it is to put the Lord FIRST in ALL things. Godly people should use their treasures of time, talent, and resources in ways that will accomplish the Lord's will in this existence. That means that the saints of God should be concerned about those individuals that will leave this existence NOT SAVED because that was and is the major concern of the Lord. It was for that reason that He had died on the cross at Calvary. Finally in being consistent with that idea of serving the Lord and of doing His will is also the idea that a person would be wiser serving Him than chasing after all of the meaningless, temporal pursuits of this existence.

In the third part of His sermon, Jesus had dealt with the problem among many people of being too judgmental when it comes to other people. He had told His listeners to worry more about their own faults than about the faults of others. He had next shared three levels of prayer where each one is a little more persistent than the other. Knocking is being more persistent than just seeking which is being more persistent than just asking. He had encouraged His listeners to live by the Golden Rule which simply means to treat others as one would want to be treated by others. Then, in the next part of His sermon, He had begun talking more about eternal issues. He had indicated that most people are on the wide path that leads to the wide gate that leads to eternal destruction. But that is definitely not where one really wants to be either in this life or in the life to come. He had next warned His listeners about false prophets which can also be anyone in the ministry that is teaching false doctrine. One can know them according to Him by their fruit or by what they produce. Such individuals are like those that have built their house on the sand, and they will be very harshly judged in the end. So the overriding theme of the Sermon of the Mount is to seek the Lord with all of one's heart and come to Him by faith early in life. It is to fully live for Him throughout one's life.