Thank you, Matt. Good morning, church. It's great to be together this morning around God's word
and the weather's changing a bit, but as we're going to see this morning, God's kingdom
does not. And so let me just get myself sorted.
Here, technology. Oh dear.
Let's come to the giver of these words before we dive in to see what he has to say to us today.
Would you please join me in prayer?
Lord Jesus, we are so thankful that we are able to be here this morning together,
together around your words that you have spoken, not just historically, but are speaking to us
today through your Holy Spirit. Please give us understanding. May we not be like the crowds
who walked away saying you are a great man, but did nothing about it, but be like your disciples
who have ears to hear, to receive your Spirit, to be transformed.
We ask for this grace and mercy in your name. Amen.
So for the past few weeks, we've been at the feet of Jesus on this mountain, exploring his teaching
to the crowds and more specifically to his disciples, which as we've noticed, had the flavour
of what Moses said would happen in that one greater than he would come on the scene having
the very words of God to give to his people. In the opening verses of Christ's teaching,
we saw that he started off with what it is to be blessed in chapter five, verses one through to 12.
What it is to be blessed in God's sight and to be part of his kingdom with the Beatitudes,
which showed us that it's only those who rely on the mercy and grace of God who will be blessed
in his sight. It was there that we noticed that Jesus spoke in a general sense to the crowds,
but then we saw towards the end of those verses in verses 11 and 12 that he turned his attention
specifically to the disciples using the words you and warning them and saying that if you are going
to live for God and his kingdom, then you can be sure that there will be slander, persecution,
and insults coming your way. And that was important to note because it was to them,
to the disciples of Jesus, to the people of the kingdom of heaven, that Jesus then went on to
liken them to the salt and the light of this world. Salt which had preservative qualities and light
which darkness can't overcome and is driven back whenever present. All this to say, Jesus in no
uncertain terms was saying to his disciples directly that you are not to withdraw from this world,
but you are to engage with it all the while not compromising with the world as to lose our witness.
Then last week we saw that Jesus made the incredible and awesome claim that he is in fact
the one who fulfills the law, which is as we saw his way of saying that by his very life,
his very doctrine, he gives the fullest expression of what the law and the prophets are all about.
So with that established for his disciples, you can imagine it, the question would have become,
what was going to be their view of the moral law, which is most clearly seen in the 10 commandments
and how would they apply it to their lives? And we need to think about this here this morning too,
as we have to remember that Jesus made it clear in verses 17 through to 20 that the law is still
authoritative for his people. That's what we saw last week. The believers of Jesus, his disciples
will follow the moral law of God because God's moral law nature has never changed. However,
Jesus was very clear that he is the ultimate expression of the law and we see throughout
the whole council of scripture that all who come to him, who were united to him by the Holy Spirit
will obey and love the law of God from the heart because it is written on our hearts, says Jeremiah
and Ezekiel. So with all that said, Jesus now turns his attention to contrasting six of the traditional
interpretations of the law that the people had been taught by the religious leaders of the time
with his own, but I tell you antidotes. That's what we'll be looking at over the next few weeks.
Everything from verse 21 to the end of the chapter is an illustration, an explanation,
an application of how we as the disciples of Jesus Christ are really meant to understand and apply
the law of God in our own lives as we engage with this world. So if you have your Bibles with you
this morning, we'll be in our text quite a bit. So would you look with me at verse 21. Jesus says,
you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder and anyone who murders
will be subject to judgment. Now obviously Jesus hasn't pulled this saying out of nowhere because
as he says here, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, which we should take as
the people of Israel and what he quotes is actually the sixth of the ten commandments, the sixth
commandment given by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai recorded in the book of Exodus and
repeated in Deuteronomy 5. Jesus is doing something very interesting here. You see by Jesus
quoting Torah or the law, it shows that he in no way disagrees with what God has revealed
to Israel before. We saw that so clearly last week when Jesus said he had not come to abolish
the law but to give it its fullest meaning and we have to remember that as he works through these
next few sayings because on the surface it might seem that he quotes a command and then contradicts
what's been said before with the phrase, but I say unto you, but that simply isn't the case.
Now what Jesus is contradicting is not the law itself but certain distortions of the application
of the law of which the religious leaders taught at the time and that the people had heard and
adopted. In fact as we'll see here in our text, far from contradicting the law, Jesus endorses,
reinforces and insists on its authority going on to give its true interpretation. For example,
it's not like Jesus says you've heard it said don't commit adultery but I say unto you go for it.
No, rather he takes things to a totally different level in how the law really should be understood
and applied. So that's what we have to remember here this morning church by Jesus pointing his
audience to the law, he's demonstrating that he in no uncertain terms is continuing, that it is the
continuing moral standard of God and in no way disconnected or discontinued in the kingdom of
heaven. Yet he is defining where the application has gone wrong and where it must land.
It's here that it might be a good time to have a think about why. Why did Jesus need to give the
clearest application and explanation of the law that the world had ever heard in the face of the
teaching of the time? Well to put it simply the religious teachers of Israel just didn't have a
high view of the law. You may have read through the book of Matthew and thought to yourself but
Michael the Pharisees did everything in such an extreme way, more so than we do. I mean as you
read through the book of Matthew you'll see that they didn't eat with sinners, they fasted more than
anyone else in the region, they washed their hands in a ceremonial way every time they ate,
but the list goes on and on and on. Weren't they uber law keepers? But you'll also notice as you
read through the book of Matthew that much of what they did, much of their understanding of the law
concentrated on the external factors. It seemed to be the driving theological view of the Pharisees
the external. And to put it simply Jesus is going to point out here that that was a major problem
that they saw the commandments as external requirements only which demonstrated that they
didn't emphasize or realize the internal requirements of the commandments. So they gave the people
the Pharisees gave the people they taught the people that they could keep the commandments of
God even if their hearts weren't right with him. That's what's going on here the Pharisees were
fixated on the external and taught the people of Israel that as long as they obeyed the externals
of the commandments they were right with God. In other words the Pharisees were scaling down the
demands of the law making their view as we've said before and noticed the view of the law very small.
I want to give you an example of this. Take the text that we have before us this morning.
Jesus says to his disciples you've heard that you shouldn't murder because you'll end up being the
subject of judgment. Just before we go on to see what Jesus has to say about this.
We want to ask the question what is this judgment that Jesus speaks of?
Professor Albert Barnes is helpful here noting that the judgment here in context was the tribunal
that would judge cases of criminal activity. It was a court that sat in each city or town
and consisted commonly of seven members. It was the lowest court of the world and the lowest
court. It was the lowest court among the Jews and from it an appeal might be taken to the Sanhedrin
in Jerusalem. So with that understanding in this context we are to take judgment here as when
someone was suspect of committing murder. They would be brought before the local Jewish courts
and with that they would stand trial to determine if the act was intended an accident or lawful as
said in Deuteronomy 19.4. This was incredibly serious stuff as the consequences for premeditated
murder was capital punishment. The law puts it like this in Exodus 21.14. If anyone schemes and
kills someone deliberately that person is to be taken from the altar and that person is to be put
to death. But church that's what I want you to notice this morning. I want you to notice
where the phariseeical application has landed. It's a civil case. That's what Jesus is pointing out
here. The phariseeical application of the law that you have heard is you break the law and you've got
a civil problem on your hands. That's what judgment is here. The civil courts. In other words the
Pharisees taught the people that the law of God was upheld as long as justice in the courts
and punishment of those who had committed murder was served. So that's what Jesus is doing here.
He takes the sixth commandment and says you've heard that teaching on the law when it comes to
murder. They say don't do it because you know the consequences. You'll end up in court. They have
the power to take your life. Church this is where Jesus takes things to a totally different level
than just the consequence of a mere human judgment. I want you to read with me verse 22.
These are the words of Jesus but I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will
be subject to judgment. Again anyone who says to a brother or sister, raka is answerable to the
court and anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell. It goes without saying
we really must pay attention to what's happening here because Jesus is essentially saying that you
can break the sixth commandment my disciples in do not murder in more ways than just taking the life
of someone else. It's clear that's what's being said here and we want to remember the context.
The primary concern for Jesus here was to teach his disciples the truth, the application of the
law, the truth to those who are the meek who are the humble. So I want us to really pay attention
to really catch what Jesus is saying here not to just understand it but to apply it.
So notice it. Notice what Jesus is doing here. He takes that which appears external and plunges it
into the internal. You see it right here in our text this morning right here in verse 22.
He says to the disciples but I tell you anyone who was angry anyone who says to a brother sister
raka anyone who says you fool is as guilty as a murderer. Jesus is showing us something here.
He's teaching us that the law is first and foremost spiritual as he takes the application
of the law from the external into the internal from the outward action and its consequences
to the seat of the human heart and its intentions. It's by Jesus doing this that we as the disciples
of Jesus see that that's what the law is. It was given not to just deal with the external
but also to expose lawlessness in the internal in the heart in the mind and that's what the
Pharisees had completely missed right. They'd missed that the law is spiritual in nature and
in fact verse 21 of our text this morning it's a clear explanation of what's come before in verse
20 where Jesus says for I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law you will certainly not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Again
because the Pharisees view of the righteousness of righteousness and its application was based
on external keeping of the law and that's the nature of the problem that Jesus had here.
What he was pushing no kicking back against the Pharisees misuse of the law and their teaching to
others and they did this because we have to conclude that they had no idea of the character
of their God who sees and knows everything. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight Lord as King David puts it in Psalm 19.
You might be here this morning and thinking to yourself Michael what's so bad about
seeing the law as external about seeing it exclusively external. Well because the source
of the problem wasn't being exposed just the external behaviour was being dealt with
and then no real cure could be prescribed. Now as many of you know over the past couple of weeks
Haley has had some pretty tremendous pain with her back and neck and as great as the doctors have
been in trying to deal with the pain as shown by her external symptoms it really hasn't been
until she had an MRI that anyone could really really see what was happening what was really
going on on the inside but once that was done once we could see what was happening from the x-rays
a real picture of the internal damage could be clearly seen. That was the Pharisees problem.
They ignored the internal and thought that by dealing with the externality of the issue
that they had kept the law that they were model citizens of God's heavenly kingdom and in great
relationship with him. They taught the people you can come and do the same as us but as we saw last
week the law cannot justify us because we simply can't keep it once it's applied to what's going on
on the inside of us and knowing that says Jesus knowing that is the first step to really
step to realizing that we are the poor in spirit. That's where Jesus takes it. The law acts like an
MRI which reveals what's really going on on the inside as it deals with the spiritual things deals
with the heart. It's not just external it's not just political it's not just civil not just social
like the Pharisees were teaching. No it exposes what's going on in the hearts and minds of people.
Now brothers and sisters by the Lord Jesus giving us this application
he's actually giving us a diagnostic tool by which we can check our own hearts right.
Now on the one hand we all know that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and who can know them
says Jeremiah but on the other hand because of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives because
of the illumination of his conviction there has been a sense of our utter poorness of spirit
before the living God. So much so that there's been a time where we have handed our lives over
to God and called upon the name of the Lord to be saved and because of that work we are gradually
being separated from our old man and conformed more and more into the image of the new man
of Jesus and that's because Jesus is the perfect law keeper the exact representation of God says
the author to the Hebrews. The law still acts somewhat as a as a tool for us by which we can
continually do self-examination and confession of our failings in its light. With that said Jesus
actually gives us two examples of how to do this how to do a bit of diagnostic work on the heart
in our passage this morning. Obviously the first one is with our hearts that's what Jesus is doing
here in verse 22. He shows how the sixth commandment the commandment not to murder relates to our anger
where no one can see it. I want to say that there is a righteous anger and there is an unrighteous
anger and unfortunately we don't have all the time in the world to go into this this morning but I
found Martin Luther his comments on this in the midst of doing real reform in in Europe his
definition of righteous anger extremely helpful. He calls it an anger of love as it's anger that
wishes no one any evil one that is friendly to the person but hostile to the sin.
But that's not what Jesus is referring to here. He's referring to unrighteous anger that hates the
person and he judges that anger as murder in the heart. Second Jesus moves on and he speaks of
another kind of law breaking applying the sixth commandment to our tongues saying if you have used
destructive speech towards others you are guilty of murder by the tongue.
It's here that by Jesus moving from the heart to the tongue that we really do understand there is
so much more than physical murder that's involved with this commandment. Now in regards to murder
by the tongue I do want to say a couple of things about this and point you particularly to that word
that Jesus uses in verse 22, raka. It means you empty head. Now that's not just a mean name that
you catch our children calling each other on the playground but it comes from an incredibly
prideful place. It's a word that scorns a person accusing them of being spiritually ignorant.
It's what you would say to someone who has a lack of knowledge of the truth when it comes to God.
The second word is you fool. That word comes from an incredibly spiteful place.
Raka from pride, fool from spite. It's a word which comes from hatred. It's a word which you
would use when you accuse a person of having no grace in his life. In other words to call someone
raka or a fool in the way that is being used here in chapter five you're pretty much accusing a
person of being a complete heathen. Now we don't know this for certain I will admit that
but you can pretty much read between the lines here. You can imagine it Jesus taking real life
scenarios and words that were being said by the Pharisees of John the Baptist of himself
and his followers. We can make an educated guess here because we know that all throughout the
gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John that the Pharisees accused Jesus and the disciples
of being ignorant of the truth having no real knowledge of God and that Jesus was not
having no real knowledge of God in the way that they went about breaking the pharisee
traditions. So if we think about it in that way Jesus was saying that when you speak destructively
when you speak with hatred towards others you're committing murder by the tongue
and to put it simply this commandment is broken not only when someone unlawfully takes the life
of another it's broken with the tongue and the heart and those sins said Jesus those sins must be
taken with the utmost of seriousness.
We really need to hear these words this morning church.
Jesus says if you harbour this kind of hatred in your heart and spew out this kind of hatred
out of your mouth you're guilty enough not just to go to the church and say I'm guilty
out of your mouth you're guilty enough not just to go to court but hell.
And I do want to say this Jesus isn't saying that these different places where sin takes place is
in the heart and the tongue deserves different places of judgment. Now Jesus is simply stressing
the seriousness of all sin that comes from pride and hatred towards your neighbour. He is saying
in a profoundly paradoxical way against the popular understanding of the day that though no one may
ever know that you've committed these sins this pride and hatred is incredibly serious in the sight
of God and he sees and judges the heart.
Brother sister maybe you have experienced in the midst of great pressure
heart sins of this sort not just against people out there in the world but even against those you
love. Maybe you've experienced in the midst of great pressures in a family context with your
spouse or even with your children murder of the tongue like this. Jesus is saying my disciples
that is a symptom of something that needs to be changed in the heart. So you see this again we
need to understand this Jesus uses the law as a diagnostic tool to give us self-examination.
We might think I'm not breaking the law everything's fine I haven't broken the law not to murder
but then in the midst of pressure that cutting word comes out against your spouse which is
designed to destroy designed to tear down. Maybe you can think of the times driving to work and
that person cuts in front of you and mouths something off and you think to yourself if only
I catch up with that guy I would love to do such and so forth to them. Maybe it's as fickle as
someone's comment on a social media post that riles you up on the toilet in the morning and
you go about the rest of the day thinking how stupid they are and telling everyone else about it.
Brothers and sisters according to the Lord Jesus Christ the one we call our master
that's murder by tongue murder in the heart and Jesus is saying to us in no uncertain terms
that is a sign of spiritual sickness. So the question naturally should come from us what is
Jesus telling us to do here are we to go and just obey the law and all will be fine
well no because if we're honest we know our thoughts we hear the Lord's words and we know
our thoughts we hear the words that we use and are sometimes surprised by the utter
hatred that comes vomiting out of our mouth towards others. Jesus's point is to drive you
not to work harder at being more tight-lipped whose point is to drive you into his arms
again and again and again in prayer and dependence on him.
It's to drive you to want the Holy Spirit to work that wondrous work of grace in our lives
to kill the sin in your life and in my life. Church anyone that's ever struggled with this
kind of sin you know you can't free yourself from it. Prideful anger hatred and deep resentment
need spiritual surgery the grace of God to work at the very core of our very being to free us from it.
That's what we need we need the grace of God in our sanctification
so church instead of running away from the law being terrified of the law
let's examine ourselves in light of the law because it's delightful in that it drives us
to depend on Jesus. Let us depend on him and the work of the Spirit in our lives more and more.
Because it is he that is conforming us again to the pattern of God's perfect law. I want to say
this again only the grace of God can conquer this kind of sin and the law was given not so we would
look to our own abilities but to the life of the Lord. The Lord's law is given to us to be
faithful to our abilities but to the life of the perfect law keeper.
I remember the first time this really hit home with me. I remember years ago looking at the law
with those terrifying thou shalt not's and seeing how guilty I was before them that utter sense of
condemnation especially when applied to my thoughts. But then I remember years later after I
was very same thou shalt not's and thinking to myself you know because of Jesus because of his
perfect law keeping on my behalf those thou shalt not's were they more like promises that are held
out to the children of God. Promises that are as I'm separated more and more from my old nature.
As I'm separated from that old life and conformed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.
Well there will actually become there will actually come a day where I shall not have any
gods before him. That there will come a day where I shall not covet other people's lives or things.
That there will come a day where I will not murder people in the heart or with my tongue.
And yet in the meantime where I do fall short and let me say this I really do fall short.
I can look to Jesus. I can look to that perfect man who gave his life and cry out to him help me.
Help me to be more like you not because I deserve it. Not because I've earned it because
in your pleasure in your delight you have saved a wretch like me. And church it is the delight of
the Holy Spirit to do his work in us. Are we worthy in and of ourselves of this grace? Absolutely not.
But that is the thing about grace. It is completely undeserved favour and because of Jesus we are
welcomed as children to come to the throne of grace. In the midst of our guilt we can cry out
Lord I've sinned please forgive me Lord please work in me take this pride take this hatred away.
And brothers and sisters it is our father's delight and pleasure to answer prayers like that.
Now as we finish our time in this text this morning Jesus then goes on to apply the law in
a different way in regards to our relationships with each other.
That's what he's doing in verses 23 through to 26. He takes the law from examining our inner
person and applies it to the relationships with each other. He does this by giving a couple of
applications to really drive this point home. First about a person in the midst of conflict
who is on their way to the temple to worship God as you would do under the old covenant.
But then he remembers that there is division with another a brother. So Jesus says they need to go
and be reconciled. Second he uses the example of people in the midst of conflict and he says which
if it's not settled it can spiral more and more out of control till one of them ends up in prison.
Now we won't go as deep into this but I do want to say this.
We have to see what's being driven home in the light of everything that we've looked at so far
this morning and it goes back to using the law as a diagnostic tool to examine ourselves as believers.
Jesus is saying that the law reveals bad stuff going on not just on the surface but in the heart
and it gets us to ask questions of ourselves like what's my attitude towards other people.
If our attitude of heart is hateful towards others then that's an indication that something
is terribly wrong. If we speak badly of others wanting to destroy them wanting to tear them down
with what we say then it shows us something of the state of our heart and so when we come to these
examples the question then becomes what is our attitude towards others in the midst of conflict.
Are we concerned that we have offended others? Are we proactive in reconciliation rather than
externally worshipping God saying everything is fine but holding real resentment towards others?
Are we concerned that when we have offended others that we need to do something about it rather than
waiting for them to come to us and say we're going to do something about it rather than
waiting for them to come to us? In other words are we wanting to show the tremendous character of God
and the love that we have received towards others or do we simply just not care enough to do anything
about it? Well I would put forward to you this morning church that's what Jesus is doing here
with these examples. He's saying to us his disciples that if you have the love of God in your
heart if the gospel has really captured you then you are going to have a heart that wants to be
right with your brothers and sisters. In other words if you have experienced reconciliation
and the love of God then the overflow of that relationship is a want of reconciliation with
those around us. A want it's not always possible but a desire to not have division, to have a lack
and to not harbour hatred and to tear down. So there's a warning in this.
If we don't care Jesus says that tells us that's evidence of absence of gospel love in our heart
and so to believers this law is given to drive us back to Christ so we might put to death sin in us.
To the self-righteous it reminds us that this law cannot justify us before God who searches
the hearts and minds of people. So as we close this needs to be said loud and clear this morning.
It is only God who can work these things in us and he only does it by his grace and through the work
of his spirit. So when we see these things in ourselves and we will see these things in ourselves
God's invitation is come freely, come to Christ, turn back again experience a fresh
the blessings of the indwelling of the work of the Holy Spirit. That is our invitation as disciples
of Jesus to continually go to the throne room of grace. The law shows us what God will make us
one day and we ought to desire now to become what one day shall be.
Would you please join me in praying for these things?
Lord Jesus we thank you that as your church we're not gathered in this room this morning
speaking to each other or to the ceiling but we are speaking to you as your precious
beloved bride, blood purchased children, your disciples. These are challenging words Jesus
for all of us. We ask and we've asked for many months that you would transform us,
that you would change us and as your word is a double-edged sword
exposing things in us this morning I pray Father that I pray for your people that we won't run
from but run to you. I pray that there would be an overwhelming sense of your love, your forgiveness
and your work in the hearts and minds of your people. We thank you for these words Jesus,
we thank you that they are words that again remind us that we are to look to you and no other,
that there is one way and you have made that way possible because of your love for us.
Might we be encouraged this morning, might we be built up, might we be transformed by your work in
us. We ask for these things in Jesus name. Amen.