Matthew 5:13-20 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good evening. Good evening. To see a decent crowd on a Wednesday night, that's always encouraging.

[0:10] We'll be back in Matthew 5 again tonight. Last week we began the sermon on the mount, Matthew's account.

[0:23] I said last week Luke's account is much more condensed. However, it is also in Luke's Gospel. Luke's account is comprised of part of a chapter.

[0:35] Matthew's account is three chapters long. And I'm personally persuaded that Jesus in the sermon on the mount preached more than what is recorded for us in Scripture.

[0:47] Is there any Bible to back that up? No, but you can start at Matthew 5.1 and read through at the end of Matthew 7 and get that done in about 10 or 12 minutes.

[1:00] I haven't felt Jesus preached for longer than that when he was on that mount or on that hill and he was situated where he was. But that's neither here nor there.

[1:11] Last week we covered the Beatitudes and thought we was going to get a lot further into that and we didn't. I was hoping to get to verse 21 last week.

[1:22] That's my goal this week is to end up at verse 21. But the Beatitudes we talked not definitively about the Beatitudes.

[1:34] It certainly wasn't exhaustive what we covered in those. It was enough to give us a taste of what Jesus was getting at there. What he was talking about, as I said last week, was the Christian life.

[1:48] He was talking about, as I said last week and you'll hear me say over and over, going through anything really in Matthew, talking about kingdom people. Those that have been born again. Those that are on their way to heaven.

[2:01] And that's who the Beatitudes are written about. And we're going to not be going back to the Beatitudes tonight, but we'll be referring back to them.

[2:13] But we won't be going back to each individual one like we did last week. So in Matthew chapter 5, we ended with verse 12. So we'll pick up in verse 13.

[2:26] Now remember, the context of this is the Beatitudes. Everything we covered last week, however short and however undefended that was, that's the context that we're still in is those Beatitudes.

[2:40] So Matthew 5 and 13, Jesus says, Ye are the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

[2:51] It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of man. So here Jesus says, ye are the salt of the earth, speaking mainly to his disciples that would have been there with him.

[3:06] But remember, and I explained last week, it would have not only been that inner circle of his disciples there, but there would have been other people gathered there as well. In Matthew 4, we see Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry, and he's performing miracles, and these people have followed him.

[3:27] And he's ascended into this mountain or upon this position on high, not to make himself more lofty. He's Jesus Christ.

[3:38] I mean, he couldn't make himself any more lofty. He'd done that because that was, as I said last week, the position that many rabbis took back in this time. But he says, ye are the salt of the earth.

[3:50] And folks, that wasn't just to those that were gathered around him at that time. That fasts forward, and that pertains to us, the present day, kingdom people of God.

[4:00] We are the salt of the earth as well. Jesus says, ye are the salt of the earth. You all, you that are here, you that believe upon me, you are the salt of the earth.

[4:13] Remember I've said several times over when we read that word, ye, in the Bible, it's always plural. There's never a time that that's not plural. So he's talking about more than one person there.

[4:24] So he says ye are the salt of the earth. But then he asks the question, but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

[4:35] So he tells them, you're the salt of the earth. Well, what's he getting at when he says that? And you've probably heard it just like I have. As far as salt, salt is a preservative, and it is.

[4:48] And back in this day, salt was used as a preservative. It was put on meat to keep it from rotting so fast, to preserve it. But it's also used as a spice, something to give something flavor.

[5:04] So these are the uses of the salt here. And does that pertain to us? Yes, it can. I mean, Jesus says ye are the salt of the earth.

[5:15] Now, that's not to say, and I've actually heard it taught like this, that's not to say that we're to spice up the lives of those around us that are lost.

[5:27] I've actually heard that talk. That's not what Jesus Christ is getting at. But the world, indeed, is a preservative, absolutely. There's got to be a preservative out there.

[5:38] Jesus says ye are the salt of the earth. So folks, there's nothing we can do to make this world continue on one second longer than what Almighty God has in his mind that it's going to continue on.

[5:54] When God says it's over, it's over. So that's not the preservation that we're talking about. What are we preserving then? We're preserving goodness. We're preserving righteousness.

[6:05] We're preserving everything that we went through last week and the Beatitudes. Look back to the Beatitudes. Look at the meekness. Look at the mercy.

[6:16] Look at the different things we found in those. That's what we're preserving in this world. The world is not very merciful. Now, I'm not saying there's not lost people out there that can't show mercy because there are lost people out there like that.

[6:29] There's lost people out there that can be meek. There's lost people out there that can do all kinds of things that we read about last week. But that does not make them saved and that does not mean that they're saved. And it certainly doesn't mean that they're kingdom people such as we that have been born again are.

[6:44] I mean, you look through the Beatitudes and really the Beatitudes paint a wonderful portrait of Jesus Christ. You know, there was never a man as meek as Jesus Christ.

[6:55] There was never a man that showed more mercy than Jesus Christ has. You can go through these Beatitudes and see Jesus Christ all throughout them. And if those are a roadmap of what the Christian life, what living holy life is supposed to be and that's what the Beatitudes are, then if they're painting a portrait of Christ, what they're showing us is what God is forming us into as born again Christians.

[7:21] He's forming us into the image of Christ. Is he not? So he's forming us in to be more meek. He's forming us in to showing more mercy and to be poor in spirit.

[7:34] And these other things that we read about last week, God Almighty is forming us into those things because he's molding us into the image of his own son.

[7:45] And Jesus Christ was sought while he was here. Jesus Christ showed that preservation of goodness. He showed that not all righteousness was done away with forever.

[7:56] When Jesus Christ came here, righteousness itself came here. Goodness itself came here. Mercy itself came here. So when Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth, the main thing I think about is the preservation of these things.

[8:12] But we must keep in mind that in and of ourselves, we are incapable of righteousness. We're incapable of goodness. The Bible says there is none good. No, not one.

[8:23] There's none to seek it after righteousness. No, not one. The only way that we can be righteous, the only way that we can have any ounce or any inkling of any goodness about us, is if Jesus Christ is abiding on the inside.

[8:37] That's the only thing good about you. And it's the only thing good about me is Jesus Christ. Outside of Jesus Christ, we are wretched sinners that deserve a place called hell.

[8:47] But with Jesus Christ, we have goodness. We have righteousness. We have holiness. And if we have holiness, we should live a life that is holy. As the Beatitudes point out, that we should live so.

[8:59] We are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? I've heard this verse used, or this first half of this verse used, so many times by certain people to say, see there? That's a loss of salvation that it's talking about.

[9:17] No, it's not. It's not talking about a loss of salvation. Any of us are in danger of losing the savor that Jesus Christ is talking about here.

[9:29] It says, if the salt has lost his savor, it doesn't say if the person has lost his salvation. It says if the salt has lost his savor, how can you lose your savor? Being a kingdom person, being a born-again child of God, how can you lose your saltiness for this world that you're living in?

[9:47] Or your saltiness to the world that you're living in? Stop going to church. Stop reading your Bible. Stop praying. Stop doing the things of God. Stop following these Beatitudes. Stop doing any of these things.

[10:03] You cut off your relationship with God. You put God on the back burner in your life, and you will lose your saltiness toward this world. What does salt do? Salt has a flavor all its own.

[10:19] You can add salt to anything, and it changes the flavor of it. And salt is one of the few, if not the only thing, that has a completely distinct flavor about itself.

[10:33] You can't say that about oranges. You eat an orange, you eat a mango. They kind of taste the same. You eat a peach, you eat a nectarine. They kind of taste the same. You eat something close enough to the underbelly of a pig, you're probably going to taste bacon, whether it's bacon or not.

[10:48] That's just the way it is. Not everything is distinct like salt is. But salt's something distinct. We should be distinct. If we are born-again children of God, we should be distinct. We should be peculiar.

[11:02] Listen, salt is distinct and it is peculiar all by itself. It doesn't need any help from itself. It can't help itself. And we are distinct, and we are peculiar, being children of God, because God has made us that way.

[11:17] That's one of the biggest beefs that I've got with some of the people in the charismatic movement. I've got a handful of charismatic friends, and we put fun at each other sometimes. But one of the biggest beefs that I've got with it is they try to make themselves peculiar.

[11:31] If you are a born-again child of God, you are peculiar. And if you follow by these beatitudes and you follow by the book and you live a holy life before men, before this world, they will see you as peculiar without you having to go out of your way to make yourself that way.

[11:48] I've heard people say, well, the Bible says that I'm supposed to be peculiar. And it does. I mean, the Bible says, come ye out from among them and be ye separate. And it says that God's got a peculiar people. But God made us that way.

[12:03] We don't make ourselves peculiar. If we're living a life that's pleasing to God, we'll be peculiar to the world. And we'll be distinct from the world. So, all that being said, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

[12:19] It can't. If it's lost its savor, it's gone. It's done with. But what can we do? Once again, how do we lose our savor? How do we lose our saltiness?

[12:32] By stop doing the things of God, by stop doing the Bible. How would we regain it back? By getting back into church, by getting back into the Bible, by getting back into a prayer life, by getting back into a good relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and with God the Father and with God the Son.

[12:51] That's the only way we'll keep our savor. That's the only way we'll ever have it. That's the only way we'll keep it. That's the only way we'll get it back if we ever do lose it. But folks, it's just like you all, I'm sure you all have heard, and I know I've heard it, and I've said it myself.

[13:06] Once a Christian, I'm talking about true blue Christians, once they lose their testimony, it is an uphill battle for them to gain it back. It is an uphill battle for a long time. It's not something that just happens overnight.

[13:21] Losing your testimony is losing your savor with the world or toward the world. And it is a battle, it's a fight, and it's something I hope that I never have to deal with.

[13:35] But it is possible for us to lose our savor, us to lose our saltiness toward the world. It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men.

[13:47] Luke adds a little bit to this in his account of this. Luke says it's to be cast out. He says it's not good for the land and it's not good for the dung hill.

[13:58] So Luke seems to have thought even less of it than Matthew did in saying that. But it's true words. If salt loses its saltiness, then it's good for nothing else.

[14:10] I mean, we can't use it for our food. We can't use it for anything. All we can do is cast it out. Luke says it's not good for the land, not good for the manure hill.

[14:21] So just throw it out and let the feet of men trod all over. That's about all it's good for. Verse 14, year the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill, cannot be hid.

[14:33] My goodness, what words Jesus Christ spoke here? Ye are the light of the world. First, he says, year the salt of the earth. Now he says ye are the light of the world. Some people say this is a contradiction in Scripture because you find in John 8 where Jesus says that he is the light of the world.

[14:52] People say, well, which is it? You Bible believers out there. Is Jesus the light of the world? Or are the people the light of the world? We're the light of the world because Jesus Christ said that we're the light of the world. Yes, Jesus is the light of the world. But here he puts that in the hands of his people.

[15:09] He says ye are the light of the world. Just as he said, year the salt of the earth. He says ye are the light of the world. What use does light have? Lots of kinds of use. Light is one of the most useful things and most overlooked things that we have in our lives.

[15:26] You've got to have light to grow things. You've got to have light to grow food, do you not? Light was actually the first thing that was ever called into existence. God created the heavens and the earth that God called light into existence in Genesis 1-3.

[15:44] So light is very significant. But what does light do? Why would Jesus say that we are the light of the world? We all know the little song, this little light of mine, and we'll let it shine.

[15:56] You remember if you've got any light about you, it's coming from Jesus Christ. It's not coming. You're not making that light to yourself. Just as the moon is a luminary of the sun, we are luminaries of Jesus Christ.

[16:09] He is the light. He says that we are the light of the world. Remember we're talking about kingdom people. We're talking about save folks. Only save people can be the light of the world. That's not what I say. That's what Jesus Christ said here.

[16:21] Ye are the light of the world. What's the purpose of light? What does it do? We've already gone through some of the benefits that we get from it. The Psalmist says that word is a lamp under my feet and a light under my path.

[16:35] In other words, light guides. Light helps us get places. He says a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. He gives us a compliment in saying ye are the light of the world.

[16:49] He also puts an enormous responsibility in our hands saying ye are the light of the world. Then he says a city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid. If we are true, born again Christians, folks, we're going to have a lot of some kind.

[17:04] Some people's light shines brighter than others. Some people live a holier life than other Christians do. If you're living just an ungodly, unholy life, I would doubt your Christianity at all.

[17:19] But some Christians do live a holier life than others. Some shine brighter than others do. But regardless of how bright that light is shining from a Christian in the light that they live, in their keeping of the commandments of God and of the Beatitudes, they're trying to live out the Beatitudes and to walk holy and to walk upright and to walk righteous in the eyes of Almighty God, everything that they're doing without Jesus Christ, they would have no light at all.

[17:50] So those that are burning brighter can't let that go to their head. They can't get the big head as far as that goes. They can't walk about in arrogance and keep that light going.

[18:03] They say a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. The world's going to notice. If you're living by the Beatitudes, if you're living by the commandments we have in Scripture, not for salvation, but because we have salvation.

[18:17] If you're living by those things, you're not going to be hid from the world. You're going to be a plain view of the world. But folks, this shoots in the foot the notion that people can be closet Christians.

[18:30] Jesus says, you're the salt of the earth. We can't be salt to the world or toward the world if we're staying away from it.

[18:41] We can't be the light of the world if we're staying to ourselves all the time. If we're not shining that light out there for the world to see. So that does away with closet Christianity.

[18:55] I'm not saying these folks in some of the countries that are on the globe right now, such as Communist China and North Korea and some of these other places that we know of, these places where there's underground churches, I'm not saying they should just take to the streets and parade proclaiming Jesus Christ.

[19:13] I understand why those people are fearing for their lives, but folks right here in the United States of America right now, we have no reason to fear for our lives and proclaiming our Christianity.

[19:24] Now granted, persecution is coming. Persecution is here, but not to the extent that it is in other places in the world. We can still go out in public and we can still proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without worrying about getting flogged on the street corner for doing so.

[19:43] And I praise God that I live in a country where that's the case. As I told Vern just two or three weeks ago, I praise God that I live in a country where I can go out on a public sidewalk, proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and somebody else can stand on that same sidewalk and proclaim whatever crazy religion or crazy thoughts, crazy worldview that they have, and neither one of us will get flogged and neither one of us will go to jail.

[20:10] I praise God that I live in a country like that. For now, I live in a country like that. But a city that is set on a hill, it cannot be hid. We cannot be hid.

[20:21] He goes on to say in verse 15, neither do men lie to candle. Now that word neither puts us back to the verse before this. So we're still talking about that. Neither do men lie to candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it gives us light unto all that are in the house.

[20:40] Folks, that's our purpose. That's our purpose. He's already said, like a city that's set on a hill, you cannot be hid. And now he's getting personal with it. He says, neither do men lie to candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house.

[20:56] So we've gone from being up on a hillside or a mountainside on a hill where we cannot be hid to being within the house. The folks, we don't have a lot just to hide it. And God didn't give you a lot in Jesus Christ or through Jesus Christ that we could hide it.

[21:14] He gave us that light to show to the world in which we live. He gave us that light for a purpose and that wasn't so that we could look at the world and say, look what I'm doing.

[21:25] Look how I'm living. He gave us that light for one purpose and that was to glorify Him. It was to bring glory to God the Father. It was to exalt the name of Jesus Christ. That's why we have that light.

[21:39] And if we, it says they don't put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick and it gives light unto all that are in the house. All those that are around can see that light. Now, folks that are in the house, they might not want any light at that time.

[21:56] They might run from the light. Didn't Jesus say that in John chapter three? He said, this is the condemnation and men love darkness rather than light. Of course, talking about the world, talking about lost man when he says that, but they love darkness rather than light.

[22:12] So if we're, it don't matter if we're out in an industrious setting or we're at home, if people don't like the light, they're going to go away from the light. Why? Because they don't like it. They don't want it. They want it as dark as it can possibly be. Why?

[22:27] Because that light, it brings conviction in their lives. It brings conviction on them, brings conviction on their heart and on their soul. And they can't stand that. They don't want any part of that.

[22:40] Jesus says in verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. There's two different ways you can look at this verse.

[22:51] And I'll tell you both of the ways that we can look at them. I'll tell you which way that I look at it first. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[23:02] There's two commas in this verse here. And if you take out the section between those commas, it would say, let your light so shine before men and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[23:14] The way I read this verse is those two lines are for us. They're for the kingdom people. It says that they may see your good works. Let your light so shine before men that those men may see your good works.

[23:28] But folks, those men aren't necessarily saved. Remember, we're kind of going back and forth between lost people and saved people here, but he's telling saved people how to live.

[23:40] So let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works. Don't be a city set up on a hill. Don't have your light and hide it under a bushel, in other words. And glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[23:52] Lost people can't glorify God. Not if they're still lost. It's an impossibility. So the way I read this is, let your light so shine before men so that we, and in shining our light, we bring glory unto God.

[24:09] We glorify our Father which is in heaven, but we do that so that men will see our light shine. Now that's the way that I read this verse and it's because of those commas. Now you keep in mind the Greek that this was written in, use no punctuation.

[24:23] So could commas be in a place where they really shouldn't be? Sure they could. And I'm not saying that's the case here, but the other way, the other way that this verse is interpreted is, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and they may glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[24:41] But that would require them wanting a taste of what it is that you have. Now I understand that the Bible says taste and see that the Lord is good.

[24:53] And I've heard that verse preached way, way, way out of the context that it is written in. Folks we don't try God. We can't try to get saved.

[25:09] We can't just go to God and say, well let me have a little bit and if I like it I'll come back and get more. The Bible says Jesus saved and the uttermost. When he saves, he saves.

[25:21] Period. So these people here are reading this verse, let your light so shine before men that those men may see your good works and those men may glorify your Father which is in heaven.

[25:34] The only way they would bring glory unto God the Father is if they got saved too. And I'm not saying it's an impossibility for that being exactly what this verse means. But being as those commas are in the place that they are, then the first reading, the first explanation of that is the way that I read, the way I understand it.

[25:56] We let our light so shine before men and we glorify and therefore glorify our Father which is in heaven. But in the middle of doing all that, men are allowing, we are allowing men to see that light.

[26:11] Verse 17, think not that I am coming to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not coming to destroy but to fulfill. Let's just go ahead and read the next verse.

[26:23] I say unto you till heaven and earth pass, one jotter, one tittle shall know what's passed from the law till all be fulfilled. I say praise God for these two verses here.

[26:35] And I tell you why. There's a lot of verses in the New Testament, a lot of verses that we could just completely disregard.

[26:46] We'll put it that way. I don't want to say take out of the Bible because I don't want to do that. But we can disregard those verses and just have these two here. And Jesus Christ completely blows out of the water the notion that we can do away with the Old Testament in these two verses.

[27:04] Completely destroys the notion that we can do that. Folks, we can't separate the old from the new. Yes, I understand there's an old covenant and there's a new covenant.

[27:16] And I praise God for the new covenant that we have in Jesus Christ. I understand that. But folks, the Old Testament speaks of Jesus Christ.

[27:27] One commentator, I can't remember which one it was, but he said, the Old Testament is the gospel in the blade. The New Testament is the gospel in the full ear. And I agree 100% with that.

[27:38] We cannot separate the old from the new. And I'll tell you one good reason why you can have Judaism all day long. You can have Judaism for thousands of years like the world had and not have Christianity.

[27:51] Because the world didn't have Christianity then. There can be Jews without Christians, but there would not be one Christian on this earth right now without Judaism. Judaism had to come first because that is the plan and that is the way God put it forth.

[28:06] We had to have the Old Testament to have the New Testament. We cannot separate the two of them. First, it is one wonderful, glorious gospel from Genesis to Revelation.

[28:18] The gospel is found all throughout the Scriptures. Not just Matthew through Revelation, but beginning in Genesis 1-1. The gospel is found all throughout the Bible.

[28:29] It is all over the Old Testament. Grace is found all over the Old Testament. Mercy is found all over the New Testament. The gospel itself is found in the Old Testament.

[28:41] But the gospel has brought the full light in the New Testament in this man, Jesus Christ, who is speaking these words that we are reading tonight and last week.

[28:52] He says, Think not that I am coming to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not coming to destroy it, but to fulfill. He didn't come to take away the law. I understand that in Romans 10 and verse 4, Paul said that Jesus Christ is the end of righteousness under salvation to all who believe it.

[29:09] I get that and I praise God for that verse. Christ is the end of the law under righteousness. Folks, the law never brought salvation though. The law showed what it was like to be righteous, just like these beatitudes that we read last week.

[29:24] They showed us what it's like to be righteous and to be holy. But the law never had power to save people. Never once.

[29:36] I've used the picture before out of the book of Ruth. At the end of the book of Ruth where Boaz, he's wanting to marry Ruth, but there's a kinsman that's nearer and he's got first dibs on Ruth.

[29:51] But that kinsman says, I cannot redeem her. And that nearer kinsman that was nearer than Boaz, that was a picture of the law. It could not redeem.

[30:03] All it could do is show us that we needed to be redeemed. Ruth knew she needed to be redeemed. She knew what she needed. She knew her and Naomi both needed.

[30:14] But when that kinsman says I cannot redeem her, Boaz steps in being a picture of Jesus Christ and says, then I can and I will redeem her.

[30:25] Folks, that's the way that the gospel works. As far as the law goes, the law was never the power of God and the salvation. But praise God and Romans 1, Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[30:39] For it is the power of God and the salvation. The gospel is the power of God and the salvation. Not the law. No man can be justified by the works of the law according to the scripture, according to the Bible, according to other words that Paul also wrote.

[30:55] But Jesus says, I'm not coming to destroy the law or the prophets, wrapping up the entirety of the Old Testament. I'm not coming to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not coming to destroy but to fulfill.

[31:07] And he did fulfill that. He fulfilled the entire Old Testament. He fulfilled all the prophecies that were spoken of, of his birth, of his coming, of the coming Messiah.

[31:19] He fulfilled all those. He fulfilled the ceremonial law in being the sacrifice that was to be offered. I mean, you read about all these sacrifices in the Old Testament. You know, Wednesday night, a few months ago, we went through the first seven chapters of the little bit, because talking about a lot of those sacrifices, you know, if you sin and bring a sacrifice to God, if you're not sinning, you just want to praise God.

[31:40] Bring a sacrifice to God. You know, there are sacrifices, sacrifices, sacrifices. Christ was and is the sacrifice. And there is no other sacrifice that is available.

[31:51] Praise God. There's also no other sacrifice that is needed after Jesus Christ. He's it. He's it. He is the final word of God. I'm not coming to destroy but to fulfill.

[32:04] For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one tittle shall, and no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. And he was and is the only one that has ever, ever, ever been able to do that.

[32:20] Not one jot, a jot being a little character in the Hebrew language about half the size of the smallest character of the Hebrew language.

[32:31] A tittle is kind of like what we would call in Hebrew, it would be what we would call in English a cross on a T or a dot on an I. That's exactly what Christ was talking about here.

[32:42] You're talking about the entirety of the prophets and the entirety of the law, the entirety of the Old Testament. And Jesus Christ fulfilled all of that law.

[32:53] And folks, praise God that he did and praise God that we are saved through Jesus Christ and through his perfect work, through his perfect life, through his perfect death, through his perfect resurrection and the perfect life that he lives right now at the right hand of glory, at the right hand of the Father making intercession on behalf of the saints.

[33:13] Thank God that's how we have and that's how we keep salvation. It's not all of ourselves and not of our keeping of the law, but because Jesus Christ kept it fully and he kept it holy and he was killed and he shed his blood and he went to the grave and he was resurrected and he forever lives to make intercession, a mediation on our behalf to God the Father. He fulfilled all the law. Praise God.

[33:45] Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

[33:58] Folks, this really don't need a whole lot of explanation. It's pretty black and white what Jesus Christ is saying here. Maybe you have a red letter Bible and it's red and white. Just a little joke.

[34:10] But anyway, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

[34:24] He shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. I'm glad that this is phrased the way that it is. I'm glad that Jesus said it the way that he did. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments.

[34:38] Folks, that's everyone of us. Whether we're lost or whether we're saved, that's everyone of us. Whosoever shall break even the least of one of these commandments.

[34:51] He says, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But folks, according to what I'm reading here in the scripture, even though I break the least of some of the commandments of God, I'm still in the kingdom.

[35:12] According to what I'm reading right here, but this goes on to say, if you break them and you teach men so, in other words, I break the commandments of God, I sin, I lie, I do something sinful, and I teach men so, essentially because of the least in the kingdom of heaven.

[35:40] In other words, if I do that, the way I'm reading this, if I do that, I don't repent of it. That's exactly what I'm seeing here, because if men see me repent or men know that I've repented, then I'm teaching them that what I did was wrong.

[35:56] I'm teaching them I have to repent. Yes, I sin. Maybe I told a lie. Maybe I let my head explode over something that I really shouldn't have. I got overly angry about something.

[36:08] You know, whatever the case is, if I don't repent of it, I'm teaching men, well, that must be okay. He hasn't repented. Even God must still be tithed.

[36:21] But folks in the heart of a true believer, if we sin, if we break the least of the commandments of God, that should wrench our heart. They should tear us up inside.

[36:33] The Holy Ghost will grab ahold of that heart and he'll squeeze it, and he'll show us what we've done, and that drives us to repentance. Just like the law being our schoolmaster, going back to the law of Jesus Christ fulfilling all of them.

[36:53] The law was our schoolmaster, according to what Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 3. What was the purpose of the law? It being our schoolmaster, it taught us that we needed to repent. It taught us that we weren't all right with God and the Holy Spirit now for a true believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit shows us you have offended God.

[37:16] And if we have offended God being born again, kingdom people, if we have offended God, it is second nature for us to repent. Or it should be, if it's not, it really needs to be.

[37:28] They says, whosoever therefore shall break one of the least commandments, one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

[37:40] So this puts to rest a common scenario, I'll say, that I've heard several times in my Christian walk.

[37:55] If I sin, and right after I sin, I get killed. I'll tell you a picture that I've used before, a scenario that I've used. I'm driving down the road, minding my own business, enjoying the sunshine, singing praises to Almighty God.

[38:10] All of a sudden there's a log truck coming at me at 90 miles an hour and it crosses into my lane. And I scream a curse word right before that log truck hits me and I'm killed.

[38:22] Now I don't have time to repent. Where do I go? Being a born again Christian now. And you might say, well, born again Christian, maybe shouldn't have screamed that word.

[38:33] Maybe you shouldn't have, but folks, we all sin, we all miss us. I don't talk like I used to. Besides my heart and my soul, that was the first thing God cleaned up on me was my mouth when I got saved.

[38:49] I used to say things that melt this building to the ground. And I ain't saying that bragging at all. I used to get jealous of people when they could out cuss me though.

[39:00] But I'm not like that. So all that being said, if I don't have a chance to repent, would I end up in hell? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

[39:13] But here we have Jesus saying, in teaching so far, he should be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. He says he should be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.

[39:28] I ain't saying this is a license to sin. That's not what I'm saying at all. Once again, go back to the Beatitudes and that teaches us how to live holy and how to live righteous. I'm not saying just go out there and do whatever you want to because you're still going to be in the kingdom of heaven.

[39:41] If you're one of these people who say, I'm going to go out here and sin all I want to, because I'm just losing some of my rewards and I'm losing my status in heaven a little bit, you ain't safe to begin with. Not with an attitude like that.

[39:54] And I've heard people say that. And I'm not telling you all to have that attitude, far from it. What I'm saying is when you sin, it should drive you to repentance.

[40:05] And if it drives you to repentance and you repent and you're sorry for that sin, and men see that and men know that you have told them that what you did is not right.

[40:16] So therefore, if that's the case, I'm not going to be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. This verse continues, But whosoever shall do and teach them shall do what?

[40:29] The least of these commandments and teach them. Not break them and teach men that it's okay to do so, but to do the commandments and to teach the commandments.

[40:43] But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Folks, if I offend a fellow man, if I offend a brother or sister in Christ, should I repent to them?

[40:59] Should I apologize to them? Yes, absolutely. And if I repent to them, you better believe I'll repent to God as well. Because if I've offended a human being, I mean, I'm talking about truly, truly offending someone.

[41:11] Somebody likes chocolate and I don't. And they get offended. That's their own problem. I really don't care. But I'm talking about a sinful offense.

[41:23] I've come against someone, I've talked about someone, I've backbitt someone or I've gossiped about someone. That's the kind of stuff that I'm talking about.

[41:34] If I have truly offended them, yes, I should repent to them. I should also repent to God. Because I promise you, if I've sinned against my brother, I've sinned against God as well.

[41:47] But here, but whosoever shall do and teach them, at least of these commandments, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Folks, I want to be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And that's not because I want some high status.

[42:00] You ain't going to be no more important than I am in heaven. And I'm going to be no more important than you are in heaven. So God, or Jesus here isn't saying to these people, the more good you do, the more blue ribbons you get when you get to heaven.

[42:15] That's not what he's getting at. He's getting at the former part of this verse. Those that break the least of the commandments and teach men so.

[42:27] Folks, those are sorry Christians. Those are sorry excuses for Christians. But remember, he's saying, to be called least, in the kingdom of heaven.

[42:40] But those that do the least of these commandments, that's the least. Those that do the least of these commandments and teach men so, they shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

[42:54] And I said, I ain't saying that I want to be called great in the kingdom of heaven for my own sake or for my own status or my own prestige. I'm doing it because Jesus Christ is put in his own words here, a contrast between two types of Christians.

[43:12] And I want to be the latter type of Christian that he's talking about in this verse. That's why. Just like people who say, you know, they want their crowns when they get to heaven.

[43:24] They want to crown a life, they want to crown a righteousness, they want to crown this, they want to crown that. But I have to wonder how many of them want them crowns for themselves. Folks, they ain't my crowns.

[43:35] They belong to Christ, they belong to him. I want them to give to him. He's the one that deserves them, not me. He's the one that deserves praise.

[43:46] And he is the one that will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And he, anyway, verse 20, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[44:05] Now remember, his main audience here would have been a bunch of Jews gathered around him. There might have been a Gentile here and there. But his main audience here would have been Jews. Definitely the disciples that were there.

[44:18] As well as the others that were gathered around him. He says, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. These Jews would have heard those words.

[44:30] They would have said, my goodness, how will my righteousness ever exceed that of the Pharisees or of the scribes? And most of them have probably been thinking about Sadducees here as well.

[44:42] Because all of them were thought of incredibly righteous people, thought of as incredibly righteous people, including the Pharisees themselves, saw themselves as incredibly righteous people.

[44:55] People would have been saying, what can I do to exceed that? That's what we're going to start to get into next week. We won't get into it this week. They said, for I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

[45:13] This had to be a disheartening statement from Jesus Christ, as he said that here. We, being Christians, and we having the full canon of Scripture here in our hands or here in our left, whatever the case is, we know what it is to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes.

[45:36] The only thing that can do that, the only person that can do that is Jesus Christ. And the only way that we can do that is for us to be in Christ and for Him to be in us. The only way we can exceed that kind of righteousness is through Jesus Christ.

[45:50] Not our own keeping of the law, of course, is impossible for us to do so. But it's through Christ keeping of the law and through Christ's death and through Christ's resurrection that we can exceed the righteousness of the scribes and off the Pharisees.

[46:05] And without that, without Jesus Christ, we shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And I'm going to wrap it up right there for tonight. Lord willing, we'll pick up at verse 21 next week.

[46:23] Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that? Alright, God bless y'all. I appreciate your attention this evening.