King Jesus continues to give us the constitution of his kingdom as it were the Sermon on the mount teaching us the marvelous truth ready for church the marvelous truth about our True righteousness. Yes, yes, yes. Everything we're talking about here in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. King Jesus is teaching us about true righteousness. True righteousness, Jesus has taught us, will save your soul. The reality is that Jesus said way back in verse 20 that unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven." Ladies and gentlemen, we're not going to get there working on our own. The only way that you and I can come to live in the kingdom of heaven, can come to live in heaven one day, is to have the true righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to our account. But what we have found is that when you and I have ceased from our own trying and have come to trust, put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, that the positional righteousness that Christ bestows on us doesn't stop there, but that true righteousness begins to sanctify and transform our life giving us practical righteousness in the way we live. And of course, we do kind of reference verse number 20 there as the main verse of that section. And then after that, Jesus begins to work out the fact that our lives must be more than outward religious works. that the heart of righteousness is a right heart. Where the scribes and the Pharisees would say, don't kill, Jesus said, but I say unto you, God has a problem with your hate as well. Where the Pharisees would say, well, if your brother has a problem this or that, Jesus would say, no, God has an issue with you having an unresolved issue between you and another. Where the Pharisees would say, just don't commit adultery, Jesus says, don't lust. Where the Pharisees and some of the other religious leaders might have gone so far as the day as to say, well, you can get a divorce for just any reason whatsoever, Jesus went to say, no, no, no, from the beginning it was not so. You see, God has always dealt with mankind from the inside out. In other words, God wants your heart. In other words, true righteousness, this thing that we're talking about, whether it's anger or matters of reconciliation, matters of lust, matters of marriage, matters of truth, matters of love, as we looked at last week, it all starts in here. It is true righteousness within that produces true righteousness without, but it's all about true righteousness. Today, King Jesus is going to conclude this section of the Sermon on the Mount with a very pointed thought. If your life has greater righteousness than religion offers, your righteousness, because of Christ's righteousness, exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees. If your life has a greater righteousness than religion offers, It will have a different power than religion offers. It will have a different purpose than religious religion offers. It will have a different presence in this world than religion offers. In other words, Jesus now summarizes all that we've seen thus far in chapter 5 and says this, true righteousness in your heart and life will make you undeniably different. Let's see how Jesus works this out beginning in verse number 46. He says this, he says, for if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? I want you to see first here Jesus again reminds us that it starts with a difference within. It starts with a difference within. He kind of continues on this note of love that we looked at a couple of weeks ago. And then he points out here the trouble that we practically run into. The trouble is if we inwardly feel only the love for those who love us, We are just like the heathen. You see, the publicans that Jesus references here were Jewish men who had basically given themselves to be Roman tax collectors. They were known for their dishonesty. They were known for being traitors to the nation of Israel. They were known as being the lowest of the low. These were bad, bad dudes. In fact, they were not even polite company to have around. Remember when Jesus, what did they say about him that he eats with publicans and sinners? Jesus says, if inwardly we only feel love, we only love those who love us, we are just like the heathen. Notice what he says here in verse number 46. He says, what reward have you? That reward, it has the idea, it means to be paid in full. In other words, it means the bill has been paid, you have receipt in hand, there's nothing else coming. Jesus says if we in this life only love those people who love us He says there is no other reward coming not in this life Not in the life to come there is no reward for being like everybody else You see that's the trouble we run into how many of us tonight can testify that it's easy to love people who love us I mean, come on. It is easy to love people who love us. It is easy to be kind to people who are kind to us. That's the trouble. The truth is this. The truth that Jesus is driving at is this reality that it matters what goes on within us. It matters. It's not enough just to see somebody you don't love and put a smile on your face. Brother, how you doing today? You see, we can all put on a show when the right people are watching. But it matters what goes on in here. There's got to be a difference within. And that's the whole point of this section. Six times Jesus points out in this section. You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you, dealing with the heart. You have heard that it was said, but I say unto you. You've heard that it was said, but I say unto you, it matters what goes on inside of us. And Christians, we cannot afford to bury our hearts and put on a show. Outward righteousness and outward religion will never bring God's blessing. They never will! Because we can't hide our hearts from God. You see, you can fool the preacher. It's not hard to do. My kids do it all the time. You can fool your spouse. Your family can fool the neighbors. You can fool a lot of people. But you cannot Hide your heart from God. And folks, Jesus, he's talked about anger, and he's talked about bitterness, and he's talked about lust, and he's talked about commitment in marriage, and he's talked about the truth, and he's talked about love, and he's talked over and over and over again that what goes on within us matters deeply to God because it is where true righteousness begins practically in our lives. And it is time for the church to stop excusing it. Hey, how many of us know tonight we can't always help how we feel? Sometimes I don't like how I feel. Ladies and gentlemen, we can't always help how we feel, but here's the reality about true righteousness. That true righteousness and the power of God is great enough, is strong enough when we submit ourselves to Him to even change how we feel. You know what? God can give you love. God can give you love for that person you're struggling with tonight. Yes he can. How do you know that preacher? He wouldn't command you to have it if he wouldn't enable you to have it. God doesn't set us up for failure. God enables us for victory. Amen? God can give you love for that person. You know what? That bitterness, that hurt, that thing that happened to you that has defined every moment of your life. As Jesus reconciles, He talks about reconciliation with a brother who is angry with you, a brother who has an issue with you. That thing that has happened to you, understand this, God can give you victory over that. God can give you victory over lust. God can give you victory in your marriage. God can give you victory in telling the truth. God can even give you victory in learning to love people who despitefully use you and persecute you. We can't help how we feel, but hallelujah, God can change how we feel. But here it is. We have to be real. if we want to be made right. We have to be real if we want to be made right. I wonder when the last time that thing that we struggle with right now, that thing that the Holy Spirit is pressing your heart about, I wonder when is the last time we were honest enough to name it Name it. Name it before God. When is the last time we were real enough to lay it before God? To say, God, I don't even know how this is going to work, but I'm going to let go. God, I'm trusting you to change what only you can change. You see the reality is often times we are content putting a smile on saying that we are blessed and highly favored that boy God has been good so often it is so much easier to put the smile on and hope inside of us that one day things are just gonna work out but it's not because what goes on inside of us matters And that's where true righteousness begins its practical work. There is a difference within. We have to be real to be made right. True righteousness provides a difference within. Hallelujah, amen. And in doing so, it makes a difference without. Jesus gives a second scenario here in verse number 47. He says this. He says, if you salute, greet your brethren only, What do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans the same? Here again Jesus picks on the publicans because they were the lowest of the low. They were just unscrupulous people. But even the publicans were willing to greet those that were like them. Jesus says, look, ladies and gentlemen, true righteousness within us, it not only makes a difference within, it makes a difference without. The trouble is this, that if we outwardly salute, we outwardly greet only the brethren, those of the same nation, those of the same religion, those of the same group, those of the same, whether it's we're playing basketball or soccer with the teenagers, whether it's same political party out here, if we only greet or salute the brethren, we are just like the heathen. Because even the grotesquely wicked will do this. Even the grotesquely wicked will greet those people who are just like them. As we mentioned this morning, it'd be a good thing for the church to stop being comfortable in being uncomfortable with people who are different from us, who oppose us, who are uncomfortable for us or unknown, The truth is, is that what is within us will come out of us. Kind of think of it like a sponge. When you push the sponge, whatever it's got in it's going to come out. And if we want true righteousness to come out of us, then we have to have true righteousness reign within us. If we desire for divine love to come out of us, then divine love must reign within us. Now let me pause here and remind everybody that we as God's people should be separate. We are called to come out from among them and be ye separate. separate in relationships, separate in morality, separate in amusement, separate in perspectives. There are many things that the Church of Jesus Christ is separated on, but the Church of Jesus Christ is never called to be segregated. The us for, no more principle. We're never called to be isolated. We're called to be impactful. I want you to think about this, to have the love of God received through Jesus Christ, to have the love of God reign within, true righteousness, the love of God to reign within. You think about the love of God, what does the love of God do? The love of God drives to seek the hearts of those who are far from God. That's what the love of God does. It drives us to seek the hearts of those who are far from God. Again, it's easy to salute the brethren. The brethren are the people who we have naturally surrounded ourselves with. That means if we're going to be willing and able to salute to greet people that aren't the brethren, we're going to have to, a lot of times, go out of our natural circles. Go outside of our comfort zone. I want you to see Jesus' own example when he was here on this earth. Jesus in John chapter 4 and in other places, what did he do? He went to the land of Samaria. In fact, Jesus said one time that he must needs. Now the Samaritans, kind of like the publicans, they just weren't good people to be around in polite company. I mean, the Jewish people of that day labeled the Samaritans as worse than the heathens. They just weren't people that any self-respecting Jewish man would be around. And yet, Jesus must needs go through Samaria. And on top of that, to talk to a woman while he was there. What did Jesus do? Well, the love of God drove the Lord Jesus Christ to seek those, to seek those, to actively, purposefully seek those who were far from God. I think about the Jesus and the woman of ill repute, how she came and she washed his feet with her tears, you remember that story? And the scribes and the Pharisees, what did they say to themselves? They said, huh, if he knew what kind of woman that was, if he knew what she did for a living, boy, he wouldn't let her anywhere near. What was Jesus' response? That those who've been forgiven little tend to love little, but those who've been forgiven lots because the love of God in Jesus Christ drove him to reach those far from God. You think about Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood, the woman who was ceremoniously unclean, and to understand how intensive a thing this was back in the day. If something that was unclean touched something that was clean, then it would, in the Jewish law, make that clean thing to be unclean. And so the fact that that woman was there was scandalous to begin with. She was putting everyone in that group at risk of becoming unclean. And then for her to have the audacity to touch the hem of Jesus' garment, how dare she? But what did Jesus do? Jesus turned around and called her daughter. Called her daughter. Because the love of God drove Him to seek those far from Him. I think about Jesus, the week of His passion after the triumphal entry. The Bible says that He went out onto the side of the mountain and He looked the city of Jerusalem, and the Bible says he wept. He wept over the city, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. You can feel the agony of soul of the Son of God. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered you together as a hen does her brood. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, but ye would not. And Jesus wept over the city that he knew in just a few days would cry, crucify him. His blood be on us and on our children. And yet Jesus, knowing that, Knowing what they would do, knowing what they would say. Wept over them and love. I think about. I think about the love of God. As it reached to me. Knowing where I've been, knowing what I've done. And yet the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost, and I am forever grateful. Church, do we see it tonight? True righteousness, it makes a difference. And true righteousness, It creates a difference as we go about our lives. We don't just insulate ourselves. We don't isolate ourselves. We are not here, you could say, to integrate the culture. We are not here to isolate from the culture. We are here to impact all that we can with the love of God in Christ Jesus. Sometimes we say, but preacher, you don't know what they're doing. But I do know that's why Jesus came and died. Preacher, you don't know where they've been. No, I know where Jesus has been for them. You see, if we only love those who love us, there's no reward in that. None. We only salute those who salute us. There's no reward in that. True righteousness creates a difference within. which in turn creates a difference without. Because I want you to see here, verse 48, the Bible says this, be therefore perfect. Be therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. True righteousness, it creates a difference within. True righteousness, then, in turn, creates a difference without. Because true righteousness, here, church, hear this, true righteousness leads us to live, to walk, to love, to serve, to exist a different way. You see, our purpose in this world is not to strive for wealth, Our purpose in this world is not to strive for power. Our purpose in this world is not to strive for ease. Our purpose in this world is not to strive for acceptance. Our purpose in this world is not to strive for popularity. It's not to strive for a certain make or model of car, certain square foot of house, certain vacation destination. Our purpose in this life is not to reach some stage on the corporate ladder, not to do some other accomplishment, not to have a healthy and wealthy retirement. Our purpose in this life is to be as our Heavenly Father To be perfect as He is. That's our perfect. That's the way we're called to walk. That's the way true righteousness propels us. To be perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect. Now understand here the idea of perfect. It has the idea of a process coming to completion. In other words, that which we have been living for, that which we have been striving for, and that which we have been engaged in, it has been fully accomplished and brought to pass. So what does that mean? It means we strive. for spiritual maturity. We strive for completeness. We strive to be like Jesus. And you know, church, it is a process. And this word here acknowledges the idea that this is a process of sanctification that God is accomplishing in our lives. where we one day when we see him the Bible says we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and one day in glory we will know perfection holy as he is holy it's that understanding church that I'm I'm not what I used to be amen and I'm not yet what I am going to be amen the reality is is I'm a work in progress I'm on my way and I have no plans to stop because true righteousness leads us a different way. That's our purpose. Church, don't live for health, don't live for wealth, don't live for esteem of others. Live to be like Jesus. Live to be like Jesus. Live to be like Jesus. That's our pattern. The Bible here, Jesus specifically says, our Father which is in heaven. That we are to be like God the Father morally and relationally. I think about when I was a youth pastor and watching the teenagers and how easy it is sometimes to see teenagers and how they pattern their lives after people. You know, sometimes it's after athletes. I can remember coaching before Steph Curry and coaching after Steph Curry in basketball. For those of you who don't know, Stephen Curry is the basketball player who shoots 37,363 three-pointers every game. Okay? Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much. But I will tell you, in that time where he became, like, the man on the basketball world, we went from shooting, like, 12 three-pointers a game, now we shoot, like, 42 three-pointers a game. Why? Because everybody wants to be like Steph Curry. See? Even Drew knows. Nobody can make a layup, but everybody wants to chuck a 40-foot three-pointer. That's what I deal with every year. It's great, preacher. It's great. Hey, you want to stay home from Florida and coach some basketball this year? OK, we'll talk about it. You know, you see it in the way they fashion themselves after athletes, after musicians, after artists, after actors. After the cool kid in school, after the newest trend on whatever the newest social media is, it's easy to see in teenagers sometimes. But you know, reality is, adults, we do the same thing. You know, whether it's something that we see on social media, whether it's something internally where we're trying to keep up with the Joneses next door. Church, we're pattering our lives after something. We wake up in the morning with goals and desires and things that we want to see accomplished. And I got to ask, how many of us wake up with that settled heart? How many of us wake up and take that time and focus our heart to say, you know what? More than anything else today, I want to be like Jesus. I want to be more like Jesus when I pillow my head than when I took it off the pillow this morning. It's not a success for me to just end up going to sleep in the same bed that I came out of. It's not a success just to see that my bills are paid. It's not a success to see just that my kids stay out of trouble. No, no, no. I need to be like Jesus. Jesus. Church, we are following something. What is it? What is it that we're following? I tell you, I grew up a little bit, and I hesitate to say this, I grew up in a day and age in a little bit where there was a little bit of almost like preacher worship. And there were certain preachers that were more well-known. And it seemed like everybody that were going to those colleges and everybody that were coming out of those colleges ended up trying to preach exactly like certain individuals. They're trying to model their lives. Can I tell you what? Preachers aren't perfect people. Preachers aren't perfect people. Preachers are sinful people. Preferably saved sinful people. Amen? But I can, and I look back now on some of those days and some of those things, ladies and gentlemen, what are we pattering our lives out of? What do we wake up seeking? What if, what if we just got back to trying to be like Jesus? Trying to be perfect. as our Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. Because if we're not living to be like our Heavenly Father, then we have the wrong pattern. And church, the proof is in the pudding. All of the illustrations that Jesus gives, it comes back to two things. The true test of true righteousness, the true test of spirituality is how we love what goes on on the inside, and how we treat what goes on on the outside people. How we love and how we treat people. True righteousness makes you undeniably different. It makes you different within which in turn makes you different without because we are following a different way so I gotta ask tonight church and I think every one of us tonight whether we're here on the sanctuary watching by way of Facebook listening by way of radio every one of us tonight have to stop and take a look at your own heart in life is your heart in life undeniably different if it isn't You have to ask why not. You know, sometimes it's fear, it's doubt, it's insecurity. Sometimes it's apathy. Sometimes it's sin that we just don't want to be real about. Sometimes there's no difference because we really aren't different. We sit in church with the best of them and we sing in church with the best of them, but in our hearts we are still lost in trespasses and sin. You know, sometimes, church, there is no difference because there is no difference. Whatever it is tonight, as the Holy Spirit has addressed things in your heart and life, I encourage you, church, I implore you to deal with those things. as the Holy Spirit has spoken to you. Remember, this thing, what's all this about, church? It's all about what? It's about true righteousness. This thing of true righteousness is not something that you and I can work up. True righteousness and the difference it creates comes from the supernatural work of God alone. And so the only way we can make it right, get it right, be right, is by the work of God. Hey, if you're saved tonight, understand this. If you are saved, you have a different spirit within you. You have a different purpose upon you. You have a different standard given to you. You have a different home that you're headed to. You have a different Lord that calls the shots. You have a different appetite in your soul. You have a different perspective in your mind. You have a different love coursing through your veins. If you're saved tonight, you are different. You are. The question Jesus, your King, has for you today is whether or not we are living that difference. Are we concerning the heart of the matter undeniably different?