The Spirit of the Law (Matthew 5:21-30)

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Pray

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Introduction

In 1748, the French Baron of Montesquieu (Charles-Louis the Second) wrote a philosophical treatise entitled The Spirit of the Law.

In this work, he examined the relationship between laws, governmental forms, and society ultimately arriving at the conclusion that laws should ever be evolving and adapting to the ever-changing landscape of circumstances and human understanding.

These ideas greatly influenced the founders of our United States Constitution and put into popular use the term “the spirit of the law.”

While this has led to many great verdicts within court systems that should be celebrated, it has also purposed many twistings of biblical morality in the name of upholding the intended purpose of the law.

Jesus, one with the Father, the very author of the law, teaches in a way that clarifies the intent and purpose of God’s commands that goes far beyond the simple obedience of man.

As Christ continues His Sermon on the Mount, He is giving His disciples a crash course in God’s law by giving them case studies of how to apply it to their hearts.

He turns His attention to two topics that touch each and every one of our lives on a day to day basis.

Anger and lust.

We are constantly surrounded by both.

Our senses are assaulted by both.

News and politics are cultivated to provoke reactions.

Social media is basically the hub for all things anger and lust.

It is full of arguments, provocation, and content uniquely designed to pique the lust-filled interests of every demographic imaginable.

Before we dive straight into our passage today, let’s remind ourselves of the context of these teachings.

While Jesus’ teachings on anger and lust found here are incredibly profound, they are not self-contained.

They were not meant to be consumed and applied within a vacuum.

The entirety of Matthew 5-7 is ONE teaching addressed specifically to His disciples for the purpose of correcting their understanding of what it means to live for God’s Kingdom in a world where sin has distorted our natural inclinations and tendencies.

So far, we have seen the portrait of a disciple,

how their character and life should be marked by their Savior as they flavor and illuminate the world around them.

These characteristics are so foreign to our expectations that Christ offered the clarification that His teachings were not intended to be fresh, new takes on what God had been expecting from His people for centuries.

We see in verse 17 that Jesus didn’t come to abolish the law.

He came to fulfill it.

And He fulfilled the law in 3 ways.

He fulfilled the law through perfect obedience.

He fulfilled the law through the saving acts of His death and resurrection.

And He fulfilled the law through teaching His disciples a true understanding of the law.

As Jesus fulfills the law in ways that only He can, He draws the attention of His disciples to the specifics of the law.

He is showing us that the holy, sanctifying Spirit of the law surpasses the mere taught letter of the law by a longshot!

As He has already shown in previous sections of the sermon, Jesus cares just as much (if not more) about the heart behind the obedience as He does about the action of obedience itself.

He is just as concerned with sinful attitudes as He is sinful actions.

Outline

In the text, we will see 2 major points...

The sum of God’s law is more than its letters.

The Savior is just as concerned with the heart of obedience as He is the action.

First, we see that…

The sum of God’s law is more than its letters.

“You have heard… But I say...”

Our opening words come directly after Jesus drops the bomb that we can never enter the kingdom of heaven unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.

The religious elite of His day.

He doubles down on this with the use of a phrase that we will hear a total of six times before we see the end of it in the Sermon on the Mount.

“You have heard that it was said to those who were of old...”

Hear what Jesus is saying here!

He is not quoting a Scripture.

He is not reminding them of something that the Lord has handed down to them as part of His perfect, inspired law.

Jesus is equating what the people have heard with the teachings of the Pharisees.

“You have heard it said...” implies that Jesus’ disciples were not afforded the opportunity, nor the education, to study the Old Testament for themselves.

They were largely dependent on the teachings of the scribes and their knowledge of the Scriptures.

This statement is better understood as reading, “You have received as tradition.”

Not, “You have read...” but “You have been taught...”

The problem here is that the scribes and Pharisees were using their platform to interpret the law in ways that left them looking high and mighty.

Like they had spiritually arrived.

They were teaching the law of God in such a way that it could be attained in their own strength.

However, at the same time, adherence to the law of God was unattainable to the average person by these standards.

That is what the Pharisees and scribes were doing.

They were denying the people’s attempts at righteousness while setting themselves up in comparison so that they could flaunt their virtues.

All based in a man-centered understanding of the letter of the law.

Now, the follow-up phrase is equally important!

Jesus doesn’t just leave it at “You have heard it said...”

He kicks the ball down the field with “But I say to you...”

He is telling His disciples that they cannot have the law interpreted for them by any man, or interpret the law on their own, because they cannot fathom the depths of their depravity.

This is Jesus fulfilling the law!

He is teaching true understanding.

He’s neither adding to it or subtracting from it!

He is adding to the depth and breadth of its application.

He breathes life into the law by showing that the spirit of the law is God-centered.

The law does not exalt us, it exalts Him!

He is the fulfilment!

He is our righteousness!

And here is how we cultivate communion with Him.

But we still have to deal with the specifics.

What have they heard?

And what does Jesus have to say about it?

This is where our second point comes into play.

The Savior is just as concerned with the heart of obedience as He is the action.

Anger

First, we see Christ’s wisdom applied to anger.

The Pharisees taught that the most literal observation of the sixth commandment was sufficient.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

“You shall not murder.

No stabbing, clubbing, suffocating, or any other method of ending a life employed?

Check!

You’re good to go in the eyes of man.

In Jesus’ teaching though, we see that heartfelt anger is enough to render an individual a murderer.

And we see that there is a progression that harms, not only the one at which that anger is aimed, but the soul of the one harboring the anger.

Anger (Emotion)

First we must identify this emotion.

“Anger” can have a litany of definitions and contexts.

The word that Jesus uses is an intense term, the Greek word “orgizo”.

This is not run of the mill anger He is talking about here.

Anger in this sense refers to an intense fury or seething rage, not some minor frustration or irritation.

Jesus, Himself, demonstrated anger that did not lead to sin as He drove the vendors from the temple grounds.

John 2:13–17 ESV

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

His zeal for the Father caused blatant disobedience to anger Him.

However, it did not progress to harming anyone in word or deed.

We can mirror this anger when we live by Ephesians 4:26...

Ephesians 4:26 ESV

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Anger in itself is not the sin.

But fury and rage are examples of anger gone wild.

And this is what Jesus is talking about in verse 22 of Matthew 5.

This is enough to put you in violation of God’s law at the same level as murder.

But it progresses from there!

Contempt for Mind

Fury and rage so often do not stop in the heart.

Anger progresses to contemptuous remarks.

In our ESV, the middle of verse 22 reads, “whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council.”

The insult that Jesus uses as an example is the word “Raca” and is the equivalent of “idiot” or “moron” by today’s standards.

It means that, in your anger, you are saying that their head is empty.

You are calling them intellectually inferior to yourself.

This distinction may not make complete sense to us in 2025.

We’ve had decades of sitcoms normalizing the degrading of others.

We have been tremendously desensitized!

But to Christ’s disciples, these insults would be social taboos.

Look at the Proverbs and how they depict foolish, empty-headed people.

They don’t fear God.

They make matters worse.

They are ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

Jesus says that insulting someone in this way makes you “liable to the council.”

This is modern day equivalent to necessitating an appearance before our Supreme Court in God’s eyes.

Contempt for Person

The final step in this progression is to allow contempt to grow to the point that the very humanity of the one you are angry with is denied.

The term for “fool” that Jesus commands against does not merely insult intelligence or being empty-headed.

It carries the connotation of being empty-hearted.

Worthless.

And, as contempt mounts, so does the implications of punishment.

Calling a fellow man, who is made in the image of God, worthless is deserving of everlasting punishment by hell fire.

These forms of anger and contempt are given in rapid fire succession, not to give us a ranking system, but to show us that any form of contempt is equivalent to murder in the Lord’s eyes.

Rash anger is heart murder.

Using demeaning language and slander is tongue murder.

Insults come from pride.

“Fool” comes from spite

And we see contempt show itself time and again as the heart posture behind murder.

Lust

Secondly, and similarly, Christ applies His wisdom to lust.

Exodus 20:14 tells us...

Exodus 20:14 ESV

“You shall not commit adultery.

The Pharisees taught that it was the physical act of sexual union that constituted breaking the seventh commandment.

And even then, it was inconsistently applied depending on the situation.

Jesus again goes to the heart, the intentions, and the purpose of the law to make a disciple holy.

And He points out that, yet again, that desires and attitudes are as important as actions.

The lustful glance,

the lingering gaze,

the looking with desire to commit action if it only were not a sin against a holy God,

shapes your soul in the same way of physically having an affair.

It hardens your heart and solidifies desires in ways that are counter to holiness.

Application

Our attitudes AND our actions dictate our holiness!

If the sum of God’s law is more than its letters and the Savior is just as concerned with the heart of obedience as He is the action, then we can garner 4 practical applications from these verses.

We must not take the teaching of man as the law of God.

We must process our anger through God’s words, not our own.

We must take drastic measures to eradicate sin.

We must own the responsibility of guarding the souls around us.

First...

We must not take the teaching of man as the law of God.

Church, you cannot rely on the traditions of man to set you on the right path.

We are blessed with 2,000 years of church history to look back on and examine the faithful lives of those who have gone before us.

But you cannot conform to any conviction, teaching, or tradition that is founded in history but not in the Word.

You are afforded the great honor of holding God’s Word in your hands,

beholding it with your eyes,

and applying it to your souls.

Brothers and sisters, today, if you are allowing preachers to do all the heavy lifting of dividing the Word for you, you are missing out.

I am exceedingly blessed with the opportunity and responsibility to stand before you and teach these sacred, inspired, inerrant, sufficient Scriptures to you.

While I am honored that you trust me to do so, you cannot build a foundation for your faith on the words of Ben Little.

You have no priest, but the High Priest Who is sitting at the Father’s right hand.

You have a Savior that expectantly calls you to come sit at His feet.

You have the Spirit of the Almighty God, the very author and inspiration of the Bible, indwelling you.

And He stands ready to illuminate these pages to your soul.

Secondly,

We must process our anger through God’s words, not our own.

This flies in the face of everything that has been drilled into us since the time we were watching Sesame Street.

The culture around us tells us that we will explode and be unfit for society if we bottle up our anger and don’t give vent to it.

We are told to let it out in a controlled space and that this will be a balm for our souls.

But what does Jesus say?

He says that contemptuous words flow from anger like a natural spring.

Proverbs 17:14 ESV

The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out.

We’ve all seen what it’s like to let out water.

This is the picture of a dam that has a little leak.

The pressure builds, the cracks widen, until the water cannot be contained and it breaks out in a torrent,

wreaking havoc on everything in its path.

The beginning of our problems,

the beginning of conflict,

the beginning of hurt,

often, the beginning of contempt pours out of our mouths in anger.

Instead, Scripture constantly instructs us to measure our words.

Psalm 4:4 ESV

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

The beginning of not sinning in anger is the exact opposite of our natural inclinations.

The Psalmist tells us to “be silent.”

But that is not where the instruction ends.

There is a release.

There is action that can be taken.

The following verse says,

Psalm 4:5 ESV

Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.

Trust God with your anger.

Trust God with the frustrating circumstance.

How often is our unsettled spirit the product of our desire to control the situation.

Trusting God alleviates that tension.

1 Peter 5...

1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

We can trust Him.

We can give Him our fretful anxieties because He cares for us.

Similarly to Psalm 4, James 1 begins with calling for our silence.

James 1:19–21 ESV

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Anger is not a fruit of the spirit.

It does not produce the righteousness of God.

Listen quickly.

Speak slowly.

Humbly submit yourself to the Word of God.

Our wickedness ends, and the righteousness of God begins, in His Words, not ours.

It is in Scripture, not our words of vented anger, that we find the Words that can save our souls.

It is imperative that we process our anger through God’s Words and not our own, lest we be liable for the judgement of murder.

This stills our souls instead of stirring them.

This shows Christ-like humility and self-control.

Silence, trust, and prayer bolster our faith instead of wreaking it.

Thirdly,

We must take drastic measures to eradicate sin.

Men (and women, don’t tune me out), if you are in the store and the fastest way from point A to point B is through the underwear or swimwear section, it might be best for your soul to take the long way around.

If your social media page is flooded with ads, profile suggestions, reels, and other content that cause you to take that prolonged, lustful glance, cut it off!

Deactivate.

If you struggle to avert your eyes and keep your thoughts pure,

trips to Water Country (even with the family) might need to go on the back-burner.

If the computer you carry around in your pocket acts as a portal into the world of pornography, there are real choices to make.

You might have to cut it off.

In a culture where communication is instant and necessary, “dumbphones” with no browsing capabilities are on the rise.

There are software and tools that block content.

There are software and tools that report what you do on your device to a trusted friend or family member.

If you want more information on these, or need someone you can trust to step into those waters with you, come and talk to me today!

You are not alone!

There will be a thousand reasons you can think of to not cut this device off in at least some way.

My challenge to you, brothers and sisters, is to not sacrifice your holiness on the altar of convenience.

But it’s not just lust that we have to cut off.

Jesus gives this shocking instruction within the context of talking about lust.

But His specific instruction is....

Matthew 5:29–30 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

If we are to be the portrait of a disciple found in the Beatitudes,

if we are going to flavor and illuminate this bitter and dark world,

if we are going to live in a way that does not compromise and counteract the sanctifying work of the Spirit in our hearts,

Then we must take advantage of every means at our disposal to keep sin out of our lives.

A couple of years ago, when you graciously sent your pastors to the Coram Deo conference, John Piper used this exact passage in one of the most memorable applications I’ve witnessed.

He was on a panel with another one of my heroes, Joel Beeke.

Picture the excitable Piper and the serious, puritan-esque Beeke.

And they were asked, “After all of your years of experience, what is one thing that you wish you could go back and communicate to your younger self as you were growing in pastoral ministry?”

Piper, in true form, and maintaining the shocking form of this command, immediately zeroed in on this passage and said, “I would tell myself that I have to put any other sin to death just as much as I do my lusts.”

“The exact same screwdriver that I use to plunge into my eye when I take a lustful glance has to be used to put my self-pity to death!”

“And not only self-pity, but any sin that causes me to stumble!”

After Piper was finished, the interviewer turn to Beeke with the same question.

And with wide eyes, he said, “Well its definitely not as intense as that!”

If the shows, movies, books, podcasts, or anything you indulge in for entertainment causes you...

to become sinfully angry,

to desire sexual intimacy with someone who you are not married to,

to become desensitized and causes you to utilize profanity or God’s name in vain,

cut it off!

If shopping breeds in your heart an unhealthy, consuming desire for things that are unattainable within the means that the Lord has blessed you with,

cut it off!

If there is anything that is a source of pride in your life (a hobby, possession, relationship, social status, or even service),

if these things preoccupy your time to such an extent that you find it difficult or impossible to spend time with the Lord in His Word and in prayer,

then inspect your heart and cut it off!

This is a sacrifice!

This can be painful!

Christ says it may even feel like an amputation.

But cutting away infection only promotes health.

Finally,

We must own the responsibility of guarding the souls around us.

The anger and lust of our brothers and sisters are our problem.

In verses 23-26, Jesus intentionally applies His teaching on anger to the anger in someone else!

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Because anger is tantamount to murder, you should seek reconciliation to keep your brother’s soul from being liable to judgement.

As worship is a sacred act, we cannot function as if the barrier between us and others does not hinder our relationship with God.

If there is anything within our power to effect reconciliation, it is our duty as children of God to see it through.

This is how we imitate Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 ESV

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Reconciliation pours a bucket of cold water on the flames of anger and delivers the soul of another from the liability of judgement.

Humble yourself.

Admit fault where you must.

Pursue relational harmony even when you are not at fault!

Care more about the soul of another than being “right”!

It is easy to look at this passage and think, “Yes, I see how I am responsible to mitigate the anger of others. But lust is different. We are each uniquely responsible for our own souls here.

Well according to verse 28, the look of lust is a 2 way street.

Jesus was a master communicator.

He was the Word become flesh, the very Word by which all that has been made was made.

So His word choice here is very intentional.

The phrase, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent...” can be simultaneously translated “Everyone who looks at a woman so that she lusts...”

Meaning, it is indeed sinful for disciples to indulge lustful glances and thoughts.

But it is also sinful to incite lust, to dress or act in ways that lead others to think of adultery.

It means both at once!

Now, this is not to incite the age old debate of who is at fault in the matter of lust.

“Is it the lust-ER or the lus-TEE?”

It is all about intentionally ensuring that we guard our eyes and our hearts while presenting ourselves in a way that does not purposefully attract and excite the sexual desires of others.

There are so ways that we can adorn ourselves that display the awesome, creative beauty of God.

Ways that highlight HIS majesty instead of calling specific attention to our bodies themselves.

But there are also ways to adorn our bodies that are prone, and often intended, to draw the sinful eye.

Women, you have been tasked with guarding the souls of your brothers in Christ.

Dress and act accordingly.

Men, likewise, you have been tasked with guarding the souls of your sisters in Christ.

Dress and act accordingly.

Remember, church, that these are given as case studies.

The overarching principle of guarding the hearts of others applies in every possible scenario that we are able to compel each other to faithfulness.

Conclusion

How is this affecting you today?

What anger or lusts do you have pent up?

What sins do you need to put to death through a look at God’s law?

It is easy to apply Scripture as the Pharisees did.

As a checklist that governs your life and think that, as long as you live to the letter, God hasn’t put His finger of holy condemnation upon sins that thrive in your heart and attitude.

It is also easy to hear this and think, “Well, I’m dead. I’m never going to recover from this. I break laws left and right and, if this is how Christ expects me to apply them, then I am hopeless.”

And, at some level, you are right!

When we govern our lives by God’s Word, when we use it as a lens through which everything must be examined, we find great life in the righteousness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 3:4–6 ESV

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The letter of the law kills our souls.

But the Spirit, the 3rd person of the Trinity, is alive and well and desires to breathe life into our disobedient hearts and attitudes.

The thing is, you have to humble yourself before Him.

You have to stop governing your life and submit to Him.

You must cast your cares before Him and leave them there.

Jesus came as God in the flesh to make a way for this to happen.

He lived the perfectly, sinless life that you never could (in attitude and action).

He died on the cross as the blood payment that your sins deserved and required in order to pay the debt necessary to satisfy the wrath of God for His people.

He rose 3 days later taking the teeth and sting out of death so that you might have fellowship with Him for eternity.

Pray

As our musicians return,

If you have any questions about what it means to serve Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I will be down in the front at the end of the service.

If you need prayer because you are holding onto bitter anger or soul-destroying lust, come and talk with me.

Today is the day to drag all sinful attitudes and actions out of the cave of anonymity and into the light so that they can whither and die.

Let’s sing to our Great God who saves souls, mends lives, and is worthy of all praise!

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