Once Jesus had assured His obedient disciples that they were indeed among the transformed and blessed people who were destined to inherit the kingdom of heaven, He raised a word of caution. Unlike so many modern preachers who continually assure spiritual goats that they could never forfeit the salvation they supposedly possess, Jesus loved His true disciples enough to warn them that they could indeed remove themselves from the category of the blessed.

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:13-16).

Notice that Jesus didn’t exhort His disciples to become salt or become light. He said (metaphorically) they already were salt, and He exhorted them to remain salty. He said (metaphorically) that they already were light, and exhorted them not to let their light be hidden, but to continue shining. How this stands in contrast to the many sermons given to “Christians” of their need to become salt and light. If people aren’t already salt and light, they aren’t Christ’s disciples. They aren’t among the blessed. They aren’t going to heaven.

In Jesus’ time, salt was used primarily as a preservative of meats. As obedient followers of Christ, we are what preserves this sinful world from becoming completely rotten and corrupt. But if we become like the world in our behavior, we are truly “no longer good for anything” (v. 13). Jesus warned the blessed to remain salty, preserving their unique characteristics. They must remain distinct from the world around them, lest they become “unsalty,” deserving to be “thrown out and trampled under foot.” This is one of many clear warnings against backsliding directed at true believers that is found in the New Testament. If salt is truly salt, it is salty. Likewise, followers of Jesus act like followers of Jesus, otherwise they aren’t followers of Jesus, even if they once were.

Christ’s true followers are also the light of the world. Light always shines. If it isn’t shining, it isn’t light. In this analogy, light represents our good works (see Matt. 5:16). Jesus wasn’t exhorting those who have no works to drum some up, but exhorting those who have good works not to hide their goodness from others. By so doing, they would glorify their heavenly Father because His work in them is the source of their goodness. Here we see a beautiful balance of God’s gracious work and our cooperation with Him; both are needed for anyone to be holy.

What did Jesus mean when He spoke about people with clear eyes whose bodies are full of light and people with bad eyes whose bodies are full of darkness? His words must have something to do with money and material things, because that is what He was talking about before and after.

The Greek word translated “bad” in 6:23 is the same word translated in Matthew 20:15 as “envious.” There we read of an employer to who says to his worker, “Is your eye envious because I am generous?” Obviously an eye cannot literally be envious. Thus the expression “an envious (or bad) eye” speaks of a person with greedy desires. This helps us better understand what Christ meant in Matthew 6:22-23, verses in which the context indicates the subject is money.

The person with a clear eye symbolizes the one who is allowing the light of the truth to come in to him. Thus he serves God and lays up treasure, not on earth, but in heaven. The person with the bad eye shuts out the light of the truth from coming in, because he thinks he already has the truth, and thus he is full of darkness, believing lies. He lays up treasure on earth where his heart is. He believes that the purpose of his life is self-gratification. Money is his god. He is not heaven-bound.

What does it mean to have money as your god? It means that money has a place in your life that only God should rightfully have. Money is directing your life. It consumes your energy, thoughts and time. It is the main source of your joy. You love it.^[1]That is why Paul equated greed with idolatry, stating that no greedy person will inherit God’s kingdom (see Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5-6).

Both God and money want to be masters of our lives, and Jesus said we can’t serve them both. Again we see that Jesus stayed with His primary theme—Only the holy will inherit God’s kingdom. He made it very clear that people who are full of darkness, whose god is money, and who lay up earthly treasures, are not on the narrow road that leads to life.

^[1] On another occasion, Jesus made the same statement about the impossibility of serving God and mammon, and Luke tells us, “Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at Him” (Luke 16:14).

When Jesus stated that our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, was He not alluding to the legal righteousness that would be imputed to us as a free gift? No, He was not, and for good reason. First, the context does not fit this interpretation. Before and after this statement (and throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount), Jesus was talking about keeping the commandments, that is, living righteously. The most natural interpretation of His words is that we must live more righteously than the scribes and Pharisees. And how absurd it would be to think that Jesus was holding the scribes and Pharisees to a standard to which He was not holding His own disciples. How foolish to think that Jesus would condemn the scribes and Pharisees for committing sins for which He would not also condemn His disciples simply because they had prayed a “salvation prayer.”^[1]

Our problem is that we don’t want to accept the obvious meaning of the verse, because it sounds to us like legalism. But our real problem is that we don’t understand the inseparable correlation between imputed righteousness and practical righteousness. The apostle John did, however. He wrote: “Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous” (1 John 3:7). Nor do we understand the correlation between the new birth and practical righteousness as John also did: “Everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him” (1 John 2:29).

Jesus could have added to His statement of 5:20, “And if you repent, are truly born again, and receive through a living faith My free gift of righteousness, your practical righteousness will indeed exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees as you cooperate with the power of My indwelling Spirit.”

^[1] Moreover, if Jesus was talking about the imputed, legal righteousness that we receive as a gift for believing in Him, why didn’t He at least hint at it? Why did He say something that would be so easily misunderstood by the uneducated people to whom He was speaking, who would have never guessed that He was talking about imputed righteousness?

Jesus also expected that His followers would pray and fast, and that they would do those things, not to be seen by people, but to please their Father. Otherwise they would be no different than the hell-bound scribes and Pharisees, who prayed and fasted only to gain the praise of people, a very temporary reward. Jesus admonished His followers:

And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners, in order to be seen by men [Jesus’ audience certainly knew of whom He was speaking]. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men [Again, Jesus’ audience certainly knew of whom He was speaking]. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face, so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you (Matt. 6:5-6, 16-18).

How many professing Christians have a prayer life that is non-existent and have never fasted?^[1] In this regard, how does their righteousness compare with that of the scribes and Pharisees, who practiced both (albeit for the wrong reasons)?

^[1] Later in this teaching, I have included an entire chapter on the subject of fasting.

And when He saw the multitudes, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. And opening His mouth He began to teach them (Matt. 5:1-2).

It seems as if Jesus purposely reduced the size of His audience by walking away from the “multitudes” and up a mountain. We are told that “His disciples came to Him,” as if to indicate that only those who were hungry to hear Him were willing to huff and puff up the mountain to where He finally rested. Apparently there were quite a few; they are called “the crowds” in 7:28.

Jesus then began His sermon, speaking to His disciples, and from the start we get a hint of what His overriding theme will be. He tells them that they are blessed if they possess certain traits, because those traits belong to the heaven-bound. That will be His overall them for this sermon—Only the holy will inherit God’s kingdom. The Beatitudes, as they are called, ring with this theme.

Jesus enumerated a number of different traits that characterize the blessed people, and He promised a number of specific blessings to them. Casual readers often study the Beatitudes like people who are superstitious scan horoscopes, thinking that each person should find himself in one, and only one, Beatitude. Careful readers, however, realize that Jesus was not listing different kinds of people who will receive varied blessings, but one kind of person who will receive one all-encompassing future blessing: inheriting the kingdom of heaven. There is no other intelligent way to interpret His words.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matt. 5:1-12).

By using the sixth commandment as His first reference point, Jesus began teaching His disciples God’s expectations for them, while at the same time also exposing the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees.

You have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not commit murder” and “Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, “Raca,” shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, “You fool,” shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell (Matt. 5:21-22).

First, note that Jesus was warning about something that could cause a person to go to hell. That was His primary theme—Only the holy will inherit God’s kingdom.

The scribes and Pharisees preached against murder, citing the sixth commandment, apparently warning that murder could land one in court.

Jesus, however, wanted his disciples to know what the scribes and Pharisees didn’t seem to realize—there were much “lesser” infractions that could land one in court, apparently God’s court. Because it is so important that we love one another (the second greatest commandment), when we become angry with a brother we should consider ourselves already found guilty in God’s court. If we verbalize our anger by speaking in an unkind way to him, our infraction is even more serious, and we should consider ourselves guilty in God’s highest court. And if we go beyond that, spewing out hatred for a brother with a second slur, we are guilty enough before God to be cast into hell!^[1] That is serious!

Our relationship with God is gauged by our relationship with our brothers. If we hate a brother, that reveals that we do not possess eternal life. John wrote,

Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15).

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 John 4:20).

How important it is that we love each other and, as Jesus commanded, work for reconciliation when we are offended at one another (see Matt. 18:15-17).

Jesus continued:

If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering (Matt. 5:23-24).

This is to say that if our relationship with our brother is not right, then our relationship with God is not right. The Pharisees were guilty of majoring on minors and minoring on majors, “straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel” as Jesus said (Matt. 23:23-24). They stressed the importance of tithing and giving offerings, but neglected what was much more important, the second greatest commandment, to love one another. How hypocritical it is to bring an offering, supposedly to show one’s love for God, while violating His second most important commandment! This is what Jesus was warning against.

Still on the subject of the strictness of God’s court, Jesus continued:

Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you shall not come out of there, until you have paid up the last cent (Matt. 5:25-26).

It is best to stay out of God’s courtroom altogether by living at peace with our brothers as much as is possible. If a brother or sister is angry with us and we stubbornly refuse to work for reconciliation “on the way to court,” that is, on our journey through life to stand before God, we may certainly regret it. What Jesus said here is very similar to His warning regarding any imitation of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35. The servant who was forgiven but who refused to forgive had his debt reinstated and he was handed over to the torturers “until he should repay all that was owed” (Matt. 18:34). Here Jesus is likewise warning of the dire eternal consequences of not loving our brother as God expects.

^[1] This applies to our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus called certain religious leaders fools (see Matt. 23:17), as does Scripture in general (see Prov. 1:7; 13:20).

As Jesus continued His concluding remarks, He next warned His audience about false prophets who lead the undiscerning down the broad road to destruction. They are those who are not truly of God, yet disguised as so. All false teachers and leaders fall under this category. How can they be identified?

Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. 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. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:15-23).

Clearly, Jesus indicated that false teachers are very deceptive. They have some exterior indications of being genuine. They may call Jesus their Lord, prophesy, cast out demons and perform miracles. But the “sheep’s clothing” only hides the “ravenous wolf.” They aren’t of the true sheep. How can it be known if they are true or false? Their true character can be identified by examining their “fruits.”

What are the fruits of which Jesus was speaking? Obviously, they are not fruits of miracles. Rather, they are the fruits of obedience to all Jesus taught. Those who are true do the will of the Father. Those who are false “practice lawlessness” (7:23). Our responsibility, then, is to compare their lives with what Jesus taught and commanded.

False teachers abound today in the church, and we should not be surprised, because both Jesus and Paul forewarned us that, as the end approaches, we should expect nothing less (see Matt. 24:11; 2 Tim. 4:3-4). The most prevalent false prophets of our day are those who teach that heaven awaits the unholy. They are responsible for the eternal damnation of millions of people. Of them, John Wesley wrote,

How terrible is this!—when the ambassadors of God turn agents for the devil!—when they who are commissioned to teach men the way to heaven do in fact teach them the way to hell….If it be asked, “Why, who ever did…this?”…I answer, Ten thousand wise and honourable men; even all those, of whatever denomination, who encourage the proud, the trifler, the passionate, the lover of the world, the man of pleasure, the unjust or unkind, the easy, careless, harmless, useless creatures, the man who suffers no reproach for righteousness’ sake, to imagine he is in the way to heaven. These are false prophets in the highest sense of the word. These are traitors both to God and man….They are continually peopling the realms of the night; and whenever they follow the poor souls they have destroyed, “hell shall be moved from beneath to meet them at their coming!”^[1]

Interestingly, Wesley was specifically commenting about the false teachers whom Jesus warned against in Matthew 7:15-23.

Notice that Jesus again plainly said, contrary to what so many false teachers tell us today, that those who don’t bear good fruit will be cast into hell (see 7:19). Moreover, this applies not just to teachers and prophets, but to everyone. Jesus said, “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” (Matt. 7:21). What is true for prophets is true for all. This is Jesus’ main theme—Only the holy will inherit God’s kingdom. People who aren’t obeying Jesus are destined for hell.

Also notice the connection Jesus made between what a person is inwardly and what he is outwardly. “Good” trees produce good fruit. “Bad” trees can’t produce good fruit. The source of the good fruit that shows up on the outside is the nature of the person. By His grace, God has changed the nature of those who have truly believed in Jesus.^[2]

^[1]The Works of John Wesley (Baker: Grand Rapids, 1996), by John Wesley, reprinted from the 1872 edition issued by the Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, London, pp. 441, 416.

^[2] I can’t resist taking the opportunity to also comment here about a common expression people use when trying to excuse sins in others: “We don’t know what is in their hearts.” In contradiction to this, Jesus said here that the outside reveals the inside. In another place, He told us,”The mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matt. 12:34). When a person speaks words of hate, it indicates hatred fills his heart. Jesus also told us that “from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). When a person commits adultery, we do know what is in his heart: adultery.

The fourth characteristic, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, describes the God-given inward longing that every true born-again person possesses. He is grieved by unrighteousness in the world and in himself. He hates sin (see Ps. 97:10; 119:128, 163) and loves righteousness.

Too often, when we read the word righteousness in Scripture, we immediately translate it, “the legal righteousness imputed to us by Christ,” but that is not always what the word means. Quite often it means, “the quality of living right by God’s standards.” That is obviously the meaning Jesus intended here, because there is no reason for a Christian to hunger for what he already possesses. He already has an imputed righteousness. Those who have been born of the Spirit long to live righteously, and they have assurance that they will one day “be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6), certain that God, by His grace, will complete the work He’s begun in them (see Phil. 1:6).

Jesus’ words here also foresee the time of the new earth, “in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet.3:13). Then there will be no sin. Everyone will love God with all his heart and love his neighbor as himself. We who now hunger and thirst for righteousness will then be satisfied. Finally our heart-felt prayer will be fully answered, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).

Finally we come to the last section of the body of Jesus’ sermon. It beins with some encouraging prayer promises:

Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be gopened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! (Matt. 7:7-11).

“Aha!” a reader somewhere might be saying. “Here’s a part of the Sermon on the Mount that has nothing to do with holiness.”

That all depends on what it is we’re asking, knocking and seeking for in prayer. As those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” we long to obey all that Jesus has commanded in His sermon, and that longing is certainly reflected in our prayers. In fact, the model prayer that Jesus previously shared in this same sermon was the expression of a desire for God’s will to be done and for holiness. Additionally, Luke’s version of these same prayer promises under consideration ends with, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” (Luke 11:13). Apparently, Jesus was not necessarily thinking of luxury items when He promised us “good gifts.” In His mind, the Holy Spirit is a “good gift,” because the Holy Spirit makes us holy and helps us spread the gospel that makes other people holy. And holy people go to heaven.

The question that would naturally come to mind in response to Jesus’ statement in 5:20 is this: How righteous, exactly, were the scribes and Pharisees? The answer is: Not very.

At another time, Jesus referred to them as “whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). That is, they appeared outwardly righteous, but were inwardly evil. They did a great job at keeping the letter of the Law, but ignored the spirit of it, often justifying themselves by twisting or even altering God’s commandments.

This intrinsic flaw in the scribes and Pharisees, in fact, was Jesus’ major focus in much of what remains in the Sermon on the Mount. We find that He quoted a number of God’s well-known commandments, and after each quotation, revealed the difference between keeping the letter and spirit of each law. In so doing, He repeatedly exposed the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, and revealed His true expectations for His disciples.

Jesus began each example with the words, “You have heard.” He was speaking to people who had probably never read, but only heard, the Old Testament scrolls read by the scribes and Pharisees in the synagogues. It could be said that His audience had been sitting under false teaching all their lives, as they heard the scribes’ and Pharisees” twisted commentary on God’s Word and observed their unholy lifestyles.