Any time that we look into the
Word of God, it will help us to remember that Christ Jesus
the Lord is the beginning. That's what
Colossians 3 tells us. He is the beginning. When we
read Genesis 1, and we read, in the beginning, God created. No harm to that text to read
it, in Christ God created. That's exactly what Colossians
3 tells us. All things were made by Him and
all things were made for Him. He's before all things. By Him
all things consist. He's the firstborn of every creature. He's the firstborn. from the
dead. He's the head of the church.
He's the beginning that in all, among all, He might have the
preeminence. It pleased God that in Christ
Jesus His Son should all fullness dwell. So when we look in the
Scripture, the best thing for us to do is to read Scripture
looking for Him that has the preeminence in all things. Look
for Christ. Look for what Christ how Christ
is honored and glorified in the text. Now, in Matthew chapter
5, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking what we commonly refer to as
the Sermon on the Mount. And in the context of the passage,
the Lord Jesus Christ is declaring that He did not come to destroy
the law. This was the accusation made
against Him by the Pharisees. Not that they had any love for
the law of Moses or for the law of Christ or for the law or for
the prophets, but because they were trying to earnestly protect
those works that they had done to try to make themselves accepted
of God. That was the heart of the matter.
It wasn't a zeal for God. It was a zeal for their own works. And he's declaring the necessity
that he had to come and fulfill the law of God. And he says this
in Matthew 5.24, I say unto you that except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And then
in verse 21 he begins to compare and contrast the righteousness
which the Pharisees boasted of and taught men with that which
the law declares and what Christ taught and did. Now, he says
in Matthew 5.21, You 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. The Pharisees, taught by the
tradition they had received from their fathers, from them who
said it of old time, they taught Thou shalt not kill meant only
the letter of the law. That is, murder only. Verse 22,
the Lord says, but I say unto you, now here's the truth of
the matter. Whosoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever
shall say to his brother Erechah shall be in danger of the council.
But whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell
fire." The Lord says it's not the outward obedience that's
necessary. But you cannot have, or it's
not the outward obedience to which God is looking, the outward
obedience alone. But you cannot have unjustified
anger in the heart. You cannot speak unjustified
words. or you shall be in danger, not
of counsels of men, not of the judgments of men, but of God. The letter of the law goes much
further. It's spiritual. And the punishment
goes much further than men. It's a spiritual judgment of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is spiritualizing
the law. The law is spirit, and He's teaching
the spiritual aspect, what the law truly in spirit teaches. The Lord's given this here and
He says, He's teaching the spiritual meaning of the moral law. So
in verse 23, He uses ceremonial language. The veil has not yet
been rent in twain. He has not yet gone to the cross
and declared it's finished. So He speaks to them. He's speaking
in law terms. And He speaks in terms of ceremonial
law. He says, therefore, verse 23,
if thou bring thy gift to the altar, this is what the law called
for. You offered up a sacrifice in
thanksgiving to God. You brought a gift to the altar,
to the altar at the tabernacle, to the altar that was there that
you had to come to, the priest went to, to enter into the tabernacle. And there, he says, if you bring
that gift in there, remember us that thy brother hath ought
against thee. leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother,
then come and offer thy gift." Now, I want to talk to you for
a minute here. The title of the message is,
Leave Your Gift and First Be Reconciled. Leave your gift and
first be reconciled. Now, the Pharisees thought that
the keeping of the law consisted of outward acts of obedience. It had nothing whatsoever to
do with the heart. They were ignorant of that thought.
Just as Paul said he was before the commandment came, before
the Spirit of God made him to hear the law in his heart and
sin became alive, sin revived and he died. Those who hear what the Lord
says here, leave your gift at the altar and first be reconciled
to your brother. The man who is of a carnal heart,
a carnal understanding, Pharisees of our day will take
this passage of Scripture and teach you. Now, if you'll leave
off your gift and first go and be reconciled to your brother, to the adversary, then that's
the fulfillment of the law. You can't fulfill the law by
anything you do. Not even by leaving your gift
and going and first being reconciled to a brother that's got all against
you. You can't fulfill the law by
doing that. And I can't fulfill the law by
doing that. It's as if the self-righteous
would receive credit for fulfilling the moral law by their outward
obedience to the law, but even more than that, that they would
desire to receive credit for fulfilling the ceremonial aspects
of the law, the ceremonial requirements of the law. The altar and the
gift and everything the Lord mentions here has to do with
In this, before we get further, right here, it has to do with
worship. It has to do with that outward
thing we can see. It has to do with going through
the acts of worship. He says, before any of that,
there's something else that's got to be done. There's something
that's got to be done before any of that takes place. And
it is this. You've got to be reconciled with
your brother. You have to agree with your adversary
or you can't come to the altar, you can't come and offer any
gifts and expect that God's going to receive anything from you
whatsoever. Now has the Lord Jesus Christ
changed the context of what He's been declaring when He said,
think not that I came to destroy the Law and the Prophets? He
said, I didn't come to destroy them, I came to fulfill them.
And if any man lessens this law in any degree, any man unloosens
himself from any aspect of this law, thinking that he has obeyed
it, whether it's in the letter of the law, or whether it's in
hearing what the Lord says here in our day as men do, and then
saying, oh, now, you've got to be loving and gracious, and if
you'll just put on this show of love and grace and the flesh,
then you've fulfilled the law. Men, hear what the Lord says
in our day, and it's common to hear men say, oh, there's so
much more that the believer has to do. The believer has to do
something that is absolutely impossible unless the Spirit
of God enable him to do it. And that is the believer has
to rest in Christ. So has the Lord changed the context
here? Has He switched now from the
context of what He's saying, that He's the fulfillment of
the law, that this doing of the Pharisees was really a breaking
of the law, and everything they taught concerning the outward
form of religion was really a teaching others to break the law. And
then He goes into showing the spiritual truth of this law. Now has He changed the context
of what He's saying? Not at all. Not at all. Who is
the brother that has aught against thee? If you think you can come to
God by your obedience, now hear me now, you are a murderer. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
says it. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
has all against the Pharisee, who thinks he can come to God
in his acts of obedience, who seeks glory for sanctifying himself. The brother we have offended
above all others is God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only brother. Now let
me ask you this. He's the only brother who you
can be angry at and there be no cause for you
to be angry at him whatsoever. Now, you can get mad at me over
something and I may not have done anything particularly that
you know about that you have to be angry about me for, but
the truth is, if you knew, you have every right to be angry
against me. And the same with you. But Christ Jesus the Lord
is the only one whom any man can be angry at, who can be angry
and it be without any cause. There's no cause of anger, no
reason for any enmity towards Him whatsoever. He's righteous.
He's holy through and through. When we say Rekha, when we say
thou fool, would any man call Christ that? Would any man say
that about Christ the Lord? The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. You mean Christ is all? You mean
Christ is everything? You mean that by faith a person
is accepted of God? They have the wisdom God requires. They have the righteousness God
requires. They have the sanctification
God requires. They're free from all debt before
God. You mean Christ is all? I don't
know about that. They call it foolishness. Rekha,
thou fool. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Because he believeth not the
record that God gave of His Son. Now listen, turn over to John
chapter 8 with me. John chapter 8. I wouldn't dare
want you to think that I'm making this up. Turn to John chapter
8. And look with me at verse 37. The Lord's speaking to the Pharisees
and the scribes, and listen to what He says to them. I know
that you're Abraham's children, but you seek to kill Me. because my word hath no place
in you. I speak which that I have seen
with my father, and you do that which ye have seen with your
father. They answered and said unto him,
Abraham is our father, Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's
children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to
kill me." What's he talking about over here in Matthew 5? He's
talking about what murder is. They hadn't done anything outwardly
so far for any man to know they were seeking to kill him. But
he sees the heart. He knows the heart. He knows
what was in their heart. And he said, all I've done is
tell you the truth. He said, now you seek to kill
me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard
of God. And he said, Abraham didn't do
that. You call yourselves the sons of Abraham. Abraham didn't
do that. You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to
him, we be not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God
were your father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth and
came from God, neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do
you not understand my speech? Because you cannot hear my word.
Where? In the heart. In the spirit. They couldn't hear what the law
and the prophet said. They couldn't hear what the law
of Moses said. They couldn't hear what Christ said. In the
heart. They couldn't hear the word.
And he says, ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. And abode not in the truth, because
there's no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
his own, for he's a liar, and he's the father of it. And because
I tell the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth
me of sin? Which of you is justified in
your anger against me? Which of you is justified in
killing me in your hearts? If I say the truth, why do you
not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's
words. Ye therefore hear them not, because
ye are not of God. Then answered the Jews and said
unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast
a devil? They were saying this in their
heart all along. Now they said it with their mouth. You're a
fool. You're a devil. Jesus answered,
I have not a devil, but I honor my father, and ye do dishonor
me. I seek not my own glory, there's
one that seeketh and judgeth. You see, there's no coming to
God until we're reconciled to God in Christ Jesus and by Christ
Jesus. Christ is our only God and Savior. He's the atonement for our sin. He's our righteousness. He's
our redemption. He's the only one. And once we're reconciled to
Christ our brother, once we trust Him alone for acceptance with
God, then we can, then we do, then we come and we offer the
sacrifices and we offer the gifts. During the days of the Old Testament,
the deceitful heart, the wicked heart within sinners pointed
men to their deeds of law and law obedience in the name of
being justified by their obedience. In this gospel age, the same
wicked, deceived hearts point men to their deeds of law obedience
in the name of being sanctified before God. And both lives are exactly the
same self-exalting will worship, just in different dispensations.
before you can offer any gifts, before you can do any self-denying
works, before you can do anything whatsoever that will be accepted
of God. First things first, leave off
all your offering, leave off all your gifts and be you first
reconciled to Christ. Be reconciled to God. Come to
Christ alone. looking to be accepted of God
in Christ alone. Listen to the Hebrews. Look over
there with me. Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 8. Above when He said, sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law." There was all kinds of offering under
the law. There was offerings for sin.
There was offerings for trespasses. There was burnt offerings. There
was thanksgivings offerings for thanksgiving. All types of offerings. But the Lord said, I didn't have
pleasure in those things. I have pleasure in one offering. I have pleasure in one obedience. I have pleasure in one righteousness. I have pleasure in one holiness.
I have pleasure in one gift, one offering, and it's my son. It's my son. Look here. Then
said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. He took away all the offerings,
all the sacrifices, all the gifts. He satisfied the law, both the
moral law and the ceremonial law. And he established the second. He established the covenant of
grace, the everlasting covenant, that which God writes on the
heart of the sinner that makes us to be not without law to God,
but under law to Christ, under the rule of Christ, to walk after
Christ, to be motivated by the grace of God that's given us
in the blood of Christ Jesus, to be turned and directed by
Christ Jesus through the Spirit of God's grace, to be sold out
to Christ, to be his lock, stock, and barrel, to be willing to
follow after Christ and to confess that all our works are works
of iniquity. By the witch will, by his will,
I come to do thy will, by the witch will we are sanctified. set apart, holy, consecrated,
righteous, perfect before God through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once. And every priest standeth daily
ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool for by one offering. There's just one. There's one
gift that God's pleased with and it's Christ. By what offering?
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. I remember
hearing for years and years, I can remember hearing modern
day Pharisees take this scripture I've said to you before, the
carnal heart's just looking for a loophole. Anywhere that the
religious man, the self-righteous religious man goes to this scripture,
not looking to see that Christ has accomplished it all and that
the believer's secure. He's going to it to look for
some little way he can come in glory in something he's done.
And I heard folks for years and years take this 14th verse and
say, by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are
being sanctified. And they would take that and
this is how they'd teach it. Now He's perfected forever, but
there's still some things that you have to do to be sanctified,
to perfect yourself. That's what this word being sanctified
means. The word means there are some
whom the Holy Spirit has already entered into and brought into
the light of Christ. And their whole body is light
and they walk in light because they've been sanctified, washed
in the blood of Christ Jesus. that that's yet happening to.
And they're being sanctified. They're being set apart from
this world to follow Christ. But every one of them that's
being set apart through the Holy Spirit were perfected forever
by the one offering of Christ. And when he enters in and separates
them, that's when, for the first time, they've been going along
all this time saying, now you can't be justified by the law,
and just looking at that as being a legal justification. but have
nothing else to do with sanctification. And now for the first time they
behold Christ is not only my righteousness, in that he is
the, his righteous obedience to the precepts of the law and
his righteous satisfaction of the penalty of the law is all
my righteousness, but he's also made unto me sanctification.
He was perfect in character, perfect in His nature and walked
before God Almighty, perfect from the moment He was conceived
in the womb until the day He went into the grave. Perfect
before God. Sanctified. He separated Himself
that He might make us separated in Him. And now that the Spirit
enters in and you have been sanctified, you behold, He perfected me forever
by His one offering. His one offering is not just
at the cross. His one offering is leaving glory
and coming into the womb of a virgin. His one offering is being born
into this sin-cursed world. His one offering is walking from
the day He was born to the day He died perfect before God. His
one offering is going to the cross and bearing the sin of
His people. His one offering is praying for them, making intercession
for them while He was on the cross. That's His one offering.
He is the one offering and everything about Him is that offering that
God is satisfied with. He's our righteousness. He's
our sanctification. And that day when the Spirit
has entered in and we've called out, then He's made unto us wisdom. Now we no longer walk in the
wisdom of our imagination. Now we no longer walk in the
wisdom of the sparks that we've kindled by our own fire. Now
we're no longer walking around trying to let everybody see our
light and see our sparks and look at the works that we've
done. Now we behold wisdom's Christ. I got none. I've been
a fool. I've been the fool. And is that
not what God says about us that we must become? You know, the
only other place this word fool is used, that He uses here in
Matthew 5, is used over in Colossians 3.18. Look over there with me.
One other place that this word fool is used in Colossians 3.18. I'm sorry, I wrote down the wrong
scriptural reference. Let me read it to you. I got
it here. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth
to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may
be wise. That's the only other place that
word is used. Instead of walking and exalting ourselves as being
wise and calling Christ the fool, Christ says you have to become
the fool that you may be wise in Christ. That's the Word that
our Lord is teaching us here. Before you can offer any gifts,
before you can come and go through all your great, wonderful works
of obedience, before you can do anything, first things first,
be reconciled to Christ. He's the fulfillment of the law.
He's righteousness. He's the holiness with whom God
is pleased. Now, look back here at verse
25. Matthew 5.25. Agree with an adversary quickly
whilst 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 Verily I say unto thee
thou shall by no means means come out thence till thou has
paid the uttermost farthing now if I'm your brother in Christ
and then I'm your friend, not your
adversary. And if you're my brother in Christ, you're my friend and
not my adversary, no matter what I do to you or no matter what
you do to me. The devil is described as our
adversary. Are we to agree with him? No. If it be possible, as much
as life in you live peaceably with all men, But if a sinner
in this world is your adversary, as Christ describes the adversary
here, so much so that he has a strong enough case against
you so that if he takes you to a civil judge, that civil judge
is going to sentence you to prison and you're not coming out until
you pay the utmost farthing. If he has that kind of case against
you, are you going to be able to cause him to drop all charges
by agreeing with him? In a perfect world, maybe, but
not in this one. You might get a lighter sentence,
but he's going to sue you, and you're going to get charged,
and you're going to pay. But if your adversary is the
thrice holy God, If he's the one who's got all
against you, as Lamentations 2, verse 4 says, if he hath bent
his bow like an enemy and stood with his right hand as an adversary,
if he makes his law to speak to your heart and you stand there
like the children of Israel did that day when he gave the commandment
at Mount Sinai and they saw that mountain quake with fire and
the whole earth was trembling so much so that they cried out
and said, a mediator to go up for us. We can't approach God.
The day before they were saying, whatever He tells us to do, we'll
do it. But when the law came and that fire quaked and they
saw that they had an adversary in God, then for the first time
they cried out and said, Moses, go up for us. Be a mediator. Go up for us on our behalf. We
can't go up. And when this adversary speaks
in the heart, when he makes it known that all the things that
we had been thinking was righteousness, that he has ought against us.
Oh brethren, when he says you've broken his every law, agree with
him. When he says your heart and your
imaginations and your words and your deeds are all against him,
agree with him. When He says your best works
of religion, you're casting out those devils who didn't measure
up in righteousness like you thought they ought to. And you
call that your wonderful works and all those things you've done.
And He says your acts of benevolence and all your very best deeds
of righteousness have been your way of trying to come to God
outside of Christ. Agree with Him. When he says
you're doing and you're striving to be holy, you're striving to
receive some part of glory for your sanctification, has been
just another instance of a man trying to be righteous by his
own obedience, agree with him. When he says that thing that
you call salvation is merely just more of you wanting to fulfill
the lust of your own flesh, to take God from His throne, to
have your way and to not be plagued with God anymore, agree with
him. Unless a man's totally trusting
Christ alone, he's looking to something in himself to make
him either wise, righteous, sanctified, or free of all debt. And to do
so in any regard is to be carnally minded. And you know what it
is to be carnally minded? Look at Romans 8. He said, if any man is angry
in his heart, He's a murderer. If He is angry,
if there's any anger in His heart, if He says, Thou fool, if He
says He's a murderer in His heart, look here, Romans 8, verse 6,
to be carnally minded is death. but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace because here's why the carnal mind is death. Because it's enmity against God. It's hatred. It's anger against
God. If we think our works of obedience
is righteousness, we're carnally minded. If we think that our
self-sacrifice justifies us from the penalty of the law, we're
carnally minded. If we think that after a man's
quickened by the Spirit, he's made perfect by the works of
the law, we're carnally minded. If we think we shall receive
glory for our sanctification rather than Christ who is our
sanctification, we're carnally minded. It's all enmity against
God, anger against Him without a cause. without any cause. No reason to be, but we are. Be reconciled. He says, agree
with thine adversary quickly whilst thou art in the way with
him. Be reconciled to God by faith
in Christ Jesus. He himself is the way. Christ
is the only way of reconciliation between a sinner and the adversary. And the Lord says that at times
of the essence, do it quickly. Do it quickly. Now, after you're reconciled,
what altar do we come to? After that we've been reconciled,
after that we've agreed with Him, after that we've confessed
as He says we are, so we are. We're sinners. But we trust Him
for righteousness. We trust Him for sanctification. We trust Him for all. Now then,
what altar do we come to? Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. We have an altar. whereof they
have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle, who are still
looking to the letter of the law, who are still looking to
their so-called love for their brethren, and so-called asking
of forgiveness from their brethren, and looking to that, we have
an altar they have no right to eat at. They're still serving
the tabernacle, and our altar is Christ. And the only access we have to
God, the only acceptance we have with God is in Christ our altar. And we're not looking to our
gifts, or the gifts of our brethren, or the service that we've performed,
or the self-denial that we've exhibited, and not to our brethren. We're looking where? We're looking
to Christ our altar. We are coming in Christ our altar
and we offer up spiritual gifts in Christ our altar. He asked
the Pharisees, ye fools and blind, whether is greater the gift or
the altar that sanctifies the gift? What's better? The gift or the altar? Christ
who sanctified the gift. Now then brethren, as Scripture
says, now then, Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ our author Now those Pharisees showed us in the way that they
dealt with folks. That those who try to live by
the law, who yet insist that a sinner is under the yoke of
the law, under the law as a rule of life, under the law as a motivator,
under the law as that which makes him fearful so that he wants
to walk before God. That type of teaching. The Pharisees
showed us this. The Lord pointed this out. That
type of teaching. results in harshness. It results in wrath. It results
in self-righteousness. It results in people going on
in that same rebellion, that same illegal spirit, thinking
in their minds they fulfilled the law of God, thinking that
they're striving after perfection. when in fact they're going headlong
away from Christ. They've not come to the first
things first. They've not come and been reconciled
to the brother who has aught against us. But those who have give up all
hopes of law righteousness. Do you have any hope that you're
going to stand before God in any righteousness which you perform
according to the law? Let me ask you something. Do
you want to stand before God based on the obedience that before
you ever came to worship to the house of the Lord, you first
always went and made sure you were reconciled to your brother?
Do you want to stand on that? I don't. I don't want to stand
on that. A person born of the Spirit,
just as we saw Sunday, their desire is to live peaceably with
God and men. But here's why. It's not because
of the law. The law has nothing to do with
it whatsoever. Here's why. Galatians 5.22. The
fruit of the Spirit. It's the production of the Spirit
of God. It's the fruit. It's the harvest
that's brought forth by the Spirit of God. And that fruit is love,
is joy, is peace, it's long-suffering, it's gentleness, it's goodness,
faith, meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law. We're not without law. We're
dead to the law of Moses, but we're under the rule of Christ.
And as we walk under this rule of Christ, walking by the fruit
of the Spirit that works within us, there's no law against these
things. And those that are Christ have
crucified the flesh with the lusts and affections. They have. Now, I want to show you one last
scripture. Let me get there. How are we going to come then?
And what are we going to do? What are we going to say? What's
our testimony? Look at Psalm 26, verse 6. I will wash mine hands in innocency. I can't talk all of a sudden.
In the blood of Christ, I'm washed. That's where that laver, before
you came in you had to be washed. So I will come past thine altar. So I will come to Christ, thine
altar. Oh Lord, that I may publish the
voice of thanksgiving. Thankful for what? For mercy
and grace. For Christ, the end of the law
for righteousness. And tell of all thy wondrous
works. of the person that's been born
of the Spirit of God. This is not a maybe. This is not a they might do this. It's true. The person born of
the Spirit of God has a heart that is teachable. They have
a heart that's been made new by God. And when they hear Christ
teach that He's the fulfillment of the law, When they hear Christ
teach that there is no way to come with any gifts of sacrifice
and praise to God unless we be first reconciled to Christ, they
say, Amen. And that person that's born of
the Spirit of God lives the rest of his days with the determination
to be at peace with all men. Knowing first and foremost that
when he comes, The only way he can come to God is this way. If I have aught against my brother,
it's the same as having aught against Christ. And if I have
aught against Christ, it's the same as having aught against
my brother. We're one. We're one. So when we come by
faith in Christ, we come asking forgiveness. We come asking for
mercy. We come asking for grace. We
come with our hands washed in innocence of His blood. We come having been purified
by His grace in the heart, sanctified. We come not in any works of righteousness
which we've done, but solely in the work of Christ. And when
we come In Christ. We come with the whole body of
Christ. With all our brethren as one
body in Christ. And that's the only way to come. That's the only way to come and
offer any sacrifice of praise and not have anybody, God regard
us as having anybody have aught against us. Any brother is to
come by faith in Christ. It's the only way. Because He's
the fulfillment of the law. He's the fulfillment of it. And
that being the case, our spirit is to be at peace with one another. And I'll tell you where that
spirit reigns, there's a spirit of love and longsuffering and
gentleness and meekness, totally contrary to that spirit of the
Pharisees. Totally contrary. And we'll see as we go through
this, we're going to see more and more that our Lord is teaching
us He's the fulfillment of the law all the way through the message,
all the way through His Sermon on the Mount.