A New Walk On An Old Path - The Sermon On The Mount

by Don Hatfield

slander them and you join in then I doubt that you have forgiven them. If the person comes around and you shun them and refuse to have anything to do with them then I again doubt that you have forgiven them. Lastly Isaac, the most important thing for us to do is to be willing to forgive even when our emotions and nature tell us not to. If we come to the Father and are honest then He will see and began to work forgiveness in our hearts even when we are not able to.”

  James stopped and ask me a question, “Isaac have you ever fasted? I replied, “Yes but not as many do. It seems to me that many of our leaders are always fasting and doing things like that.” James said, “How do you know?” I said, “They always let you know one way or another that they are doing something for God.” James laughed and said, “Exactly, they always let you know one way or another. Listen to what Jesus said about those things that they always let you know about. Moreover when ye fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you they have their reward. But thou when thou fastest anoint they head and wash thy face. That thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which sees in secret shall reward thee openly.” I proudly said to James, “I have never been like that nor would I act like that if I were fasting.” James just stared at me. He stared at me until I began to feel uncomfortable. Then it hit me and I am sure that my face turned a crimson red. I remembered how many people I had told about my great spiritual quest. My spiritual quest to Jerusalem and how everyone should do as I was doing. I realized that my face was just as disfigured as theirs for it was also filled with pride about what I was going to do.

  James graciously saved me when he said, “Jesus then said, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust does corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust does corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. How foolish we are Isaac, we run from here to there trying to accumulate that which we cannot keep. Then we try to put the things which we cannot keep in storehouses, vaults and other receptacles as if we are going to preserve them for all of eternity. As one of our great kings once said we are but dust and to dust we shall return and all that we treasure will also have the same fate. Then there is always the possibility that thieves will steal and take all that we think we can keep. Isaac, remember that Jesus said do not disfigure your face when fasting as the hypocrites do. If we could only realize that the things which we try to hoard will also become disfigured as the hypocrites are. They will lose their luster and vanish away. Jesus said accumulate your treasures in heaven the place where good and precious things are collected and laid up. Jesus then said the most profound thing if we would but think about it. He said for where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” I asked James this, “What do you mean my heart will be there also?” He answered this way, “Your heart is like a fountain it brings forth that which cannot be hid. It will reveal where your treasure is by the actions of your desires, passions, appetites, affections, purposes and endeavors. No one knows the human heart as Jesus does and though we try to hide its motives from one another we can never hide its true intent from Jesus.”

  I confessed to James that often I was afraid or ashamed to let God search my heart because I was worried about what He would find there. James said, “Isaac, do you now see that you cannot hide anything from Him? Would it not be better to confess it and let Him cure you of it rather than trying to pretend that it does not exist?” I nodded yes in agreement. James then said, “Jesus had more to say about our heart and lives but He used the eye as an example when He said, the light of the body is the eye if therefore thy eye be single thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness.” I stopped James and said, “I am not sure I understand this James.” James said, “Isaac, just a moment ago we talked about the heart. We compared it to a fountain and said that what it brought forth showed our true intent and nature. The eye receives what that fountain is bringing forth and gives light or darkness as to how we perceive the world and how we react to it. It is at the eye that what is happening on the outside meets up with what is possessed on the inside. If we have been born again then our spirits have been lit by the Holy Spirit. We have been lit with the truth and knowledge of the one true light and that is God the Father through His son Jesus Christ. Because of that we will begin to perceive the world in a different way. Those who have not been lit in their spirits by the Spirit will perceive things differently from us. What they perceive as enjoyment we will perceive as sin. What they chase after we will shun. What they worship as truth and light we abhor as darkness. Their darkness prevents them from respecting divine things. They will accompany ungodliness and immorality.”

  I said to James, “Can a believer be filled with darkness?” James said, “Isaac that is remarkable that you ask that question because Jesus actually answered it with His next statement. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Isaac, Jesus said no man can serve yield himself to two different things. It has been tried by many and many have failed by trying it. There was a couple that I heard about named Ananias and Sapphira who were with the first believers in Jerusalem. They sold a field that they had and came to one of the disciples to give them the money. I think it was Peter. They pretended to give all but held back some in secret and God took their lives because of their deception. With Jesus it is all or nothing. He gave so much for us and for us to give so little to Him is an insult to our Father and Savior. It is an insult to our faith. Have you yet heard of the man named Paul who has become the apostle to the Gentiles?” I had heard of Paul and his great devotion to the Lord. I told James that yes I knew of him and admired him. James said that Paul spoke of another person named Demas who had gone with him on journeys. This Demas had even stood with Paul while he preached to unbelievers. James then said that Demas tried to have what this world offered while at the same time serving God. James then sadly shook his head and said, “I heard that Paul had said that Demas had forsaken him having loved this world. Isaac, why we think that we can play in the devils playground and not get burned I do not know. But we do. Our Father has given us example after example down through the ages. There was Lot, Abraham’s nephew, Samson, King Saul and so many others who tried it and paid such a terrible price.” As I was standing there listening I realized that this is what had even happened to Adam and Eve. I said to James, “sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay and cost you more than you want to pay.” James said, “Isaac, I think with that statement you have summed up in a different way what Jesus was saying. We as believers are offered a choice and God even shows us the consequences of our choice before we make it and yet so often we foolishly think that we can have both. Let’s pray Isaac, for ourselves that we will stay true to our Savior, let’s pray for our brothers and sisters also for they will either be taught by our Father the vinedresser or ravaged by the world. Remember that being taught by the vinedresser our Father will bring life and peace. While being ravaged by the world will only lead to you being trampled on.” We stopped and prayed for so many we knew by name. We prayed that God would open their eyes and ours to wiles of this world. We prayed that all of our brothers and sisters would see that you cannot have a walk with God while living in Egypt.

  After praying I asked James if Jesus gave any advice on how not to get caught up in the things of this world. James said that the very next thing that Jesus said was the best advice he had ever heard concerning the things of the world. James then said to me, “Isaac here is what our Savior said next to all of us who were there. Therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life and what ye shall eat or what ye shall drin
k nor yet for your whole body what ye shall put on. Is not the life not more than meat and the body more than raiment? Isaac, Jesus said do not be anxious. Do not be troubled with this world. After meeting the Son of God will you still run here and there having to chase after this or that. Is that all that He is worth to you? Then He made the most wonderful declaration if we would only heed it. He said behold or turn your eyes upon the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor do they gather in barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Isaac, I will ask you the same question Jesus then ask us. Are ye not much better than they?” James stunned me with this question because I realized that when I was worrying and fretting about these things that I was insulting the God who made these things. I had been adopted into the royal family and I acted like a pauper. The royal family of God’s care which is not as the world’s family is. For He promises to supply our needs and ask us not to get them confused with our wants. I said