Think. Please think! - By David Servant


Is the statement below, by an alleged "Bible teacher" who has tens of thousands of enthusiastic followers, true?

"The Sermon on the Mount isn’t directed at people who trusted Jesus. The whole point is to take what He said literally so the hearer would repent from Law observance toward believing Him instead."

Premise #1: "The Sermon on the Mount isn’t directed at people who trusted Jesus."

Matthew 5:1 says, "When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them."

So Jesus saw "the crowds." That is an undefined large group. Then He climbed one of the mountains along the Sea of Galilee. And then "His disciples came to Him." That is a defined group. They were His disciples—His devoted students who were already being persecuted for following Him according to what He said to them just seconds into His sermon (see Matt. 5:10-11). Then they listened as He exposed and corrected the false teaching of the religious leaders, the people who would kill Him, throughout His sermon. But Jesus' Sermon on the Mount "was not directed towards people who trusted Him?" That is idiotic. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount was directed only to people who trusted Him.

Premise #2: "The whole point is to take what He said literally so the hearer would repent from Law observance toward believing Him instead."

Where is that theory intimated, mentioned, or taught in the Sermon on the Mount, or for that matter, where is it taught in the New Testament? It is found absolutely nowhere. It is nothing more than an absurd postulation by a false-grace teacher.

But it is worse than than that. It is heretical and blasphemous, because it makes Jesus into a liar and deceiver who led His audience to believe what allegedly is not true.

The fact is, Jesus repeatedly told His audience things they must do to stay out of hell (see Matt. 5:20-22, 27-30; 6:14, 24; 7:13-14). Then He warned them, "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter" (Matt. 7:21).

Yet the alleged "Bible teacher" I referenced earlier claims that Jesus' entire point was to get His audience to "repent from Law observance toward believing Him instead." So, Jesus' goal was to get them to stop trying to keep the Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, even those He cited during His sermon, but rather to "believe Him," the one who gave them the Law of Moses that included the Ten Commandments! That statement is self-contradictory. How could anyone "believe Jesus" but reject what He plainly said? The idea is patently absurd.

Tragically, that alleged "Bible teacher" has tens of thousands of foolish followers whom he is leading straight to hell with himself. And they all think they are Christians on the way to heaven! And he is just one of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of similar preachers and teachers—wolves in sheep's clothing—who are pitting grace against obedience.

Why does God allow such "teachers" to promote their heresies and blasphemies? He is testing hearts (see Deut. 13:1-3). Those who gravitate towards leaders who carve idols to their own liking and name them Jesus are exposed as people who actually hate God. If they ever actually met Jesus, they would kill Him if they could. By their heresies and blasphemies, they condemn and crucify Him afresh every day.

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Mike