Obedience is outward and it is inward.  When a child obeys outwardly, but is still in rebellion inwardly, does that lead to a righteous character?  How do we teach the law so it is understood and embraced inwardly?  What do we need to even teach about the law since it is in the Old Testament?  There are dozens of questions which come to the surface whenever the church of Jesus Christ begins to speak about the law of God in the Old Testament.  Questions are good.  Let’s find biblical answers together.

We are still looking at Jesus’ powerful sermon in Matthew 5.  He begins talking about he Kingdom of Heaven and how we are to respond to the good news about the Kingdom Jesus brings.  After speaking about these things, Jesus declares to them who they are as members of His Kingdom– identity statements which they and we are to believe.  We are salt and we are light!  If we believe this about ourselves, it will change the way we live.  Last week, we looked at Jesus’ view of the Scriptures, and what it meant that Jesus fulfilled or completed the law.  This morning, we will build on these themes further by exploring how Jesus teaches us that obeying the law is a matter of the heart.

I. The law as people of Jesus’ day understood it.

Jesus has already told them that every detail of the Scriptures, of the Law and the Prophets, would certainly come to pass.  Jesus affirms the truth of the law given by God to His people, but He also knows how the teachers of the law in His day taught and understood the law.  When you have false ideas taught consistently over a period of time, many people will believe them.  Ideas which are embraced lead to actions.  Actions will have consequences.  Ideas are crucially important in this day just as they were in Jesus’ day. 

What ideas are we talking about?  Well, Jesus picks up on some of these, and uses a formula throughout this chapter: “You have heard it said... But I say to you...”  You have heard it said refers to what the teachers of the law of His day are saying.  What are they saying?  How are they interpreting the law?  They are looking at the outward obedience to these commands from God.  God does command us not to murder any person.  If you do, so say the teachers of the law, you will be in danger of judgement.  Judgement referred to being brought before the court of the day, tried and sentenced to death for murder. 

In the next example Jesus cites, He says, the teachers of the law tell you not to commit adultery, as in the actual act of sexual sin with another man’s wife.  The act is sinful, and so it is, but this is not enough of an explanation or understanding of the true heart of God.  The third example is close to this.  If you divorce the wife of your youth, make sure you give to her a certificate of divorce, so as not to abuse her.  What would happen without this law was men would give hasty divorces to their wives for the smallest thing or in the heat of a moment, leaving women unprotected and uncared for.  This was the way of the teachers of the law– only give the smallest provision to women as we are commanded in the Scriptures, but go ahead and divorce them for any reason.

Jesus goes on to give us three other examples and how teachers of the day interpreted these commands– do not break your oath to God; only repay a person for an evil by doing an equal evil; and love your neighbor, but it is okay to hate your enemy.  The problem is none of these commands fully describes the heart of our God.  The reason these commands, as interpreted by the Jewish teachers of the day, were inadequate is because they missed the purpose of the law and the heart of God.  As with the other examples Jesus speaks about, they only look at the minimum standard, the outward response of a person.
But Jesus had more in mind!

II. The law as Jesus understands it.

We made the point last week, that Jesus is the Son of God.  He perfectly knows the heart and will of His Father.  If Jesus believes something specific about the law, He is right, no matter who agrees or disagrees with Him.  Jesus explains these laws, which His audience had heard before, in a manner they had not heard before.  Jesus points to the heart when He speaks about what the law of God is targeting.

In the first example, it is sin when one person murders another, to be sure.  But it is also sin, meaning you are breaking the commandment of God, violating the heart of God, when you are angry in your heart towards your brother.  When you call your brother a “fool”, which refers to a statement of contempt, then you are guilty of breaking this commandment.  When you yell in anger at someone, you break this commandment!  Literally, Jesus said the person who uses this term is in danger of the fires of hell.  Why?  Because the law is a matter of the heart according to Jesus.  He goes on to further explain His position, the truth.  He tells them if you are going to worship and remember that your brother has something against you, first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then you will be able to worship appropriately.  There is a connection between our relationship with the Lord and our relationships with those around us.  If a person has many broken relationships surrounding his life, then there is a heart problem.  Even then, one can go to their brother, ask for forgiveness, be reconciled, and then have a heart which is prepared and ready for worship!  A person cannot truly love God and act in hate towards his brother or sister– it isn’t possible!

Reconciliation is the heart of God, even though it is often a difficult process when we have been wronged by another.  Our tendency is to justify our own position.  The truth is this, that God is more concerned about the relationship between you and your brother or sister than He is whether or not you are right or mostly right.  Randy, Frank and Jim were meeting together each week in a discipleship group.  Randy had an argument with a mutual friend, Steve, at work and began to speak badly about him in their discipleship group.  Neither Frank nor Jim were comfortable with this, so Jim spoke up and asked him to stop.  Jim explained that they both loved Randy, but they were also friends with Steve so didn’t want to hear negative things about him.  They asked Randy to be reconciled with him.  Randy brushed it off while they were together, but didn’t come back the next week, nor return their phone calls.  Jim and Frank got together that evening and went over to Randy’s house.  Randy was surprised to see them and invited them in.  These two men asked Randy to not shut them out because they had disagreed.  Again, they affirmed their friendship with Randy, but also asked Randy to be reconciled with Steve with whom he had fought a week earlier.  In fact, Frank and Jim agreed between themselves that they would fast and pray for Randy, until he was reconciled with Steve.  The Lord orchestrated circumstances so that Randy and Steve were together at a high school basketball game, sitting right next to each other.  During the game, they began to talk with each other again and discovered that their disagreement had been a misunderstanding of what the other was saying.  They left the game friends again, and Randy came back to the men’s discipleship group.  Randy’s experience in the past had been that he would be dissed by a Christian and would leave the relationship and find new ones rather than be reconciled.  This was his pattern– broken relationships.  The commitment of these 2 real friends gave Randy a new pattern of reconciliation to follow.  The heart of God for us is reconciliation, loving our brethren, even those who had been enemies in the past.

Jesus goes on to these other examples and each time highlights the heart intent of the person.  If you even look at a woman, any woman, single or married, with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart.  The teachers of the law applied this commandment to married women, but not to single women or prostitutes.  When Jesus describes breaking the commandment not to commit adultery in this manner, He is explaining the heart of God when God gave the command to His people.  Do not make any provision for any kind of lust in the flesh.  Lust never produces the will of God.  How about divorce?  Jesus only gives one reason which would allow for a person to divorce and remarry in this passage.   There are other passages in the Bible which talk about reasons for remarriage, but the point is the same– it is a matter of your heart!  Where is your heart on this matter of being reconciled to your spouse?

When we look carefully at the intent of each of the 10 commandments as Jesus explains them to us, let alone other moral laws in the Old Testament, I think I can say with confidence that all of us have broken every commandment, multiple times.  We would be subject to the fires of hell, except for one key thing– Jesus has paid the penalty for our sin already.  It is by grace we are saved, and it is by grace that we live the Christian life!  As we spoke about last week, as members of the Kingdom of God, we should neither rationalize nor compromise the law of God which reveals the character of righteousness of our God.  Instead, we are to own our sin, but by faith place it all under the blood of Jesus!  We are clean in His sight, because of His mercy and because of His grace which has been poured out over us!!

III. The law and our need for the cross.

Jesus’ view of the law should leave us stunned by the depth of our sin; and then leave us more stunned, more amazed by the depth of the grace of God, which covers all our sin!!

The purpose of the law in our day is the same as it was when it was given.  The law tells us what God requires.  We know we cannot live like this on our own, so the law points us to Christ and to His sacrifice on the cross for us.  I told you this last week, but as a reminder, when speaking to non-Christians, I sometimes use the law as it was intended.  I read portions of the law to them.  When they hear it, they know they have not lived like this, especially as I begin to explain to them what is meant by each command.  These are heart commands, not outward commands.  Obedience is a matter of the heart.  When there is disobedience of any kind in our lives, it is a heart problem.  When you see rebellion in your kids, or in yourself, the issue is that your heart is rebellious and God needs to work there.  Do you understand this key thought? 

So, do we discipline and train our kids to do what God asks outwardly?  Absolutely!  We also pray truth into their hearts, because if one of our youth is obeying the law outwardly, but their heart is far from Christ, this does not help them.  I can already tell you what will happen down the road next week, next month or next year.  There will be a compelling temptation and the outward law will not be enough to keep them from following the temptation.  If there is no inward compelling to follow Christ, they will not.  In fact, my experience on campuses is that youth who were brought up in legalistic churches– there was a strong force exerted to keep these youth outwardly acting holy, even while their hearts were far from Christ– when the external force is taken away, these youth often go wild, exploring everything they had been forced not to do.  This is why I am not legalistic.  I am free.  But I use my freedom to obey Christ!  I use my freedom to delight in and enjoy the things the Lord has given us on earth to enjoy.  There are clearly things which produce ungodliness in us.  We don’t do those things because they are empty and will not give us life!  I want fullness of life for each of you.  You need to be convinced in your heart and in your mind that what the Lord asks of you is absolutely for your best interest, so you will live a blessed life!  You need to know Christ, in your heart, rejoicing that He has forgiven you and that He loves you no matter what!  Make no provision to satisfy the lusts of your flesh which will rule you if you allow them to do this, but you delight in the fellowship the Lord has given to you with Him in worship, and what the Lord has given to you in this wonderful community at Trinity.  Yes, enjoy relationships in Jesus. 

And then, tell others about where you have experienced life!  Share Christ with others by your testimony and joy.  Speak to one another from your heart and to their heart.  These are the kind of relationships you need to cultivate...  Those I spend time with– I do ask them how their hearts are doing, and areas they need accountability for holy living.  We know we are weak in and of ourselves, and it helps to be in a community where we can be honest about our struggles and ask for prayer, knowing we will be loved by others.

Is the law good?  Yes it is.  Can we keep the law on our own– not a chance.  Jesus has made us righteous, and He will empower you to live for Him, from the heart and not merely as an outward command.  Know the Lord through His Word.  Understand how far short you come from meeting His standard, which will lead you to greater marveling at His grace!  This is the place and power of the law in our lives.