It's a privilege to be here, stand in front of you. We are continuing Matthew 5. We'll complete that today, I hope. We'll cover the last four of six examples that Jesus gave, demonstrating why, as Nate just read, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was inadequate to enter the kingdom of heaven. The error of the Pharisees consistently was their attempt to minimize the scope and authority of Old Testament scripture. They tried to relax God's commandments. They were satisfied with the external performance of the law as long as they didn't have to address their heart. Jesus was clear that Old Testament law, in fact, was a matter of the heart. And you can see the Pharisees' effort to minimize the application of Old Testament scripture and the chart you have in your bulletin. For example, if you look at faithfulness there, the Pharisees taught, you shall not commit adultery, minimizing the impact of that commandment. Jesus said a lustful look equals adultery in the heart. Therefore take drastic measures to eliminate lust as it can stand between you and God. So they were always trying to minimize the impact of Old Testament scripture. Jesus gave these examples to explain the inadequacy of the scribes and the Pharisees, and we interpret these examples within the framework of the purpose Jesus had. In other words, we explain these, understanding that the purpose of Jesus was to show that the scribes, scribal and Pharisee righteousness was inadequate. So it's not a full treatise of any of these six subjects for a full theological explanation of the Very important laws Jesus referred to here in Matthew 5. We need other scriptures, which we don't have time to look into today. Now, the third of Jesus' examples and our first today is divorce. Verses 31 and 32 now in Matthew 5. Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces 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. The problem, the scribes and Pharisees allowed divorce for any reason. All you needed was a certificate of divorce. There was a well-known rabbi who taught that a man could divorce his wife for any offense, even burning his breakfast. And you see this teaching alluded to in Matthew 19, verse three, the Pharisees also came to Jesus, testing him and saying to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason? See, they were familiar with this teaching. They were referring to the teachings of Rabbi Hillel, divorce for any reason. And there was another well-known rabbi who taught that divorce was legitimate only in cases of adultery. Well, where did Rabbi Hillel and the Pharisees get this idea of divorce for any reason? It comes from Deuteronomy 24, and I'd like for you to turn there with me, Deuteronomy 24. So this belief that divorce was okay for any reason comes from a misunderstanding or misreading of Deuteronomy 24, one through four. I'll read that. When a man takes a wife and marries her and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hands and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife. after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." Now you can see this law of Moses prohibited a divorced man and woman from remarrying each other after there had been an intervening marriage. In this Old Testament law, we see the permission for divorce. It's stated as some uncleanness. It's not the Hebrew word for adultery, not the word used in thou shalt not commit adultery. The word is broader than adultery. It can mean nudity or shame or disgrace or, as it's rendered here, uncleanness. The Old Testament law didn't use the word for adultery. And Jesus didn't use the word for adultery either. I believe Jesus gave the closest equivalent Greek word to the Hebrew word. The word that he used in Greek is pornea, from which we get pornography. And it's a word which encompasses a range of sexual perversions. The intent of the Mosaic permission for divorce in the Old Testament was to allow people to be divorced when there was some kind of sexual perversion, or as translated here, sexual immorality in Matthew 5.32. The permission for divorce was not stated in its narrowest form of adultery. But God never intended for divorce to be for trivial reasons either. And the trivial reasons are why Jesus confronted the scribes and the Pharisees in their view of divorce. Now I know that some people would like a full exposition on divorce. And many people, deep in our psyche, in most of us, we want an exact definition of what constitutes the reasons for a biblical divorce. We're uncomfortable with gray areas. We want someone to define explicitly what rises to the level of a divorceable offense. and what doesn't. Yet, the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament did not find the need to further define uncleanness. And Jesus didn't find the need to give a list of what sexual immorality entails. The Holy Spirit didn't desire scripture to be a document like the Ohio Revised Code, applying law to each individual situation. Frankly, the Ohio revised code leaves a lot of gray areas which need application and that's why there's judges and that's why there's attorneys to sort through the hard cases. And there are hard cases biblically as well. Note the words from Exodus 18, 25, and 26. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of 50, rulers of tens. So they judged the people at all times. The hard cases, the hard cases, They brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves. So in spite of the instruction that God gave in the Old Testament law, there were still hard cases where the law did not speak to the specifics of individual situations. What I'm saying is, if you're trying to reduce the exception clause, in Matthew 5.32 except for sexual immorality. If you're trying to reduce that into a list of defined behaviors, I think you're taking the wrong approach. Some people do try to create a list or a grid so they can apply it to divorce cases. And that's one reason why there's so much disagreement on the matters of divorce and remarriage too, because everybody's list is different. What about pornography? Does that meet the definition of sexual immorality? Some say yes, some say no. What about emotional affairs? You know, what about an emotional affair where there was some kissing and other sexual behavior, but not adultery? Does that rise to the level of a divorceable offense? Some say yes, some say no. Since the Holy Spirit didn't give us such a list, why should I give you one? Okay, somebody says, but if we don't have a list, how do we decide the hard cases? In the Old Testament, the answer was you went to Moses. Moses was the representative between God and the people, and so the hard cases went to Moses. In the New Testament, you have the Holy Spirit to guide you, and you have prayer. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him, James 1.5. Additionally, you have elders in the church, and those elders are to have, they're to meet certain qualifications. Sober-minded, able to teach, not a novice. In other words, they have long experience. They're also to have sound doctrine by which they can exhort and convict those who contradict. So you can see I'm not going to give you a list as to what constitutes sexual immorality. Even if I did give you a list on that, we'd have to consider the passage in 1 Corinthians 7, which addresses abandonment in marriage. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. A brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace, 1 Corinthians 7, 15. What does that mean, if a brother or sister is not under bondage? And how would we define leaving? what is abandonment. Even if we could come up with a definition of sexual immorality and abandonment in 1 Corinthians 7, we still have many other scripture passages which impact divorce, which would need to be studied. Jesus didn't give Matthew 5, 31 and 32 as a complete treatise of divorce and remarriage. He was correcting the abuse of the scribes and the Pharisees, and that abuse was allowing people to treat marriage lightly. Marriage is not a light thing. It's sacred. Jesus said take that to heart and don't pretend that a divorce certificate pleases God when you were not in that marriage with your heart trying to make things work out. That probably leaves a lot of questions. I can give you some examples of things that do not constitute a biblically allowed divorce. When a man leaves his wife to get married to a younger woman, that's not biblical permission. When a woman meets a wealthy man and wants to raise her lifestyle, that's not biblical permission. An annoying habit doesn't meet biblical permission. Not cherishing me enough is not biblical permission. We're not compatible is not biblical permission. Quite frankly, in my somewhat limited experience, it's usually these kinds of things that people bring and want their divorce rubber stamped. When people came to the scribes or Pharisees with a divorce case, the answer seemingly was, hey, yeah, all you need is a certificate of divorce. Put anything on it. It doesn't matter what you put on it. Jesus said, no, not a bit of that. The law in Deuteronomy 24 allowed for divorce only in cases of serious moral failure. All right, I've spent about half my time on two verses, I have 16 to go. I haven't said anything about remarriage. But that's okay, because what it demonstrates is that this is complex, one of the most complex subjects in the Bible. And there are hard cases. And I know people wish there was a grid that they could lay over every divorce and every remarriage situation so it would be easy to determine. Yeah, you can divorce, you can't. You can remarry, you can't. There is no such grid other than what somebody creates. And when you create it, Just remember, it's your creation, not the Holy Spirit's. And be careful that we, you know, we need to be careful we don't teach for doctrine what are in fact the commandments of men. See Mark 7, 7. So I think it's good to be careful how we define uncleanness from Deuteronomy 24 or how we define sexual morality in Matthew 5. You'll find people who very, very confidently affirm that they have the definition. if you've been in Christian circles, especially more conservative ones for a while, you probably ran into somebody that has a definition, you know, this refers to sex before marriage. Or this refers to, you know, temple idolatry. Or this refers to idolatry. Or this refers to adultery. But the Bible specifies none of them. that way. So, let's be careful about buying into the explanations. We could say perhaps there's a ditch on both sides of the road. Scribes and Pharisees distorted the law to be too lenient, but other people distort the law to be too harsh. I remember my old main Bible prop I had years and years ago, Dr. Ted Rendell. He would stand at the podium and over and over and over again, he would say, the hardest thing in the world is to stay balanced. I never knew what he was saying. I never really understood it. Now I'm finally, I think, beginning to understand what he meant. The hardest thing in the world is to stay balanced. Okay, onto the next example. So I'll be reading Matthew 5, 33 through 37. Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths 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, for whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Now, the quote Jesus referenced is a combination of several Old Testament scriptures, including Leviticus 19.12, you shall not swear by my name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of the Lord your God. I am the Lord and Numbers 32, if a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to himself or to bind himself by some agreement, he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. All right, so let's try to understand what the problem Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees was here in verses 33 through 36. Now the Pharisees emphasized the invoking of the Lord's name. If you invoke the Lord's name, you better follow through with your oath or your promise. Because invoking the name of the Lord was a serious matter. And so they avoided invoking his name, which was probably a good thing. They avoided invoking the name of the Lord. But instead they, invoked other spiritual sounding authorities, you know, heaven and earth and Jerusalem and, you know, even my own head. I swear by Jerusalem, I don't even know that woman, you know. Well, that was less binding than if he said, I swear by the Lord that I don't know that woman. This was the problem with the Pharisees' treatment of oaths. If you didn't invoke the Lord's name, you weren't technically bound to complete honesty. Deceit was okay if an oath didn't invoke the Lord's name. It reminds me, I think, of a little ruse that went on in grade school. Some of you will remember it. So, somebody comes and says, Brian, I'll give you 50 cents for your potato chips. Okay. Give me the 50 cents. Well, I don't have it here. It's back in my desk. But I'll give it to you when I get back to my desk. You know, I swear I'll give it to you when I get back to my desk. Okay. Here's my potato chips. Ha-ha! I had my fingers crossed behind my back, you know. Now I don't have to pay you. I still get annoyed about those potato chips all these years later. Maybe I should let that go. Jesus had two objections to these tricky oaths. First, the lesser oath, as they thought, lesser oath were not really lesser. It's true they didn't invoke the Lord's name, but Jesus said that whatever you swear by ultimately finds its way back to God. Heaven is his throne, so it's sacred. The earth is his footstool. He created it. The earth is not mine to swear by. Jerusalem is the city of the great king. Even my own hair is owned by God. I am created by him and for him. Nothing that I bring in as an authority to guarantee my honesty is mine to swear by. It's only God's. The second problem is the matter of honesty. Verse 37, let your yes be yes, your no, no. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. Lies have always been the domain of the devil. In John 8, 44, Jesus was arguing with the Pharisees and he said this in rebuke of them. He said, you are of your father, the devil, the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because There is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. And the Old Testament very clearly demanded truth and honesty. These are the things you shall do. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor, judgments in your gates for truth, justice, and peace." Zechariah 8, 16. Lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are his delight. Proverbs 12, 22. The scribes and Pharisees ignored these demands for honesty and they excused deceit by this bizarre code of, you know, what exactly did you swear by in your oath? And Jesus said, stop it, stop it. The only guarantor of truth you need is your word. For a person of integrity, the only guarantee of honesty should be your yes or no. As soon as you've started invoking authorities beyond your word, you've already caved in to evil. Now one other comment about this restriction on oath, this restriction I think has to do with your normal everyday speech. Some people interpret the words of Jesus here to mean we should never use an oath and so if we're in court, and asked to swear to tell the truth, we would never use an oath. My mom and dad taught me that if you're ever in court, Brian, and they ask you to place your right hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, you know, Brian, you say, I solemnly affirm that I'll tell the truth. But I don't think that this passage forbids all oaths. Certainly it's okay if you take the approach of never using an oath. But in certain circumstances, such as in court, I think it's okay to use an oath. The Apostle Paul did. He used oaths. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ, Philippians 1.8. I tell you the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. Romans 9.1. As I would say, don't use oaths in your everyday conversations. But the main takeaway here is that Christians are to be known for their honesty. That's what you need to know. No one should need more from you than your word. Okay, the next section, verses 38 through 42. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you not to resist an evil person. Whoever slaps you on the 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 to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and from him who wants to borrow from you, do not turn away. Now this section is about retaliation or revenge. The Old Testament passage quoted is from Deuteronomy 19, and I'd like for you to turn to that one as well. Maybe if you still have a finger there in Deuteronomy 24, let's just turn back a bit. Deuteronomy 19 verses 15 through 21 is one of the passages, I think there's several that talk about this eye for an eye, tooth for tooth business. Deuteronomy 19 starting at verse 15. One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or sin that he commits. By the mouth of two or three witnesses, the matter shall be established. If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days, And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother. So you shall put away the evil from among you, and those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Now, based on what we've said about the three kinds of law in the Old Testament, is this ceremonial law, civil law, or the great moral law? What do you think? Someone want to give an answer? What? Civil. Civil, someone says. This has to do with governance. This has to do with how the judge punishes the wrongdoer. It's civil law, but the scribes and the Pharisees apparently had applied this civil law to individuals. It's okay, you know, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, you know, you go right back at them. Law that was meant to govern civil life was applied personally. God never intended for Israel to be a whole nation of vigilantes. That would have been utter chaos. There are three institutions in society which God has clearly ordained, the family, the church, and the government. And the words of Romans 13 are instructive here. 4. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority, governmental authority, resists the ordinance of God. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. For he, that is the representative of the government, is God's minister to you for good. He does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. There you see the purpose for God ordaining government, to execute wrath on evildoers. It's the government's role to avenge evil, not the individual's. It's easy to understand the wisdom in this, maybe first and foremost, because if you leave retaliation to the individual, that offended person often is not capable of being level-headed in retaliation. In their anger, they're likely to do serious harm. But when we refer the matter to civil authorities, they're going to study out the matter slowly and they can handle it with level heads. Then Jesus made four statements about maintaining an attitude of non-retaliation. Each one diminishes the difficulty of the person being dealt with. Now, the first guy was the hardest. Next, a little easier, a little easier, a little easier. The first person is the person who slaps you in the face, which is quite aggressive. The last is a person who just wants to borrow from you, you know, which is not really very aggressive, but it might be annoying. Even the first person, the offense committed, the most offensive of the four, we're not talking about criminal behavior here. It's not criminal behavior. Criminal behavior goes to the court. Verse 39, but I tell you not to resist an evil person. Whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. What Jesus referred to being slapped on the cheek was not an assault, but an insult. Not assault, but insult. To be slapped on the cheek was Not something that would send a person to the emergency room for care. It was an injury to pride. When we're insulted, we're to respond with gentleness. And Jesus demonstrated this attitude when he was insulted. First Peter 2.23, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. but rather he committed himself to him who judges righteously. That's what Jesus did. That's what he wants us to do. The second evil or difficult person is the one who threatens, verse 40. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. This person's not threatening physical harm, but legal harm. He wants to sue you. If you've been around long enough, you probably have met someone like this. Back when I was a mental health case manager, now many years ago, I don't know how many, probably more than 20, I had a client who wanted me to drive him to the store. And I refused to do so in part because I knew he would purchase alcohol. And he was angry. And he told me, I'm going to call the Ohio Council of Social Worker Board and report you as a religious bigot that mistreats everybody that's not a Christian. I don't know if he ever did. I never heard anything. But Jesus' point is, Don't fight tooth and nail for all your legal rights. You can choose to be taken advantage of in some smaller matters like a tunic or a cloak. The third difficult person is a reference to a Roman soldier. Under Roman military law, soldiers had the right to command a Jew to carry his military pack for up to one mile. Verse 41, whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him too. The difficulty here, I think, for the Jewish men was not so much the mile or the weight of the pack. I think it was the attitude. Hey, Jew boy, carry my pack. Don't try to cheat my mile. But the response that Jesus wanted was something along the lines of, oh, sure, my good man. In fact, why don't you let me carry that all the way into Jerusalem for you, and we'll talk along the way. The fourth difficult person wanted to hand out or wanted to borrow something, verse 42. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you. Do not turn away. Now, this can be annoying to see your hard-earned items go out the door, but Jesus indicated that when we have the wherewithal, we should not be stingy, you know, clutching, but generous. even if the person coming to ask is annoying. Give it to him, lend to him. Now, remember, Jesus is correcting the error of the scribes and Pharisees who taught, never give an inch to anybody, you know, never give an inch to these difficult people. If they take advantage of you, you come right back at them, you know, force against force. This is not a complete treatise of what to do when somebody who refuses to work and comes over every day to demand food or to use your car or give me your lawnmower That problem is not being addressed here. He's addressing the error of the Pharisees who were too stingy. The problem of people that don't work and demand to be cared for is addressed elsewhere, for example, by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3.10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." Jesus is not giving an invitation to take advantage of Christians. The correction that Jesus was making was that we as believers treat difficult people with gentleness and generosity. It's not our job to get every penny we deserve and insist on every right we have. Our job is to point people to Jesus. And when we insist on meeting with force, meeting force with force, we're not very good representatives of Jesus. All right, last section for today, starting at verse 43. You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor 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, for he makes his son to rise 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 the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, What do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Now the quote Jesus uses came from Leviticus 19.18. You see it there. You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Now you'll notice the last part of the tribal scribal teaching, you know, and hate your enemy, doesn't show up here. In fact, it doesn't show up anywhere in Scripture. It was a scribal addition. The scribal addition to Leviticus 19.18 made the law more palatable, made it easier to meet. Well, you know, if I can define neighbor down to good people, good people that I like anyway, well, yeah, you know, I can love them. I think it was meant kind of to be humorous. Like, oh yeah, you've heard the law says, you know, love your enemy, ha ha ha, but that doesn't say you can't hate your enemy. Scribal addition to the law completely gutted the responsibility of Christian love. So Jesus made his point that they had gutted that God given a responsibility to love others by giving two comparisons. First, he compared them to God. in verse 45, that you may be sons of your father in heaven for he makes his son rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. You're very unlike your father when you try to love only your friends. God shows his kindness to all sorts of people, those that love him, those that worship him, and those that shake their fist at him. And then he compared him to tax collectors. He said, you're very much like tax collectors. Now, this was an insult to the scribes and Pharisees. They thought of themselves as far superior to tax collectors. Tax collectors were the worst of the unwashed masses. They were dishonest and disreputable. But there was a camaraderie among tax collectors and such. like people. They greet each other. They respect each other. They even have a love of a sort for each other. So what makes you superior, Mr. Scribe or Mr. Pharisee? If you want to be like God, love the people that don't love you. That's extraordinary to do that. and it will show that you're truly different from the unsaved when you do. So be perfect like your Father in heaven. This is not a demand to be sinless or without mistake. This word perfect here means to be mature. Become a grown up Christian and love people that are hard to love. And then Jesus explained who, Oh yeah, but who is my enemy? Who is my neighbor? So in verse 44, he says, to you I say, love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. That's your enemy. People that curse you, hate you, despitefully use you. That's a hard group of people to love. And he also gave a working definition of what love toward enemies should look like. It was not strictly a matter of attitude. It was actions. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. So verbally bless. Deeds of kindness. Sincere prayer. So Jesus corrected the, it's okay to hate your enemy, theology of the scribes and Pharisees and said mature Christian behavior is showed by love in action, love in action toward enemies. That's what God did. He showed love in action toward us. when we were his enemies and when he sent Jesus Christ to earth to die in our place. But God demonstrates his love toward us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. That's Romans 5, 8, and 10. All right, so that concludes Matthew 5. And it concludes, for now, the corrections that Jesus gave to scribes and Pharisees, but it just keeps coming up over and over and over again in scripture. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, it's hard to maintain balance in scriptural matters. I pray, Father, that we take very seriously the commands and not only just the external behaviors of the commands, but also that it would reach our hearts. And I pray, too, that we would not become too harsh, and that we would be able to find a good balance. Father, we ask that you would help us as we continue to worship this morning, and we thank you for the opportunity to be together. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.