Jeff Miller

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 3:15Everyone 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 4:29Let 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.

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

    Luke 24:27And 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 8:2-4For 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.

  • 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.