Jesus Wants To Give Us Heavenly Happiness (Part 1) Series

Jesus Wants to Give Us Heavenly Happiness (Part 1)

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 4:23-5:4

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - February 20, 2013

(Revised December 10, 2020)

BACKGROUND:

*Tonight, we will begin our study of the most perfect sermon that has ever been put on paper. It's the Lord's Sermon on the Mount, and it fills three chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. We don't know exactly where Jesus preached it, but John Phillips said it "seems to have been delivered on the slopes above Capernaum."

*Then Phillips explained that "the enormous crowds attracted to Jesus by His miracles followed Him up the mountainside. They were in for a shock, for the kind of kingdom He was about to describe had never entered their wildest dreams. Following the custom of Jewish teachers, Jesus sat down and began to speak. The sermon was directed to His disciples, but it was heard by all.

*His words rang out with heavenly authority totally absent in the petty ramblings of the rabbis. He spoke truths that soared far above anything those people had ever heard." (1)

*This sermon is a Kingdom sermon given by the King of Kings. William MacDonald explained that here King Jesus "summarized the character and conduct expected of His subjects . . . It was meant for all, past, present, or future, who acknowledge Christ as King." (2)

*Mark Wood noted that in this sermon "the message and work of King are most importantly internal and not external. Jesus focused on the spiritual and moral rather than physical and political. Here we find no politics or social reform. His concern is for what men are, because what they are determines what they do.

*And here Jesus established a standard of living counter to everything the world practices and holds dear. It is an utterly new approach to living that gives joy instead of despair and peace instead of conflict." It's the joy of Jesus in John 15:11 where He said, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." And it's the peace Jesus spoke of in John 14:27 where He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (3)

*We will find these great things and much more in the Sermon on the Mount, but tonight our focus is on this heavenly happiness. Please think about this as we read Matthew 4:23 - 5:4.

MESSAGE:

*In John 10:10 Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." But how many people are really living the abundant life?

*Timothy Smith once said that most people are tied down by "when and then" thinking: "When I get a good job, then I'll be happy. When I find the right mate, then I'll be happy. When I have kids, then I'll be happy. When the kids leave home, then I'll be happy." That's "when and then" thinking. But Jesus Christ tells us that the exact opposite is true." (4)

*As Jesus opened His Sermon on the Mount, He tells us that true happiness doesn't come from what happens to us. True happiness comes from Heaven. Our joy is not based on external circumstances. It's based on an eternal relationship with the God of the universe.

*Jesus emphasized this heavenly happiness 9 times here in Matthew 5. The word He used in these verses is translated as "blessed," but the original word simply means "happy."

*Maybe the translators used "blessed" because there IS something different about the happiness we see here. William Barclay said that the original word describes: "That joy which is serene and untouchable. . . That joy which is completely independent of all the chances and changes of life." (5)

*Jesus tells us that we can have indestructible happiness from Heaven above. And He wants us to have it. In tonight's Scripture we find three proofs that the Lord wants us to have heavenly happiness.

1. FIRST: JESUS GIVES US THE GOSPEL.

*As Matthew 4:23 says, "Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. . ."

[1] JESUS CHRIST PREACHED THE GOSPEL.

*Jesus preached the good news that God loves us in spite of our sins. He preached the good news that God the Father loves us so much, He sent His only begotten Son into the world to seek and save us. He preached the good news that He will forgive us and give us eternal life in His Kingdom, IF we will trust in Jesus enough to receive Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ preached the gospel that can change our lives forever!