Have you ever heard of the “placebo effect?” It occurs when someone experiences improvement in their condition simply because they believe they are receiving treatment, even though the treatment itself has no real benefit. This psychological phenomenon is harmless when it comes to medicine, but when it comes to faith, self-deception can have eternal consequences. Jesus warns that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Many people claim to follow Jesus, but their relationship with Him is based on words rather than obedience. As Jesus closes His Sermon on the Mount, He delivers one of the most chilling statements in the Bible—a warning to those who think they are saved but are not.
Topics: Faith
For many years, I have been thinking about preaching through the greatest sermon that has ever been preached: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It can be read in roughly ten minutes and yet of all the things that Jesus taught, this sermon has been written about more, studied more, examined more, and talked about more than anything else that Jesus ever taught. We are going to entitle this series, “Get Used To Different,” because that is exactly what you are going to have to get used to if you are going to take Jesus seriously and trust in Jesus completely.