SPEAKER_00: The last couple weeks at a thought about different following Jesus in a world that is not.
SPEAKER_00: We've been looking at the Sermon on the Mount week by week, seeing different truths from it, and tonight uh this morning we'll look a little bit deeper in these verses and continue our search.
SPEAKER_00: And I've got a few statements I'll make and then we'll sort of dig into the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: But one that I want to sort of um just lay out there is that God is not merely interested in outward obedience, he is after inward transformation.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we only look at the outside, but we have to be reminded that he looks on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And it is good to be reminded not only in this moment, for us to remind ourselves of that day by day.
SPEAKER_00: He's not only interested in the outside obedience, right?
SPEAKER_00: Outward obedience, it's it's a heart thing for him.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a sentence that I'll sort of repeat myself throughout our time together this morning, but every outward sin begins as an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: Every outward sin begins as an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us that all through Scripture, but specifically here in this sermon on the Mount, as he has called his disciples after they have been healing people and doing some amazing ministry, he pulls them to the side and says, Let's get on top of this uh mountain area and let me just preach the word to you.
SPEAKER_00: And he's laying out this truth and he's trying to articulate to them that every outward sin always begins with an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: We'll read here in a moment, starting in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever went to the doctor for something on the outside that perhaps didn't seem right, only for the doctor to find something on the inside wrong?
SPEAKER_00: I've been in ministry long enough to have walked through different needs with people.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember one not too many years ago, this uh person had a lingering, ongoing cough.
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Preacher, I can't shake it.
SPEAKER_00: That's allergies, right?
SPEAKER_00: So what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They go to Walgreens or wherever, and and they put and buy every over-the-counter allergy medicine they can and take two or three of them and squirt the stuff up their nose, eat the pills, whatever, and what happens?
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
SPEAKER_00: All right, and they're like, Preacher, what do we think we should do?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I don't know, go to the doctor.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go see this, what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: And they go to the doctor, and the doctor does some tests, and turns out they had pneumonia the whole time.
SPEAKER_00: I remember one person we were walking with that had some chest pains and saying that every time they eat a certain type of food, their chest gets tight.
SPEAKER_00: So they just equivocate that to indigestion from the spicy food that they eat.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, How often do you eat it every day?
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe that maybe it is.
SPEAKER_00: They go to the doctor, what did the doctor discover?
SPEAKER_00: They had something wrong with their heart.
SPEAKER_00: They were retaining fluid.
SPEAKER_00: And what was going on was something far bigger than just some level of chest pains.
SPEAKER_00: Any anybody knows that a good doctor doesn't just treat your symptoms.
SPEAKER_00: They usually look for the source and then diagnose the problem for you and I to get better.
SPEAKER_00: If all we ever did was treat symptoms, the disease would never change.
SPEAKER_00: So you and I get to Matthew chapter number five, and that's exactly what Jesus is doing as he's preaching the word to the disciples and to us.
SPEAKER_00: See, as you begin to read in a moment, I'll read in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Pharisees had become experts as to treat symptoms, but yet they never focused on the inward problem.
SPEAKER_00: They always focused on the outward behavior.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll, as I read these verses in a moment, you'll see that the outward thing that they mentioned was don't commit murder, don't commit adultery, don't lie, don't break an oath.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they said over and over, and that was an outward thing.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is saying, man, listen to me, you've been treating the symptoms, but yet ignoring the disease the entire time as he lays some truth out.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because every outward sin begins with an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I called this one today, our title is a different heart or having different hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And as we look at these verses from verse 17 all the way through verse number 48, we're going to see some truths that Jesus wasn't just trying to make bad people a little bit better.
SPEAKER_00: No, Jesus was trying to transform the human heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's the difference.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me in the text and we'll read a few verses.
SPEAKER_00: I won't read all of them.
SPEAKER_00: You all know me.
SPEAKER_00: If I read from 17 to 48, we'd still be here when it's dinner time.
SPEAKER_00: You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: All right?
SPEAKER_00: So let's just read a few and then we'll we'll dig out some and we'll preach through them all, but I'll just highlight a few.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Look how Jesus begins.
SPEAKER_00: Do not think that I come to destroy the law or the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18 says, For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title will not by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: He uses that word fulfilled twice.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: In verse number 20, we'll spend some time on that here in a moment because it's it's a change of perspective for the Pharisees here, and the disciples are opening their eyes to see that.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, for I say to you, Jesus says, For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He's laying some truth out, and I'm sure in that moment they were a little bit, hmm, what's going on here?
SPEAKER_00: Now let's go on a little deeper and look and notice a few things.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 21, you'll see this, you have heard.
SPEAKER_00: He mentions that six times through this text.
SPEAKER_00: But in verse 21, he says, You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: But then look what Jesus said in the next verse, 22.
SPEAKER_00: But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes on a little deeper, look it down in verse 27.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard that it was said, here it is again, that of old, you shall not commit adultery.
SPEAKER_00: Then look what he says, but verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her with her in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: Then he oh, he goes a little deeper, verse uh thirty-eight.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard that it was said, here it is again, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says in verse thirty-nine, but I say to you, not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he goes a little bit further, verse forty-three.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard, here he is again, that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in verse forty four, but I say to you, love your enemies, and bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spicefully use you and persecute you.
SPEAKER_00: So he lays some truth out in this text, and I'll preach the entire text as we break it apart, but I wanted to highlight a few as we begin to read, and just give you full context.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus and them had been doing miracles and some many ministry works, and he pulls them aside and said, Guys, I need y'all to sit down and want to preach some truth to you.
SPEAKER_00: I got to give you some things, and that's what we know as the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love is two weeks ago, as we began this, we looked in the first 12 verses and we saw what we call the beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: And the beatitudes, as he's talking to the disciples, is laying them know that, hey guys, here is the characteristics that a disciple should have.
SPEAKER_00: And he lays that out in verses 1 through 12.
SPEAKER_00: And he's talking to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Now, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: What's the disciple?
SPEAKER_00: A follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So he's telling the followers of Christ that are in there, and now he's talking to us.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that the first 12 verses is characteristics, character that we as followers should have.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Then the next week, which was last week, he began talking about salt and light.
SPEAKER_00: And he tells us from verse 13 to verse 16, he lets you and I know that we should be the salt and light.
SPEAKER_00: He's essentially saying that as a disciple and a follower, you should have influence over those around you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he referred to us as the salt and the light last week.
SPEAKER_00: And so he starts off with the character that we should have as a follower of him, and then he follows up with the influence that we should have as followers of him.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where we're at, verse 17 through verse 48.
SPEAKER_00: He now shows you and I how that's possible.
SPEAKER_00: See, sometimes we might look and think, man, am I going to be able to have those characteristics that he mentioned?
SPEAKER_00: Am I going to have that smear of influence that he's speaking about in those previous verses?
SPEAKER_00: But then he shows us and explains to us from verse 17 through verse 48 how it becomes possible for you and I to have the character of Christ and have the influence of him with all in wherever we go in this rotten world.
SPEAKER_00: See, the disciples were living in a world that wasn't all good.
SPEAKER_00: You and I aren't either.
SPEAKER_00: We know that the world that we live in has fallen apart and there's a struggle out there, but yet they had their own struggles that they had to deal with as well.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the beauty, as we look in these verses specifically, we're going to read, he's not going to ever tell us to do a little harder.
SPEAKER_00: So if I try harder, I'll be more like him.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what it says.
SPEAKER_00: He says that I have to have a transformed or a changed heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is going to get to eventually.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't mean try harder.
SPEAKER_00: If that was the case, man, we would have a football coach over here yelling at us and blowing the whistle for us to work just a little bit harder.
SPEAKER_00: That's not where it's at.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's what the Pharisees taught, outward appearance, remember?
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said it's an internal thing, it's an internal transformation.
SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't matter how hard I try, if I don't have a transformed heart, all I'm doing is fixing the symptoms and never going to the source.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not talking about more religion.
SPEAKER_00: That was the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: More religion.
SPEAKER_00: No, what is Jesus talking about?
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about a different kind of righteousness, a different kind of righteousness that comes from a transformed heart.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, as we get through this, the Pharisees said change behavior.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, have a transformed heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says as we take these verses apart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to give you three thoughts this morning, three points to hope, hopefully to convince you what Jesus is saying is true.
SPEAKER_00: He gives us several examples to prove this one truth.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the one truth he's going to prove?
SPEAKER_00: I gave it to you earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Every outward sin begins with an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to prove it.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the first one.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this first four verses in verse 17 through 20.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came, Jesus came to transform the heart, not just the hands.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 17 through verse number 20, we've read it.
SPEAKER_00: I might read a few thoughts within there.
SPEAKER_00: But he said and shows us that Jesus came not to just uh uh to change our hands, but he wants to transform our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: On the outside, all you see is what my hands do.
SPEAKER_00: On the inside is the heart that only he can see.
SPEAKER_00: How do I know that?
SPEAKER_00: Let's look in depth in these verses.
SPEAKER_00: Before Jesus ever mentioned anger, lust, or even loving your enemies, he makes one thing very perfectly clear as he begins in verse number 17 when he says, Do not think.
SPEAKER_00: He's letting all of us know that Jesus is not lowering God's standard.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I'm not laying this lowering the standard of God.
SPEAKER_00: He begins in verse 17, do not think for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: You understand how people can be, right?
SPEAKER_00: Apparently there had been some uh misunderstanding of the ministry of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And there was folks out there that was talking junk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine talking junk about Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: But they were.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus, through his earthly ministry, decided that somebody needed healing on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: And the Pharisees thought that there was something wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, a very well-known verse that you might can recall is that, man, he said, if my ox is in the ditch, man, I better pull it out, even if it is on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: So what is Jesus laying out?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, man, I'm telling you, this is a heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an outward appearance.
SPEAKER_00: So the Pharisees and the scribes have been talking trash about Jesus, and there's been a misunderstanding about him.
SPEAKER_00: So he lays the law down right from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: He he covers the elephant in the room as soon as they begin to get into the nitty and the gritty of this sermon and says, Do not think.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there's been some misunderstandings.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees didn't like me healing on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_00: And there was times where Jesus actually challenged the Pharisees head on, and they didn't much appreciate that because in that day they were known as the spiritual elite.
SPEAKER_00: They could do no wrong.
SPEAKER_00: They were the snobs of the day, and they thought everything they did was perfect and everything everybody else did was not.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't like when Jesus ate with the tax collectors, the sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Why was that?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they they thought that that was beneath him, and Jesus taught you and I that yes, he did it for one reason and one reason only.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't doing that to make them feel good about their sin.
SPEAKER_00: No, he was eating with them as a level of restoration, trying to lead them unto him.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't like that.
SPEAKER_00: So what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They begin to talk bad.
SPEAKER_00: So what did Jesus say to them?
SPEAKER_00: Do not think, verse number 17, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: He stayed, laid it out, you've misunderstood me.
SPEAKER_00: And then what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He follows it up in verse number 17 and says, I do not come to destroy, but I come to fulfill.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at that word fulfill just real quickly.
SPEAKER_00: That's used twice.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus fulfilled the law that pointed to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Years and years ago, it changed the way I read the Bible when an old preacher told me, son, look for Jesus when you read and you'll find him, no matter where you're at in Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: That's the Old Testament or the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So the law points to Christ when I open my eyes and look for him.
SPEAKER_00: And so the word fulfill that is used here in verse 17, it's also used again in verse number 18.
SPEAKER_00: The word fulfill is very important.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean that Jesus is ignoring the law.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what that word fulfill means: it means to bring something to its intended completion.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that he is bringing the law to its intended purpose, the way it was intended to be from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: See, everything in the Old Testament pointed to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You can look at the sacrifices, you can look at the royal priesthood, you can look at the temple, you can look at the prophecies, you can even look at the promises itself, and all of them pointed to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Even the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, knew that.
SPEAKER_00: He even said it very clearly to when he wrote the letter in Galatians chapter number three in verse number 24.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said, Therefore, the law was the tutor to bring us to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The word tutor, the teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying the law was to bring us.
SPEAKER_00: It tutored us to realize that I can't do it on my own, but he has already done it all.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, I should just give my life to him.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul said to them, Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith.
SPEAKER_00: See, the law showed you and I our need for Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If I hadn't have read the law, I wouldn't have realized I would never have been good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, he saved me and declared me righteous.
SPEAKER_00: The law is a mirror.
SPEAKER_00: What does a mirror do?
SPEAKER_00: It ref gives you a reflection.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us don't like what we see, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Think about you been working outside all day and you got dirty and dusty and the little dirt's all over you.
SPEAKER_00: You might look in the mirror and say, Man, I need to go take a shower.
SPEAKER_00: Did the mirror wash your face?
SPEAKER_00: Nah.
SPEAKER_00: The shower cleansed you up.
SPEAKER_00: You got a wash rag and you scrub down.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how the mirror only gave you a reflection of what was wrong with you, but it sure enough couldn't wash your face.
SPEAKER_00: Only Jesus can do that.
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus died on the cross and rose on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: His blood was sufficient for all of us, and his blood is what made you and I clean.
SPEAKER_00: It cleaned us whiter than snow.
SPEAKER_00: How is that true?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what Jesus declared, and that's what it is.
SPEAKER_00: See, the law couldn't do that, but Jesus could.
SPEAKER_00: It meant for him to fulfill the law, he had to die and raise on the third day so that you and I could go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What else about this text?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: 17 and 18 talk about the fulfillment.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: You talk about rocking these guys' bow.
SPEAKER_00: For I say, Jesus said that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus revealed the true meaning of righteousness right there in the text.
SPEAKER_00: I think this statement probably shocked them.
SPEAKER_00: As I told you earlier, the scribes and the Pharisees were the religious ice, that they were the ones that supposedly did it all right.
SPEAKER_00: We knew that if you were to be righteous, you had to act like them.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they knew how to pray eloquently.
SPEAKER_00: We read that.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they would pray eloquently, but their heart wasn't right.
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to fast.
SPEAKER_00: They knew the scriptures better than most.
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to lay out the rules and the regulations.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, they knew how to tithe.
SPEAKER_00: They knew how to do all the things very, very carefully.
SPEAKER_00: But ultimately what we've discovered and learned is that yes, on the outside they figured it all out, but on the inside they were rotten to the core, and Jesus was painting that very clearly in this text.
SPEAKER_00: See, the scribes and the Pharisees are probably thinking of themselves, or the disciples are thinking about the scribes and the Pharisees, and they're thinking to themselves, if they ain't righteous enough, how am I ever going to be?
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly where Jesus wanted them to be thinking in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: Because he wasn't calling those guys to be more religious.
SPEAKER_00: No, he was calling them to a different kind of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a couple contrasts here.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees focused on what people could see.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus focused on only what God could see.
SPEAKER_00: Outside versus inside.
SPEAKER_00: Well, let me give you another contrast.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees measured how clean your hands were.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus measured how clean your heart is.
SPEAKER_00: See the difference?
SPEAKER_00: Outward versus inward.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't introducing anything new.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta realize that.
SPEAKER_00: See, this wasn't a new thought, I don't believe.
SPEAKER_00: I think this was the original way it was intended to be understood.
SPEAKER_00: So what was going on here?
SPEAKER_00: If it was the way that it was originally to be understood, what is happening here?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was laying the truth out, saying, this is how it was supposed to be from the very, very beginning.
SPEAKER_00: I know that because I found verses in the Old Testament that even declare this.
SPEAKER_00: When Samuel was calling David to be the king of Israel, in 1 Samuel 16, verse number 7, here's what the scriptures say, for the Lord does not see as men see.
SPEAKER_00: For men look on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
SPEAKER_00: See, from the very beginning, God looked at the heart, and men look on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: So this wasn't a new thought when he lays this law down and the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: No, it was just something he was a bringing back the original and restoring the original intent of it.
SPEAKER_00: The true righteousness begins right here.
SPEAKER_00: Within.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know how we are.
SPEAKER_00: We point, we thought, oh, yeah, I'm better than you, I'm better.
SPEAKER_00: No, internally we should look.
SPEAKER_00: This is the good contrast.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees would say this.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, man, what was happening within your heart before you did what you did?
SPEAKER_00: Therein lies the source to be figured out.
SPEAKER_00: Completely different.
SPEAKER_00: When you lay it out, murder begins with anger.
SPEAKER_00: Adultery begins with lust.
SPEAKER_00: Revenge begins with bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: Broken relationship always begins with unforgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: Dishonesty always begins in a heart that lacks integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is showing us something everyone, I believe, needs to hear.
SPEAKER_00: It's a heart thing, not an outward thing.
SPEAKER_00: I can fix the outside, but if I don't fix the inside, it ain't worth fixing.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I believe, and I found this it's easy to measure our lives the way the Pharisees decided to measure.
SPEAKER_00: I can check a bottle, I've never killed nobody.
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I've never done this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I've never done that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm good.
SPEAKER_00: I can compare myself to some brother that did and say I'm better than him.
SPEAKER_00: That was the Pharisees' level of measurement.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what Jesus intended any of it to be.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says transformation begins from in here.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I've realized?
SPEAKER_00: You can clean up the outside while the inside remains untouched.
SPEAKER_00: Before Jesus ever changes hearts, the hands, the the the the the the before Jesus ever changes us on the inside, well, you and I have to surrender ourselves and allow him to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And when the heart changes, it flows on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees starts on the outside and goes, it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you this statement, then I'll dig in a little deeper in the next few verses.
SPEAKER_00: God is not satisfied with outward obedience.
SPEAKER_00: He desires inward transformation.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants us to transform within here, not just on the outside, on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: Let's dig in a little deeper.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna go in verse 21 for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna cover a lot of verses in just a second.
SPEAKER_00: But in verse 21, really through verse number 47, Jesus exposes the heart behind our actions.
SPEAKER_00: He covers a lot on purpose.
SPEAKER_00: And I've looked at this and I've taught this sometimes with a small Bible study, and I'll and I'll take a little bit more time.
SPEAKER_00: But what I found is that Jesus begins to prove his point that he's making in verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Through verse number 47.
SPEAKER_00: And what I found is that he's not giving you and I six unrelated sermons.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we could preach them, I could do six weeks on this and just preach each section of verses.
SPEAKER_00: But what I've realized is that yes, he does preach on six topics, but they have one consistent truth in all of them.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is, every outward sin begins with an inward heart issue.
SPEAKER_00: That's the truth that is consistent through all of it.
SPEAKER_00: With me, in verse 21 through verse number 47, you're going to see the word you have heard six different times.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at them real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Verse number 21, he goes off, right.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: 22.
SPEAKER_00: But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: He says it first there, then he says it in verse 27, then he says it in verse 31, then he says it in verse uh 33, and then he says it in verse uh 38, and then he says it again in verse 43.
SPEAKER_00: Six different times he says, Have you as you have heard, but I say.
SPEAKER_00: As you have heard, I say.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Jesus is not correcting Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because Moses was the one that penned the Old Testament law.
SPEAKER_00: So we understand that all scripture is given by inspiration.
SPEAKER_00: God breeds it into an existence, but God uses the pen of man to write it down.
SPEAKER_00: So one day God said, Moses, I need you to get up, pick a pen up, and began to write.
SPEAKER_00: And he wrote the first five books of the Bible, which was what you and I would understand as the law.
SPEAKER_00: And so as he wrote this out, as Jesus is referring, you have heard, you have heard six times, he's referring back to the words that Moses had jotted down all those years ago under the inspiration of God.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus is not telling you and I that Moses is incorrect.
SPEAKER_00: If that was the case, then there would be an error in scripture, and by all means, there ain't no errors in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: All scripture given by inspiration, all scripture is perfect and infallible, all scripture is profitable.
SPEAKER_00: That's clear.
SPEAKER_00: So he's not trying to let you and I know that Moses was incorrect.
SPEAKER_00: You know what he's trying to show us?
SPEAKER_00: He's letting us know that the shallow interpretation that the Pharisees had is what needs to be corrected, not what Moses originally wrote.
SPEAKER_00: He's correcting the shallow interpretation the Pharisees had.
SPEAKER_00: See, the Pharisees believed righteousness was measured by what they could see.
SPEAKER_00: And God's reminding us through Jesus here, I'm exposing that only God can actually see the true heart.
SPEAKER_00: Only him.
SPEAKER_00: He only knows your heart.
SPEAKER_00: I can see the outside, but God sees the inside.
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's break these down.
SPEAKER_00: There's six of them.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at all of them in a couple little groups here.
SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing I look at in 21 through 26 is anger reveals a heart that needs reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: See, we serve a God that wants to restore.
SPEAKER_00: We know that because he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: If he wasn't a God of restoration, he wouldn't have sent Jesus to die for us so that you and I would have access to heaven and go to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: He is a God of restoration, and we know that.
SPEAKER_00: And so as I read this text and see that, man, anger messed some things up.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus traces murder back to the source, which was anger, hatred, bitterness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand that not everyone who is angry commits murder.
SPEAKER_00: I get it.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all was angry earlier, right?
SPEAKER_00: What?
SPEAKER_00: Your outfit didn't look good.
SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh, you're uh I'm about to get angry out here.
SPEAKER_00: Fawn, I'll be honest with you, okay?
SPEAKER_00: No, I just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, some of us were angry at anybody.
SPEAKER_00: Did you get behind somebody's slow this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't get, was your biscuit not just right?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you didn't even get no breakfast.
SPEAKER_00: So I understand everybody that's angry hasn't physically murdered anybody, but what the scripture shows you and I is that everybody that was a murderer was angry at some point.
SPEAKER_00: They were mad.
SPEAKER_00: Something happened.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, I believe, in the text is exposing the roots, the source, the heart is the problem.
SPEAKER_00: Let me make a contrast.
SPEAKER_00: This is easy to remember.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees judged the act, Jesus judged the attitude.
SPEAKER_00: See the difference?
SPEAKER_00: Pharisees judge the act.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus judges the attitude.
SPEAKER_00: Something else that I noticed that I like in the following two verses, 23 and 24, he goes a little bit deeper and begins talking about reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, therefore, because of what I just mentioned about anger, if you bring your gift to the altar and there, uh and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go your way.
SPEAKER_00: First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
SPEAKER_00: He says, he goes from talking about anger to talk about being restored.
SPEAKER_00: Man, man, listen, if you've got an ought with a brother, go fix that thing.
SPEAKER_00: Life is too short to be bitter and to be angry all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I love it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus immediately follows this with trying to get it right.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, he makes a very clear picture.
SPEAKER_00: Bring your gift to worship, and somebody's got something against you, go find them.
SPEAKER_00: Say, what's up, bro?
SPEAKER_00: Let's let's get fixed.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sadly, people carry anger for years.
SPEAKER_00: They'll smile and serve, they'll do, they'll even sing.
SPEAKER_00: But deep down they might have resentment or unforgiveness or even bitterness within their heart.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is letting you and I know, don't ignore it, deal with it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let that go.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because that could cause more damage.
SPEAKER_00: Bitterness never ever stays contained, it always spreads like a fire.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know sometimes I like to set things on fire, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about me.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes when it's cold outside, I'll burn the leaves or the sticks or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, every time I set something on fire, you know what Megan does?
SPEAKER_00: She comes out there.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna burn all the woods down, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, I don't plan on burning the woods down.
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: Now, if it got a little crazy, you think I'd tell her?
SPEAKER_00: No, no, I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_00: No?
SPEAKER_00: One time I set a tree on fire, that thing burned for a week, man.
SPEAKER_00: Smoke for y'all could have found my house if you'd looked for the smoke.
SPEAKER_00: That's all right.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean to burn it.
SPEAKER_00: I was through fireworks in the tree hole because there was some crazy hornets.
SPEAKER_00: Them hornets were this big, okay?
SPEAKER_00: And I had about a thousand M80s left over from 4th of July.
SPEAKER_00: Me and Maverick lit them.
SPEAKER_00: We threw them in the hole and took off running.
SPEAKER_00: That thing blew up and smoked for a daggum week, all right?
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't burn the woods down, praise God, okay?
SPEAKER_00: That was an amen, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: We we understand that things spread.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't get it fixed, bitterness can't be contained, it always spread.
SPEAKER_00: Go a little bit deeper.
SPEAKER_00: He sections a couple more off in verse 27 through 37 because he puts purity and integrity always begins in the heart.
SPEAKER_00: He groups a few things together.
SPEAKER_00: He moves to three examples.
SPEAKER_00: He brings up lust, divorce, and he also brings up oath or making a vow.
SPEAKER_00: Some you might say, oh, those are those related?
SPEAKER_00: They are, because they all deal with the integrity of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Look what the Pharisees say.
SPEAKER_00: They believed in purity.
SPEAKER_00: They say in verse um in verse 27, um, you have heard that was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.
SPEAKER_00: Look what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever you're doing in your mind and you're allowing it to dwell on it, again, what is he referring to?
SPEAKER_00: He's referring to integrity in the heart.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 31, he addresses uh divorce in there.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus say in the next verse?
SPEAKER_00: But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who is this divorced commits adultery.
SPEAKER_00: He lays out the truth verse by verse.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Pharisees have reduced marriage to some legal loophole that you could just get rid of every time you don't want to.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, no, I'm bringing it back to the original design, and marriage is merely not just a contract, it's a covenant.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's saying in the text.
SPEAKER_00: Then he goes a little bit deeper in verse 33.
SPEAKER_00: Again, he says, He's talking about oaths.
SPEAKER_00: Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall uh perform your oath to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: But I say, here it is Jesus again.
SPEAKER_00: But I say, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne.
SPEAKER_00: What's he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: People have become experts on finding ways to sound truthful without actually being truthful.
SPEAKER_00: You understand, you've seen, they've got any politicians in the house?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: The ones in Washington, they'll say a whole bunch of junk.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't even know what they're talking about, right?
SPEAKER_00: But they want it to sound good, so they just say it a certain way.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying, you don't got to do all that.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he followed up in verse 36 and says, Nor shall you swear by your head because you cannot make one hair white or black, but let your yes be yes and your no be no, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: What's he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: A transformed heart doesn't need an uh all kinds of an elaborate promises.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: A transformed heart just needs to have their word as yeses or yes, and no's or no.
SPEAKER_00: That's why I teach my kids, man, without your word, you have nothing.
SPEAKER_00: If you say yes, you better follow through.
SPEAKER_00: If you say no, you better stick with it, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's life.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to be up front.
SPEAKER_00: See, integrity is who you are when nobody's watching.
SPEAKER_00: Who you are when only you're by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's integrity.
SPEAKER_00: Think about you on the outside, can make it all look good.
SPEAKER_00: On the inside could be rotten.
SPEAKER_00: I was talking to a buddy of mine that was looking at this house that they had wanted to buy.
SPEAKER_00: It's an older home that looked like it had been really nicely restored.
SPEAKER_00: The paint was shiny and the trim work looked good and everything matched.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Man, I think I should get an inspection.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm the story's over as he's telling it to me, and I'm like, Yeah, cool, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And um, he said, I'm thankful I did.
SPEAKER_00: It looked pretty on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: But that inspector got there and realized that old house was torn up with termites.
SPEAKER_00: And the termites had eaten all the studs and the walls and had truly just messed it up.
SPEAKER_00: From the street, the house looked perfect, but after inspection, the termites had destroyed it.
SPEAKER_00: The paint wasn't the problem, the paint covered up the problem.
SPEAKER_00: So if you think about it, the Pharisees just keep repainting the outside.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus is saying the damage is underneath.
SPEAKER_00: It don't matter how much latex paint I can put on it, it ain't never gonna get fixed.
SPEAKER_00: Religion paints over the surface, the gospel always transforms the structure.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: 38 lets us know how grace reveals a heart changed by God.
SPEAKER_00: You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
SPEAKER_00: But I tell you, do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him and let him also.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to volunteer for a sermon illustration?
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: All right, I wouldn't do that.
SPEAKER_00: But you know how hard it would be to slap somebody?
SPEAKER_00: Or somebody to slap you, and then you turn your cheek.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is speaking about.
SPEAKER_00: What does the world tell us?
SPEAKER_00: Get even make it make them pay.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Love your enemies.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody naturally loves like that.
SPEAKER_00: That takes a transformed heart to love somebody that mistreats you.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from a transformation.
SPEAKER_00: And the only way I believe that I can love difficult people is because of changed heart within me.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody ever been around somebody that's hard to love?
SPEAKER_00: If you hadn't, you might be the one hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding, okay?
SPEAKER_00: But in truly, there's sometimes there's some folks that, man, I'm like, do you want to be loved or not?
SPEAKER_00: I'm a little, I'm wondering about this.
SPEAKER_00: But listen to me for just a second when I think about this.
SPEAKER_00: God sometimes gives me an opportunity to love those that are that are really, really hard to love.
SPEAKER_00: Because it gives me an opportunity to demonstrate the gospel when I love them without retaliating against them.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of revenge, I give them grace.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of hatred, I give them love.
SPEAKER_00: Instead of resentment, I give them prayer.
SPEAKER_00: There's a completely different mindset.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, kingdom people love different.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because our hearts are different.
SPEAKER_00: Our hearts are different.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this statement I'll give you, then I'll move to the last verse.
SPEAKER_00: Until Jesus changes the heart, lasting change in life will never happen.
SPEAKER_00: Until Jesus changes your heart, the lasting change in your life will never, ever happen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the last verse, verse 48.
SPEAKER_00: It's an interesting verse, and it opens our eyes to a few things.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 48, if you read the text, it says, Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: See, Jesus calls us to a mature heart, is ultimately what the text is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this verse at first could feel a little bit overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: If you look at this third thought, Jesus calls us to a mature heart.
SPEAKER_00: The reason it's important to understand this verse and to realize that this verse at times can make you and I feel a bit overwhelming is because he drops the word perfect in there two different times.
SPEAKER_00: You shall be perfect just as your Father is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: The first time I read it, I'm thinking, man, am I ever going to be this good?
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not careful and if we don't fully understand the context behind it, I might think that it's unachievable, and therefore I become a little bit discouraged thinking I'll never be able to achieve that level that he's saying.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what Jesus is talking about.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about flawless perfection.
SPEAKER_00: No, what's he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: What this word actually means, Jesus means that uh essentially it's talking about whole.
SPEAKER_00: The word perfect is whole.
SPEAKER_00: The word perfect is everything uh is made complete.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about this verse is the first word in it, therefore.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes if we're reading super quick and y'all know me, I can talk fast, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just imagine how fast I can read, right?
SPEAKER_00: No, it's the other way around for me.
SPEAKER_00: But but you may read super fast and you might skip over words.
SPEAKER_00: And I get to this last verse, and I might think, man, I can see how 27 through 47 was together because it's talked about the actions and in-word, but this last one I'm just a little concerned about.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you're not careful, you'll be quick to think that did he change subjects on me?
SPEAKER_00: But I know he didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of the first word, therefore.
SPEAKER_00: When you read the word, therefore, in the scripture, he is saying, there, because of everything that I've just laid out, all of that, because of that, then you read the verse.
SPEAKER_00: So everything that we've just been building on for the last 30 minutes, he is saying, because all of that, therefore you shall be perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: He connects this verse to everything that he has been teaching.
SPEAKER_00: It ain't a change in the subject.
SPEAKER_00: He further emphasizes what he's ultimately been saying.
SPEAKER_00: Now let's look at that word perfect real quick.
SPEAKER_00: The word perfect means whole, means mature.
SPEAKER_00: The word perfect means brought to its intended purpose.
SPEAKER_00: You gotta think if you go back to the Garden of Eden, they were created perfect until the first sin messed everything up.
SPEAKER_00: And the second I get back to Christ, I'll be perfect all over again.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it in this context: a piece of fruit.
SPEAKER_00: You ever picked an apple up that looked good but it wasn't?
SPEAKER_00: How about one of those that's fully matured, ripe, and ready to eat?
SPEAKER_00: I know it's gonna be October before too long.
SPEAKER_00: We'll go up into the mountains and get us some apples.
SPEAKER_00: They'll be crisp, they'll be juicy, they'll be very, they'll be not too sweet, not too sour, they'll be purely perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: I've got one that didn't, that looked perfect, but it wasn't.
SPEAKER_00: That's the purpose that he's talking about in our text.
SPEAKER_00: This is the perfect that Jesus gets.
SPEAKER_00: He's not talking about flawless perfection.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling you and I to be more like Christ today than I was yesterday.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he's not finished with us.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: He's reshaping us.
SPEAKER_00: He's growing us.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us thought we were done growing, right?
SPEAKER_00: We ain't growing this way.
SPEAKER_00: We might be growing this way.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He's growing us in our spirituality.
SPEAKER_00: He's not only reshaping us, he's growing us one day at a time as he transforms my heart different than it was yesterday as it is today.
SPEAKER_00: That's the entire passage in the text.
SPEAKER_00: I love how Paul emphasizes in the book of Philippians when he says, being in Philippians 1, he says, being confident of this very thing, that you who have begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ, meaning it'll be finished, perfect, made whole, the second that you and I meet Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: God isn't just forgiving us, he's forming you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Look at that last statement of the verse 48, then I'll finish up.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Notice Jesus always points back to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: He points back to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Father forgives.
SPEAKER_00: The Father shows mercy.
SPEAKER_00: The Father in heaven shows grace.
SPEAKER_00: The Father in heaven thankfully shows love without partiality.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't love me more than you or you more than me.
SPEAKER_00: He loves us all equally.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's eventually saying.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that you and I will be more like Christ every day that we live through, serve him, and let him transform our heart.
SPEAKER_00: As I close in just a second, the Pharisees were satisfied by looking righteous.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is concerned with you and I becoming righteous.
SPEAKER_00: That's the difference.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this statement.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual maturity isn't pretending to be perfect, it's allowing Christ to continually transform your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's telling his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he's telling you and I.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual maturity, growth.
SPEAKER_00: And you're not, he's saying, allow him, Jesus, to continually transform your heart.
SPEAKER_00: As I close in just a second, I was thinking about this thought.
SPEAKER_00: You ever look outside and see uh an apple tree that's not bearing any apples, you begin to think, man, there's something wrong with that tree.
SPEAKER_00: What if I went up to the Hobby Lobby and got a lot of those fake apples, those artificial apples?
SPEAKER_00: You know the ones that were on a fruit, fruit, fruit basket on your granny's table, right?
SPEAKER_00: They were just all that stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And I say, here, kids, go out there and hang it on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: From a distance, you might look and think, man, that's one healthy tree.
SPEAKER_00: It's got apples all over it.
SPEAKER_00: But if you really think about it, nothing changed.
SPEAKER_00: The tree is not producing anything, so what's wrong with it?
SPEAKER_00: The problem of the tree, the health of the tree, is it determined by the fruit?
SPEAKER_00: No, because from here it looked like it's fruitful.
SPEAKER_00: It's determined by the roots.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's reminding you and I in this text.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees spent their life hanging fake fruit for the world to see.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying, Let me transform you from within, and the fruit will naturally grow.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray as I do?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I come to you thankful for the words that you proclaimed.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful, Lord, for the exact way that you laid them out in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, my prayer now is that as we conclude our service and have an opportunity of an invitation, Lord, I pray that we would be honest and open and real with all that you are, and you're speaking to hearts all through the room.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, my prayer is that you remove any distractions that's there and allow the you, the Holy Spirit, to deal right where we're at.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I don't know the needs of all, but I know that you do.
SPEAKER_00: There may be somebody here that's never accepted you as Lord and as Savior, and maybe they need to go from where they are to right where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe there are some that are here today that are dealing with this element of their outwardly focus rather than inwardly focused.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that whatever business you have with us, God, that you would speak and that we would respond.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I do pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let's stand at