July 26, 2025 • 19 mins
What does it look like to truly live as citizens of God's kingdom? In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus delivers what many consider the most influential sermon in history, challenging our understanding of righteousness, relationships, and what it means to follow Him.
Kingdom Living 101 takes us through the revolutionary teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus systematically dismantles surface-level religion and reveals the heart transformation God desires. The beatitudes kickstart this paradigm shift by blessing those the world considers unfortunate—the poor in spirit, those who mourn, and the persecuted. Rather than contradicting our understanding, Jesus reveals that what looks upside-down to us is actually right-side up in God's kingdom.
As salt and light, believers are called to enhance what's good in creation and shine God's goodness without seeking personal recognition. Jesus then tackles misinterpretations of God's law with his famous "You have heard it said... but I say to you" statements. Murder begins with anger. Adultery starts with lust. Loving only those who love you misses the point entirely. Throughout the passage, the consistent theme emerges: God cares more about heart posture than religious performance.
This chapter leaves us with a profound question to consider: Where is your heart posture before God right now? Whether you're in a season of thankfulness, fear, or spiritual jadedness, Jesus invites you to bring your heart before Him—not for condemnation, but for transformation. Join us as we explore how kingdom living starts with allowing the King to rule within.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, Pastor Brandon, Today, Matthew, chapter 5.
And today's title is KingdomLiving 101.
Kingdom Living 101.
And I want to tell you there isno one better, of course, to
talk to about what it is to livein the kingdom of God than the
(00:21):
king himself.
Right, that's what we're goingto talk about today.
We're going to talk about howJesus said we are to live in his
kingdom in such a way that wecan experience all the goodness
that God has for us, and sowe're going to jump right into
that.
So, if you have your Bibles andwant to open up with me to
Matthew chapter five whileyou're doing that, as always, if
you're new around here, I wantyou to take just a moment to
(00:42):
like, share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast
.
Make sure to leave us afive-star review on the podcast
and make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion.
I'm going to tell you, inchapters like this, there is way
too much for us to cover in onepodcast, and so if you want to
know more about God's Word andall the different things that's
going on, make sure you go tothe Bible Breakdown podcast so
(01:04):
you can get even moreinformation about God's work.
Because, as always, the more wedig the more we find.
Well, if you've been with usover the past couple of days,
we've been really digging intothis idea that Matthew is all
about King Jesus.
And he really started off fromchapter 1, just really kind of
(01:25):
blowing us away at the verybeginning.
And he's saying listen, I'vegot receipts, I can prove to you
that Jesus is who he says he isand he is the rightful earthly
king.
But then chapter 2 through 28,he just says but he is so much
more than that and he walksthrough this idea about how
Jesus is everything.
He is the King of kings and theLord of Lords and he has been
(01:49):
building that case.
And then today he is going totake even another step.
And here's the thing, Before wejump into this, chapter 5, 6,
and 7 are some of the mostpopular pieces of literature, If
I can say it like that.
I was trying to find a betterway, but I really can't.
Pieces of literature in all ofhistory.
Like I have heard of secularuniversities teaching 5, 6, and
(02:13):
7 of Matthew and they don't evenbelieve in God, but they cannot
deny the wisdom that is here,which is weird to me.
But you can't deny the wisdomthat is here that when you give
yourself to the kingdom of God,something amazing happens and
you can really see this as Jesusgoing a step deeper and a step
(02:34):
deeper.
It's almost as if in chapterfive he's talking about how to
relate to the overall world,Chapter six is how to relate to
God, and then chapter 7 is howto relate, within the kingdom of
God, to one another.
And there's just so much goodstuff here, and so we're going
to jump into this and we'regoing to read what is the
longest sermon recorded in thefour Gospels from Jesus.
(02:59):
So if you're ready, here we goMatthew 5, verse 1.
We'll stop along the way.
God's Word says this.
One day, as he saw the crowdsgathering, Jesus went up on a
mountainside and sat down.
His disciples gathered aroundhim and he began to teach them.
Now pause once again.
Now, because there were nosound systems back in the day,
there would have been a verypractical reason for him to get
(03:22):
on a mountainside, because whenhe would speak it would echo,
and that's how you could havethousands of people able to hear
the words of Jesus.
And this is what he said.
God blesses those who are poorand realize their need for him,
for the kingdom of heaven istheirs.
God blesses those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
(03:44):
God blesses those who arehumble, for they will inherit
the whole earth.
God blesses those who hungerand thirst for justice, but they
will be satisfied.
God blesses those who aremerciful, for they will be shown
mercy.
God blesses those whose heartsare pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work forpeace, for they will be called
(04:07):
the children of God.
God blesses those who arepersecuted for doing right, for
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when peoplemock you and persecute you and
lie about you and say all sortsof evil things against you.
Because you are my followers.
Be happy about it, yes, be veryglad for the great reward
(04:29):
awaits you in heaven.
And remember the ancientprophets were persecuted in the
same way.
Now pause.
So what he has been doing is hehas been taking what we would
consider to be maybe more of ourearthly ideas about getting
ahead and making sure that wemake a name for ourself and all
that stuff, and he is turning itover on its head and he is
saying actually, in the kingdomof heaven it looks like it's
(04:52):
upside down, but really it's ourworld that's upside down.
The right way to look at it iswhen you give yourself for the
kingdom of heaven.
And so he's really taking theupside down world and turning it
right side up so we can see himmore clearly.
And he's saying the more yougive yourself to the kingdom of
God, it's going to look likeyou're doing it the wrong way.
You're actually doing it theright way.
(05:13):
So here we go.
Now he's talking about how werelate to the overall world.
Verse 13, he says you are saltof the earth.
But what good is salt if itloses its flavor?
Can you make it salty again?
It will be thrown out andtrampled underfoot as worthless.
Now pause.
Do you know what salt is usedfor?
(05:33):
Salt is used to enhance theflavor of things, and so what he
is actually saying is you aresalt of the earth.
In other words, you areintended to enhance the flavor
of all that is good in the world.
The things that are in theworld have been corrupted by sin
, but the natural intent of themare good.
And so he is saying that thepeople of God should be the ones
(05:54):
that are living the best.
Not necessarily they have themost, but they're living with
the most joy, living with themost peace, living with the most
just sense of everything'sgoing to be okay, and that's
infectious to the rest of theworld.
Verse 14, you are the light ofthe world.
A city on a hilltop cannot behidden.
No one lights a lamp and thenputs it under a basket.
(06:16):
Instead, a lamp is placed on astand where it gives light to
everyone in the house In thesame way.
Let your good deeds shine outfor all to see, so that everyone
will praise your heavenlyfather.
Now pause again.
Now does this seemcontradictory?
Because there are other placeswhen he says do not let your
left hand know what your righthand is doing?
(06:37):
No, it's not contradictory,because he's saying we're not
doing good deeds in order to getattention for ourself.
We're doing good deeds as a wayto show people that God is good
.
And so, once again, he'stalking about it's all having to
do with the intent of the heart.
If you are doing something sothat someone else will bring
(06:57):
praise to you, then it's for thewrong reason.
But if you're doing good deedsin order to show the glory of
God, that's for the right reason, All right.
He keeps on going even further.
He says this in verse 17, andthis is a massive verse.
Right here he says don'tmisunderstand why I have come.
I did not come to abolish thelaw of Moses or the writings of
the prophets.
No, I came to accomplish theirpurpose.
(07:21):
I tell you the truth untilheaven and earth disappear, not
even the smallest detail ofGod's word will disappear, until
its purpose is achieved.
So if you ignore the leastcommandment and teach others to
do the same, you will be calledleast in the kingdom of heaven.
But if anyone who obeys God'slaws and teaches them, they will
(07:44):
be called great in the kingdomof heaven.
Laws and teaches them, theywill be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.
But I warn you, unless yourrighteousness is better than the
righteousness of the teachersof religious law and the
Pharisees, you will never enterthe kingdom of heaven.
Now that seems a little weirdright there, because later on in
Paul and different ones,they're talking about how we
(08:05):
don't live according to the lawof Moses, but according to the
law of Moses, but according tothe law of grace or the law of
Christ.
So what is he saying?
He is saying he did not come tothrow away the law, as if it
had no intention.
He's saying I came to completeit Because, if you remember,
when we were reading back in thebook of Romans, he talks about
how.
In chapter 1, it talks abouthow we walked away from God, and
(08:27):
in chapter 2, God gave the lawto show us how far from
perfection we had fallen.
And in chapter 3 was when Godhad to do something about it
because we couldn't.
And so what Jesus is saying isthat you could not fulfill the
law by yourself, and so I cameto fulfill it.
So, in other words, without thelaw, we wouldn't know what
Jesus was fulfilling.
(08:48):
And so he is saying I amfulfilling the law.
And he is also talking about therighteousness of the Pharisees.
What they had done is they hadtaken the law and instead of
fulfilling it by being rightbecause they couldn't, they
added to it.
So it would be such as theywould say well, if we shouldn't
work on the Sabbath, then youshouldn't walk more than a
(09:09):
quarter of a mile on the Sabbath, Because their idea was we want
to get as far away as we canfrom violating the Sabbath.
Well, unintentionally, whatthey did was they created too
much.
And so what he is saying isyou've got to get back to the
essence of the law.
And that's what he's going tosay right now.
After this, he's going to startteaching about the intention of
(09:30):
the law.
He's going to say you haveheard it said.
In other words, they have addedmore to the law than what you
thought.
But actually I want you to getback to the heart posture.
So watch what he does now.
Verse 21,.
You have heard that ourancestors were told.
So, in other words, this isn'twritten in the Bible, but they
added to it you must not murder,which is good, and if you
commit murder, you are subjectto judgment.
(09:51):
But I say to you, in otherwords, he's saying the intention
of the law was that if you wereeven angry with someone, you
are subject to judgment, and ifyou call someone an idiot, you
are in danger of being broughtbefore the court.
And if someone curses someoneand if you curse someone you are
in danger of the fires of hell.
In other words, he's saying itwasn't about what you did as
(10:15):
much as it was about your heart,Verse 23,.
So if you are presenting asacrifice at the altar in the
temple and you suddenly rememberthat someone has something
against you, leave yoursacrifice there at the altar, Go
and be reconciled to thatperson and then come and offer
your sacrifice to God and whenyou are on the way to court with
your adversary, settle yourdifferences quickly, Otherwise
(10:38):
your accuser may hand you overto the judge, who will then hand
you over to an officer, and youwill be thrown into prison.
And if that happens, you surelywill not be free again until
you have paid the last penny.
So, in other words, what hejust did was is he's correcting
what had been perverted by theteachers of the law when they
(10:59):
were saying that you shouldn'tgo commit adultery or, excuse me
, you shouldn't go commit murder.
Adultery is coming next andhe's saying yes, that's true,
but the intent was, is to becareful with what goes on the
inside.
You notice what he's, so youget it.
He's trying to get it back tothat.
The law was intended to correctwhat was on the inside first,
not just a form of godliness.
(11:20):
All right, verse 27,.
He said you have heard thecommand that says you must not
commit adultery, but I sayanyone who even looks at a woman
with lust has already committedadultery with her in his heart.
So if your eye, even your goodeye, causes you to lust, gouge
it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to loseone part of your body than for
(11:41):
your whole body to be throwninto hell.
And if your hand, even yourstronger hand, causes Now pause
again.
Now Jesus did something, a lotin order to catch the attention
(12:02):
of his audience, and that is, hewould use this thing called
hyperbole, and hyperbole is whenyou overstate something in
order to make a point.
Jesus is doing this right here,because to literally do this
would be to contradict otherparts of the law.
He's not doing that.
What he is saying is go toextreme measures to protect your
heart, Go to extreme measuresto protect your holiness.
(12:25):
He's not literally saying gougeout your eye, but he's saying
you should work very, very hardto do the right thing.
All right, verse 31.
You have heard that the law saysa man can divorce his wife by
merely giving her a writtennotice of divorce.
But I say that a man whodivorces his wife unless she has
been unfaithful causes her tocommit adultery.
(12:48):
And anyone who marries adivorced woman is also
committing adultery.
So once again, Jesus is sayingit's not about the form, it's
about what's inside our hearts.
Verse 33, you have also heardthat our ancestors were told you
must not break your vows.
You must carry out the vows youmake to the Lord.
But I say to you, do not makeany vows.
(13:10):
Do not say by heaven, becauseheaven is God's throne.
Do not say by the earth,because the earth is his
footstool.
And do not say by Jerusalem,for Jerusalem is the city of the
great king.
Do not even say by my head, foryou cannot turn one hair, white
or black.
Just say a simple yes I will orno, I want.
(13:32):
Anything beyond this is fromthe evil one.
In other words, just be honest.
Once again, Jesus is constantlytalking about the position of
our heart.
Verse 38, you have heard the lawsays that the punishment must
match the injury An eye for aneye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say do not resist an evilperson.
(13:52):
If someone slaps you on theright cheek, offer the other
cheek also.
If you are sued in court andyour shirt is taken from you,
give your coat too.
If a soldier demands that youcarry his gear one mile.
Carry it two miles.
Give to those who ask and don'tturn away from those who want
to borrow.
You have heard that the law sayslove your neighbor and hate
(14:14):
your enemy.
But I say love your enemies,Pray for those who persecute you
, and that way you will beacting as true children of your
Father in heaven, For he giveshis sunlight to both evil and
the good, and he sends rain onthe just and the unjust alike.
If you love only those who loveyou, what reward is there for
(14:36):
that?
Even corrupt tax collectors dothat much.
If you are kind to only yourfriends, how are you different
than anyone else?
Even pagans do that, but youare to be perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect Inpagans.
Do that, but you are to beperfect even as your Father in
heaven is perfect, In otherwords, holy.
Now there's a lot there that wecould cover and we could
(14:56):
continue to go further andfurther and further into this.
That's why you've got to go tothe Bible Breakdown Discussion
on Facebook so we can really digeven further.
But as we look at this as almostlike Jesus, level one for
living in the kingdom of God.
Notice what he kept saying overand over again.
He's saying there was this formof godliness, but I'm calling
(15:17):
you to a heart posture.
The first few verses of blessedis he who does this, and God
blesses those who does that.
It was all about a proper heartposture before God when he was
talking about being salt andlight in the world.
It was about having a properheart posture, and one of the
number one things that God isinterested in is making sure our
(15:38):
heart is right before him.
So there's my question for us tothink about today, and that is
this where's your heart posturebefore God?
There's possibly any number ofplaces you may find yourself.
You could, number one, be in agreat place.
Maybe you just are constantlythinking about the goodness of
God and what he has done in yourlife and you find yourself just
(15:58):
thankful in a season ofthankfulness, and if so, man,
enjoy it.
Stay there as long as you can.
Maybe your heart posture is oneof fear.
You're afraid of what's goingon because of uncertainty all
around you.
Maybe you're in a situationwhere you're jaded.
Maybe you've been doing lifewith God for a while, and you've
been doing life with God'speople for a while and you've
(16:20):
just gotten weary of just peoplenot being perfect.
Everyone's in a differentgrowth rate in their walk with
God.
Maybe he's been around somefolks.
It's just been hard.
And I wonder if the first thingthat God calls us to and he
calls us close to himself is tocheck our hearts and just to say
, hey, are you walking in aplace where you're living a form
(16:41):
of godliness or a heart posture?
That's a hard question to ask,but it's a beautiful question to
ask because, remember, everytime we go to God and we ask God
to search us, it's not so thatwe can find out if we're in
trouble, but it's so we can getcloser to him, because God wants
to remove anything that wouldkeep us from being closer and
closer to where he is.
So I want to pray for us thatGod will do that and then just
(17:03):
give him permission to bring uscloser into his presence.
Can we do that right now?
Father, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you that you are with usand that you're for us.
Thank you, Jesus, for your wordthat in Matthew 5, you talk
about how you came to fulfillthe law.
You came to do what the lawcouldn't do and that is set us
free.
And, Lord, as we walk throughthis life, so many times it's
(17:26):
easy to to lose perspective.
It's easy to lose that simplejoy of knowing you.
I pray today, God.
If we've gotten our hearts offbase on one way or another, the
Holy Spirit, you'll open oureyes to see and you'll help us
to course correct and get backcenter aligned with you.
I Lord, that our love for youwill overflow until we love
(17:49):
those around us as well.
We're thankful for yourgoodness, we're thankful for
your mercy, we're thankful foryour forgiveness.
In Jesus' name, we pray amenand amen.
Well, God's word says inMatthew 28, verse 19,.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
My prayer is that you willbecome a fully devoted follower
(18:12):
of Jesus Christ, more every day.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forMatthew, chapter 6.
Well, hello everybody .
Welcome back to the BibleBreakdown Podcast with your host
, Pastor Brandon, Today, Matthew, chapter 5.
And today's title is KingdomLiving 101.
Kingdom Living 101.
And I want to tell you there isno one better, of course, to
talk to about what it is to livein the kingdom of God than the
(00:21):
king himself.
Right, that's what we're goingto talk about today.
We're going to talk about howJesus said we are to live in his
kingdom in such a way that wecan experience all the goodness
that God has for us, and sowe're going to jump right into
that.
So, if you have your Bibles andwant to open up with me to
Matthew chapter five whileyou're doing that, as always, if
you're new around here, I wantyou to take just a moment to
(00:42):
like, share and subscribe to theYouTube channel and the podcast
.
Make sure to leave us afive-star review on the podcast
and make sure you're going tothe Bible Breakdown discussion.
I'm going to tell you, inchapters like this, there is way
too much for us to cover in onepodcast, and so if you want to
know more about God's Word andall the different things that's
going on, make sure you go tothe Bible Breakdown podcast so
(01:04):
you can get even moreinformation about God's work.
Because, as always, the more wedig the more we find.
Well, if you've been with usover the past couple of days,
we've been really digging intothis idea that Matthew is all
about King Jesus.
And he really started off fromchapter 1, just really kind of
(01:25):
blowing us away at the verybeginning.
And he's saying listen, I'vegot receipts, I can prove to you
that Jesus is who he says he isand he is the rightful earthly
king.
But then chapter 2 through 28,he just says but he is so much
more than that and he walksthrough this idea about how
Jesus is everything.
He is the King of kings and theLord of Lords and he has been
(01:49):
building that case.
And then today he is going totake even another step.
And here's the thing, Before wejump into this, chapter 5, 6,
and 7 are some of the mostpopular pieces of literature, If
I can say it like that.
I was trying to find a betterway, but I really can't.
Pieces of literature in all ofhistory.
Like I have heard of secularuniversities teaching 5, 6, and
(02:13):
7 of Matthew and they don't evenbelieve in God, but they cannot
deny the wisdom that is here,which is weird to me.
But you can't deny the wisdomthat is here that when you give
yourself to the kingdom of God,something amazing happens and
you can really see this as Jesusgoing a step deeper and a step
(02:34):
deeper.
It's almost as if in chapterfive he's talking about how to
relate to the overall world,Chapter six is how to relate to
God, and then chapter 7 is howto relate, within the kingdom of
God, to one another.
And there's just so much goodstuff here, and so we're going
to jump into this and we'regoing to read what is the
longest sermon recorded in thefour Gospels from Jesus.
(02:59):
So if you're ready, here we goMatthew 5, verse 1.
We'll stop along the way.
God's Word says this.
One day, as he saw the crowdsgathering, Jesus went up on a
mountainside and sat down.
His disciples gathered aroundhim and he began to teach them.
Now pause once again.
Now, because there were nosound systems back in the day,
there would have been a verypractical reason for him to get
(03:22):
on a mountainside, because whenhe would speak it would echo,
and that's how you could havethousands of people able to hear
the words of Jesus.
And this is what he said.
God blesses those who are poorand realize their need for him,
for the kingdom of heaven istheirs.
God blesses those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
(03:44):
God blesses those who arehumble, for they will inherit
the whole earth.
God blesses those who hungerand thirst for justice, but they
will be satisfied.
God blesses those who aremerciful, for they will be shown
mercy.
God blesses those whose heartsare pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work forpeace, for they will be called
(04:07):
the children of God.
God blesses those who arepersecuted for doing right, for
the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
God blesses you when peoplemock you and persecute you and
lie about you and say all sortsof evil things against you.
Because you are my followers.
Be happy about it, yes, be veryglad for the great reward
(04:29):
awaits you in heaven.
And remember the ancientprophets were persecuted in the
same way.
Now pause.
So what he has been doing is hehas been taking what we would
consider to be maybe more of ourearthly ideas about getting
ahead and making sure that wemake a name for ourself and all
that stuff, and he is turning itover on its head and he is
saying actually, in the kingdomof heaven it looks like it's
(04:52):
upside down, but really it's ourworld that's upside down.
The right way to look at it iswhen you give yourself for the
kingdom of heaven.
And so he's really taking theupside down world and turning it
right side up so we can see himmore clearly.
And he's saying the more yougive yourself to the kingdom of
God, it's going to look likeyou're doing it the wrong way.
You're actually doing it theright way.
(05:13):
So here we go.
Now he's talking about how werelate to the overall world.
Verse 13, he says you are saltof the earth.
But what good is salt if itloses its flavor?
Can you make it salty again?
It will be thrown out andtrampled underfoot as worthless.
Now pause.
Do you know what salt is usedfor?
(05:33):
Salt is used to enhance theflavor of things, and so what he
is actually saying is you aresalt of the earth.
In other words, you areintended to enhance the flavor
of all that is good in the world.
The things that are in theworld have been corrupted by sin
, but the natural intent of themare good.
And so he is saying that thepeople of God should be the ones
(05:54):
that are living the best.
Not necessarily they have themost, but they're living with
the most joy, living with themost peace, living with the most
just sense of everything'sgoing to be okay, and that's
infectious to the rest of theworld.
Verse 14, you are the light ofthe world.
A city on a hilltop cannot behidden.
No one lights a lamp and thenputs it under a basket.
(06:16):
Instead, a lamp is placed on astand where it gives light to
everyone in the house In thesame way.
Let your good deeds shine outfor all to see, so that everyone
will praise your heavenlyfather.
Now pause again.
Now does this seemcontradictory?
Because there are other placeswhen he says do not let your
left hand know what your righthand is doing?
(06:37):
No, it's not contradictory,because he's saying we're not
doing good deeds in order to getattention for ourself.
We're doing good deeds as a wayto show people that God is good
.
And so, once again, he'stalking about it's all having to
do with the intent of the heart.
If you are doing something sothat someone else will bring
(06:57):
praise to you, then it's for thewrong reason.
But if you're doing good deedsin order to show the glory of
God, that's for the right reason, All right.
He keeps on going even further.
He says this in verse 17, andthis is a massive verse.
Right here he says don'tmisunderstand why I have come.
I did not come to abolish thelaw of Moses or the writings of
the prophets.
No, I came to accomplish theirpurpose.
(07:21):
I tell you the truth untilheaven and earth disappear, not
even the smallest detail ofGod's word will disappear, until
its purpose is achieved.
So if you ignore the leastcommandment and teach others to
do the same, you will be calledleast in the kingdom of heaven.
But if anyone who obeys God'slaws and teaches them, they will
(07:44):
be called great in the kingdomof heaven.
Laws and teaches them, theywill be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.
But I warn you, unless yourrighteousness is better than the
righteousness of the teachersof religious law and the
Pharisees, you will never enterthe kingdom of heaven.
Now that seems a little weirdright there, because later on in
Paul and different ones,they're talking about how we
(08:05):
don't live according to the lawof Moses, but according to the
law of Moses, but according tothe law of grace or the law of
Christ.
So what is he saying?
He is saying he did not come tothrow away the law, as if it
had no intention.
He's saying I came to completeit Because, if you remember,
when we were reading back in thebook of Romans, he talks about
how.
In chapter 1, it talks abouthow we walked away from God, and
(08:27):
in chapter 2, God gave the lawto show us how far from
perfection we had fallen.
And in chapter 3 was when Godhad to do something about it
because we couldn't.
And so what Jesus is saying isthat you could not fulfill the
law by yourself, and so I cameto fulfill it.
So, in other words, without thelaw, we wouldn't know what
Jesus was fulfilling.
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And so he is saying I amfulfilling the law.
And he is also talking about therighteousness of the Pharisees.
What they had done is they hadtaken the law and instead of
fulfilling it by being rightbecause they couldn't, they
added to it.
So it would be such as theywould say well, if we shouldn't
work on the Sabbath, then youshouldn't walk more than a
(09:09):
quarter of a mile on the Sabbath, Because their idea was we want
to get as far away as we canfrom violating the Sabbath.
Well, unintentionally, whatthey did was they created too
much.
And so what he is saying isyou've got to get back to the
essence of the law.
And that's what he's going tosay right now.
After this, he's going to startteaching about the intention of
(09:30):
the law.
He's going to say you haveheard it said.
In other words, they have addedmore to the law than what you
thought.
But actually I want you to getback to the heart posture.
So watch what he does now.
Verse 21,.
You have heard that ourancestors were told.
So, in other words, this isn'twritten in the Bible, but they
added to it you must not murder,which is good, and if you
commit murder, you are subjectto judgment.
(09:51):
But I say to you, in otherwords, he's saying the intention
of the law was that if you wereeven angry with someone, you
are subject to judgment, and ifyou call someone an idiot, you
are in danger of being broughtbefore the court.
And if someone curses someoneand if you curse someone you are
in danger of the fires of hell.
In other words, he's saying itwasn't about what you did as
(10:15):
much as it was about your heart,Verse 23,.
So if you are presenting asacrifice at the altar in the
temple and you suddenly rememberthat someone has something
against you, leave yoursacrifice there at the altar, Go
and be reconciled to thatperson and then come and offer
your sacrifice to God and whenyou are on the way to court with
your adversary, settle yourdifferences quickly, Otherwise
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your accuser may hand you overto the judge, who will then hand
you over to an officer, and youwill be thrown into prison.
And if that happens, you surelywill not be free again until
you have paid the last penny.
So, in other words, what hejust did was is he's correcting
what had been perverted by theteachers of the law when they
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were saying that you shouldn'tgo commit adultery or, excuse me
, you shouldn't go commit murder.
Adultery is coming next andhe's saying yes, that's true,
but the intent was, is to becareful with what goes on the
inside.
You notice what he's, so youget it.
He's trying to get it back tothat.
The law was intended to correctwhat was on the inside first,
not just a form of godliness.
(11:20):
All right, verse 27,.
He said you have heard thecommand that says you must not
commit adultery, but I sayanyone who even looks at a woman
with lust has already committedadultery with her in his heart.
So if your eye, even your goodeye, causes you to lust, gouge
it out and throw it away.
It is better for you to loseone part of your body than for
(11:41):
your whole body to be throwninto hell.
And if your hand, even yourstronger hand, causes Now pause
again.
Now Jesus did something, a lotin order to catch the attention
(12:02):
of his audience, and that is, hewould use this thing called
hyperbole, and hyperbole is whenyou overstate something in
order to make a point.
Jesus is doing this right here,because to literally do this
would be to contradict otherparts of the law.
He's not doing that.
What he is saying is go toextreme measures to protect your
heart, Go to extreme measuresto protect your holiness.
(12:25):
He's not literally saying gougeout your eye, but he's saying
you should work very, very hardto do the right thing.
All right, verse 31.
You have heard that the law saysa man can divorce his wife by
merely giving her a writtennotice of divorce.
But I say that a man whodivorces his wife unless she has
been unfaithful causes her tocommit adultery.
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And anyone who marries adivorced woman is also
committing adultery.
So once again, Jesus is sayingit's not about the form, it's
about what's inside our hearts.
Verse 33, you have also heardthat our ancestors were told you
must not break your vows.
You must carry out the vows youmake to the Lord.
But I say to you, do not makeany vows.
(13:10):
Do not say by heaven, becauseheaven is God's throne.
Do not say by the earth,because the earth is his
footstool.
And do not say by Jerusalem,for Jerusalem is the city of the
great king.
Do not even say by my head, foryou cannot turn one hair, white
or black.
Just say a simple yes I will orno, I want.
(13:32):
Anything beyond this is fromthe evil one.
In other words, just be honest.
Once again, Jesus is constantlytalking about the position of
our heart.
Verse 38, you have heard the lawsays that the punishment must
match the injury An eye for aneye and a tooth for a tooth.
But I say do not resist an evilperson.
(13:52):
If someone slaps you on theright cheek, offer the other
cheek also.
If you are sued in court andyour shirt is taken from you,
give your coat too.
If a soldier demands that youcarry his gear one mile.
Carry it two miles.
Give to those who ask and don'tturn away from those who want
to borrow.
You have heard that the law sayslove your neighbor and hate
(14:14):
your enemy.
But I say love your enemies,Pray for those who persecute you
, and that way you will beacting as true children of your
Father in heaven, For he giveshis sunlight to both evil and
the good, and he sends rain onthe just and the unjust alike.
If you love only those who loveyou, what reward is there for
(14:36):
that?
Even corrupt tax collectors dothat much.
If you are kind to only yourfriends, how are you different
than anyone else?
Even pagans do that, but youare to be perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect Inpagans.
Do that, but you are to beperfect even as your Father in
heaven is perfect, In otherwords, holy.
Now there's a lot there that wecould cover and we could
(14:56):
continue to go further andfurther and further into this.
That's why you've got to go tothe Bible Breakdown Discussion
on Facebook so we can really digeven further.
But as we look at this as almostlike Jesus, level one for
living in the kingdom of God.
Notice what he kept saying overand over again.
He's saying there was this formof godliness, but I'm calling
(15:17):
you to a heart posture.
The first few verses of blessedis he who does this, and God
blesses those who does that.
It was all about a proper heartposture before God when he was
talking about being salt andlight in the world.
It was about having a properheart posture, and one of the
number one things that God isinterested in is making sure our
(15:38):
heart is right before him.
So there's my question for us tothink about today, and that is
this where's your heart posturebefore God?
There's possibly any number ofplaces you may find yourself.
You could, number one, be in agreat place.
Maybe you just are constantlythinking about the goodness of
God and what he has done in yourlife and you find yourself just
(15:58):
thankful in a season ofthankfulness, and if so, man,
enjoy it.
Stay there as long as you can.
Maybe your heart posture is oneof fear.
You're afraid of what's goingon because of uncertainty all
around you.
Maybe you're in a situationwhere you're jaded.
Maybe you've been doing lifewith God for a while, and you've
been doing life with God'speople for a while and you've
(16:20):
just gotten weary of just peoplenot being perfect.
Everyone's in a differentgrowth rate in their walk with
God.
Maybe he's been around somefolks.
It's just been hard.
And I wonder if the first thingthat God calls us to and he
calls us close to himself is tocheck our hearts and just to say
, hey, are you walking in aplace where you're living a form
(16:41):
of godliness or a heart posture?
That's a hard question to ask,but it's a beautiful question to
ask because, remember, everytime we go to God and we ask God
to search us, it's not so thatwe can find out if we're in
trouble, but it's so we can getcloser to him, because God wants
to remove anything that wouldkeep us from being closer and
closer to where he is.
So I want to pray for us thatGod will do that and then just
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give him permission to bring uscloser into his presence.
Can we do that right now?
Father, thank you so much fortoday.
Thank you that you are with usand that you're for us.
Thank you, Jesus, for your wordthat in Matthew 5, you talk
about how you came to fulfillthe law.
You came to do what the lawcouldn't do and that is set us
free.
And, Lord, as we walk throughthis life, so many times it's
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easy to to lose perspective.
It's easy to lose that simplejoy of knowing you.
I pray today, God.
If we've gotten our hearts offbase on one way or another, the
Holy Spirit, you'll open oureyes to see and you'll help us
to course correct and get backcenter aligned with you.
I Lord, that our love for youwill overflow until we love
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those around us as well.
We're thankful for yourgoodness, we're thankful for
your mercy, we're thankful foryour forgiveness.
In Jesus' name, we pray amenand amen.
Well, God's word says inMatthew 28, verse 19,.
All authority in heaven and onearth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and makedisciples of all nations.
My prayer is that you willbecome a fully devoted follower
(18:12):
of Jesus Christ, more every day.
I love you.
I'll see you tomorrow forMatthew, chapter 6.
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