The Law of Love: Kingdom Principles | Matthew 5:17–48 | Pastor Israel

So Matthew 5 tonight, the title of the message is the law of

love. And we're going to have a look

at the principles of the Kingdom.

I don't know if you've ever asked this or wondered this.

If you were to just go out onto the the street and ask the

average person whether they could list, rattle off, identify

any of the 10 commandments or even all of the 10 commandments,

how they might go, How might we go, you know, trying to recall

and remember identifying the 10 commandments, let alone living

the 10 commandments. And if you were to ask the

average person what they think to be the most important law to

abide by and unto them, I think it would differ according to the

individual, particularly living in this postmodern world in

which we do, where, you know, people have their own version of

what is right and their own version of what is wrong.

I remember having a conversation with a fellow that I worked with

a number of years back who purported to be a Christian.

And we're just talking about things at the Bible.

And then he said this, oh, I forgot, you're one of those

fundamental Christians. You take the Bible literally.

I said, well, what do you take it as?

Well more as guidelines and just sort of general principles that

I can effectively pick and choose what suits and

accommodates. So we've made yourself the

authority. You might as well write your own

book. You didn't take that too well.

Speaking of books, there's a novel called The Kite Runner

written by a guy called Khaled Husseini.

It's his best selling work. And one of the main characters,

Baba, declares that the worst sin, According to him, is a sin,

is the sin of lying, you know, And that in doing so, you've

stolen somebody's right to the truth was his deduction of it.

The irony, of course, if you're familiar with the story and the

hypocrisy of that, is that he is doing exactly that, lying to his

son about a situation. Now to the Jewish mind, the time

of what we're reading here in Matthew 5, remember it's the

Sermon on the Mount. Take some 10 minutes for us to

read it, but picture multitudes gathered for likely hours, if

not in two days, as Jesus is teaching effectively his

disciples and then the multitude who are listening in and

gathering around. And to the Jewish mind that

Jesus is speaking to the law is everything.

And the Pharisees that we've been reading of and the

Sadducees were the experts on the law, they were the ones who

studied it. They were the ones who taught

about it. They were the ones who made

determinations about it, the ones who enforced it upon the

populace. In fact, on one occasion, we'll

get to it. I've jumped ahead and I'll read

it for us in Matthew chapter 22. They're trying to catch Jesus

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

out as became their little hobby as Jesus popularity grew.

And they asked Jesus the question, Jesus, what is the

greatest commandment? Matthew 22, verse 34 to 40.

Matthew 22:34–40

I'll read the passage for you. It says when the Pharisees heard

that he had silenced the Sadducees, and they gathered

together, and then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question,

testing him and saying, teacher, Rabbi, you think you know all

the things about the law and you teach about it.

OK, which is the great commandment in the law?

Verse 37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your

mind. This is the first and great

commandment Jesus said. The second verse 39 he said is

like it you shall love your neighbour as yourself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So we get back to Matthew 5 here.

So when Jesus has been preaching and we've looked at the

Beatitudes and last time together we looked at Jesus

declaration to his disciples where he said you are the salt

of the earth, you are the light of the world.

The people were trying to figure out who this man Jesus was and

something that they did a lot and frequently with Jesus.

Is he like John the Baptist or is he some kind of new

revolutionary that we should find a little more about?

What does he think about the law?

Does he think about our religion?

Jesus directly addresses. Maybe the question was asked in

the crowd. We're not given that.

Maybe, as we see often, Jesus is able to discern and ascertain

the hearts of the people gathered for about to move into

a portion of Scripture where Jesus will utter these words.

You've heard it said, but I say unto you, he teaches with this

authority that they're perhaps wondering or querying, where is

this authority coming from? So Jesus directly addresses

their questions in Matthew 517 through to 48 and specifically

verse 17 in Matthew 5. He says don't think, do not

think that I have come to abolish to do away with or to

destroy the law or the prophets. Now there's a lot wrapped up in

that, but Jesus was effectively talking about what we know and

understand of the Old Testament. To simplify it, someone I have

not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them.

Verse 17 and the question is for Phil, how, how Jesus are you

going to do that? How is that possible?

What do you even mean by that? Fulfil here means to complete,

it means to perfect it means to fill full with meaning and all

that these law and prophets were pointing towards.

Jesus claims tonight as we study, to be the one who

perfectly embodies and authoritatively explains all

wrapped up in the Law and the prophets.

All that the Law and the prophets were pointing towards

and to is Him. He is the fulfilment thereof.

In times past. The Bible tells us that the

prophets spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

But Jesus speaks with divine authority.

You have heard it was said, we will read tonight.

But I say unto you, and he is not destroying the Old

Testament. He is not destroying the 10

commandments. He is not destroying the law and

the prophets. Rather, he is revealing the true

heart and the goal that all was being pointed to.

Now the great principle that I want us to see running through

this entire section is this is that the law of the Kingdom?

He's been Speaking of Kingdom of Heaven.

Remember, repent, Kingdom of Heaven is at hand and he's been

talking about in the beatitudes. Blessed are and for theirs is

the Kingdom of heaven and on through.

So he's been talking about the Kingdom of heaven and its

citizens, who they are, their their character and their

conduct. So understand this section here.

The great principle running through it is that the law of

the Kingdom is the law of love, love for God.

This is the greatest commandment Jesus said, and love for others.

The second is like unto it as the fulfilment of the law.

Now as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, Jesus is speaking and

to you and I tonight we are called to display the character

of the King and our king Does the Bible tell us for God is

love. That's what guides and motivates

this and ought to in US. And let's explain it.

Let's read. We'll break it into two chunks

rather than reading the entire text together, but we'll come

and deal with each component. Verses 17 through to 20 now and

two effective main points for us and the second we'll have 6 sub

points that we look at the various principles in that.

But firstly, the King's authority is come to fulfil the

law. He said not to abolish it.

Matthew 5, verse 17 reading out of the new King James, do not

Matthew 5:17

think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.

I did not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 4 Assuredly, I say to

you, till heaven and earth pass away. 1 Jot, or one title will

by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

You know Jesus here. What's a jot?

What's a title? These were even just the

smallest. If we were to think of it in

English, we might call it punctuation.

Well, marking said that this is how important, how valuable

every component of the law and the prophets is.

Jesus says is that not even 1 minuscule amount of punctuation

will pass away until it has all been fulfilled in me.

Whoever verse 19 therefore breaks one of the least of these

commandments, teaches men so should be called least in the

Kingdom of heaven. Whoever does and teaches them,

he shall be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.

Now look at this, because this is going to shake and rattle the

minds of the audience gathered. For I say to you, verse 20, that

unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the

scribes, they studied the law, they wrote about the law and the

Pharisees. I mean, they, if anybody gave

the law its due diligence, it was the Pharisees.

You will by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven.

So let's consider this. Jesus says I have not, don't

mistake me. I have not come to abolish, to

destroy, to dispense with the law, but I've come to fulfil it.

And He did so by perfectly obeying it in his life and His

living. Every word, every deed, all of

his conduct, Jesus followed, adhered to the Law and the

prophets. But in doing so, He also went

beyond that and revealed the greater, deepest spiritual

intent of the Law and the prophets.

He accomplished everything in it.

And everything that the Law and the prophets were pointing

towards is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, especially our

redemption. And verse 20 again shocks the

audience. Unless your righteousness

exceeds, goes above that of the scribes and the Pharisees and

man, they're righteous in everyone's estimation in the

world at that time, you will not enter, you'll never enter the

Kingdom of heaven. And the Pharisees, again, they

were meticulous when it came to the law on the outside,

painfully so. You can read and you can

research how it was that they had become sticklers for

following all sorts of aspects of the law and how they sought

to impose that upon others, or at least their interpretation of

the law and the prophets. But what they were doing was

they were missing the spirit of the law.

This is what Jesus criticised and attacked them again and

again for. So when the audience gathered

here's unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

the Pharisees, you know what they're doing, they're thinking

it can't be done. We're doomed.

Who then can enter the Kingdom of heaven?

And Jesus has been talking about the Kingdom of heaven and

blessed are those and all of that.

And now it gets to this and and the audience is just, you can

imagine their jaws dropping to the ground.

There's no hope for us. It's true also of us if we're to

think of all that is written in the law.

If you've ever read through the Pentateuch first five books, and

particularly the Levitical law in Deuteronomy and on, and then

through the prophets and let alone the 10 commandments, and

you think there is no hope for me?

There is no hope for you. There is no hope for anyone for

our righteousness to exceed that of the scribes and the

Pharisees. So what does that mean?

Well, it means this. It means that the good news of

the gospel, of what Jesus is coming to teach and to bring is

that our righteousness comes not from within ourselves, but it

comes from outside. And our righteousness comes by

faith in God. The Bible says who is righteous.

And faith, the Bible tells us, comes by hearing, and hearing by

the word of God, and that for righteousness to exceed that of

the scribes and the Pharisees is to love God.

For Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And what is the commandment we read at the beginning?

Jesus said, a new commandment. In fact, I give unto you, You

love one another as I have loved you.

And then he said this. And by this shall all men know

that you are my disciples, my followers, citizens of the

Kingdom of heaven, If you have love one for another.

Thus, you see, love is the key as we read through these verses.

And Jesus ultimately fulfilled the law of love and displayed it

to his Father in the way that he lived to his disciples, to you

and I with his obedience to death upon the cross, with his

fulfilment of the redemptive plan that the law and the

prophets were pointing towards. And He commends to you and I to

us the same tonight. True righteousness that exceeds

the scribes and the Pharisees therefore comes by faith, trust,

dependence upon God on what Jesus has accomplished, and it

flows from love from God and for God in our lives.

Again Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my

commandments. John 14 verse 15.

John 14:15

And So what we see and what we're starting to see and what

we should understand is again, the narrative of the Old

Testament as it was with the people of Israel, as it is with

you and I, that God saves, that God rescues, that God restores,

and then that God empowers to live.

And His law is the guidelines, the governance that not

enforces, that directs that living for you and I.

It's interesting in Exodus, as we're studying through it, that

God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, out of their slavery, out

of their bondage, and brought them through.

And as he was taking them in the wilderness, it's then that he

gave them the law. In other words, it's interesting

that God has said to the people of Israel, as is the case for

you and I as gospel recipients today, I've saved you.

I've loved you with an everlasting love.

I've, I've pulled you out of your slavery for us to sin for

them out of Egypt. And now I am making you my

people. And in light of the love that

I've given to you, now let me give to you my law.

And the way that we live is a response to the salvation that

we've received from God, from his love.

And now he gives in the verses to come illustrations of this

love and how it was to be enacted for those who are

citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.

Action toward others and Jesus will go to the heart of the

matter in each of these subjects because the Pharisees are all

about external actions and appearances of abiding by the

law and the prophets. But Jesus will go to the heart

in each of these situations and reveal the attitude of love that

needs to be the cause, the motivation of these actions.

So now let's consider secondly for us the principles of the

Kingdom that we'll cover from verse 21 through to 48.

And if you're taking notes, they'll be broken down with the

relevant verses. And what we're going to see is

Jesus now give 6 powerful contrasts in his words, where

he'll start with, you've heard it said, but I say unto you.

And as he does so, what he's doing is he's showing how the

law of love moves from external rule keeping and appearances to

internal heart transformation. Let's look at the first in

verses 21 to 26, the principle of reconciliation to do with

anger and murder our relationships to others.

Verse 21, Jesus says he begins with the first you have heard

that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder one of

the 10 commandments and whoever murders will be in danger of the

judgement. But I say to you, verse 22, that

whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be

in danger of the judgement. And whoever says to his brother

Raqqa shall be in danger of the council.

The word Raqqa there means empty headed, stupid, dim witted to

use that label to give to somebody else.

I'm not sure if the elevator goes all the way to the top with

you. We might say to someone, but

whoever says you fool should be in danger of Hellfire.

Therefore, if you bring So in light of all that I've said,

Jesus goes on verse 23. If you bring your gift to the

altar, if you come to worship, come to the temple and there

remember that your brother has something against you.

Leave your gift there before the altar and go your way.

First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer

your gift. Agree with the adversary

quickly, verse 25, while you are on the way with him, lest your

adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over

to the officer and you'll be thrown into prison.

Surely I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till

you have paid the last penny. And there is so much in these

verses that we're going to read tonight.

And part of my struggle through the week was how am I going to

break this up? And what I'm going to do is give

us a more of an overview and encourage you hopefully to whet

the appetite a bit to dig in more deeply as a student.

Because like I say, we're going to spend a long time in the

Gospel of Matthew. But I don't want to be spending

ten years in the Gospel of Matthew.

And we could certainly just out of a few of these verses have 3

sermons coming out of what we've just read.

But we're looking at the principle.

So here's what Jesus is giving effectively A manifesto for for

Kingdom of heaven, citizen living righteousness exceeding

that of the scribes and the Pharisees and to do with murder.

And and they were going around the scribes and the Pharisees

thinking they're pretty good. They've not murdered anybody as

we would do today. Jesus gets to to the heart of it

said the Lord said you shall not murder.

You've heard it said of old. Now Jesus connects anger and

contempt and hate towards a brother and puts us in danger of

judgement by having so of calling someone Raqqa empty

headed, a fool. It's very serious in this.

Not to be flippant, not to just throw these things out and to

harbour these attitudes and these actions towards others and

think, well, I'm not murdering, I'm not killing anybody.

So I'm, I'm, I'm obeying the law and the prophets.

But Jesus is not goes to the heart.

It's more than that. It's more than just an outward

appearance of not actually doing the deed, but if you've thought

it, it's as good as done. This will be the the heart that

runs through many of these examples that Jesus gives.

And we read such of these things and we might go, well, what of

anger then? Am I able to have anger because,

you know, I get angry over injustice and when I see

unrighteousness and when I see people mistreated and harmed.

And we kind of considered that and looked at that in our study

through 1st and 2nd Corinthians, if you remember, and always

going back to to anger. Did did Jesus display anger?

Yeah, he did. It was righteous anger.

He certainly didn't call people Raqqa.

He did use some pretty strong language towards people, but his

anger was against those who would pollute and pervert and

destroy and in so doing 'cause people to be put off the things

of God. And then he goes on and talks

about seeking reconciliation. Quickly.

Be ready to do so. If you're coming to worship and

you recognise that there's some animosity or hostility between

you and a brother, just drop the gift.

Go and reconcile. Sort that out.

Deal with it. Because overall, Kingdom love

deals with heart attitudes before they become actions.

How can I lift my hands and worship under God when there's

this, this tension and oh, I need to seek forgiveness and we

need to be right and we need to sort this out.

It's the law of love and the principle of reconciliation,

connecting anger towards murder. Second, principally, perhaps

knowing our day and age in which we live, deals with lust, deals

with adultery 7 to 30 and this principle of purity, you've

heard that it was said to those of old, verse 27 you shall not

commit adultery. And the scides and the

Pharisees, they were quick to bring those that they'd caught

in the act of adultery. But Oh no, we, we would never.

But I say to you, Jesus says verse 28, that whoever looks at

a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with

her in his heart. Then he goes on 29 If your right

eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you.

It is more profitable for you that one of your members perish

than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from

you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members

perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Wow, there's some heavy verses we're going to be reading

through tonight and Jesus specifically on this one said,

you've heard it said of all you shall not commit adultery.

Then Jesus says, all right, let me connect it to something all

the more powerful. Looking lustfully upon somebody

is, with intent, committing adultery in the heart.

Let me understand, Jesus isn't saying that they're the same

thing as some have mistakenly figured and gone.

Well, I've looked, so I may as well do.

That's just stupidity. Now, the point is that both are

sin. Let me try and explain this a

little bit further. The greater adultery starts with

the feeding of the lesser. That's what we saw with David,

right? With Bathsheba, sin begins in

the imagination, a Bible commentator, DA Carson noted and

said imagination is God's given gift, but if fed, he goes on

dirt by the eye, the imagination becomes filthy.

And Jesus takes this idea that OK, you think scribes,

Pharisees, their righteousness, they've not committed adultery.

But let me tell you that it's a heart matter.

But if you've looked lustfully upon another with the intent,

with the desire for adultery, for fornication, you've as good

as committed the crime of adultery.

And then he says we must therefore deal radically with

that and violently with such temptation.

And he uses the hyperboles of plucking out the eye and

chopping off the hand. If we were to do that literally,

we know that we would still have the capacity to sin in our mind,

would we not? And in this, what Jesus is

declaring is the sacredness of the the human body and

particularly the female form, recognising that they're a

daughter, they're a sister, they're a betrothed, not an

object to be disregarded and used and abused in that way.

Because again, Kingdom love, the law of love, the law of the

Kingdom, it guards purity at the level of desire.

God help us all in this regard. Then he.

Builds and goes further the principle of fidelity and now

moves into marriage and deals with divorce and verses 31 and

32. Furthermore, it has been said

whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of

divorce. 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

divorced commits adultery. Again, we could spend so much in

these verses, could we not? We we dealt dealt with it

somewhat in our study of First Corinthians, Second Corinthians

and we we looked at marriage, we looked at singleness, we looked

at divorce. But for our purposes tonight,

the principle of fidelity, understand that in Jesus day for

the audience gathered there are effectively 2 schools of thought

when it came to divorce. A fellow called Rabbi Shamay and

his teachings was that divorce was only due to and as a

consequence out of sexual immorality and that would be

evident through the scriptures. And there was another school of

thought under a guy called Rabbi Halal, where, to summarise,

divorce was effectively open to interpretation and up for almost

anything. You can understand what was the

most popular back then. And Jesus here in his teaching,

upholds a high view of marriage, the covenant relationship, while

acknowledging the hardness of the heart in respect to this.

And for us as the church, over the years, there's been a lot

with respect to this topic of marriage and divorce.

And the Church must neither treat divorced people as lepers.

We're all sinners in need of God's grace, but nor slip into

the world's casual, flippant attitude towards divorce.

A citizen of the Kingdom of heaven is different when it

comes to the sanctity, the purity, the fidelity of the

marriage relationship. Verses 33 through to 37 looking

at the principles of the Kingdom, the principle of

integrity to do with our oaths and our truthfulness in what we

declare and what we speak in what we utter.

Again. Jesus says verse 33, You have

heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not swear

falsely, you shall perform your oath to the Lord.

But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for

it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is His footstool,

nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

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, no. Whatever is more than these is

from the evil 1. In other words, keep it simple

in this regard. Let your yes be yes.

May it be that what you declare, what you say, what you utter,

what you speak, that it's trustworthy?

That people can. Depend upon you to not only be a

speaker, but a doer of things and a fulfiller of those.

And let your no be no, don't swear by heaven, don't swear by

earth, don't pinky swear, don't on my mum's grave and and all of

those things that people say to try and enforce that.

No, I'm really telling the truth this time.

May it be so that of you as a citizen of the Kingdom of

Heaven, that people know that when you speak, you speak the

truth, and that love motivates and guides and governs that.

And our word then, as believers should be so reliable that no

oath is needed. For back then, as is the case

today, people will say what they need to say in a moment when

it's convenient, and then act all together different when it's

convenient. We've all been burnt by people

like that. We've all experienced that and

maybe many of us have done those very things where we have said

things just to sort of get by and in that moment think, Yep,

that's what they need to hear. But then later I've got no

intention of following through with those actions.

Jesus says let you yes, be yes, you no be no.

Kingdom citizens are people of truth known for meaning what we

say and saying what we mean. And then there's the principle

of non retaliation to do with insults and generosity.

OK, if I'm going to be like that, then I'm going to be open

for all sorts of insults. Jesus anticipates that there's

38 to 42. You have heard that it was said

an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Now that law came out of and the importance of justice being

fulfilled, but also not an overreaching hand of justice to

we just go absolutely ballistic on somebody and go above and

beyond. Well, you wronged me, so I'm

going to give it back to you and then some.

But I tell you, Jesus said verse 39 not to resist an evil person,

but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to

him also. If anyone wants to.

Sue you and take away your tunic.

Let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you, maybe

there were some Roman soldiers standing nearby.

I'll explain that in a moment why I say that?

And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too.

Give to him who? Asks you and from him who wants

to borrow from you. Do not turn away.

Let's look at these verses principle of non retaliation to

do with insults, generosity, an eye for an eye was the saying

it's the law profits. There's a limit on vengeance

when it came to justice, but Jesus calls U.S. citizens of

heaven personally to non retaliation in this instant.

Turn the other cheek. He said, go the second mile,

give generously if somebody asks.

And this isn't passive weakness, but active overcoming love

towards others who would seek to insult us, to use us, to abuse

us. And it's very oh man, it rubs

against the grain, doesn't it? Naturally for how we want to

respond in such moments. Let me explain all those things

that I just said quickly in in reading.

I said there may have been Roman soldiers in the audience.

Well, a Roman soldier in those days could and would make any

person that they came across carry their armour or their

baggage. But there was a a limit to that

in the law up to a mile. And Jesus says blow his mind, go

to and then whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other

to him. Also, what does Jesus mean by

this and what it's meant by the slapping on the right cheek?

Understand it's a cultural insult.

Most of them back then, as the case today were right handed and

if you were to slap somebody across the cheek with your right

hand, you would be slapping their left cheek, wouldn't you?

To slap somebody on the right cheek is to take typically your

right hand and to backhand slap them across the face.

Intended to be an insult rather than a lashing out in, you know,

a bit of a conflict or a biff maybe we might say it was a an

intentional backhanded slap. So what do you do in such

instances where Jesus says turn the other cheek, but you could

return that backhanded slap with interest, couldn't you could

turn and run, probably me, you could stand and take it and off

of the other cheek. And what Jesus is saying here

patiently bear because of the law of love at work in you such

insults backhanded slap across the face and offences and to not

resist an evil person who insults in this way.

I meant to do that you know to do that as a citizen of heaven.

Like I say, it goes against everything within us right.

You know what we do when we all right turn the other cheek.

Here's what we're doing. Here's what we're saying and

here is the connection is we are trusting in God to defend, we're

trusting in God to avenge for God said in his word, vengeance

is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

Here's here's the difficulty in that when we're desirous of

justice for a wrongdoing in such regard, and we take matters into

our own hands. Oh yeah, justice comes eye for

an eye, tooth for a tooth, but we've robbed God of that which

belongs to him. Vengeance is mine.

I will repay, says the Lord. Either justice will come by God

from the throne to them on Judgement Day, or justice will

come should they seek repentance and forgiveness, just as all of

us. And justice will be poured out,

judgement will be poured out rather on Jesus who died on the

cross. But in turning the other cheek,

it's a trusting for God to take care of it and to take care of

you. And it's a it's a difficult

thing that we need God's help in this regard to obey and to

follow. Now, as an aside, let me deal

with this. Is it wrong to think that Jesus

means evil should never be resisted?

Do we see that in the Scriptures?

Jesus. Demonstrated in his life, and

we'll see it as we go through the Gospels, that evil should

and must be resisted. Such as when he.

Overturned the tables in the temple and other examples.

So I think it wrong to think that here Jesus is meaning all

physical attack cannot be resisted or defended against.

We're not to be doormat in this regard, but when Jesus speaks of

a slap on your right cheek, it was culturally understood as a

deep insult, not a physical attack in the way that we might

think of it. It's also wrong to think that

Jesus means there's no place for punishment or retribution in

society. Jesus here is speaking towards

the personal relationship, not to the proper functions of

government in restraining evil. That's what Romans 13 speaks of

in verses 123 and 4. So we have our right and and

Paul would appeal as a Roman citizen for justice in that

regard. But I am hearing this in turning

the cheek when personally insulted.

I can do that but also understand that the government

has a responsibility to restrain the evil man from physical

assault and attack and that's not something that we're to

abdicate of our access to as citizens of earth as well being

citizens of heaven. On this Berkeley said Jesus here

is saying that the true Christian has learned to resent

no insult and to seek retaliation for no slight.

And when we think of Jesus, remember he said I have not come

to do away with the law and the prophets.

So when we think of Jesus life, when we think how Jesus himself

was insulted, Jesus himself was spoken evil against, think of

the things that were said of Jesus.

Oh, he's a glutton, he's a wine Bibber.

I mean, you know what his mother did, right?

He's a blasphemer, he's a madman.

Even his family tried to have an intervention.

And how we see that Jesus lived this principle himself.

It's a high. Calling, yes, it's a calling of

the citizen of heaven and unless your righteousness exceeds out

of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus said, and now the

audience, you can see, just as we are feels the weight of this

and it's all leading to a point that we'll get to Israel.

Hurry up and make it all right. I'm making it the last verses,

verse 43 to 48, the final principle, principle of enemy

love. You have heard that it was said,

you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse

you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who

spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of

your Father in heaven. But he makes his sunrise on the

evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the

unjust. For if you love those who love

you, what reward have you? Do not even tax collectors do

the same? Wonder if he gave Levi a little

wink at that? And if you greet your brethren

only, verse 47, what do you do more than others?

Do not even the tax collectors do so?

Therefore, verse 48, you shall be perfect just as your Father

in heaven is perfect citizens of heaven, the family of God,

children of God doesn't not stand a reason that there's a

family resemblance. Jesus himself said that that you

may be sons of your Father in heaven.

Verse 45 shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy

was the human addition, but Jesus commands and says love

your enemies. This is the divine addition.

And pray for those who persecute you.

Why? Jesus answers that and says why?

Because this is what your heavenly Father does.

This is how he acts. He sends his reign and the just

and the unjust and the evil and the good.

Then he builds upon that and says you think it's pretty good

to love others just because they love you.

The tax collectors do that. He says, let's, let's blow some

minds of people here. Nothing would annoy enemies more

than for you to reflect God's character to them and love them

back when they've meant hatred towards you because Kingdom

perfection is being like the father and you, you hear that

And we we hear all of this through these verses and we're

going can't do it. How is that even possible to

love someone like that? And so Jesus says, how do you do

this verse 44 Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute

you. Ask God for help.

God help me and not only God help me, but I I pray for them.

They've persecuted, they've abused me in this way and oh God

bless them. And Jesus sums it all up with

this staggering command. You therefore must be perfect,

verse 48, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

And again, the audience and you and I in reading this, and it's

impossible, but if anyone could fulfil this, do not think I've

come to do away with the law and the prophets.

But Jesus said I've come to fulfil, to fill full the law.

It was Jesus never harbouring hate, never having lust in his

heart, never having deceit in his words, never having

retaliation to insults, never failing to love enemies.

Such a person would possess the righteousness that exceeds that

of the scribes and the Pharisees, would they not?

And that is Jesus, the fulfilment of the law.

Only one man has ever, could ever lived in this fashion, in

this way. It's Jesus himself.

Now again, in reading this, we're exposed as guilty sinners

all the way through who cannot, could ever achieve this on our

own. The righteousness scribes and

Pharisees can't do it, reflecting God my Father in this

way. Oh, man, being perfect as he is

perfect. Oh.

Everybody. Listening, who had any ounce of

self righteousness would have the rug pulled out from under

their feet in hearing these words, would they not?

Just as many of us have been feeling probably the heaviness

and the weight of these words of Jesus tonight.

You know what the result is, and I think would be the result of

the audience gathered is that they would be running back in

their mind to Jesus words when he uttered the first of the

beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Oh man, I am. I've got nothing.

God, I'm desperately in need of a saviour of help, my

righteousness. I thought I was good.

I thought I could maybe even attain the level of the scribes

and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but I can't.

God help me. And Jesus says blessed are the

poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

And again and again through this, remember what we're, we're

learning, what we're discovering out of this is it's not God

helps those who help themselves. It's God helps those who cannot

help themselves. And that is why we need

righteousness apart from the law.

Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 22 indicates this.

Romans 3:21–22

And it is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus

Christ that now makes this law of love possible in US.

And then the law as truly interpreted drives us to Christ

and the law, his law of love is written on our hearts overall.

Again, we, we can't help ourselves.

God, it is he who helps us. And because God helps us, we are

loved, we are made righteous. We are the salt of the earth,

the light of the world. We are blessed.

This is what I want to bring home because in all of this, in

chapter 5, this is what one Bible commentator, WH Griffith

Thomas, he, he beautifully points out in this entire 5th

chapter of Matthew and he says it, it shows us what the

citizens of the Kingdom of heaven are to be.

And it's summed up in one word. He says blessed.

I love that citizen of the Kingdom of heaven is blessed.

And the term blessed, he points out, is often found through the

Scriptures, but three strategic places he points out that when

put together, they constitute the full revelation of how

Christ blesses us, his people, both on earth and in heaven.

Blessed appears again and again in the Psalms, doesn't it,

showing how blessedness comes through a right relationship

with God. Then blessed appears in the

Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. What we've been distorting the

the character and the and the conduct of the citizens of the

Kingdom. And finally we we see blessed

again and again in the Book of Revelation pointing to the

consummation of all things and so on earth.

This blessing is the blessing of grace.

It's not earned by perfect law keeping because we can't do it,

but received as a free gift of God's grace through the finished

work of Jesus Christ. And the Beatitude described the

happy condition of those who are poor in spirit, who are mourning

over sin, who are meek, who are hungry for righteousness, who

are merciful, pure in heart, the peacemakers persecuted for

righteousness sake. So this blessedness then is the

present position and possession of every believer who walks in

the grace of the king who fulfilled the law of the Old

Testament, the prophets of Moses, of the 10 commandments to

the full. I've not come to do away with

the law, he said. But I am the fulfilment of it.

And then in heaven it's a a blessing of future glory, the

full unbroken enjoyment of God's presence but evermore with him,

the complete realisation of the Kingdom of what Jesus has been

talking about and the reward of faithfulness and the blessedness

that begins here on earth through grace is perfected in

glory in heaven. So what are we to do with a text

like this? Tonight has the law love exposed

your heart tonight and it butchered me through the week.

Areas of. Anger and of lust and bitterness

and lack of integrity and unwillingness to love enemies.

May it 'cause you and I tonight to come to the only One who

perfectly fulfilled the law and to receive His righteousness by

faith and then by the power of the Holy Spirit He grants to us.

Let the law of love shape every part of your life, of your day,

as a response to who He is and to what He has done.

Then you've insulted me. But because of who God is and

because of what God has done to me, I'm going to respond

differently to you now. May we live as blessed citizens

of the Kingdom of heaven, reflecting the perfect love of

our Heavenly Father. Let's pray.

Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your people

tonight. And we confess that in reading

such a text as this, that it challenges us and it makes us to

recognise that in ourselves there is nothing that we have to

offer. We are truly poor in spirit.

So we're so grateful and thankful for who you are as the

perfecter of our faith and the fulfiller of the law and the

prophets and that we can come to you and in your righteousness by

faith in that we are made right. And now we can live in a

different way as citizens of heaven.

May love that has been received from you flow out of us on to

others and check and arrest our attitudes and our our mindset

and situations such as we read of tonight.

Help us in this way. Lord God, may we know the

blessing of you and every day and every moment in thought, in

Word indeed. We thank you for your mercy, we

thank you for your grace, we thank you for your love towards

us. We are so undeserving.

We bless you and we honour you now in Jesus great name.

Amen. Amen.

Just to know you.