Sermon on the Mount
Although I have not written about the Sermon on the Mount for several days, the teachings of Jesus found there have often been in my daily meditations. I sat aside the blog while my daughters were away at camp and then I had a series of business trips. I also wrote a guest post for Jeremy Myers at www.tillhecomes.org entitled Do Not Worry in Context. Now I will return to more regular posts. It was not my intention for the study of Matthew to coincide with the writings of Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest, but if you will read his writings from July 21 up to and including today July 24. It will shed some insight into what we are to be about.
From July 21
“The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces a sense of despair in the natural man—exactly what Jesus means for it to do. As long as we have some self-righteous idea that we can carry out our Lord’s teaching, God will allow us to continue until we expose our own ignorance by stumbling over some obstacle in our way. Only then are we willing to come to Him. “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” This is the first principle in the kingdom of God.”
“The knowledge of our own poverty is what brings us to the proper place where Jesus Christ accomplishes His work.”
From July 22
Too much here to lift out a quote without losing some meaning. Read this day’s writing for a discussion of the death side of sanctification.
From July 23
This important section discusses the life side of sanctification
“Sanctification is not drawing from Jesus the power to be holy—it is drawing from Jesus the very holiness that was exhibited in Him, and that He now exhibits in me. Sanctification is an impartation, not an imitation”
From July 24
“The only thing that exceeds right doing is right being.”
“The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.”
So as we continue our study of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, I encourage you to read the complete sections from all these days writings in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.
