The Sermon on the Mount 7

A Clean heart before God 2

The Sermon on the Mount 7

We are in the middle of series on the Sermon on the Mount

We are in the book of Mathew chapter 5

This is a magnificent sermon,

The sermon Is about the kingdom of God.

Our Lord was concerned to describe a citizen of the kingdom Heaven

In the beatitudes he describes the essential nature of the Christian man or woman.

Then he immediately begins to share how a citizen of the kingdom relates to the law.

The principle is to have a clean heart before God

1 Murder

2 Making things right with each, don’t cover it up.

3 Do not commit adultery.

The sermon of the mount is for the disciples, people who are already walking with Jesus, they know that He is God’s son, and that he loves them, if not, you will have a difficult time to receive and understand this teaching.

As I begin let me remind you that Jesus, already paid the price for all of our sins, all of us have sinned if not in action, within the closed doors of our hearts, and our Heavenly Father knows our hearts that’s why He sent Jesus to die our death, all we need to do is to repent from our sins and He will forgive us, the purpose of this teaching is not to condemn us but to give us a clear understanding of the heart of God, and how we are to interpret the law.

A citizen of heaven keeps a clean heart before God.

This portion of scripture is the kind of subject that teachers and pastors tend to avoid, but there is no excuse to avoid it, the word of God is important to every area of our lives.

He was not correcting the law of Moses, but the corruption by the Pharisees

Let’s pray

1 Divorce

Mat 5:31 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'

Again this is what was said by the Pharisees and Sadducees, they were always changing the law to give them the appearance of righteous and good.

How the pharisees and Sadducees were interpreting the law.

The pharisees and Sadducees said that the law commanded them to divorce their wives, that was not true, It was not a command.

Let’s begin by looking at what was written in the law

Deu 24:1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,

Deu 24:2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man,

Deu 24:3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,

Deu 24:4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

The Mosaic legislation was to limit the numbers of divorce, it had to be immoral, uncleanness, immoral idolatry, incest, fornication. They must have a reason and had two witnesses. The law of Moses was to bring the man to responsibility he had to give the woman a bill of divorcement he could no longer say I don’t want you anymore bye, and not considered the consequences on his wife and the children.

In those days, the woman didn’t have many rights. If her husband wanted to divorce her, he could divorce her but she could not divorce him. There was no provision for a wife getting a divorce from her husband, but the husband could get a divorce.

It was greatly unfair to the women and to children, at that time anyone could divorce his wife for any frivolous reason. My eggs were not done the way I liked, or she forgot to brush her hair the first thing in the morning.

The object of the law was to reduce the number of divorces

Moses gave the bill of divorcement to protect the woman so she would not be accused of unfaithfulness, or adultery and be stoned to death.

She should not remarry the first husband again, giving them some accountability, and the seriousness of marriage.

Jesus saw this way

Mat 5:32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

And so Jesus is going back more towards the original.

The word adultery is not mentioned in divorce, the law for adultery was truly clear you would be stoned to death,

Jesus went right to the heart of the matter, unless is because of sexual immorality, the word in the Greek is Porneia, what our word pornography comes from, and it means, Immorality, sexual Idolatry, bestiality, incest adultery, fornication, sexual deviance.

The issue here was not about Abuse and violence, you have laws to protect you from that. Don’t stay under a dangerous abusive situation because you are a Christian husband or wife, call for help immediately, it only gets worse.

About civil authority.

Rom 13:3 For [civil] authorities are not a source of fear for [people of] good behavior, but for [those who do] evil. Do you want to be unafraid of authority? Do what is good and you will receive approval and commendation.

Rom 13:4 For he is God's servant to you for good. But if you do wrong, [you should] be afraid; for he does not carry the [executioner's] sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an avenger who brings punishment on the wrongdoer.

Jesus makes this even more clear

Mat 19:3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"

Mat 19:4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,'

Mat 19:5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?

Mat 19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

Jesus reduced the ordinance of marriage to its primitive institution: They two shall be one flesh, not to be easily separated, and therefore divorce is not to be allowed, except for sexual immorality.

Mat 19:7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"

Again showing their level of distortion to the law given by Moses.

Mat 19:8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

God’s sees and values marriage, He was the one that came out with the idea of marriage right from the beginning, In many situations, forgiveness is the answer.

Mat 19:9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery."

Mat 19:10 The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."

Mat 19:11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.

Mat 19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."

If a men put his wife away upon any other pretense, causes her to commit adultery, and him also that shall marry her when she is divorced.

Jesus gave us Gods view of marriage,

There is only one legitimate reason for divorce.

Unfaithfulness, immorality. What about if you have committed a sin, go before the Lord and ask Him to forgive you, adultery is not the unforgivable sin. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email I will respond to you.

2 Oath

a solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one's future action or behavior:

Mat 5:33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.'

This was a false teaching, putting a curse on yourself if you were not able to fulfill your promise.

Moses law

Exo 20:7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the LORD will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].

Lev 19:12 You shall not swear [an oath] falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.

Moses was addressing lying; among the people, our tendency is always to affirm our word with something greater than us, I may lie but you can trust this, cross my heart and hope to die.

I promise

Jesus said

Mat 5:34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne;

Mat 5:35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

Mat 5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black.

Mat 5:37 All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Say what you mean, mean what say. Yes or No

3 Retribution

Mat 5:38 "You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH

The Pharisees and Sadducees saw as what you must do, they had a negative view of the law of God, God demanding an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth.

Let’s look what was written in the law.

Exo 21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Exo 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

This came under the law when God was instructing the judges concerning their judgment in the cases that were brought before them, and there should be equity imposed from the judges. And he uses the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth to show that when you judge, make the judgment equitable. Make the judgment fitting the crime. Let the judgment be fitting the crime that was committed. Let it be an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

This was given to limit damage

If someone breaks your tooth or damage your eye, you probably want to kill them the law was given to limit the damage.

You can only retaliate to the same level your brother harmed you. That was the law of Moses

Jesus view was

Mat 5:39 But I say to you, do not resist an evil person[who insults you or violates your rights]; but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other toward him also [simply ignore insignificant insults or trivial losses and do not bother to retaliate--maintain your dignity, your self-respect, your poise].

Someone is trying to offend you, let go forgive them, we are not talking about an attack or someone trying to abuse you, you have the right to defend yourself,

Exo 22:2 "If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;

Exo 22:3 but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. "Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft.

Mat 5:40 If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also [for the Lord repays the offender].

Mat 5:41 And whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

A Roman soldier had the authority to stop you at any time, and demand you to carry his bags for a mile, They were the ones invading their country, charging them taxes, Jesus was well aware of that.

Jesus view, was don’t let them offend you, go with them the second mile, love them.

Mat 5:42 Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

There are no guaranties that you will be repaid by them, just be ready to forgive, and know that God will take care of you.

A citizen of Heaven Keeps his heart clean before God

In matters like

Murder,

covering up sin with gifts to the Lord,

Lust

Divorce,

Promises we make

Retribution

To become a Disciple, we need to make Jesus the Lord of our lives

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Joh 3:16

To receive Jesus, we need to accept Him as God’s son, repent from our sins and a life of selfishness, and ask Him to be your Lord and savior, not that you deserve it, but is a gift from God.

If this is your desire today, please repeat this prayer after me?

Heavenly Father I’m sinner,

I’m sorry for my sins,

I’m willing to turn away from my sins.

I receive Christ as my savior,

I confess him as Lord

from this moment on I want to follow and serve him,

in the fellowship of his church,

In Jesus name. Amen!