1997 issue 3 - sermon on luke 6:17-49 - the setting of the sermon on the mount - counsel of...

8/12/2019 1997 Issue 3 - Sermon on Luke 6:17-49 - The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Exposition: Immediately after doing this he And when He saw the multitudes,

(6:17-20a) The Setting o the meets a great

multitude

of He

went up

on

the

mountain; and

Sermon on the Mount people:6:17, coming up

the after

He sat down, His disciples

mountain

to

hear Him and to be came to

Him.

These two verses

The Setting

o

the healed by Him.

At

this point He do not contradict each other.

Gospel

o

Luke

ga

thers the multitude around Both are true. Luke sends Jesus

In chapters four and

fi

ve Luke Himself and He preaches to up the mountain in v. 12, and

has been establishing the them the Sermon on the

Mount.

He

now

comes

down only .

far

progressive Messianic When He had completed all His enough

to

reach a level place so

self-revelation and the discourse in the hearing of the that

all

this

gr

eat

of

p

eo

ple

sovereignty of Jesus Christ

for

people, He

went to

Capernaum: can hear him. On aspot that

His non-Jewish readers. In the

7:

1, where He healed the

was

raised a bit so that

all

might

Sermon on the Mount the centurion's slave , 7:2f. see

Him

He sat down

Messianic self-revelation (Matthew). - Lenski

continues to proceed

The Location

majestically, for in

it

He acts Jesus descended with

The Audience

with absolute authority as them ,6:17, i.e., He be

ga

n

His

As Jesus and

His

apostles

Announcer of 'the

laws

of the descent off the mountain with made their

way

off the

kingdom.' He mountain;

proclaims this they

were

not on the met by a

ground of great

someone else's

multitude

of

authority, and His disciples,

does not even and a

great

say

as

the

throng

of

prophets of people from

the Old

all Judea

and

Testament

Jerusalem

and

did: Thus tne

coastal

saith the

region

of

1

re

Lord.' No, in

and Sidon,

a way in

oe

Mn ov

,.lit

.

who

had

come

which no man . : j j j 3 L J ' - ' - - - , - = ~ ~ _ - - ' - _ - - - : ' - - - - - _ ~ = . c - . = . c . : . . D

to hear Him

,

ever spokebefote He speaks His twelve apostles, when he was and

to

be

healed

of their diseases;

Y{ith a final, personal, divine met on a level spot below the

and

those

who were

troubled

with

authority .He is one with the summit of the mountain, ( a level unclean

spirits

were

being

cured.

Father and therefore He d

ecla

res

plac

e ) ,

by

a large multitude of And all the

multitude were

trying

o

. that the weal or woe of human people. He probably met them touch Him ,

for

power

was coming

life

in the last analy

sis

depends on level ground near the foot of from Him and

healing them all.

on the attitude adopted toward the mountain, because it would And

turning

His

gaze

on His

Himself and

His

words

- be more likely that multitudes

d

I H

b

to

T,

1

Isap

es,

e

egan

say....

W.

1:3.

Lenski ' .

The Kingdo'/ll Life

of

ContinuoUs Emptying

and Filling

t

is

not as

though these gifts

now

the attitude of

the

beggarly so that this . erm nO

'ionger describes them.

~ ~

The

case is this: as long

Ii as we live

in

this world

PRESENT POSSESSION as wen

as a CERTAIN

FUTI,JRE

CERTAlN'ty, Those who are

poor in

spirit are recipients of

the saving kingdom of God and

Christ here

and now in

this

world, as well as in the future

after

the

Return of Christ. The

kingdom of God centers

in Lhe

King,

jesus

Christ,

and in

the

powers of grace, might

and

glory

that go out from Him. Where

He

is; there

the kingdom

is

because there is His exercise of

grace

and

power. The rich and

the proud in spirit resist that

exercise as it would work in and

over them

in

salvation. The

poor cry out for that exercise of

saving grace

and

help. It is

impossible that the King should

let them go on crying; He fills

of sin and in spite of all

grace 'sin daily , so long

our poor hands are

stretched out to God's

grace

in

Christ, daily

receiving grace

forgra

.ce.

And the flow

of o d ' s

rich grace goes out

and

.

can

go

out to

us

only

as

we keep that

attitude.to which God Himself

has

brought

us and

in which

His

grace works to keep us. Thus

the kingdom is ours now

, and

,

being ours, it will bring

us all

that God still has laid up for .

us. - Lenski

'The Meaningof

the Kingdom of God'

The kingdom of

God

the

manifestation of the,sovereign

rule of God

in

power

and

grace

which established a

new

order '

(civilization) of righteousness

and blessedness in history

in

.and

through Jesus Christ in

fulfillment of.God's covenant

promises; and which order will

triumphantly progress through

8 THE COUNSEL ofChaIcedoD MaichJApril,.

1997


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history until it is perfected at the

Second Coming of Christ.

(Lh. 6:21a) The Second

Beatitude: Blessed are you

who hunger now,foryou

shall be satisfied.

Luke draws from Matthew as

a resource,

but

he does

not

slaviShly follow his order of the

beatitudes. He choses the four

from Matthew's eight. which '

seems to

him

to

best fit the

purposes of His Gospel, and he

even abbreviates these.

The Constancy of this ~ u n g r

In

this particular beatitude,

Jesus declares Blessed

those who

hunger now,

using the present participle

to make his point that this

hungering is present and

CONSTANT. In fact, this

hunger

not

only continues,

it increases as it is being

satisfied. Hungering and

thirsting are used figuratively in

the Bible to signify strong

spiritual desires and needs.

The O/1ject of this Hunger

Matthew records this

beatitude more fully---Biessed

are

those who

htlnger

and thirst

FOR

RIGHrEOUSNESS,

for

they

shall

be

satisfied.

A Christian

does not hunger and thirst

after happiness,

but

after

righteousness.

According to the

Bible, happiness is not

something that should be sought

directly; it is always spmething

that results from seeking

righteousness.

When

a person

puts happiness before

righteousness, he is dooming

himself to misery.

The desire for righteousness,

the act of hungering and

thirsting for it, means ultimately

the desire to be free from sin

in

all its fonns and in its evelY

manifestation. --- It means a

desire to be free from sin,

because sin separates from God.

Therefore, positively, it means a

desire

to

be right with God.

-

Lloyd-Jones, pg. 77. But, along

with this desire to be FREE

FROM THE GUILT

OF

SIN , it is

also a desire to

be FREE

FROM

THE POWER OF SIN. But,

deeper still,

it

is a desire to be

FREE

FROM THE VERY DESIRE

FOR SIN, which he knows still

pollutes him. Perhaps we can

sum

it al\

up

like this.

To

...

i l hunger

and thirst for

righteousness is lhe longing to

be holy, even

li our Father

in

H

ea'i'en

is holy.

hunger and thirst after

righteousness is to desire to be

free from self in all its horrible

manifestations, in all its forms. -

Lloyd-Jones, pg. 78.

t

is the

desire for true meekness, i.e.,

freedom from self-concem,

pride, boasting, self-protection,

sensitiveness, always imagining

people are against him, a desire

to protect self

and

glorify self.

Lloyd-Jones, pg. 79.

In other words, to hunger

and

thirst for righteousness is the

longing to be holy, even as our

Father in Heaven is holy. The

person who hungers for

righteousness is the person who

longs

to

manifest the Beatitudes

in his everyday life. He is the

person who wants to manifest

the fruit of the Spirit

in

his every

thought and action. It means

that one's supreme desire in life

is to

know God

and to

be in

fellowship

with

Him, to walk

with God the Father,

the

Son

and the Holy Spirit in the light.

--- To

be in

fellowship with God

means

to

be walking with God

the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

in the light, in that blessed

pUrity

and

holiness. The

man

who hungers and thirst after

righteousness is the man who

longs for that above everything

else. And in the end that is

nothing bu a longing

and

desire

to be like the Lord Jesus Christ

H i r n s e \ f L l o y d J o n e s ~ pg. 79.

The Nature of this Hunger

This hunger

and

thirst

for righteousness indicates

that we

know

Wi cannot

chieve righteousness by

our

own efforts.

We

hunger, because

poverty-stricken, for that

which must be given to us

by Another, if we are to be filled.

Hungering means

a

consciousness of

our

need, of

our deep need. I

go

further, it .

means a corisciousness of our

desperate need;

it means

a deep

consciousness of our great need

even to the point of pain. It

means something that )


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they are separated he is not at

rest until they are together again.

--- Let me

quote

some words of

the

great].N,

Darby which I

think put this exceedingly well.

He

sa

ys, 'To

be

hungry is

not

enough; I must

be

really starving

to

know what

is

in

His heart

towards

me

.

-- When

the

prodigal

son

was

hungry he

went

to

feed UpOI).

husks,

but

when he

was, starving; he turned to his

father.' - UoydcJones, pgs. SOr.

"As the hart panteth after the water

brooks,

so panteth my

soul

after

Thee, God. My soul thirsteth for

God, for the liying God. -Ps. 42:1.

The

Satisfactio1

.

o

thisHu1 ger

As

we

have said; the hunger

increases the more it is satisfied, .

and the satisfaction continues

only as

long

as their is hunger:

"'We daily cry for forgiveness,

and daily God satisfies us by

richly and daily forgiving us our

sins. -- The verb chortadzo is

strong, it is

used

with reference

to

feeding and fattening cattle

with fodder arid graIn

and

feeding men with great

abundance. - Lenski

Those

who hunger and

thirst

for righteousness, holiness, and

Christ-likeI).ess, shall be given

what they desire as a gift of

God's free grace.

No

one will

ever fill themselves with

righteousness or find blessedness

apart from Christ. To obtain

this, 'all the fitness He tequireth,

is to see your need of Him,'

nothing

more. When you and I

\mow our 'need, t h i ~ h u n g e r and

starvation, this death that is

within us, then God will fill us ,

He will give us this blessed gift.

Uoyd-Jones, .pg. S1.

This "hunger" is satisfied

IMMEDIATELY The moment

we

hunger

for Christ and His

righteousness, we are justified by

God, His righteousness is

credited

to

us, and the barrier

of

sin and guilt between us and

God is removed. Furthermore,

the

satisfaction

of

this hunger is

a CONTINUING PROCESS.

The Holy Spirit begins within us

His

work

of delivering us from

the

power

and pollution

of

sin,

and

continues this work

throughout

our lives. As we

keep on hungering for

righteousness in

our

lives, He

works in us to keep us desiring

"to

will and to do His good

pleasure." And, finally; this

soul hunger wilLbe.satisfied

PERFECTLYAND A&SOLUTELY

IN ETERNITY: Some.day we will .

stilJ;id in the presence of c i ~

totally perfect in body and soul,.

withoui entire being filled

With

complete righteousness received

from Jesus Christ.

The Christian is one who at

one and the same time is

hungering and thirsting, and yet

he is filled. And the more

he

is

filled the more he hungers and .

thirsts. That is the blessedness

of this Christian life. It goes on.

The Evidence

o

Hungering and Thirsting

for Righteousness

FIRST, we see through all our

own false righteousness.

SECOND, we have a deep .

awareness

of

our need

of

a

Savior. THIRD, we avoid

everything that is opposed

to

such a righteousness. FOURTH,

we

not

only avoid those things

we know to be evil, we also

avoid those things that tend

to

dull or take the edge off

our.

spiritual appetities.

""

1

COUNSEL ofChalcedon March/April, i997

Uoyd-Jones; pg. 90. FIFTH, we

continually remind ourselves of

this righteousness. We shall so

discipline.

1997 issue 3 - sermon on luke 6:17-49 - the setting of the sermon on the mount - counsel of...

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