This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I want to welcome you to week two of our look together through the book of Luke,
our survey of the book of Luke. We're going a chapter a day instead of a chapter
a week, just so you can get a sense of the overall life of Christ and how he
wants to work his life in your life and through your life. Last week we began to
look together at the birth of Jesus.

Jesus and John are both born and we began to look at the preparation for the
ministry of Jesus and then we saw the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. And as
that ministry began, we start to see people divide between the changed and the
unchanging, the back and forth. That started in chapter five, it continues as we
begin chapter six.

The changed look into Jesus Christ for new life, the unchanging growing more and
more stubborn and self-focused. Chapter six, verse one. One Sabbath, Jesus was
going through the grain fields and his disciples began to pick some heads of
grain and rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.

Some of the Pharisees asked, "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?
" Verse six, "On another Sabbath he went into the synagogues and was teaching
and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the
teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched
him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.

Verse 10, "He looked around at them all and he said to the man, 'Stretch out
your hand' and he did so and his hand was completely restored, but they were
furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. "
Here the stubbornness and the selfishness of life is coming out. Now by the way,
the unlawful on the Sabbath wasn't that they were picking grain from somebody
else's field, you could do that legally.

It was that they were threshing that grain by rubbing their hands together. That
was work and you couldn't do that kind of work on the Sabbath day. Or the
healing of somebody, that was work.

You couldn't do that kind of work on the Sabbath day. You see that they're
beginning to look for ways to accuse Jesus rather than looking for ways to
follow Jesus. That's what happens.

If you don't want to change, you begin to look for ways to accuse Jesus. And
sometimes it's this church that you accuse, sometimes it's another believer that
you accuse. You may have friends that do this.

You may be doing this yourself, not even realizing what's happening. The truth
of the matter is you don't want to change. And when you don't want to change,
you look for somebody to blame.

That's what they were doing. They looked for ways to accuse Jesus. You either
live a life following Jesus or accusing Jesus.

That's what it often comes down to when you realize what it truly taught. The
only people who can accept Jesus without really following him are those who
don't understand what he taught. When you really read the challenge of the life
of Christ, when you understand the challenge of living the new life, you realize
you've got to choose for or against.

Here are the unchanging, growing more and more stubborn, more and more
self-focused. And then we have the changing, growing more and more committed and
more and more Christ-focused. Verse 12 and 13, "One of those days Jesus went up
on a mountainside to pray, and he spent the night praying to God.

And when morning came, he called his disciples to him, and he chose twelve of
them. " So there are many disciples following Jesus at this time. He chooses
twelve specifically to be the first apostles.

The names are listed here. I'm not going to read through all of them. You know
many of them, Peter and Matthew and John and Andrew and all those who are
following Jesus Christ.

In following Christ, they begin to now hear the teaching of Christ. As soon as
he chooses them, now we go into a period of teaching. In this teaching, we're
going to hear together not the sermon on the mount, but what is called the
sermon on the plain.

You'll see in this sermon that we're about to look at that Jesus teaches many of
the same things as he does in Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount, but also some
different truths. And it's in a different place. It's not on a mountain.

It's down on a level place. Why is this happening? Are they confused?

No. There were no TVs in this day. There were no DVDs in this day.

If everyone were to hear what Jesus had to say, he had to teach it multiple
times. So one time he taught this truth up on a mountain, and another time he
taught this truth down on a plain. And up on the mountain, he said certain
things, and he added this in, and he told this story.

Down on the plain, he said certain things, and he added a little different thing
in. It's awesome to me to hear many of these truths of Jesus taught in two
different places. In Matthew, you get the Sermon on the Mount.

In Luke, you get the Sermon on the Plain, verse 17. Jesus went down with them,
and he stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there, and a
great number of people from all over Jerusalem and from the coast of Tyre and
Sidon, looking at his disciples, he said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for
yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who
weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when they
exclude you, when they insult you, and reject your name as evil because of the
Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven,
for that is how their fathers treated the prophets. " Those are the blessings.
They sound very familiar if you're familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, but
that's not all that's in this sermon.

In verse 24, Jesus says, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have already
received your comfort. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated
the false prophets. " In these verses, you get the blessings and you get the
woes. Now, I don't know about you.

I want to live on the blessing side of life. I would guess that you do too. I
don't want to live on the woe side of life.

These are challenging verses. "Woe to you who are rich, who are well-fed now, if
I had a good meal yesterday, if I have some money in the bank, I am rich in this
world. I'm well-fed in this world.

" Does that mean woe to me? If I depend on those things, it does. Woe to those,
Jesus is saying, who depend on the things of this world and not on me.

The truth of the matter is, if you have some things in this world, it's easier
to depend on those things. It's easier to grasp on those. They're right there.

You hold on to them. You think that's where my life is found. Woe to you, Jesus
says, if you think that's where your life is found.

Woe to you if everyone speaks well of you, if you're living life for just the
approval of others around you, if you can't afford, you can't emotionally handle
someone not speaking well of you. Jesus said, "Look out. Look out.

You're going to miss out on the life that I have for you. " Jesus is talking
here about the kind of life that he will give us to live as we trust in him.
What does that life look like?

Listen, verse 27 to 31. But I tell you, I tell you who hear me, love your
enemies. Do good to those who hate you.

Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes
you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.

If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to
everyone who asks you. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it
back.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. What does this life look like?
Verse 36, "Be merciful, just as your father is merciful.

Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn and you will not be
condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Give and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together,
and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it
will be measured to you.

" Verse 45, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his
heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his
heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. " What is the life
that Jesus wants to give you?

Give me look like? Verse 47, "I will show you what it is like who comes to me
and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a
house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.

When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because
it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into
practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The
moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was
complete.

" Jesus is talking about the life that he's given us to live. Here's the key to
understanding the Sermon on the Plain or the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is not
talking about living a moral life.

He's not talking about living a good life. Jesus is talking about living a holy
life. Jesus is talking about living a Christian life, a moral life.

A moral life is me keeping God's rules or God's principles on my own power. Now
depending on your upbringing, some of us can do pretty well at that. The
Pharisees did.

It's a life of depending on yourself. But in the end, Jesus says, "Woe to you if
you're just depending on yourself and blessed are you when you realize you must
depend on God. " A moral life is me keeping God's rules, God's principles on my
power.

A Christian life is the life of God lived out in me through the power of Jesus
Christ. It is a life of depending on him. Let's pray together.

Jesus, we pray to tell you our needs, but we also pray to let you know we need
you. We depend on you. We need you not only for direction in life.

We need you for power to live out that direction. Forgive us for those times
when we try to live a principle-centered life, thinking we can just look at your
teachings and then go do them in our own power. Give us instead a heart to live
a Christ-centered life, a Christian life, seeing what you've taught us and then
depending on you to live out that life that you've given us.

Let that happen in my life and our lives today, Jesus, we pray, amen. Tomorrow
we move from the teaching of Jesus to look together at the ministry of Jesus.