MATTHEW 5:17-48 YOU MUST BE EXCEEDINGLY RIGHTEOUS2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Matthew 5:17-48 You Must Be Exceedingly Righteous

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Well, this morning as we look at Matthew chapter 5, we're again looking at Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and looking at kind of the beginning portions of that. It's chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, and we're just going to look at a little bit of a segment of it. But in this passage that we just read, Jesus says something that would be absolutely shocking to his disciples. There in verse 20, he says, For I say to you,

that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus tells his disciples, you will have no chance of ever getting to heaven unless your righteousness is even greater than the righteousness of

of the scribes and the pharisees and this would have just completely rocked the world the mindset the whole idea and the concept that these disciples had about righteousness their jaws probably hit the floor they probably were a little bit perplexed because in their mind the scribes and the pharisees were the most righteous people around and in their mind they had no chance

of measuring up to the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, much less exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. They would have thought this is impossible. And you can kind of see this reflected later on when Jesus talks about the camel going through the eye of the needle. You remember what the context was for that? Jesus said, it's really hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

And the disciples responded to that and said, well, if that's the case, then it's impossible. Because in their minds, the rich people were rich because they were so righteous. And God was blessing them for their righteousness with riches. And so if the rich people had a hard time entering in, they were saying, well, there's no hope for the rest of us of entering into heaven.

Jesus said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into heaven. And they said, whoa, this changes everything. It's impossible for us to be saved. And that's the idea that they had. And that's what Jesus is dealing with when he says here in verse 20, your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. And so I've titled the message this morning, you must be exceedingly righteous. You must be exceedingly righteous.

Now, you and I as believers today, we know better than the disciples in the sense that we know, we recognize that when Jesus calls us to have a greater righteousness than the scribes and the Pharisees, that he's calling us to trust in him. He's calling us to a different kind of righteousness. We know from what Paul teaches in Romans chapter 3, there's the righteousness of God that's apart from the law.

The religious leaders had righteousness from God. They had righteousness that was because of the law. And they thought in the keeping of the law that they were righteous. They didn't really keep the law and we'll see that in the passage. But here Paul makes the point we can't be righteous by the law. We can't be righteous by keeping the commands because we break the commands. But in verse 22 of Romans chapter 3 he says the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

to all and on all who believe. That there's a righteousness that comes not from keeping all of God's commands perfectly, but a righteousness that comes from believing in Jesus Christ and receiving what he accomplished for us at the cross and we receive forgiveness, we receive his righteousness, and so in that way we can have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

And so we understand that doctrinally today. We understand the completed work of Jesus today. And that makes a little bit more sense to us today than it would have for them. And yet, as we study these things today, I still think there's plenty of areas, there's plenty of need for us to evaluate these words of Jesus because sometimes we take it to the other extreme. Not so much that we have to be super legalistic in order to be righteous, but

But you know, sometimes we as believers today take the grace of God as an excuse to not deal with disobedience in our hearts. And Jesus is going to be dealing with that really throughout this whole passage this morning. And so as we look at this passage and make the point, you must be exceedingly righteous. This is not just something applicable back to them in those days who didn't understand all the wonderful things you understand.

But even today as believers, we need to come back to a sense and remember that God calls us to a righteous life. He calls us to change, to go forward in his truth. I like the way that David Guzik says it. He says,

But after we come to Jesus, he sends us back to the law to learn the heart of God for our conduct and sanctification. And so we recognize we can't try to please God by keeping the law. We come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. But as we come to God by faith in Jesus Christ, he sends us back to the law to show us this is what right living looks like. This is what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus.

And that's why in verse 17 here of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. Now the law and the prophets, that was a way to reference the Old Testament. And so Jesus says, do not think that I came to destroy the Old Testament. I didn't come to destroy it, but to fulfill it.

I didn't come to throw out the Old Testament. I came to complete the Old Testament. And he does that in fulfilling many of the promises and prophecies of the Messiah and, you know, becoming the salvation for all of us by faith. But at the same time, he is going on to express that the word of God still stands. It's not done. It's not removed.

In verse 18, he says, heaven and earth will pass away, but the very smallest details of the word of God will not pass away. They will stand forever. And so the word of God, even the Old Testament portions of the word of God still stand is the point that Jesus is making. They still have value. They're still incredibly important to you and I as believers today, as followers of Jesus, because they instruct us on how we are to live and that our righteousness is

must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Now, as we look at these different portions of scripture, Jesus is going to be correcting the false teachings that were going on and the misunderstandings about the law of God. The law of God still stands, but the problem was not with the law of God, with their misunderstanding of the law of God. And so he's going to say repeatedly, you have heard that it was said.

The people of his day didn't have direct access to the scriptures. It was very costly, very expensive to get those scrolls that the scriptures were written on. And most people didn't have access to that. Some of them didn't speak the language that it was written in. And so they were taught by the scribes and the Pharisees. And so they had heard that it has been said. They'd heard what God had said in his word. But what they were taught about those things was incorrect. Correct.

And so Jesus is correcting some false teachings, some misunderstandings that are still appropriate for us to consider today as we understand the value of the word of God. And so you must be exceedingly righteous. And there's five points that we'll walk through as we work our way through the passage this morning. The first point is found in verses 21 through 26. And here's point number one. Value people as much as God does.

In order for us to be exceedingly righteous, in order for us to live the life that God has called us to live as followers of him, we must value people as much as he does. Look at verse 21 and 22. It says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you,

Now here in verse 21, I think we would pretty much all agree it's a pretty well-established standard. Murder is a violation of God's law.

You shall not murder. That's what the scriptures say. It's part of the Ten Commandments. That's what the scribes and the Pharisees taught. I think we can all agree on this. And so Jesus says, you've heard that it was said, you shall not murder. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what the scriptures say. But Jesus is going to now address the way that that command was taught in the next verse. He says, but I say to you, so you've heard this taught, you shall not murder.

But here's what I will tell you. Here's my understanding, my interpretation, which Jesus has the perfect and right understanding. He'll go on to elaborate and to say, whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Now, the things that were being taught, their understanding of this command, you shall not murder, went something like this.

Well, of course, the act of murder is illegal. It's an offense. It's a violation of God's law. But up to that point of murder, well, there's a lot of things that you can do that are not a violation of that command. And so you can hate people, and that's okay.

You can be angry with them, and that's okay, as long as you don't actually kill them. That's breaking the commandment. Now, you can understand, well, that's a very limited perspective on this command. It's limited to the external, limited to the actual action of murder. But Jesus is going to explain here, when God gave the command, do not murder, he wasn't just talking about that final act of killing someone.

But he was talking about the condition of the heart that brings someone to that place. And so it's not just the external that God is concerned about. But Jesus says it's not just murder. If anyone is angry with his brother without a cause, he says he shall be in danger of the judgment. Have you ever been angry without a cause? Jesus says if you have, you're in danger of judgment.

You're in danger of hell, eternity apart from God, if you've ever been angry without a cause. And you might think, well, I think every time I'm angry, I have a pretty good reason for it. So I don't think I'm angry without a cause. But don't think of it that way. When he says without a cause, it's not like you just have a random anger. It's like, I have a good reason. They really offended me bad. So I have a reason to be this angry because they've hurt me so much. But that's not the way to think about it. You need to understand it's a righteous cause.

So let me put it this way. You have no right to be angry when God is not angry. If God is not angry at that person, you have no right to be angry at that person. And if you're angry with that person, it's anger without a cause. And that's the idea here that Jesus is trying to convey.

Have you ever had anger without a cause? Anger at somebody that God is not angry with, that's something to consider. It's so easy for all of us, isn't it? In fact, this very week, I received a message. I misunderstood the message and I was angry. I was fired up. And later on, I had to be corrected and understand, oh, I misunderstood the message. Have you ever misunderstood a text message? Anybody? Everybody, right? That's

It's hard to communicate truth that way or thoughts and stuff. But that moment is a violation of this command, do not murder. That's what Jesus is saying. That when we are angry without a cause, when we are overreacting, when we're responding in a way that's not reflective of the heart and nature of God, it's a violation of the commandment of God. Jesus goes on here in verse 22 to say,

You say, whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But I say, if you say you fool, you're in danger of hellfire. So again, he's talking about the judgment and he's making a distinction. You guys take it seriously when someone says Raka to somebody else.

Now that's not a word that we use frequently here, right? But in Hebrew, it was kind of a serious offense and they took it seriously. The idea was it expressed contempt for somebody's intelligence. It's like calling someone a moron. You stupid, you know, like that kind of thing. And they took it seriously. They would call you to the council. There would be, you know, official proceedings if you spoke to someone that way. He said, look, you guys take that seriously, but you need to understand that

There's a bigger picture. To treat someone that way is not just an offense to you as a society, it's an offense to God. And if you say, you fool, now Raka expressed contempt for someone's intelligence, fool shows contempt for their character. It's an impugning of their character, an attack on someone's character. And so what Jesus is saying is, look, these kinds of attacks and this kind of treatment of other people is included in this command, do not murder.

That it's not just that act of execution at the end. It's the heart that's expressed when we're angry without a cause. When we're calling people fools and morons. Have you ever called someone a fool? Attacked their character or maybe their intelligence? I was thinking about this this week as I was thinking about these commands of Jesus, this instruction of Jesus and

You know, for us today, we kind of accept these things and probably are less frequent to call someone a fool, you know, to their face or that kind of thing. But, you know, it's amazing as we look at our digital presence, as we look online, I think we're kind of having to learn. It's kind of new. I mean, even though it's been around for a while. But we're going to have to learn how to live out the commands of God and the word of God differently.

In a virtual environment as well as in our real environments. Because ultimately, or generally speaking, I would say that Christians are not representing God well online. And if you look, you know, it's easy and it's common to find fool, raka, you know, those kinds of things being thrown about. And listen, you need to understand, God takes that seriously. The command, do not murder, is

includes a forbidding of that kind of behavior, of that kind of interaction, whether it be in person, on the phone, by text message, online in some capacity. It's a forbidding of that heart, of that mindset, of that attitude. We need to value people as much as

God does now Dave Guzik makes a really important point. He says Jesus is not saying that anger is as bad as murder He's emphasizing that the law condemns both without saying that the law says that they are both things So we need to understand that it's not that anger Has the same consequences as murder It's not that it's exactly as bad or exactly the same thing, but that it breaks the same law That's the point

Now we often hear, and maybe even ourselves say, you know, I'm not a murderer, you know, so I'm pretty decent. Like that's the standard of corruption. But in some senses, we have broken this commandment.

When we're angry without a cause. When we're attacking people and their intelligence or their character. That we're breaking this command of God. And James tells us in James chapter 2 verse 10, whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of all. And so here's the issue. You might think, well, it's not that big of a deal to be angry without a cause. And excuse yourself pretty easily. But...

breaking that one point of the law causes you to be guilty of all of it. And so again, Jesus is calling us to an exceeding righteousness, that we would value people, that we would not hate them, that we would not be angry with them, that we would not overreact or respond or attack in those ways.

Even if it's not just that final actual physical act, but everything up to it and everything in the heart that represents it, Jesus says that is a violation of the commandment and you are not to live that way. And notice it connects to verse 23. He says, therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way first, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.

Notice he says the word therefore in verse 23. This isn't a new thought, change of subject, brand new thing. This is all connected together. Here's the idea. Since God feels this way about people, about their relationships, and about anger towards one another, since God feels that way, he says if you come to the altar and there remember that somebody has something against you,

Now, we often think about it the other way around, right? It's not that there you remember, oh yeah, I don't like that guy. I have something against him. No, no, that's not it. If you remember somebody else is angry with you, Jesus says, that's important enough. Leave your gift at the altar. Don't even finish the worship service. Go be reconciled first to your brother and then come back and offer your sacrifice. In other words, God hates anger, anger,

And these kinds of relationships so much that it's important enough for you, even if it's not your anger, if it's somebody else's anger towards you, it's important enough for you to drop everything and go and seek to be reconciled and help them resolve that anger because that is an offense to God. It's a violation of God's word and God's commands. First, be reconciled to your brother.

It's not just don't be angry, but help others who are angry with you to overcome that so that you both can have right relationship with God afterwards. He goes on in verse 25, agree with your adversary quickly while you're on the way with him. Lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer and you'd be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

Go get right with your brother quickly. And if you have an adversary, try to get right with them quickly. If you don't, there are consequences. Well, there's legal proceedings that unfold. And even bigger picture, there's an accounting before God that we give for our relationships, for the way that we treat people around us, the way that we value them.

And the question is, do we value them as God does? God values people greatly. The worst of the worst sinners, as well as the most faithful and diligent people who come to church on Sunday mornings. He values people and he calls us to model that, to follow that same example, to be like him. And so again, just to summarize, you have no right to be angry when God is not angry. And to do so,

is a violation of God's command, do not murder. Well, moving on to verses 27 through 32, we have point number two. Here the point is, value marriage as much as God does. So as God is calling us to be like him, to model his heart, now we look at the subject of marriage. In verse 27, he says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus begins to now address the subject of adultery. And he says, you've heard that it was said. And indeed it was said. It was written in the scriptures. This is another one I think we can all agree with. The Bible teaches this. It's part of the Ten Commandments. The scribes and the Pharisees taught this.

But there was a misunderstanding that went along with it. In verse 26, he says, I say to you, in contrast to what you've heard about this command, here's what I say. Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. In other words, you've heard everything up to the act of actual physical adultery is permitted. It's only the final act of adultery that's forbidden, right?

But Jesus says, let me tell you, there's more to it than that. That the lust in the heart is a violation of God's command to not commit adultery. It doesn't require the actual act. Maybe you've heard, maybe you've said, well, I can look, I just can't touch. You know, that's a sentiment that is around, but that is not in agreement with God's word. But that's what was being taught. That's what some people think today.

And Jesus says that's not the case. The lust in the heart as well as the actual act of adultery, again, Jesus is not saying they're exactly the same thing. And some people have tried to kind of make that connection and justify all kinds of things. But he's not trying to say that they're just, they break the same law. That's the point. Again, because God takes marriage seriously.

God takes marriage so seriously that he is offended when you fantasize about violating the marriage covenant. That's what lust is really all about. It's a fantasy of violating the marriage covenant. Men see a woman and they begin to live in a fantasy. How she would be satisfying and how she would be pleasing and how she wouldn't nag me and make me do laundry and those kinds of things.

We begin to live in a fantasy and I'm not going to get into all kinds of details here, but you get the point. Here's the reality though, guys. If you were to try to live out that fantasy and you leave your wife and you go chase after that girl and you hook up with her, it won't take very long for you to be in the same position. She makes me do laundry and she nags me and I'm not satisfied and I'm not fulfilled. And now you're looking at someone and now you're fantasizing about this one or fantasizing about that one.

It's that lust in the heart, that fantasy of something else in violation of the covenant that you're in. Now, this is not just an issue for men only. In John chapter 4, Jesus had an encounter with a woman at the well. And as he dealt with her and talked with her, it came out, it was revealed, she has had five husbands and she's living with a guy now who's not her husband anymore.

It's a similar pattern. Now, I'm not a girl. I don't know if you knew that, but just so you know, I'm not a girl. So I don't know exactly what happens in the mind and heart of a girl, but that same type of fantasy can take place in the heart of a woman. And it's a violation of the word of God. As you look at that guy and you think, oh man, Harvey would always love me.

Not like my husband. He would always take care of me and he would never ignore me. He would always listen to every word I said and be interested. This is my perception on the ladies. So you know I'm clueless. Whether it's sexual or some other type of thing, the fantasy of some other life, some other person instead of the one that you're married to,

It's a violation. It's a lust in the heart. And God says that is breaking the same commandment as the actual act of adultery breaks it. It's a serious issue. So he says in verse 29, we ought to deal with it seriously. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And so Jesus says, look, you need to take this seriously. Marriage is valuable to God. He considers it to be incredibly valuable and very serious. Those vows that are made, the covenant that is made, it's important to God.

And anything that threatens it in reality, in the physical realm, or in your heart and mind, Jesus says it needs to be dealt with. Now, without getting into details, he's not calling us to physically mutilate ourselves. For one thing, you understand, if you have a problem with your eyes, and so you gouge one out, you still have the other one to have a problem with, right? You're still going to lust with that one eye, even though one was gouged out. It doesn't resolve the problem, in other words.

But he's using hyperbole. He's making it so that it's a clear point. You need to deal with sin. Deal seriously with those fantasies. Don't entertain them. And don't put yourself in a place where you will keep having them. And so maybe there is certain things that you need to change so that you don't continue to fantasize about other women.

Whether it be a sexual or some other way. And maybe there's some things that you need to change so that you don't fantasize about other men. Again, whether it's in a sexual or another way, that you would not be challenged in that commitment and covenant that you have with your spouse, but that you would be faithful and encouraged in it. That's what God calls us to, to deal seriously with fantasies. Now, not everybody is married. And yet the same truth applies here.

The same type of fantasies that threaten a marriage, it threatens your relationship with God as a single person and your future relationships that God may have for you. And so it's the same issue. It's the issue of the heart and the fantasies of the mind and the lust of the heart. He says, deal seriously with those things. Don't put up with them. As I was reflecting on this this week, it was reminding me of something we just read a few weeks back in the book of Malachi.

In Malachi chapter 2, we have that passage, you probably know it, you've heard it, where God says he hates divorce. And we'll talk about divorce in just the next couple of verses here. But leading up to that statement that he hates divorce, God is interacting with his people and he's saying, look, I'm not receiving your offerings anymore. And you're praying and you're crying out to me, but I'm not hearing you. And the people ask, why not? And he tells them in verse 14 of Malachi chapter 2,

He says, God says, I'll tell you why I'm not responding to you anymore. I'll tell you why I'm not receiving your offerings because I've been a witness between you and your spouse.

I've been watching you and I see how you deal treacherously. That's a serious word. It's a serious offense. You've been dealing treacherously with your spouse, your wife by covenant. You've entered into a covenant. You've entered into this marriage and you're dealing treacherously. And so I'm not hearing you anymore. I'm not receiving from you anymore. God values marriage.

He values that covenant so much so that he cares about the way you think about it, the way you meditate on it, the things that you fantasize on. He cares about it greatly. And it's an offense to him. It's a breaking of his command to not honor those commitments and vows that you made. Verse 31, he says, furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Again, here Jesus clearly expresses the value that God places on marriage. He says, look, you guys say, it's common nowadays, sure, you could divorce. All you got to do is make sure you have the proper paperwork. Write a certificate.

As long as you write it and you're serious about it, well, then it's okay. That's virtually the society we live in today as well.

For them, you know, for those who were record keepers, the certificate of divorce was necessary. For the Bedouins who, you know, were nomads and they moved from place to place, they didn't keep records. And so all they had to do to divorce was say, I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you. And as long as you say it three times very seriously, then it's official. And as long as you do that, then you can separate. But here's, that's what man says. That's what you've been taught. But here's what I say Jesus says. A divorce is,

Aside from the issue of sexual immorality, well, it's a violation of God's word. It's a committing of adultery. It's a violation of what God has called us to as believers, as followers of Jesus. Again, God values marriage and he calls you now to value marriage as much as he does so that you don't allow adultery.

these ongoing fantasies, that you don't allow these ongoing falling into these issues, that you remove those things from your life, that you keep yourself from that place of divorce, from that place of adultery, whether it be the physical act in this world or whether it be in your own mind and heart. That is what it means to have exceeding righteousness. And that's what you're commanded to have as a follower of Jesus.

Well, moving on, we have still a few more points to cover. So verses 33 through 37, here we have point number three, and that is value your commitments as much as God does. In verse 33, it says, again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely,

Verse 36. Verse 36.

Jesus here is again hitting different subjects, correcting different teachings that they were hearing from the scribes and the Pharisees. And so now he talks about these promises, commitments, oaths that they would make. And he says, you've heard it said, here's what you're used to hearing. You've been taught. The Bible says you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.

And that is written in the scriptures. That is God's exhortation. If you make an oath, if you make a promise, you should perform that. And the idea of that is, many times that's done when, you know, hey, God has blessed you greatly. And you're just so thankful and you say, thank you, God. You're so good. I'm going to, and you make your commitment to God. Here's what I'm going to do, God, because you're so good to me. Or sometimes we're stuck in a jam.

And things are difficult. And we pray to God, God, if you get me out of this, I promise I'm going to clean up my life. And I'm going to, you know, go vegan and, you know, whatever. I make these promises. God, if you get me out of this. But again, in the context and in the culture of their day, there's a little bit more to it than just those promises that are being made. And you can tell from verse 34, Jesus says, don't swear at all.

Neither by heaven, because it's God's throne, nor by the earth, because it's God's footstool, nor by Jerusalem. Now, why is he mentioning swearing by heaven or by earth or by Jerusalem? Well, because the religious leaders taught, hey, it's very serious. When you make an oath, you got to keep it. And that's true. But they added on some escape clauses, some loopholes.

Jesus will deal with it more thoroughly in Matthew chapter 23. Let me just read to you one verse from Matthew chapter 23, verse 16. Jesus says, So here's what they would do. Oath is a very serious thing. You've got to keep your promises. But you know, I only promised to the temple.

And that's not that serious. I don't have to keep that commitment. But if I promise to the gold of the temple, well, then it's serious. And then you have to keep it. And so they would kind of build in these kind of tricky escape clauses where, ha ha, gotcha, you know, I was crossing my fingers, so it didn't count. And so they would make a distinction. Well, I didn't swear by the altar. I swore by the animal that was on the altar. I don't have to keep that promise.

I don't have to keep that covenant. And so they had these escape clauses. It's like, I didn't swear on a stack of Bibles. I only swore on one Bible. So I don't have to keep that promise. I don't have to be faithful to that. And that's the teaching that was going on. And so Jesus is saying here, look, don't swear at all. Now, it's not that the issue was the oath. It's not that making a promise is a bad thing necessarily. I mean, if you look at the scriptures, you can see God makes promises all throughout his word.

And he swears by his own name and by himself. He takes oaths. The issue is not the concept of oaths. Here's the issue. God really does receive or see that oaths are binding. It's not the concept of oaths that are the problem. It's that they are real and God will count them as real commitments. He takes them very seriously.

And so God is able to make a promise and make an oath and swear by himself because he is absolutely able and capable and definitely will fulfill every one of those promises and oaths that he has made. But the issue is for you and I, when we make promises, we really can't guarantee all the things that we promise. And Jesus says, you can't even control the color of your own hair in verse 36.

And many of you say, uh-uh, look, I have gray hair, but you don't know that. It's black hair now, you know. No, no, no. You could pretend like you can control the color of your hair, but you actually have no control. If you really could control the color of your hair, you wouldn't need the dye, okay? So if you need the dye, you can't make a promise and guarantee it because you don't even have control over that one little thing of your life. And that's the issue. When you make an oath, when you make a promise,

The Lord says, I received that. Now you're accountable to that. And that's a very serious commitment that you just made. Now there are times where oaths are appropriate. For example, we were just talking about marriage. Husband and wife, bride and groom stand together, exchange vows. You know what a vow is? It's an oath. It's a promise. I'm swearing to God in front of these people. I'm going to be faithful to this person. And that's appropriate. That's the right context. And you are held accountable to that covenant that you made.

And whenever you make an oath, God holds you accountable for it. He considers that as valuable. And so he says, let your yes be yes and your no, no. Be a person of integrity. Be faithful to your word. Don't be a person that has to make a vow for people to believe you. But also don't make these vows with these loopholes and escape clauses so that you can be unfaithful but still feel really righteous and religious.

Just let your yes be yes. Be faithful to your commitments. Do what you say you're going to do. Don't do what you say you're not going to do. That is what Jesus calls you to when he calls you to exceeding righteousness. So it's January 15th. Let me ask you, how's that New Year's resolution going? We need to be careful. Be people of our words. Now, again, the point of all this is that we are completely lost and hopeless without Jesus.

and we do make vows, and we blow them. We make promises, and we break them. We violate all these things that Jesus is talking about in this chapter. But the point is, not that we have to be perfect, but that we recognize that we're not perfect. We run to him for forgiveness and his righteousness, but also that then we don't just live in that brokenness using grace as an excuse. So we just keep on making promises and keep on breaking them, because, well, we just run to Jesus and get forgiveness.

Now, what Jesus is calling us to is to repent, to change. It's a work in progress. It doesn't happen overnight. And so we continue to run to Jesus and we continue to run and we continue to run because we continue to break these things. But we need to understand that God values your commitments. He values your marriage. He values your relationships with other people.

And we need to learn to value them in the same way that God does so that we run to Jesus for forgiveness, but also for the help to change, to stop living that way. Moving on to verses 38 through 42, we have point number four, and that is value mercy and grace as much as God does. He covers a couple of different subjects really in this passage. It says in verse 38, you have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take money or take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. Give to him who asks you. And from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. Again, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said. And so there was the teaching.

You can find it in Exodus chapter 21. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That is written in the word of God. It is what God instructed. Now, the teaching that they were giving along with that was not consistent with what God meant as he says that. In Exodus chapter 21, God is giving the nation of Israel guidelines as a nation.

civil proceedings, you know, court proceedings and judges over the people. He's giving them the guidelines of how to determine the proper judgments. Don't be like other nations. Someone gets hurt and so then they take vengeance into their own hands and they inflict far worse than what they received. That's kind of normal human tendency. No, instead there should be rules and regulations. There should be laws that govern. Retribution is appropriate.

Punishment is appropriate, but it should be limited. So if someone gouges out someone's eye on purpose, well, their eyes should be gouged out. Not both of their eyes. Their head shouldn't be chopped off. You know, they shouldn't be executed for it, but they should receive an appropriate measure of punishment as a result. But now as you understand that, understand that this was not a command to individuals. So it wasn't God says, okay, you poke me in the eye, that means I have to poke you in the eye. That wasn't God's command.

But that was kind of the idea that was being taught to the people. Notice in verse 39, he says, but I tell you. So here's what you've heard. And it does say that, but the teachings along with that are wrong. And so he says, instead, I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. Now,

Again, we're just hitting some highlights here. There's a lot of details here that we could get into that would be fun. We could spend weeks and months looking at the Sermon on the Mount. But just a quick synopsis. Understand here, this is not talking about a violent attack, as he talks about someone slapping you on the cheek. It's not talking about some kind of physical abuse or attack. A slap on the cheek for them was a very serious insult. It was a method, it was a manner in their culture to slap you on the cheek.

of insulting someone, maybe similar to spitting on someone. It was offensive. It was a great insult. He's not talking about a violent attack. It reminded me of the movie Sandlot, and there's a lot of great quotes from that movie. But remember that one part where the kids were there, and then the other group of kids come, and they're exchanging insults to one another. And

Until the big kid, I forget his name, but he says, you play ball like a girl. And then everybody goes, like, hey, we were insulting each other. We were saying pretty bad stuff. But oh my goodness, I can't believe you just, that was the worst insult you could ever give. Sorry, ladies. That's not my words. I'm just quoting the movie. But from a little boy's perspective, that was a serious insult. And that's the idea here of slapping on the right cheek. It's the delivering of a great message.

insult. And so when Jesus says, turn the other cheek, he doesn't say, just let people abuse you physically. He's saying, look, when someone insults you again, notice in verse 39, the first couple of words, but I tell you, so here's the idea. Someone insults me. The religious leaders taught you not only have the right, you have the obligation from God's word to get them back. You slap them on the right cheek. An eye for an eye. It's biblical.

And Jesus says, that is totally wrong. It's a total misunderstanding of the word of God. These two verses are connected as part of the same thought. I'm telling you, Jesus says, when people insult you, don't pay back insult for insult. Don't pay back offense for offense. Don't get into that scramble. Don't get into that fight, exchanging insults back and forth. Do you ever insult people who insult you? I'm sure that you do.

I could probably count on it for sure. I could probably take money to the bank. That's how we respond. That's our tendency. Someone insults us. Someone offends us. We want to get them back and pay them back. But here Jesus says, look, show mercy. Show mercy. Don't resist an evil person. They're insulting you. They're offending you. Show mercy. Mercy is withholding judgment that is deserved.

Now, in some senses, we could argue, hey, when someone insults you, you have a right to insult them back. How dare they? It's deserved. But Jesus is saying, even when that is deserved, let it go. Show mercy. In fact, turn the other cheek. Go ahead, insult me. Go ahead, try to offend me. I'm going to show you mercy like God shows me mercy. The idea of forgiveness is laying down my right to hold it against you.

You've insulted me. You've tried to offend me, but I'm forgiving you. I'm laying down my right to hold that against you. It's showing mercy the way that God shows mercy to us. In verse 40, he says, if anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. So if they insult you or if they come at you and they try to take what is yours. Now, again, this is more than just, you know, in the physical sense, they're trying to steal from you, but

But they're trying to take advantage of loopholes and situations and take from you. Jesus is saying, don't be so worked up and freaked out about it. Let things go. Now, again, not getting into too much depth here. It doesn't mean that Jesus expects us to all walk around naked because someone sued us for our clothes. Or verse 42, give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. He's not saying you have to have nothing because...

Well, anytime anybody asks you, you just automatically have to give it to them. That's the only way to be a Christian. That's not what Jesus is saying, but he's dealing with their culture and their mindset, their hearts that were holding on to what they had to such a degree that they were not willing to show grace to people around them. It's not that you can't own anything or even protect your right to own things, but it's that those things should not own you and you need to show grace.

He says, give to him who asks you and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. It's not a law. Now you have to give. And if you come and ask me for my iPhone, I'm going to say no way and still be a Christian. It's not that you have to give. It's not a law. But remember what Pastor Tom was teaching a few weeks back from Matthew chapter 15?

They had this idea of korban. That is, if a parent was in need and they went to their child and said, hey, I need to use this tool or I need this money. And the kid would say, oh, you can't use it. It's korban. I've devoted it to God. That means I get to use it, but you can't touch it. And what they were doing is they were using this as a way to be selfish, to hold on to their stuff. And so they were trying to use the law.

To cover their selfishness, their unforgiveness. And instead, we're to turn that around and value grace, generosity, mercy, forgiveness, the way that God does. In verse 41, he says, whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. And that speaks of the Roman law of the day. They were under Roman law. And so a Roman soldier could point his finger at you, lay a spear on you and say, look, you got to carry my bag for a mile. And by law, you had to do that.

And so you can imagine a lot of grumbling, you know, as this person is commanded and demanded and they have to carry this bag for a mile. And Jesus says, look, go an extra mile. I'm sure you've heard that phrase, right? Go the extra mile. That comes from Jesus. Go the extra mile. Turn it around. Don't be there grumbling, but be generous and be merciful and just give and give extra when those in authority are asking for things.

Again, that's not a law, but it's just a turning around of the thought, the mindset, and the heart to value grace and mercy as much as God does. Be forgiving and generous just like God. And understand that it's a misuse of God's word to use his commands and his word to harbor unforgiveness and selfishness in your own heart.

Well, finishing it up in verses 43 through 48, we have point number five, and that is value love as much as God does. Verse 43 says, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Verse 8 kind of recaps the whole concept here that Jesus began with. Your righteousness must succeed that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

You must be exceedingly righteous. Be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Now again, you're not perfect. That's the point of the law. To drive you to the reality that you need a Savior, that you come to Jesus for forgiveness. But sometimes as believers, we then, after we've come to Jesus for forgiveness, enter into this idea, this thought, well, there's grace and thank God for His grace.

And we never go back and seek to live out the word of God. We just use grace as an excuse to stay in our unforgiveness, in our selfishness, in our adultery, in our anger. We just use it as an excuse to live in that condition. And well, thank goodness there's grace. It's kind of like those escape clauses that the religious leaders would have. But

What Jesus is calling to is a changed life. Again, from last week, Matthew chapter 3, he calls us to repent, to change. And we can't do that on our own. And so it's not just receiving grace and forgiveness from God, but it's also looking to God for help to live the life that he's called us to live, to represent him to the world around us, to be perfect.

as our Father in heaven is perfect, and to value love as much as God does. Jesus says in verse 43, here's what you've heard. You've heard, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now here's a different pattern than what we saw previously. Previously, Jesus said, you've heard that it was said, and then he would say it, you shall not murder. And that was a direct quotation from the scriptures, and we can all agree with it. But this one's different.

You've heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Now, the first part is recorded in scripture. It is a command of God. Love your neighbor is God's command to us. God never added on that other clause and hate your enemy. Love your neighbor and automatically that means you got to hate your enemy. That's not what God said, but the religious leaders were teaching. That's what God meant. And so they would distinguish between a neighbor or an enemy.

But Jesus made it very clear in his ministry, when God says, love your neighbor, he means whoever you're around. He made that point very clearly in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10. It was whoever you run into, even if your cultures were at odds, even if you were enemies in that sense, to take care of the needs and to minister to the people around you. And so he says, bless those who curse you.

Those who come at you, those who spitefully use you, those who are against you, Jesus says, love them, do good to them, pray for them. And we could think, man, that is a really tough thing that he's calling us to do. But again, he's calling us to be like God. Notice verse 45, that you may be sons of your father in heaven, that you may be like God, that you may follow in the pattern of God, because God makes his son rise on the evil and on the good.

You got to experience the sun coming up today. But that's not just because you're an awesome, righteous person who comes to church on Sunday morning. Wicked, vile people on death row experienced the sun coming up this morning also. And he sends the rain on the just and the unjust. That is, God does good to all kinds of people. He blesses all kinds of people. Last night there was a beautiful sunset. I don't know if you got a glimpse of it, but it was beautiful.

And it was just as beautiful for wicked, rebellious people as it was for you. God's good. He loves. And so he says, look, you follow that pattern and love your enemies. God will deal with his enemies and he will deal with your enemies too. That's not your responsibility, but you love them. Model the character and nature of God to them. He says, look, if you love the people who love you, what reward is that? Even the tax collectors do that.

Now, by calling out the tax collectors, it was just a phrase that they would use. It was a universal example of the worst of the worst sinners. Jesus didn't actually have, you know, a vendetta against tax collectors. It wasn't that he just hated paying taxes. It was, that was what they used. That was a common illustration of the worst of the worst of sinners. Now, I'm not sure what that would be today, and I'm not going to give out some examples because then I might be accusing you of something, but

The worst of the worst people can love people who love them. The worst criminals can love people who love them. But you're called to be radically different, to be like God in loving your neighbor, even the ones who are against you, even the ones who hate you, even the ones who spitefully use you, that you would love them and do good to them and bless them and pray for them, demonstrating the nature and character of God. God values love.

And he calls us to value love just as he does. Therefore, you shall be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. Here's what Jesus says. You must be exceedingly righteous. And here's what it looks like. You don't measure up to any of these things. I fall short in all of these things. You fall short in all of these things. We don't measure up. And that should cause us to run to Jesus for forgiveness.

But don't stay in that place of, well, this is just who I am. I was raised this way. I was born this way. This is how it is. But as you run to Jesus for grace and forgiveness, you also run to Jesus to cry out for him to change your heart and help you to live up to the standard that he's given to you.

And it's a cycle. You're going to fail and you run to Jesus and you receive forgiveness and you ask for help and you try again and you receive his strength and his spirit to live the life that he's called you to live, valuing people in the way that God does and valuing your marriage in the same way that God does and valuing your commitments and your promises as much as God does and mercy and grace as God does and valuing love.

For the people around you in the same way that God does. There's no place for us to have a self-righteous attitude. None of us have any great standing, any great, you know, boasting in any of these areas. We all fall short. We all need the Lord. And again, this is the point. The religious leaders were self-righteous. They thought they measured up in all these areas because they were only looking at the external.

But God is looking at your heart. He's looking at your mind. He's looking at what's happening within so that even when you're behaving yourself well on the outside, the issues within are still serious to him. He's still calling you to repentance in those things. And he still wants to help change you so that you do not continue that pattern any longer. And we can run to the Lord to find forgiveness, grace, and help, mercy to help in our time of need. Let's pray.

Lord, as we come before you this morning and as we see the standard that you have set for us, Lord, the call to perfection, it's a pretty steep call and we don't measure up. But Lord, I thank you that we can come to you to be forgiven for those multitude of areas where we fall short and we can receive your mercy and grace and be clothed in your righteousness. But God, I pray that you would help us from there to not just stay, Lord, in a complacent state,

of disobedience and disregard, but Lord, help us to value what you value. Help us, Lord, to have a heart like you have it and to not be satisfied with just living, Lord, in the same pattern, in the same brokenness, but Lord, that we would be calling out to you, inviting you to work, to change, to transform us, to make us more like you. Lord, not that we will be perfect, but that we will become more and more like you as we walk with you.

being your witnesses to this world around us. Help us, God, to be exceedingly righteous, not in our righteousness, but in your righteousness and what you accomplish for us. And Lord, in the righteousness that you will work within us as we throw ourselves, Lord, into your arms and invite you to work dramatically, radically, Lord, transform us. Remove the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh that is soft and moldable and

and hears from you, help us, God. Shake us and wake us up out of our complacency where we just live with and put up with these issues of sin in our hearts. Lord, would you wake us up, help us to take them seriously, but not in our own efforts, but by running to you and asking you to change us. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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