Sermon Audio

The mind of Old Adam (your own minds) hears the Law of God, and to him it is simple. It's simple because that's the way we want to hear it, to make it manageable, as you have heard me describe Old Adam's twisting of God's Word in the past. He likes to make God's Law manageable in order to know just how much you have to do—to know just how much you can get away with.

Therefore, last week, we heard Jesus proclaim, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17) After all, if we want to make God's perfect, straightforward law manageable, it cannot be more manageable than having it abolished. If there is nothing to manage, then management is easy. "[A]ssuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled," Jesus declares. (Matthew 5:18)

Therefore, the Law of God is still in effect. It still has meaning and purpose. It still holds sway. And if all of that is the case, then Old Adam is still at work to make it manageable.

For instance, take the Fifth Commandment: "You shall not murder." "[W]hoever murders will be in danger of the judgment." Well, that's simple enough; don't kill anyone. I'm sure many of you here, if not all of you, can assure yourselves and each other that you've never killed anyone. Perhaps you can even say that you never participated in anything that in any way led to or supported the killing of another. "Law fulfilled," your Old Adam tells you.

"Not so fast," Jesus replies. "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire." It's not enough simply never to have actually killed another. It's just as bad to be angry with your brother, to call him derogatory names, to call another foolish. And we can continue, as we are instructed elsewhere in Scripture. For instance, even striking another person is murder. Don't even think about it or speak about it, for these are sins in thought, word, and deed.

And we continue with the Sixth Commandment: "You shall not commit adultery." Again, sounds simple enough: don't have sex with someone who isn't your rightful spouse. This one even gets a bit of a sugar coating these days: don't have sex with someone you don't feel to be your spouse, and when that feeling is lost, move on to the next; furthermore, it's not adultery if everyone consents to swap or add an extra person or two; oh, and lest we forget, it doesn't matter if that spouse is man or woman, child or animal, real or man-made. It's pretty easy, according to Old Adam, to be free from adultery. "Law fulfilled," your Old Adam tells you.

"Not so fast," Jesus replies. "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Adultery is not simply about having sex. Look at someone the wrong way, and you have committed adultery. It should go without saying that all of those situations already mentioned, then, are also adulterous, even abominable, according to the Law of God. And, as we've already covered thought and deed, even speaking of sexual conquests or telling sexual jokes constitutes adultery, too; it's not a difficult or long connection between thought and speech.

Once again, we move on: "You shall not swear falsely." Easy enough, again: don't tell lies. Also, don't promise to do something you know you're not going to do; and if you do make a promise, promise to do something you know you're already going to do or, at most, something that'll be too easy for you to do. And, again, it gets a nice coat of sugar. So long as you tried, made a half-hearted attempt, you have kept your word. And lying is okay so long as no one gets hurt—physically for sure, but hurt in other ways can be overlooked, if necessary. You see, sometimes Old Adam can create pretty convincing excuses to make the Law manageable. "Law fulfilled," your Old Adam tells you.

"Not so fast," Jesus replies. "But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Don't swear, but simply let your word be your word. If you say you are going to do something, do it. When you speak, speak the truth; there is no right lie, hurt or no hurt.

So, why are these Laws getting defined and explained? It follows Jesus telling His hearers, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." Now, we have to be perfectly honest here; the Pharisees were some pretty good people. That is to say, they did a pretty good job of keeping the Law. They went so far as to put extra rules around the Law so as to guard themselves from breaking the Law. I like to bring up the example of the Second Commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain." They wouldn't even speak His name; after all, you can't take His name in vain if you don't speak it. But, there is also word of some of them walking around with their eyes closed so as not to be able to gaze upon people or things they could lust after or covet. They meticulously defined what constitutes work so they knew what to avoid or how far they could walk on the Sabbath and still be resting.

Yeah, the Pharisees were pretty good at keeping the Law of God, according to how we would define keeping. But, they weren't perfect, as God defines perfection according to the Law. Besides the fact that they clashed with Jesus at just about every turn of the pages of the Gospels, we also read of them thinking too highly of themselves, and thinking less of those who weren't as good as they were, calling them fools, as it were. And, to be sure, they had lustful thoughts and made oaths they could not keep. After all, knowing how difficult it is to reign in the sinful mind, it can be equally difficult to keep even the simplest of promises.

The Pharisees were pillars of morality, but they were not perfect. And it is that perfection that Jesus points to as being necessary to gain the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is attainable only by fulfilling this impossible statement: you must be better than the best.

It's a hopeless saying. How can one be better than the best? That's why Old Adam twists the Law into something manageable. That's why the laws get a hefty dose of sugar coating. "After all," Old Adam thinks, "how can a loving God expect perfection from one who is imperfect?"

There are three outcomes to this kind of thinking:

1. The first is hopelessness: God is perfect and demands perfection. I cannot attain perfection, therefore there is no point to life. This leads to either despair and depression or a cavalier nonchalance; either one will wallow in their hopelessness or they will continue in their hopeless existence doing what they please since they believe it doesn't matter anyway.
2. The second is anger and combativeness. The thinking here is that God is unjust or unfair in demanding perfection or that it is a mistake to think that He does. This one will hate God or hate those who state that God demands perfection or both. It can be said that this is the root cause of the constant clashing between Pharisees and Jesus; after all, if He states that the Kingdom of heaven is for those who do better than they, the simplest outcome would be the kind of hostility we see the Pharisees harboring for Jesus.
3. The third is remorse—contrition and repentance. Seeing one's lost condition can prompt cries for mercy and aid. It is the outcome that prompted the publican to pray, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (cf. Luke 18:13) It is the outcome that prompted the possessed boy's father to cry out, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24) It is the outcome that prompts Christians around the world to gather at altars in their churches and there confess their sins. This is the work of the Word of God on the individual, the Word of God that those caught in the other two outcomes reject.

You see, while God does demand perfection, while He is just, while there is no wiggle room in His expectations, while He is as plain as black and white, right and wrong, He is also merciful. He knows the state we are in, and He is fair about it. In His fairness, He doesn't abandon His absolute justice, but He does provide a way out from under it; in fact, He provided the Way out from under it.

That is to say He sent His Son, fully God, to be born of a woman, born under the Law, fully man—perfectly man, like Adam before the fall into sin. Here is One who, as fully God, knew the entire Law, and as fully man—perfectly man—could entirely keep it.

"Well and good," Old Adam says, "now we have a perfect example; something to attain to. Be like Jesus, and you will have kept the Law." But it doesn't take long before we realize that we can't even measure up to Jesus as perfect example. So, once again, Jesus as perfect example receives a sugar coating: "Be like Jesus as best as you can."

And we're back to where we began. Be better than the best; or, in this case, be as good as the best (or near as good). It's hopeless. "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"

Dear hearer, despair not. It is not hopeless. Look to the Christ again, but look not at Him as your example, but as your Hope. He came and kept the Law perfectly, not for Himself, not to teach you, but for you. Look to Him as your propitiation—as your substitute. For, by His perfect obedience, He has gained eternal life—He has earned the kingdom of heaven. But, this was already His by virtue of He being true God. Therefore, He becomes the perfect sinner, once again not to give you an example, but to take your sin from you and be your propitiation—be your substitute. For, having taken your sin from you—the sin of the entire world, those long born and died, those now living, and those yet to be born—He has fulfilled the Law once again.

Hear the Law of God fulfilled in the Christ being your propitiation: "The soul who sins shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4d) "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23a) Now, see the Christ hanging from the cross, hands and feet pierced, head and back bleeding, and a hole in His side gushing forth water and blood. See His blood spilled and life given over to death for the sin of the world, for your sin, for your sins, every last one of them! They are no longer yours, not one of them belongs to anyone who has committed them, but they have all been carried to the cross by Jesus the Christ, true God and true Man, and there destroyed as He hung lifeless.

Therefore, make no mistake, every sin has been atoned for—even the person in Hell goes there with every last sin atoned for. This is the death knell for Old Adam. He refuses to hear it—he plugs his ears to it and calls out, "La, la, la...I can't hear you." Old Adam would rather work off the debt of sin himself. That's why He twists God's Law into something manageable—into something it is not. One who embraces Old Adam's desires and twists refuses God's grace in Christ, and seeks for himself his own righteousness. He would prefer to hang on to his own sins, as it were, and die with them himself.

However, this is the grace of God in Christ—you have been made God's righteousness. Remember, the Christ was perfectly obedient to the Law of God for you, not for Himself. Therefore, when He took your sin and sins from you, and died your eternal death for you, He did not leave you empty-handed. He has exchanged your sin and death for His righteousness and life. Furthermore, He has given you faith to believe this—faith to receive it.

This is the good news we have been hearing these past few weeks of going through Christ's Sermon on the Mount. By His action, not yours, do you have a righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees. You have the righteousness of the Best—you are better than the best for the sake of Christ. You are blessed because of Him. This is the joyous news to those who despair of not being able to measure up to God's absolutely perfect demands and expectations: you are forgiven for all of your sins...you are!