Turn with me then to our Gospel reading and our text for the sermon, Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, verses 21 through 30. We continue looking at Matthew, and particularly the Sermon on the Mount, as it is called. section of teaching that goes from chapters 5-7 Matthew chapter 5 verses 21-30 Jesus speaking says, you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, you fool, will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your Accuser, hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell." This is the Word of the Lord. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your Word. It gives light to our feet and it directs us and it works in us by your Spirit. So we pray that it would. We pray for a blessing upon the reading and preaching of your Word, that it would be clearly and correctly explained, that it would be received with faith and obedience, that you might continue to correct us by your Word and shepherd us as your flock. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. So we saw back in Matthew chapter 4 that Jesus, just like John the Baptist in chapter 3, that Jesus preached that people should repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He calls people to follow him as his disciples. And as disciples, we'll see at the end of Matthew, they should continue to repent and learn to observe all His commandments." That's part of what it means to be a disciple. In our last passage, Jesus affirmed the moral standards of the Old Testament law, and now He's beginning to get specific what that means for His disciples. He begins to explain how His disciples should keep the Old Commandments in a way unlike the scribes and Pharisees. Remember He said that You know, if you're like the scribes and Pharisees, their righteousness is not what I'm talking about. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And now he's going to explain how his way of righteousness is different than their interpretation of the law. So in this passage, Jesus takes two commandments. Those against murder and adultery, known as the sixth commandment and the seventh commandment in the Ten Commandments. And they show, and Jesus shows, how these commandments require righteousness, not only in the actions, but also in your words, thoughts, and deeds. So we're going to look at the two, pretty basic outline, look at murder, and look at adultery. We're going to look at how He handles these two commandments. The scribes and Pharisees, and you notice the way He quotes the Old Testament, He says, that it was said to those of old." So you've heard it said, in other words, you've heard it from the Scribes and Pharisees quoting the Old Testament. And so this is the Old Testament mediated through the Scribes and Pharisees. And Jesus does not correct the law, he's not changed the law, but he is going to critique the Scribes and Pharisees' understanding of the law. Scribes and Pharisees stress the command against the act of murder, which leads to capital punishment, liable to judgment if you murder. That's true. Jesus does not abolish the commandment against the act of murder, but he corrects the deficient understanding of the scribes and Pharisees who stopped at the external act. It goes more deeper than that. In verses 21 and 22, Jesus teaches that it applies also to anger, insults and reviling or harsh language. First, anger. I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Some anger is righteous. God's anger certainly is righteous. He is also slow to anger and justly angry at the right things with the right motive. If we were giving a different sermon, we could talk about what is righteous anger, but here Jesus addresses what is most common among us, that is unrighteous anger. That is anger that manifests that there is in your heart vengefulness rather than patience, or hatred rather than love, malice rather than goodwill, bitterness rather than forgiveness and forbearance, Anger that manifests that there's envy behind it, rather than a humble spirit. Resentment, rather than the spirit that rejoices in the good of others. This is a anger motivated by corrupt motives that are quick to be angry, that are resentful, that are selfish, that are proud. And it's a familiar experience, I'm sure, among us, that there's anger that can rise up against a brother that does not have a righteous cause. Rather than being patient and loving and humble and forbearing and forgiving, that rather there is malice and bitterness and resentment and envy that leads to anger towards another, which is, Jesus says, a type of murder. It can lead to literal murder and physical violence. That's often what motivates someone to strike out, someone to do something about it. But itself is a kind of murder in the seed form. As we read in 1 John 3.15, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. So anger against a brother is a serious thing. But it goes beyond just anger. It also goes to insults. Literally, in the ESV, it translated, whoever insults his brother, literally, whoever calls his brother or sister raka, which is, in their language, a word of insult. To belittle a person is also a kind of murder. not just vengeful anger or bitter anger, but also a word, an attitude that expresses contempt for a person, to despise a person, to belittle a person. This also can lead to violence and murder. I mean, murder usually begins by devaluing a person, lightly esteeming a person. You're just a rakha. Disparaging them. In one sense, this is how abortion is justified, not valuing the unborn child as a child, as a person. But from genocide and mass murder to domestic violence, or simply striking someone on the street, or the whole spectrum of external acts of murder, they are usually rooted in an insulting and belittling attitude towards others that might start with just a word of insult. But Jesus goes to the start of it, the root of it, and says, that is murder. That makes you liable to the counsel, to a judgment. And this takes away the dignity of a person, and it disgraces the image of God. That's what gives someone value. And to belittle that person is to attack disgrace, belittling the image of God. And so it's wrong in itself, not just as something that might lead to something worse, but in itself, it too makes you liable for judgment. The next term used, you fool, it's very similar to rakah. I mean, some distinguish it by saying rakah is more like calling someone dummy, and you fool is more like scoundrel. It has a little different force to it. But we might say in general that there's a that reviling or harsh language towards others is a type of attack, a type of murder on another person. Reviling is, you know, abusive or harsh language. It includes slander, where you're saying something false about a person, but it even can be truthing said in an unkind and unduly harsh manner, in a way to tear down rather than to benefit the other person. Destructive words that attack and beat down a person. Even the word attack, you get the idea it's similar to violence and murder. Words that engage in a tit-for-tat verbal battle. You beat me down, I'll beat you down. That's the type of words being described here. This is a kind of murder. Do you recognize such language? Have you used it against your spouse or children when you're angry? Or other people in your life? or politicians and public figures. It's sometimes easier when someone's further away from you to use insulting, belittling, or harsh language, but sometimes it's the people closest to us that can provoke it, the different extremes there. But we should be careful about the language you use and the attitude that you have towards your brother. Jesus adds that even though these sins may escape human judgment, certainly there's no law in the Bible where the civil magistrate has authority to judge anger, but even though you might escape human judgment, there is a judgment that people will be called to account to. There is a divine judgment that awaits all murderers. The hell of fire, the place of final and eternal torment. Gehenna is the word behind it, here referring especially to that final place of judgment. James, in his epistle, writes something similar, where he says, "...the tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." He goes on to talk about how the words that we use can be used to curse those who are made in the likeness of God. That should not be. We should tame the tongue, and not use it to tear others down. Now, in drawing out the broader implications of this commandment against murder, Jesus is reaffirming what the Old Testament taught in places like Leviticus 19. We've read that a few times in worship here, so it might sound familiar, but Leviticus 19, verses 17-18 says, "...you shall not hate your brother in your heart." The Old Testament was still getting at your heart. It was described in Pharisees that were external. And it goes on to say, "...you shall reason frankly with your neighbor." Kind of like, go to your neighbor and tell him your faults, kind of like Jesus is going to say in this passage in 18, reason frankly with your neighbor lest you incur sin because of him. In other words, diffuse the anger, reconcile. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people. Notice it's both the aggressive vengeance as well as the bitterness, the grudge that you hold and resent. So don't do that. And then Leviticus goes on to even be positive. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord." Backs it up with his own name, his own character, his own association with his people. So Jesus is bringing back the law. He is re-establishing it against the corruptions of the scribes and Pharisees, bringing out its full meaning. And like the Old Testament, Jesus goes on to not only talk about what you shouldn't do, but also what you should do. Therefore, likewise, if you're not supposed to be angry, if you're not supposed to use insulting or angry language, what you should do is to love others, to seek reconciliation with others, to make peace, be peacemakers, like we mentioned back in the Beatitudes. Reconciliation before worship uses the image of someone who goes to offer a gift at the temple Now, especially because he's giving this in Galilee, this is especially notable because the brother that has something against him is probably back in Galilee and the altar is in Jerusalem. But regardless, he's offering a gift at the altar and remembers that a brother has something against him, that he is in conflict with a brother, that a brother is angry with him. And so he leaves the gift at the altar before offering it to God and goes and reconciles with his brother. Better for the Galilean to go and be reconciled before making the trip. It would be better for him to think ahead rather than traveling all the way down to Jerusalem and then thinking about it. We no longer go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices, but we do offer sacrifices of praise, of worship, even of good deeds, as Hebrews 13 mentions. Paul applies a similar principle to the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, where he says that God is disciplining His people because they were taking part of the Lord's Supper while at enmity with one another, while they were not participating in union with each other, as the Lord's Supper was supposed to indicate that they were one body. They were defiled by division within the Church. Jesus later is going to talk about going to the person who has wronged you, that you should do that. Someone has wronged you rather than bearing a grudge, rather than letting it stew, that you should go and talk to them and seek to be reconciled to them. But here, he talks of going to the one who feels that you have wronged him. So both sides are responsible to be peacemakers, to seek to make peace. Not only should you avoid anger, but you should seek to prevent murderous anger in others, so that you diffuse their anger as well by making peace. What does reconciliation look like? Well, first going to them, then patiently listening to the other person, being willing to repent of your own wrongdoings, to make restitution if that's applicable, taking responsibility for your side of the conflict, even if both sides have contributed, and patiently clearing up any misunderstandings. Sometimes it can be miscommunication that has caused a disruption in the relationship, but you have to patiently listen and clearly explain and not get frustrated and angry in the midst of trying to clear that up. You seek to make peace. Now in verses 25-26, Jesus uses another image to communicate the same idea. Here, there's an adversary bringing you to court. Don't only seek reconciliation with the brother back home, but even with your enemies, your accuser. You might be unsuccessful in making a settlement, but at least make the effort to make peace, even on the steps of the courthouse. Do not be overly rigorous about your rights, perhaps, being willing to come to a mutually agreeable solution. If you are overly rigorous about your rights, the accuser might be overly rigorous about his rights, and you suffer for it. Those who show no mercy receive no mercy, said also in James, who seems to imitate a lot of things in the Sermon on the Mount. So the command against murder forbids the unjust killing of human life for sure. but its original intention was also to forbid murderous words, thoughts, attitudes, and went even beyond that to require love for others, to respect others, and the effort to make peace and reconciliation with others, to not let that anger stew within you, or even in others. So when the Pharisees might be content with merely external and negative command, The disciples of Jesus will engage in deeper repentance that strikes at the root of the sin, turning from murder in the heart and becoming makers of peace. Well, let's turn to the second commandment that Jesus talks about in this passage. And that is against adultery. They had heard the scribes and Pharisees quote the seventh commandment, you shall not commit adultery. Certainly Jesus did not abolish this commandment either. Married people are bound to be sexually united with only each other. Unfaithfulness to this commitment is a grave sin, justly punished according to the law, and a legitimate grounds for divorce. We'll get to that next week. But the scribes and Pharisees were wrong to stop at forbidding the external act and not striking deeper at immoral sexual desires. In verse 28, Jesus teaches that this command goes beyond the act of adultery to forbid adulterous looks and desires. Now note that the word for woman here is the same word used for wife. It might be better translated that way because the context speaks of adultery. In other words, anyone who looks at a wife with lustful intent has committed adultery with her in his heart. In other words, the man who looks with desire at another man's wife has committed adultery in his heart. The same for the woman who looks with desire at another woman's husband. And the same for a married man or married woman who looks with desire at someone not their spouse. You can come up with a couple combinations there. Jesus just picks one example to cover that category. Marriage is a life-uniting bond, a covenant of loyalty and faithfulness. Sexual desire is designed, was created for that relationship, to seal that bond. Not only have you given your bodies to each other if you are married, but you've committed your heart and desire as well. Here, again, Jesus reaffirming what the Old Testament had taught all along. The 10th commandment, if you went down a few more commandments there, says, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. It might seem harmless if it was entirely internal. What harm could that do to them? But God knows what He is doing when He forbids it. It is rebellion against what God has done in uniting man and wife. He sees the heart. It's not wrong to merely look at another man's wife. In other words, burkas are not required. That it is looking with a certain intent in order to desire her, in order to lust after her. It's not wrong to notice or to see that another man's wife is beautiful. Beauty is a gift, not something that's shameful. But it is wrong to desire her, to covet her, to look at her to provoke this desire. as we read in Proverbs 6.25. It says, "...do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids." That is what is wrong. That is what should be avoided. It is the lusting after, the allurement, the desire that is a grave and treacherous sin, and one that leads to more sin. So likewise, while burqas and ugliness are not required, so you should be careful to not dress seductively or in a sexually provocative manner. Again, trying to help others to avoid this sin. But rather dressing modestly, with moderation, propriety. Of course, in our age, usually the area where that happens is in not being overly revealing. But yet, even when people do not dress helpfully, you, for your part, are bound to be chaste, content, and self-controlled in your desires, turning away your eyes if necessary? And how much more should you not seek out provocative display, as happens in pornography, which is designed to incite lust? Now, humans were created with sexual desire. Man and woman desiring to be one flesh again, as they were originally created. God separated them and brings them back together. but sin hijacked this part of your nature as it does every part of your nature, directing it towards that which is forbidden. Adulterous desire is one way that it is perverted, but I could list other perverted sexual desires which are inherently unnatural and sinful, but I'm not. So it is not enough to fight sin in its external acts. Jesus calls you to repent of your unlawful desires, your lack of self-control, and the use of your eyes in the service of covetousness." Now, one might ask, especially in our day where a lot of people are not married, back then if you were over 20 you probably were married, it was a lot more common than today, but you might ask, what about lust between a single man and a single woman? What if the desire does not violate an existing marriage? While Jesus speaks here of adultery, A similar principle applies to all sexual immorality. The problem is not just in the act, but in the desire for that act. Obviously, single people can sin this way. Otherwise, Paul would not have told single people to get married so that they would not commit sexual immorality. They were in danger before marriage. It's actually a remedy for this. physical union is sinful when it's outside the bounds of marriage, and desire for such unmarried union is also unlawful. All people ought to turn away from sexually provocative entertainment. Yet this command applies to single people with some nuance, since there is the potential of marriage, and it's proper for desire in a very restrained manner to lead to marriage. And here I quote from John Murray, a theologian of the last century who was a very careful thinker on ethical matters. So if you'll bear with me here, I'll quote from him. I like especially his first sentence here. The line of demarcation between virtue and vice is not a chasm but a razor's edge. Sex desire is not wrong and Jesus does not say so. To cast any aspiration on sex desire is to impute the integrity of the Creator and of His creation. Furthermore, it is not wrong to desire to satisfy sex desire and impulse in the way God has ordained. Indeed, sex desire is one of the considerations which induce men and women to marry. The Scripture fully recognizes the propriety of that motive and commends marriage as the honorable and necessary outlet for sex impulse. What is wrong is the earliest and most rudimentary desire to satisfy the impulse to the sex act outside the estate of matrimony. It is not wrong to desire the sex act with the person who may be contemplated as spouse when the estate of matrimony will have been entered upon with him or her, but the desire for the sex act outside the divinely instituted and strictly guarded sanctuary which God has reserved for the man and his wife alone is wrong. And it is from this fountain of desire that proceed all the evils by which the sanctity of sex is desecrated." You can listen to the recording of that quote again, and a lot more could be said. But we should not desire what is forbidden, but rather should put it in its place when it is time, when we come to marriage, and that is the place for this desire. Verses 29-30. Jesus says, well, if you're not supposed to do that, what are you supposed to do? This is what you're supposed to do. Cut it off. Mortify sinful desires. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out. Throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. So why mortify sinful desires? Because they lead to hell, the final place of just punishment, into which the resurrected bodies of the wicked are thrown. repents for the kingdom of heaven is at hand which John the Baptist said brings with it grace for the repentance but fiery judgment upon the rebellious those trees that are unfruitful as Ephesians 5 says you may be sure of this that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an idolatry has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. But those who begin the process of repentance, those who trust in Jesus for forgiveness, will be shown mercy on the day of judgment. The kingdom brings with it both." What does this repentance look like? It seems pretty important. What does it look like? Well, it looks like an amputation. Now, it's not literally an amputation. Jesus is not saying, go and tear your eyes out. That's not his intention. We can get into that more, but hopefully that's taken for granted, although not. And that church has always taught that, though there's been a few people who have been misinformed. But your sin is so ingrained in you that to cut it off will feel like an amputation. It's a striking image. It should explain what it is like to repent of sin. People justify sin by saying it's part of them, that they were born that way, that it's only human, but they can't help it. It's like having eyes. Surely, we have to keep it. Indeed, we are helpless apart from the grace of God. It is part of our nature to sin against God in our fallen state, but that is no excuse. It only shows how corrupt we are. The grace of repentance strikes deeply. It means denying yourself. It means denying your wishes. It means cutting things off, cutting desires off that were so dear to you. Denying yourself the free use of your eyes. In that case, I do mean it literally. They're not taking them out, but turning them away, closing them. They are not your own. They were bought with a price. Sometimes you need to turn away. Repentance involves a true sense of the sin at hand, which hopefully I'm getting at some. That means grief and hatred towards that sin. It means an awareness of the mercy of God and turning away from that desire, stopping that train of thought. Do not feed it by spending time on it. Do something else when the thoughts occur, with confession for even the suggestion. Do not feed it with provocative images, entertainment, or imaginations. Use the external appointed means that God has given, by being diligent in your calling. By faithfully participating in worship and the fellowship of the saints, by having healthy interactions with other people in holiness, prepare yourself for marriage and get married, and love your spouse if you are married. As the Puritan Thomas Watson said, he said, it is not having a wife, but loving a wife that makes a man live chastely. Let me say that again. It is not having a wife, but loving a wife that makes a man live chastely. Marriage is a help to keep us on track, to be a remedy for sexual immorality, but not merely being married, but engaging in that marriage and loving your spouse is the remedy intended. So cherish and maintain this love. It is a fire. It is hot, but it goes out if you do not feed it. So in conclusion, Jesus preached a message of repentance. Repentance implies that you are already involved in these sins, that you have something to repent of. It implies also that there is hope for sinners, otherwise why do anything? That despite deserving hell, that there is hope for those who follow Jesus. Remember that Jesus was named Jesus because he would save his people from their sins. His people have sins, and they require salvation, and He procured, He bought that salvation through His death and resurrection. His blood cleanses believers from the guilt and power of sin, so that they are forgiven, that they are enabled to grow more in righteousness of heart and life. So believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust Him for your salvation. from murder and adultery here specifically, from anger and from lust. Seek forgiveness from Him and by His grace repent. Turn from them. Do not be unfruitful hypocrites like the Pharisees, but be a disciple of Christ who hungers and thirsts after righteousness and strives to cut off your sinful desires and ways. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we know and come to you as your people and the people of your Son, Jesus Christ. We do indeed come as those who are sinful, that perhaps in our own ways break your laws. And we pray that you would have mercy upon us, that you would grant to your people, to us here today, that grace of repentance. that we might more and more be able, and that we would turn away from our sins, our sinful desires, and run after the way of your commandments, and greatly desire them, and benefit from them. We thank you for your forgiveness, for your promises, for sending a Savior for us, and so we pray that you might make us an honor to your kingdom, and light and salt in this world. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.