A Greater Righteousness, Pt. 1 // Matthew 5:17-30

Intro:

Main Idea: Righteousness in God’s Kingdom begins with a transformed heart.

1. Jesus affirms the value of the Law (v. 17-19)

Abolish: (Gr) “to tear down”

Think of taking apart a house one brick at a time

Why do you think Jesus makes this claim? That he did not come to abolish the law?

Instead of making the law obsolete, Jesus instead fills the law to the fullest extent

Which parts of the law? Only the most important parts? NO! Every single pen stroke.

Matthew 5:18 CSB

18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all things are accomplished.

ESV: not a iota, not a dot

KJV: not a jot or a tittle

דְּבָרִים

Every part of the law is significant.

“Least of the commandments” - the simpler commands that are easier to keep.

2. Jesus acknowledges the insufficiency of the Law (v. 20)

This is where the Pharisees come to have issue with Jesus: He says that not even they are righteous enough to enter into the kingdom.

Why is this significant?

The Pharisees were holding to the letter of the law! One old school pastor named James Boice makes a really interesting point in writing about these verses:

We have a negative image of the Pharisees and the scribes today because of what Jesus Christ said about them and because of the higher standard of righteousness that He revealed. But this was not true before that. For the most part, they were highly thought of, so highly, in fact, that even Paul, years later when he stood up before Herod Agrippa to plead his case, boasted that formerly he had lived after the strictest sect of the Jewish religion, “a Pharisee” (Acts 26:5)… The scribes also were honored as the great masters of the law.

James Boice, The Sermon on the Mount (Zondervan, 1972), 99.

They were seen, by themselves and others, to be the most righteous men because they lived according to the law… and Jesus said that even these religious elites were not holy or blameless enough to enter into the kingdom.

If you were in the service last Sunday, you heard Dr. Chuck Quarles say something close to this:

The Law of the Old Testament could communicate to us what was right and holy, but it could not create the transformation needed that allows us to keep it.

Chuck Quarles, Sermon: What We Believe about Salvation, preached at Faith Baptist Church, Youngsville, NC (Sep. 29, 2024)

The Pharisees couldn’t perfectly keep the law, the scribes couldn’t keep the law, and we can’t perfectly obey the law either.

This should be concerning for us, and it should lead us to ask two questions:

If the Pharisees and scribes aren’t righteous enough, is there any hope for me?

Look back up to verse 17... Jesus says, “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

The Law still stands, but it’s requirements are no longer a barrier for us between us and the Father because Jesus has filled those requirements in full for us.

Paul explains this for us in Romans 3:20-24:

Romans 3:20–24 CSB

20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law. 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. 22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

What does this greater righteousness look like?

That leads us into our final point...

3. Jesus exposes the heart of the Law (v. 21-30)

For the next 37 verses, Jesus is going to expound on 6 of the Old Testament Laws.

You’ll notice a pattern with these:

“You have heard that it was said...”

“But I say to you...”

Personally, I don’t love that most translations put the “but” before what Jesus says about each of His comments on the commands.

The word could also be translated as “and.” I think this is a little more faithful to what Jesus has already said in that He did not come to do away with the Law, but complete it.

But, in all of this, here is what I want us to remember:

At the heart of the Old Testament Law is the very heart of God.

In the time we have left, we’re going to look at the first 2 commands that Jesus addresses and the emphasis that He places on each of those commands.

a. The Value of Human Life (v. 21-26)

The command Jesus addresses here is… “do not murder”

Before looking into what Jesus says about this command, what is murder?

At the core of the act of murder, what does it signal about how one person feels about another?

Murder assumes the lowest possible value of another person’s life. Murder says, “You are so worthless, that you don’t even deserve to live.”

Rather than the act of killing, Jesus places the emphasis on anger, and the same punishment is incurred for being angry with someone as murder

Now if that is not shocking enough look at the progression here:

Anger leads to judgement in court

Insulting (saying “Raca” [empty one]) leads to being sent to the “Supreme Court”

Name calling (“you fool”) leads to punishment by hellfire

I told my roommate last night how convicting this has been for me recently, and maybe you can relate, when I’m driving...

Someone will do something on the road, and what’s the first thing out of my mouth? “You idiot...” but then these verses come back into my head.

The Lord does not tolerate our mistreatment of other people

Notice what those who don’t seek to reconcile with others are met with: judgement, prosecution, and punishment.

The Lord keeps an account of our hearts towards others, and He will collect.

b. The Value of Sexual Purity (v. 27-30)

The command Jesus addresses in these verses is… “do not commit adultery”

What is adultery?

In simplest forms, adultery is marital unfaithfulness.

Interestingly, adultery is one of the most common illustrations God gives to describe His relationship with Israel in the Old Testament.

The entire book of Hosea essentially is about this. He commands the prophet to marry a prostitute… but she keeps being a prostitute! And no matter how many times this woman seeks another lover, God commands Hosea to welcome her back again and again.

Hosea 3:1 CSB

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

So again, Jesus does not put the emphasis on the act of adultery, but on lust.

There’s three things that I’d like to address in what Jesus says about lust here:

Clarity on the phrase “looks at a woman”

The word there for “look” in the original language is referring more to a lingering look or a stare rather than a glance

It could also be translated as “goes on looking” or “keeps on looking”

This does not permit you to look at a person and then go on daydreaming about them. That’s exactly what Jesus is warning against here. A lingering look or even a lingering thought.

This does, however, permit us to recognize beauty and move on without holding that person captive in our hearts or minds.

Defining “lust”

I pulled this definition from a Bible Encyclopedia, and I think it captures what Jesus is warning against pretty well:

New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words (Lust)

This Greek word denotes any strong desire directed toward an object...In each [setting this word for “lust”] is used [it’s] in a strongly negative sense. These passages deal with a sexual desire stimulated by the sin nature—a desire that seeks to possess and use persons who are not rightly objects of desire.

Two Bible scholars specifically on what Jesus is saying in these verses in writing this:

The woman is made into and object. Lust is completely self-centered, interested only in sexual gratification. It treats other persons as things to be exploited. It adulterates them. When the lust is [satisfied], the object of the lust is discarded and another object is sought out.

David Dockery and David Garland, Seeking the Kingdom, 55.

So with all of these comments in mind, think again to how this command from Jesus ties back into the first.

Murder says, “you’re not valuable enough to live”

Lust says, “you’re not valuable enough to love”

It’s an act of possessing another person against their will, even if only in your mind.

Addressing Jesus’ Solution

Jesus says that if our eye or hand causes us to lust or sin, we should cut it off.

Is this a literal command from Jesus?

I don’t think this is a literal command. Some have learned this the hard way, mutilating their bodies only to find that lustful desires persist.

This is far more than a physical solution. Control of the body and it’s desires begins with a transformed heart.

What I think Jesus is really saying here is that we should take drastic measures to ensure that we remove sin from our lives.

Here’s 3 practical things you can do from the Scriptures that are drastic, but will change your life

Believe the gospel and repent from sin.

God promises us a new heart in Ezek. 36:25-26

Ezekiel 36:26–27 CSB

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances.

Remove yourself from tempting places and people

You may have heard it said that this is the one temptation we are taught to flee from rather than to resist. Paul says this in 2 Tim. 2:22

2 Timothy 2:21–22 CSB

21 So if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. 22 Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Confess your sin to God and other believers

God is faithful to forgive, burdens are not meant to be carried alone, and what is hidden in darkness will come to light.

John gives us this promise in 1 John 1:6-10

1 John 1:6–10 CSB

6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Now all of this is convicting, and I hope that we all see the need to be transformed from the inside out. True righteousness begins in the heart and leads to action, not the other way around. Let me pray as we close, and we’ll spend some time in discussion at our tables.