Sermon On the Mount | MATTHEW 5:17-20, 27-30 | JESUS AND THE LAW | ENTERING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: RADICALIZING THE LAW

I. Introduction:

            Q  Can following the Mosaic Law save us from our sins?

            Q  If the Law cannot save us, what is the role of the Mosaic Law?

               An = Paul reminds us, it can show us our sin, but its primary function in the Old Testament is as a response to His mighty action of

saving.  God saved the Jews, not their ability.  It was God who opened the Red Sea, not their prayers or righteousness.  What the Law does is keep us

free, it is response in gratitude to His salvation and our choice to be submitted to His love.  We did not choose for Christ to die on the cross, but we are

free to respond to that grace once we have received it.  We saw how the Old Testament Law functioned for Israel, but...

            Q How does the Old Testament Law function in the christian life today?

               An = After they give their answers, then you begin.

            Note:  It is often said that Jesus did away with the laws of the Old Testament or that we are under grace now, so the Old Testament does

not apply.  I would like to say two things in regard to that.  First, it is true that something "new" arrived in the history of mankind when Jesus Christ

came to earth.  In Christ is the fullness of the God-head revealed.  Second, however, remember who Jesus Christ's Father is.  His Father is the God of the

Old Testament.  Jesus' Father is the God of the Old Testament.  And the Father and the Son are One.

            Note:  Our aim today is to see some of what Jesus thinks about the Law or the Old Testament.  After all if Jesus is the head of the Church,

then it makes sense to see what He thinks about the Old Testament.  After all, it is Jesus, who is God.  

 

II.  The Eternality of The Law.   Matthew 5:17-20.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:17-19.

            Note:  The Old Testament in Jesus' day was often referred to as the "Law and the Prophets".  

            Q What is Jesus saying in 5:17 and 18?

               An = In verse 17 He says clearly He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil.  Do not explain beyond this but tell them that we will

return to this verse.  In verse 18 He says not the smallest letter of the Old Testament shall pass away until all is accomplished.

            Q What is Jesus saying in 5:19?

               An = In verse 19 He issues a warning:  our greatness as teachers is diminished if we degrade the Old Testament and our use of the Old

Testament is aggrandized if we teach it.

            QQ On a scale of 1-10 what is Jesus' view of the Old Testament?

               An = It is definitely a 10!

            Note:  Perhaps the most difficult verse of these three to understand is 5:17.  Jesus seems to be aware of this.  What is interesting is

verse 20 will explain verse 17 and all the rest of chapter 5 will illustrate what 5:20 means.  So lets read 5:20....

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:20.

            Q What is Jesus saying here?

               An = Jesus seems to be saying this verse is the key to entering heaven.  That is an important thing. 

            Q So, how do we enter the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven?

               An = Our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  

            Q Who are these gentlemen?  Who and what did they represent that we must exceed their life style or the kingdom of heaven is not ours?

               An = The Pharisees were the most religiously scrupulous people of their society.  They firmly believed in the Old Testament as the

Word of God.  They were the most strict adherents to the Mosaic Law.  They were highly regarded and respected leaders of their religious society.  I

often liken them to the Conservative Evangelicals of our day.  Those who really try to live the christian life.  They are like serious deacons, trustees, and

elders of Evangelical churches.

            The scribes were the biblical scholars of their day.  They were experts in the Bible.  They were the professors of religion of their time. 

They were the Bible Ph.d's of their day.

            Q So what is Jesus saying?

               An = To enter His kingdom one's righteousness must exceed the righteousness of even the most respected leaders of their day.  This

sounds very discouraging to me.  When I read this as a child I was pretty discouraged.  This is bad news to most of us in the room today.  After all Jesus

is the one who defines who gets into heaven, and what He says sounds almost impossible to accomplish for most of us.

            RQ Should we all go home?  Is not heaven just impossible to obtain?

            Note:  What will follow in the next few verses is a series of six examples of what Jesus means by our "righteousness exceeding that of

the Pharisees" and what He means in 5:17 where He says He came to "fulfill" the Old Testament.  In other words, what does He means by "fulfill" or "fill

up" and what does He mean by "exceed"!

            Note: There is a pattern in Matthew 5:21-48.  It is a definite, easy to observe pattern that is found six times in the rest of the chapter. 

We will look at one of these examples and look at the others in the next few weeks.  All six of these examples answer the question:  What does "exceed"

and "fulfil" mean?

 

III.  The Pattern and An Example.  Matthew 5:27-302.

   A.  The Pattern:

            Note:  There is pattern to how Jesus takes the Law and fulfills it or shows practically how those who wish to enter the kingdom of heaven

must "exceed" the righteousness of established religion of the day.  The pattern is simply this.  It has three steps sometimes followed by a fourth.   The

pattern is this:

            1) Jesus quotes the Old Testament by either saying "you have heard" or "it was said".  Most people of that day did not own a Bible and so

they heard the Scriptures read each time they went to synagogue, the Temple, etc.  So Jesus first quotes the Old Testament as authority.

            2) Jesus then follows with "four words" "But I tell you..." in your NIV (pew Bibles) or with "five words" in the NASB, RSV, KJ "But I say

unto you..." 

            Note:  The revolutionary statement of these words is astounding.  Jesus is saying this is what the Bible says "but I say..."  That is like me

saying this is what the Bible says "but this is what I says...".  These are fighting words to Jesus' contemporaries, Jesus is making serious claims here.

            Note:  Jesus is doing to the Old Testament Law what the Holy Spirit had already done to it in the Old Testament itself.  Jesus, like the

Prophets was radically applying it to contemporary and expanding situations.

            3)  Finally Jesus gives an application of that portion of Scripture that "exceeds" the religious practice of the day and "exceeds" practice

of the Laws contemporary practice.  His application goes further along the very spirit of that Law, and brings it to its "fulfillment".

            4)  Finally, sometimes there is additional help that Jesus gives His audience to help them implement His teaching.

   B.  An Example of the Pattern:  Purity of Heart.  Matthew 5:27-30.

>>>> Have someone read Matthew 5:27-30.

            Q  Do you see the pattern?  Can you find 

               An = Do you see the first part in 5:27 where Jesus quotes the Law.  This time it is one of the Ten Commandments:  the seventh

commandment or Exodus 20:14.  Then in verse 28 is the famous words again:  "But I tell you (NIV)".  Then the rest of verse 28 explains the "further

purity", or "how to exceed", or "how to really fulfil" God's real heart in this matter.  Finally, this particular example of the pattern also has "additional

helps".

            Q  If we go back to verse 28, what in essence is Jesus saying?

               An = In essence Jesus is saying:  "not only are you to not commit sexual sin with another man's wife but you are not to even "scope a

woman down".  You are not to even "fanaticize".  This is radical, exceeding.  Those of you are men in the audience know just how "exceeding" this

application is.

            Q  You may say this is "too hard".  How many in the room are adulterer with Jesus' definition?

               An = This condemns us all.  Speaking for the men, not a man in this room has not had illicit sexual fantasies.  But before you bail on me

here.  You would never want someone to have sex with your wife or husband or your daughter if they were not married to them, nor would you want them

"scoping down your wife or daughter with lecherous eyes"?  Not those of you who have been some how made aware of a higher, greater way.  You see

Jesus has articulated what "our best" would point to.  

            Note:  One other note.  I said sometimes Jesus added a fourth part to the pattern.  This application of the Old Testament does have the

fourth part.  Here you will see the not just Jesus' will but something more of His heart, of the heart of God.  

            Jesus does not want us to be condemned in guilt and left there.  To be sure we do need to be condemned in guilt

because our hearts are guilty.  We do not think like He does.          However, He wants us to go to heaven and not be left in

condemnation and He wants us to live so that we can control ourselves sexually here in on earth!!

            RQ  What if you want to have integrity:  so that you can begin to truly mean:  "thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven"?

            Q  Is there any hope?  How would one begin to enter the place where Jesus Christ reigns in us.  Where we are in His Kingdom, where He is

truly Lord?

               An = Lets see how beautifully He adds words to this application to help us.

>>>> Let me re-read Matthew 5:29-30.

            Q  Is Jesus telling us to cut out our eyes as we see a cute girl on the beach, or cut off our hands as they reach for that pornography?  

            Q = Is the mark of true Christian males that they only have left hands and wear patches over their right eyes?

               An = No, I think Jesus clearly has something else in mind here.  "Martin Luther says you cannot stop the birds from flying over your head

but you can stop them from building nests in your hair."  As sexual creatures we cannot help but being excited by the human body, but we can help what

movies we see, by what magazines we buy, by getting out of bad situations, that in, and of themselves, are not wrong but cause us to stumble sexually.

            Note:  The right hand in the Ancient Near East was the "best hand", the right eye, the "best eye".  Jesus is saying sometimes it best to get

rid of something that in and of itself is not wrong but it leads to our destruction.

            EX 1  Those who know something of alcoholics anonymous, or a twelve step program know that alcoholics do not "modify" their drinking

they eliminate it.  A glass of good wine at dinner, a cold beer at the end of a hard day is not wrong but it would be begin the destruction of an alcoholic. 

            Ex 2  The beach is beautiful, but for years I did not often go, because so many poor girls went there.  They were so poor that they could not

afford a full bathing suit, they could only afford these skimpy things that exposed a great deal.  Poor girls!!  Is the beach wrong?  No!  Are girls wrong? 

No!  But for me to see them like that only made me lust.  The body was made by God.  A quick look at the Song of Solomon clearly shows the celebration

and appreciation the Bible wants us to have towards sex and the human body.  It says "lust" though is wrong.

            Note:  If I am serious, I must radically cut out of my life what causes me to stumble.  If I do not then I prove I do not want "His will to be

mine" on "earth as it is in heaven".  At least I know who I really am, and what I really want.

            Q So what is Jesus doing here?

               An = Jesus says nothing about being "baptized" here as necessary or as helpful in getting into heaven.  If we want to enter Jesus'

kingdom, then we must "exceed the religiosity of our day".

            Q If baptism or our birth does not save us, if being a "decent man or women" does not save us then what does?

               An = You have to want to be truly in His kingdom.  You have to want it above all other things.  It must dominate all of your life.  You

will need help.  You will need the help of God's Holy Spirit.  It can be done.  Jesus wants us in heaven.  The only problem is that we cannot get there on

our terms.

            What Jesus's Words may point out is that you are a cultural Christian and not willing to be that radical and let God

truly be your King.

            These words are as convicting to the leaders as they are to you tonight so let me share with you one of my favorite verses that has given

me hope on countless occasions as I too have faced who I am:

            Matthew 5:6   "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled.