Way of the King - Anger & Lust

INTRODUCTION

WELCOME

Good Morning - Release the Kids

To to - we continue through our series in Jesus’ sermon on the mount

REVIEW

Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven

This was at the center of Jesus’ teaching - “repent For the kingdom of heaven is at hand...”

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ manifesto on the Kingdom

What is it like

Who will be allowed in

Leading up to Today

The Attitudes of the Kingdom - “Blessed…”

The People of the Kingdom - “Salt & Light...”

The Righteous Demand of the Kingdom - “Unless your righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees...”

Today

Describes the insuffiency of external obedience

if you have ever defended yourself before God based on your actions then these words are for you

HEARTS CONDEMNED

Application - changed from the inside out

NEW HEARTS

READ & RECITE

DEMAND OF RADICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS

The DEMAND - Understanding Jesus

Some think Jesus just did away with the law and all the rules and judgement and simply replaced them with peace, love, and harmony.

But this would be a gross misunderstanding of Jesus

Jesus placed even the small weight of the law placed on our hearts

“Whoever relaxes one of the least...”

“Unless your righteousness exceeds that the Scribes and Pharisees...”

He then gives us 6 examples and then he concludes, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Did Jesus relax the demand of the Law or deepen the Demand?

The DELIVERANCE

Jesus alluded to a hope that was not yet realized...

“Not to abolish the law but to fulfill it...”

“Law won’t pass away until all is accomplished...”

We will look back on these words in a moment.

FIRST, let’s look at the first two of the six examples that Jesus gives.

HEART CONDEMNED | ANGER

“YOU HAVE HEARD THAT IT WAS SAID...”

This is an exact quote from the 10 commandments

“BUT I SAY TO YOU”

What is Jesus doing here?

Is he changing or correctly the OT Law?

Option 1 : Reformers - no, this is in perfect alignment

Option 2 : Anabaptists, yes, this is completely new teaching

Option 3 : This is new, but in perfect continuity

"YOU SHALL NOT MUDER...” VS. ANGER

OUTWARD OBEDIENCE

Focus is on the exterior, what we do or don’t do

Pharisees and Scribes perfected the outward appearance of obedience

Remember when Jesus called the religious leaders “white-washed tombs?” Beautiful on the outside but dead on the inside…?

IN THE SAME WAY… this is the same thing when people today proclaim themselves to be a good person because they haven’t killed anyone.

INWARD CORRUPTION

“But I say to you… angry, insult, you fool...”

“Angry” - Angry or upset for no reason

US - we get angry for no reason or when someone annoys us personally. Doesn’t use their blinker as you are waiting to see if they are going to turn or not. But then we fail to get angry with sin or injustice in the world.

JESUS - he did get angry when he cleared the temple, or when people bashed him for healing on the Sabbath, or when he called the Pharisees, “blind fools.”

“Insult” - empty-headed, stupid, idiot (name-calling) (empty-headed)

“Fool” - moral accusation, morally worthless (empty-heart)

Who is innocent now?

“EVERYONE WHO IS ANGRY

This is the point.

Inward Corruption

The point is NOT to say give us 3 ways to not be angry or anything like that. Jesus point:

You think you’re good because you haven’t killed anybody but I say you are bad because of what is in your heart. - That is why I have come.

HEART CONDEMNED | LUST

Jesus does the same thing concerning adultery - you have heard it said - you shall not commit adultery

Some could stand here and say - see I am righteous - I have never had sex with anyone but my wife and that was after we were married.

Jesus drives the truth of this commandment deep into our heart.

But I say to you, “everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Jesus is talking to his disciples, men, at this point but I believe this can be appropriately spoken either men or women

“Lustful Intent”

We live a culture that loves to redefine terms to justify our behavior.

Jesus isn’t talking about the first sight & attraction

He’s talking about the second look - the long stare

The mental story that begins to unfold in your mind.

“You have already”

Jesus condemns us as guilty for the commited adultery in your heart - GUILTY!

Sensual sins are preceded by sensual fantasies.

King David lingered to watch before he took another man’s wife.

A NEW HEART

Is the a new Law? - NO!

Don’t be angry - 3 ways to be less angry… NO!

Pure Heart - How to combat lust

Our Hearts Stand Condemned

By the letter of the Law and my actions - I am innocent

Never murdered,

Never been with anyone but my wife and that was after we were married

By Jesus’ words - I am guilty

Jesus exposes the condition of my heart and I am weighed and found wanting.

My external obedience can not cover for the wickedness in my own heart

The Need - Deep Internal Transformation

Rule (Law) - exposes wrongdoing but they do not have the power to change hearts (the source of motivation and desire that drive us to action). Just making new rules will never transform our hearts.

Imagine - a cord tied around a rock

The scripture says that our hearts were like stone. Rules can be tied around our hearts of stone but they cannot fundamentally change the nature of our hearts.

They sink

The Gift - A New Heart of Flesh

Jesus took the same extend of his teaching - binded with same radical demand of righteousness - a was perfectly obedient.

The punishment of death that we deserved - for our failure - he took in his own body

The beating

The nails

The death - and as he breathed his last breathe - IT IS FINISHED! - It’s accomplished, it’ fulfilled.

SO THAT NOW - by faith in Jesus - we receive the free gift of FORGIVENESS, LIFE, and FREEDOM, along with a NEW HEART

- we are given a heart of flesh instead of a heart of stone

EXTERNAL VS INTERNAL

The external rules of the Law could not transform our heart - The Scribes and Pharisees attempt to justify themselves through external behavior could NOT mask they reality of their hearts

Jesus exposes the true nature of our hearts

THEN by grace, through faith - he gives us new hearts, with new affections, and new desires.

He accomplishes what rules never could - transformation

TRANSFORMED HEART | ANGER

So...

How we view others, not just ourselves

“If your brother has something against you...”

Not if you have something against someone else

You are at the altar of God

Worshipping

Do not hide your broken relationships behind religious God

Do not use your ‘personal walk with God” as an excuse for broken community.

What does this mean for us today?

Personal -

as I was studying through this passage, God brought someone to mind that I needed to reach out to.

I felt like it would be wrong for me to

You - you may have work to do this week.

Kent Hughes, “Perhaps you are sensing a dryness in your life. You pray, you try to be as religious and good as possible, but somehow it just does not seem to be working. The reason might be that you have not faced up to your sin in fundamental relationship.”

Or maybe you are doing fine - but what about the person your offended - they are trying desiring intimacy with God but their affections are cold because of the anger they are harboring.

It is better that you not come to church next week and pursue reconciliation with someone else and then come and worship together.

“Come to terms quickly...”

I don’t know if Jesus is talking about legal matters directly or using it as an example or illustration for the need to come to terms quickly - don’t wait, don’t linger

TRANSFORMED HEART | LUST

If your right eye causes you to sin… if you right hand causes you to sin...”

It is important that we apply this correctly:

Origen of Alexandria allegedly had a physician remove his member to overcome his desires in a literal reading of this passage.

At the end of his life, Origen said this was would be a very bad idea and not in keeping with the true teaching of Scripture.

In fact, at the Council of Nicea, they church leaders outlawed such practice.

If we leave here this morning with a misunderstanding of this passage then we would have a roomful of blind amputees next week.

SPIRITUAL MORTIFICATION

Preaching the Word: Sermon on the Mount—The Message of the Kingdom The Radical Demands of the New Standard of Sexual Purity

What does this involve in practice? Let me elaborate and so interpret Jesus’ teaching: “If your eye causes you to sin because temptation comes to you through your eyes (objects you see), then pluck out your eyes. That is, don’t look! Behave as if you had actually plucked out your eyes and flung them away, and were now blind and so could not see the objects which previously caused you to sin. Again, if your hand or foot causes you to sin, because temptation comes to you through your hands (things you do) or your feet (places you visit), then cut them off. That is: don’t do it! Don’t go! Behave as if you had actually cut off your hands and feet, and had flung them away, and were now crippled and so could not do the things or visit the places which previously caused you to sin.” That is the meaning of “mortification.”

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin: “Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.”

John Owen, The Mortification of Sin: “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

What do you allow your eyes to see that lead you sin?

What shows? Movies? - Don’t hide behind some foolish lie that that it will make you more cultured and relatable to world so you can share the gospel. This is arrogance and ignorance.

Apps on your phone? or your phone is general?

What time of day?

What friends?

What restaurants?

What books do you read? Imagination - the fantasies always precede the act but regardless, Jesus condemns the thought, not just the action

What do you hands do that lead you sin?

Cut it off, kill it, let it die?

CONCLUSION

NEW HEART (Transformed Affections)

Do not leave here with the intention to just true harder. You will have missed the entire point if you leave here simply seeking to follow more rules. We need a new hearts

Repentance and Surrender

We are given a tender heart of flesh that empowers a lifestyle of worship as a free gift from God because of Jesus

ANGER (Transformed Thinking)

Is there someone who may have something against you?

Go to him or her this week? Pursue reconciliation now, while you can, and before next sunday

LUST (Transformed Thinking)

Take an inventory of your life. Of the things you see, do, and go - do any of these areas need to be cut off?

Do it! Don’t delay - don’t make excuses. Now! Today! They are a danger to your soul! Feel the heat from the flames nipping on our heals.

MEMORIZE

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:7-15)