But I Tell You: Part 1 | Matthew 5:21-26

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.