Sermon Audio

“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. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”

You will by no means get out of prison until you have paid the last penny. By that measure, only then will your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Who are these scribes and Pharisees? These are the men that Jesus likened to whitewashed tombs, “which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27) Your righteousness will must exceed theirs; you must do more than merely look like you are righteous, while secretly, inside you harbor all sorts malice and greed and filth and death—sin.

Did you hear how Jesus described it?

[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. You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.” 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.

If not one little bit of the law will pass, then you better believe that your judgment according to the law will depend on every last penny that the law demands being paid. As a matter of example, let me ask: who is a murderer? One who kills another person unjustly. But, more than that the jot and tittle of the Fifth Commandment forbids unjust anger, insults, and calling one a fool. In doing any of this, you are guilty of murder and in danger of the council and hell fire.

Now, I’m sure most of us sitting here can confess to never killing another. “I have never taken another life.” Well and good, even the scribes and Pharisees can generally confess the same. But has anyone inspired any irrational anger in you? How often have you insulted someone, called them an air head or anything else? How many times have you proclaimed someone a fool? None of you can escape this judgment: you are murderers!

Of course, Jesus doesn’t stop with the Fifth Commandment as He lays right into the Sixth immediately after today’s reading:

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:27-30)

Adultery is not merely having sex with someone out of wedlock. Your looking at another person lustfully is adulterous. Oh sure, you can likely hide your lust as you gaze upon someone who is desirable, so you do well to present yourself as a whitewashed tomb, but inside is death and decay—sin. You are adulterers! You best pluck out those eyes and lob off your hands to keep from sinning, though there may be other parts of the anatomy that you could well do without to keep from sinning, perhaps even a frontal lobotomy. And it doesn’t stop there! Divorce is adulterous—marrying someone who is divorced is committing adultery, even if the divorce is for a good reason. (cf. Matthew 5:31-32)

We can go right down the list with the Ten Commandments and discover each jot and tittle of each commandment. Read Luther’s Small Catechism, and you’ll get a sense of those jots and tittles. With each commandment, you can probably confess that you have not transgressed them at face value, but when you meditate on the Ten according to what they tell you with regard to thought, word, and deed, you discover that you have transgressed every single one! You are murderers and adulterers. You are disrespectful children and citizens. You are liars and gossips. You are covetous. Verily, you do not fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

Your righteousness does not exceed that of the Pharisees. You are no better than them, but may actually be worse than they were; whitewashed tombs, all of you, outwardly beautiful but full of death and uncleanness. Oh, count your trespasses as mere pennies, if you wish—you may wish to call you sins trifles compared to “actual” murder and “real” adultery—but the fact remains that you, being filled with death and uncleanness, are unable to pay off the full debt of your sin. Gather all of your pennies, if you could count such as good deeds and your keeping of the law at face value, and you will always come up short. Your adversary the law has handed you over to the Judge, who is Christ, who has handed you over to the officer, who is Satan, to place you into the prison of Hell.

“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.” Sadly, there is only One whose righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees—Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man—and there will never be another. Amazingly and graciously, He was exceedingly righteous for you and for all, and He has gone to the cross of Calvary, suffered the full wrath of God for sin and sins, and died as an atonement for the sins of the world. Jesus Christ is the world’s Redeemer.

That is a perfect word to use—Redeemer. It should tell you that Jesus paid the price, and purchased you back from death and hell. He paid every last penny that you could not. But the currency He used was far more precious than mere pennies. St. Peter wrote, “[Y]ou were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19) Jesus took the death and uncleanness which fills you as the whitewashed tombs you are, and having taken all of it to the cross, there He died the death you earned, suffered the hell of being forsaken by the Father that you deserved, and fulfilled the righteous demand of your adversary the law that you could not—every last jot and tittle. “It is finished,” Jesus said (John 19:30); and by that He meant every last bit of it.

And Jesus gives you what He has earned. “For [the Father] made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus gives you His merits that you might become the righteousness of God. Jesus makes you righteous by way of things that are outside of you: the Word and the Sacraments. Jesus places Himself within you; that is to say that He takes the death and uncleanness you hold within you and does not leave you empty. He said as much in the Gospel lesson we heard two weeks ago: “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)

The Word is spoken to you—into your ears. Water and the Word was poured over your head and you received the gift of the Holy Spirit in your hearts as a guarantee of the grace of and faith you have received by way of Jesus at the cross. You take into your mouths a piece of bread which is the body of Christ and a sip of wine which is the blood of Christ. From all of these means, God the Father gives you faith and remission of sins, which God the Son, Jesus the Christ, earned for you by His perfect life in your place and His innocent suffering and death in your place. They all come to you from outside of you, not by any work which you have performed and not from any merit which you may have somehow achieved.

Yes, there are those who reject such grace, such external actions upon them in order that they would be the righteousness of God. Though they may not outrightly say so, these declare no desire for Jesus. These proclaim a way to God and holiness without Jesus. And some of these will confess to be Christian. “Christian” or not, the Word of God is still for them, and when and where the Holy Spirit desires, He will use the Word of God to work faith in them. (cf. ACV) Jesus is the world’s Redeemer. Jesus shed His blood as the propitiation of our sins, “but not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (cf. 1 John 2:2) Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. (cf. John 1:29)

And to our ears, sometimes the belief that says, “I can do it,” and “I don’t need Jesus,” sounds so appealing. It strokes your ego; it puffs you up; it makes you feel good. You see, you still carry within your flesh sin and death. You are a sinner-saint—simul iustus et peccator. Old Adam is constantly waging a war within you. At times he prevails. You sin and deny God. You reject the faith that God has given you. But time and time again, the Word of God comes to you, spoken into your ears. The Word of God, as He uses it, has it’s way with you, and you die to yourself and rise to life in Jesus. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Forgiveness and restoration come to you again from outside yourself. Death and uncleanness—sin—is taken from you and you are filled, time and time again, with the righteousness of Christ. This is your daily lot in life, so long as you live in this vale of tears.

Therefore, Satan the officer will come accusing, even as the law your adversary chimes in telling you everything you have done wrong or not done that is wrong. And you, dear Baptized, stand there before the Judge and agree with your adversary and confirm what the officer says, saying, “Yes, yes, it is so. Everything that Satan says of me is true. I have done everything the law accuses me of doing. But You have done everything that the law demands of me. Satan can find no fault in You. Furthermore, You have taken my death and uncleanness into Your precious flesh and shed Your precious blood as a propitiation for my sins. You have given me Your righteousness. By Your merits, my righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees.”

Your adversary the law does not condemn you. Satan can scowl as fiercely as he likes; he cannot harm you. He’s judged; the deed is done. And you are redeemed, renewed, and forgiven.

Dear hearers, on the great and dreadful day, when you make that confession, it will not have come from you, just as your righteousness is from outside of you, revealed to you from above. (cf. Matthew 16:17) On that great and dreadful day, Jesus the Judge will say to you, “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34) He says this to you because you have received Him, and through Him and from Him you are forgiven for all of your sins.