Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery

Introduction:

2 Kings 18:4 – He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery (Matthew 5:27-30):

1. Adultery Is a DEVASTATING SIN. (Matt 5:27–28)

   Matthew 15:19 – For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

   Titus 1:15 – To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

2. Adultery has DIRE CONSEQUNECES. (Matt 5:29–30)

   1 Corinthians 6:9–10 – Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

3. Adultery requires DRASTIC MEASURES. (Matt 5:29–30)

   Romans 13:14 - But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

   1 Corinthians 6:9–11 – And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:27-30

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Explain Matthew 5:28 in your own words.
   

3. What did Jesus mean by gouging out your right eye and cutting off your right hand (Matt 5:29-30)? What are some practical ways to apply this teaching?
   

4. Is Jesus saying a believer who commits adultery will go to hell? Who exactly is “thrown into hell”?
   

5. What would you say to a professing believer who confesses that they can’t break free from lusting?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 5.

  If you're visiting with us today, we are going through the Sermon on the Mount verse

  by verse.

  And Happy Mother's Day, the title of today's sermon is "Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery."

  I, I, um, we go where the text goes, okay?

  That's what we do.

  We go where the text goes.

  So let's do that.

  I'd like you to bow your heads please and just pray for me to be faithful to communicate

  God's Word.

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what is an extremely challenging

  passage.

  Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

  We're not going to shy away from it.

  We just heard two testimonies of the way that Your Word has transformed lives.

  We're going to hear at least four more in the next service.

  That's why we, um, we just want to go after Your Word, God, because we believe that Your

  Word does Your work because that's what You said.

  And that is certainly what we've seen.

  So Father, I pray for all of us here today, all those who are going to be listening, watching

  this stream or downloading the podcast.

  Father I pray that You would bring revival in each and every heart in a way that greatly

  glorifies Your name.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen."

  Amen.

  Matthew chapter 5, are you there?

  In Numbers chapter 21, you have Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised

  land and Israel complained and grumbled against God, against Moses.

  And the Lord sent these fiery serpents who, and these serpents bit some of the Israelites

  and many of them died.

  Well they repented.

  And God told Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole.

  And if the Israelites, when they were bitten by one of the snakes, if they looked at this

  bronze serpent, they would live.

  Well then fast forward, Israel in the land established and they had kings.

  Some kings were very bad and some kings were just not as bad.

  Right?

  Can you relate to that at all?

  And Hezekiah was a king who was not as bad and he brought a lot of reforms to Israel.

  Here's one.

  We put this verse up from 2 Kings chapter 18.

  Hezekiah says, "He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the ashram.

  He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the people

  of Israel had made offerings to it."

  It was called Nahushdin.

  See what happened?

  You see what happened?

  People took a blessing that God gave them for their benefit and they turned it into an

  idol.

  That's exactly how it is with physical intimacy.

  It is a gift that God gave those in the covenant of marriage, but we have turned it into an

  idol.

  So on your outline today, this is it.

  "Thou shall not commit adultery."

  I want you to write some things down.

  Number one, write this down.

  Adultery is a devastating sin.

  Adultery is a devastating sin.

  Now just that statement alone, it's a hard sell because we are a sex-obsessed culture.

  You've taken this gift from God and we've perverted it and we worship it.

  Do I have to point that out at all?

  Look at all the homosexuality madness, all the transgender stuff.

  And you're like, "Yeah, you know what, Pastor Jeff, you're right.

  You're right.

  It's bad out there."

  And I would say, "Church, it's bad in here."

  I was reading some polls for what they're worth.

  But according to one poll, one half of self-identifying Christians believe that casual sex is okay.

  Consenting but not in a relationship.

  They believe that's okay.

  Half.

  Think that's alright.

  What?

  I read a poll about pornography use among non-Christian men.

  Non-Christian men, 65%.

  Like, yeah, that's pretty bad.

  Christian men, 64%.

  The same poll, lest you think, "Yeah, creepy men, right?

  Creepy men, same poll, 51% of women."

  And you know at this point, you could be like, "Well, look, Jeff, we're only human.

  Everyone does it.

  It's not hurting anyone."

  Well according to Jesus, it's a devastating sin.

  Look at verse 27, Matthew chapter 5.

  Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'"

  Stop there.

  Adultery.

  What is adultery?

  Well the technical term is defined as intercourse with another person's spouse.

  But it's become a catch-all term for relations with anyone who is not your spouse.

  And you're going to see in this passage, it's very clear that that's how Jesus was using

  the term in the most general sense possible.

  You go to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 14, you see that it's the seventh commandment.

  You go to Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 22, you'll see that under the law in Israel,

  adultery was punishable by death.

  And I don't have time to get into it this morning.

  We've done whole sermon series on this, by the way.

  But I just encourage you, if you're ready to just brush it off as, "Oh, church people,

  just making a big deal out of nothing," read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 sometime.

  And you will see that adultery is a devastating sin.

  I heard one pastor this past week call it a sin for fools.

  And I think that's a very good description.

  adultery is devastating.

  I mean, it wrecks you, destroys your reputation, affects your relationship with your spouse,

  relationship with your kids.

  Oh, and the other person, what about them?

  It affects, now if they're married, it affects their relationship with their spouse.

  If they have kids, it affects their kids.

  And what has done to their reputation.

  But the devastation of adultery is way deeper than that.

  Look at verse 28.

  Jesus says, "But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has

  already committed adultery with her in his heart."

  Do you notice verse 27, verse 28?

  Jesus said, "You have heard, but I say to you," what was Jesus doing?

  Pastor Taylor talked about this last week.

  Same thing with murder.

  Same thing.

  Jesus was contrasting their definition of sin with God's definition of sin.

  Because their definition of sin in Jesus' day was all about externals.

  So when they hear adultery, they're thinking only in terms of the physical act with another

  person.

  But that, not alone, is adultery.

  And Jesus says, "No, you're not taking it far enough.

  And you're understanding.

  It's a hard issue.

  Like murder.

  You don't have to actually kill someone to be considered a murderer in the eyes of God."

  Jesus is saying the same thing about adultery.

  You don't have to physically be with another person to be an adulterer.

  Look at verse 28 again.

  He says, "I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already

  committed adultery with her in his heart."

  Now you have to understand this looking with lustful intent, it's not an accidental glance.

  This is literally in the process of continuing to look.

  It's looking in such a way that you are fueling your sexual imagination.

  When that happens, the deed's already done.

  Adultery has happened.

  Now listen, I don't want you to misunderstand because it's even worse than you think it

  is.

  Listen, Jesus did not say that looking at a woman with lustful intent causes you to commit

  adultery in your hearts.

  Jesus said looking at a woman with lustful intent means you already committed adultery

  in your heart.

  Jesus is saying that you looked with lustful intent because it was already in your heart

  to commit adultery.

  I think this is where a lot of people get this mixed up.

  It's not, "Oh, I was going about my business and I just stumbled across this woman and

  I looked at her and that is what caused me to lust."

  That's not the extent of it.

  It's this, I have an adulterous heart that's looking for a woman with lustful intent.

  See the difference?

  The look did not cause the lust.

  It is the lust that caused the look.

  You see the difference?

  Look, look, I can't, there's no way I can overstate this.

  This is a real problem.

  And this is a real problem that people sitting here have right now and are not dealing with

  it.

  You're not an adulterer because of something you do, it's who you are.

  It's a heart thing.

  You see with adultery like murder, as Pastor Taylor talked about last week, before it's

  an act, even if it doesn't become an act.

  That is what is in your heart.

  This is the heart of the law.

  Jesus said in Matthew 15, 19, "For out of the hearts, out of the heart come evil thoughts,

  murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

  You see that?

  The sinful acts are symptoms of a sinful condition.

  Committing the act of adultery, those are the leaves on the tree that has the root of

  an adulterous heart.

  And if you're sitting here still somehow magnanimously saying in your head, "I would never commit

  the act."

  I did not and I would never commit the act of adultery.

  But if that sin is in your mind, if that sin is constantly in your imagination, you have

  a real problem.

  That's why pornography is such a big business.

  Why?

  Because sinful hearts are literally searching for it.

  And you have to understand that if that's your issue, the sin started even before you

  got online because it's in here.

  It's a devastating condition to live in.

  You're unable to live a holy and upright life because when your heart is full of adultery,

  it perverts everything.

  And consider Titus 1.15.

  Look at this verse.

  Paul says to the pure, "All things are pure."

  But to the defiled and unbelieving, meaning your heart is full of perversion and sin,

  to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure.

  But both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

  Do you know what that means?

  That means that when you're in that latter condition, you cannot look at another woman

  purely.

  You cannot see another woman as a sister, as a mom, as even just another human being.

  When this is where your heart is, every woman that you encounter, you're evaluating.

  And many become objects in your minds and hearts of fantasies.

  Lust just becomes all-consuming.

  And the people that live in this defiled state don't even see a problem.

  God's gift of marital intimacy has become an idol that you use to gratify your flesh.

  So see, Jesus is telling us out the gate, this is a devastating condition.

  And secondly, I shall not commit adultery.

  Not only is adultery a devastating sin, but adultery has dire consequences.

  Adultery has dire consequences.

  Look at verses 29 and 30.

  These two verses kind of saying the same thing, but this is some of the most startling stuff

  Jesus ever said, in my opinion.

  He says, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it

  is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better

  that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."

  And you're like, "Man, gouge out your eye?

  Like cut off your hand?"

  Like, "Man, that seems awfully extreme."

  If that's the part you're focusing on, then you have completely missed the point.

  Because neither of those things are extreme.

  They're not extreme at all compared to hell.

  Notice twice Jesus says, "Thrown into hell."

  Thrown into hell.

  What's the obvious implication, right?

  We get it.

  We get what He's saying.

  Jesus is saying here that people with adulterous hearts go to hell.

  If you're still not convinced, Paul backs this up, verse Corinthians 6, verses 9 through

  10.

  He says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?"

  Meaning go to heaven.

  Meaning go to hell.

  He says, "Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral nor adulterers nor men who

  practice homosexuality nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers

  will inherit the kingdom of God."

  Your priority in this life, more than anything, should be preparing yourself for eternity.

  Are you doing that?

  Because the Bible says your decisions in this life matter.

  And someday you're going to stand before God.

  So if lust is a problem for you, if lust characterizes you, and look, I can't answer

  that.

  I can't answer that for you.

  But you know if this sin consumes who you are.

  And if it characterizes you, there are consequences.

  As we talked about before, here and now, apparently, obviously, easily seen, there are consequences

  for adultery.

  But Jesus says there's also consequences when you take your last breath.

  Adultery has dire consequences.

  So let's talk about the other big thing in these verses.

  Number three, adultery requires drastic measures.

  Look at them again.

  He says, "If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, for it

  is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better

  that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."

  Weren't you just blessed by the obedience of those who were baptized today?

  Didn't you say obedience is a wonderful thing?

  Awesome.

  Who's first?

  I mean, didn't Jesus just say if your hand causes you to sin, to cut it off?

  Who's first?

  We're not going to do it over the tub because we get more baptisms in the next service.

  And you're like, "Yeah, what about the other verse?"

  Well, don't worry.

  We can take care of the eye, too.

  We'll get Pastor Taylor up here.

  We'll do them both at the same time.

  You won't know.

  You won't even know what's going on when both of them are happening at the same time.

  And you're like, "Man, gouging out your eye and cutting off your hand.

  Man, that sounds drastic."

  Oh, it absolutely is.

  Maybe even more than you think.

  Because you see, Jesus was speaking to Jews.

  And the Jews viewed the right greater than the left.

  Just as a general thing.

  If you're left-handed, I don't need any hate emails.

  Okay?

  That's just the way it was, right?

  Sitting at the right hand.

  My right hand, man.

  The idea was right is better than left.

  So your right eye and your right hand and the Jewish mindset, those were the two most important

  things that you own.

  What Jesus is saying is this, there is nothing that is too important to eliminate from your

  life if it is causing you to sin.

  Adultery is destructive, it's enslaving, it's condemning.

  We got to deal with that.

  We have to deal with it.

  Do you believe that?

  Whatever.

  Listen.

  Whatever it is that feeds the lust in your heart, no matter how important that thing

  is, it has got to go.

  It's got to go.

  If you're feeding your lust through your phone or maybe a tablet, smash them up.

  And you're like, "Pastor Jeff, I have the newest iPhone.

  I spent a lot of money for that."

  It's not worth hell.

  Is it your laptop?

  Smash it up.

  Or you know, take your laptop to the kitchen and only use it around your family.

  You're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, my family is really nebby."

  Good.

  So glad to hear that.

  It's not worth hell.

  Maybe for some of you it's your social media accounts where you're having inappropriate

  relationships, conversations with people online or looking at things through those that you

  shouldn't be looking at.

  Delete them.

  Delete those social media accounts.

  You're like, "But Pastor Jeff, that's how I stay connected.

  Join a small group."

  You're like, "Put Pastor Jeff, the social media, that's just my leisure time.

  Take up pickleball.

  It's not worth hell."

  You know what?

  Maybe we'll just take care of all this.

  Call and cancel your internet if it's a problem.

  If it's leading you to feed this lust, Jesus says, "It has to go."

  And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I need the internet for my job.

  Get a new job.

  I will find you a job where you don't need the internet because it's not worth hell."

  Maybe for some of you as we are approaching summer, maybe it's a membership in a public

  pool.

  Like, you know what?

  I go there, Pastor Jeff, and I look at the women there, and I get to tell you what did

  Jesus say.

  You've got to get extreme here, people.

  But Pastor Jeff, my pool membership, that's just kind of our thing like we do in the summer.

  Swim at home.

  And I don't have a pool at my house.

  Do you have a bathtub?

  It's not worth hell.

  And I know people are like, "Okay, Pastor Jeff, I hear what you're saying, but I'm going

  to be honest with you."

  It's going to be kind of embarrassing to have to explain to people why I smashed my phone

  and canceled my internet.

  It's going to, I'm going to have to explain to people why I did that.

  That's kind of embarrassing.

  I'll tell you what's going to be more embarrassing than that is you not cutting off your sin,

  and someday you're going to stand before God.

  And God's going to say, "Do you remember the strangest Mother's Day sermon you've ever

  heard?"

  Why didn't you listen?

  Why did you despise my word?

  Why did you think following me was not worth cutting off the stuff that keeps you from following

  me with your whole heart?

  Why did you find me not worthy?

  Notice Jesus says it's better.

  It is better to lose your eye, lose your hand.

  It's better.

  What's better than going to hell?

  Literally anything.

  Anything you have to lose for the sake of your soul is going to be worth it.

  Romans 13, 14, same thing.

  Paul's saying the same thing.

  Maybe not in as graphic terms as Jesus, but it's the same thing.

  He says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify

  its desires.

  Make no provision.

  Take drastic measures to cut off anything that feeds the flesh."

  It's like that old story I heard, an old metaphor.

  Maybe you've heard about the guy.

  He had a white dog and a gray dog.

  And every time he put food out for them, the gray dog would whoop up the white dog, take

  all the food.

  The white dog would get none.

  After a while, the white dog, not eating, got weaker and weaker and weaker and the gray

  dog getting all the food, got stronger and stronger and stronger.

  The guy said, "I've got to do something about this."

  So he put both the dogs on a leash.

  And for a month, he only fed the white dog.

  This isn't a real story, by the way.

  Don't call it PETA.

  But he only fed the white dog.

  The gray dog barely surviving.

  But after that time of only feeding the white dog and not the gray dog when he let them

  off the leash, now the white dog was strong because it was the one that got fed.

  The gray dog was weak because it was the one that got starved.

  And I think you see the obvious application.

  The dog you feed is going to be the dominant dog.

  And the dog you starved was going to be the weak dog.

  See in this analogy, the white dog represents walking by the Spirit.

  The gray dog represents walking in the flesh.

  I think some of you are so weak because you're not feeding the Spirit, so to speak.

  You're not into Word.

  You're not worshiping.

  You're not praying.

  You're not in fellowship.

  You're not listening to good biblical podcasts.

  You're starving that.

  When instead you need to be starving the flesh.

  Make no provision for the flesh.

  Starve the adulterous heart by making no provision for whichever dog you feed is going to be

  the dog that is strong.

  And the dog that you don't feed is the dog that gets weak.

  And you're like, "Man, Pastor Jeff, this sounds impossible."

  Oh, it is.

  Absolutely.

  That's why we put Romans 13 back up there, please.

  It is impossible.

  Hence the first phrase in this verse, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ."

  Reformation is not going to work.

  If your goal here is to just try to clean up your act, you're not going to get very far.

  You need transformation.

  You need the life of Christ in us to be able to make these choices.

  Oh, and by the way, earlier we read, well, 1 Corinthians 6, we read verses 9 and 10.

  I'd like to go back and I'd like to look at the very next verse.

  Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

  Do you not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor adulterers, nor adulterers, nor

  men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,

  nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God?

  Look at verse 11.

  And such were some of you that you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, you

  were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.

  I just want to ask you today, are you an R?

  Or are you a Wurr?

  Because today, today could be the most important day of your life because today you can become

  a Wurr.

  Like it about your heads as the worship team makes their way back up.

  Just like it about your heads.

  Close your eyes.

  Look, this is a between you and God thing here, alright?

  There's some of you that have been trapped because you don't know Jesus Christ as your

  Lord and Savior.

  You don't have the power or resources to overcome this sin because you're living in the flesh,

  not by the power of His Holy Spirit because you don't know.

  Today can be the day that you receive Him.

  And you know what?

  We're baptizing in the next service.

  Pastor Taylor would be thrilled to be able to baptize you because you've repented from

  your sin and turned to Jesus Christ.

  But if you, heads bowed, eyes closed, if you're sitting here and you're like, you know what

  pastors, I am a believer in Jesus Christ, but I'm honestly, I'm stuck in this sin.

  I just want to ask you, Christian, stuck in this sin.

  Why in the world would you indulge in a sin that Jesus died for?

  Today Christian, you need to repent.

  Today Christian, you need to do some cutting.

  Father in heaven, I just simply ask today that you open up the eyes of our hearts that we

  don't look at this sin from a worldly perspective because the world celebrates it.

  Father, let us see this sin from your perspective.

  It's a horrible sin.

  Father, let us see the consequences that Jesus laid out for us.

  There is eternal separation from you for the heart that chooses to live in lust instead

  of walking by the Spirit.

  Father, I pray that you would give us the wisdom, you would give us the strength, and

  you would give us the faith to be able to cut some things today.

  It's ultimately going to bless us to be free from this bondage, but the end goal of all

  things, Father, is for the glory of your name.

  Father, I pray that you would glorify your name through a work of your Holy Spirit, bringing

  people to you in repentance and bringing your people back from a willing bondage to

  sin.

  Please, Father, let our life, let our very life be an act of worship in the way we repent.

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Thou Shalt Not Murder

Introduction:

How Do You Stop Hatred from Growing in Your Heart? (Matthew 5:21–26)

1. By putting it to Death when it First Appears. (Matthew 5:21–22a)

   1 John 3:15 – Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

2. By refusing to Kill others with Destructive words. (Matthew 5:22b)

   Ephesians 4:29 – Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

3. By seeking after Immediate Reconciliation. (Matthew 5:23–24)
4. By remembering what’s At Stake. (Matthew 5:25–26)

   1 Corinthians 6:10 – ...nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:21-26

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Are you struggling with anger/hatred? How can you deal with it right now before it gets out of control?
   

3. Read Ephesians 4:29 - What are some practical ways to control your mouth and keep corruption from spreading to others?
   

4. Why is it so hard to admit your faults and ask for forgiveness?
   

5. What are the consequences of giving yourself over to hatred and unforgiveness?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 through 26.

  Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 through 26.

  We live in a culture that is absolutely obsessed with murder.

  There are dozens and dozens of true crime podcasts that delve into the nitty-gritty details

  of the worst crimes imaginable.

  Who has ever listened to a true crime podcast?

  No shame.

  Just asking.

  There are seemingly thousands and thousands of TV shows that are centered around murder

  investigations.

  Let me just list a few.

  Blue Bloods, Only Murders in the Building, Criminal Minds, Chicago PD, Sherlock, Bones,

  Castle, The Rookie, Longmire, Colombo, Psych, Monk, Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder.

  Then there are the franchises that have spun out an endless amount of added-on shows, right?

  Law and Order, Law and Order Special Victims Unit, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Law and

  Order LA, Law and Order Trial by Jerry, Law and Order True Crime, Law and Order Organized

  Crime, NCIS, NCIS Origins, NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS Hawaii, NCIS New Orleans, NCIS Sydney,

  CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, CSI Los Angeles, CSI Vegas, CSI Cyber, CSI Sheboygan, CSI Wexford.

  Okay, wait.

  Those last two don't actually exist, but at the rate they're pumping out these spin-offs,

  you never really know.

  But millions of people tune into these kind of shows every single week to watch fictional

  murderers face justice.

  On top of these podcasts and TV shows, we even play a board game with children that

  is all about murder.

  That board game is?

  Who has ever played Clue at some point in their lives?

  I don't want to explain the basic premise, right?

  Okay, three to six players, you're all trapped in a mansion and one of you murdered Mr. Bodie,

  who owned the mansion.

  Was it Ms. Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, or Professor

  Plum?

  The whole purpose of the game is to figure out who is the murderer, what is the murder

  weapon, and what is the location of the killing?

  Again, this is a game for children.

  If the game can end with an accusation like this, Colonel Mustard in the conservatory

  with a candlestick.

  Maybe you love playing this game growing up because you like to solve the mystery, assign

  the blame for murder, and point the finger at made-up characters.

  But what if I were to tell you that every single person in this room is guilty of murder?

  This is in my opinion, it's not a suspicion, a hunt or an unfounded accusation.

  This is a clear and simple fact from the mouth of our Lord.

  According to Jesus Christ, we are all Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with a candlestick.

  And you may be thinking, "Taylor, I don't know about the person next to me, but I have

  certainly never murdered anyone in cold blood."

  Well, you may be innocent of physically murdering, but there is no wiggling out of the reality

  that you are guilty of spiritually murdering in your heart by hating others.

  And again, I know that some of you may be resisting what I'm saying already.

  You think to yourself, "I don't hate anyone.

  I am pleasant with everyone."

  I mean, sure, there are some people I intensely dislike.

  There are some people I vent about constantly.

  There are some people I avoid at all costs, and if I saw them in the grocery store, I

  would run in the opposite direction.

  But hey, that's different.

  Is it different?

  Maybe you are dressing up your hatred to make it look nice and acceptable when it is actually

  cruel and dishonoring to the Lord.

  No matter who you are, how nice you may appear, you are not exempt from hatred.

  Because you have to understand that murder is not just an action.

  It is a state of heart in mind.

  We have been studying the Sermon on the Mount since February, and we are in the second section

  of our study, "The Heart of the Law."

  Last week, Pastor Jeff taught that Jesus Christ didn't come to abolish the law, but to perfectly

  fulfill it through His life, death, and resurrection.

  And throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus demonstrates that the law is not skin deep.

  It actually drills down deep within you to your heart.

  Jesus cares about who you are on the inside.

  He is far more interested in the internal than the external.

  In Matthew 5, verses 21-26, Jesus exposes your greatest desires, fears, and innermost

  feelings which you try to keep hidden away from others.

  Jesus pulls your anger into the light to show you how truly ugly, subtle, and destructive

  it actually is.

  Jesus doesn't do this to humiliate you.

  He does this to help you.

  Jesus doesn't do this to condemn you, but to change you from the inside out.

  Because hatred cannot be allowed to fester.

  It will hollow you out on the inside, and it will hurt everyone around you.

  So how do you stop hatred from growing in your heart?

  Well, our passage for this morning offers four methods of extermination that will keep

  the infection from spreading.

  Before we cover those, let's go to the Lord and ask for His help.

  Please pray for me that I will faithfully proclaim God's Word, and I will pray for you

  that you will joyfully receive God's Word.

  Father, we thank you for this most important appointment of the week.

  We gather together as your people to worship you, to encourage one another, and to sit

  under the proclamation of your Word.

  Lord, I thank you that you watch over your Word to perform it, and that your Word accomplishes

  every purpose for which you send it out.

  I pray this morning that you would do your work in our hearts and lives.

  We ask all this in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

  So how do you stop hatred from growing in your heart?

  The first method of extermination by putting it to death when it first appears.

  By putting it to death when it first appears.

  Let's read verses 21 through 22.

  Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and

  whoever murders will be liable to judgment.

  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment."

  So Jesus kicks off a pattern that we see six times in Matthew chapter five.

  You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.

  And at first glance, it may look like Jesus is changing one of the six commandments.

  It may look like he is erasing the original meaning and coming up with something brand

  new.

  But as Pastor Jeff said last week, Jesus came not to lessen the law, but to elevate it.

  Jesus is not changing the sixth commandment.

  He is simply revealing something that has always been within it, but has been ignored.

  He is not contradicting God's word.

  He is contradicting the Pharisee and scribes incomplete interpretation of God's word.

  The religious leaders of Jesus' day thought and taught that the sixth commandment of,

  "You shall not murder," only applied to the physical acts of homicide in manslaughter.

  They put this commandment into a box and ignored its deeper meaning.

  And here is the heart of the sixth commandment.

  Do not give yourself over to unrighteous anger, which leads to the act of unjustly ending

  someone's life.

  Anger is the first domino in that chain reaction.

  The religious leaders limited the scope of God's command and the process they limited

  its impact.

  By viewing the sixth commandment in this way, a religious leader could look at himself and

  say, "Hey, I am perfectly keeping this commandment.

  I have never clubbed someone over the head.

  I've never pushed my neighbor off a tall building in a fit of rage.

  God must be so proud of me, but internally they are killing people by despising them,

  despising tax collectors, sinners, and Gentiles."

  In this passage, Jesus corrects the massive oversight of the men who should know the law

  better than anyone else, but have missed the entire point.

  They have missed the heart.

  Jesus is saying, "Don't think you're safe and sound because you have no bodies buried

  in your backyard.

  You were on the hook for a serious crime and heading for serious consequences if you have

  hatred and anger and bitterness buried in your heart."

  It's especially egregious to be angry with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

  Why is that?

  You know, as a dad, it pains me to watch or read news stories about kids being bullied.

  But do you know what would be worse than watching strangers be mistreated, finding out that

  one of my own kids is being bullied?

  Do you know what would be the worst of all?

  Discovering that one of my kids hates and actively tries to hurt his or her sibling.

  It grieves the heart of God to watch his children despise and attack one another.

  And John talks about this in his first epistle.

  He says, "Everyone who hates his brother is a what?

  A murderer.

  And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

  At this point, you may be frustrated thinking, "Wait, so you're saying I can never be angry

  with anybody, especially if he or she is a Christian.

  How is that possible?"

  To be clear, Jesus isn't saying that anger is always sinful.

  God gets angry.

  God hates sin and what it causes.

  Jesus got angry throughout the Gospels.

  As a human, it is impossible for you to not feel feelings of betrayal, of annoyance, and

  frustration.

  Jesus isn't condemning anger in general.

  He is condemning a very specific kind of anger.

  In this passage, the word for anger in the Greek is orgizō.

  And this is a fuming, a boiling anger that is nurtured and intensified like a pot of water

  on a stove.

  You keep dialing up the temperature, keep dialing up the intensity until it overflows

  and scalds people.

  This kind of anger twists your heart.

  It distorts how you view other people.

  You may even danger about bad things happening to this person.

  You may want this person to get what's coming, to get what they deserve, to be publicly humiliated

  and to feel the same exact pain that you feel.

  When you hate someone, you are communicating this message to the Lord.

  Lord, I don't care if that person dies and I want them out of my life for good.

  Now, you would never say that out loud, but that's what you're feeling in your heart when

  you harbor bitterness.

  Because that person is dead to you when you never ever want to see him or her ever again.

  In your book, it's like they've been wiped out of existence.

  It's like they've fallen off the face of this earth.

  That kind of anger is a spark that can be snuffed out or fanned into flame.

  It's challenging to put to death in its infancy, but it's way harder to kill once it's fully

  grown and is out of control.

  And this principle holds true in every other area of life.

  If you had gone to the dentist, when you first noticed that tooth pain, you could have avoided

  the unpleasant and very expensive root canal.

  That small leak in your attic would have been much more manageable whenever it was a small

  drip, but now every single time that it rained, it's like a waterfall in your attic.

  Even care of your yard would have been much easier when you pulled weeds as they popped

  up, but after months and months and years of neglect, there are weeds everywhere.

  In those moments, you noticed a problem, but you did nothing about it.

  You stuffed it down instead of honestly addressing the issue.

  Never turn a blind eye to your sin.

  Only when it comes to unrighteous anger and hatred, when you see that root of bitterness

  pop up, be relentless and pulling it out and throwing it away instead of giving it room

  to breathe and to grow.

  When that urge to mentally curse someone out in your mind pops up, don't entertain it.

  Don't go down that ungodly route.

  Instead, choke out those thoughts with the word of God.

  If that person is a believer, pray for their sanctification.

  If that person is not a Christian, pray for their salvation.

  When a family member or friend fails you, trust me, they will fail you.

  Don't stew on the offense and tally up all the ways that person has let you down in the

  past.

  Instead, run to the only one who has never and will never let you down.

  Go to God the Father so that you can choose patience and gentleness instead of pettiness

  and retaliation.

  When the desire to believe the worst about someone in this church enters your mind, willingly

  decide to believe the best until proven wrong.

  Run down the stove of your anger before it hurts you and everyone around you.

  How do you stop hatred from growing in your heart?

  Second method of extermination by refusing to kill others with destructive words.

  By refusing to kill others with destructive words.

  So Jesus moves on from what's in your heart to what comes out of your mouth at the end

  of verse 22.

  He says this, "Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel and whoever

  says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire."

  Maybe this seems over the top to you.

  You may be thinking, "Really Jesus going before the Supreme Court and being thrown into hell

  for insulting and slander?"

  Isn't that a bit severe?

  Well, maybe you won't think that if you understand what these insults actually mean.

  That word for insult in the Greek is "rokka" which means empty-headed or worthless.

  And that word for fool is "moros" from which we get which English word do you think?

  Moron.

  That's not just a cute, funny word.

  The New Testament uses that word to describe those who were outside the kingdom of God.

  So by labeling someone as "rokka" and "moros" you are saying you are a worthless and stupid

  waste of space with nothing of value to offer anyone so you can go straight to hell for

  all I care.

  True Christians cannot lose their salvation by using their mouths for evil.

  But a person whose life is marked by this kind of vile speech should question the genuineness

  of his or her faith and status in the family of God.

  How can you flip people off in traffic throughout the week and then passionately raise your arms

  and worship on Sunday?

  How can you unapologetically scream at your wife and your kids and then use that same

  mouth to pray to a heavenly Father who you were nothing like?

  How can you day after day at work belittle your colleagues, your coworkers, your employees,

  and then go to a small group and claim that you are a bold witness for Christ?

  How can you ruin the reputation of others with slander and then describe your reputation

  as above reproach in God-honoring?

  You cannot habitually kill others with your words and claim to love Jesus with your whole

  heart.

  Your words say way more about you than the person you are speaking against.

  Please do not underestimate the impact and influence of your words.

  You can use your mouth to point someone to Christ or away from Christ.

  To smash them into a million pieces or to help put them back together again.

  You can use your mouth to give someone hope or to take away the little hope that someone

  has.

  Listen to what the apostle Paul has to say about how you should and shouldn't speak in

  Ephesians 4-29.

  Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such is good for building up as fits

  the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.

  No corrupting talk.

  Corrupting brings the mental picture of something that is rotten and moldy.

  Imagine every single time you use your words in a negative way that this gross odor eaks

  out of your mouth and grosses out everyone around you.

  My wife and I were first married.

  We lived in a garage apartment above the house with a very nice Christian couple and their

  son.

  We have almost no complaints about them.

  Great family, very kind to us.

  We had one small complaint.

  Once or twice a week they would make a meal that smelled horrible.

  The smell would go from the kitchen into the vents and finally into our apartment.

  I can't tell you how many candles we lit, how many balls of Febreze we sprayed to try

  to fight off this odor.

  Somehow those defenses make it worse, doesn't it?

  The smell is kind of mixed together to create a horrible uber smell.

  It's been 11 years.

  I swear to you, I can still smell this meal in my house sometimes.

  I know that's not possible.

  My wife tells me I'm imagining it, but that smells so offended in my nose that it haunts

  me in every season of life.

  You may be thinking, "Okay, what's the point of this random gross story?"

  Your corrupting words have the power to linger and haunt people for the rest of their lives.

  If I passed around a mic this morning and asked everyone to share the most hurtful things

  that have been said to or about you, there wouldn't be a dry eye in this room.

  Now I want you to think about some of the most hurtful things you've ever said to or

  about someone.

  Was it worth it?

  Do you stand by what you said or do you regret it?

  Just given a do over, would you say it all again or would you keep your mouth shut?

  Remember your answers to those questions when you were tempted to lash out at others with

  your words.

  Recognize that you can never take your words back no matter how much you wish that you could.

  How do you stop hatred from growing in your heart?

  Third method of extermination by seeking after immediate reconciliation.

  By seeking after immediate reconciliation.

  So verses 23 through 24, Jesus switches gears to focus on how you should address the anger

  of others when you are at fault.

  Let's see what he has to say about next steps.

  Verse 23, "So if you were offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your

  brother has something against you.

  Leave your gift there before the altar and go.

  First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift."

  Jesus places a high premium on resolving relational issues quickly and pursuing after reconciliation

  as soon as possible.

  He even puts it above sacrifice, which to Jews in the first century would have been

  unthinkable.

  Being sacrificed is expected and commanded by God, but Jesus says it's more important

  to be at peace with others around you.

  He's saying if you're making your sacrifice, leave it there, leave, go put this issue to

  bed and then come back to finish your sacrifice.

  This would be similar to us hearing, "Listen, if you're shopping at giant eagle, leave your

  cart at the register and get out of there.

  If you're pumping gas, jump into your car and speed away and don't worry if the gas

  nozzle is dragging on the road behind you.

  If you're worshiping a church on Sunday, stop singing and track that person down.

  Resolve that unfinished business."

  Do you have unfinished business right now?

  Do you need to ask for forgiveness?

  Maybe you need to step out, make that call, send that text or even speed out of the parking

  lot.

  If that's you, do it right now.

  Maybe you don't want to.

  Sadly so many of us demand apologies from others, but we're so bad at apologizing when

  we're wrong.

  Why is that?

  Because apologizing requires humility.

  You have to make yourself small and put yourself at the mercy of someone else.

  Do we naturally want to do that?

  None of us do, but it's commanded by our God and it is expected.

  It's way easier to cut ties and run than it is to admit your faults.

  That's why there are so many marriages that end in divorce.

  That's why there are so many friendships that are broken.

  That's why so many professing Christians leave their current church to go to another

  church down the street.

  Well, time for a fresh start.

  No one at this new church knows my dirty laundry or my history yet not yet.

  Give it a few weeks or months and you'll be looking for a new church yet again.

  It is far more appealing to the flesh to be totally unknown and completely unconfirmed

  than it is to be fully known and lovingly confronted.

  Please stop pretending because Jesus is not fooled.

  Stop running away from those you've hurt because your problems will just follow you wherever

  you end up.

  Do not be lazy and passive about reconciliation.

  Just like, yeah, yeah, I'll put that on my to-do list and get to it at some point.

  No, Jesus is saying, rip up your to-do list because nothing else matters.

  Do whatever is necessary to attempt to stifle that anger that is between you and the other

  person.

  How do you stop hatred from growing in your heart?

  Final method of extermination by remembering what's at stake.

  By remembering what's at stake.

  Maybe you're still unmoved by Jesus called a crush hatred and pursue after restoration.

  You know what God is calling you to do, but you just don't want to do it.

  You don't have any plans to make any changes or say sorry anytime soon.

  Well, thankfully, Jesus knows how stubborn you are.

  And he knows how stubborn I am.

  So he follows up his command with a very stern warning in verses 25 to 26.

  He says this, "Come the terms quickly with your accuser while you were going with him

  to court lest your accuser hands you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and

  you be put in prison.

  Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny."

  Let me bring this first century illustration into the 21st century.

  Imagine that you and your neighbor are fighting over a property line dispute.

  And during one argument, you get so angry that you viciously attack him.

  You were 100% guilty and there are witnesses to back up your neighbor's testimony.

  Your neighbor threatens to call the cops, to press charges and sue you if you do not apologize.

  But in that moment, you don't want to apologize.

  You want to defend yourself.

  You want to fight against your neighbor.

  You don't want him or her to have the satisfaction of beating you.

  But let's follow that to its logical conclusion.

  The cops come, you're arrested, you're put on trial and you have to go to prison and

  stay there until you are let out.

  And even then, you still have a lot of legal fees and you still have to pay out the lost

  suit.

  Let me ask you, is there any upside to that option, option A?

  What do we think?

  No, it's all horrible.

  But thankfully, there's an option B. Throw yourself at the mercy of your neighbor.

  Ask for their forgiveness and seek after an agreeable solution.

  If you do that, your future is no longer filled with orange jumpsuits and public showers.

  Maybe thinking, well, thanks for the random legal advice, I guess.

  But what does this have to do with me?

  Well, here's the point.

  Hatred is a prison that you willingly lock yourself into.

  Hatred is a prison that you willingly lock yourself into.

  If you give yourself over to it, if you refuse to repent, there will be consequences in this

  life.

  You will become very lonely and unpleasant to be around.

  You'll be known as the cranky guy or lady at church that everyone wants to love but

  doesn't know how to.

  You'll be viewed as the human cactus.

  Everyone tries to hug you and bring you closer, but you just push them away and hurt them

  with jabs.

  You will be trapped in a loveless marriage.

  Your children will wither away under your harshness and constant criticism.

  And you'll wonder one day why they don't visit anymore or call you to check in.

  Your friends will drop away like flies one by one by one because they're tired of you

  picking fights and refusing to apologize.

  Let me ask you, is that the direction you want your life to take?

  Is that where you want to end up?

  And these final two verses, Jesus is focusing on the penalties you will face right now if

  you wrong others and never seek forgiveness.

  But over this past week, I couldn't help but consider the eternal penalty for unrepentant

  hatred and a continual refusal to seek after the forgiveness of Christ.

  Paul is crystal clear in 1 Corinthians 6 10 that revilers slanderers will not inherit

  the kingdom of God.

  As I said earlier, some of you need to do some serious self examination.

  If you relentlessly feed this anger in your heart and it pours out from your mouth and

  through your actions, you may need to answer this really difficult question.

  Am I truly saved?

  Because true Christians choose to love instead of hate.

  A true follower of Christ wants to repent of sin, not wallow in sin.

  Someone who has experienced the forgiveness of Christ wants to extend that to others instead

  of withhold it.

  Those who have been changed from the inside out say, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?"

  Not "I'm sorry, but" or "I didn't do anything wrong."

  Because none of us are perfect in any of these areas.

  But you should be making progress day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.

  Are you kinder, more loving, more forgiving now than when you first came to Christ?

  And if the answer is no, maybe you never truly came to Christ in the first place.

  If your honest answer to the question of "Am I truly saved?" is no, then your future is

  far more terrifying than any earthly jail or prison.

  You are looking down the barrel of an eternity of being sentenced to a prison that is inescapable

  once you are there.

  In hell, no one is released early or given visitation rights.

  But I have great news this morning.

  You don't have to be sentenced to that kind of eternity.

  There is still time to trust in Christ today.

  You don't need to carry that hatred or bitterness any longer.

  Those burdens will sink you both now and forever if you let them.

  Give those burdens over to Christ who was hated by the crowds that you could be loved

  by His Father, who was rejected on the cross that you could be accepted, who bore the angry

  wrath that you deserve so you could be declared innocent.

  Jesus Christ has open arms this morning.

  He is calling you to run to Him.

  He is ready and willing.

  Are you ready and willing to run to Him and accept all that He has to offer?

  Let nothing hold you back from Christ because He will withhold nothing from you once you

  come to Him with a sincere faith in genuine repentance.

  If your honest answer to the question of "Am I saved?" is yes, but you still wrestle with

  holding on to resentment and burning with anger, I have a few final words of encouragement

  for you.

  You may have dug yourself into a pit of your own making.

  You keep digging and digging and digging with obsessive thoughts, unkind words, and stubbornness.

  But please listen to me.

  You only need to stay in that hole as long as you want to.

  Nothing and no one is keeping you there besides yourself.

  If you want to get to a better place, get over yourself and admit your neediness.

  Admit that you need God's help.

  Find yourself the truth instead of buying into your own lies.

  You should hold no grudges because God holds no grudges against you.

  You have nothing to prove to anyone because Jesus Christ already approves of you.

  You have no reason to repay evil for evil because the Bible says that vengeance belongs

  to the Lord.

  You have no defense for your hatred because you have received the greatest love imaginable.

  Let's spend some time with the Lord in prayer.

  Please close your eyes and bow your heads.

  Use this time to confess your sin to the Lord.

  To acknowledge how much you need Him to change.

  Stop putting on a show and be honest with your Father because He already knows what

  you're struggling with.

  The first step in finding a solution to your problem is admitting that you even have a

  problem.

  Don't worry about what's for lunch.

  Don't worry about your busy day tomorrow, how your kids are doing in the back.

  Do business with God.

  Father, we come before you to confess our sin.

  Lord, all of us struggle with this in some way at some level, whether we want to admit

  it or not.

  And Lord, if there is someone in this room who doesn't know you, Lord, I pray that today

  would be the day of salvation.

  Today would be the day where they run to you and ask for forgiveness for the very first

  time.

  For the rest of us, Lord, would help us to recognize that we are already forgiven of

  our hatred, that the eternal penalty for our sin has been taken away.

  But Lord, we are called to love you so much that we must hate our sin.

  Lord, help us to hate how we sin against you rather than hate others.

  Where we ask for your power, we ask for your strength to grow, to mature.

  I pray that we'd walk out of this room as lighter people after giving you the burden

  of our hatred and anger.

  I ask all this in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

The Place of the Law

Introduction:

Why Should the Old Testament Matter to Me? (Matthew 5:17-20)

1. Because That's Where We Learn About Jesus. (Matt 5:17)

   John 5:39 – You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me...

   Luke 24:27 – And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

2. Because It's Still Relevant. (Matt 5:18)
3. Because You Will Be Evaluated Based On What You Do With It. (Matt 5:19)

   Romans 8:2-4 – For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

4. Because Your Salvation Depends On It. (Matt 5:20)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 5:17-20

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Tell of a strange or goofy trend you’ve heard churches being involved in. Why do churches latch on to such things?
   

3. What are some things you’ve heard taught about how Christians should regard the Old Testament? How do these compare with what Jesus said?
   

4. How do you know what parts of the Old Testament Law were just for Old Testament Israel and what is still relevant for Christians today?
   

5. In your own words, explain what Jesus meant in Matt 5:20 about how our righteousness “must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.” What results if it doesn’t?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Let's open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 5.

  This past week at Owen's doctor appointment,

  Owen's my son for those of you who don't know,

  my son's doctor's appointment,

  the doctor was talking about how many doctors

  try to make a name for themselves

  by promoting some new controversial thing.

  You know what I'm talking about?

  He was saying, you know, if you just practice

  straightforward medicine, well, that's not very exciting.

  But if you have some controversial angle, you know,

  maybe some crazy diet or some supplement

  that's going to be the cure-all or some new treatment

  that nobody's ever heard of, you know,

  you jump on some kind of a fad,

  but you've got to have some kind of a twist,

  some kind of a gimmick.

  That's how a lot of doctors get popular,

  because he said the fundamentals just aren't very exciting.

  People love the new, trendy thing.

  And it makes doctors popular.

  And as he was talking about that, I thought, you know what?

  That happens in the church, doesn't it?

  Just preaching the Bible straightforwardly

  isn't exciting enough.

  So many preachers try to give some new angle on things,

  or they try to make something very controversial, very trendy.

  You know what I'm talking about?

  There was a wave of evangelicals years ago

  that jumped on this trend that there is no hell.

  Denying the doctrine of hell, and there

  were people that jumped onto that.

  And there are some pastors that think

  that you're going to be edgy and controversial and popular

  if you swear in your sermons.

  Or if you are explicit in sexual content in your sermon.

  That's trendy, and that's edgy.

  And people are going to think I'm cool,

  and that's going to make me popular.

  Everything from modalism, denying to Trinity,

  to some churches that say, hey, we're not just

  going to preach the Bible straightforwardly.

  Our church is going to have a really strong, patriotic flavor to it.

  I saw one recently, Pastor Rich actually sent me this video.

  Here's a trend in some churches now.

  Roller coasters.

  There's a company that makes these little roller coasters.

  When I say roller coasters, don't think Cedar Point.

  Ah, no, no, no.

  This is some little, it's like a kiddie ride that comes out.

  And then we get this sermon series called Roller Coaster

  because life is a roller coaster.

  And in these videos, these pastors

  were riding out on these roller coasters that were barely moving

  and they're all waving.

  [SCREAMING]

  And I'm like, never.

  But one of the most disturbing new trends

  that people were jumping on to because that makes us cool

  and popular was when a very popular preacher talked

  about unhitching from the Old Testament.

  We got to unhitch from the Old Testament.

  I mean, Jesus did.

  And Peter did.

  And Paul and John, they were doing everything they could.

  This preacher said to unhitch themselves

  from the Old Testament.

  Well, that idea is nothing new.

  In fact, when we get to this section here in Matthew chapter

  5, you see, Jesus knew that that is exactly what the Jews thought

  that Jesus was doing.

  They thought Jesus was bringing something new and trendy.

  They thought Jesus was unhitching from the Old Testament.

  And to be fair, I can kind of see why they thought that.

  I mean, Jesus didn't subscribe to the form of Judaism

  that existed in His day.

  We're going to talk about that here in a few minutes.

  Jesus didn't keep all of their Sabbath rules.

  And I mean, Jesus followers, His disciples, you realize none of them

  were rabbis.

  And all the biggest thing, though, the biggest thing

  that set Jesus apart was His preaching.

  Nobody ever preached like this.

  This one preached.

  So at this point in the Sermon on the Mount,

  they've heard the Beatitudes.

  They've heard the "you are the salt and the light."

  And they've heard this, and the Jews are sitting there going,

  this is wild.

  But is He anti-Old Testament?

  Is He replacing the law and the prophets?

  Is Jesus bringing something funky fresh?

  Did the kids still say funky fresh?

  No.

  By the time I learned a new term, it's been outdated by about 12 years.

  So it was probably relevant when this was actually said.

  But they were like, He's bringing something funky fresh.

  Well, Jesus knew what they were thinking.

  Is this some radical hippie preacher

  trying to give his own little twist on things?

  Look at verse 17.

  Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish

  the law and the prophets."

  Now, understand, we're going to be talking about the Old

  Testament today.

  They did not call it the Old Testament.

  To them, it was the Scriptures.

  To them, they called it the law and the prophets.

  That's what they called what we call the Old Testament.

  So let's not get confused.

  When we talk about Old Testament, we're talking about the law

  and the prophets.

  And Jesus says, "Don't think that I've come to destroy

  your Old Testament."

  He said, "I came to fulfill it."

  So this need to unhitch from the Old Testament

  seems like a bad idea if we're going to take Jesus seriously.

  But listen, I really need you all to dial in here.

  Because this topic that we're covering today in God's word

  is something that Christians get all mixed up on.

  And I know there is a high probability of me being misquoted

  or misunderstood as we go through this.

  Because Christians are all kinds of mixed up on this issue.

  What does the Old Testament have to do with me?

  What purpose does it have for me?

  Christians get all mixed up about that.

  And some say, "Well, you know what?

  The Old Testament, it all applies.

  And you're commanded to keep everything,

  all of the dietary laws and the washings and all of that.

  All the rules that we've made up for the Sabbath,

  you've got to keep the Sabbath."

  And some have that mindset towards the Old Testament.

  And on the other hand, there are people that say,

  "Well, the Old Testament doesn't apply to me at all."

  None of it applies. It doesn't matter.

  Look, because of Jesus, I'm a child of God and I'm forgiven.

  I am free in Christ and I can do whatever I want.

  Maybe you've heard the arguments from the pro-gay crowd.

  You know, anytime somebody says something about,

  you know, the Bible says homosexuality is a sin,

  the response says, "Well, you know, that's in the Old Testament.

  But did you know, you know, the Old Testament says

  that it's a sin to eat lobster and to get tattoos

  and blending certain fabrics and you do those things?"

  You heard that argument?

  And they say, "No, no, no.

  With Jesus it's just about love, right?

  That's all it is in the New Testament.

  Love is love."

  And today I just want us to take a giant step back

  and say, "What is the place of the Old Testament for us?

  What does it mean to us?"

  So I'd like you to bow your heads and I want you to please pray for me to be clear

  and accurate in proclaiming this very difficult passage.

  And I'm going to pray for you to have a heart open to receive not what you think it says,

  but what God actually said.

  That's what we're going after here today.

  What did Jesus actually say about what we call the Old Testament?

  Let's take a moment and pray.

  Father in heaven, I pray that our number one concern is just what you said.

  Father, you know in my heart, I have this concern.

  People are going to walk out of here still convinced of something that's just not true biblically.

  And Father, your word changes our minds.

  And I pray that we all take a look.

  It doesn't matter what our favorite podcast preacher thinks.

  And it doesn't even really matter what I think.

  What matters is what you said.

  And I pray God that that's what we're going after today.

  And for those of us that have maybe walked in here today with preconceived notions about the place of the law

  in the lives of believers, I pray that you would change your minds today

  in a way that greatly glorifies your name.

  So that we can be the people that you've called us to be.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen."

  It's a very, very short sermon today.

  But it's a really long introduction.

  Alright, so I want you to write some things down.

  Why should the Old Testament matter to me?

  Again, law and the prophets, that's what they called it.

  We call it the Old Testament.

  It's the same thing that was their Scriptures in Jesus' day when He spoke these words.

  So the question, Christian, what about the Old Testament?

  What does it mean to me?

  What's its purpose for me?

  Why should it matter to me?

  Number one, write this down.

  Because that's where we learn about Jesus.

  Look at verse 17.

  Again, Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets."

  The Old Testament.

  He said, "I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them."

  So is Jesus anti-Old Testament?

  No, it's actually quite the opposite.

  Jesus said, "I came to fulfill them."

  What does it mean to fulfill?

  Well, some people think that fulfill means complete.

  As in, the Old Testament was just putting the ball on the tee,

  and Jesus came to hit the ball, and He just came to finish, to complete something.

  Now, it's irrelevant.

  That's not exactly what it means.

  Some people think, well, what He's talking about is how He perfectly obeyed the Old Testament.

  Now listen, He did perfectly obey the law.

  He did.

  But that's not what He meant here.

  Well, what did He mean?

  Fulfill literally means to carry out what was said.

  I'm going to say that again.

  Fulfill means to carry out what was said.

  What Jesus is saying here is this.

  Everything that the Old Testament says, everything written in the law and the prophets,

  I will carry it all out.

  That is a staggering claim.

  What do you mean?

  Well, in the book of Genesis, we find that Eve's seed will crush the serpent.

  Jesus said, "I did that. We'll do that."

  Jesus is the blessing of Abraham.

  Jesus did that.

  Jesus, in the book of Exodus, is the Passover lamb.

  Jesus said, "I'm going to do that."

  In the book of Leviticus, we see the sacrifice in the priest.

  Jesus says, "I'm going to do that."

  In the book of Deuteronomy, there's going to be a prophet raised like Moses.

  Jesus said, "I came to do that."

  Second Samuel says that there's going to be a king in David's line that will be king forever.

  Jesus said, "I came to accomplish that."

  The book of Malachi says there's going to be a forerunner for the Messiah.

  John the Baptist, Jesus says, "Don, check, did that."

  Book of Micah says, "Where the Messiah would be born."

  Oh, little town of Bethlehem.

  Jesus is like, "Yeah, I did that."

  It feels like Christmas, doesn't it?

  You know, like it did there for a second.

  In the book of Isaiah, the Messiah would be virgin born.

  Jesus says, "Check, light to the Gentiles. Check, did that."

  The book of Isaiah talks about Jesus' death and resurrection.

  Jesus is like, "I came to complete that."

  It talks about the kingdom of the Messiah.

  Jesus is like, "I came to do that."

  Book of Jeremiah talks about Jesus cleansing the temple.

  "I came to do that."

  Book of Zechariah, "He'd be sold for 30 pieces of silver."

  Jesus said, "I came to complete that."

  Psalms talks about His suffering.

  Psalms talks about His ultimate reigning.

  Jesus, and there's so much more,

  but Jesus said, "I came to carry all of that out."

  And it's a staggering thing because Jesus carried out things

  that aren't humanly possible to fulfill.

  I've heard these knuckleheads say that Jesus was, you know,

  sort of orchestrated His life in such a way that it looked like

  He was fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.

  But He did things nobody else could ever have any control over,

  like where He was born.

  Did you control where you were born?

  Nobody has control over that.

  Born to a virgin. How He was born.

  Nobody has control over those things.

  This is the claim that Jesus is making.

  His death, His betrayal, all these things.

  Prophecy in the Old Testament.

  This is who the Christ would be.

  This is what the Messiah will do.

  Jesus is saying here, "I came to do all of that."

  You think I came to destroy the law and the prophets?

  No. I came to do it.

  That's why in John chapter 5, Jesus said to the Jews,

  "You search the Scriptures," meaning the Old Testament,

  "because you think in them you have eternal life,

  and it is they that bear witness about Me."

  Jesus said, "You'll find Me on every page of the law and the prophets."

  Every page of your Old Testament.

  Luke 24-27, post-Resurrection disciples,

  "Rodua meias," it says, "In beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

  Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

  So wouldn't you have liked to have heard that conversation?

  So the Old Testament, long before Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written,

  we learn about Jesus.

  We learn all about Him.

  In fact, the Gospels and the Epistles really serve to show us

  how Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ that's promised in the Old Testament.

  What's more, we cannot understand Jesus,

  and we cannot understand His cross, apart from the Old Testament.

  You know, just last weekend we celebrated Easter Resurrection Day,

  and Good Friday.

  And what do we say?

  We're like, "Jesus died on the cross! Jesus died on the cross!"

  And so what?

  Do you know lots of people have died on crosses? Did you know that?

  That was a common form of execution.

  It wasn't like Jesus was the only one who ever died on a cross.

  I mean, countless people did.

  So what?

  The cross only makes sense in light of what is written in the Old Testament.

  The law condemns sin.

  The law requires death, and Jesus paid the penalty of sin with His sacrifice.

  And if you unhitch yourself from the Old Testament,

  do you know what Easter turns into?

  Sentimentality. That's all it is.

  Oh, the poor innocent man!

  He was just doing good and they killed him.

  That's so sad.

  It is so much more than that.

  This is the Lamb of God sacrificed on your behalf.

  Sentimentality.

  And when we do that, we miss the glory of the cross.

  I listened to a sermon a few years ago from a very, very popular preacher.

  I'm paraphrasing here, but again, in the name of being edgy and cool,

  he said God broke His law because He loved us so much.

  And he gave this illustration, "Get your heartstrings ready because they're about to get pulled."

  But he says it's like a mom at a playground with her kid,

  and her kid falls and gets hurt, and mom throws the kid in the car.

  And when she drives to the hospital, she ain't stopping for stop signs or stop lights,

  and she's a speeding.

  She is breaking the law.

  because she loves her kids so much, she will break the law out of love. And that is what

  God has done for you. He has broken His law because He loves you. Oh, again, that talked

  just to heartstrings, but that is completely false. The glory of the cross is not that

  God broke His law because He loves you, the glory of the cross is God fulfilled His law

  through the death of His Son on your behalf. That is the glory of the cross. So you want

  to learn about Jesus? You want to learn about Jesus? Well, then you get to get in the Old

  Testament because He said, "Oh, I didn't come to throw this away. I didn't come literally

  to destroy it." That is what abolish means. I didn't come to abolish it. He said, "I came

  to carry this out." Alright, so why should it matter to me? Because that's where we learn

  about Jesus. Number two, why should the Old Testament matter to me? Because it's so relevant.

  You're like, "Says who?" "Says Jesus." Look at verse 18, "For truly I say to you until

  heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is

  accomplished." Oh, and by the way, heaven and earth will pass away. We talked about that

  last week, didn't we? Revelation 21, 2 Peter 3. Yeah, heaven and earth will pass away.

  So Jesus says, "Until then, not one part of this law is going to pass until it is all

  carried out." Every iota, every dot, that's the smallest letter. That's the smallest stroke

  on a letter. What Jesus is saying is this. Jesus is saying, "Look, until the end of the

  world, there's not a dot on an i. There's not a cross on a t that is going to be irrelevant."

  Jesus is saying every single chapter, every single passage, every single word, every single

  letter is going to matter until the end of the world.

  Now, we looked at what Jesus did so far. But the Old Testament clearly talks about what

  He's going to do in the future. The Old Testament talks about Him coming to destroy His enemies.

  The Old Testament tells us about Jesus reigning over all. The Old Testament tells us about

  the Millennial Kingdom that we learned so little about it in Revelation 20. Why is there

  not much content? Because the Old Testament is full of the content, that's why you want

  to know what that kingdom is like, you've got to get in your Old Testament. Jesus here

  is saying, "Look, God's law is not going away." God is saying, "This is how it's going to

  go down." And here's the thing, that cannot be changed. Not even just it won't change,

  that's true, but it can't change. It can't change. You know, sometimes we as people,

  as human beings, sometimes we make rules for things that we have to change, don't we?

  Sometimes we make rules and we find out that that rule didn't work. We didn't anticipate

  a possible exception to the rule. We didn't anticipate a loophole. We're constantly changing

  our rules. You know what I'm talking about? Let me give you an example. Years ago, a leading

  youth group at another church, I invented a game. I think I invented it. But we call

  it the ultimate Frisbee challenge. And what it is, I see Lyric nodding her head. Do you

  remember the ultimate Frisbee challenge? Sponsored by Pepsi? It always had a different sponsor.

  Some things are just funny for me. But it was a combination of dodgeball and hot potato.

  It was every man for himself. But we would have 30 second timed rounds. And the kids

  would run around the field and have to hit themselves. We had a little one of them floppy

  rubber Frisbees. They'd have to hit somebody with the Frisbee. And if you could hit with

  the Frisbee, you were it. And you would hit somebody else with the Frisbee. But when the

  30 seconds ran out, whoever was in possession of the Frisbee, you're out. That's last man's

  standing. We play that with our youth group here sometimes. You should come and play.

  It's a real hoot. But do you know what I found early on? I was constantly tweaking the rules.

  You know why? Because I'm like, "We have 30 second rounds. You know what the kids would

  do?" They'd sit and count it off. And they would know, "Don't be stuck with the Frisbee.

  Okay, we're getting, okay, 25 seconds. All right, don't make sure that I'm not in blasting

  range here, right?" So I'm like, "Ah, now we get to change how long each of the rounds

  are." So I did that. I'm like, "All right, this is going to be a 15 second round and now

  they're still counting it off." I'm like, "Well, that was a dumb rule change. Now they can

  still count." So I'm like, "All right, every round is going to have a different amount

  of time, but I'm not telling you how much time. I'm just going to call time when the

  watch or the phone alarm goes off and whoever has it is done." All right? But then I realized

  there was another problem we had regarding the rules, as we didn't have boundaries. So

  I'm like, "Maybe we shouldn't be running around on the turnpike." So, all right, new rule.

  You have to stay in this area. Don't jump in the cattail garden over here where they

  throw the dead pets. All right? There's a story to that. You're like, "What's your point

  at all this?" It's a really fun game. That's all. I just want you to come up. No, there's

  a point. My point is this. At your workplace, in your church, and sometimes, yes, parents

  in your home, sometimes policies and rules get tweaked and added and subtracted. What

  Jesus is saying here is that's not the case with an omniscient, perfect God. When God laid

  out His law, do you think God is sitting in heaven? Like, you know, I, gosh, I came up

  with that, but I'm going to have to change that. That's not really fair. I'm going to

  have to change that one. That one's a little too hard. I'm going to have to change that.

  That's not really that clear. Do you think God is constantly tweaking what He said? If

  He does, that's a problem. Why? Because your faith means nothing. If your faith is based

  on something that can change. You know what I mean? It's like, today, welcome to harvest.

  Today, Jesus is the fulfillment of God's law, and He's coming again to reign. Believe in

  Jesus Christ tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow you're saved by good works. So you better

  get out there and hope that your good outweighs the bad, because tomorrow that's the rule.

  Good works is the rule. And by Friday, God's like, you know what? Never mind. We're just

  going to keep the earth going as it is for all of eternity, and you can all go to hell

  for your sin. Do you see the problem if God's constantly changing His rules? That's exactly

  what Jesus is saying. When God gave His Word, when God gave us the law and the prophets,

  God says, "This is how it is. This is how it's going to be, and nothing is going to change

  that." The Word of God is final and authoritative. So, we'll make it easy. We'll just give a

  quick test here, according to what Jesus laid out for us here. Did heaven and earth pass

  away yet? No. Well then, that means there are still some things written in the Old Testament

  that need to be accomplished, according to the words of Jesus. So, it's still relevant.

  Alright? So, why should the Old Testament matter to me? Because that's where we learn about

  Jesus. Because it's still relevant, number three, because you will be evaluated based

  on what you do with it. Look at verse 19. "And every antenna in the room should be up right

  now." Look at this verse. Jesus says, "Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these

  commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of

  heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of

  heaven." Look at the first word there in verse 19. "Therefore, therefore, Jesus just stressed

  how important the Old Testament is." And Jesus is saying, "Look, I said it's important, so

  it should be important for you too." And I think it's very clear here in this verse,

  this, this verse 19, this is not a salvation issue here. This is a reward issue. Because

  very clearly here Jesus said, "What you do with God's word, specifically the Old Testament,

  is tied into your reward." Do you see that? He's not saying, "Not in the kingdom of heaven."

  But what you will be called while you're in the kingdom of heaven. Do you see that?

  We talk about God's law. There are actually three aspects of God's law. Write these down.

  There's judicial, ceremonial, and moral. When you look at God's law in the Old Testament,

  that's what you find. All of these laws, given, it falls into one of those categories. It's

  judicial, it's ceremonial, or it's moral. Now tune in here. Some light bulbs are going

  to go off here in a second. It's judicial. Some of the laws are judicial. What's it

  mean? It means to govern a specific nation for a specific season. Like what nation is

  that? Old Testament Israel. Some of the laws given in the Old Testament were given for

  that specific nation for a period of time. We aren't bound by those laws any more than

  you were bound by the national laws of Mexico. That was for a different nation at a different

  time. That's judicial. But there's ceremonial laws in the Old Testament that has to do with

  the temple, the sacrifices, the priests, all of that, the washings, the blood, the altar,

  all of that, the ceremonial stuff. All of those are pictures of Jesus that He fulfilled

  through His death and resurrection, and you fulfill those things by believing in Jesus.

  I'm going to get to that more in a second. So just put that one on the back burner for

  a minute. But in the Old Testament, there's a moral aspect of His law. That's for everyone.

  Those are things like, "You shall love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind,

  and strength." You're like, "Is that for me as a New Testament Christian?" "Yeah."

  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." "Is that for me as a New Testament Christian?"

  "Yeah." "Is that for me as a New Testament Christian?" "Yeah." "Is that for me as a New

  Testament Christian?" "Yeah." "I have to obey those things?" "Yeah, you do."

  Listen very closely. This is a great opportunity to misquote me, so I want you to listen very

  closely. Christians live under the New Covenant, meaning we are not under the Old Covenant

  Law, meaning that our salvation is not based on us keeping the law. I want to be crystal

  clear on that. Your salvation is not based on keeping the law. The law was never meant

  to save anyone. In fact, the law could not save anyone. We covered this a few weeks ago.

  Everyone saved. Everyone in heaven is there because of Jesus Christ. That's Old Testament

  and New Testament and beyond. Everyone walking around heaven right now, and anyone who ever

  will walk around heaven is going to say, "I'm here because of Jesus Christ." Not by keeping

  the law. Are we clear on that? The law was to show us Jesus and to show us our need for

  Jesus. We are saved by grace. Again, we just spent like a whole sermon series talking about

  this, but I want to be clear here. The idea that many Christians have is, "Okay, I'm

  not under the law. I'm not saved by the law, so I can do whatever I want to do." That

  is wrong. That is dead wrong. Under the New Covenant, listen, the law wasn't discarded.

  It was written on our hearts. You see the difference? God didn't say, "Ah, we're done with that.

  God said, "I'm going to write this on your very heart." We obey God's commands because

  we've been born again. He lives within us. We love God, and loving God means wanting

  to obey God. Listen, we're going to talk about this over the next few weeks. Jesus didn't

  abolish the law. He actually elevated the law. The law says, "Thou shall not murder."

  Sixth commandment. Did Jesus come along and say, "You know what? Forget all that. You

  want to murder, go ahead. You're a child of God. You're free. You're forgiven. Go murder."

  Is that what He said? No. No. Of course not. What did He say? He said, "You've heard and

  said, 'Don't murder,' but I'm telling you, if you have hatred in your heart, you've committed

  murder in your heart." He elevated the law. He goes, "It's deeper than just what you do.

  It's about who you are." He elevated the law. The Old Testament says, "Do not commit adultery."

  Seventh commandment. Did Jesus say, "Well, you know what? Now you're under the new covenant.

  You're free. You're forgiven. You can just go be with whoever you want, whenever you

  want. It doesn't matter because you're free." Of course not. That's foolish thinking, but

  there are a lot of Christians who believe that. "I can do whatever I want because I'm

  free." Jesus elevated it. Jesus goes, "No, no, no, no. Adultery isn't just an act. Adultery

  starts here. It's lost in here. That is committing adultery." He elevated the law. He didn't

  abolish it. He said, "It's so much deeper than you think it is." Jesus didn't abolish

  the law. He empowers us to keep the law. Here is one of the most profoundest things you'll

  ever hear in your life. He said He came to fulfill the law. Jesus is still right now

  fulfilling the law through you. This could be a whole other sermon, but we don't have

  time for that. I haven't even gotten to today's sermon yet. We're still in the introduction.

  Look at what Romans 8. I encourage you to mark this, read this, meditate on this. Look

  at what this says. "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from

  the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not

  do." Meaning we couldn't obey the law because we're sinful people in the flesh. Look at

  this. "By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemns sin

  in the flesh. In order that, the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled

  in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." What is that

  saying? It's saying, "When by the power of the Holy Spirit you obey God, Jesus is fulfilling

  the law through you." So verse 19, remember verse 19? It's a warning and an encouragement.

  First of all, the warning Jesus said here in verse 19, "If you're a true believer, but

  you're not really serious about obedience, and you're one of those people that goes around,

  you believe and you teach, you're free in Christ, it doesn't matter what you do because

  you're free, you're a child of God, it doesn't matter what you do. Jesus says if you're that

  guy, in heaven you're going to be called the least. But if you seek to obey God and you

  teach others to be obedient to the Word of God in heaven, you're going to be called great.

  So listen, if you subscribe to these teachers who say obedience isn't really that important,

  I'm not judging your salvation, and I'm not judging their salvation either. But Jesus

  very clearly right here said in glory, "You will be known as great or least." Which one

  do you want? In heaven, for all of eternity, you're going to have a reputation in the eyes

  of God, and in the eyes of everyone there. And God is evaluating you based on how you

  handle His Word. Pretty sobering, isn't it? One more. Number four, because your salvation

  depends on it. Why should the Old Testament matter to me? Because your salvation depends

  on it. Like, wait, wait, wait, wait. You're telling me my salvation depends on whether

  or not I believe the Old Testament is relevant? Let's see what Jesus said. Look at verse 20.

  "Jesus, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,

  you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Oh, you see, this is a salvation issue here.

  It wasn't in verse 19, but very quickly Jesus' teaching turns into a salvation issue in

  this aspect. Jesus here very clearly tells us that entering the kingdom requires righteousness.

  And He says, "You better be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees." Now, I know

  for us, if you're familiar with the Bible at all, you're like scribes and Pharisees,

  bad guys. But in Jesus' day, they were looked at as the, like, the holy elite. Those were

  the religious people. It's like the feeling people in our culture would get if you saw

  some nuns walking down the street. Wow, those are the holy people. Listen, your salvation

  depends on this according to Jesus. Here's why. So much talk through this series and

  through the Sermon on the Mount on righteousness. Righteousness. You've got to be righteous.

  You're righteous. Needs to exceed the scribes and Pharisees. Righteousness. Righteousness.

  But what is righteousness? I mean, who determines what's righteousness? Who sets that standard?

  Who defines that? Well, you better get it right because entering the kingdom depends on it.

  The scribes. Who are the scribes? They were just, they were students of the law. Their

  whole existence was in studying the law of God. The Pharisees, they were the religious

  elite of Jesus' day. They made six hundred and some man-made laws that you had to keep

  in order to keep God's law. A lot of them circled around the Sabbath. They made these

  rules. You have to do these things because if you don't, then you have broken the Sabbath

  and that's breaking God's law. So they piled on hundreds and hundreds of laws. And you

  see the scribes and the Pharisees, they seemed so holy. But they weren't. All of their righteousness

  was external. Their teaching was hollow. And you read your Gospels, you see Jesus was constantly

  calling out their hypocrisy. Read Matthew chapter twenty-three sometime. See the problem

  with the scribes and the Pharisees, their righteous rules, it was about ceremony. Not

  about the heart. It was about putting on a show. It wasn't about the heart. It was all

  about them and it wasn't really about God at all. Their laws and their rules and their

  religion didn't have any love for others at all. They were mainly concerned with actions,

  not motives. See their disposition was, "Look at all the stuff that I do. Look at what a

  good person I am. Look at how righteous I am because I keep all the rules." And Jesus

  here is saying, "R righteousness doesn't work that way." And like the scribes and the

  Pharisees, we can fool ourselves into thinking that we're righteous. I have to ask you, do

  you do what you do to look good to others? Or because you love God and you want to honor

  and obey Him? Which is it? It's the former according to Jesus. You're not in the kingdom.

  All right, then, what determines righteousness? What has Jesus been talking about this whole

  time? What determines righteousness is found in the Word of God. That is where we get our

  definition. Righteousness comes from a faith that is defined in the Word of God. I believe

  in Jesus. I believe He is the Messiah. I have received Him. He has changed me from the inside

  out, God wants my heart and He has it. Righteousness results in a lifestyle of obedience to God's

  Word. All right, that was the introduction. Here's the sermon. You did not have to groan.

  So how should I view the Old Testament? I would strongly suggest that you view it the

  way Jesus did. All right, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, again, we ask that your

  Word changes us, it changes our minds, and when our minds change, our conduct changes.

  The Father, I pray that even as born again believers under the new covenant, we would

  groan our understanding of the purpose of the law and the prophets. Father, we live

  in a day where so many churches and so many pastors and preachers want to just completely

  throw it out. And we turn to your Word and we see Jesus Christ with a much different

  attitude. So Father, I pray that for this church, and I pray for those that watch this

  and listen to this and download these messages, I pray, Father, that we would take the attitude

  towards the Old Testament that Jesus had. You've called us to righteousness. Let us

  pursue righteousness as it is according to your Word. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Glorification: The Hope is Real

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Revelation 16:17 - The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”

The Hope is Real: The Truth About Heaven (Revelation 21:1-8)

1. Everything is New. (Rev 21:1-2)
2. Every day is in God’s Presence. (Rev 21:3)
3. Everything that Hurts is Gone. (Rev 21:4-5)
4. Everything is Yours. (Rev 21:6-7)

   Romans 8:16-17 – The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

5. Everyone is Not Going. (Rev 21:8)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the Scripture,

  "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a

  hissy branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished."

  He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Over this past month, we've been examining God's Word to

  see that the Son of God came to finish some things. And we've been trying to just answer one question.

  What is finished? Jesus made the declaration, "It is finished." Well, what is? Well, I guess to put it

  all in one word, salvation. The way of salvation, it's done. The work is done. And we've been spending

  time looking at different facets of salvation. First, we saw justification. The guilt is gone.

  You realize Jesus has taken your sin away. There are no grounds for punishment when you're in Christ.

  The guilt is gone. He's made you righteous. And then we saw reconciliation. The relationship is

  restored. By nature, you are not God's friend. The Bible says by nature, we are enemies of God.

  And Jesus Christ came to restore the relationship with God. Pastor Taylor a couple of days ago

  talked about redemption. The price was paid. There was a literal price that was paid. You see, you

  have sinned against God, and it wasn't as if God was like, "Oh, that's okay. Don't worry about it. I'm

  just going to forget about it." No, no, no. As Pastor Taylor pointed out, you owe God an infinite debt.

  And God paid that Himself through the death of His Son. It is finished.

  You know, you think of those words on the cross, "It is finished." You know,

  that's not the only time that Jesus declares that something is finished.

  It's only the first time. Do you know the next time Jesus says it is finished?

  It is when God pours out judgment. Revelation 16-17, it's the last bold judgment. The book of

  Revelation talks about there's seal trumpets and trumpet judgments and bold judgments. When the

  last judgment of God is poured out, look at this, Revelation 16-17, the seventh angel poured out

  His bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is done."

  That's the next time Jesus says it is finished. Today I want to talk about the last time He says it.

  Do you know the last time Jesus declares something is finished?

  As after He creates a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation chapter 21, I want you to turn there.

  Revelation chapter 21,

  Revelation chapter 21, look at verses 5 and 6. It says, "And He who was seated on the throne

  said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'" Also, He said, "Write this down. For these words

  are trustworthy and true. And He said to me, 'It is done.'"

  Like, wait, wait, what is He talking about here? What is finished, the promise

  of glorification? That is, the hope is real. The hope is real. We're going to talk about hope today.

  Because when we talk about hope, we use it in a different way than the Bible uses the word hope.

  When we say hope, what we mean is wish. You know what I mean? We say, "I hope it doesn't rain today."

  What are we saying? "I wish that it doesn't rain." Or we say, "I hope that the pirates win today."

  What are we saying? We're saying that our theology allows for miracles.

  But you see, that's not how the Bible uses the word hope.

  Biblically, church, listen, hope is the confident anticipation of receiving Jesus' promises.

  Biblically, hope, it's in the bag. It's happening. I'm just waiting for it to take place. But it's

  going to happen. I'm not wondering if it's going to happen. I can't wait. I know it's going to.

  I'm just waiting for that to happen. That's biblical hope. That's the receipt that we hold on to

  that says it's coming. I know that it's coming. And I can't wait for that day. That is biblical hope.

  See, that's what we're here to celebrate today.

  Actually, every Sunday we celebrate this. And actually, for the Christian,

  you celebrate this every day of your life. That Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

  We've been spending so much time talking about the fact that He died for our sins. Yes,

  that's true. But three days later, He rose from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life.

  And the Bible says that He went back to heaven. And you're like, "Well, what's He doing now? Do

  you know what Jesus is doing right now? Like, right now, do you know what He's doing?"

  He told us in John chapter 14 what He would be doing. He says, "I go to prepare a place for you.

  Right now, Jesus Christ is building a place for His people in heaven."

  We're going to talk about heaven today, the place of our hope. Do you know what heaven's like?

  Sadly, there's so much confusion about heaven because people embrace ideas about heaven that

  just aren't in the Bible. I think for a lot of people, their ideas of heaven come more from a

  Bugs Bunny cartoon than from what God actually said. There's just so much nonsense about

  that people believe about heaven. It's just not true biblically. You know what number one is,

  by the way? The most nonsensical, wrong, false thing that people believe about heaven that's just

  absolutely not true? Is that good people go to heaven. You have to be a good person to go to

  heaven. That's just bombarded onto us from society. Good people go to heaven. Good people...

  Well, that's not true. If that was true, heaven would be empty. We're going to talk more about that

  in a bit. But no, you do not get to heaven by being a good person.

  But you know, even Christians, honestly, even Christians are clueless about heaven.

  Just grab your Christian, your average churchgoer, and say, "Well, what's heaven like?"

  You're going to get answers like, "Well, I'm thinking grandma's there."

  They're like, "Well, what are you doing heaven?" "Well, I guess you play a harp."

  And then you sit on clouds. And yeah, that's all I got. Like, well, maybe you've been getting

  your theology about heaven from Bugs Bunny or from a far-side cartoon.

  But I think many Christians aren't really excited about heaven because they don't know what the

  Bible actually says about it. You know, we had a funeral last week for the oldest member of our

  church. She was two weeks shy of 99. And she's having a good day. What a great celebration of her life

  and a celebration of the fulfillment of her faith. But I think a lot of people, even that we're sitting

  in that funeral, might not have been excited because they don't really know what she's experiencing

  in heaven. What is coming in the future in heaven? We need to educate ourselves, church.

  I mean, think about it this way. Imagine if I booked you a three-month vacation.

  Imagine that. If I booked you, I'm like, "You know what? You've been working hard. You know what?

  I'm going to get you the plane tickets. You know, you just bring your wife, jump at the airport,

  and get on the plane, three-month vacation on me." Would you want to know where you're going?

  Would you want to know what you'd be doing? What if you said, "Oh, thanks, Pastor Jeff. That was

  really nice of you. Where am I going? What am I doing? What if I said, "Don't worry about it. You'll

  like it." No, I want to know where I'm going to be spending three months of my life. And I'm like,

  "Oh, it'll be nice. What am I going to be doing there? Fun stuff."

  Wouldn't you want more information of where you're going to be spending three months of your life?

  Okay, reminder, heaven is eternal. Wouldn't you like to know what it's going to be like

  for eternity? If you do, you're in the right place this morning, because that is exactly

  what we're going to be seeing from God's Word. So on your outline, take some notes.

  The hope is real. The hope is real. The truth about heaven.

  The truth about heaven. Number one, write this down. Everything is new.

  Everything is new. Verses 1 and 2 in Revelation 21, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,

  for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

  prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Stop there. New heaven and new earth. Why?

  Why do we need a new heaven and new earth? Well, because this is talking about what's

  happening in the future. And at this point, the heaven and earth now, the one that you're

  sitting on right now, will be vaporized by God's glory according to 2 Peter 3, according to Revelation

  2011. He talks about this new Jerusalem. Like, what is new Jerusalem? What's the capital city

  of the new heaven and the new earth? And John describes it as coming down from heaven onto this

  new earth. It's a fascinating study. You can really dig into it on your own. Just to give you a little

  overview. Verses 15 and 17 give us the dimensions. And by the way, these are literal measurements.

  The Bible is clear about that. But new Jerusalem is a massive city and it's shaped like a cube.

  And each wall is 1,380 miles long. And each wall is 216 feet thick. You're like,

  "Can you give me a frame of reference?" Yeah, absolutely, I can. If you were to take this new

  Jerusalem and put it on our current earth, just drop it onto North America. If you were to drop

  it onto North America, it would go from Canada to the Gulf of America. It would go from the Atlantic

  Ocean. I'm still trying to adjust to that. I'm sorry. It would go from the Atlantic Ocean

  to Colorado. That is the size of new Jerusalem. You're like, "Why do I need to know this?

  That is the place that Jesus is preparing for you right now."

  And this passage describes the final and eternal heaven. And over and over, he uses

  the greatest word possible that he could use to describe anything. And it's the word "new."

  New. Look at verse 5. This is the best verse in the Bible. And I know somebody would say,

  "Well, actually, Pastor Jeff, it's all God's word." Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. But this is the best

  verse in the Bible. It says, "And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things

  new.'" Look, that is awesome. And we can relate to that, can't we? Because there's nothing

  like getting new stuff, right? Don't we love new things? New shoes? A new car? New jeans?

  A new phone? I'm pleased to announce that Pastor Taylor finally upgraded from his iPhone 8.

  Yeah, a little bonus celebration today. But wasn't it so exciting getting that new phone, Pastor Taylor?

  You know what? I thought it was bad until Jane Auer showed me. He has, what do you have an SE?

  Yeah, take good care of that, Jay. We're going to put that in the museum.

  So we love getting new stuff, right? Getting a new computer. Men, get that new fishing rod. Ladies,

  get the new purse. How about a new puppy? Oh, that's the best. But there's nothing like

  getting new stuff. And you know, the Bible says in heaven everything is always new.

  So a little tip for you. If you're in Christ and if you are, you will end up in heaven. I just want

  to encourage you, if you're trying to make friends, to not walk up to somebody in heaven and say,

  hey, what's new? Because they're going to say, you are an ego because I don't know if you got the

  memo, but everything here is new. I had people say to me sometimes like, you know, heaven sounds

  kind of boring. Like, what are you talking about? That is a clueless statement. Boring.

  Everything is always going to be new.

  And if that's not a beautiful enough description with that little word,

  he gives us a word picture that really drives it home. He says, it's prepared

  as a bride adorned for her husband. Like Jesus, what kind of care and attention are you putting

  into creating this new heaven and earth, this new Jerusalem? You know, what kind of

  meticulous care is going into preparing this new city? The Bible says it's like a bride

  preparing herself for her husband. That's a word picture that really impacts me.

  Because I've been to a lot of weddings. It's part of my job. I've been to a lot of weddings.

  And you know something that I've never, ever, ever seen in a wedding is this. Like, it's wedding day

  and you know, I come to the front of the chapel or the woods or the barn or whatever we're having

  and like, and like, oh, they have them everywhere now, but like, I'm up there with the guys, right?

  And here comes the bridesmaids and they take their place. Oh, it's the big moment.

  The music shifts, right? And you know what's next. Here comes the bride, right?

  You know what I've never seen? It's the doors fling open and there's the bride

  in a college hoodie.

  Wearing sweatpants and crocs.

  Crocs will not be in heaven, by the way. Well, the Bible doesn't say. I'm just

  thinking it's a safe assumption, but I've never seen her where she's got a near-terminal case of bedhead.

  I've never seen that ever. Do you know what I have seen though? Every time.

  A breathtakingly beautiful bride.

  How did she get that way? She prepared. Do you know how much time and effort and energy and money

  and detail and it goes in? She puts everything into making herself as beautiful and perfect as she can

  for her husband.

  And that is the kind of attention and care that Jesus is putting into preparing this place

  for his people. Wrap your brain around that. But the Bible says in heaven,

  everything is new.

  Oh, it gets even better than that. Because number two, write this down, every day is in God's presence.

  Everything is new and every day is in God's presence. Look at verse three. Verse three.

  He says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with

  man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their

  God.'" Every day is in God's presence.

  Don't you wish that you lived at the time that Jesus lived? Wouldn't it have just been absolutely

  amazing to watch Jesus, like to sit down with Him, to hear Him teach, to watch Him heal,

  to watch Him feed the thousands with the little kids lunch? Wouldn't that have just been awesome

  to personally be in the presence of Jesus Christ?

  Well, I got good news for you. In heaven, you're going to get that, like every single day.

  Because according to verse three, we're always in God's presence.

  You see, that's good news, my friends, because I think if we're honest, sometimes God seems distant

  right now. I mean, He's not, right? He's not distant.

  But can we just be honest in church for a second and say sometimes it feels like He is?

  You know, we go through trials. We're hurting. Maybe you've been betrayed.

  Disappointed. You're just worn out. And you're like, "God, where are you?"

  Seems like I need you the most right now. You seem absent. Where are you?

  Well, never again will God seem distant.

  The Bible says He is going to tabernacle with His people. He is going to pitch a tent

  in unprecedented, perfect fellowship in the midst of His people. Every day of heaven

  is being in the presence of God. It's the truth about heaven. Everything's new.

  Every day is in God's presence. In number three, everything that hurts is gone.

  Everything that hurts is gone. Look at verse four.

  "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be

  mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

  No mourning, no crying and no pain." Do you know what that means?

  That means no a lot of other things. That means no depression. That means no cancer.

  That means no diabetes. That means no organ failure. That means no autism.

  That means no wheelchairs. That means no mental health problems.

  That means no dentist appointments.

  I see somebody rejoicing in the back greatly over that.

  But I get to tell you in the first service, there was a group of dentists sitting

  right about where the Zentcos are right now. I told them, "Look, we're going to be out of a job in heaven.

  Nobody's going to need to hear about Jesus from me. Nobody's going to need their teeth fixed by them."

  There's no more tears. There's no more death. There's no more goodbyes.

  Every bit of pain and heartache and discouragement. Never again. Never. Everything that hurts is gone.

  People ask, "Well, will I remember the failures of my life on earth?"

  Because I would think if I could remember my failures of my life on earth, that, boy,

  there'd be some tears over that in heaven. Will I remember the failures of this life?

  I don't know. But I do know this for a fact.

  That if you do remember the failures of this life, it's not going to bother you.

  Because there's no more mourning or pain. I'm sure about that.

  And you can get to this point, you're like, "Really?" Hang on a second.

  This sounds just a little too fantastic. Really? Well, look at verse 5 again.

  "And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.'

  Also, he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

  Oh, everything is made new. Everything stays new. And you're like, "Is that really true?"

  Jesus says here, "Write this down. You write this down. You take this to the bank.

  You build your life on this, man. This is trustworthy and true."

  Listen, this isn't fantasy stuff. This isn't like fairy tale stuff that we say to

  placate children when grandma passes away.

  Jesus says this is real. This is trustworthy and true.

  "Every hurt is forever behind you." Everything that hurts is gone. Number four,

  oh, it gets even better. I know you don't think it can, but check this out.

  Number four, everything is yours. Everything is yours.

  Look at verse 6, "And he said to me, 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega,

  the beginning and the end, to the thirsty. I will give from the spring of the water of life

  without payments.'" Who are the thirsty? Who are the thirsty? I hope you are.

  Thirsty refers to people who realize their spiritual need and genuinely thirst for God.

  Heaven is for people who know they need Jesus Christ and they receive Jesus Christ and they love

  Jesus Christ. That's what he's talking about here. You see, water biblically is a symbol of

  fulfillment. It's a symbol of satisfaction. "I was thirsty in a need. Now from the living water,

  I have been satisfied." That's what water is talking about. That's what the Bible is talking

  about when it talks about water. It's satisfaction. It's great news. That means heaven is not going

  to be lacking anything that would add to your satisfaction. You know that? That means you're

  not going to be walking around heaven and say, "You know what? This place is pretty good, but

  I have a few ideas that would make it a little better."

  You're going to be absolutely, totally, perfectly satisfied in heaven.

  And this, this is your heritage. Look at verse 7. He says, "The one who conquers

  will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my Son."

  We talked about this with justification. We don't live in fear of God as judge. If you're in Christ,

  that is. You're not afraid of God as judge. You live in the freedom of God as Father.

  That He adopted us as His children.

  But being a child has implications for the future.

  Like what do you mean? What I mean is, if you're a child of God, you receive an inheritance.

  Look at Romans chapter 8 here.

  Romans 8 says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if

  children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him

  in order that we may also be glorified with Him."

  You see, Paul wrote this to the Romans and Roman adoption was very interesting. I was reading

  about it this past week. Do you know in Roman culture adopted children actually received greater

  honor than naturally born children in the home? Like if a couple has natural children, it's like,

  well, you just came into the world the regular way. But if you adopted someone, it was, ah, you,

  though on the other hand, you were chosen to be a part of this family. But there's something else

  interesting about Roman children, including the adopted children, by the way, that they all

  received an equal share of the inheritance. You're like, good for the Romans. What does that have

  to do with me? Here's what this has to do with you. Look at this. We are fellow heirs with Christ.

  Do you know what that means? I can tell some of you aren't very excited about that. So we're going

  to walk through this together. You are fellow heirs with Christ. Do you know what that means?

  That means you will receive the same inheritance that Jesus receives.

  So what does Jesus own? Everything. So what do you stand to inherit? Everything.

  Everything. You're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on a second there, Pastor Jeff.

  You was talking about the new heavens earlier. Do you mean I'm going to inherit the new heavens?

  Everything. And if you're like, oh, well, he's creating the new earth. Do you mean I'm going to

  inherit that new earth too? That's going to belong to me? Everything. And you're like, well, that

  giant city that you was talking about, am I going to inherit that too? Is that going to belong to me?

  Like, look, I'll do respect. What part of everything do you not understand? Everything will belong to you.

  But do you know the greatest thing that you're going to inherit?

  Is God Himself? Do you see that in verse 7? He says, "I will be His God." Oh, no, let's not gloss over that

  because that's like the Levites in the Old Testament. Remember, Israel was told, you know,

  that they were going to receive an inheritance in the Promised Land. But you got like Deuteronomy 18-2.

  The Levites did not get an inheritance like the other tribes of Israel. They were told

  that God is their inheritance.

  And if you get God, you get everything. If you're a fellow heir with Christ,

  that means someday everything is yours.

  And finally, number five, truth about heaven, everything's new.

  Every day's in God's presence. Everything that hurts is gone and everything is yours.

  But we do have to say this because it's in the text. Everyone is not going.

  Now look, you know, it'd be real easy to come into Easter service and we're all wearing our

  spiffy clothes and the music is fantastic and it would be so easy to get caught up in this passage

  and get excited about a heaven that some of you aren't going to see.

  Look at verse eight. John says, "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable,

  as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars,

  their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur," which is the second death.

  See this list? These are people that love their sin more than they love Jesus.

  But I could ask you, are you on that list?

  Is there anything here that characterizes you?

  Understanding that murder means hateful and sexually immoral means lustful

  and immoral.

  Are you there?

  You know the one that always sticks out to me in this list is the first one, cowardly.

  What does that mean? It's not saying, being afraid of stuff is a sin, like in the sense of

  I'm afraid to go camping because I'm afraid of bears and snakes.

  And that's not what that's talking about at all. It's talking about being afraid to follow Jesus

  Christ because there is a cost. And what will my friends think? And what am I going to have to give

  up? And refusal to follow Christ, God says, "You're a coward." You mean He bought your way to heaven

  with the blood of His Son? And you're too afraid to receive Him because of what your goofy friends

  might think. Because of what sinful thing you might have to give up. You're a coward.

  And that's not my opinion. That's God's opinion. Well, I guess it is mine if it's God's.

  But He said it.

  You think following Christ is easy? You think it's easy to trust God?

  Do you think it's easy to say no to sin? Do you think it's easy to say yes to serving Christ

  when it's inconvenient or difficult or harder than we thought it was going to be?

  This ain't for cowards, okay?

  All of the items on this list characterize people who have never repented. They've never received

  Christ. And these are just evidences. He's saying that this is what they lived like.

  And I have to ask you, if you took an honest inward look at yourself, would you say that my life is

  generally characterized by a love for Jesus Christ? Or would you say my life is generally

  characterized by a love of my sin, myself, my way? Which one is it for you?

  Because if it's the latter, then none of these promises about heaven, none of this hope is for you.

  If I can have the worship team join us back up on the platform here.

  It is finished.

  It is finished. Someday, you're going to hear Jesus say those words again.

  For some of you, you're going to be horrified to hear him say it when he brings judgment.

  And for some of you, you will rejoice when you hear him say it

  because he's giving you everything, the hope of heaven.

  It is finished. Today, today, we hear those words from the cross.

  So if you have received Jesus Christ, your sin has been taken away. If you have received Jesus

  Christ, he rose from the dead to give you eternal life. And if you have received Jesus Christ,

  you do not need to wait for heaven to rejoice in him. So let's stand and let's celebrate him

  for who he is and all that he's done. Let's rejoice in the victory of Jesus Christ.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 8:16-17, Revelation 21:1-8

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What are some wrong ideas about heaven that even many Christians believe?
   

3. What is an aspect of heaven covered in Revelation 21 that was new or surprising to you?
   

4. What does it mean that we are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16-17)? What exactly do we inherit?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Reconciliation: The Relationship is Restored

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)

1. God's Love for You is an Unconditional Love. (Romans 5:6-8)
2. God's Love for You is a Rescuing Love. (Romans 5:9)
3. God's Love for You is a Committed Love. (Romans 5:10)

   John 1:12 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

   Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Romans in chapter 5.

  You know, there's that old saying, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," right?

  I was thinking a lot about that concept this week, and I realized that's really true, like,

  in everything, isn't it?

  Like, have you ever taken an airplane flight?

  What determines if it's a good flight?

  How you land, right?

  And I was thinking about that also.

  Have you ever watched a movie that you're like, "Oh, this movie is so good," and then

  it has this completely idiotic ending?

  Have you ever seen a movie like that?

  Do you walk away saying that was a good movie?

  No.

  Do you say, "Oh, that movie was terrible," because it didn't finish well?

  And I don't think we ever feel this as deeply as we do being Pittsburgh sports fans.

  Heavens to Mercutroy, how many pirate games have I sat through?

  I'm like, "Oh, this is awesome," and then we blow it into night thinning, and we say,

  "Oh, that game was terrible," or all penguin fans, how many times?

  Oh, this is such a good game, and then we lose it over time.

  Like, oh.

  But you know, the Son of God came to do some work, and He finished perfectly.

  John 19, Jesus on the cross, says after this, "Jesus knowing that all was now finished,

  said," to fulfill the Scripture, "I thirst."

  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a Hissa

  branch and held it to His mouth.

  When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His

  head and gave up His Spirit.

  And in this four-week series, we're going to be answering the question, "What is finished?"

  Jesus cried out, "It is finished!"

  "What is?"

  Well, today, today we are going to be looking at the glorious reality that the work of reconciliation

  is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored.

  Would you bow your heads, please?

  And I'm going to ask you, just take a moment and pray for me.

  I was telling Pastor Taylor in my office before we came in here, "Man, I can't possibly

  communicate the gravity of this passage."

  You always feel that, but sometimes you feel it a lot more.

  And today we're going to be looking at the love of God.

  And I feel so inadequate to communicate it the way it needs to, but we're going to take

  a swing at it.

  All right?

  I may, I'll pray for you.

  Father in heaven, we're about to go after a topic that hits us in the heart, probably

  more than anything.

  So we talk about your great love.

  So once again, we just pray against any preconceived notions any of us might have going into this.

  And we would honestly just take a look at what your word actually says.

  Father, transform us as only you can.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen, amen.

  It is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored."

  We started this last week that the Bible says in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God was

  demonstrating some things.

  He was showing us some things.

  He was, a better word, proving some things.

  And in Romans 3.25, we saw that God demonstrated His righteousness.

  Jesus died to fulfill the demands of God's law.

  The guilt is gone.

  So here, in this passage, just look at verse 8.

  It says, "But God shows," again, better word, "proves," but God shows His love for us.

  And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  You see, it's this love of God He tells us in verses 10 and 11 that reconciled us.

  The relationship is restored.

  Look, this is one of the greatest doctrines in all of God's Word, because God is not some

  cold-detached judge.

  And you would wrongly take that away from Romans chapter 3 to say, "Well, God's just

  this judge, and we're guilty."

  Okay, and He did this judicial thing, and He pardoned us, but He's not this cold judge

  in the sense of now God's looking down from heaven saying, "Turn or burn, I don't care."

  Right?

  Get right or get left.

  Look, I made provision, accept Jesus or don't, makes no difference to me whatsoever.

  The glorious truth of God's Word, it's that He loves you.

  I mean He actually, really, infinitely loves you.

  And last week we talked about one of the greatest struggles we have as people is struggling

  with guilt.

  Am I really forgiven?

  But you know, there's another question that we struggle with as people, and it's this

  one.

  Does God really love me?

  Does God really love me?

  Oh yeah, I know John 3.16.

  Everybody knows John 3.16.

  For God so loved the world.

  But maybe that's just like a general statement about God's disposition towards people as

  a whole.

  But does He love me?

  You know, there are two things that make people question God's love.

  And one is the awareness of my sin.

  Some people question God's love because you're like, "You know what, I just feel unworthy."

  The other thing that makes you question God's love is going through hardship.

  You're like, "If God really loved me, why would He let this allow this cause this horrible

  trial in my life to happen?"

  But this is the question on the table today.

  Am I loved by God?

  In other words, am I accepted by God?

  Is God on my side?

  Will that ever change?

  Well, I got some great news for you.

  God settled all of this with the death of Jesus Christ.

  So on your outline, the relationship is restored and we're focusing on the cross as we head

  into resurrection day next Sunday.

  And good Friday this Friday, we're focused on the cross.

  Today what the cross proves about God's love for you.

  Does God love me?

  Look at the cross.

  That answers all of it.

  Let's unpack that a little bit.

  Number one, the Bible tells us that God's love for you is an unconditional love.

  It's an unconditional love.

  You know, I get a pause here.

  People say, especially in circles like ours, they're like, "Well, you know, it's not about

  religion.

  It's about what?

  Relationship."

  Oh, you travel in those circles.

  It's not about religion.

  It's about relationship.

  And okay, that's true.

  But you know, technically, technically.

  God has a relationship with Jesus.

  The question is, do you have a good relationship with Him?

  Or do you have a bad relationship with Him?

  Because biblically, there's no neutral.

  It's not like there's these on fire, born-again, Bible-believing Christians,

  and these evil, wicked, nasty, violent, hurtful people who hate God,

  and somewhere in the middle is just that really nice person.

  Not a Christian, but not...

  There's no neutral.

  And in this passage, you're going to see that unsaved people, people alienated from God,

  are described in four ways.

  They're described as weak in verse 6, as ungodly in verse 6,

  as sinners in verse 8, and as enemies in verse 10.

  And we have to understand that going in.

  Looking at these four, weak means you're powerless to save yourself.

  There is not a thing you can do to get right with God on your own.

  You're weak.

  You're ungodly.

  You are nothing like God intended you to be by birth.

  You're a sinner.

  That means in the eyes of God, you are rebellious.

  And in verse 10, as I said, He uses the word "enemy."

  And that means you're hostile towards God.

  But really, this enemy concept, it's really a two-way street.

  As you see, by nature, we resent God's authority.

  I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

  I don't want somebody telling me the things that I want to do are wrong, so that's hostility

  towards God.

  But you know, it goes the other way, too.

  God has a holy hatred of sin.

  So we could say that we have a wicked opposition towards God, and God has a holy opposition

  towards us.

  It's a dual opposition.

  So something major has to happen if there's going to be any kind of reconciliation between

  these two parties that have such hostility towards one another.

  Something huge has to happen.

  Look at verse 6.

  It says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

  Let's not fly through this too quickly, shall we?

  Can we just pause for a moment and as much as we can try to get the weight of God's love

  in this statement?

  He said, "Christ died for the ungodly."

  Who does that?

  Who dies for rebellious, wicked, evil people?

  Who does that?

  It's a shocking statement.

  But Paul illustrates, look at verses 7 and 8, how he illustrates this incredible truth.

  He says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, that perhaps for a good person one

  would dare even to die."

  But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  I love Paul's illustration.

  Look at verse 7 again.

  He says, "One will scarcely die for a righteous person."

  What does he mean by a righteous person?

  Well, a righteous person is just like somebody who's upright and a good, holy person, but

  maybe you sort of have a detached relationship from them.

  Like for example, your favorite preacher that you listen to on a podcast.

  Maybe there's somebody that you follow their podcast, you listen to them and they're preaching

  really blesses you, but you don't know that guy, right?

  That's Paul's point here, is like your favorite podcast preacher, besides me, but your favorite

  podcast preacher, I had to clarify that, but you're like, "Jeff, you're not even in the

  top 15."

  Moving on.

  That favorite podcast preacher of yours, if you had an opportunity to die so that he

  could live, would you do that?

  Probably not.

  That's why he says scarcely.

  There might be one or two of you, like, "Yeah, I would do it."

  But Paul's like, "That's pretty scarce that somebody would die for a good person."

  You don't really know.

  But then he dials it up a notch, he goes, "Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to

  die."

  And now he's talking about maybe that holy, upright, good Christian person that we know

  and love.

  All right?

  So if I were to ask, "Okay, forget about your podcast guy, would you die for Pastor Taylor?"

  You're like, "Wow, that really ups the ante.

  I would really strongly consider that one."

  And now we get the weight of verse 8 when he says, "But God, but God on the other hand

  shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

  See Paul says maybe somebody would die for a good man, but no one would die for an evil

  man.

  But that's exactly how God showed His love for you.

  God loved you when you were a wuze.

  You're like a what?

  A wuze.

  I just made that word up.

  W-S-E, a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy.

  That's just in the text.

  I just paraphrased it.

  God loved you as a wuze.

  And God didn't say, "Look, when you get your act together, then we'll talk about salvation."

  God didn't say, "When you start living a certain way, then I'm going to love you."

  It says, "While we were still sinners, what God says is, 'Look, I love you.

  I sent my son to die for you.'

  You come to me and then we'll get your act together."

  See God knows you better than you know yourself.

  And He loves you at your worst.

  So that's where Paul starts.

  God's love for you is unconditional.

  Secondly, what does the cross prove about God's love for you?

  God's love for you is a rescuing love.

  It's a rescuing love.

  Look at verse 9.

  He says, "Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we

  be saved by Him from the wrath of God."

  I love this.

  You're going to see this a couple of times in this passage.

  Much more.

  Much more.

  What he's saying is, "If Jesus' death could do this, then much more Jesus' life can do

  this."

  So here, Jesus' blood justified has made us righteous before God, which is...

  I tried so hard to think of a way to describe that and I wrote down, "Infinitely enormous."

  I don't know.

  If Jesus' blood could make us righteous before God, which is infinitely enormous, even way

  bigger, He says, "We will be saved from the wrath of God."

  And that is a profound thing in the cross of Jesus Christ that God was saving you from

  Himself.

  He was saving you from His own wrath.

  But you know as a pastor, bless you as a pastor, oftentimes I hear people say, in wanting to

  argue, certain doctrines people will say, "You know, you're talking about God's wrath.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell."

  Look, I believe that God is love and a loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell.

  Have you ever heard that?

  Pastor Taylor, I'm sure you've heard that a lot.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell?

  Well, there's a lot of problems with that statement.

  One, it ignores what the Bible actually says about hell.

  You know, Jesus talked about hell more than anybody.

  Something like twice as much as He talked about heaven.

  So not only does it ignore what the Bible actually says about hell, it also ignores God's holiness.

  A holy God can't tolerate sin.

  So help me understand, if you're somebody that doesn't believe in hell, if you're somebody

  that still subscribes to the loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell, are you saying that

  somebody can live their entire life rejecting their Creator, living in flagrant sin and rebellion,

  they want nothing to do with God, and they want nothing to do with God's gifts, and someday

  when they die, God's going to be like, "Hey, that's okay.

  Come on into heaven.

  Let me show you around."

  Like, how does that work?

  By the way, an unsaved person would be miserable in heaven.

  Do you know that?

  An unsaved person would be absolutely miserable in heaven.

  You're like, "Why?"

  Now, that unsaved person has spent their life saying, "I don't want anything to do with

  God, God's truth, God's people, worship.

  I don't want anything to do with that."

  You know what heaven is?

  God, His truth, His people, and worship, that would be absolutely miserable to spend in

  eternity.

  What the God you want nothing to do with.

  So you're ignoring God's holiness when you're selecting which doctrine you want to adhere

  to.

  Oh, and here's one.

  A loving God would send someone to hell.

  I like to quickly remind people that God's love is not in question.

  What more could God have possibly done to save you?

  The Bible says, Romans chapter 8, "God spared not his own son.

  God was willing to kill his son so that you could be saved."

  I wouldn't do that.

  If your salvation meant that I had to kill my son, you'd all be gone to hell.

  And I wouldn't think twice about it.

  What more could God have possibly done to demonstrate His love than by giving the most precious thing

  that exists, the life of His Son.

  So don't please, don't come at me with this, a loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.

  God's love is not in question here.

  But church, if we brush off God's wrath, we're also brushing off the impact of the cross.

  We're brushing off the impact of the cross as minimizing the greatest act of God's love.

  But let's get real personal.

  Like I said at the beginning, one of the biggest reasons we doubt God's love is because we

  endure hardship.

  And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

  But I imagine it would be high 90% of you.

  If I said raise your hand if you've ever questioned God's love because of a trial that you're

  going through.

  I bet most of those hands would go up.

  And I just want to lovingly encourage you.

  When we get in that mindset where we're doubting God's love and a hardship, what we're assuming

  is the way that God shows love is keeping me from trials.

  We've already attached that love language to God when His Word does not.

  And we think, okay, so God shows me love by making my life easy and trouble free.

  So if God doesn't do that, then He must not love me.

  Well, we studied the book of Job last fall.

  If we learned anything, it's that God loves me through hardship.

  No, no, no, no.

  God loves me with hardships.

  God shows the greatness of His love by meeting our greatest need, which is to be rescued

  from sin and hell.

  And if that's all God's love ever did for you, is to rescue you from hell.

  If that was all He ever did, you should be eternally grateful.

  Like the goofy guy in the infomercial.

  But wait, there's more.

  And number three, write this down.

  God's love for you is a committed love.

  What does the cross prove about God's love?

  Well, it proves it's unconditional and it proves it's rescuing.

  And thirdly, it proves that God's love for you is a committed love.

  Look at verse 10.

  For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more

  now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

  Very similar to verse 9 with the much more thing, but there's a different emphasis here.

  In verse 9, He says we will be saved from His coming wrath.

  And here He's saying God will keep us saved in the meantime.

  In other words, He's saying if God could reconcile us by the death of His Son, much more He can

  keep us saved by the life of His Son.

  Remember to put it another way, if God loved you when you were His enemy, how do you think

  He's going to love you now that you're His child?

  That's why He uses that word here.

  That's the word of the day.

  Reconciled.

  This in verse 10, telling us this, God is committed to a restored relationship with

  you.

  How committed?

  How committed is God?

  How committed?

  He adopted you as His child.

  Talk to somebody here that's adopted someone and ask that parent of the adopted kid, "How

  committed are you?"

  They're committed.

  John 1.12 says, "But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the

  right to become children of God."

  In Christ, we are God's children and He is our heavenly Father.

  And as you parents know, your kids will always be your kids and nothing can ever change that.

  No matter how bad your kids are, no matter what bad thing they've done, nothing will ever

  change that kid from being your kid.

  When we planted this church back in 2011, we were meeting at Marshall Middle School,

  which is right beside Covenant Community Church.

  I was friends with Pastor John Price, who was a pastor there.

  He invited our church over to, they had a church picnic on their property.

  He said, "Hey, why don't you guys come over and invite your church, come over, we're

  going to get the bouncy houses and have a big thing, have a bunch of kids.

  And why don't you bring your family over and like to introduce you, kind of like welcome

  to the neighborhood kind of thing."

  I'm like, "Oh, that sounds like a great time."

  Well, so our family went and Aaron and I were in the pavilion talking to some of these wonderful

  people at this church.

  And our kids were much littler at the time.

  And all of a sudden, I hear Cade's voice.

  He says, "Hey, Dad!

  Dad!

  Dad!"

  I look over.

  Cade and Owen are standing in the yard in the green space in Covenant Community with

  their pants around their ankles, urinating on the lawn.

  And I look over and Cade hollers, "Look, Dad!

  We made a P-cross!"

  And these dear sweet people we were talking to said, "Are those your children?"

  I said, "I've never seen those kids!"

  Somebody really needs to rein them in, you know what I'm saying?

  You know, as badly as I wanted to put them on eBay that day.

  I didn't.

  And Cade will tell you, grab him, he'll tell you something I've told him over and over

  throughout his life.

  He says, "Look, I love you on your best day and on your worst.

  And I've told him nothing will ever change that because you're my son."

  And it's the same with God's kids.

  You've been adopted.

  And you know, I've been reading the Bible for a long time.

  There is zero Biblical language about being unadopted.

  We touched on this last week, you know, people often ask, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  And the answer to that question is, "Well, you know, if I could lose my salvation, then

  I definitely would.

  But thankfully, it's not up to me.

  Because what Paul's teaching here is it's not really about how tightly I'm holding

  on to Jesus.

  It's how tightly he's holding on to me.

  So if you've ever struggled with, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  Here's a great verse.

  You're going to help me out here.

  Philippians 1-6, can we get that on the screen?

  Let's do a little Bible study here, shall we?

  Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it

  to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

  That means to the very end.

  All right, so help me out here.

  Did God begin a good work in you?

  Well, if you're a follower of Jesus, then the answer to that is, "Yes."

  Okay, next question.

  "If God began a good work in you, is he going to finish it?"

  Yeah, he is.

  Oh, one more question.

  Are you sure?

  Paul said he was.

  I am sure of this.

  That when Jesus starts something, he finishes it.

  True of the cross and the atonement.

  True of his death.

  Yes, true of that, but also true of adopting you and raising you and getting you to the

  finish line of heaven.

  If God didn't save you and say, "You know what, kid, good luck, you're on your own,

  don't mess this up, I hope to see you in heaven."

  Paul makes it very clear here that God's love for you is a committed love.

  We have the worship team.

  Join us back up here.

  Church, God loves you.

  As we said and can't emphasize enough, that is not in question.

  He showed us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  We are rescued from His wrath.

  He is committed to keeping us all the way to heaven.

  The real question that we have to ask is not does God love us, but do you love God?

  God demonstrated His love for you.

  Are you willing to demonstrate your love for Him?

  You're like, "How do I do that?"

  Well, let's look at what the passage says.

  Look at verse 11.

  He says more than that.

  Which is a hilarious statement.

  More than all of this.

  He says, "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now

  received reconciliation."

  I just want to ask you, church, will you rejoice?

  Rejoicing is the natural emotional result of being reconciled.

  And your worship should be an overflow of love and joy and gratitude for Jesus Christ,

  for all He is, and for all He's done, and for all He's promised that He will do.

  Let your worship be an expression of love.

  Would you stand and lift up your voices and demonstrate love for Jesus Christ?

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 5:6-11

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Have you ever questioned God’s love for you? Why? What is God’s response, based on this passage?
   

3. What 4 words are used to describe lost people in this passage? How does this speak to the idea that “deep down, man is basically good”?
   

4. Read John 1:12 and Philippians 1:6. What do these verses teach us about God’s love being a committed love?

Breakout
Pray for one another.