Amen, all right. We're continuing this evening with the book of matthew and this is actually the second part to chapter five
My voice keeps cutting in and out i'm losing my voice. I don't know why
Since sunday and so forgive me if I crack a little bit and please don't make fun of me. All right
All right, so we're going to start in verse 21
Well, let me actually just do a little bit of review from the first half of chapter five, of course from last week
We went over what's commonly known as the beatitudes
And essentially what this is
It's uh god's definition of what a blessing is right and it's obviously contrary to what the world believes
But he is essentially describing what it means to actually be blessed and we see that in the first couple verses
Culminating to the fact that it's a blessing to be persecuted
For christ's sake right? He says there in verse number 10 blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven and so we see all these blessings
but one of the greatest blessings that a christian can ever have is to be persecuted for their faith and the reason for that is
Because the bible says yea all that will live godly in christ. Jesus shall suffer persecution
And when we look at persecution in the bible, obviously, it's synonymous with tribulation
But it's not just any tribulation. It's tribulation
That's a result of you living a godly life because there are people out there that suffer tribulation
But it's because they're an idiot, you know what I mean? It's because they're doing stupid stuff
They're suffering as the bible says as a murderer as a thief as an evildoer
And not necessarily because they're serving god
And so we want to suffer as a christian because we're living out christian principles
Because of the fact that according to the bible there's actually a great reward for people who suffer for righteousness' sake
He says there that there's exceeding great reward for us and not only that
When we suffer tribulation for righteousness sake the bible tells us that we are in good company because the bible says that the prophets of old
Also are persecuted in like manner and so we recognize that there's people who have exemplified
That type of godliness that merits
Persecution tribulation so on and so forth and it tells us to rejoice over that and so we conclude
That first half with talking about that and of course he he he goes into being the salt of the earth
And the importance of having those that property of being salt salt obviously preserved and we think of christians
We're sent to this world to preserve souls from going to hell
By giving them the gospel you think of joseph when he went into egypt, you know, he told his brothers
You know, he meant it into evil but god meant it into good to save much people alive right to preserve life there
And in like manner we're sent forth as ambassadors for christ to give people the gospel and be salty christians and thereby getting people saved
But in this at the same time salt is also an irritant if you're to pour salt on an open wound
That would be very painful and it's irritating, right?
So in like manner the preaching of the gospels to them to perish foolishness
But into us which are saved is the power of god
But also just the preaching of the council of god is going to make a lot of people mad. It's going to irritate a lot of people
It's it's going to expose listen to this the open wound of sin in our society the open wound of sin
In people's lives and so that's going to irritate a lot of people and so god wants us to be that salt
And if you're not a salty christian, the bible says that you've lost your savior. Okay, and if you lost your savior
Jesus said you're good for nothing christian, but to be cast down to be trotted under the foot of men
This is essentially describing a christian who lets the world walk all over them
Because they're not salty enough, right?
and he goes into being the light of the world the importance of letting our
Works be displayed in this world so as to cause people to glorify god
because of it and then uh
The next couple verses i'm actually going to explain going into the second half
Because they relate to what we're going to talk about tonight
Now, let me just say this when going through verses 21 through 48
Till the end of the chapter. Let me just say a couple things regarding that first and foremost
What we're going to look at tonight
Is an example of jesus christ
Amplifying the laws of god because we're going to see a lot of things that we see in the old testament that are particular laws
That are not done away with okay, but we're going to see god amplifying those laws and setting a higher standard, okay?
Based upon those commandments another thing that I want you to notice is the fact that or take into account
Is that the section that we're going to read tonight?
Listen listen very closely the section that we're going to read tonight. We need to interpret that section
based upon verse 17
And verse 20, okay
So when we look at this chapter tonight, we look at all these commandments. We need to keep verse 17 in mind
Look at verse 17. It says think not that i'm come to destroy the law
So he says that right before going into the section
Why because he wants the reader to know the listeners to know?
Hey, i'm not destroying the law i'm not doing away with the law
I'm, not making it null and void
He's not repealing the law
Okay, he's not coming to destroy the law
And the prophets or the prophets. Excuse me. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill so as you read
This second half of matthew chapter five. We need to keep that in mind
He said why are you making such a big deal about it because christians today?
Read this and automatically think that what jesus is doing is saying oh, you know
basically
The old testament laws are basically done away with it's not important to god or whatever
But we just got finished reading in verse 17 that he came not to destroy the law but to fulfill them. Okay
So we need to keep that in mind
The second thing that we need to keep in mind when we read the second half and pay attention here is verse 20
It says for I say to you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribe and of the pharisees
You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven
He said why should I keep that in mind?
when reading this passage here
Well because of the fact that when you look at these commandments that god is giving that jesus christ is giving here
And the fact that he's amplifying it. He's he's kind of going above and beyond he's setting the standard the bar pretty high
You kind of wonder like who's able to keep all this and the answer is nobody. No one can right?
Okay
And he's saying there in verse 20
Your righteousness needs to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees not because they're righteous
But because outwardly they have that outward righteous piety about themselves
And he's saying if you can't if you can't exceed their righteousness, you can't be saved, you know
And obviously we know that they're not righteous. The only righteous one is jesus christ himself. Okay
He's the only one who's perfect. He's the only one who's
righteous
And we can in and of ourselves save ourselves based upon our works
We can't even keep any of the things that are mentioned here in this particular chapter
So we need to recognize that jesus is going to amplify the laws first and foremost
But secondly, we need to interpret it. We need to interpret what's going to be stated based upon verse 17 and based upon verse number 20
Now with that being said, let's go into verse 21 here
He started he begins to say ye have heard that it had been said by them of old time
Now this is a phrase that's going to keep coming up five times in this particular chapter
and the reason for that is because
He's essentially repeating or he's stating what the law said in times past now
There's a lot of debate as to whether the last one is something that the bible states and i'm going to address that
At the end of the sermon when we go through verse 43
But for the most part when you look at the other four when he says when you have you have heard by them of old time
He is quoting the old testament, okay?
And so let's start off by looking at that
He says of all time thou shall not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment pretty clear cut and dry, right?
Basically don't murder and anybody who murders is in danger of judgment. They're in danger of
Essentially being put to death. Okay
because of a capital crime
Or just the judgment of god if you were to apply it to christians and we'll get into the application of christians in just a bit
So it's just a basic command there and it says in verse 22
But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
And whosoever shall say to his brother raka shall be in danger of the council
But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire
Now before I explain to you what this passage means
Let me also make the statement that this sermon also known as the sermon on the mount that goes from chapters five six and seven
He's addressing his disciples, right? So people who are saved but you got to keep in mind that there's people from judea dicopolis
Galilee there's possibly a mixed multitude of people there. Wouldn't you agree that there's probably people here are not saved
You know if you're to have a church of a thousand people probably the vast majority of the people there
Are saved if they if it's a bible believe in church, they preach the right gospel
But you might have a sprinkling of a few who are not saved
How much more when he's preaching to a multitude outdoors people are coming to hear him
there's going to be people there who are not safe, but the sermon is directed towards christians because he
Is addressing the disciples as we see in the beginning of the chapter
And so this is going to apply to unsafe people and we're going to see the secondary application
to
It applies to unsafe people but we're going to see the application to save people as well. So what does he mean here?
when he talks about
Those who are angry with their brother
Shall be in danger of judgment people who say raka danger of counsel
People who call other people a fool danger of hellfire. Well right off the bat. We know that if a person
Is not saved
The bible tells us that whosoever keepeth the whole law yet offended one point he's guilty of all
And if you've gone soul winning for any length of time if you've preached the gospel for any length of time
Most people at the door feel like they're going to go to heaven because they're a good person
Okay, and possibly they even have in their mind. Well, i've never killed anybody
I've never committed murder and they're probably right about that
Although, you know, you know, we've ran into people who said i've committed murder, you know
I've ran into at least one person like that in my ministry and also I remember someone in omani
Uh preaching the gospel someone they're like, yeah, I killed someone, you know, it was
I committed murder, you know, but for the most part the majority of people you speak to probably are not murderers
And if they are they're not going to divulge that information
Most people are going to think they deserve and they merit eternal life because they haven't done something as criminal as murder, right?
And so he's addressing this crowd. He's telling them you've heard that, you know, obviously killing is wrong
But let me just say that even being angry with your brother is wrong and you're in danger of judgment
Why because when someone kills an individual physically it starts in the heart with anger
And what we're going to look at here in this chapter is that much of the issues that jesus christ is addressing
Are the issues of the heart?
Where sin actually begins and he's saying look if you're angry with your brother without a cause you're in danger of judgment
He says if you say to your brother raca, which quite frankly we don't necessarily know exactly what that means
You know raca, but if you're to take it based upon its context, it's just like an insult of some sort
Okay
It doesn't really matter. We don't use that term today
You know, but he says you're in danger of the council
And he says if you call anybody a fool you're in danger of hellfire
So he's basically raising the standard saying you may have not committed murder. You may have not killed anybody
But you've been angry with someone in your heart at one point
You've said raca to someone and you probably called someone a fool at which point you're still guilty of being a sinner
And therefore you're in danger of hellfire, okay
Pretty simple there
Now, how would we apply this to christians though? Because he's addressing christians here as well
Well, we obviously know that if we do all these things we're not going to lose our salvation. Okay?
And you know workspace salvationists will like to use this these passages of scripture to try to teach that
If we do these things then we can lose it because it says that we're in danger of hellfire, right?
Now go to james chapter 3 if you would james chapter number three
Because there's a secondary application that we can gather from this for believers
And that is that if you're angry with your brother in your heart without a cause
If you say rock or insult your brother or call someone a fool. Yeah, you are in danger of hellfire not literal damnation
But a world of hell basically that that can that can sprout and result
From that type of speech. Okay. Look at james chapter three
And verse number five it says here even so the tongue is a little member and boasted great things
Behold how great a little matter
Excuse me, how great a matter a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity
So is the tongue among our members that it defileth the whole body and seteth on fire the course of nature
And is set on fire of hell the bible says what does that mean you can create a lot of chaos
With your tongue, right?
You call someone a fool
You can create a lot of damage and as the bible's and obviously james chapter 3 is not talking about literal hell, right?
It's not like your your your your tongue can kindle
Hell and make someone go to hell or whatever it's referring to the fact that it can create a lot of chaos
It can create a lot of problems
Problems it can get you punched in the face
It can get you beat up
You know i've known and i've been in that position in high school where I mouthed off to the wrong person
And I said on course the nature of the the I kindled fire
I kindled hell
There's people who had ought against me and I suffered for that greatly
Because of the fact that I was not able to control my tongue
So, yeah, you know matthew chapter 5 when talking about this particular subject may not apply to christians as in
them going to hell that applies to unsafe people because of the fact that
This chapter is essentially stripping people of their righteousness
Helping them to realize that there's none righteous. No, not one because if you keep if you
Whosoever keep the whole law and you've offended in one point. You're already guilty of all
Yeah, you may not have committed murder, but you've been angry with your brother in your heart
You may have insulted someone called someone a fool at which point you're basically still guilty
but for christians we can apply this and saying well, you know if you
Death and life are in the power of the tongue
And there are certain individuals that their mouth called for strokes
What do you mean by that? I mean, there's some people that just mouth off and sometimes
You know, they just deserve a slap in the mouth or something like that
At which point hopefully they give you the other cheek as we're going to look at in this passage. Amen
Now i'm not saying that you should slap them. I'm not saying that you should punch them
I'm, not saying that christians should ever get involved in that
I'm, just saying the nature of the beast in the world in which we live in
Just take it from me because I have experience with this
Is that there's certain people that mouth off not understanding that there's consequences to those actions
And don't be that person who just mouths off and insults people and calls them fools and just kind of degrades them and insults them
And not think that there's no consequences to those actions, okay, and so go back to matthew chapter five
So he talks about the law of not killing
Thou shall not kill
That's what has been said of old in the old testament. However, let's expand on that a little further because obviously not everyone's a murderer
But if you've been angry with your brother in your heart, you've already committed sin
if you are
Insulting them calling them a fool and it's also an indication that you are bitter towards someone you have resentment towards an individual
That you need to get right. Okay, so he addresses the subject of murder
Being angry with your brother
And then also look at verse number 23
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar
And there remember is that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way
First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift
He's basically saying, you know to obey is better than sacrifice
And he's not obviously still in matthew. We're still under the old testament law, right because jesus christ has not yet died
And so that's why he's referring to leaving the gift at the altar
But he's not excluding
The command to offer a gift or have an altar or do any of those things
He's not excluding that he's essentially saying, you know get your heart, right?
But do this as well
Especially what he told the pharisees these ought to have done and not to leave the others undone, right?
So a good way to apply this is like still come to church
But you better get right with your brother sister in christ if you're bitter against them
Go soul winning, but you know what?
You should get your heart right and get sin out of your life when you go so many
Right read your bible take care of your spiritual responsibilities, but make sure you address the matters of the heart
And we never want to be these christians who were taking care of these outward appearances
These disciplines that we have that are very much important and we need to obey them and do them and just neglect the matters of
the heart understand
And so he's saying there bring the gift to the altar, but make sure you reconcile your differences with your brother or sister in christ
Of course women are also included in that command, right?
verse 25
This is a verse that a lot of people christians don't like to hear
But it says here agree with thine adversary quickly
Whilst thou are in the way with them lest at any time the adversary delivered thee to the judge
And the judge delivered thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison
Barely I say unto thee
Thou shalt by no means come out come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Whoa, what is jesus teaching here?
I mean, is he saying that I have to yield
Is he's teaching deference?
Yeah, he is
You know what? That's not popular with christians, especially these constitutionalist american type christians
Who have a tendency to put the constitution almost at the same level as the bible?
You know my rights this and my rights that well according to the bible. You should be willing to yield your rights at certain times
Because we're nothing in this world my friends
And i'm all for having rights
I'm all for you know, the the the the rights that we have from the constitution or whatever it may be
But hold on a second according to the bible. We're also supposed to exercise deference
Exercise yielding and you say well, I don't really agree with that
Didn't just say you don't agree with the words of jesus because what does he mean by that?
agree with thine adversary quickly
and and here's the thing folks is that
You know
Jesus christ the bible says that as a sheep before shearers is dumb. So he opened not his mouth
Being reviled he reviled not again
And even when he was being crucified, you know, he could have sent
Oh boatload of angels to just destroy everyone if he wanted to
You're like, yeah, but that's not a good example. He was supposed to die on the cross for our sins
You can't really use that. Oh really, you know, doesn't the bible tell us
That we're supposed to walk in those steps
And and exemplify that same suffering that jesus christ did on the cross
He said we said where does he say that? Well go to first peter go to first peter real quick
Because one of you said that so i'm just gonna i'm just kidding go to first peter chapter two if you would
This is called deference this is called yielding and we don't like this because it goes against our human nature
I don't like to yield. I don't like to uh,
Exercise deference and all those things, you know
But the bible tells us that the sufferings of jesus christ on the cross exemplified that that's what we should do
Look what it says in verse number chapter two in verse number
20 it says for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults buffeted could mean beaten
Ye shall take it patiently
But if when you do well and suffer for it you take it patiently
This is acceptable with god for even here unto where he called because christ also suffered for us
Leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps
There you go
Well, I still don't agree with that, you know, I just think that we should fight for our rights
You know what? I don't fight for my rights as a christian. I just live out my rights
And i'll live them i'll live them out to the bitter end
right
But you know these other extra rights that people want to make a big deal about and and
It's a hill that they want to die on i'm not going to die on those hills because of the fact that the bible tells me
To exercise deference to agree with my adversary quickly and you know what? I understand why people don't like that because there's no glory in it
There's no
There's no trophy with that. There's no bragging rights. There's no victory dance, right?
I
Mean there's not it's not something we could just be like yeah exercise deference
All right, I yielded, you know
You know how much honor i'm gonna get from that there is no like in the world's eyes. There's no honor
It's actually uh, you know humiliating is what it is actually right when you yield
And you exercise deference
It's it kind of humbles you a little bit
But you know what take it up with god if you don't like that because that's what he taught
Otherwise show me what's what what does this mean?
Okay, and and this is an important point and the reason I say it's an important point because he addresses it again
Towards the end of the chapter here, okay
And I know the constitution is christians out there. I hate I know you hate that and I know you don't agree with it
Because it's all about god and country brother
It's all about god and country brother
It's all about murica
my rides brother
You know get those masks away from me, brother
I'm all about my rifle my bible
My woman
My beer or whatever, you know, whatever they drink they don't do bud light anymore, right?
I
I'm not with that brand of christianity. I don't care for it
I don't care if the majority of christians in america are for it. I don't care for it
Because they don't know matthew chapter five apparently
And and this type of preaching doesn't win more christians, uh to this view it actually pisses more christians off
But I don't care, you know, jesus when he preached these things a lot of people said, you know
This is a hard saying and he wasn't afraid to offend people because it rubbed them the wrong way. Oh, well
Let's read on here
So he addresses murder anger. He addresses deference and yielding. And by the way, let me just say this is that
I understand that position though
Because again sin nature doesn't want to yield
to an adversary
We don't want to agree with an adversary, right?
And i'll give you an example of this let me just give you you say yeah, but you're you're saying it
But when have you exemplified that pastor ma'am? Well, you know what? It was very humiliating to have to leave omonte
That's that was humiliating for me
Because when we left omonte, we were forced out of omonte and I was forced to kind of yield and say okay you guys win
Where everyone was telling me go back
Go back and show them the what for
Get a new building and and and show them your right that you don't deserve that you know what I did I yielded
I said you guys win
Take the building. I'll leave the i'll leave the state of the state. I'll leave the city
I won't leave the state yet. I have not yielded in that manner yet
And you know what
They threw a party when we left
They mocked me
I remember pulling up the the u-haul truck
And and you know who's there when we're loading all our junk into the u-haul
Okay people driving by
Snapping pictures mocking us posting us on instagram. Ah, we got them out
How does this feel just mocking making fun of us saying we got you to leave?
We succeeded look at this just the worst top possible mockery there is
I mean you think that feels like yeah. No, it's just like I have to yield I guess
I have to agree with my adversary and you know and you know what I didn't pursue justice either
Amen
Like our perpetrated the perpetrators who who did that were never caught they were never brought to justice
And I didn't pursue it. Why because i'm just going to agree with my adversary. I'm just going to yield to it
I'm, just going to say lord you take care of it
And i'll take the humiliation for the for righteousness sake but you know what a lot of christians myself included
We don't like to be humiliated especially before the enemies of god
Right, but you know the last time I checked jesus christ was humiliated before the entire world when he was crucified on the cross
And he didn't deserve that either but he allowed himself to be beaten and scourged and and made fun of and mocked and spat upon
You know and he didn't come down from the cross he could have easily just spoken death
To every single one. It was like just have them disappear. But instead he said father forgive them for they know not what they do
And so, you know, that's an example of yielding
Where I had to kind of just put up with the mockery
And you know all the posts and the tagging and people messaging like what now? Where's your god now?
I thought you weren't going to leave. I thought you were going to do this what now and just what am I going to say?
All right
You know
Yeah, you know you got nowhere to meet now, huh? It's just like yeah, you're right. I don't
But then we got a building and it's just like well we got somewhere to meet
But this is the life of a christian
Is that sometimes we have to suffer humility
Humiliation embarrassment without having to fight back
It's not popular, but it's biblical and and sometimes we have to do that and i'll be honest with you. I didn't like it either
You think I like that you think I like being human after all that crap I was talking
Doesn't have to be kicked out sucks
But then I read something like this. I'm like, well, this is the will of the lord
This is the will of god
so
It's all good, you know and all things work together for good
And and here's the thing it's hard to try to convince other christians that from a spiritual perspective we did succeed
We succeeded
You know in the world's eyes. We were completely humiliated
And we suffered loss and we were embarrassed and you know all these things but from
My mind from a spiritual perspective. It's like we won
because of the fact that
I rejoice over the fact that we suffered for righteousness sake that we were persecuted for righteousness sake
And we got a new building out of it, which is exactly what we needed. So
Let's move on here. So then so he addresses murder
Now we're going to get into the subject of adultery
He says in verse 27 you have heard that it was said by them of old time thou shall not commit adultery
But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart
So obviously we see this command in the old testament not to commit physical adultery
And that sin was a capital crime punishable by death, right?
Excuse me
Now you can easily see someone here saying
Well, you know, i've never done that I was like, yeah
But have you ever looked upon a woman to lust after her you've committed adultery with her already in your heart
Now, let me explain something before I proceed explaining these passages of scripture
Jesus christ is saying
He's stripping away the righteousness of the crowd by saying you've never killed but you've been angry with your brother in your heart
Which still merits damnation?
Because that essentially you've broken the law, okay
Same thing with adultery
But this doesn't mean that being angry with your brother is literally the same as murdering someone
And it doesn't mean that lusting in your heart towards another person, even though it's wrong is the same thing as adultery
They merit the same punishment
Because god's standard is high. However, the same punishment of hell because god's standard is high. However,
Looking upon a woman to lust after is not the same as physical adultery
That's important to know
Because you get people that get upset when we preach against physical adultery and you're like, yeah
But have you ever lusted upon looked upon a woman to lust after you're saying that people like that should be put to death
No, because the old testament doesn't say that
The old testament talks about lusting in your heart as well
Okay, let's talk about
Lust not after her beauty in thine heart and the book of proverbs
Okay, the bible talks about that, but it never institutes the death penalty for the sins of the heart because that can be quantified
There's no heart police
Other than god himself
Who knows the heart he punishes here on this earth people for actual
physical sins
Physical crimes that they commit, okay
And so even though he's amplifying this he's expanding on the commandments just to kind of strip people away from their righteousness
Don't take it too far where it's just like, okay
Well lusting, you know, you're basically saying that people who lust in their heart should be put to death as well
No, no, that's not what the bible is teaching at all. Okay
And so he gives that command but he says he expands upon he says lust in the heart is still
adultery
Now look at verse 29 says if thy right eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee
That one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell
And of course he talks about the hand as well. Now a lot of repenting your sins type teachers like to use passages like this
To try to say you have to repent of your sins pluck out your eye and cut off your right hand
You know so that your whole body's not cast into hell
They'll try to use passages like this to against christians to say you have to stop sinning
In order to avoid eternal damnation, right?
But this interpretation is really stupid though
And let me explain to you why it's so stupid. Okay
First of all, there are no maimed christians in heaven
You guys understand that and there's not thousands and thousands of eyeballs and right hands in hell
You guys get that
That's number one
number two
If a man were to pluck out his right eye because it offends him because it it lusted upon a woman as it is in context
Wouldn't that mean that the left eye looked upon it as well?
Because doesn't the left eye look at what the right eye looks at as well
Unless you got one of those
You know what i'm talking about
You know, you got a wandering eye or something like that
But you know the truth is the left eye looks at what the right eye looks looks at as well
Then what does it mean pastor? Well, it's basically saying
Even if you were to pluck out your right eye
You're still sitting with your left eye
And if you were to cut off your right hand, you're still going to send with your left because it's all part of the same
body
Because it's an issue of the heart
Basically, there's nothing you can do
to stop sinning
Because if you were to pluck out your own eyes, you would still imagine evil in your heart
So what is he doing? What is jesus saying here?
He's basically stripping the crowd of their righteousness by saying you can't stop sinning
Because even if you're to pluck out your eye and cut off your hand you would still be a sinner
You cannot cut that off from your life
What you need is the righteousness of jesus christ
Okay
You don't need to repent of your sins to be saved because of the fact that you can't repent of sins to be saved
You can't repent of all sins
I mean, even if you were to stop one particular sin, you're going to be struggling with another sin the next day
And the very thought that you can repent of sins to be saved is a sinning of itself
Because it's a foolish thought and the bible says that the thought of foolishness is sin
So, what is he doing here he's explaining the fact that
There's none righteous no, not one there's none that do with good. No, not one the bible says
There's not a just man upon earth that do with good
and sin is not
So even when you're doing good
You're still committing sins because you live in a corruptible body that sins
So plucking out your eye cutting off your right hand doesn't work
Now there's a dispensationalist out there who teaches that
If christians were to take the mark of the beast
You know because it goes in the forehead or in the right hand
They said this is what you can do. You can cut off your hand
So that you're not damned eternally
And then they're like, well, what about like the mark in the forehead though?
Well, you're gonna have to pluck out your right eye and dig in there and and take it out
Which basically shows how little they know about human anatomy
Yeah
It's like oh, okay, man, why didn't I think of that?
Hopefully the tribulation comes in our time just so he can do that
Because gene kim is what i'm talking about here gene kim and robert breaker these heretics
And so
You said well, okay. Well, I see how that could apply to unsafe people stripping them of their righteousness
Is this applicable to save people?
I believe it is because you know, we can take this passage of scripture
And essentially show us that you know as christians we should remove things from our lives that are causing us to stumble, right?
You say yeah, but how would you apply that to the part that it talks about hellfire though?
Well in context is referring to lust referring to adultery
and
Here's two solutions to that one being you need to cut that thing off
That's causing you you need to cut that temptation off remove yourself from temptation so as to not commit that sin
or
As the bible also says you should get married
And the bible says listen to this it is better to marry than to what
Burn so you can kind of see how that would tie into that, right?
Because obviously when it says burn it's not saying like it's better to marry than to go to hell or something like that
It's basically it's when it talks about burning it's referring to those inner inhibitions that every human being has
The desire to want to be in a physical relationship
Okay
And so he's saying it's better to marry than to burn you can see how that can parallel this passage
And could be a secondary application to this for christians
We should remove things from our lives that would be tempting to us, but also follow the biblical model of marriage
Uh so as to not commit fornication
Um or any of that and so we see that there now so he addresses murder old testament law
He amplifies that by talking about being angry with your brother calling him a fool, etc
He addresses adultery. He addresses lust and then he's going to address divorce
Look at verse 31. It says it has been said whosoever shall put away his wife
Let him give her a writing of divorcement
But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife save him for the cause of fornication
Causes her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed adultery now, this is important here, okay
This is old testament law
Uh that you can give a writing of divorcement for fornication for any uncleanness
However, it's also in the bible all the way back to genesis that would have god had joined together. Let no man put asunder
Okay, so god's original intent for the institution of marriage is that it's till death do his part
So what this passage is teaching us here is that it's never okay
To get divorced for any reason whatsoever. You're like, well, hold on a second. Well, what do you mean?
It says fornication there though. Well fornication is the act between two people that are not married
And so
This is obviously referring to the betrothal stage and we have a great example of this in the book of matthew
with joseph and mary when joseph thought
That mary had essentially broken their betrothal
Uh the betrothal by committing fornication and he was minded to put her away privately
Okay, because of the fact that even though they were betrothed
They had not yet consummated the marriage and therefore considered fornication and therefore he was willing to write her a bill of divorcement
So it says except for the cause of fornication this is referring this is what the old testament describes as being uncleanness of some sort
um on the the the night of uh the wedding
And it says here
That if you put away your wife and obviously this can be the other way around as well if a wife puts away her husband
It says causes her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committed adultery now
This is a hill that I will die on
This is subject of divorce
Because folks we live in a society
Where even christians are willing to participate?
in this act of divorce
As if it's nothing
And folks people don't realize how wicked it is in the eyes of god to divorce your spouse
You're essentially breaking a vow you're breaking an oath you you made a covenant before god that is till death do you part
and then
The stuff gets hard
And he's like, well, I want a divorce now
Well, sorry, that's not the way it works
You should have thought about that before you made a vow
before god
You understand before you made the oath before you made a covenant before god and here's the thing folks, you know
We have weddings at our church. We've had a lot of weddings at our church
And you know when when when the bride and groom say the vows this isn't just to make the wedding look pretty or something like that
It's not because it just sounds so sweet and it just adds to the ceremony or something like that
You're saying it to god
And listen to this part of the vow is this
for better
Or for good
Is that what it says?
for better or for I
For better or for
No, it says for better or for worse
And you know what there's times in marriage when things get bad when the stuff starts to hit the fan
And it gets worse
It's not what it used to be, but you made a vow
You made a vow
In your love for your spouse and your recognition
That that was the covenant that you're making before god is for better for worse for richer for poor
and sickness and in health
in all areas
You're saying till till one of us dies i'm going to be faithful and loyal to you and I shall never leave you nor forsake
thee
I mean, this is a strong covenant before god that people make right?
And folks i'm going to preach that to the cows come home and the cows are never coming
And I want our kids and our church to understand that our church stands for biblical marriage for the biblical
Institution of marriage that we do not believe in divorce
We don't we don't just quit on marriage
We don't just quit on our spouses just because the going gets tough
I want my sons and my daughters to stay married even when it gets hard
It gets difficult and it's just it's just grueling and it's it's hard to the bitter end and so be it
Yeah, but it's just not the way it used to be but you vowed though
You made that oath
But I didn't think it was going to be this way
But you made the vow though
Folks when jephthah made an oath before god that he would offer whatever comes through his tent
And then his daughter comes through his tent
You know that wasn't a good deal
But you know, he made a vow he made an oath and he had to offer his daughter before the lord
It was a stupid vow, but guess what he had to keep that vow you have to keep that oath
So there's no going back on it my friends
And obviously people are placed in a position where they can't do anything about it. Their spouse is just
Wants to divorce them or whatever and and you know
They just don't have no say in the matter
Let me tell you what I would do
If my if my wife one day divorces me want to divorce me, okay
Let's say I wasn't a pastor and my wife is just like i'm sick of you
I'm getting a divorce. You're old. You're not as handsome as you used to be
You know, whatever
And she told me that
I would number one if she ever handed me divorce papers first and foremost
I'd look at him and just be like
I'm not taking that serious
You're gonna have to kill me
Because i'm not taking it serious at all and i'm not telling you to do this by the way
I'm, just saying what I would do
There's not instructions on how to deal with that
I'm telling what I would do and and then this is also what I would do. First of all, I'd laugh at those papers
I would not even entertain the possibility of ever getting divorced
and then secondly, I would do everything in my
Body and soul and spirit to win my spouse back
I would do everything humanly possible
To get my wife
To love me again
To fall in love with me again. I would laugh at those papers
I I I'd piss on those papers. I would tear them up and throw them into the garbage because that's what they mean to me
But then after that I would say i'm gonna do everything I possibly can to make you crazy after me again
This war is not over
You will love me
You will think i'm handsome once again, you will want me you will desire me
Promise and you know what if it takes me the rest of my life then that's what i'll do
If she's just like I want to do with you and and and you know, i'm moving i'm like, well cool where we're moving to
I'll stalk you
Because i'm your husband whether you go I go
Because i'm not giving up on this thing but you know too many people give up
Way too fast way too soon. They throw in the towel
Throw in the towel folks. We need to have some tenacity about our marriage
We need to have a prayer life. We need to have some tenacity
We need to have some oomph and say lord. I made this vow before you and so help me to keep this vow
It's really hard. I'll be honest with you. I don't even love my wife anymore
But you know what help me to regain that love for my wife again
And I made a vow and so I want to keep it
And so send flowers send chocolates lose weight get buff do whatever you got to do
Send her letters write her songs
Oh, that's just too much for better for worse
for better for worse
Make it happen
By any means necessary obviously within reason without committing any crimes
But
You said why because it's important to fight for marriage, that's why
And you people you young people who have not yet gotten married let this be a lesson to you. Amen
Better choose wisely
That's a big vow. Hey, but when I made that vow close to eight years ago, I meant every single word
And when I said those words to my wife, it wasn't just because the ceremony was beautiful
And we just wanted to say it into the mic and everyone's crying and the crowd and everything is just so beautiful
It's just oh everyone's caught up in the emotion of things. No, I mean those things
Till death do its part and no that's not an excuse for murder either
Let no man put asunder
We have too many christians who give up too too soon too easy
They want a consolation prize they want everything to be easy
They want it to be completely easy with no struggle
They don't want their spouses to gain weight. They don't want their spouses to get ugly
They want their spouses to just be as perfect as the day day one. It doesn't work that way
You know and luckily we're christians
We have the bible we have god's word
We have listen to this and I want to spend too much time on this but
I get passionate about this subject because it's important and unfortunately just you know
Christians don't respect marriage anymore
But you know what we have a god who's literally able to mold our hearts
You know, the only person who can really change and just mold a heart and just turn a heart is god himself
So we got one up on the world my friends
We have the god of the bible who could literally turn the hearts of our spouses can turn the hearts of our children
Can turn the hearts of the brethren
It can happen
God is still in the opera, you know, he's still operating miracles to this day my friends
All right, let's move on here
And by the way, so the reason it says it causes a commit to commit adultery is because if a woman is divorced
Divorced
The natural propensity it's not right
They're supposed to remain unmarried
He's supposed to remain unmarried
But the natural propensity of people is to get remarried which is wrong and the bible considers that adultery
And whoever marries that person commits adultery as well according to god's standards
Okay
And so instead of being like the pharisees here just looking for an excuse to get married because in another portions
He's like is it right to give a bill of divorcement for any cost?
They're just looking for a reason to just get remarried because they're born with their marriage or whatever
You know look for a reason to stay together
Hey, let's stay together. Amen
I'm not going to break out into that song
But you know the oldie oldies but goodies, but I agree with the message
You know loving you weather and all that times the good and the bad happy or sad you guys don't you guys aren't romantic at all
You guys romanticism sucks, okay
You guys need I need to preach a sermon on how to be romantic
I don't know why you're laughing. I'm just kidding
So here's the last thing I want to mention before I get into these last three here
is
You're kind of seeing a pattern here
And when you start looking at these commandments
You start seeing that it's like the pharisees who are twisting these things, right?
Because they have an issue with the whole divorce thing. They're the ones who constantly bringing it up
And even with the swearing and making oaths in verse 33 it states again
You have heard that hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not forswear thyself
But thou shalt perform unto the lord thine oaths
Which by the way, just ironically comes after talking about marriage
But I say to you swear not at all neither by heaven for it is god's throne
Nor by earth for it is his footstool neither by jerusalem for it is the city of the great king
Neither shalt thou swear by the head because thou canst not make one. Excuse me one hair white or black. So
Verse 37 let your communication be yay yay nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil
Basically saying, you know vows are important don't undermine the severity of a vow. That's what he's saying. Okay, and by the way, uh,
This let me just bring this up. Don't just swear all the time
Sometimes I gotta check people when they're talking they're just like oh man, I swear, you know this one thing
Oh, I swear this is this and that it's just like don't swear swear not at all
Stop using that lingo
I swear swear not at all
He's like why does he say neither by jerusalem? Is there something special about jerusalem? No, he's just essentially saying
in all places
Have this type of attitude. You're not making oaths flippant oaths and flippant vows unto the lord because
You need to be keeping them if you make them. Okay, which by the way, that's why we don't have an altar call
Because an altar call is simply services where people are constantly making vows that they don't keep
They're just like I promise i'll never do this sin ever ever again
And they're just like, oh man, I promise i'll go to the mission field
I'll give my life to the mission field and they never go
They're just making these flippant vows
Not taking into consideration what the bible says in ecclesiastes five
And uh, I don't have enough time to go back to that passage. So
Let's move on here
All right verse 38 you have heard that has been said and I for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
But I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also
And if a man will sue thee at law and take away thy coat let him take have thy cloak also
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile go with him twain
Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. So what is he saying here again?
This is not negating old testament laws
Because jesus said in verse 17 that he came not to destroy the law
And an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is an old testament law
Where it's referring to life for life, which by the way, the new testament also supports the death penalty life for life
So he's not saying here, oh you've said you've heard that have been said by them of old
This commandment, but don't listen to them
Those old fogies. I don't know what they're talking about. Turn the other cheek. These are separate examples
That he's given here. Okay
And what he's referring to is the fact that
Obviously there's eye for eye tooth for tooth and even as the bible says in the old testament life for life
You can't apply that if someone just smacks you on the face
And they're trying to provoke you to a fight because when it says smithy on the cheek, that's not necessarily like a
That's not you know
death
How many have ever been slapped in the face
All the people that I figured would get slapped in the face absolutely
Not surprised not surprised at all. I'm just kidding
Some of you need to raise two hands i'm just kidding
You know
You get slapped in the face because for whatever reason maybe you're mouthing off or something
Or someone is trying to provoke you to a fight
If they slap you in the face, they're not trying to kill you
Trying to provoke you, right?
And so, you know, you see here eye for eye tooth for tooth
It's just like you're not justified in taking someone's life just because they they punch you in the mouth or even if they slap you
You understand?
Now, what is he teaching here yielding?
Exercising deference
Now I think like this particular scripture applies more to men than it does to women
You know what I mean?
It applies more to guys fighting than cat fights
I haven't seen a cat fight in a long time
But you know guys fight all the time though and guys are easily provoked
Right, I mean they're hot heads they just they're always looking for a reason to fight and you know
This is important that we follow this
Because we should not be violent
And the bible even says to pastors and obviously it's applicable to everyone that we should not be strikers or brawlers
Okay
And you know what? I'll be real honest with you. I would have a hard time with this
Just being honest with you, you know, someone's smiting me on the cheek
You know, I would have a really difficult time with that
But according to the bible, I would have to yield and just kind of like walk away
And look especially in the day and age in which we live you don't want to just get into some physical altercation with just anyone
Because you never know what people can do
You never know if they have a gun or a knife and you embarrass them or something you beat them up
They can come back and kill you. You just don't know so it's better to just take the slap on the cheek
And just say I don't want to fight
You know, you're like well, what if I know how to fight though?
That's not the point
The point is yield walk away from it
Okay
And he says there in verse 40 if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat
Let him have thy cloak also. Now. That's that's a tough one, too, right?
you know, um
If someone sues you and is trying to take your possessions your finances according to according to jesus, he's like just give it to them
He's like what? Yeah, that's what he said
Isn't that crazy and then he says if you have a cloak give it to him, too
Now people don't like that at all
Christians do not like that
But you know what we should not be so attached to possessions and money
And things that we can't just give it away if we have to or lose it if we have to
And have no justice if it is taken away
You see we as christians we want justice I want justice we all want justice
Christian any bible even christians want they want justice for crimes that are committed, right?
But you know what? Sometimes the justice doesn't come in our lifetime
I mean think about this have we seen justice for those who
Crucified the lord per se obviously they're in hell right now
But when he was crucified on the cross there was no justice for him
He allowed himself to be crucified and defrauded and all those things because that was god's will for his life
And so what this is saying here what this is teaching is very important my friends because too many times we have christians
Yay, even in our church
listen to me
Who feel like?
Oh, we need to be fighting every legal battle or something and no we don't
And you may not agree with me on it, but I don't care. This is what the bible says
And i'm telling you as your pastor. This is what god's word says the word of yield sometimes most of the time actually all the time
Not to say that you're not going to yield but for the most part this is what the bible teaches us
And you know if someone takes your possessions they take your money
You know just you know when someone when we were persecuted and they stole my van
They took my van they found it in omani
Stripped and they took all the kinds of stuff. They said do you want to price charges? I was like no
And by the way, this is like the second third time they stole my van
I said no before i'm just gonna you kiss that van. Goodbye
You know, but that wasn't right they'll pass from here the constitution says
So
Get another van
It's gonna burn anyways, i'm not attached to that van i'm not attached to any van actually I hate vans
But just possessions in general i'm not really attached to them
And if people use those possessions to mock me by taking them away from me then so be it
You know, and I know a lot of people don't agree with that, but that's okay
Because you know as a good friend of mine said sometimes it's not important to right every wrong
One day we'll all be righted and we'll all be corrected and justice will come but not right now
And you know what this rubs me the wrong way
As it probably rubs you the wrong way
And that's why the bible is not written by man. It's written by god because it goes against our very sinful nature
to want to justify ourselves and vindicate ourselves
And win every battle, but you know what i've lost a lot of battles
And I and you know, I have no choice in it. That's that's how the life that's how life is sometimes
Sometimes the christian life is not a victory
Sometimes it's a complete and utter loss
Where you are humiliated?
And things are taken from you, you know
You're defrauded and in fact first corinthians chapter five says suffer yourselves to be defrauded
You
Allow yourself to be taken advantage of if they do take advantage of you
And take give them your cloak also why because we're not attached to the things in this world
And so, you know, that's a hard saying but
It's in the bible and you know, I have to ask god to give me grace to like obey that
Like help me lord because I you know
I
Want justice sometimes, you know, and it's just
But we need our minds to be renewed
Okay
And I know there's no there's no honor and victory and and victory dance after that. But you know, sometimes it's a time to mourn
And it gives us more reason to pray too. Amen
All right, lastly
He says in verse 43 ye have heard that it has been said thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thy enemy
But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you
And pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and i'ma stop right there. So
Here's here's my take on this. Okay
Because we could say well, you know this
Might have this does it doesn't say that in the bible someone else is bringing this up and I would definitely agree
That that's definitely the case because nowhere in the bible doesn't say love your love your neighbor and hate your enemy in the old testament
right
So you can see how the pharisees can possibly take that and teach that
But it doesn't really fit the criteria of what we're looking at here though
Because what we're looking at is all old testament laws that are in the old testament of things that are being said
With the exception of this wild card of love your enemy or love your neighbor and hate your enemy
So it's possible that this is actually referring to
old testament teachings
So what does it say to hate your enemy well think about this, okay
You know the bible does teach in old testament to love your enemy to excuse me to love your neighbor and to love your enemy
But it also says in the prophets that we're to hate
the enemies of the lord
And the enemies of the lord are our what enemies
And
It's no coincidence that jesus says in verse 17
I've come not to destroy the law or the what prophets david said, you know in psalm 139
That he hates those who hate the lord and that is a biblical teaching there
Okay, and we need to make that distinction
between our enemies people who just
Revile us or hate us or mock us who make themselves the enemies our enemies
And then you have the enemies of the lord people who have made themselves
Haters of god and fit the criteria that we see in romans chapter one, okay
You say so what are you saying then pastor if you're saying that this is an old testament thing
Is he repealing that here? No because
Just as we saw
regarding
divorce or even swearing
The things of this nature. These are things that jesus christ was amplifying and showing you what more to do
The pharisees were doing the same thing and they were adding things to that
Okay
Looking for a reason to get divorced, you know in matthew 23, he's like they're saying don't swear by the altar
But if anyone swears by the gold
You know, I can't finish the verse but since matthew chapter 23, they're kind of twisting god's laws to fit their agenda
and
my opinion is that
They probably take some old testament statements made by prophets where the enemies of the lord are our enemies and they apply it
but in an unbiblical way
So, what do you mean well, I got me here some verses from the talmud amen
Because what the pharisees were doing is taking biblical concepts and twisting them to fit their agenda
And so the biblical doctrine of hating those who hate the lord is like yeah
They've become enemies because they hate the lord. They're reprobates
Right wicked reprobates who are beyond the hope of salvation who hate the lord
But the pharisees took concepts of the bible and twisted them to fit their agenda
Now, let me read you a couple things here from the talmud
It says even though god created the non-jew they are still animals in human form
It is not becoming for a jew to be served by an animal therefore he will be served by animals in human form
A pregnant non-jew is no better than a pregnant animal
The souls of non-jews come from impure spirits and are called pigs
If you eat with the gentile it is the same thing as eating with a dog
Let me skip some here because there's a lot
It is the law to kill anyone who denies the torah
The christians belong to the dying ones of the torah a heretic gentile you may kill outright with your own hands
Every jew who spills the blood of the godless non-jews is doing the same as making a sacrifice to god
Now this is pretty consistent with how the pharisees who were adherence to judaism would treat all the nations around them
in the bible
Because they consider the samaritans as being what enemies
If a heathen gentile hits a jew the gentile must be killed. Well, that's different than what we saw in verse 39
Sanhedrin 57a says when a jew murders a gentile
There will be no death penalty when a jew steals what a jew steals from a gentile he may keep
All gentile children are animals
A jewish man is obligated to say the following prayer every day. Thank you god for not making me a gentile a woman or a slave
That sounds familiar right
When the publican and the pharisee go into the temple I think the right
So
Even the best of gentiles should be killed i'm, that's not my opinion i'm reading off
There's a guy named moses maimonides
Who is one of the greatest codifiers in philosophy in jewish history?
and in his
Commentary of the torah he states accordingly if we see an idolatry gentile being swept away or drowning in the river
We should not help him
If we see that his life is in danger, we should not save him
It is religious duty. However to eradicate jewish traders
And to cause them to descend to the pit of destruction since they cause difficult
Difficulty to the jews and sway the people away from god as did jesus of nazareth and his students and so on and so forth
so, you know
I think what it's being stated here and by the way, there's no it's not a coincidence that in chapter six
He starts talking about the jews. He starts talking about the pharisees
About the hypocrites
I think the ones who are twisting what's being stated here are the pharisees because israel at this time is under the tutelage of the pharisees
So when they say love your neighbor and hate your enemy, they're not referring to the enemy as being the reprobates, which is exactly what they are
It's not the false prophets, which is exactly what they are
They're referring to the surrounding nations what they call the goyems
You and me
Cattle animals dogs
And this is exactly what they taught
And he's saying no love your enemies
Jesus says bless them that curse you do good to them
They hate you pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you he's like reach the nations
Be good to the different nations give them the gospel bless them bless them and curse not is what he's saying here
And so both interpretations I think are fine
But I think this fits the actual narrative of the chapter
And the fact that in chapter six and seven he starts kind of giving it to the pharisees there. Okay
And so I went a little long tonight, but I wanted to finish that chapter and give you some verses from the talmud
So, you know, you know how wicked these people are. Let's pray father. We thank you so much for your word
we're so thankful lord for the commandments of god and
The expansion of of the law here help us to uphold it lord and to love the law of god
And to love your word your in your commandments help us to take them not just to get into consideration, but may they
Reside within our hearts that we may observe them all the days of our life. We love you
We thank you pray these things in jesus name. Amen