All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five. The Lord has been preaching this
message on the mount. And now he's going to deal with
the law and not simply, and you'll understand a little bit more
what I mean when I say this. He's not going to deal simply
with the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. Now, I want us all to remember
what he said in verse 17. He said, think not that I am
come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I'm not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. And He's come to fulfill the
law for somebody. He didn't come just to fulfill
the law for no reason. He's come to fulfill it for His
people. And He said heaven and earth
would not pass away until every jot and every tittle of the law.
And I've told you that before. Go back and look. And look at
the writings in Hebrews, in the Old Testament. It's got just
one little mark can make a difference. And you can look at a word and
one change gives a different tense, and he said nothing of
the law would be left unfulfilled. And when he was teaching, he
had just exposed those in the midst of the people, he exposed
the Pharisees who had set themselves up as being beyond reproach,
those who not only thought that they had not broken the law of
God, but they taught people to try to teach them to think
like they did, to teach them to look to the law. for righteousness before God. And the Lord has said in verse
20, I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now we're going to start
this message today in the rest of this chapter, chapter 5. And
the Lord is going to say something. He's going to say this six times.
He's going to say, you have heard that it was said by them of old. Six times in the remainder of
this chapter. And six times he's going to say,
but I say unto you. Now, when we hear him say that,
we need to take note because he's getting ready to set forth
As I said a moment ago, the spirit of the law. Romans 7.14 says
this, but we know that the law is spiritual. The law is spiritual. The law
is the revelation of God's unchanging, unerring demand for righteousness
before Him. Not before men, but before God. This is the law. The law is spiritual. It is God's demand. And what
is the fulfillment of the law? Now listen, here's it. To love
God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. That's what the
Lord said. And it was given by the Spirit
of God to God's people through these scriptures. And now the
Lord is going to set forth the Spirit And He's going to take
some of the laws that were set forth back in the Old Testament.
And He's going to take those laws that were given and He's
going to teach us the heart of it. Now, let me explain something
before I begin. God's people love the law of
God. We love God's law. It is God's law. It's right. It's good. It's holy. When we speak of God's law, we
cannot and dare not speak of God's law in any other way except
with respect. But here's the problem. It's not with God's law. The
problem is us. We're our problem. Romans 3.20, by the deeds of
the law. There shall no flesh be justified
in His sight. I've heard people say, well the
law is my rule of life. Not for a believer. No. The rule of life for a believer
is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who has fulfilled the law for
us and has charged us, imputed to us His righteousness. Because if we think that we're
going to live before God by our keeping of the law, we have no
hope. Paul says the law is spiritual. That's what I just read, Romans
7, 14. But he said, but I'm carnal, sold under sin. What he was saying
is I'm a creature of flesh and sold by sin. my own rebellion
into slavery, and I'm continually being buffeted by that sin. So with that thought, knowing
that the law is spiritual, let's hear what the Lord has to say
concerning this. I'm going to preach this morning.
First subject, thou shalt not kill. You've heard verse 21. It said, You have heard that it was said,
by them of old, or to them of old, if you have a marginal reading,
thou shalt not kill. Now that's the letter of the
law. And there's nothing wrong with
it. That's the truth. That's God's word. That's found
in Exodus 20. It was then, and is now, usually understood when somebody
hears that rule, thou shalt not kill. Immediately what they think
is that is the intentional taking of a life of another by malice,
no accident to it. It was murder. It was murder.
First degree murder. And that's how the Jews and that's
how the carnal man understands that law. Thou shalt not kill. And because it's understood to
be the very physical act of pow! I didn't do that. I didn't do
that. The Lord says, you've heard that
it was said, thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall
be in danger of the judgment. He said, this is what you've
heard, and this is right. Whoever shall kill shall be in
danger of the judgment. Leviticus 24, 17, he that killeth
any man shall surely be put to death. What's the justification
for capital punishment? God's law. Somebody says, well,
I just don't believe it. It doesn't matter what we think. This is what God says is capital
punishment justified. Absolutely. Absolutely. Somebody says, I don't think
it's a deterrent. Well, I can tell you this, if somebody is
put in an electric chair, he won't kill anybody else. It's
a deterrent. So what's the letter of the law?
The letter of the law is, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment." That truth
that set forth was the absolute, unerring word of God. And because men misunderstand
it, they'll take the letter of the law and they'll say, well
now, I've never done that. That rich young ruler that came
to the Lord, and he said, good master, what must I do to have
eternal life? And the Lord said, well, what
does the commandment say? And he said, well, which one
are you talking about? And the Lord started naming them
all. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou
shalt not steal. And he said, I've kept all of those from my
youth up. I've never stolen anything. I've never killed anybody. None
of it. That was what Saul of Tarsus,
a Pharisee, that was his thinking. He looked back and he said concerning
himself when he was an unregenerate, he said in Philippians 3, 6,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. He
felt as though he had obeyed the law concerning the forbidding
to murder another man because he had never done it. He had
never done it. in his mind. Of course, I've
realized that he hated Stephen, and all just like it, you know,
believers in the Lord, he held the coat, but I never picked
up a rock. I never threw a rock at Stephen. And also, when he was on the
road to Damascus, Scripture said he was breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord as he went to the
high priest, those that were of the way, that he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem. So the Lord said, now you've
heard it said by them of old, thou shalt not kill. And whosoever
shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. Somebody says,
well I'm guiltless. But I say unto you, now the one speaking here is
the giver of the law. The only one who can speak with
any authority concerning the meaning and the spirituality
of the law. This is the one who came into
this world for one reason. That was to save his people from
their sins. To save them from what? From
the condemnation of the law. They were all dead now in trespasses
and sins against the law. And He came for this reason,
to fulfill the law on their behalf. Now, let's remember that. Now
in just a few minutes, and I do so pray that this comes out how
I think I have it in my mind. It's so beautiful, it's so wonderful,
and it's so far beyond what we would ever think that it would
say it. Let's see what the Lord says.
But I say unto you, and listen to what He's about to say because
He's getting ready to speak for just a few minutes about being
angry at a brother without a cause. Then He's going to be speaking
about remembering if you go to bring your gift to an altar leave it and then go. He's going
to be talking about reconciliation. Listen to what exactly he's saying
and remember, the law is spiritual. It's spiritual. The law sets forth that we're
going to behold the gospel in what he's about to say. And this
is the only blessing that we'll ever get out of this. If we're
left at that state to have to fulfill this. We're all in trouble,
but listen to what he's saying. 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, Rakeh, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever
shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if thou bring thy
gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar,
go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come
and offer thy gift. He's speaking of remembering
something when you're coming to bring your gift to the altar. And let me just ask out loud
what everybody's thinking. Okay. What gift is he talking about?
He's getting ready to come to an altar. What gift is the only
gift Before God. Now, I mean, are we talking about,
look, if we happen to be coming in the building here and we got
our check, you know, I'm going to give a gift to the church.
You know? And all of a sudden, you're getting
ready to put it in the box back there and you say, oh, man, I
just remembered something. My brother's got ought against
me. Now, let me just lay it down here by the box and let me go
over here. Or, when you're getting ready
to bring your gift to the altar, what altar is he talking about?
What altar? I mean, are you talking about
that? Are you talking about that piece
of wood? Are you talking about the front? That's where I came to the altar. I told you before, there's no
difference, just a few feet between us. This is not an altar. We have an altar. Our altar is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in Hebrews 13, we have
an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the
tabernacle. And this gift that he's talking
about, what gift is it? Again, is it our money? There's
one gift that Almighty God will accept. Listen to Proverbs 23,
26. My son, give me thine heart,
and let thine eyes observe my ways. Now we're talking about
something that is so spiritual right here. We don't grasp it.
I mean, we start thinking carnally. You know, we start reading these,
and I think, yeah, I'm, well, I'm, you know. Think only in
this light. That scripture, those scriptures
we just read, It's concerning the Lord Jesus Christ and His
work and His will and His purpose to fulfill the will and purpose
of Almighty God in the redemption of His people. Look past everything
that you can think that we can do. He's speaking of His people in
Himself. So it'll be a great help to us
to understand exactly. He said, you've heard it said,
but I say to you. We need to understand exactly
to whom is the Lord speaking concerning this. But if you bring
your gift to the altar and you remember, who is He speaking
to? Let me tell you. Okay. There's two different entities
here that He's speaking to. All those left apart from the
Lord Jesus Christ, all those not found chosen in Him from
the foundation of the world, that law is laid upon them for
obedience. That law is laid upon them. No
man is without excuse. But let me tell you who the Spirit
of God is also speaking to concerning God's people. He's speaking to
the Lord. He's speaking to the Lord Jesus
Christ. The One who has covenanted before
the foundation of the world to answer for us. This law He came
to fulfill. This was His responsibility in
the redemption of His people. Now if you want to see some hope,
you want to see some hope in Christ, you let this be spoken
to Him. Not me and not you. If it's spoken
to me or you, we've got problems. But if it's spoken to Him, He
who will not shall not fail. Lord, answer for me, right here. Lord, will you answer before
God for me? Great help. Now let's look and
behold that which the Lord has done. What He's talking about
concerning reconciliation. That's what He's talking about.
I say unto you, whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Whosoever shall
say to his brother, Rekha, you worthless, senseless, godless
person. That's what Rekha means. Shall
be in danger of the counsel. Whoever shall say, thou fool,
you moron. That's what it means. You imbecile. Whoever says that. The Lord said, we're separated. We're separated. It says, leave
thy gift where you are, go be reconciled to thy brother, then
come and offer your gift. Now let me just, let me start
to kind of pull this all together so we can understand. Our sins
have separated us between ourselves and God. That's what Isaiah 59.
Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and
your sins have hid His face from you that He will not hear. God's going to hear one person.
He's going to hear His Son. He's going to hear His Son. And
because of sin, All men, everybody's guilty. You know, even God's
elect, we're all guilty. The scripture says in Ephesians
chapter two, verses one and two, listen to what God has to say.
Ephesians two, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. And we're by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. So, we're all guilty. All guilty. But knowing that He's coming
to this world, To save His people from their sins and to save them
from their sins, He's going to have to obey this law. He's going
to have to honor this law and satisfy God's law, satisfy it
for justice and righteousness. He's going to have to do it and
pay the penalty for us. So here's the problem. I say
unto you, Now you remember this, he is bearing this responsibility
right now. Whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Now let me ask
you this, knowing that he has eternally in covenant grace and
mercy been our brother, our elder brother, our savior, our husband,
Our King, our Master, our Lord, our God. He was there at that
marriage and they said, listen, your mama and your brethren.
Well, he said, who is my mother? Who is my brethren? He turned
and he said, see these? These that believe me, this is
my brethren right here. But before we were called out
of darkness, were we his brethren? I say to you, whosoever is angry
with his brother, now we're talking about here, we're talking about
the Lord's gonna do something for his brethren. Whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause, now, Psalm 69, four, they that hate
me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine hand. They
would destroy me being my enemies wrongfully, they're mighty, then
I restored that which I took not away. Was there ever a time
when we were born into this world and angry with Him without a
cause? There was no cause in Him for
us to be angry, but here The scripture declares that we ourselves,
He quickened us who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now I
say to you, now here's the spirituality there, whoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. Did
we deserve judgment? Yeah. Whoever shall say to his
brother, Rakeh, you devil, you senseless, godless, Listen to
what the Lord said concerning our attitude as being born in
Adam. John 7, 19, 20. Did not Moses
give you the law, and yet none of you keep the law? Why go ye
about to kill me? The people answered and said,
Thou hast a devil. Who goeth about to kill thee?
You're deranged, you empty, senseless, You said, oh no, the Pharisees
said that to him. No, sir. We all said that to
him. There's none righteous. Not one. So before we look at
the Pharisees and say, well, they were the ones that did that,
we would have never... God looked and saw that every
thought and every imagination of man was evil. Continually. So what's the problem
here? Here's the problem. We are the
ones that said that to Him, that called Him a fool in our hearts. I never said, yes we did. The
carnal mind is enmity against God. We don't realize the depth
of our hatred and depravity toward God, toward the God of all grace. You've heard it said, thou shalt
not kill. I say to you, I say to you, whoever hates a brother
without a cause, you're in danger of judgment. Mark 3.22, And the
scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub. By the prince of devils casteth
out. You're of the devil. And we shudder to think of such
disrespect now, but this is the very heart and attitude that
all God's elect had and still possess in that old man toward
him. That's Paul's old wretched man
that I am. That I should think such, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? He is our brother. If whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause, Yes, Christ has always
been the brother of His brethren in covenant grace. He's always
been our kinsman redeemer, our near kinsman redeemer. So knowing this, this law right
here, that law that was given right here, I say, this is what
I say to you, whosoever shall be angry with us, that's what
the Lord said, this is the heart. This is the spirit of that law,
thou shalt not kill. He said, this is what you've
heard, thou shalt not kill. And you justify yourself because
you think, I never kill anybody. The Lord said, this is the root
of our problem. It's all men's problem, but he
came to fulfill this for somebody. Aren't you glad? Well, let me ask you this, what's
the remedy? Therefore, verse 23, 24. If thou bring thy gift to the
altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against
thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way. First
be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Look at that word, therefore,
in verse 23. It refers to what he just said. What he just said about us. about our attitude toward Him,
being born in Adam, being born a sinner, being born in rebellion
against God Almighty. And let me tell you this, remember
this, it wasn't us who remembered that our brother had ought against
us. Our Lord had no ill feelings against us. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. He's going to deal with our sin.
We were the guilty party. Who could say, I remembered that he had ought
against me. I was dead in trespass. I didn't remember that. He eternally
remembered that. And that gift that he was going
to give, that was going to be according to covenant grace,
covenant agreement, covenant mercy. I'll answer for them. What are you going to offer?
I'm offering my blood. Obedience. Obedient. My heart. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me. What are you going to give? I'll
give myself. You remember, therefore, Thou bring thy gift to the altar,
that altar that God alone recognizes, the altar of His dear Son, the
altar where sacrifice is made, the altar where satisfaction
is made, the altar where blood is shed for a reason, for the
putting away God's sheep, the one who laid down His life and
shed that own blood. So if reconciliation is going
to take place, if peace is going to be established between us
and God, if reconciliation is going to be brought back and
we're going to be in oneness again with Him, He's going to
have to do something for me. How long has He remembered that
we had ought against Him? He's always known. You know,
it's not like, like I said, we come up here, we're going to
give a gift, and all of a sudden, it just hits us all. Oh, man. He always, eternally, His delights
were with the sons of men. He ever stood for us and made
reconciliation. Romans 5, 10, for if when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Truly,
the spirituality of the law demanded that we obey, that reconciliation
be made, that appeasement of God be made. We were to leave
our gift before the altar. If we could, If we could give
the Lord our heart, that's what He demanded. My son, give me
your heart. I want your heart. I want obedience. If that gift was able to be given,
but we couldn't give it. We couldn't answer. We couldn't
be reconciled to our brother. We were the offending party,
so our brother He who had no cause in Himself came into this
world to fulfill this law for us. If we could have done it,
all would have been well, but we can't. And it was Christ that
eternally, when He said He left His gift at the altar, that gift
of obedience before God upon the altar of His sacrifice was
always before the Father. Somebody said, well, I'll just
leave it so everybody can see it. He always saw it. He always beheld it. He saw the
blood slain, the lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. It was Christ. The scripture says, what does
He do? You bring your gift, therefore
leave there thy gift and go thy way. What did He do? He came
our way for us. Made flesh and first be reconciled
to thy brother and thanks be unto God He did it. He reconciled
us to God by the shedding of His own blood. And He came and
He offered His gift. He went to the cross. He laid
down His life. Shed that blood. And He said,
it's finished. The gift has been given. Laid
upon the altar. Reconciliation has been made
for those who had ought against Me. That's what He said. reconciled
us to God. He was the one that lived for
and died for our sins. Then the Lord said to him, You
sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. And in closing, knowing the demand
of God's law, the law that our adversary, the law, Set upon
us. Here's what the scripture says.
Now, agree. Agree. Agree with thine adversary. Somebody say, well, I thought
that the devil is my adversary. He is. Let me tell you the adversary
that ultimately we're going to have to deal with. God's going
to cast that adversary into the lake of fire. But God's word
is never going to pass away. Here's the adversary that we've
got. the law, this law that Christ fulfilled, an answer. And God's
satisfied. He's made the reconciliation.
He came. He got us, bringing us to God. Agree with thine adversary quickly. Now you listen. Listen to me.
Here's the word of the Lord to his people. It's to everybody,
but I'm going to tell you who's going to be made willing in the
day of His power. God's going to give somebody an agreement
to this. They're going to agree. What are they going to say? I'm
guilty. I'm guilty. I've sinned against God. I'm
that prodigal. I'm it. I'm the prodigal. I hated Him without a cause.
There was no cause in Him. And I justified myself. I called
Him a senseless, godless devil. And in mercy, he came to this
world, paid my debt, established righteousness for me. The Spirit
called me out and made me willing in the day of his power. Agree
with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with
him. Lest at any time the adversary,
the law, deliver thee to the judge, Christ, and the judge
deliver thee to the officer, the angels, and thou be cast
into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou
shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost
farthing. We got one hope. I got one hope. That when Christ came into this
world to fulfill the law that he said he did, he fulfilled
it for me. And that he himself who had the
only gift that God would accept, obedience. That's my beloved
son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. He's the only one
that offered God, based on his own merit, that which God accepted,
and accepted it upon the only altar that God accepts. And he
alone made reconciliation for all that God Almighty everlastingly
loved. And he called them out of darkness,
taught them. And he said, now you agree with me. I said, Lord,
I agree with you. As you say you are, you are.
As I am, I am. Thanks be unto God. God has had
mercy on a sinner like me. And he did it for his glory and
my eternal good. Amen. Let's take a break.