Trinity Baptist Church

 

Tonight, I want I you to look with me at Mathew chapter five and we come to the section beginning in verse 21. This very important, very misunderstood often misrepresented and misinterpreted section of Scripture will be our occupation for many weeks to come. Because from verse 21 through verse 48 we have critical statements by our Lord as He interprets the Old Testament law. There are six specific themes that He deals with in the section.

 

And tonight we're simply going to introduce the concept that our Lord has in mind in this passage and in the following weeks discuss in detail these specific sections. And just simply tonight we'll entitle it the attitude behind the act.

 

Most people like to evaluate their lives and the lives of other people on external appearance. There are people who are satisfied with how they behave externally. There are people who evaluate others on the basis of what they see, visibly, in terms of religious behavior.

 

That is rather typical of fallen man. It is a logical conclusion to come to. But I Samuel 16:7 says, "Man looks at the outward appearance and God looks upon the heart." God is not so concerned with the outside as He is with the inside. And the outside is only validated insofar as it is representative of what is on the inside. 

 

And that is the basis of the text that lies before us. 

 

In Matthew chapter 5 verses 21 to 48 as our Lord gives standards for living in His kingdom, what He wants to say here is, the inside is infinitely more revealing, infinitely more important than the outside. What you are on the inside is what God is concerned with.

 

Jesus emphasized here in the Sermon on the Mount and, by the way, throughout His whole ministry, that external ceremonies, that external religious rites, that certain works are not the whole issue. That God is concerned with the heart. And that is precisely the thrust of verse 20, look at it.

 

The scribes and the Pharisees had a righteousness that was external. And what Jesus is saying is you must have one that exceeds that which is external. God is concerned about what you really are, not what you appear to be. It is the internal that is infinitely more important than the external.

 

That is essentially what verse 20 means. The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was an external, ceremonial, ritualistic, hypocritical legalism. And the righteousness that God demands is something internal.

 

Now the standard that God sets to evaluate men and women is the standard of the heart and this next section of the Sermon on the Mount in verses 21 to 48 is a repeated call for us to examine our hearts. 

 

The Lord is describing the citizens of His Kingdom here. First He gives a description of the essential nature of a Kingdom citizen.

 

He described the character of a true believer, of a true child of God, of a true Kingdom citizen, back to verse 3 ‑ they are poor in spirit, they mourn over sin, they are meek, they hunger and thirst after righteousness, they are merciful, they are pure in heart, they are peacemakers, they will be persecuted, they will be reviled. But they will also rejoice.

 

And He gave us a clear description of the character of a Kingdom citizen. We saw the tremendous truths in those beatitudes. He gave us standard for excellence that the external religion of the scribes and Pharisees couldn't even approach. The scribes and Pharisees were not poor in spirit. They did not mourn, they were not meek, they did not hunger and thirst after righteousness, they were not merciful. They were not pure in heart. They were not peacemakers. All of those are internal attitudes.

 

All of those are elements of character. Their's was purely external. They had none of the real qualities of a kingdom citizen. And so the Lord gave the standards--internal characteristics--to delineate those who were truly His children.

 

Then, in verses 13 to 16 He went on to show how people with that kind of character function in the world.  

 

And He pointed out two things, they become salt in verse 13 and they become light in verse 14. People who live that way salt the earth, light the world. They are the only hope for society. They are the only hope for the truth reaching lost man. And so He has said, this is what God requires. 

It's internal character. And this is how God uses people with that kind of character.

 

Now at this point He shows how such people living by such principles relate to the Old Testament law. Why? Because this is critical to the Jews listening to Him speak. Because so far what He has said is revolutionary to them. Their's is purely external religion and He has laid down axioms that are not common to their understanding of religion.

 

And so their question at this time is - Well, this is well and good but how does it relate to the Old Testament? How does it relate to Moses? How does it relate to the rabbi's have taught? How does it relate to the system of traditional law that we ascribe to?

 

The Jews to whom Jesus was preaching would lean so totally on the teachings related to their own Judaistic law that our Lord couldn't bypass this section. He has to show how this relates to their system. And really verse 20 is the key. He says ‑ God's standard is higher than yours. What you now know as a righteous standard is unacceptable.

 

Now they're going to immediately say ‑ Wait a minute! We obey the law of God. And in essence Jesus is saying, I have to redefine the law of God for you because it's been lost in the midst of your tradition.

 

So that, in fact, the Judaism of the time was far from that true Old Testament law which God had given. And so Jesus is saying essentially in verse 17 ‑ I am not here to destroy the law, I'm not here to destroy the prophets.

In fact, til heaven and earth pass away not one jot or tittle shall in any way pass from this law. And I'm not going to tolerate anybody who sets aside one of God's commands but what you have is not God's standard. What you have is not God's law. And so I will redefine it for you.

 

And that's exactly what He does through the rest of chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. All three of these chapters are Jesus explanation of what He said in verses 17 through 20. How does all of this new information, how do these beatitudes relate to the Old Testament? How do they relate to what these Jews knew as their system of religion?

 

Jesus said, It isn't God's law I'm setting aside ‑ you've lost God's law in the midst of your tradition and I'm about to set God's law back in its primary place. And that is precisely what He does in chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7.

 

Now let's see how He goes about it in chapter 5. Look at verse 21. And watch this common occurrence.

 

Stop right there. Jesus says ‑ You have heard it said ‑ but I say unto you.

 

Now look at verse 27.

 

Again He says ‑ You have heard it said ‑ but I say unto you.

 

Look at verse 31

 

Same formula. You've heard it said ‑ but I say.

Verse 33, again

 

Verse 38

 

And finally in verse 43

 

He gives six specific examples, and they are extremely important. 

 

They deal with murder. They deal with lust. They deal with divorce. They deal with what you say. They deal with speaking the truth. They deal with retaliation. They deal with loving your enemies. They are really practical, and in the weeks to come, we will look at them in detail. 

 

But you must know this to begin with: They all follow a similar pattern. Jesus is saying, Your religion teaches you this but I say unto you - and what He's doing is this: He's not comparing Himself with the Old Testament, He's not raising the standard higher than the law of God, He's not talking about what Moses said, He's not talking about what the Old Testament said, He's not talking about what God said, He's talking about what their religious system taught them.

 

And He's saying - Your standard is too low. You only worry about murder God looks at the heart and says if there's hate there it's the same thing. You only worry about fornication. God says if there's lust in the heart it's the same thing. You see, God's standard is an attitudinal standard; yours is only dealing with action. That's the difference.

 

Jesus said ‑ It's not only in God's eyes the man who commits murder who is guilty but the man who is angry is just as guilty and just as liable to be judged. Jesus said ‑ That in God's eyes it is not only the man who commits the act of adultery who is guilty but the one who allows the unclean desire to find root in his heart. Jesus said ‑ That in God's eyes it is not only the one who perjures himself but anyone whose word is not his absolute bond.

 

Jesus said - That in God's sight it is not only wrong to divorce without a bill of divorcement but it is wrong to divorce without a just cause. Jesus said ‑ that in God's sight not only is there to be justice but there is to be mercy. Jesus said that we are not only to love our neighbors but God says we are to love our enemies.

 

And what He's doing is listing the law and elevating it to where it belongs and saying you cannot get away with justification on the basis of externals because you didn't murder or because you didn't commit adultery or because you didn't divorce or because you didn't perjure yourself or because you did what was just or because you loved your neighbor, that is not enough. Those are only the externals. The internals are what God is looking after.

 

Now in selecting His illustrations He's very careful.

 

First of all He chooses two commands from Moses, from the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

 

Then, He chooses two other rather wider social commandments taken from other portions of the Mosaic writings. Social relationships.

 

He starts with the very firm Ten Commandments. He broadens to social relationships and finally He broadens to discuss the whole subject of love. It's almost as if there's an ascending thing here.

 

He's saying that it all begins at the foundation of life; murder and marriage, the organism, the individual, the organization marriage. It all starts there. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. One is the right of the individual the other is the basic definition of the social system. God has standards right there. And they're not only behavior standards in terms of what you do but of what you think.

 

And from those very basic things He moves to a wider set of social relationships. And He talks about things like truth and justice and honesty. And finally to the widest possible attitude which is love.

 

And so there is a three‑fold progress from the lower to a higher. He starts with an individual dealing with an individual. And then in a family with marriage. And then expands to the whole category of truth and love and justice and honesty. And finally to the category of love which reaches as wide as not only your neighbor but your enemy.

 

And He says in all of human living from the individual in his sanctity to the family, to social relationships, to the wide world of our enemies we should be characteristically righteous on the inside. And your religious system doesn't have that definition.

So therefore, your righteousness in order to please God must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Theirs is strictly external.

 

And what our Lord is saying is this: thoughts are just as important as deeds. That's why no man can be justified on his own. You may not do the deed but if you thought the thought you're damned. That's what He is saying. He is literally devastating the Pharisees. He is saying ‑ I don't accept your externals. Your heart is rotten.

 

Contrary to public opinion God never said, “You're a Christian; therefore you are free to do whatever you want. God is saying you're a child of the Kingdom then the standard is raised for you not lowered. The standards are still there. God hasn't changed. And God examines the heart to see the attitudes.

 

When God judges righteousness He judges motives. He judges inside. You may be one who goes through life and you never struck a blow to anyone. Why you've never killed anybody, you've never even fought with anybody but you literally burn inside with anger. You may be one who's never been unfaithful in your marriage but you cultivate the thoughts of adultery repeatedly.

 

You may be one who's never perjured yourself in a court of law and yet your word is not really your bond, you don't always follow through and in your heart you say things you never mean to keep. That's what God is looking at. You may want so bad to do something and all your life never do it and God says it's as if you did it. And God judges the evil desire.

 

And so you see Jesus is literally hitting these Pharisees right between the eyes. Their hearts were filthy while their deeds were religious. And God looks at the heart.

 

Now the key statement here in Matthew 5 is, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old," verse 21. Now there is a slight variation in the form but that's basically the way it is in each of the six incidents. In a couple of them it is abbreviated but it essentially says the same thing.

 

Now there are two possibilities with this. Let’s do a little Bible study here that will be helpful. It could read, Ye have heard that it was said to them of old or by them of old. It could be either way.

 

If it was to, it would probably refer to the Bible, the law of Moses, the Old Testament. You have heard that it was said to them of old. On the other hand,  but you have heard that it was said by them of old indicates that it isn't the Bible speaking to the people but some antiquity, some ancient people speaking--by them of old.

 

Which of them is correct? I think “by them” is the proper rendering. I think that for several reasons.

 

If Jesus is saying you have heard that it was said to them of old by Moses or by God but I'm saying this,  He'd be contradicting God. He'd be contradicting Moses, He'd be contradicting the Old Testament, set aside the law, set aside the prophets and that would be ridiculous because in verse 17 He just said He wouldn't do that. So it isn't Moses and the law He's referring to.

 

By the way, I think if it was Moses He would have said, ‑ You have heard that Moses commanded or you have heard that it is written because that's what He said in chapter 4 three times when He referred to the Old Testament.

 

And in chapter 8 of Matthew when He refers to the Old Testament He says Moses commanded. So His way of referring to the Old Testament in the first 8 chapters of Matthew is, Moses said or it is written. This statement is not used to refer to the Old Testament.

 

Another reason I think it is “by them of old” is because the rabbis were called "fathers of antiquity" or men of long ago. That was a common term for rabbis.

 

I personally think that is what our Lord is referring to. You have heard that it was said by the rabbis of old. In other words, this is a designation related to their oral teaching. That glossed over the true law of God that added their own thoughts to the revelation of the Old Testament. And so Jesus is not contrasting the Old Testament with the New Testament. Not contrasting His word with God's Word but with the word of the rabbis and their traditional interpretation which had been given to the people.

 

Now let me give you an illustration of this. Martyn Lloyd-Jones uses this and I think it's a good illustration.

 

The condition of the Jew at this time is fascinating. Now listen to this. It is remarkably like the people in the Reformation. Let me tell you why.

In the days of the Reformation prior to the time when the Reformation really hit, the Scriptures were not translated into the peoples' language, into English, for example.

 

When you went to the Catholic Church, the whole thing was in what language? Latin. So you went there and you sat there. There was no Bible to speak of in the hands of the people. And what was read by the priests was read in Latin. Nobody understood it, nobody read it. 

 

And then the priest would expound upon this Latin text and the people would simply believe whatever the priest said because they had no basis by which to evaluate. They couldn't read the Latin, they couldn't interpret it. So they accepted what the priest said. 

 

So century went by after century and the Roman Catholic Church developed the system which was never really investigated by the people. All because they didn't have the Bible in their own language. And so they accepted the priestly interpretations and conformity to the system of Rome.

 

What the Reformation did more than anything else was give the Bible to the people. It put the word of God in the peoples' hands. When they began to read the Scripture then they began to see the false system, the false teaching, the misrepresentation of the gospel which had been given to them for centuries and centuries and centuries. And the truth of the gospel shattered the Dark Ages and Christianity as we know it today was born out of that.

 

And today, we have the Bible. And we can check any false system because we too can understand it.

 

Well, that's exactly what was going on in our Lord's day. 

 

When Israel went into the Babylonian captivity they remained there seventy years. And during that time historians tell us for the most part they lost the Hebrew language. They ceased to speak Hebrew. They picked up a language known as Aramaic.

 

And so when they came back from captivity they spoke in Aramaic. In Jesus time they spoke Aramaic. Jesus taught, probably, in Aramaic. And of course, the New Testament was written down in Greek. But the people, the Jewish people spoke Aramaic. They were for the most part completely unfamiliar with Hebrew, as Jewish people are for the most part      today.

 

So, the rabbis would come along and they would read the Hebrew which the people didn't understand. The rabbis would interpret it, the people couldn't argue because they didn't know what it said either. And so they begin to build an entire system based upon the ignorance of the people regarding the Hebrew text.

 

And so when the Lord says, You have heard that it was said by them of old He is saying the religion you have is the oral tradition of the rabbis not the written word of God, you see. Very critical.

 

 

 

The embellishments and traditions and interpretations and all of the garbage that was added, which became the Mishna, the codification of oral law, the Talmud and all of that other stuff which padded the truth of God into obscurity.

 

Jesus says that's what you've been hearing, just as the Roman Catholic Church obliterated the truth by keeping the people ignorant of the Scriptures, so the people were ignorant of the Scriptures in the time of the rabbis. And because they couldn't speak Hebrew they couldn't verify what they were getting.

 

And so our Lord comes along and says I am here to loose the law of God from the shackles of rabbinic mishmash. And most significantly, He attacks their emphasis on external works righteousness.

 

And so He says you have heard it said by them of old, and then He says in verse 22, but I say unto you... And, beloved, here He sets Himself up as the    authority.

 

He says I tell you what God's law is. This literally shattered the people. They couldn't handle this. They were shocked.

 

In Matthew 7 as He concluded His sermon they said He taught as one having authority and not as the scribes, twice that is said. They couldn't believe that He would stand up and say that. They were shocked for someone to set himself as equal to the law of God, oh my.

 

 

You see the Jews felt that this traditional law which they believed to be the law of God was so sacred.

They believed this was the only law and that eternal destiny was dependent upon this law and here comes Jesus along and He says, "I say this" and He never quoted a rabbi and He never quoted a group of rabbis and He never quoted anything but His own authoritative statement and they were literally shocked.

 

Do you know the first act of a synagogue? If you were to go to a synagogue in Jesus' time to worship on the Sabbath the very first thing a service would do, you'd come in and sit down--men on one side, women on the other--and a man would go up to the front and he would scoop up all of the scrolls of the Old Testament and he would walk all the way around the synagogue, all the way around the synagogue in silence so that the congregation would reverence the law of God.

 

 And Jesus stands up and says, "I say unto you..." and they were devastated. Who are You? The prophets always said, "Thus saith the Lord." The rabbis said there is a teaching that says but Jesus said ‑ I say unto you.

 

No ordinary person would claim what He claimed. He claims the authority of God. And He strips all of the garbage off and lifts God's law back where it belongs.

 

Now let me close this introduction by summarizing the key principles He's teaching in the passage.

 

Principle #1 - It is the spirit of the law that is the priority not the letter.

 

The law is not mechanical. That's what Jesus is saying. It is not simply functional. It is the inside that God is concerned about. You can be all white on the outside and a wretched, vile grave on the inside. It is not the letter. It is the spirit that gives life. God is not looking for externals He's looking for changed hearts.

 

The scribes and Pharisees thought that because they didn't murder they were alright but they hated. And because they didn't commit adultery they were alright but they had evil thoughts. And their religion was legalistic, phony, hypocrisy of the worst kind that damns the soul. Conformity to God's law is a matter of the heart not simply a matter of the outside.

 

 

The law of God is not just to prevent us from doing certain things it's real object is to lead us to right attitudes. It is a positive thing. You're not justified by not doing certain things but you are justified by thinking certain ways--positive righteousness.

 

They were concerned with what they didn't do. God was concerned with what they did do inside. Did they hunger after righteousness? Did they thirst after righteousness? Did they seek to be merciful? Were they pure in heart? Did they mourn over their sin? Were they poor in terms of spirit? Were they peacemakers? That's what God was concerned with. This is spiritual character. Positive not just negative.

Principle #3 - The law is not an end in itself.

 

Get it? The law is not an end in itself. It has a purpose. What is the goal of the law? It isn't just an end to itself. Listen, the Pharisees said, the goal of the law is to glorify me when I keep the law. Look at me, see how righteous I am. But the end of the law was to glorify God.

 

Don't ask yourself have I kept all the laws today? Ask yourself have I glorified God in my spirit today? Have I glorified God in my desires today? Have I glorified God in my wants and wishes today? Have I been free from phoniness? Have I had a pure heart that had no thought of evil or anger or hatred or bitterness or lust or unrighteousness? To the glory of God? The end of the law is not to justify me--that is the way the Pharisees saw it. It's to glorify God.

 

Listen, He alone sees the secrets of the heart. He knows you. He knows if you're really a Christian or if playing a game. He knows if you're really carnal or spiritual as a believer. He knows whether it's just a matter of acts or attitudes. He knows whether the heart matches the outside. Only God knows the secrets of the heart.

 

In Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12, "The word of God is alive and powerful." And it says it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart neither is there any creature not manifest in His sight, all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. God knows everything.

But oh the next verse says, "We have a faithful sympathetic high priest and let us come boldly before the throne of grace to seek mercy in time of need." Isn't it great?

 

God knows our hearts, He knows if they're rotten but He stands with His arms open as a sympathetic high priest ready to give us grace and mercy. God alone can judge the heart.

 

 

I say unto you unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

Chapter 5 closes with this, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your father who is in heaven is perfect."

 

Every person in the world is required to live up to that standard. You say, you've got to be kidding. I'm not kidding you. You mean I have to live to that standard with a pure inside as well as a right outside? Yes. You say, but I can't. You're right. You are absolutely right.

 

And that's why the apostle Paul gave the solution in Romans chapter 3. Romans 3: 10, "There is none righteous", what's the rest of the verse? "No not one."

 

Interesting, isn’t it, that Christ set a standard we can't obtain, and then met the standard Himself and volunteered to be our substitute. 

 

God sets the standard, you can't live up to it and God says, My son is not only the lawgiver but He is the Redeemer. Who makes it possible for you to live on that level? The standard is so high we can't obtain it. Christ met the standard and imputes to us his righteousness. Apart from the law we couldn't keep the law. Oh what a blessed thing.

 

You may have to look at your heart and say the outsides not bad, but the inside is rotten. And if God did what was right He would consume you in a blast of His fury. But because He's a merciful and gracious God He makes His lawgiver not just a lawgiver but a Redeemer.

 

And Jesus perfectly kept the law and He imputes His righteousness to us so that when God looks at believers He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ covering that person.

 

The great preacher of many years ago, Henry Ward Beecher, had a clock in this church that didn't keep good time. It was always too fast or too slow. And he fiddled with it month after month after month trying to get it right and it became kind of a standard topic of conversation in the church.

 

And, finally, in desperation he put a sign over the clock that said, "Don't blame the hands, the trouble lies deeper."

 

That's how it is in life, isn't it? Don't blame the hands, the trouble lies deeper. And until you deal with the deeper trouble it isn't going to change the hands. Let's pray.