For those of you that are visiting this morning, I should explain that we are studying the Sermon on the Mount as a series on Sunday mornings. We have been studying it in detail over the last few months and find ourselves at this particular passage today as we look at it in the order that Jesus presented. I would remind you that this is Jesus’s first recorded sermon as He begins His ministry on earth.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the incarnate Word made flesh, who was with God in the beginning and who was God, came to earth as a man, and as the Messiah, the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. And in His first sermon, Jesus as King presents His Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus declares the characteristics and blessings of a spiritual kingdom, in which He rules in the hearts and minds of His people.
He begins by describing the essence of the citizens of the kingdom. He does that in the first 12 verses which we call the Beatitudes. The essence of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven details the essential nature of His citizens; those who belong to the Kingdom of Heaven. He says they recognize their spiritual bankruptcy, they mourn over their sin, they are humble and merciful, they hunger and thirst for righteousness, etc. Jesus delineates the essence of their nature. It is a new nature, a spiritual nature that is given to them by God.
Then Jesus elucidates the effect of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven will have in the world. The effect of the citizens of the kingdom He says are that they are salt and light in the world. He uses salt is a metaphor for righteousness, and light as a metaphor for truth. By these two effects, righteousness and truth, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven affect the world and bring glory to God.
The third point in Jesus’s message is that the righteousness of a citizen of the kingdom of heaven will exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Now we touched on this last time, but we didn’t spend a lot of time on it. However, this is a very important point. In context, Jesus has said that He did not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it or accomplish it, to bring it about. Furthermore, He said that none of the law was going to pass away, not even the smallest point, until all of it was accomplished. And so rather than Jesus abolishing the law, He establishes it. Rather than Jesus coming to do away with the law, He came to fulfill all that it said, all that it represented, all that it prophesied, and He came to make it possible for His citizens to keep the law.
Now it needs to be understood that the Pharisees and the scribes were considered the most holy, righteous people in Judaism. The common people looked up to them as the teachers of what the scriptures said. They trusted them to properly interpret the scriptures. And the Pharisees reveled in that perception. They were not unlike modern day priests who go about in long robes and pointy hats and talk in measured tones and we think that they are almost other worldly. They are considered holy men. And they are revered.
Now the scribes and the Pharisees were undoubtedly in attendance that day when Jesus was speaking. And notice what Jesus says. He kind of gives them a backhanded compliment, and a condemnation at the same time. He says, “unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” So what He is saying first of all, is that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees is not enough to grant them entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Now I say it’s a backhanded compliment because on the other hand Jesus is acknowledging their righteousness. He is acknowledging their fastidiousness in regards to keeping the law. They were known for keeping the minutia of the law. For instance, they tithed of mint and dill and cumin, Jesus said in another place. They tithed 10% of their herb garden. In another place Jesus said they fasted twice a week. The law only required that Jews fasted once a year. They added to that law so that they fasted 108 times a year. They were zealous for the law to an extreme level. And yet Jesus says in effect that they are still not entering heaven.
I want to make sure you understand an important point here. That is, you can be very religious and be unsaved. You can be a student of the scriptures and yet be unsaved. You can be very moral and be unsaved. You can claim citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, and yet not be a part of it. There is a dangerous possibility of trusting in the wrong thing. Of resting on things that pertain to worship, but not being in a position of true worship. It is a possiblity that should be very sobering to those who claim to be evangelical Christians, but who may in effect have fallen short of what God requires.
Some of you may be aware that in the last couple of weeks there have been two high profile people from the ranks of Christian leadership who have very publicly renounced their faith and fallen away. Interestingly, one was from a traditional, conservative, Reformed church who was a pastor and a Christian author. He was very well known in those circles. The other came from the other end of the evangelical spectrum. He was a worship leader in a charismatic church who was also very well known. I believe he wrote very popular praise songs. And yet both of these men publicly renounced their faith and said that they no longer believed in the Christian faith. One man pursued Christianity from a doctrinal, intellectual approach. The other had pursued Christianity from more of an emotional, experiential base. And yet both fell away.
At the risk of presuming to be a judge of these men, if I were to try to come up with a reason for their fall, I would have to say in both of their cases it was very likely the same reason that the Pharisees fell short. They were basing their citizenship in the kingdom of heaven on the performance of external things rather than on an internal transformation of the heart. They were basing their faith on faulty theology that focused on an outward manifestation but did not include and inward transformation.
Now let me elaborate on the religion of the scribes and Pharisees for just a minute more and then we will move on. The religion of the scribes and Pharisees was one that was concerned more with the ceremonial than with righteousness. Jesus said in another place that they washed the outside but inwardly they were unclean. They were fastidious in their outward appearance, in the ceremonies, in the rituals of public worship, by which they thought they achieved righteousness.
Furthermore, they were known for their adherence to the traditions of their religion. They interpreted the scriptures by the traditions of the elders. They had rabbinical books which interpreted and expounded the law of Moses. And in so doing, they added to the law and in effect took away from the intent of the law through their traditions of their elders. All in all, the result of their religion was they were very self satisfied that they had figured out and were keeping the letter of the law. To some extent, the ultimate goal of their religion was to glorify themselves rather than to glorify God. To make themselves look holy, to give themselves a false confidence, and to bring attention to themselves and their self righteousness to get glory from men. Such men, Jesus said, will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
On the other hand, Jesus taught that the true citizen of the kingdom of heaven will love the law of God, because, according to Jeremiah, God has written the law upon their hearts. The true citizen of the kingdom of heaven has a new heart, a new nature, which is the gift of God, that we might love God and do the works of God. He is no longe opposed to the things of God, for God has transformed him by giving him a new life in Christ. So by faith in what Christ did on the cross, we receive the righteousness of Christ credited to our account, we receive the life essence of Christ by the indwelling of His Spirit in us, so that we are spiritually born again, children of God, doing the works of God and bringing glory to God. And that is the only way that we can have a righteousness which exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
Now this next section of Christ’s sermon must be understood in the context of the previous verses. That is why I spent so much time reviewing what had been said so far. Because the danger is in looking at the following verses about the law and making wrong deductions based on looking at them in isolation. Jesus is now going to expound the law. The same law that He said He did not come to abolish. The same law that the Pharisees said they were keeping, Jesus said we must exceed their efforts. Jesus is going to expound it.
I want to point out also that Jesus connects here quite clearly the relationship between keeping the law and righteousness. Notice in vs 17 and 18 that Jesus says He is not abolishing the law. Then in vs.19, He says if you don’t keep the law you are the least in the kingdom, and if you do keep the law then you are the greatest in the kingdom. Then in vs.20, Jesus points to those who are perceived by the people to be the greatest, most virtuous in the kingdom and says, unless your righteousness exceeds their righteousness you cannot enter the kingdom. So He correlates righteousness and the law. As I said last week, you cannot define righteousness without the law. Righteousness is not an experience, it’s holy living. As Jesus says in vs 48, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” God is righteousness, and His law is the declaration of the character of His kingdom, which is righteousness.
What I want to do then in the remainder of the time we have today is to lay down certain principles which we need to recognize in order to understand Jesus’s exposition. Starting in vs 21, Jesus is expounding the relationship of the citizen of heaven to the law. He does that by giving an exposition of the law, and also contrasting it with the teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, the rest of the sermon, all the way to the end of chapter 7, is just an exposition of the statement that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. He expounds the true teaching of the law while contrasting it with the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees.
Now in the remainder of this chapter, Jesus presents six statements concerning the law and the contrasting teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. I want to point them out to you. In vs 21 He says, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’. The second is in vs.27, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’. The third is in vs 31 "It was said, 'WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’. The next is vs 33, “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS.” Then in vs 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ The sixth is in vs.43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'
Next week we will begin to take each one of those injunctions and examine them. But today I want to look at them as a whole so that we can understand the overriding principles that Jesus is teaching. There are certain things that are common to all of them, and I believe the Lord was saying this in such a way as to teach the common principles as well as the particulars of each statement.
First of all, notice the formula which Jesus uses in His exposition of the law. Notice He says in the majority of instances, “You have heard that the ancients were told…” What Jesus is referring to is not the law of Moses, per se, but the teachings of the Pharisees and the scribes. These were traditions handed down from generations of scribes who had written concerning the law. In most cases they were based on the law of Moses, but the way they had written about them and taught them had diminished or changed the original intent of the law.
Notice also that Jesus said, “you have heard…” That indicates that the common Israelite was not privy to the actual scriptures. For one, the scriptures were hand written on scrolls. That was painstaking work that was fastidiously done by the scribes. Such scrolls were very scarce and very expensive. So the average person did not have access to the scriptures. Secondly, the scrolls were written originally in Hebrew. After the Babylonian exile the Jews spoke Aramaic. Only the religious leaders were trained to read Hebrew. So whatever the average Jew knew of the Bible had to come by way of hearing it taught by the scribes and Pharisees. And they were more inclined to teach the traditions of the elders, which was a representation of the law, than they were to teach from the actual scriptures.
So the teaching of the Lord is two fold, to give them a correct exposition of the law, and to expose the false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. And by the way, I want to claim that formula. I believe the job of the preacher is to preach the truth and point out false teaching and false teachers. I get criticized sometimes for naming names and pointing out false teachers. So I try to talk about the false doctrine and not name the false teachers most of the time. But I want to emphasize that the Lord doesn’t have a problem naming names. In fact, He calls them hypocrites. His preaching throughout His ministry was punctuated by pointing out the hypocritical, self righteousness of the Pharisees and scribes. And so if I’m guilty of anything this morning, I am guilty of following His example.
I told someone the other day in reference to those two pastors who publicly renounced their faith, though I grieve for these men that have fallen away, at the same time I'm glad that they have come out, so to speak, because it exposes the shallow theology that they teach. A lot of false teachers have defined the theology of the church today according to a warped view of scripture. Some of what they say sounds good, but they overemphasize some doctrines at the expense of other just as essential doctrines and that leads to a lop sided, out of balance Christianity. And when a person's life hit's the fan, so to speak, and God doesn't perform according to the way we have been taught that He should, then we are left to question our faith. A lot of people's faith fails at that point, and they fall away. Not all as publicly as these guys, but it's just as devastating to the church. They simply stop coming to church, stop practicing their faith, and turn back to the world. I think that is what is happening especially to our younger generation today. Hosea 4:6 says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…" And that lack of knowledge or doctrine is the fault of pastors and leaders who are either tragically naive or outright unconverted.
So then in His exposition of the law, Jesus states what they have been taught in relation to the law, and then He sets forth another important principle. He says in effect, “this is what you have been told, but I say to you.” I want to draw your attention to that phrase, “but I say to you.” What Jesus is doing there is He is setting Himself up as the ultimate authority. Not the religious leaders, but Jesus is the authority concerning the scriptures, because He is actually the author of scripture. John said He was the Word made flesh, who dwelt among us.
He is basically claiming to be the one responsible for the law of Moses and therefore His interpretation is true and can be trusted. He claims to speak as God. He claims the authority of God. That’s why the critics of Jesus had to say, “never a man spake like this man.” He was not a mere teacher of the law. He was not a mere man. He was not just a Rabbi. He was God incarnate. He is the way, the truth and the life of God. Folks that is why we study the word of God. Jesus said in John 6:63, “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
So as we consider what Jesus said, it’s important that we understand the statement as a whole before we consider the individual injunctions. Because Jesus was teaching principles, not a new law, or even a new way to interpret the law. He isn’t giving us a new code of ethics, which if we master these principles then we are accepted in the sight of God.But He is giving a series of illustrations which describe how Christians are going to live.
Most of us would rather have a list, a short list perhaps, but a list of do’s and don’ts which we can keep and then be sure we are good to go. The Pharisees thought that was the case concerning the law of Moses. And Jesus is saying that they have come up short. It’s always easier to think of holiness or righteousness as something you can do; you are baptized, you take communion, or you observe a month of Lent, rather than to live under the principles which must be applied day after day. If you come away from the Sermon on the Mount with the attitude that as long as you don’t murder, you don’t commit adultery, etc, then you are ok, then you have missed the point of Jesus’s sermon entirely.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not some new list, it is something which gives us life. It lays down certain principles of spiritual life and asks us to apply them in our day to day experience. It’s essence is that it gives us a new nature and a new understanding of God’s word which we have to apply to every aspect of our lives.
Jesus’s formula of “you have heard it said, but I say to you..” teaches the same principle in each of the six illustrations. In one illustration He i dealing with sexual morality, in another with murder and the other with divorce, but in every one the principles are the same.
The first principle which He illustrates is that the spirit of the law is the primary emphasis, not the letter. 2 Cor. 3:6 says, “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The Pharisees concentrated on the letter of the law, and ignored the spirit or intent of the law. That doesn’t mean that the letter doesn’t matter, but that we interpret the letter by the spirit.
The second principle Jesus is illustrating is that conformity to the law is not just actions but thoughts. It’s the thought behind the action that matters. Thought always precedes action. James says, “You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.” In other words our motives must be examined. That’s why our hearts are of great concern to God. Our heart is where all our actions come from. Jesus said in Matt. 15:18-19 "But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” So the concern of the gospel is to change the heart. Then the actions will be different. And that order is essential.
Another principle that Jesus was teaching is that it is not what we don’t do that define us, but what we do. If you will remember when Jesus was asked what was the foremost commandment, He did not turn to the 10 commandments, which were written mostly in the negative, what we cannot do. But instead He turned to the commandment for what you should do; Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second was like it, not what you don’t do, but you should love your neighbor as yourself. And if you apply those two laws in the intent they were given, then all the don’ts of the law will also be accomplished.
The point of the law, as Jesus illustrates, is not to give us a code by which we may come to be accepted by God. But it is intended to lead us to God. It is given that we might come to know God. That we might come to have the life of God in us. These six illustrations are simply to teach us the principles of living, of life, in the kingdom of heaven. As children of God, how we might be like God, and pattern our behavior after Him. That we might be perfect, even as our heavenly Father is perfect.
That new life begins with a new heart, being born again, by the grace of God. He gives us this new nature and the indwelling of His Spirit in response to our repentance of our sins, and faith in what Jesus has done to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross, and trusting in Him as our Lord and Savior. He gives us life, so we give Him our lives and live for His glory. This life He gives us is not some burden that we have to endure. But it is a life that is eternal, a life that is abundant, a life of joy, a life of freedom, a life of fulfillment. I invite you today to take this life that Jesus died to procure for you. The invitation is extended to all who will come. Come to Jesus today, and receive forgiveness of sin, the righteousness of Christ, a new heart and everlasting life.
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