YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Matthew 5 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams

Matthew 5 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

by Heritage Press · 3,964 words · 569 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:01In chapter 4,
0:03we heard about Jesus's temptation,
0:07about the beginning of his ministry in
0:10Nazareth, [music]
0:11about his first disciples,
0:14and um now we're going to talk about the
0:16sermon on the mount. [music] And one of
0:17the most important things that we
0:19discussed in the previous chapters is
0:22that
0:23the prerequisite [music]
0:24for the kingdom is repentance.
0:27That's what John says. That's what
0:29[music] Jesus says. And they are coming.
0:32They are announcing a kingdom. It is not
0:34the gospel of the individual's [music]
0:36improvement. It is the gospel of the
0:38kingdom. So, Matthew 5 begins with the
0:41biatitudes. [music]
0:42It's the sermon on the mount. It's the
0:44most famous message or sermon that's
0:46ever been spoken or preached in human
0:48history. And it begins with the
0:51biatitudes. And we can look at Matthew 5
0:54as
0:56an explanation of the change that Jesus
0:59is seeking that we should have [music]
1:01in repentance. He wants to show us in
1:04Matthew 5 and six in the sermon here. He
1:07wants to show us what needs to change
1:11that would mark the repentance that
1:13would allow us to see and enter the
1:16kingdom. When Jesus saw the crowds, he
1:19went up on the mountain. And after he
1:21sat down, [music] his disciples came to
1:24him, he opened his mouth and began to
1:27teach them, saying, "Blessed are the
1:30poor in spirit, for theirs is the
1:33kingdom of heaven.
1:36Blessed are those who mourn,
1:39for they shall be comforted.
1:41Blessed are the gentle, for they shall
1:44inherit the earth.
1:46Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
1:49for righteousness,
1:51for they shall be satisfied.
1:54Blessed are the merciful, for they shall
1:57receive mercy.
1:59Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
2:02shall see God.
2:04Blessed are the peacemakers,
2:06for they shall be called sons of God.
2:09Blessed are those who have been
2:11persecuted for the sake of
2:12righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom
2:15of heaven.
2:17Blessed are you when people insult you
2:20and persecute you and falsely say all
2:22kinds of evil against you because of me.
2:27Rejoice and be [music] glad, for your
2:30reward in heaven is great. For in the
2:33same way they persecuted the prophets
2:35who were before you.
2:38We have to understand
2:40that the Jewish audience of Jesus's day
2:44was expecting a kingdom.
2:47They were living under the abuse and
2:50oppression of a conquering state, the
2:53Roman Empire. And everything that
2:55history tells us is that they did not
2:58like it. They were taking it very
3:00roughly.
3:02And so Jesus is coming not to give them
3:05what they're seeking, but he is coming
3:07to give them a kingdom that will empower
3:10them not over Rome per se, but over the
3:14fundamental power that Rome is using,
3:17which is the fear of death and
3:19ultimately the power of the devil,
3:21Hebrews would later tell us. And so
3:24Jesus is saying that God can change you.
3:29God can empower you. And God can use the
3:32things you thought were defeat.
3:35He can use them as counterintuitive
3:38victory in your life.
3:41So he talks to them and he says, "You're
3:43poor, but God can still give you the
3:46kingdom.
3:48You're mourning. You're weeping,
3:51but you will be comforted. God can give
3:53you his comfort, his strength.
3:57You're gentle and meek, but you can
4:00inherit the earth. God can give you a
4:03place on a real life on the land.
4:07You are hungering and thirsting for
4:10righteousness. You see your
4:12imperfection, your faults, but God can
4:15fill you and and bring you satisfaction.
4:20You're merciful. You're showing kindness
4:22and mercy to others and God's going to
4:24show you his mercy. You're trying to
4:27bring peace in a hard situation
4:30and God will make you his son or
4:33recognize that you are his son because
4:35of that.
4:37You've been persecuted. You've been
4:40treated wrong, but you're going to have
4:42a kingdom. You're going to have a place
4:44in God's kingdom. And then he says,
4:48"Blessed," which the word he uses here
4:50for blessed means happy, satisfied,
4:54exceedingly joyful are you
4:58when you are insulted and persecuted and
5:01people lie about you and say all kinds
5:04of evil against you because of me.
5:07Rejoice and be glad for your reward in
5:11heaven is great.
5:13So he's basically saying everything that
5:16you think is a reason for why God can't
5:19do what you want, it's actually the
5:22starting place for what he really wants
5:24to do, which is an internal battle over
5:27an internal enemy, the enemy of the fear
5:31of death, the enemy of pride, the enemy
5:33of control. But if you'll embrace it,
5:36God can lead you into repentance. A
5:39helpful way to look at what Jesus is
5:42describing here in these biatitudes is
5:44that he's not describing a whole bunch
5:46of different people. He's describing the
5:50progression of repentance in a
5:51believer's life. So he starts with poor
5:54in spirit, which means totally bankrupt
5:58and hopeless in your condition without
6:00God. That's the beginning of repentance.
6:04And you're blessed when you come to that
6:06place, the end of yourself, and you say,
6:09"I'm nothing without God." That's the
6:12starting place. And then the next is you
6:15mourn. You begin to weep and feel the
6:19sorrow, the godly sorrow that leads to
6:21repentance that James talks about. Mourn
6:24and weep. Let your laughter be turned
6:26into mourning over what your sin has
6:29cost you and especially others in the
6:32name of Christ. And then you come to a
6:36place of humility, of meekness because
6:39of God's mercy in your life. And you're
6:42able to treat others with the kindness
6:44that God has treated you. But then
6:48you're not just content that you've been
6:51forgiven. You begin to hunger and thirst
6:54for righteousness. And you say, "Don't
6:56leave me in this place. Don't leave me
6:59just a forgiven changed sinner, but show
7:02me your ways, oh Lord. Show me your
7:04love. Show me how to live like you live.
7:08And then what he starts showing you is
7:10the first thing is you become more
7:12merciful. You become more compassionate
7:15toward others. Then he shows you, he
7:17starts to purify your heart. And this
7:20mercy and purity is the answer to your
7:22prayer and hunger for righteousness. And
7:25then he teaches you how to make peace by
7:28bringing God's order and God's truth
7:30into your life, bringing God's love. You
7:33become a peacemaker. And then the what
7:36happens when you start to walk this out
7:38is you're making an acceptable sacrifice
7:41like Abel and the Cain in your life
7:44starts to persecute you. So people will
7:47not come and compliment you when you're
7:49walking this path. They'll persecute
7:51you. I think it was Papa uh my
7:54father-in-law who first showed this to
7:56me that it was not a bunch of different
7:59people but it was a progression of the
8:02same process that God wants all of us to
8:05go through. But he says when you're
8:07persecuted rejoice and be glad for your
8:10reward is great in heaven. So the big
8:13thing is we end the biatitudes with the
8:16clarity that God uses our brokenness and
8:19that our reward doesn't come from
8:22worldly compliments and praise but it
8:24comes from God. Then in verse 13 we pick
8:28up the text again. You are the salt of
8:31the earth. But if the salt has become
8:34tasteless how can it be made salty
8:37again? It is no longer good for anything
8:41except to be thrown out and trampled
8:43underfoot by men. You are the light of
8:46the world. A city set on a hill cannot
8:51be hidden. Nor does anyone light a lamp
8:55and put it under a basket, but on the
8:58lampstand, and it gives light to all who
9:00are in the house. Let your light shine
9:04before men in such a way that they may
9:08see your good works and glorify your
9:11father who is in heaven. Do not think
9:15that I came to abolish the law or the
9:17prophets. I did not come to abolish but
9:21to fulfill.
9:23For truly I say to you, until heaven and
9:25earth pass away, not the smallest letter
9:28or stroke shall pass from the law until
9:32all is accomplished.
9:35Whoever then anulls one of the least of
9:38these commandments and teaches others to
9:40do the same shall be called least in the
9:43kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and
9:46teaches them, he shall be called great
9:48in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to
9:51you that unless your righteousness
9:54surpasses
9:56that of the scribes and Pharisees, you
10:00will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So
10:03let's look at the these sections. Jesus
10:06finishes the biatitudes by telling us
10:09that we need to be okay with being lied
10:12about, slandered, and persecuted.
10:16And what that wants to do when you start
10:18being lied about, slandered, and
10:20persecuted, what you want to do is hide.
10:24You want to do less of what you were
10:25doing that attracted that harsh
10:28criticism and attention. So the next
10:31section of what he says in verse 13- 20
10:35is don't hide. Don't act like that's a
10:38bad thing. Let your light shine
10:40brighter. So he tells them right after
10:44he says rejoice that you're being
10:46persecuted. He says you're the salt of
10:49the world. And he said as if the salt
10:52loses its savor, if it loses its
10:54saltiness, how will it become salty
10:56again? So what he's saying is salt in
10:59his day was used to preserve meat. I if
11:04you wrapped meat, if you caked meat in
11:07salt, it pulled the moisture out of the
11:10meat and much of the bacteria with it
11:13and it made it the meat less likely to
11:15rot. It would rot a lot slower if there
11:19if it had salt. But the only way that I
11:22know of that you can take saltiness out
11:24of salt is if you store salt against the
11:29ground. The soil and the earth of the
11:33damp earth itself will actually pull the
11:36salinity out of the crystals. So, you
11:40typically want to store salt against
11:42rock, which is where it's naturally
11:45found, or against uh some some other
11:48substance like a pan or or metal and so
11:51on and so forth. Jesus is saying, don't
11:55lose what makes you different because
11:58the world is going to rot if Christians
12:01become scared of persecution. If
12:04Christians change their differentness to
12:07accommodate better opinions in the eyes
12:09of the world, the world is going to rot.
12:13So, it's not fun to be lied about. It's
12:15not fun to be persecuted. But that
12:18different, salty, tangy people is part
12:22of what keeps the world okay. And then
12:25he goes on and he says, "You're the
12:26light of the world." He's talking about
12:28this corporate witness of the church,
12:31the community. And he says, "You're the
12:33only thing that's giving the world
12:35brightness. You're a city set on a hill
12:38that cannot be hidden. You're not one
12:40candle lost in the city of the world.
12:43You're a city of many lights set on a
12:45hill that cannot be hidden." And he
12:47says, "Nobody lights a candle and puts
12:50it under a basket." So don't let
12:52persecution put a basket over you. Let
12:55your light give light to everyone around
12:57you. And then he says, ' Let your light
13:00so shine before men that they may see
13:03your good works. But these aren't the
13:06good works that we take pride in. These
13:08aren't the good works that are filthy
13:10rags. This isn't human righteousness
13:14uh generated by human effort. This is
13:16what God does through us. Because he
13:19said, "When they see your good works,
13:20they won't glorify you. They'll glorify
13:22your father who is in heaven." And then
13:25he goes and he says that he's going to
13:28fulfill the law. And we're going to see
13:30that what he's talking about is not the
13:34Levitical system. It's not the
13:36regulations of ceremonial Levitical law
13:40that he's talking about. He's talking
13:42about the will of God, the heart of God.
13:45And he's not going to fulfill it by
13:46enforcing what was unable to make anyone
13:49righteous. He's going to fulfill it by
13:52giving the power that the law never
13:54could give. The power to change people.
13:57Before we get into verse 21, let me just
14:00say that he's now going to show us
14:05what needs to change in order for us to
14:08have a kingdom. And the first thing he's
14:10going to point out is how we treat each
14:12other. Let's get into this. You have
14:15heard that the ancients were told, "You
14:17shall not commit murder." And whoever
14:19commits murder shall be liable to the
14:21court. But I say to you that everyone
14:24who is angry with his brother shall be
14:27guilty before the court. And whoever
14:29says to his brother, "You good for
14:31nothing," shall be guilty before the
14:33Supreme Court. And whoever says, "You
14:35fool," shall be guilty enough to go into
14:38the fiery hell.
14:40Therefore, if you are presenting your
14:42offering at the altar and there remember
14:44that your brother has something against
14:46you, leave your offering there before
14:49the altar and go first be reconciled to
14:53your brother and then come and present
14:56your offering. Make friends quickly with
14:59your opponent at law while you are with
15:02him on the way, so that your opponent
15:04may not hand you over to the judge, and
15:07the judge to the officer, and you be
15:09thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you,
15:12you will not come out of there until you
15:15have paid the last scent.
15:18You have heard it said, you shall not
15:20commit adultery. But I say to you that
15:22everyone who looks at a woman with lust
15:24for her has already committed adultery
15:27with her in his heart. If your eye makes
15:30you stumble, tear it out and throw it
15:34from you. For it is better for you to
15:36lose one of the parts of your body than
15:39for your whole body to be thrown into
15:41hell. If your right hand makes you
15:44stumble, cut it off and throw it from
15:46you. For it is better for you to lose
15:48one of the parts of your body than for
15:51your whole body to go into hell. It was
15:54said, "Whoever sends his wife away, let
15:57him give her a certificate of divorce.
16:00But I say to you that everyone who
16:02divorces his wife, except for the reason
16:05of unchastity, makes her commit
16:07adultery, and whoever marries a divorced
16:10woman commits adultery. But I say to
16:13you, make no oath at all, either by
16:16heaven, for it is the throne of God, or
16:19by the earth, for it is the foottool of
16:21his feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the
16:23city of the great king. Nor shall you
16:26make an oath by your head, for you
16:28cannot make one hair white or black. But
16:32let your statement be yes, yes, or no,
16:35no. Anything beyond this is of evil.
16:39Jesus is trying to tell them what needs
16:42to happen for them to receive the
16:44kingdom that he came to bring. He gives
16:46them the attitudes that they need to
16:48have and cultivate and how they're going
16:50to progress through them. He gives them
16:52the courage that they need to have to
16:54shine as a light and not be scared of
16:57persecution. And now he says the reason
17:00the kingdom isn't working is because the
17:03way you treat each other, your anger,
17:06your language, you're trying to do
17:09something with God when you still have a
17:11grudge against your brother. Your
17:13grudges.
17:14He's telling us that we've got to change
17:16the way we behave. You're compromising
17:20relationships and marriages and the way
17:22you lust for people who aren't your
17:24wife. He's saying you've got to focus on
17:27these internal changes before you're
17:30going to be ready to receive this
17:32kingdom. These are the things, these are
17:35the repentances, the the turnings, the
17:38revolution that's got to happen. And
17:41then he's going to start in verse 38
17:44with how we treat the enemy. And he's
17:47basically going to show us in verse 38,
17:49you're going to become the enemy if you
17:51don't stop treating the enemy like he
17:54treats you. You've got to learn to repay
17:57evil with good. And you've got to learn
17:59to bring mercy even in the face of
18:02brutality. So verse 38 says, "You have
18:05heard that it was said, an eye for an
18:07eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say
18:10to you, do not resist an evil person.
18:12But whoever slaps you on the right
18:15cheek, turn to him the other also.
18:18If anyone wants to sue you and take your
18:21shirt, let him have your coat also.
18:23Whoever forces you to go one mile with
18:26him, go with him, too. Give to him who
18:29asks of you, and do not turn away from
18:31him who wants to borrow from you. You
18:34have heard that it was said, "You shall
18:36love your neighbor and hate your enemy."
18:38But I say to you, love your enemies and
18:40pray for those who persecute you so that
18:44you may be sons of your father who is in
18:46heaven. For he causes his son to rise on
18:51the evil and the good and sends rain on
18:55the righteous and the unrighteous.
18:59For if you love those who love you, what
19:01reward do you have? Do not even the tax
19:05collectors do the same? If you greet
19:08only your brothers, what more are you
19:10doing than others? Do not even the
19:12Gentiles do the same? Therefore, you are
19:16to be perfect as your heavenly father is
19:20perfect.
19:23So, in the first part of this section,
19:25he's telling us all the ways that we're
19:28undermining and destroying God's
19:30kingdom, God's reign of righteousness
19:33and peace in the way we treat each
19:36other, our anger, our language, our
19:40grudges, the way we we don't want to
19:42borrow, the way that we don't want to
19:44forgive, our lust. And then in the next
19:47section, he's talking about the way we
19:50treat those who abuse us. This is how we
19:54relate to evil. Not our internal
19:57relationship in the community, but the
20:00external relationship with the state
20:03with with violence.
20:06Okay? And this is where he says, "In the
20:08old days, you were told an eye for an
20:11eye." But see now, Jesus isn't teaching
20:13us to observe the law. He's teaching us
20:17to fulfill the law and he's showing us
20:20how our righteousness is going to
20:22surpass the righteousness of the scribes
20:25and Pharisees. So this catechism, this
20:30constitution of the new kingdom, that's
20:32what Matthew 5 is. It's the constitution
20:34of the kingdom. It shows us how we
20:38surpass. So there's always this
20:40contrast. This is what it used to be.
20:42This is what it's got to be. This is
20:44what it used to be. This is what it's
20:46got to be. Now, this raises a question.
20:50Jesus and the apostles tell us that the
20:52people were not able to fulfill the law.
20:56He told them, "You put on the people a
20:57burden they cannot bear, that neither
20:59you nor your fathers were able to bear."
21:02So why would Jesus make it harder if
21:04they were not able to bear it? Well,
21:07Jesus is raising the standard out of
21:11human reach, not to mock our weakness,
21:15but to lead us into dependence and
21:18relationship with him. He's telling us
21:21to do things that we can't do. But he's
21:24already told us that if we would hunger
21:26and thirst for righteousness,
21:29we wouldn't find out that we were better
21:31people. We would be filled. And what
21:33will we be filled with? With him. we
21:36will be filled with his power, his
21:38grace. He wants to give us the grace to
21:40become more than what we are by
21:43ourselves. And so he starts to tell
21:45them, "You have heard it said an eye for
21:48an eye, but I say to you, do not resist
21:50an evil person." Now, that doesn't mean
21:52don't oppose him. Don't disagree with
21:55him. That doesn't mean even don't fight
21:57him. It means don't don't mount a
21:59physical resistance of violence against
22:02him. Don't use Rome's tools to become
22:07like Rome in trying to defeat Rome.
22:10Don't use the devil's tool of the fear
22:12of death to fight the devil. That
22:15doesn't that misses the point.
22:19He says, "If someone wants to take your
22:21cloak, give him your tunic." Also, he's
22:24talking about how
22:26powerful people could take things from
22:28you. When when a powerful person, a a
22:32master or a soldier slapped you on the
22:35right cheek, they would use the back of
22:37their hand and it was really a comment
22:40more than anything.
22:42And it said, "I have authority over
22:45you."
22:46And Jesus said,"When they did that, turn
22:49the other cheek also
22:53because you're basically saying,"I
22:56know you have authority, but I'm not
22:59afraid of that. And here, if you want to
23:02if you want to be abusive, you can you
23:04can have my left cheek also." There's a
23:07little bit of a challenge in it. If you
23:09want to treat me like this, go ahead and
23:12and engage
23:14and hit me on the other cheek. Now,
23:16that's something the Roman soldier could
23:17do to you. And he's saying, "Don't fight
23:20him. Don't bristle. Don't tell him you
23:23don't have authority over me." Instead,
23:26acknowledge it. It's almost this reverse
23:29power comes on them when you're no
23:32longer afraid of their control. They
23:35start to realize that someone else has a
23:38greater control over you. And that makes
23:40[music] them conscious of someone who
23:42has more power than they do.
23:45He says to love your enemies and to pray
23:47for them. And when he tells us to be
23:50kind and loving toward our enemies, he
23:52says so that you may become sons of your
23:56father.
23:57So he's saying you need to love your
24:00enemies [music] because God loves his
24:01enemies.
24:03And he gives as an example that God
24:05sends rain and sunshine on the just and
24:08on the unjust alike. that God is kind to
24:13good and evil people and that's how we
24:16want to become more like him. And then
24:18he [music] says, "For if you love only
24:20those who love you, you don't have any
24:23reward." But God is going to take notice
24:26and give strength and grace and reward
24:29to people who show love when it's hard
24:32to show. He says that you should greet
24:35people who aren't just your brothers.
24:37This is like God giving rain to evil
24:41people. You need to give a greeting to
24:43people you don't know. You need to say
24:45hello. It's good to see you. Pleased to
24:48meet you. You're showing them dignity.
24:50You're showing that [music] they're
24:52seen, that they're noticed, and this is
24:54making you more like God.
24:57And he says the whole thing, be perfect
24:59as your heavenly father is perfect. And
25:02all of us can acknowledge that we can't
25:04be perfect, but we can't stop striving
25:07to be perfect. Not so that we can boast,
25:10but so that we can remember our
25:12dependence. And that anything that good
25:15must come from. Anything good that we do
25:17must come from him and not from
25:20ourselves. And this is going to be a
25:22theme in Matthew's gospel that the good
25:25that God wants to bring in our lives
25:27does not come from us. It comes from
25:30God. He invites us to a higher standard,
25:33[music] not to mock our weakness, but to
25:36welcome us into a relationship where he
25:39can supply all our needs according to
25:42his riches in store.
25:45[music]
25:54[music]

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Matthew 5 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams by Heritage Press, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,964 words across 569 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.