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But we're up to Matthew chapter 5, now look at the last verse once again. Matthew chapter 5 verse 48. The Bible said, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. The title of the sermon tonight is be ye therefore perfect. Be ye therefore perfect. Now let's start it off with verse number 1. And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. Now this sermon that he's about to preach, if you've heard the saying before, he's called the Sermon on the Mount. Have you heard of that before? Because he goes up into a mountain, the Bible doesn't specify which mount, but it's called the Sermon on the Mount. It's one of Jesus Christ's most powerful sermons that he's preached. And then it says, And when he was set, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying. So what we're about to read now are some of the most beautiful messages, some of the most beautiful teaching you're going to read in the Bible. But it's also some of the most difficult. It's some of the hardest things you're going to hear about. I mean, you guys are probably familiar with the term hard preaching, right? You hear the term hard preaching, and people often associate hard preaching with preaching against the sodomites. Preaching about the death penalty, or these kinds of things. People often associate that with hard preaching, and it is hard preaching, don't get me wrong. But sometimes hard preaching is also things that are hard for us to achieve. Jesus Christ, as we've read through this chapter, is raising the bar very, very high. In fact, the bar is perfection, okay? Be ye therefore perfect, the Bible said, right? It's a very high bar, and therefore it's very hard saying that we're about to read here. But as we go into the next verses, a lot of them, if you look at verse 3, 4, 5, 6, etc., it starts with blessed, okay? Blessed. Now, what does it mean to be blessed? To be blessed by God is to be joyful, is to be happy, is to be content, is to have the Lord's face shine upon you. That he will look down on you as his child and rejoice in what you've accomplished for him. That's what it means to be blessed. So let's have a look. How can we be blessed by God? How can we be a blessing to God? Verse number 3, it says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Hey, if you want to be someone that enters into the kingdom of heaven, you first need to be someone that is poor in spirit. What is that? We're not talking about poor as in your wealth, okay, it's not saying that, and there is a correlation with your wealth as well, but being poor in spirit means that you're a humble person, okay? You don't lift yourself up with pride. You don't think of yourself higher than what you are, okay? Because here's the reality of it. In order for you to be saved, okay, you first need to realize that you need salvation. The first thing you need to realize is that I cannot save myself, and when you've come to that realization, at that point, you are poor in spirit. At that point, you've humbled yourself and realized I can't make it to heaven on my own, and so you become poor in spirit, you lower yourself down, you exode God and what he's done for you, you receive Jesus Christ, that's how you receive the kingdom of heaven. Now the Bible says in James 4-6, he says, but he giveth more grace, wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Hey, how are we saved? We're saved by grace, remember, through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, okay? So in order for you to enter into the kingdom of heaven, you must humble yourself, you must first give yourselves, make yourselves poor in spirit, realize your sinful condition, and your need for the Savior, okay? But of course, we can also apply this to people of wealth, people of riches. You know, Jesus says how hard, you know, it is for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, because people that have a lot, people that are wealthy, that are full of riches, it's not that they can't get saved, it's that many of them see themselves as self-made, you know, they've accomplished great things, why do I need God? And that's why quite often, you know, the more receptive people, when we go door knocking, the people that are more willing to hear the gospel, the people that are more willing to receive the gospel are those that are poor, or those that are young, that haven't had the time to make riches for themselves, okay, because they're not caught up with their pride and arrogance. Let's keep reading, verse number four, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. You know what the Bible says here? It says it's important for us to mourn. There's going to be times in our life that we go through difficulties, maybe, you know, we lose a loved one, someone that we love, you know, and we mourn about that, you know, but why? I mean, you know, mourning doesn't feel good, right? But this is the advantage, why are you blessed when you mourn? It says for they shall be comforted. There's only one way you can be comforted by God. That's when you mourn. Okay, if you're someone that never mourns, you're always rejoicing, woohoo, you know, you're never going to have that appreciation, you're never going to have that opportunity for God to pick you up, for God to give you comfort, and what's the name of the Holy Spirit? One of the names of the Holy Spirit, one of the titles is the comforter, okay, the comforter is calm, and it's the role of the Holy Spirit to give you comfort when you mourn, all right? So those that never mourn, those that never go through hardships, they miss out on having God, you know, comfort them, that's where the blessing is, okay? Yeah, to be comforted by God would be, you know, such a great honor that he gives you. Let's keep reading, verse number five, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, blessed are the meek. Now what does it mean to be meek? Keep your finger there and turn to Psalm 37, okay, keep your finger there, turn to Psalm 37, because Jesus Christ is quoting from Psalm 37 as he said these words. So let's understand what it means to be meek, according to the Bible. It's very similar to being humble, but there's an action to it as well here, okay? Let's have a look at this, Psalm 37, verse seven, Psalm 37, verse seven. The Bible reads, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him, fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Now notice what it says, fret not thyself, what does it mean to fret? It means it consumes your thoughts, you know, you're constantly worried about something, you know, someone has done wickedly, maybe someone's done something against you and it's hurt you, okay? And then, you know, you could be someone that's tempted to fret about it, you know, have you ever been hurt by someone, you know, and then, and then, you know, it consumes your mind, you know, for days, for weeks, maybe months, even years, people grow in bitterness toward people that have hurt them, they're fretting about it, you know, the instructor says, look, fret not thyself because of him, okay? Then look, let's keep reading, verse number eight, cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, what does that mean? It says, look, sometimes when you're fretting about it, when it's consuming your mind, you're going to be tempted to get revenge, you're going to be tempted to do evil to those that have done evil to you. It says, look, don't do that, don't fret yourself in that way. Verse number nine, for evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth, we saw that, remember, in Matthew chapter five, okay? Shall inherit the earth, but keep reading, for yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be, yea, thou shall diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. What does that mean? It means God will judge the wicked, okay? Someone's done wrong to you as a child of God, God will make sure they don't get away with it, okay? You don't have to fret yourself, you don't have to take revenge for yourself, you don't have to defend yourself for every action, you know, one thing that I've noticed just becoming a pastor is people accuse you of certain things, you know, people accuse you of being money hungry, people accuse you of, you know, whatever, just anything that they can throw at you, you know? If I had to spend my life defending myself in every accusation, that's all I'd be doing, alright? You don't need to fret yourself, you know, there are wicked people that will accuse you of anything, you don't need to worry about it, you leave it in God's hands, and let's keep reading, verse number 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth, we read that, that's what Jesus quoted, remember? And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace, okay? Being meek is someone that is at peace, okay? Being meek is allowing God to take revenge for the wickedness that He's done against you, okay? Being meek is someone that does not fret themselves about the evildoers, okay? No, you spend your time serving the Lord, you spend your time doing what's right, and you'll be the one that inherits the earth, the millennial kingdom to come. You know, God's going to give believers the authority to rule and reign with Him, okay? If you want to be someone that inherits great blessings, great riches in the millennium to come, then be that meek person, you know? And some people might say, you can turn back to Matthew 5 now, but some people might say, but that's weakness, you know? That's not meekness, that's being weak. No, it's not being weak, okay? What is being weak? Being weak is allowing the flesh to have its way. You know, when you take revenge, when you do evil for evil, that's being weak. You've given in to the flesh, you've given in to your pride, you know, someone's hurt your feelings and you've got it all emotionally upset, that's being meek. No, being meek is strength. Being meek is being strong. You know, having your faith in God and knowing He'll take care of things, okay, instead of you having to step in and protect yourself. But let's keep reading, verse number 6, Matthew 5, verse 6. Hey, look, it's good to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I mean, have there been times in your life where you've just been so hungry for the Word of God, just so thirsty to do what's right, to know the truth from error? I'm sure we've all gone through those phases in our lives, you know? Sometimes it wears out because we're filled, as it says there. But sometimes, you know, you've gone without the Bible, you've gone without the Lord, and all of a sudden that new man is hungry, that new man wants to be nourished with the Word of God. Hey, that's a great thing. It says, for they shall be filled. There's only one thing in this world that's going to give you satisfaction. That's knowing the righteousness of God, okay? But what is being filled, it's that Spirit, it's the new man, okay? It's being born of the Spirit. That's what wants to be filled. That's what's hungry and thirsty for righteousness, okay? That's the only thing that's going to fill you. It's the only thing that's going to give you satisfaction, okay? Because what do the people of the world want to do? What do unbelievers want to do? How do they satisfy themselves? They satisfy themselves seeking after the world, don't they? They seek after sinful things. They seek after the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That's what the world wants. And sadly, many times Christians even seek those things in their lives, okay? And they think that's going to satisfy them. They're hungry, they're thirsty, they think, well, going after the world, that's going to satisfy them. No, it's not. The only thing that's going to bless you and give you satisfaction, that's going to fill you is thirsting after the righteousness of God. Now, I'm just going to quickly read to you from Hebrews 11, verse 24. It says, by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, you know what sin is pleasurable, but the Bible says for a season, okay? It's not going to give you the satisfaction you're looking for. When you sin, yes, for a season, you get what you want, but once that season is over, you're going to be seeking that thing again and again and again. You'll never find satisfaction in sin. You'll never find satisfaction living like the world, okay? It'll leave you unsatisfied. The only thing that will satisfy you is the righteousness of God. Let's keep reading, verse number seven, Matthew five, verse seven. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Now, I don't want to cover this in too much detail because in the next chapter, chapter six, I'm going to be covering this with more detail, okay? But very quickly, the amount of mercy that God gives you, I'm not talking about salvation here. I'm talking as a child of God is dependent on how much mercy you show others, okay? This is a clear teaching in the Bible, okay? The amount of mercy God will show you is based on how much mercy you show other people. That's taught in many passages of the Bible, but I'm going to cover that in more detail next week in chapter number six, okay? Let's keep reading. Number eight, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, okay? What does it mean to be pure of heart? It means someone that has a clear conscience, someone that's clean before the Lord. Remember when I preached to you guys the importance of confessing our sins, okay? Because we go through life, we commit sins, and we need to have our feet washed as it were, okay? That's something that we need to do on a regular basis, and when we're in sin, when we're walking in darkness, we break fellowship with God the Father, okay? And God will pull himself away because he has no darkness in him, okay? God is light, there's no darkness in him at all. And so when we commit sins, we don't see God as it were, okay? And so if we ensure that we walk in righteousness and that when we do sin, we confess those sins to God, we can ensure that we are pure in heart, and then we can see God, okay? And by seeing God, of course, not physically, okay, but that walk with the Lord, that fellowship that we have with the Lord, you'll be able to be in his presence because you have that pure heart, you have that clean heart before the Lord, all right? So brother, we're in Matthew chapter five, just so you know, Matthew chapter five, up to verse number nine now, Matthew chapter five verse nine, it says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Hey, what should we be like as Christians? Should we be people that are chasing division? No, the Bible says blessed are the peacemakers. Now let me say this, whatever you preach from the word of God is going to bring division, okay? Look, the truth of the word of God will be a divisive thing, okay? We can't change that, okay? We don't want to change the word of God to be a peacemaker with other people, no. But hey, when it comes to things outside of the word of God, just in your daily living, we should be people that are striving to be peaceful, to have peace with our neighbors, to have peace with our families, et cetera, without compromising the word of God, all right? But we've not been called to bring about world peace, okay? Christianity is not about world peace, okay? Now if you guys can quickly turn to Matthew chapter 10. You guys, in Matthew 5, turn to chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10 verse 34. Matthew chapter 10 verse 34. Have a look at this. Matthew chapter 10 verse 34. This is Jesus speaking. Look at his words. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but a sword, for I am come to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against his mother, her mother, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his own household. Now look, first of all, I thank God that I've grown up in a Christian home. I've got Christian parents, okay? Me becoming a believer was never a contentious issue. In fact, when I got saved, my parents rejoiced, okay, because we're in a Christian home. That's a great thing. But there are some of you, okay, that have not grown up in a Christian home, okay, and when you got saved, you probably got excited. You're thinking, wow, you know, my family's going to rejoice. They're going to want to know the truth. They're going to want to hear the gospel and get saved, only to find in that excitement when you shared it, they've gotten angry at you, only to share what they've divided against you. They've gotten angry at you. You know, my wife can share that testimony, you know. She got saved thinking everyone's going to hear it, everyone's going to accept it, and she became the black sheep of the family. Now, praise God, a brother got saved eventually, a mother got saved eventually, you know, but that's a reality, you know, of the gospel, you know, that we need to accept that when we believe the gospel, something that's easy, the free gift of salvation, it's going to cause division with other people, okay, because they're not going to like the fact that, you know, you've moved away from a false way or a false religion or whatever. So how do we make sense of this then? If we've not been called to bring peace on earth, you know, we've just gone through Christmas, you're thinking, right? We've just gone through Christmas, we've been singing these Christmas hymns, where, you know, it's, you know, it's like Christmas hymn, peace, peace on earth and mercy mild. So isn't it peace on earth? Yeah, there is peace on earth, but what does the rest of it say? Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Hey, how can we be peacemakers? We can't bring about world peace, but one thing that we can do is bring peace between man and God, okay? We've been given the ministry of reconciliation. The peace that we've been given is to bring people to make peace with God by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what we've been called to do. That's why it says here, those that do that shall be called the children of God, because that is what we should be doing as children of God, that we should be bringing peace between God and man. And then where possible, yeah, be peaceful with your neighbors and your friends, but understand that the Bible, the gospel, the word of God is going to bring division in your life, okay, with fellow neighbors, et cetera, family, family and friends. Let's look at verse number 10 now, Matthew chapter five, verse 10, Matthew chapter five, verse 10. It says, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Say what? We're blessed for being persecuted? You know, Christians have lost their lives, they've been thrown into prison, you know, whatever now, thank God, you know, like brother Luke prayed earlier, you know, we live in a nation where we're free to worship God, we're free to preach the gospel. It's a great thing, but it's also a bad thing because we can get too comfortable and not serve the Lord, we get too comfortable in this world, you know, but there is a blessing of being persecuted. Say, how is that possible? Let's keep reading, verse number 11, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Say, how is that a blessing? Verse number 12, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. That's why you can rejoice in persecution, that's why you're blessed because when people mock you for your Christianity, for your faith, when people attack you, God is not just giving you a reward in heaven, he says it's a great reward for great is your reward in heaven. Hey, look, the persecution comes and goes. This life is but a vapor, it's here one moment, gone next, but you've got all eternity to rejoice in the rewards that God has given you, you know. So that's where the blessing is, hey, if you get persecuted, you get attacked for the name of Christ, praise God, okay, God's just laying up more treasures for you in heaven, what a fantastic blessing that is, all right. So instead of you getting angry, why is this person attacking me, your mind should be cool, more gold bars in heaven or whatever, more, more, I don't know what it is, I don't know what the rewards are all, you know, but God's gonna make sure that it's definitely worth it for you. Let's keep reading, verses, and you're counted amongst the prophets, says for so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you, and you get persecuted, it's just like they persecuted the prophets, you're numbered amongst these great men of God, it's such a great honor, let's keep reading, verse number 13, now verse 13 is very important, let's pay attention to this, okay, it says ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trodden underfoot of men, that's a serious thing, this is, Jesus is preaching to believers, okay, believers, we are the salt of the earth, okay, what is salt used for? It's to be tasty, to be salty, you know, you put salt on food, you notice it, hey, we need to be believers that are noticeably believers, noticeably people that are seeking to follow after Jesus Christ, salt also is used to preserve, hey, we know that from, you know, when God came to destroy Sodom, you know, and Abraham saying hey, there was just 10 people there, you know, 10 righteous people, you know, those 10 righteous people would have preserved the city of Sodom from being destroyed, so you know, our presence on this earth actually prevents, you know, Australia from being totally wiped out by God, just having the saltiness of believers, okay, it's important that we are a salty people, that we stand out, that we're tasty, okay, but look, but if the salt have lost his savour, it's possible for Christians to lose their saltiness, it's possible, and when that happens, it says, wherewith shall it be salted, it can't be re-salted, okay, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden on the foot of men, okay, so this is a serious thing, you know, there are Christians in churches, there are a lot of Christians like this, that are just stale, that are just dead, right, they're saved, okay, they're saved, but they're doing nothing to serve the Lord, they're doing, they're not going out and preaching the gospel, they're not preaching the gospel to their friends and loved ones, they're not using the opportunities that God has given them, they're not serving their local church, they just come in, they sit down for their hour, go home, and that's the end of it, right, it's very, it's a dangerous thing for you to become an unsalted or stale Christian, because when that happens, you're good for nothing, you're good to be trodden under the foot of men, it's not that you lose your salvation, of course you can't lose your salvation, but God cannot use you anymore, you can get to a point as a Christian, okay, where God can just, you're not good to me anymore, you're not useful, and, you know, God will use other people to accomplish his task, that would be a sad thing, because we know that God wants to give us great rewards in heaven, alright, so please, don't become that stale Christian, that stale, you know, Christian that just comes in, goes, and that's, as far as they're concerned, they've done their part for God, because they've come to church, no, we need to serve him, live after the commands that he's given us him, let's keep reading, verse 14, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father, which is in heaven, so what is Jesus saying here, hey, we need to be a light, okay, and if we're a light, why do we need a light, why do we ever turn on lights, it's because it's dark, what Jesus is saying here is that the world is dark, it's darkness, they're missing the light, but we are the light, we are the ones that have the word of God, we know what the word of God says, we need to be shining that brightly, we shouldn't be Christians that hide the light, I'm saved, but I'm not going to tell anyone, I'm saved, but I'm not going to live after the Lord, I'm saved, but I'm not going to read my Bible publicly in case I get, you know, laughed at or whatever, no, you know, we need to be that light that shines brightly, it says, so let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, okay, now let's be careful about this, because next chapter, it talks about the danger of doing your good works to be seen of men, that's something different, we'll cover that in chapter 6, but what this is saying is we shouldn't be hiding our good works, okay, we should be serving the Lord, listen, if you've ever been in a workplace, okay, and all you've done, you just tried to be a good employee, you just tried to work hard, you've just tried to be honest, you've just tried to, you know, you don't laugh at dirty jokes, you know, you don't go around telling lies, and you know, you set yourself as a good example, maybe even take your Bible to your lunch break and you read your Bible there, you know what happens, people are going to notice, people are going to see that light, and at some point, people are going to start asking, like, what's this about, you know, why do you do this, why do you like that, you know why, because you're blind, not that you're blind, but you're blind, you like them, it's obvious, you know, what is going on, and maybe some of you have experienced that, I've definitely experienced that in the workplace, where people have come up to me and said, what is this about, why, why are you so different, why, why do you read your Bible, why do you live this, why do you have 10 kids, those kinds of things, people start to notice when you start living after the way that God has asked us to do things, and that's good, it gives us an opportunity to shine that light, it gives us opportunities to preach the gospel, but we'll cover that more in chapter 6, about the light before men, and you know, let's keep reading verse number 17, Matthew 5, 17, now this is very, very important, because this is very misunderstood by a lot of Christians, it says here, Jesus says, think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill, this is very clear, what does Jesus say, I am not come to destroy, okay, there's a lot of Christians that think the Old Testament is done away with, as far as the laws of the Old Testament, the moral laws, you know, it's like, you know, we don't need the Old Testament, all we need is the New Testament, we can live by the New Testament, and that's why a lot of Christians just reject things like the death penalty, they reject things like, you know, death penalty for adultery, the death penalty for homosexuals, they reject that kind of stuff, they don't, it's unusual for them, because they in their hearts have destroyed the law, but Jesus is very clear, he's not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, we know that Jesus Christ had to fulfill the law, because he was that sinless lamb of God, he came not just to die for our sins, but also to be our righteousness, to live that perfect life, let's keep reading verse 18, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled, Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament law, he came to fulfill it perfectly, not just the moral laws and, you know, the righteousness there, but he also came to fulfill prophecy about his coming, and we know that still there's prophecy yet to be fulfilled in the second coming of Christ, he's come to fulfill the law not to destroy it, all right, this is also confirmation for us in verse 18, it says that not one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, okay, what's one jot or one tittle, those are the little punctuation things that you're putting in your writing, like you're, you know, the dotting of the I or the crossing of the T, he says, look, not even the little little tittles or the jots will pass away from the law, you know, this guarantees for us that we're always going to have the word of God, you know, God has always made it his intention that we would have the preserved pure word of God available for every generation, okay, and thank God, you know, in Australia has been an English speaking nation, we have the word of God for us in the King James Bible, okay, we're a church that believes the King James Bible is the perfect translation of the word of God. Let's keep reading verse number 19. Now, how important is the Old Testament law? How important is it? Look at verse 19, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, what's he talking about? Well, we just read about the law, okay, and shall teach men so he should, sorry, and teach it and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same should be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Hey, if I taught now this is this is very important, okay, as a pastor, as someone that that teaches the words of God, if I came not just breaking the commandments, because we all break and we all sin, but if I then taught that it's okay for you to break it, you know, I'm still saved, but I would be seen as the least in the kingdom of heaven. That's a pretty bad demotion, all right, and how many preachers today, you know, tell you just, you know, the Old Testament doesn't count, you know, what they're essentially saying is, yeah, look, you can break it, it doesn't matter, because we have the New Testament now, look, it matters, okay, not just you breaking it but teaching other people to break it, it's a serious thing that's going to get you demoted, make you the least in the kingdom of heaven, but look at the rest of it, it says, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. These are serious things that we need to think about as preachers. Now if you ever get an opportunity to preach, you want to be someone that's great in the kingdom of heaven, so you know, play it safe, make sure you teach what you know is true, teach what is right, and don't go around breaking the word of God, don't go around saying it's okay for you to sin, when the Bible's made it very clear that, you know, that action, whatever it is, was a sin. You know, verse number 20, it says, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. So this is where you're going to get your workspace teachers coming in, right? They're going to come, well look at this, you know, the Bible proves here that you have to live holy lives, in fact your life has to be so holy and so blameless that it's going to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, okay? That's how righteous you have to be to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Let me ask you this, by and large, did the scribes and pharisees receive Christ? No, by and large, I mean some of them received Christ, you know, like Nicodemus and some others. Paul wasn't a pharisee as well, you know, he's another example, but by and large they rejected Christ, didn't they? Okay, so many of these scribes and pharisees did not even enter into the kingdom of heaven. Is it because their lives were not holy enough? No, they did not enter because they did not believe on Jesus Christ. Now let's make sense of this, very quickly turn to John chapter 3, keep your finger there in Matthew 5, keep your finger there in Matthew 5, John chapter 3 verse 5, quickly turn to John chapter 3 verse 5, this is Jesus, you know, speaking to Nicodemus and it's a very famous passage, you guys are familiar with it, but remember Jesus said that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. How do we then enter into the kingdom of heaven? How can we be righteous enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven? John chapter 3 verse 5, Jesus answered verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. So how do we enter into the kingdom of heaven, into the kingdom of God? We must be born of the spirit, we must be born again, we must be saved, okay, that's how you exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, you're born again, because if you remember in the book of 1st John, the bible says that that new man cannot sin, okay, because it's born of God and the seed of God remaineth in him. Hey, this flesh and blood, it doesn't matter how righteous you try to make this body, the bible also says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter how righteous you try to live your life, the righteousness of cleaning up this flesh, self-reformation will never see you saved, okay, it's impossible to exceed that righteousness. The righteousness that you need to achieve to be saved is perfection, okay, it's perfection, it's not your perfection, it's a perfection that comes from Jesus Christ. I'll quickly read to you from Romans 4-5, it says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is countered for righteousness. How are you righteous before God? By putting your faith on Jesus Christ. It says, even as David also described of the blessedness of the man, and to whom God imputed righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. That's how you exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees, you believe on Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Christ is imputed upon you, so when God looks at you he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In a sense you are perfect, you are perfect, that's how you exceed, that's how you enter into the kingdom of God by being saved, all right, so let's keep reading, let's go to verse 21 now, okay, Matthew 5 verse 21, Matthew 5 verse 21, now Jesus in the next few verses he really lifts up the bar, he really lifts up the bar of righteousness, okay, now I want you to understand this because he's going to say things like you've heard this but I say unto you, you've heard this but I say unto you, he says that many times, okay, and some people have misunderstood that, and we just read that Jesus did not come to destroy the law, okay, and some people read this, it's like well the Old Testament said this but now Jesus is changing it, no, he's not changing the law, he's not changing anything here, okay, what he's doing is he's raising the bar, okay, now this is important because first of all we know nobody can keep the law of the Old Testament, like nobody can keep it, we know that, but even hypothetically, let's just hypothetically, let's say you can you could keep every command that you read in the Old Testament, you think you'd be saved, if you could, if you never broke a single command, you would not, you still would not be saved, I'll tell you why, because salvation was never by the works of the Lord, okay, God did not give us the Old Testament laws because his intention was we're going to be saved by them, there was never a time where people were saved by keeping the law, okay, salvation has always been by grace through faith without the deeds of the law, okay, it's always been that purpose, now why did God give us the law though, what makes it very clear is that he was to be a schoolmaster that would lead us to Christ, we would know well look at look at these laws of God man, I can't even achieve that, I've already broken those things, I can't save myself, I've already come short of the glory of God and I need a Saviour, that's purpose number one, okay, so we would see ourselves as sinners but number two the purpose is for the nation of Israel that God will instill some order, okay, and express what is right and what is wrong and for especially for criminals they would be punished according you know in according to the crimes they've committed and this is why as Jesus comes and preaches the next few verses he lifts it up even higher than what the law says, you know, it says like even if you could keep it he says but I say unto you and he raises the bar even higher, okay, even higher because the only way you can be saved is perfection, is the righteousness of Jesus Christ, okay, now let's keep reading verse 21 you have heard that he was said by them of old time thou shall not kill and whoever shall shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment so we know that's one of the 10 commandments you know thou shall not kill this is but I say unto you so Jesus is not saying that's wrong and now this is right it says now now we're raising the bar even higher it says but I said to 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 Rekka shall be in danger of the council but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire one thing you'll notice about Jesus one of the things that you'll notice about the new testament in comparison with the old testament is that we have a lot of old testament laws about your actions about the things that you do you know in the in your body okay but in the new testament Jesus really um focuses on your mind a lot okay a lot of the new testament writers focuses on the mind you know about you know the renewing of the mind and things like that you know think on things that are good and things that are you know uh I'm gonna mess that up I can't remember right now what how it goes but you know you'll find when you look at the old testament it does not focus so much on the mind okay but it's definitely focused on in the new testament because Jesus is raising that bar okay now let's understand I just want to quickly answer this like first of all yeah it's a bad thing to commit murder you know but Jesus says it's also a sin to think evil of your brother okay to say wicked things to them to offend them to uh to uh insult them now let's have a look at this because some people get confused with the last part which says but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire and they think hold on if I I'm saved and I say to my brother you know you're a fool you're an idiot does that mean I'm now have I lost my salvation am I sort of you know am I on my way to hell and we need to be careful with every word that we read okay let's have a look at look at verse number 22 and I want you to notice there's three ways that Jesus says the same thing but there's something that's very different in the third way that of what he says let's have a look at this but I sent to you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the council so if you're angry with your brother now let's let's apply this to the believer like you know as believers we're brethren right you know if you're a lady you're my sister in Christ if you're my you know if you're a man you're my brother in Christ okay so if you're angry with your brother if I'm saying you're my brother what are we saying about us that we're saved we're both children of God does that make sense okay now let's look at that angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment and then it says and whosoever shall say to his brother raca now that word rock is just some type of insult I don't think people really know what he means but it's just some sort of maybe swearing at him or something as soon as I say to his brother that's what I want to show you okay your brethren raca shall be in danger of the council but look at the last bit but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire did you notice that the third line there is missing the brother he's missing the your brother bit okay so what I'm trying to say to you here who is in danger first of all let's not get confused by this verse just say who is in danger of hellfire the non-believers okay not if you're saved if you're you're saved you're not in danger of hellfire whatsoever but the non-believer is in danger of hellfire okay so if the non-believer you know treats the neighbors foolishly you know um you know it doesn't say your brother okay this is not brethren these are not safe people and so I think you know jesus has been very careful with his word in there that he mentions brother brother but then it says but whosoever shall say okay so that's how I believe that should be correctly interpreted because we know only unbelievers are in danger of hellfire okay let's keep reading verse number 23 that's number 23 therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar and there remember us that thy brother have ought against thee leave there thy gifts before the altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gifts so god says basically in order for you to have reconciliation and fellowship with god it's the same kind of teaching that we saw before about being merciful to others then you also need to be reconciled with your brother okay you need to be if someone's done you wrong or you've done something wrong you know you need to fix that in order for you to maintain a good relationship with god as well now there are some relationships that you can't fix okay I mean you might have stretched out your hand of peace and tried to sort something out and that person doesn't want to fix it that's not your fault you've you've you've made that effort to do that okay you can't fix you can't make other people have peace with you and if that's the case that's one thing but if it is within your power you've not yet made reconciliation with people then you need to do that before you can have that reconciliation and fellowship with god it's not about salvation but again it's about your daily walk with god it's about your fellowship with god okay and again verse chapter six we'll go into that more in detail verse number 25 verse 25 agree with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with him lest at any time the adversary delivered thee to the judge and the judge delivered thee to the officer and they'll be cast into prison verily I say unto thee thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou has paid the uttermost farthing so look if you've done something wrong you know you've got an adversary and he's seeking payment jesus is saying good advice here just fix it outside of the court okay just sort it out you have problems just fix it you know sort it out otherwise if you let it escalate escalate you don't fix it you could be taken to the court you're brought before judge you're brought before unrighteous people and they're going to make judgment and make sure that you pay every every every farthing what it says there okay so it's just good advice you know fix things you don't need to take let everything go to court try to be someone of um of integrity and try to fix things with your adversary with your enemies okay verse 27 verse 27 you have heard that it was said of old time that of by them of old time thou shall not commit adultery okay so we know that is a not just a sin but adultery was also a crime okay and adultery did does deserve the death penalty not just did deserve but he does deserve the death penalty it's a serious sin okay but look what he says here in verse 28 but i send to you that whosoever look upon a woman to lust after her have committed adultery with her already in his heart okay now does that mean every man that's looked with lust upon a woman should also suffer the death penalty no otherwise there'll be no men left on the earth that's that's a that's a bad thing right but of course jesus christ is not is highlighting your mind as well not just a physical action we know he's raising the bar even if you just think about it but you don't do it it's still a sin as far as god is concerned okay so what's the difference between the two adulteries one adultery is in the heart okay it's in the mind it's in the heart you haven't actually physically committed the crime the crime of the death penalty was the physical act of adultery okay cheating on your spouse etc and um let's keep reading um verse number 29 if thy right hand 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 if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and and and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell now some people i mean i i don't know i don't think anyone obviously takes this literally okay you can't be saved like if you have a problem with looking at a woman with lust you can't pluck out your eyes and now be saved okay that's not going to happen okay we already said we're bubbles very clear flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god okay no matter how much body you know you know you steal something all right i better cut off my hand so i don't go to hell no you know that's not what this is teaching you know obviously you know we need to take this figurative you know um that what jesus is telling us here is is warning us about the horrors of hell how serious it is to be thrown into hell it's better if just a part of you was thrown to hell to save the rest of you you know but of course we know the way not to go to hell that's to believe on the lord jesus christ you do that and you save the whole body not this first body that you have but jesus christ will give you that resurrected body when he comes once again and raptures his believers okay so let's keep reading verse 31 it hath been said whosoever shall put away his wife let him give her a writing of divorcements but i say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication commit a cause of her to commit adultery and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commit adultery this is very very clear okay the only grounds for divorce is fornication okay i've already covered this there's so much to cover in this chapter i don't cover this again i did talk about it briefly in my matthew chapter one sermon about joseph being that just man and pulling away his wife privately mary i touched upon that um but really when we talk about the topic of divorce one day i'm just gonna have to preach like just a whole sermon on divorce one day okay we'll go into that at some point in the future unless unless there's a desire for me to preach that earlier let me know let's keep reading verse 33 again you have heard it said from them of old thou shall not forswear thyself but shall perform unto the lord thine oaths so it says look if you've committed something you've committed to do something you've made an oath then you know see it through you know if you've been married and you've said till death do us part that's an oath between husband and wife then you've got to see it through it's still death to us part okay that's important jesus is not undoing that remember he's just raising the bar then it says in verse 34 but i sense you swear not at all neither by heaven for it is god's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool neither by jerusalem for it is the city of the great king neither shall i swear by thy by thy head because thou canst not make one hair white or black but let your communication so what is he saying this is the answer in verse 37 let your communication be yay yay nay nay for what's always more than these cometh of evil all right so basically we need to be people that learn to say no okay now if you're this is one of my problems right people often ask me if i can do something i tend to say yes all right because i want to please them i want to make him happy i want to try to serve them whatever but really in reality i should stop and go hold on you know can i achieve that you know if i can't if it's something that i can't accomplish i'm not going to say yes i should just say no that's what jesus christ is saying hey look you know to be people of integrity you know if you can accomplish something you know you can accomplish it yes say yes but if you can't then just say no you know don't make some oath hey i promise i'll do that next week and then the week passes and you don't accomplish your oath okay it's better if you just say no and we need to be people that learn that okay we can't be pushovers all the time you know someone says can you do this you just be honest saying look i can't do that you know my my schedule's full i can't do that right now you know maybe in the future if an opportunity opens up i might be able to do that for you but be careful about what you swear to be careful what oaths you give to okay so uh again you've when you made an oath and you got married you've got to keep that okay you've got to keep that oath you know in in ritual poor in sickness or in health till death do us part and everything else that you guys said you know stay to those oh stay true to what you said let's keep reading verse 38 you have heard it um you have heard that it has been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth now this is again where people go or see because you know the eye for an eye two for a turf if you go back to leviticus where it's written um it's about uh about punishment it's about punishing evil dudes it's about punishing crime and that is it's also said associated with the death penalty okay and what it means by an eye for an eye or two for a tooth what that means is the punishment has to meet the crime you know so whatever someone's done the punishment has to meet that if you've murdered someone you might get a slap on the wrist do a couple years in prison and then you're gone hey that does not match the crime okay if you've murdered someone the punishment is the death penalty you know and that's what it means an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and some people have said look in verse 39 jesus says but i say unto you see he's undoing the death penalty no no no jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it he's just raising the bar even higher okay but one thing you need to understand the difference between verse 38 and 39 is that verse 38 is for governments okay it's for those that are punishing the evil though it's for the lawmakers okay and then verse 38 39 is about just you and your you know the things that happen to you the bad things that happen to you let's look at it verse 39 but i say unto you that ye resist not evil but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also so look if someone smites you on your cheek and slaps you on your cheek you know you wouldn't take them to court okay and get revenge all right now they're going to be punishing and get slapped themselves jesus says look you get these small things happen to you these small insults this small persecution just turn the other cheek okay because we've already read what it means to be meek what it means to be humble and what it means to be persecuted because god's gonna bless you god's going to take revenge for you and he's going to give you great rewards in heaven why would you lose all that's the stuff that we covered before just turn the other cheek just just you know that's the saying but it's not undoing verse 38 because verse 38 was the practice of the lawmakers that their punishment should suit the crime that was done all right if i haven't explained that properly please ask me later on let's keep reading verse number 40 and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat so someone takes you to the law and you lose you know they take away thy coat let him have thy cloak also okay and whatsoever 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 okay so you know don't fret again once again what the wicked can do to you if they take you to court they win the court case they take your coat don't worry about it give them your cloak also okay don't worry about it because god's going to provide your need you know if god's you know you but god said jesus said that if you seek first the kingdom of god in his righteousness that all these things shall be added unto you okay god will make sure that you're provided for god will make sure that your needs are being met even when you're being uh are used and abused by other people okay god does not want us to be people that take revenge upon ourselves all right and be someone that's a good neighbor you know someone asks you to do something hey try to be a help to them do what you can for them let's keep reading remember these are hard sayings this is lifting the bar very highly this is not salvation but this is how we should live our lives we should see out work out our salvation as it were let's keep reading verse 43 you have heard it uh you have heard sorry you have heard that you have been said that thou shalt love thy neighbor now let me stop there for a minute that is in the bible okay that thou shalt love thy neighbor that is written in the old testament the next bit says and hate thine enemy now look prove me wrong but you'll never find that in the old testament there's nowhere in the old testament that says love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy no it just says love thy thy neighbor that's all it says okay there's never been a time where god's wanted you to hate your enemies okay we are to love our enemies but i think what jesus is saying here is that some people have twisted the scripture so badly that just by the command love thy neighbor they assume that means well i can hate my enemy then all right just to get away i mean that's what people do right people know what the word of god says and they're like well how can i get away with something well loving thy neighbor that must mean i can hate my enemy okay because in their minds they're thinking their enemy is not their neighbor but look what jesus says all right verse 44 but i say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you and do good to them they hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you look if someone's persecuting you harming you throwing you into prison mocking you are you gonna really have a desire to pray for them are you gonna have a desire to do good to them you're not okay this is why it's a hard teaching the sermon of the mount is beautiful but it's very hard to put into practice this is the standard god wants us to live to love our enemies wow to do good to those that despitefully use you that's a hard thing all right let's keep reading verse 45 we're almost done here it says that ye may be the children of your father which is in heaven for you've maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and send the rain on the just and on the unjust for if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same now let me stop there for a minute you say well why why should i do good why should i love my enemies because jesus says there's a reward for that if you just love those that love you he said what reward have you meaning that if you love those that don't love you there's a reward for that okay i mean how how you know how ashamed would you be if you get to heaven and you get no rewards for loving an enemy right then everyone's gonna know man this guy lived in the flesh this guy was out you know getting his own revenge this guy was you know hating his enemies etc so it'd be such a great thing to have rewards that that show that you're someone that loved your enemies otherwise you'd be ashamed i think when you get to heaven when you don't have that reward there okay verse 47 and if you salute your brethren only what uh do you more than others do not even the publican so so you know the teaching of jesus ultimately here is to treat the stranger treat the non-believer the same way you would treat your brethren okay now you guys have shown me a lot of love that's a lot of appreciation you know for especially for coming down here and preaching for you guys and all that kind of stuff you should be treating others the same way as well not just brethren in this church it's it's good it's easy to serve the brethren it's easy to love the brethren sometimes it's not that easy to love the brethren because sometimes you you do get we get annoyed each other whatever right but god wants us to love the strangers to love the unbelievers in the same way that's a very hard thing very hard saying this is what i said to you guys beautiful words but very hard hard preaching that's coming from jesus christ and let's just finish here in verse 48 be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect it's a high calling a very high calling and we know that we're already perfect if you're born again if you're saved we already know you're perfect in the righteousness of christ but what jesus is teaching us here guys is that once you are saved that we are also called to live out that righteousness okay now you may never live out that righteousness you may never do it okay but you'll you'll still go to heaven because your foundation is based on jesus christ salvation is based on him okay but you just won't have the rewards you'll get to heaven you'll have no rewards or you might have very little rewards but if you live out the righteousness you live out trying to be perfect how god is perfect even exceeding the righteousness that we saw the scribes and pharisees even exceeding the righteousness of the old testament laws like i said jesus is raising the bar not just in what we do but even how we think you know we can change these things about ourselves we'll get the rewards in heaven we'll live out the righteousness of christ as best as we can in this life you know when you do sin confess those sins to god make sure you maintain a clean walk with him have that pure heart you know and you'll be called great in the kingdom of heaven let's pray