I. Some few characteristics which the Sermon possesses.
1. The wonderful literary beauty of the language cannot have been unobserved by any one.
2. Then we have remarked the desultory arrangement and the apparently disconnected progress of ideas.
3. Chiefly, however, all of us have perceived the one great absence in this discourse, I might almost say lack, as we contemplated it from our Christian outlook. There is no allusion to the atonement. Christ is here as the preaching prophet, not as the atoning priest.
4. Hence the history of the Sermon affords a conspicuous example of the way in which men sometimes pervert God’s Word. They say, “Our sufficient creed is the Sermon on the Mount.”
5. Many of us would admit this statement, for we remember a startling and supernatural reach of requirement in this discourse-“Be ye therefore perfect,” &c,
II. The purpose Of this Sermon.
1. We find in it the description of a character.
2. We find in it a rule of life.
3. A standard of spiritual and experimental attainment.
4. We find in this Sermon an instrument of condemnation.
5. We find in it an incitement to holiness. (C. S. Robinson,D. D.)
Effects of our Lord’s Sermon on the people
I. The impression of this Sermon on the minds of the people-“They were astonished,” etc.
1. Admiration.
2. Some were penetrated with the importance of the word, and became “ renewed in the spirit of their mind.” It is not so much information, as vital impression which the masses of the people require.
II. The cause to which it is ascribed-“For he taught them,” etc.
1. His doctrine.
2. His manner. There was a combination of dignity, earnestness, and affection.
III. A few points of instruction which the whole conveys.
1. The true nature of personal religion.
2. To exercise Christian charity towards all mankind.
3. Never to despair of the Salvation of any of the human family.
4. A lesson of caution to all who attend the ministry of the Word. (J. E. Good.)
Truth gains by being lived
Forwhereas precepts and discourses of virtue are only the dead pictures and artificial landscapes and descriptions of it, a virtuous example is virtue itself; informed and animated, alive and in motion, exerting and exhibiting itself in all its natural charms and graces. And, therefore, as we know a man much better when we see him alive and in action than when we only see his picture; so we understand virtue much better when we see it living and acting in a good example than when we only behold it described and pictured in various precepts and discourses. (J. Scott.)
Truth attracts by being lived
A belief without any adequate expression in acts is like an organ when all its pipes are silent and its keys untouched. It is dumb. It charms no one. It attracts no one. But bring forth the player; let him press the keys, let the dead air in all the choral columns be started into vibrations, and how the anthem swells, and how hearts are lifted on the waves of sound, and all the thousands applaud, some with their hands, others with eyes filled with happy tears. (W. H. H. Murray.)
The doctrine of Christian obedience rewarded
1. Let us take A general view of the doctrine of Christ.
II. The effect which it had upon the minds of the surrounding multitude.
1. These may be an astonishment of delight and approbation.
2. It may be a feeling of voluntary unbelief.
3. The high and irresistible authority with which He taught these holy truths.
III. The promised reward of obedience to the doctrine of Christ-“He shall in no wise lose his reward.”
1. Because the Lord has said it.
2. Because godliness with contentment is gain.
3. Because godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come”
4. Because if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
5. Because though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death they will fear no evil. (S. Morrell.)
