The Attitude Behind Adultery, Part 1

Father, we thank you for today. Lord, we are so blessed to be here and we just ask that you would teach us much this evening that we might grow in our walk with you. We thank you, Father, for the Word of God that teaches us how to live for the glory of God.

We thank you for the Word of God that shows us the beauty of your presence and who you are and what you do. So we just thank you, Father, that we could be here and pray, Lord, that you'd open our eyes that we might behold the beauty of the Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.

Take your Bible and turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. And last time we were together, we asked you, have you murdered anyone lately? Some of you took great offense to that.

Well, if you did, you'll take greater offense this evening. Because I'm going to ask you, have you committed adultery with anyone lately? Now you say, well, wait a minute, Pastor, you're getting over the top here. Why would someone want to come to our church if you call them a murderer and adulterer?

Well, listen, I don't do that. I just read what the Scriptures say. And so what we're looking at in the Bible is something that Jesus explains to us about the essence of the law. And I think that for most part, we don't understand the law of God.

Christ came to fulfill the law. He didn't come to abolish the law. He came to uphold the law of Moses and the prophets.

That is very, very important. So when he says, I did not come to abolish the law, but I came to fulfill the law, that speaks volumes to the audience on the hillside of the North Shore of the Sea of Galilee. Because they might be thinking, who is this guy? Coming and saying the things he's saying, speaking with authority, who does he think he is? So he begins to explain to them the essence of the law of God.

And in our section tonight, in Matthew chapter 5, he says these words in verse number 27. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out. Throw it far from you. For it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it's better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Now if you're on the hillside there in the Sea of Galilee, you hear those words, you're kind of taken back for a moment.

Because if Christ says, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, everybody would say, amen. We understand that's the seventh commandment.

We understood the sixth commandment. You should not murder. And we would say amen to that.

But Christ is concerned not so much about the deed, but the desire behind the deed. Not so much about the act, but the attitude behind the act. This is very, very important.

We live in a nation that is enamored with marital infidelity. Sexual promiscuity. In fact, it's literally out of control. And not only out of control in our nation and in the world, but unfortunately out of control inside of the church.

And Paul would address that in the church. The church at Thessalonica, the church at Corinth, because it is very prominent. In fact, our Lord created the heavens and the earth, Genesis chapter 1, Genesis chapter 2.

Sin entered in chapter 3. And by the time you come to Genesis chapter 6, God is going to destroy every living thing on the planet. Why? He tells us, Genesis chapter 6, verse number 5.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And that's very, very important how that is stated. That every thought, every evil intent of the heart was wicked.

He didn't mention the acts of those who lived on the planet. He mentioned the hearts of those who lived on the planet. And so what did he do? He destroyed everyone except for Noah and his family.

God decided to grace Noah and his family. 4,500 years later, here we sit. And the Lord in his patience and his long suffering and his mercy has not destroyed the planet.

One day he will. 2 Peter chapter 3, the book of Revelation, tells us how our Lord is going to destroy this planet. But God has been gracious.

He's been merciful to a society that has turned their back on the Lord. And so you come to the teaching of Christ in Matthew chapter 5, some 2,000 years ago, helping people understand what is the true attitude behind the act of adultery. Because it's the attitude that damns your soul, not the act.

That's so important to understand. Because way before you ever do the act, there's a desire and an attitude in the soul, in the heart that moves you to do that action. And so the Lord wants them to understand the intent of the law of God.

Because somehow, they missed it. Somehow, they would think, well, I don't murder, so I'm righteous. I don't sleep with my neighbor's wife and she doesn't sleep with anybody else, so therefore we're not adulterers, we're righteous, we're on our way to heaven.

And the Lord wants to make it very clear that that is not the essence of the law of God. It goes much deeper than that. And the Bible is replete with warnings.

We studied it when we looked at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, any kind of sexual act outside the realm of marriage. This is the will of God for your life.

If you want to know what God wants for you, this is it. He wants you pure. He wants you holy.

He wants you seeking his name. He says that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgressed and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things.

Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now Paul is writing to the church of Thessalonica.

There is no greater model of a church than the church of Thessalonica. It is the model church. And yet he's already said, I've warned you already about this.

I'm going to warn you again, because I want your walk to excel even more. This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from any kind of sexual activity outside the realm of marriage. So important.

In fact, Solomon would say it this way, drink water from your own cistern, Proverbs chapter 5, verse 15, and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets, let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth as a loving hind in a graceful doe.

Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love. For why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an adulteress and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord and he watches all his paths.

His own iniquities will capture the wicked and he will be held with the cords of a sin. He will die for lack of instruction and the greatness of his folly, he will go astray.

So whether you're the Old Testament or whether you're the New Testament, there is a plethora of warnings all throughout the scripture to help you understand the importance of honoring and glorifying the Lord.

The purpose of sex in marriage is confirmed in 1 Corinthians 7. The perversion of sex outside of marriage is condemned in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. And the persistent pursuit of sex, whether in marriage or outside of marriage, can be corruptive. So we need to understand that. In fact, turn with me in your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. This is the purpose of sex in the realm of marriage.

It's for pleasure and for protection. The Bible is very clear about this. It says in 1 Corinthians 7, verse number 3, the husband must fulfill his duty to his wife and likewise also the wife to her husband.

In other words, you have a responsibility as a man to fulfill the needs of your wife and vice versa as a wife to fulfill the sexual needs of your husband. Why? The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

Stop depriving one another except by agreement for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. So Paul says the purpose of sex in marriage is to fulfill pleasure and protection. That's why your body's not your own, but it's your husband's or your wife's.

And don't refrain from having sexual intimacy in your marriage except only for the purpose of prayer because if you do, you will open the door for Satan to take advantage of you and to tempt you and move you away from the purposes of God. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul goes from the purpose of sex inside of marriage to the perversion of sex outside of marriage. He says this, all things, verse 12, are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body.

You see, this is again the church of Corinth. He's speaking to people in the church. He's not talking to people outside the church, but people who profess Christianity inside the church.

And he tells them, look, sex is more than biological. We look at it that way. Well, that's why they use the phrase, well, food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.

Sex is for the body, and the body is for sex. No, no, sex is not more than biological. Why? Because your body is for the Lord.

That's why he redeems you. You need to understand that. So he says, now God has not only raised the but will raise us up through his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? It may never be. Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For he says, the two shall become one flesh, but the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.

Flee immorality. Flee porneia, any kind of sexual activity outside the realm of marriage. Run from it. For every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

In other words, there's something about sex sin that's different than every other kind of sin. Because sexual sin affects not just you physically, but it affects you mentally. It affects you emotionally. It affects you spiritually. It can end up affecting you financially. It affects every aspect of your life.

So understand that your body is for the Lord. And when you take your body and join it to someone outside the realm of marriage, you're joining the Lord to that prostitute. You're joining the Lord to that harlot.

And therefore, you've defiled the name of the Lord. So he goes on to say, excuse me. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? Whom you have from God and that you are not your own.

For you've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. In other words, your purpose for your body is that God be glorified. That God be honored. That God be magnified in your body. Because he indwells you. He lives within you.

And you want to be careful about what you do with the body where God himself dwells. Because sex outside of marriage just perverts everything about one's life.

And then, look what Solomon says in the book of Proverbs, the 6th chapter. Verse 23, for the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light. And he proves for discipline are the way of life to keep you from the evil woman. Wow.

Why do you study the Bible? Why do you read the Bible? Why do you memorize the Bible? To keep you from the evil woman. It says, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress, do not desire her beauty in your heart, nor let her capture you with her eyelids. For on account of a harlot, one is reduced to a loaf of bread.

An adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So was the one who goes to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not go unpunished.

Verse 32, the one who commits adultery with a woman is lacking sense. He who would destroy himself doesn't. Wounds and disgrace he will find and his reproach will not be blotted out.

For jealousy enrages a man and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any ransom, nor will he be satisfied though you give many gifts. Again, the Bible is just replete with warnings about sexual sin because it is so damaging, not just to you personally, but to your family, to your friends, to your church.

Basically to anyone you come in contact with. And so you come to a place where you begin to ask the question, what is it about this pursuit of passionate pleasure that is so prevailing in the lives of people? Well, unless a heart is transformed by God, that passion will rage uncontrollably. But even though the heart has been transformed, the temptations for the believer are great.

That's why James says these words, James chapter 1, he says very clearly that no one say, verse 13, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when the lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin.

And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren, because it's so easy to be deceived. We think that we can sin without consequences, but you can't.

Because the result of the consequences of sin is a death-like existence, a lifeless existence. And so Christ comes along because the Pharisees believed that if you didn't do certain things, you were righteous. If you don't murder, if you don't steal, you don't lie, you don't cheat, you don't commit adultery, you're righteous, you're on your way to glory.

All you got to do is make sure you accomplish the right feat, do the right thing. And to some degree, look at us. We tend to think, oh man, I would never, never sleep with another woman or my wife would never sleep with another man.

Oh, that's just so perverted, so evil, so wrong. Well, that was the attitude of the Pharisees. They had the same attitude.

It should be, except for the grace of God, there we go. Right? But the Pharisees had this attitude, look at us. We are pure and holy and righteous because we don't murder anybody.

We don't lie to anybody. And we don't sleep with anybody outside of our own family. And that was how they accomplished their righteous behavior and thought that that would get them into glory.

But Christ comes along and says, you have heard that it was said. He didn't say, you have heard that Moses said. No.

He says, you have heard that it was said. By who? By the ancients of old. He says it over and over again.

Six times he says it because he gives, he begins each illustration with the same phrase. You have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, by the rabbis of old. This is the tradition that you've been taught.

But I came to tell you the truth. And the truth trumps tradition. So you must understand the essence of the law of Moses.

Because I came to fulfill that law. You see, everything that the Pharisees did was external. But what Christ does is internal.

Christ deals with the inside of a person. They would say we are righteous because of what we don't do. Or what we do do.

And Christ says, you're not righteous because of anything you do or don't do. You have to be righteous on the inside. Your heart must be cleansed.

Jesus is showing them, oh, while you might not murder someone physically, you hate them in your heart. You slander them. You speak against them.

And while you might not sleep with your neighbor's wife, you lust for her in your heart. And because you lust for her, you've already committed adultery in your heart. So it's not the act of adultery that damns your soul.

It's the attitude of adultery that damns the soul. It's on the inside. Not what's on the outside.

You see, they could stop themselves from committing the act of murder. They could stop themselves from committing the adulterous act. They can do that externally, right? But they could not stop what was on the inside of their hearts.

The hatred. The lustful thoughts. Because they were powerless to do that.

They were hopeless to do that. Because they were godless. Therefore, they could not conquer the enemy of their soul.

So Christ comes along and says, you have heard that it was said by the ancients of old, but I say unto you, you have misunderstood the law of Moses. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He wasn't just talking about things you don't do. The commandments of God go much deeper than that.

So let me show you how that works. Let me explain to you what the Bible really says about the law of God. Because in today's day and age, this is what we say.

Well, the Old Testament is about the law of God, and the New Testament is about the grace of God. But I'm afraid we've got that wrong. Not that the New Testament doesn't teach about the grace of God, it does.

Not that the Old Testament doesn't teach about the law of God, because it does. But we've forgotten the purpose and the meaning of the law of God. So let me say it to you this way.

The Old Testament begins with the Pentateuch, the law of Moses, right? And so the law that God gives is initiated in the Pentateuch. From the Pentateuch, you have the prophets. The prophets will elaborate on that which was initiated in the Pentateuch.

And then you have the New Testament, and Jesus comes and He consummates what was elaborated on based on what was initiated in the Pentateuch. You need to understand that. For instance, all throughout the Old Testament, you'll hear the phrase, the law of Moses stated, or as Moses himself taught us.

In fact, 15 times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament, there's a reference to the law of Moses. Because Christ did not come to abolish that law. He came to fulfill the law of God.

And so in the Pentateuch, it ends with a specific book. That book is called the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy could probably be the most important book in the entire Old Testament.

And the book of Deuteronomy, which is the second law, or it is literally the reiteration of the law of God. The nation of Israel is about to embark on the promised land. And so Moses is gonna reiterate everything in the law.

They gotta get it. Can't miss it. You have to understand it.

You're about to embark in a pagan land. And everything I'm gonna say to you is a reiteration of what's already been said, but I need to make it very clear and plain to you. So he does.

He's preparing them to enter into the promised land. Did you know that Jesus quotes the book of Deuteronomy more than any other Old Testament book? Did you know that the New Testament writers quote the book of Deuteronomy more so than any other New Testament book? Why would they do that? Because it's the most important book in the Old Testament. Eighty times in the New Testament, the book of Deuteronomy is quoted.

Eighty times. It's so important to realize what the book is all about. In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 31, every seven years this was to be read at the Feast of Tabernacles.

What? The book of Deuteronomy. It says, in verse 10 of Deuteronomy 31, Then Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which he will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, the alien who is in your town, so that they might hear and learn and fear the Lord your God and be careful to observe all the words of this law.

Their children who have not known will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. Remember why Israel went to Babylonian captivity? For 70 years it's because they didn't keep the sabbatical, the sabbatical year like God intended. And because they didn't, they didn't read the book of Deuteronomy.

And therefore they did not understand the law of God which is rooted in God's love for his people. It's no wonder they went into captivity. So the book of Deuteronomy is a summation of the Pentateuch.

It's a summation of basically all of the Old Testament, because the prophets would elaborate on what the law of Moses stated. And in the law of Moses there is one verse that is a summation of the book of Deuteronomy, which is a summation of the entire Bible, making Deuteronomy the most important book in the Old Testament. Aren't you glad you came tonight? Because you probably would have never guessed that one.

And that, that verse is a very familiar verse. It's Deuteronomy 6, verse number 5, which says, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. That, that is a summation of the law of God.

You shall love the Lord your God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And that, that, that is put inside the, the mezuzah.

And the mezuzah is just another word for doorpost. And inside that mezuzah is the law of God, is the, the great Shema, to hear. Hear what? About the Lord God is one.

And you shall love him with all your heart. And you, you're going to a Jewish home and you have that mezuzah hanging on the door. And a Jewish person will walk in and he'll just put his hand over the mezuzah.

Or maybe he'll lick his lips and kiss his lips and then touch the mezuzah. Because the Lord is the guardian of that house and the guardian of their doors. And they look at it as protection.

And it becomes the, the pivotal passage of scripture for families. Because it goes on to say, these words, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your sons.

And you shall talk to them when you sit in your house. And when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

You shall write them on the doorpost of your house, on your gates. That's why there's the mezuzah. That's why they wear the phylacteries.

That's why they hang this law from them. And they take it literally, that they shall wrap it around them so that when they walk and they talk and no matter where they go, it's always about loving the Lord your God.

Because you see, that's what the law of God is all about. It's about learning to love the one true God. You see, God was primarily into a relationship with Israel.

God redeemed Israel. God chose Israel. God loved Israel before he ever gave them the law. Why? Because the law of God regulates how you love God.

You need to understand that. The law of God was given after the love of God for his people. To show the people how it is they would love God with all their heart, all their soul, and all their strength, and all their might.

See? And that's exactly what the Ten Commandments, the moral law of God is all about. It's about demonstrating how it is I truly love God and love my neighbor. Because in the book of Deuteronomy, that's the emphasis all throughout the book. Loving God and loving your alien neighbor. If you love God, you'll love your brother. You'll love your neighbor.

In fact, is it not true that Jesus says these words in Matthew chapter 22 when the Pharisees came to him and said, Lord, what's the greatest commandment? What's he say? He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Deuteronomy 6 verse number 5. So the Lord's asked the question, what's the greatest commandment? He didn't say, you shall have no other gods before me. He didn't say, remember this Sabbath day and keep it holy.

No. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the great and foremost commandment.

The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And then comes verse 40.

This is what it says. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets. On these two commandments hang the law of Moses and the prophets.

Everything is about loving God and loving your neighbor. And if you love your neighbor because you love God, you won't commit adultery. You won't murder.

You won't steal. You won't covet. Why? Because you love God and you love him so much you love your neighbor. So you won't defraud your neighbor. The reason people steal and lie and commit adultery is simply because they do not love God. Therefore, they cannot love their neighbor.

See? And here were the Pharisees claiming righteousness based on the fact that he didn't do this or didn't do that. But that's not the purpose of the law of God. And so the Lord would explain all that he means.

The law did not cause Israel's relationship with God. The law was the result of Israel's relationship with God. Oh, by the way, that's the exact same way it is in the New Testament.

Did you know that? Sure it is. What's the Bible say? We love him because what? He first loved us. And so what did Christ say? If you love me, you will do what? You will keep my commandments.

See? If you love me, you'll obey me. And how will I obey you? By understanding all that you say and following through on that. If you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 10, listen to this, verse 12.

Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you? That's a good question, right? Moses is asking Israel, the nation, what does the Lord require from you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love him. And to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. And to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes which I am committing you today for your good.

See, the regulations only come after the relationship. For the relationship is one of love. Therefore, the way we love God back is demonstrated to him by obeying all that he says.

And therefore, the demands of the law become the delights of one's love for their God. That's so important to understand. It says, behold, verse number 14, to the Lord, behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it.

Yet on your fathers did the Lord set his affection to love them and he chose their descendants after them, even you above all peoples as it is this day. The Lord loves you. The Lord chose you.

The Lord redeemed you. The regulations never came until there was redemption. They were purchased, bought out of slavery in Egypt.

So he says in verse 16, here's the key, so circumcise your heart. God wants the heart. Cut away all the frivolity and cut away all the hypocrisy and cut away all the immorality and cut away all those things that keep you from loving God.

God says, circumcise your heart. I want your heart to be solely devoted to me. That's what God wants.

He wants the heart. So when Christ comes along and says, you have heard that it was said to not commit adultery, but I say unto you, it's all about the heart. It's what's happening on the inside.

The Pharisees were into the external show, but I'm into the internal soul. Big difference. And Christ says, this is what's important.

You need to understand this. And so he goes on and says these words in verse 17 of Deuteronomy 10, for the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality or take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow and shows his love for the alien by giving him food and clothing.

See, love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your brother, love the alien. Reach out to them, care for them. So show your love for the alien, verse number 19, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him clean to him. You shall swear by his name.

He is your praise and he is your God who has done these great and awesome things for you, which your eyes have seen. Chapter 11, verse number 1, you shall therefore love the Lord your God and always keep his charge, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments. You see the order? It's always love him.

And how do you know you love him? You keep his commands, you keep his statutes, you keep his ordinances. He gives them to you to regulate how it is you truly love the Lord. He has shown you how to love him and how to love your brother because you love him.

He has spelled it out very clearly for you so that there's nothing for you to even think about. God did it all for you. Verse 22 of chapter 11, for if you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and hold fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

But you got to love the Lord. Then you come to Deuteronomy chapter 31, excuse me, chapter 30 and verse 15. Moses says, see, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments.

You see, the order is always the same. Love the Lord your God. How do you love him? By keeping his statutes, by keeping his commandments, by keeping his ordinances, that you may live and multiply and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

But if your heart turns away, you see, it's all about the heart. God's always been concerned about the internal, not the external. Because if the internal changes, the external will by nature change.

But you can live a life of hypocrisy on the outside because there's been no transformation on the inside. And that was the Pharisees. That's how they lived their lives.

But God's always been concerned about the heart. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today. And I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants.

How? How will you live? By loving the Lord your God, by obeying his voice, and by holding fast to him. For this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them. So important to understand the law of God.

The law of God was given to regulate how it is we love the God who has already put us in a relationship with him. God never gave the 10 commandments for us to just to blindly obey and have no heart behind it. That's just hypocrisy.

That means nothing to God. God's not looking for the external show. He's not looking for the life that looks good on the outside.

Man looks on the outside. God looks at the heart. And so what he is doing in Matthew chapter 5 is saying, look, this is what you say.

You have heard that it was taught by the ages of old. You should not do this. You should not do that.

But I say unto you: the great but-ologies of scripture, but-ologies give you the greatest theology. But I say unto you, but I say, he is going to reiterate the law of Moses. He's going to reiterate the law of Moses that was giving out of a love for a people that would obey their God and serve him freely, openly, and only.

So important to understand. The sum of the Old Testament is simply: love God. The sum of the New Testament is simply: love God.

It's all about loving the Lord, our God. And God wanted to make sure that they just didn't go through the motions of obeying. Remember the rich young ruler? What must I do to inherit eternal life? Evidently, he realized he was missing something.

Evidently, he had missed eternal life. And this ruler, this scribe, this rich man came to Christ, and he asked him, you know, Lord, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Christ says to him, in Mark's account, well, why do you call me good? For only God is good. And so he comes to the Lord, and the Lord says these words, if you wish to enter the life, keep the commandments perfectly.

Keep them all. With that exception, then he said to him, which ones? What do you mean, which ones? You know which ones there are. Which ones? So Christ says, he gives him the loving your brother ones, the easier ones, the simpler ones.

He says, you should not commit murder. I haven't killed anybody. You should not commit adultery. I don't sleep with anybody else but my wife. You should not steal. Why should I steal? I'm rich.

You should not bear false witness. I don't lie. I don't need to lie about anything. I have everything. Honor your father and mother. Well, I've done that. That's why I'm rich. They got the inheritance. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself, which, by the way, is the summation of the law.

Love God, love your neighbor. The young man said to him, all these things I have kept. What am I still lacking? Oh, see, even though he kept them all in his own mind, he was still lacking.

You see, what the religious establishment did was just lower the standard of the law. If I can relegate the law to what I don't do and what I do do, then I can keep it. I'll be good.

I'll be righteous. I'll go to heaven. But that was never the intent of the law.

The intent of the law was to determine the condition of the soul and what's happening on the inside of a man. So Jesus said to him, if you wish to be complete, if you wish to be perfect, if you want to go to heaven because you have a perfect life, a sinless life, go sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me. What did Christ do? He drove him to the first four commandments, the ones that dealt with his relationship with God.

The very first one, you shall have no other gods before me. But he did. What was the God he had? Himself. His riches, they were more important to him than the one true God.

But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. He was unwilling to surrender.

To the one God who rules the world. He was an idolater in his heart. And even though he would say, I never murdered anybody, I'm sure he hated somebody.

And even though he never committed adultery, I'm sure there was lust in his heart after someone else. But he never saw that. He never understood that.

He didn't really love his neighbor as he loved himself. And by the way, Jesus would change that in John chapter 13, when he would say, a new commandment I give unto you. A new commandment.

And say, a new one? Another one? We got enough. Why are you gonna give us a new one? A new commandment, not in number, but in quality. That is, a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

See that? No longer loving your brother as you love yourself, no longer is that any good. That doesn't work. Why? Because there's a selfishness there.

I want you to love one another as I have loved you. A selfless, sacrificial kind of outreach and ministry to your brother, because you love me. That's what I want.

That's the new commandment. That's how you shall now live. So Christ comes along and says, simply this, I just want you to love me.

That's it. I love you. I redeemed you.

I chose you. I called you. I just want you to love me with all your heart.

And that's what the law of God is all about. It's about loving God with all your heart and demonstrating that. Thou shalt have no other God before me.

That's a singularity of love. Right? No other God before me. None.

There's one God and I love him because He's my God. I will worship him because he's the one I love. Thou shalt have no other God before me. That's a singularity of love.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. And thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of them that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands to them that love me. This is the loyalty of love. Love is very loyal.

Love is very faithful. So God says, this is the singularity of love and this is the loyalty of love. This is how you know you love me with all your heart.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. This is the sublimity of love. The great exaltation of the name of God and not ever defaming the name of God or treating it as if it means nothing.

Remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. That's a sanctity of love. The Sabbath day was never a day just designed for rest. The Sabbath day was designed for one reason, for you to be holy.

And when you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, never say to God, you know, I know there's a day to worship you, but I'm going to go to the beach. I'm going to go to the party. I'm going to go be with my friends. Why? Because you love him. It's called the sanctity of love.

And then he says, honor your father and mother. This is the respectability of love. Respect, honor the parents that God gave you.

Thou shalt not kill. That's the dignity of love. Why? Because man is made in God's image.

He's an image bearer. You treat him with dignity and respect. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

That's the purity and the fidelity of love. It's singly minded so that it doesn't pursue someone else outside the realms of marriage.

Thou shalt not steal. That's the generosity of love. You're generous to give, not to take from someone else because you're selfish.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy brother. That's the integrity and honesty of love. And thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thy neighbor's wife, man's servant, his maidservant, his ox, his ass, or anything that is his neighbor's. Why do you do that? Because that's the serenity of love.

I'm content with what I have. I'm at peace with what I have. I don't need what you have.

I don't even want what you have because I'm at peace with what I have because what I have is what God has given to me. And God says, these 10 commandments are strictly about your love for me and your love for your brother. And those who love me will follow me and obey me.

Remember the words of Christ when he said this in Luke 16, he said, you, the Pharisees, are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed before men is an abomination in the sight of God. That's just a tremendous indictment against the religiosity and hypocrisy of the religious establishment.

What you do for a show on the outside, that everybody oohs and aahs about, that's an abomination to me because your heart doesn't love me. You only love yourself. That's your God, not me.

And therefore, all your acts are truly an abomination. John said it this way in 1 John 2:4, the one who says, I've come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, is a liar. And the truth is not in him.

You can't say, I love God and disobey his word. God says, that's just an abomination to me. Because if you love me, you will keep my commandments because the commandments are the regulation of how you love in a relationship with the true and living God.

I've spelled it out for you. I made it very clear to you. And so the Lord comes along and here he is on the north slope of the Sea of Galilee saying, oh, I know what you've heard.

I know what you've been taught. You've been given all these traditions, but I'm here to give you the truth behind all the commandments that I've given. Because I've come to fulfill the law, not abolish the law.

I am the embodiment of the law. I am the consummate truth of all that Moses said. And people would say, well, I don't love the Lord.

And the Pharisees knew they couldn't love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, strength, anyway. So they relegated the commandments to something that made them look good on the outside. And you couldn't, I can't do that.

I don't love the Lord with all and I don't love my neighbor. And now God got you right where he wants you. Because you have the inability, the impossibility to ever do what he asks.

So he says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom. People are like, well, I guess we're not getting in. What do you mean? Because the righteousness that I offer is the only thing that gets you there. And my righteousness can be yours, but you got to come to me my way. Got to come on my terms. Got to come humbly before me.

See, Christ is driving them to a point of desperation. A point that says, man, I can't do that. I can't love you like I should.

My heart is deceitful. It's desperately wicked. There is lustful ideas and perversions within my heart.

I hate my brother. I want to murder my brother on the inside. I don't commit the act, but on the inside, I can't stand him. And I want my neighbor's wife. So what do I do?

Christ says, come to me, all you that labor and I'll give you rest. Come to me and I will transform your inner man.

I will save your soul. He's driving them there. But isn't it interesting that when the greatest preacher preaches the greatest sermon ever recorded, nobody repents.

Nobody. Nobody is that convicted that says, oh, Lord, save me. Lord, I cry out and beg for mercy.

No one does. Oh, they marvel at his words. Never a man spoke like this man spoke.

But nobody repented of their sin. Isn't that amazing? I just, I marvel at that. I read this, I think, I am so convicted.

But evidently, they weren't convicted. Needless to say, our Lord came to present the truth.

Next week, we'll dive more into the text itself. But I thought it'd be good to set the tone for what is Christ is saying when he says, look, this is what you've been taught, but this is the truth behind the law of Moses. This is what I always want.

I love you enough to redeem you. I love you enough to choose you. I love you enough to call you. I love you enough to commission you.

I love you enough to indwell you. And if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for today and the things you've taught us and so much to study and so much to learn. I pray for all of us that, Lord, you do a mighty work in our hearts. Help us see the intent of all that the law means.

And how all you've asked is that we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and teach him to our children as they walk by the way and they sit by the side. Somehow you invest in them the truth of loving God, the God who is a redeemer of man's soul.

There's someone here tonight that doesn't know you. We pray for them. You should work in their heart, cause them to come to a place of repentance, to cry out for mercy and say, Lord, save me from my sin, that I might serve you only.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.