We're back in the
Gospel of Matthew,
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exploring the
meaning of Matthew 5:48.
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Ranko Stefanovic,
help us to understand
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a little bit more of the context
leading up to this verse.
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So we saw that Jesus is dealing
here with popular concept,
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what is right and
what is not right.
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And He mentions
that the followers,
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His followers, the
citizens of the kingdom,
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they don't behave according to
the popular concept of morality.
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Their relationship with God,
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the right living is
defined by God's standards.
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And now Jesus comes
to the last synthesis.
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Glenn, Let's go to
verse 48, what He said.
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He said-- Verse 48. All right.
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48, he says,
"Therefore you are to be perfect
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as your Heavenly
Father is perfect."
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You ask about this text.
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Glenn, what is probably
the keyword here in this text?
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Well, the first
word "Therefore."
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"Therefore." What
does it mean "Therefore?"
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Now many people say
the keyword is perfect.
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Glenn, you please very often.
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Can you stand there on
the pulpit and begin sermon,
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and you begin
sermon "Therefore"?
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We would have no context.
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There's no context,
"Therefore" always comes
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after something that was
said before and you build it.
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Actually another
word for "Therefore",
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it means, in the
light of the foregoing
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what we've just said.
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Let me now make a conclusion.
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So it means this word,
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"You are to be perfect as your
Heavenly Father is perfect."
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Is the conclusion,
what Jesus said before,
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and it is found in the context
of the last, these antithesis.
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So, can you read from verse 43.
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"You've heard that it was said,
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'You shall love your
neighbor, and hate your enemy.'
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But I say it to
you, love your enemies
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and bless those who curse you,
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do good to those who hate you,
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and pray for those
who spitefully use you
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and persecute
you that you may be
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sons of your Father in heaven.
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For He makes the Sun
rise on the evil and the good,
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and sends rain on
the just and the unjust.
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For if you love
those who love you,
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what reward have you?
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Do not even the tax
collectors do the same?
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And if you greet
your brethren only,
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what do you do more than others?
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Do not even the
tax collectors do this?
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Therefore, you shall be perfect,
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just as your Father
in heaven is perfect."
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Okay, let's address one issue,
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it was number of years ago,
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that some people who
read the Gospel they said,
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"You see the Gospel,
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they don't give the
historical reality."
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Among the Jewish
people at the time of Jesus,
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there was never, never teaching.
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"You shall love your
neighbor and hate your enemies."
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However, with the discovery
of the Qumran writings,
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it came to the
light that those people,
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they really were teaching is
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"You should hate
the sons of darkness
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and love only
the sons of light."
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So finally it was
brought to the light
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that actually this
concept was very much present
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among the Jewish people
at the time of the Jesus.
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And now Jesus goes on
what is that we have here.
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What is the popular
standard according to Jesus?
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The popular standard is
that "You love your enemies,"
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that "You don't
love your enemies.
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You just love those who
are very, very close to you.
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And isn't that the way much
of the world operates today.
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We see many
societies and cultures
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that still practice that way.
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Okay, let me
tell you, Jesus said,
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if I'm a
Christian and I'm white,
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and I love only people who
are of same skin color as I am,
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then what is the
difference between me
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and those who
are not Christians?
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This is what they're doing.
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If I like only
people who love me,
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who treat me well,
who are very close to me,
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neglect others people,
that's what everybody does.
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Yeah. Believe me, even,
even the most criminals,
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they know to love their
families and to their friends.
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But you see, the
difference between Christians
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and those who do
not follow Jesus Christ
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is that they love
both good and bad people.
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They love tax collectors,
they love the righteous people,
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they love everybody
because of that love of Jesus
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that is in their life.
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And after that... and
then Jesus said in verse 47,
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"If you greet
only your brothers,
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what are you
better than Gentiles."
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Because they are
doing, doing in the same way.
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Verse 46 "If you love
only those who love you,
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who respect you,
what reward do you have?
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Do not even the tax
collectors do the same?"
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It seems, Ranko,
that you're saying
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in many cases people were saying
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"Well, let me compare my love
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with what everybody
else is doing?" Yeah.
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But Jesus is now entering,
introducing a new measurement,
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"Don't measure yourself by
what everyone else is doing",
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but here it says, "As
your Father in Heaven."
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Apparently the Father
loves differently with the rain,
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and the just and the unjust.
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The Father treats
people differently.
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You see what we have
here is, my Christianity,
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my relations with people is not
defined by the popular culture.
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Yes. By the popular behavior,
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and attitude that
people have in the world,
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is defined by the way
how God treats people.
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And how is that God
treats people in verse 45,
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"So that you may be sons of
your Father who is in heaven;
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for He causes the Sun to
rise on the evil and the good,
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and sends the rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous."
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And now let's go to
verse 48, "Therefore,"
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if God loves old people,
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good and bad,
righteous and unrighteous,
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God loves, therefore you
are supposed to be perfect
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as your Father who is in Heaven.
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So verse 48, Glenn, is
not about the moral perfection
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as God is sinless,
I must become sinless.
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If that's the
text, then Jesus puts
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something to us
which is impossible.
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Jesus never taught it.
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Actually the same text,
you remember that we mentioned
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that there is another version
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of the "Sermon on The
Mount" in the Gospel of Luke.
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In Chapter 6, verse
36 of the Gospel of Luke,
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the same statement, the
same quote that Jesus made says,
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"Be merciful just as
your Father is merciful."
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This is what perfection is.
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It means, treat people,
be perfect in your attitude
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toward people as
God is with regard.
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You know, there
is an old Gospel song
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that has come to my
mind as you're sharing that,
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there is a wideness
in God's mercy. Yes.
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Sometimes we as Christians
haven't reflected that wideness,
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that generosity,
that graciousness of God.
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Ranko, we don't
have much more time--
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But Glenn, Glenn, when I
know how God is patience,
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patient with me, I know
what God did for me, my sin
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despite the fact
that I did not deserve it
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and now I had become a Christian
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and I try to put people down,
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because of their
shortcomings, because of sins.
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No, Jesus said, "Be merciful
as your Father is merciful."
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All right, where
else do we need to go?
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We have to go to the rest
of the Sermon on the Mount"
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in a few minutes that is left.
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Actually the entire
"Sermon on the Mount"
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is it goes according to
so called chiastic structure.
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When the first part
matches the last part,
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the next one, the next one,
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and we come to the center,
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center usually
the most important.
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Do you know what
comes at the center
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of "The Sermon on the Mount?"
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I have here this
chiastic structure in my notes,
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actually is the Lord's prayer.
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Do you know what is at the
center of the Lord's prayer?
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It's how to forgive to people,
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forgive them their debts as God
has forgiven to us our debts.
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Actually, this is really what
the entire sermon is all about.
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As we are making survey
through that is what Jesus,
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Jesus try to show in
rest of the sermon is,
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when we have
relationship with God,
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when we are the
citizens of the kingdom.
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when we pray, it will not
be public to make display,
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we are praying to God. Okay.
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When we help
people, it will not to be
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because I want my
business to prosper,
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because I see human
needs, I want to help.
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When I fast, it's because
of my relationship with God.
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It's not to make,
to make it public.
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When I belong to
God, the end of Chapter 6,
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I don't worry about tomorrow,
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I plan my life
what I will do tomorrow.
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I try to organize my
life but I don't worry
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because all my life
is put into God's hands.
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I know that God
cares as he cares
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according to the
end of this text.
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God cares for birds,
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God cares for
grass in the field,
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God cares for flowers, etcetera.
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God cares for me and Jesus said
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"But seek first the kingdom,"
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we are the
citizens of the kingdom.
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"Seek the kingdom
and His righteousness
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and all these things
will be provided to you."
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There is this
constant balance between
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the vertical and the horizontal,
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our relationship with others,
our relationship with God.
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And they are
constantly intersecting
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here throughout the sermon.
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And this sorted
relationship with God
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always results
this sorted relationship
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with fellow human beings.
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Now we have the conclusion
of the "Sermon on the Mount."
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All right. Let's go to it.
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Do you remember how
we began the sermon?
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There is the
difference between those
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whose life is defined by
their relationship with God,
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they are blessed, they
have a joy in these life
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and from those
whose journey these lives
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is defined by
external circumstances.
00:10:02.51\00:10:05.22
Now this is exactly how the
"Sermon on the Mount" concludes.
00:10:05.23\00:10:08.79
Glenn, can you do it? Very--
00:10:08.80\00:10:11.47
Okay, let's go to
story of the two builders.
00:10:11.48\00:10:13.32
Twenty four.
00:10:13.33\00:10:14.33
Matthew 7:24,
"Therefore whoever hears
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these sayings of
Mine, and does them,
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I will liken him to a wise man
who built his house on the rock,
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and the rain
descended and the floods came,
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and the winds blew
and beat on that house,
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and it did not fall, for
it was founded on the rock.
00:10:26.35\00:10:30.10
But everyone who
hears these sayings of Mine
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and does not do them,
will be like a foolish man
00:10:31.86\00:10:34.59
who built his house on the sand,
00:10:34.60\00:10:35.99
and the rain
descend, and the floods came,
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and the winds blew and
beat on that house and it fell.
00:10:38.43\00:10:41.63
And great was its fall.
00:10:41.64\00:10:44.15
And so it was, when
Jesus ended these sayings,
00:10:44.16\00:10:46.48
that the people were
astonished at His teaching,
00:10:46.49\00:10:48.65
for He taught them
as one having authority,
00:10:48.66\00:10:51.43
and not as the scribes."
00:10:51.44\00:10:52.73
So, Glenn, we have here
two houses and two builders.
00:10:52.74\00:10:57.22
Okay, one house
is built on sand,
00:10:57.23\00:10:59.20
you know, when we
were in Israel there.
00:10:59.21\00:11:01.38
To build on the
sand it's so convenient,
00:11:01.39\00:11:03.25
you just do quickly
there in the sand, etcetera.
00:11:03.26\00:11:05.53
you put there, you can build
00:11:05.54\00:11:06.82
that house very,
very fast, etcetera.
00:11:06.83\00:11:09.21
But in Palestine
in the time of Jesus,
00:11:09.22\00:11:11.34
if you wanted to
have a stable house,
00:11:11.35\00:11:13.52
you have to
carry all that material
00:11:13.53\00:11:15.21
on your shoulder
there on the rock.
00:11:15.22\00:11:16.73
It was very inconvenient. Yes.
00:11:16.74\00:11:18.40
And finally, you
build those two houses.
00:11:18.41\00:11:20.51
There is no difference
between the two houses.
00:11:20.52\00:11:22.39
It seems. There
is no difference.
00:11:23.88\00:11:25.78
Yeah. They're all etcetera.
00:11:25.79\00:11:27.08
But how do you know about
the quality of those houses.
00:11:28.50\00:11:30.97
Jesus said,
when the storm comes,
00:11:30.98\00:11:34.88
when the flood comes,
only the house that is built
00:11:34.89\00:11:38.96
on the foundation of
Jesus Christ on the rock
00:11:38.97\00:11:42.33
because in the
Bible God is the rock.
00:11:42.34\00:11:45.22
Jesus is the rock.
00:11:45.23\00:11:47.10
Only the house
that is built on him,
00:11:47.11\00:11:49.30
you see the sand are the
external circumstances of life.
00:11:49.31\00:11:52.94
If my Christianity,
if my happiness is built
00:11:52.95\00:11:57.86
on the popular concept of
the world in which I live.
00:11:57.87\00:12:01.52
Build on external circumstances,
00:12:01.53\00:12:04.44
of course, I can
be good Christian
00:12:04.45\00:12:06.55
when everything is okay.
00:12:06.56\00:12:08.29
But when hardship
comes into my life,
00:12:08.30\00:12:11.13
then the
difference will be shown.
00:12:11.14\00:12:14.11
Actually, it is
with these two metaphors
00:12:14.12\00:12:17.41
that Jesus makes an appeal
to His listeners to tell them,
00:12:17.42\00:12:22.56
"You have to make the
choice, what is the foundation?
00:12:22.57\00:12:27.56
On which you are building
the house of your life."
00:12:27.57\00:12:31.23
It's a great question
for each one of us, Ranko
00:12:31.24\00:12:33.09
to think about how
we're building our lives?
00:12:33.10\00:12:35.44
What's our foundation?
00:12:35.45\00:12:37.27
Glenn, I would like
to conclude with this,
00:12:37.28\00:12:39.79
to invite our
viewers-- is the question is,
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what is the foundation
00:12:43.43\00:12:45.38
upon which you are
building your house?
00:12:45.39\00:12:49.07
I know that in my life,
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so many times I built on
the external circumstances.
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When accepted Jesus
Christ as my personal savior,
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everything made the difference.
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Please, choose
Jesus Christ today.
00:12:59.96\00:13:03.06