Sermon on the Mount part 5

8 Sermon Project Part five of Eight

The sixth commandment

Mt.5:21-26

Good morning last week we took a look at Mt 5:17-20 this week we are going to continue on the sermon on the mount. In Mt 5:21-26 This portion of scripture will be the focus of our message

Please turn in you Bible's to Mt 5:21-26

Mt 5:21 ¶ Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: {by: or, to}

22 But I say unto 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, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. {Raca: that is, Vain fellow}

23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Keep in mind what Jesus had said earlier in Matthew 5:16.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

From this verse and Mt 5:20, what follows is 6 segments in found in Mt 5:21-48 which serve at least a twofold purpose: (1) To teach what righteousness looks like that surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees and (2) To describe the righteousness when lived out in the power of the Spirit which gives us a proper opinion of our heavenly Father. Keep the command in Mt 5:16 in mind as you meditate on todays sermon. Ask yourself in each case "Do my attitudes and actions in this area of my life give others I meet a proper opinion of my Father Who is in heaven?" Again remember we are called to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect that the world might see His glory in and through us. This is a "big task" but best of all it is a holy calling which Christ has enabled christians under the New Covenant to carry out by virtue of our new hearts upon which the Law is written, and the indwelling Spirit Who causes us to walk according to His statutes.

It is interesting that Jesus begins with an emphasis on the sanctity of every human life and the call on Christians to do all they can to honor that sanctity.

So what is the problem with what the Scribes and Pharisees had taught? The problem is that they were not good inductive Bible students and because of inadequate oservation (the rabbis had taught as "tradition"), Hence they arrived at an inaccurate interpretation of the Law, consequently, and most importantly, they prescribed inappropriate application's based on their willfully inept analysis of the Old Testamite Scriptures. Their misinterpatation lead to misapplication of the Law which then led to a liberal attitude toward murder, adultery, divorce, ect... Therefore we see that Jesus calls His listeners and we the readers of His sermon on the mount to exhibit allegiance to a higher standard, a standard of righteousness that far surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees and which shines a beacon of light that points the lost soul to our great and holy Heavenly Father. There is the note I said to remember. Mt 5:16-take a note here.

Latter In Mt 5:48 take Note we will see Jesus climaxes this section with the incredible statement to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are called to measure themselves not by others but by our Father Who art in heaven. Amen.

Okay now Mt 5:26 Christ says Ye have heard This suggests that the multitudes listening had for the most part not studied the Law of Moses for themselves but had only heard the teaching on the Law, most likely from the scribes and Pharisees.

Real quick lets define murder. You say pastor we all know what murder is you dont have to define it. Well if we all knew what it is there would be no need for the sermon today. Right. The Webster (modern version) says that murder is the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice. In the OT passages (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17) the Hebrew word for "murder" refers to pre-meditated, deliberate, intentional murder not accidental killing.

The 1828 edition of Webster's Dictionary defines murder as "The act of unlawfully killing a human being with premeditated malice, by a person of sound mind. To constitute murder in law, the person killing another must be of sound mind or in possession of his reason, and the act must be done with malice prepense, aforethought or premeditated; but malice may be implied, as well as express."

Gen 9:5-6 Moses records God's decree after the flood...

And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man. Gen 9:5-6

"I have never murdered anyone". Well Jesus says "Wrong. If you've hated you are guilty." The OT law dealt only with outward actions, but citizens of the kingdom of heaven must beware of sinful inward attitudes. In fact, the attitudes Jesus calls for can only be fulfilled by those who have the endwelling Spirt of Christ.

The Mathew Hennery comentary says this “ The Jewish teachers had taught, that nothing except actual murder was forbidden by the sixth commandment. Thus they explained away its spiritual meaning. Christ showed the full meaning of this commandment; according to which we must be judged. All rash anger is heart murder. By our brother, here, we are to understand any person, though ever so much below us, for we are all made of one blood. "Raca," is a scornful word, and comes from pride: "Thou fool," is a spiteful word, and comes from hatred. Malicious slanders and censures are poison that kills secretly and slowly. Christ told them that how light soever they made of these sins, they would certainly be called into judgment for them. We ought carefully to preserve Christian love and peace with all our brethren; and if at any time there is a quarrel, we should confess our fault, humble ourselves to our brother, making or offering satisfaction for wrong done in word or deed: and we should do this quickly; because, till this is done, we are unfit for communion with God in holy ordinances. And when we are preparing for any religious exercises, it is good for us to make that an occasion of serious reflection and self-examination. What is here said is very applicable to our being reconciled to God through Christ. While we are alive, we are in the way to his judgement-seat; after death, it will be too late. When we consider the importance of the case, and the uncertainty of life, how needful it is to seek peace with God, without delay!”

look at verse 22. Angry with his brother; in his heart, which is what? Its were God looks in our hearts. Without a cause; this does not mean without an occasion, but rather, in an unreasonable degree, or a mixture of malice hate twords someone. The judgment; the judgment of God. The Saviour's meaning is this: by the law of Moses literal murder is punished with death by common court; but in my kingdom anger in the heart will be regarded and treated as murder. Raca; vain fellow; blockhead. The Saviour puts a case where anger vents itself in railing. The council; the Sanhedrim, which was the highest Jewish court; but here it seems to represent the court of Christ, who will treat all railing accusations of one brother against another as offences of the gravest kind. Fool; vile wretch; the highest form of reproach in the mouth of a Jew.

But I say unto you. Christ assumes the right to amend it. Such a claim is based on a claim of divinity. Jesus goes back of the murderous act, and forbids the anger and the reproachful words that precede it and are likely to lead it. He places the murderous heart on the level of actual murder. Of hell fire. The term is often used in the New Testament (Mt 23:33; 5:29; 10:28; 18:9; Mr 9:43), and always denotes a place of future punishment. Murder lies within anger aqnde anger within murder; we wish harm to the object of our wrath, or even wish that he did not exist, and sometime it can even become a desire . Anger “without a cause” is forbidden by the command which says “Thou shalt not kill”; for unjust anger is killing in intent. Such anger without cause brings us under higher judgment than that of Jewish police-courts. God takes cognizance of the emotions from which acts of hate may spring, and calls us to account as much for the angry feeling as for the murderous deed. Words also come under the same condemnation: a man shall be judged for what he “shall say to his brother.” To call a man Raca, or a worthless fellow, is to kill him in his reputation; and to say to him, “Thou fool”, is to kill him as to the noblest characteristics of a man. Hence all this comes under such censure as men distribute in their councils; yea, under what is far worse, the punishment awarded by the highest court of the universe, which dooms men to “hell fire.” Thus our Lord and King restores the law of God to its true force, and warns us that it denounces not only the overt act of killing, but every thought, feeling, and word which would tend to injure a brother, or annihilate him by contempt. What a sweeping law is this! My conscience might have been easy as to the command “Thou shalt not kill;” because I didnt think I would ever be capable of such a thing. but if anger without just cause be murder, how will I answer for it? Well thankfuly in verse 23 & 24 Christ shows us what to do about it.

Mt 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Ok veres 23 Gift; what is a gift, a religious offering. Altar; what is an altar? A place where the offering was made. Aught; is any cause of complaint. If you about to offer a gift on the altar if you kneel down to pray or worship God, and you remember that a brother or someone hath aught against thee A reson for complaint aginst you, leave your gift stand up, go and make it right with that person, and then offer your gift. This verse shows that someone guilty of wrongs to there fellow-man cannot offer acceptable worship of God. Did you get that. Cannot offer aceptble worship to God! Stop go make it right then come back. Lord will have forgiveness rendered to our brother first, and then the offering presented. We ought to worship God thoughtfully; and if in the course of that thought we remember that

our brother hath ought against us, we must stop. If we have wronged another, we are to pause, cease from the worship, and hasten to seek reconciliation. We easily remember if we have ought against our brother, but now the memory is to be turned the other way. Only when we have remembered our wrong -doing, and made reconciliation, can we hope for

acceptance with the Lord. The rule is — first peace with man, and then acceptance with God

Mt 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Again Adversary; someone who has just claims against thee. Thi8s is a warning to us, to be reconciled while we are yet on the way to his judgment-seat. This opportunity should not wait It should not be neglected, or it may be a lost opportunity forever, because when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ Its to late. How can we expect to be reconciled with Christ when we wont recincile with our brother? In all disagreements be eager for peace. Thou shalt not come out from thence. After the debtor was cast into prison he was held until the debt was paid, and if it were not, he remained in prison until he died. The Lord would warn us to make everything right before it is too late. Before the judgment there is a chance; after it there is nothing but payment. Lets colse there. Let me ask you this if Christ came back right now has your debt been paid or will you suffer that payment at the judgement seat of Christ?

Fokes it you are here today and you know Christ as your savior let me ask you this. Is there someone you need to be reconciled to? We may not want to but is there someone we need to. We cant be compleately reconciled to Christ if we are not reconsiled to thoses who have an Aought aginst us.