This morning we come to the end of our journey through the Sermon on the Mount. It has been a journey of highs and lows, of comfort and of challenge. I hope that this section of Scripture has a friend to you. Not one of those friends that always tells you what you want to hear, but a friend that cares enough to tell you the truth and encourage you to live according to it. A friend that walks along with you and points out the proper path. A friend that will not abandon you. The things we have learned and been challenged with will stay with us the rest of out lives - if we are careful to heed its message.

I am sure that all of us have seen pictures of what a storm can do to a costal community. It is one thing to see pictures of such destruction. It is another to see it in person. While in Seminary, I earned my living working for the Los Angeles County Agriculture Department. Among my duties was the responsibility of inspecting certain sites along the California coast from Santa Monica to the Ventura County Border. It was a wonderful area to work especially in the summer when cool breezes blew off the ocean. One of the other areas I inspected was the hot desert area in the north east section of the county. I remember one particular winter there was a series of severe storms that battered the coast. Damage was high and included quite a few homes totally destroyed. It is quite a shock to drive up to a site you check every week, get out of the truck, and then notice there is nothing but surging ocean left. The house and property have all been washed away. You notice other homes, some only slightly damaged, others with the front part of them fractured and collapsing upon their broken support pilings.

I mentioned two weeks ago that the greatest danger we face is not the changing world around which can only effect us outwardly. Personal finances can change, but that only raises or lowers our standard of living. The decline of social morality may make it more difficult to live a holy life, but it can not change who we really are. The political climate can change, but that will only increase or decrease governments' intrusion the daily business of life. Even if direct persecution came upon us in the future that can not change our eternal destiny. What is most dangerous to us are those things that can affect us internally.

This morning we begin our study of the last section of the Sermon on the Mount. In this section Jesus draws all He has said throughout the sermon to a conclusion and calls on each and every one of us to respond. How will we respond to what He has said?

Have you ever watched a little boy with his father? They like to try to be just like dad. That is of course where the phrase, "Like father, like son" comes from. I have noticed that about my sons. For the most part that is good, but sometimes it is to my embarrassment one of them imitates some bad habit of manners or speech I have. Diane works overtime to correct us. Each one has particular area of interest. Jonathan wants to go hunting with me. Jimmy likes to help me fix things, and David likes to talk.

Many people are confused by what the Bible says. One of the reasons for this is that there are often so many differing opinions about what it says. The main reason for so many different interpretations is that too often people are not careful to understand what they are reading in its context. They do not pay attention to what is said before and after any particular passage or what is taught on that same subject in other places of Scripture. We have seen several examples of this already in our study of the Sermon on the Mount.

This morning we will continue in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has made it very clear throughout this sermon that there is a big difference between true righteousness from the heart and self righteousness as demonstrated by the Scribes and Pharisees. True righteousness is demonstrated in the character qualities described in the Beatitudes. Poor in Spirit, Mournful, Meek, Hungering and Thirsting after righteousness, Merciful, Pure in Heart & True Peacemakers. Those who demonstrate these qualities are hated by the unrighteous world and suffer persecution for their righteousness. The self righteous may try to give outward display of virtue, but it ends up being perverted in some way.

Anxiety, worry, fret, distress, agitation, tension, irritability. Words that describe a feeling of an inner turmoil that result in a feeling of outward uneasiness. The words describe a common feeling among humans as we consider what the future may bring to us personally and to the ones we love.

What is success? That depends upon what you value in life. If you value fortune, success depends on the standard of living and number of dollars in the bank. If you value fame, success depends on how many people know who you are. If you value power, success is determined by the number of people you have under your control. Most people consider a success a combination of fortune, fame or power. The amount of each varies, but success is still described in terms of those things. Even introverts who do not care how many people know about them will often still define success in terms of being the best, or at least extremely good, in their personal interest, hobby or sport. The individual determines what is success by what he or she personally values.

This morning we come to a topic that most of us are probably unfamiliar with - fasting. We may recognize the word and may know its meaning. Some of you may even think you have fasted before because you were forced to do so for some medical test or as part of a diet to lose weight. Some of you may come from religious traditions in which some sort of fast was practiced on particular occasions -, i.e., the Lenten season, etc. However, I doubt that there are more than a handful of people in the room that have ever fasted in the Biblical sense. Why? Two reasons. First, the proper Biblical practice of fasting, as expressed by our Lord in the passage we will be examining this morning, was quickly perverted and those parts of the church that have practiced fasting have not done it correctly. Second, the evangelical church has largely ignored the subject as a reaction to the excesses that have occurred within Catholicism and other Christian traditions.

Over the past several weeks we have been examining the section of the Sermon of the Mount that is often referred to as "The Lord's Prayer." As we have seen, it is not really the "Lord's Prayer" in that He never prayed it - Jesus had no need to as for forgiveness. It is in reality Jesus' instruction for prayer. It is a model for prayer set in the context of explaining the nature of true righteousness as compared to the religious righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Too often our lives are like the first part of this poem. We are so caught up in the rush of trying to live that we forget what life is all about. And in the rush, we try to prevail in our own power and fail to communicate with the one that empowers us to live.

It has been well said that the church cannot go forward unless it is on its knees. When we properly understand that we can accomplish nothing for the kingdom of God unless it is the Holy Spirit working through us we also then understand the absolute necessity of prayer. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that prayer is "beyond any question the highest activity of the human soul."

The Sunday prior to Christmas is often called "Christmas Sunday" and in light of that I would like to call our attention this morning to the meaning of Christmas. Today there will be many sermons in churches around the world about Joseph & Mary looking for a place to stay, Jesus in the manger, the shepherds in the fields, the Angels declaring God's glory, and a few even about the Wise men coming to worship and Herod seeking to destroy. I would like to speak this morning on what Jesus left in order to become a man.

Prayer - It is very simple is essence. It can be simply defined as talking to God. Yet prayer is one of the most complex subjects that can be discussed.

People seem to have a natural desire that other people should think good of them. From the mundane to the extraordinary, we strive to make a good impression upon other people. One way in which people may try to impress other people is through their generosity. I think of the foundations that have been set up by wealthy individuals with their names as the titles. Many schools & even some universities bear the name of the benefactor that established them. Buildings are also commonly named after some great benefactor of the project. And for those who do not have vast sums of money, they can still get their names put where everyone else can see by contributing a lesser amount and having that noted on a plaque or a brick or published in the organizations newsletter. Hospitals, alumni associations, zoos, and charitable organizations commonly do such things. But it also occurs in the church. Pews get a little plaque attached to them. Stained glass windows have the family name etched in them. Hallways have large boards where the names of large contributors are displayed. I visited one church where not only were there little bronze placards on almost every piece of church furniture, but the walk ways around the church had special bricks set in them that had the names of the contributor engraved in them.

This morning we begin a new section within the Sermon on the Mount, but its theme is the same as we have been studying since we entered into this wonderful section of Scripture. What is the nature of true righteousness - that righteousness that surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees? In the Beatitudes we saw the characteristics that will mark the person who is righteous in heart. Poor in Spirit, Mournful over sin, Meek, Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Merciful, Pure in heart, a Peacemaker, with the result that the unrighteous will persecute them. None of these characteristics can be produced by man's own effort, they are the product of a man who is regenerated by the Holy Spirit.

Today we reach the end of another section in our study of the Sermon on the Mount. This morning we will look at the sixth and final comparison Jesus makes between the self righteous teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees and the true spirit of the Law - which is a righteousness from the heart. In the next chapter Jesus will begin to contrast the practice of true righteousness with the practices of the self righteous.

Some years ago a man named Lucien had served the state of Kentucky "beyond the call of duty." One day he discovered that an old boyhood friend named Sam was serving time in the State penitentiary and had eight more years to serve. Lucien went to the warden and asked if he could visit Sam, which the warden agreed to. Lucien and Sam talked for two hours their time ending with much laughing over some of the things that had happened in their youths. A month later Lucien visited the Governor and said: "I haven't been able to sleep. Sam, my boyhood buddy, is in prison. He was a good boy, Governor, and since you told that if there was anything Kentucky could do for me to name it, I came here to ask if a pardon might be granted. I'll take him into my business and into my home, for he has no family, and I have a big house."

There are many attacks against the Bible today. One of them is that the Bible is not relevant to our time. I think we have all seen the foolishness of such an argument as we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount. One might think that a sermon delivered close to 2,000 years ago would be at least a little archaic to modern society we have found that what Jesus says applies just as directly to today's situations as they did then. This is evidence that we are dealing with the Word of God and not just a nice speech by a good man. God's standard of righteousness has never changed. He is holy and nothing flawed with sin can stand before Him. This perfection requires that we must be made perfectly righteous if we are to spend eternity with Him and that cannot happen unless someone who is perfect both takes away our sin and makes us righteousness. This is what Jesus offers man by His sacrificial death on the cross. It has always been true that those that God regards as righteous are those that look to Him in faith to provide for them a righteousness they cannot attain for themselves. Scripture tells us that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. God's standard has never changed.

When a society abandons God's word as its standard of morality, then it will reap the consequences. The greatest threat to the family in our society is its dissolution through divorce. Our divorce rate is not high because families are decaying, our families are decaying because so many husbands and wives are following their own will instead of God's design for marriage and the family. This leads directly to family strife, divorce and then family dissolution. Divorce has a high cost financially, personally and for society since it erodes the foundation of a healthy society.

I first preached on this passage more than six years ago. James Dobson of Focus on the Family was using then the phrase "civil war" to describe the moral turmoil our nation was in. That is still a fitting description of what is going on between those still holding to a Judeao-Christian Ethic and those who have fallen under the influence of secular humanism which is the philosophy now controlling much of our governmental and school systems.

This morning we will be continuing in our examination of the Sermon on the Mount. We are now in the section of the sermon in which Jesus is giving concrete examples that contrast the false self-righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees with that of true righteousness.

Some years ago a member of the Missouri State Legislature accepted $25,000 for his vote in regard to a certain bill. Later he received $50,000 from the other side, and returned the original $25,000. Eventually the corruption was discovered and the legislator, who had turned state's evidence, related the story on the stand, the examining attorney asked him, "Why was it that you returned the $25,000?" The legislator drew himself up to his full height, and in a voice that showed his scorn of the lawyer for such a question, answered: "I'd have you know that I'm too conscientious to take money from both sides!"

The issue of personal righteousness is a matter that should be of great concern to all Christians. It was certainly the concern of the Jews of Jesus' time. They knew that in order to be in relationship to God and expect Him to treat them with favor. They had to live righteously. The religious leaders believed that they had achieved righteousness through either their careful keeping of traditions (the Pharisees) or their diligent study of the Scriptures (the Scribes). Most everyone else knew they were not living up to the righteousness demanded by the Law of Moses and were hoping Messiah would soon come and change things. That is one of the reasons that Jesus so quickly attracted the attention of both the religious leaders and the people.

This morning I want to talk with you about what this little poem point out - what is the Gospel message according to your life.

Paul tell us in 2 Timothy 3:12 that "indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." Last week we pointed out that this has been true throughout history - from the beginning when Cain murdered Abel to the current time as men and women are still dying for the their faith in Jesus Christ. In our text this morning Jesus says, "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Those who would live righteously for God have always been persecuted by those who would not. From the beginning of history it has been so. Righteous Abel gave a worthy sacrifice to the Lord and it pleased the Lord. Wicked Cain made an unworthy sacrifice to the Lord which was not accepted. The result was that Cain, in a jealous rage, lashed out and murdered his brother Abel. Every righteous man or woman mentioned in the Bible has suffered at the hands of the unrighteous. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David - all the prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, John the Baptist, Jesus Himself and all the apostles. It seems that righteousness is a magnet for persecution. The persecution against the righteous had continued from the Apostolic period even to the present day with many still losing their lives because they love the Lord Jesus Christ.

One of the commodities that is highly valued by the world is peace. There are diverse opinions on how to gain peace, but it is universally sought after. During the years of the "cold war" we feared losing the quasi-peace that existed. Fear of open war lead the U.S. and the Soviet Union to live for decades on the brink of destroying each other under the policy of "MAD" - "Mutually Assured Destruction" - in order to keep the balance from tipping either way which might lead to open war. Now we say that the cold war is over at isn't wonderful to have real peace. Of course I wonder what that means since so many of the former communist nations are still very unstable or in actual civil war. And rogue nations are trying to develop nuclear capability.

The past couple of weeks I have had the joy of having some of my family from California visiting with us. My brother and his family were here the end of July and my parents were with us until this past Thursday. We enjoyed taking the kids camping and going camping with them for a couple of days this past week. It brought back quite a few memories for me. I remember when I was about Jimmy's age, the sun would shine in my eyes early in the morning and since it was a new day, I was excited to go see mommy and daddy. So out of bed I would hop and I would run into my parent's bedroom and jump up on their bed and wake them up. Dad would put me on his knees and play a game with me. My kids have done the same thing with me and perhaps your kids have too.

The events in Los Angeles in May 1992 demonstrated the true character of human nature - full of anger, hatred and greed. In the three days of rioting 54 people were killed, 4,000+ injured, 12,000+ arrested, 5,270 buildings destroyed or severely damaged - whole neighborhoods were wiped out - cost of nearly $1 billion in damage. As gruesome as the violence was, I believe the greater tragedies are the excuses that were made to justify the violence and looting. One lady said to the television crew taping her, "if you had treated us right, we would not be doing this." Thus she blames others for her own actions. Another lady was loading the trunk of her car with merchandise she had just looted from a store. She was asked if she considered what she was doing stealing? She answered that she did not think it was wrong "because if it was the police would stop her from doing it." Thus she bases her morality on what she is physically restrained from doing. A kid - maybe 12 years old who was carrying a bunch of things he had just looted from a store was asked why he was doing it. He said, "hey man, its fun." Maybe worse of all were scenes of parents taking their children with them to join in the free-for-all of looting a Sears store.

Every been hungry? Really hungry? So hungry that all you could think about was food? Ever been thirsty? Really thirsty? So thirsty that your mouth was parched and all you could think about was water (not coke, 7 Up, Gatorade or Carbonated Spring Water).