How to Meet God’s Impossible Standard

Audio Transcript

Well, once again, let me ask you, please, to take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 5. We were in verses 13-16 last week. We’ll be in verses 17 to 48 today as we continue our Unravel series, studying through the entire Bible. I guess we’re at the end of year seven now of this. We went through the Old Testament, and we’ve spent this year going through five chapters of the New Testament. So, I am in such trouble.

But we’ve been in the Gospels this year. We’re going to continue that into next year. We’re studying the life of Christ. As I mentioned to you, one of the most beneficial, most important things that you can ever do in your Christian life is to get to know Jesus. Study His life. It’ll change you like nothing else ever will. And so last Sunday we looked at 13-16, where Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.” And I ran out of time, but I wanted to just take a moment to say to you, LifePoint Church, you are doing an incredible job of being salt and light. I watch you. I see your lives. I hear stories about what you do during the week to impact the lives of other people. Completely off the radar, completely out of view, but that’s really where the church matters. It’s not here. This is great, what we’re doing. We need to do this. It’s important, but this doesn’t matter as much as what takes place out there. And y’all are doing a phenomenal job of being salt and light in the lives of others.

Caring for a neighbor, looking out for that single mom at work with four kids who’s, you know, just barely got her nose above water, the prayer requests on Wednesday night for people who aren’t even your family, just kids in your neighborhood you found out about who have been abused and are hurting. Y’all are doing a great job of being salt and light. So keep it up. Keep it up today.

Now we come to a section of Scripture. These verses 17 to 48 are so dense. I will not have time to unpack every word and every verse, but what I hope to do is just introduce you to them and maybe encourage you to dig a little deeper on your own. It will be of great benefit to you to do that. This is one of the most densely packed sections of Scripture in the Gospels. There’s so much—I don’t want to say technical terminology here, but just precise terminology that Jesus uses as He’s going through these illustrations—that it’s so rich, it’s so overwhelmingly powerful to get into this. And I do hate to just be able to sort of touch on each one briefly today, but like I said, seven years already, and we do need to keep this moving.

My goal here is never for you to leave here and say, “Well, I got everything I needed from that, and so I’m good till next Sunday.” I can’t give you everything you need for the Christian life. Impossible. And so my goal is to encourage you to kind of take this as a starter, and then during the week you go and dig into it further. And I know you’re doing that. We have great conversations during the week. You all text me and call me and email me with all kinds of comments and questions and insights, and that’s always a good thing.

I don’t know if you’ve ever gone clothes shopping and walked away thinking, “Man, I’m still a 34. I thought I’d put on a few pounds. I thought I was about a 36.” Or you’ve walked away with that new blouse and you thought, “Wow, I still fit into a small. I didn’t know that.” If that’s ever happened to you, and if that’s surprised you, you may have been the victim of something called vanity sizing.

Clothing manufacturers got busted years ago for putting smaller size numbers on their labels than the clothes actually were. So pants might say 34, but they were closer to a 36. A blouse might say small, but it’s really closer to a medium. And they do this to make you feel better about yourself, because you try this on and you go, “Oh, this brand fits me so good. I’m going to buy more of their stuff. I really like the way this fits.” It’s marketing, but it’s also deception. And oddly enough, it’s a subtle lie that we actually like believing because it makes us think we’re doing better than we actually are.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day had their own version of vanity sizing. It wasn’t clothing for them. It was righteousness. They were obsessed with looking better, with looking more righteous, with appearing to be more holy than they actually were. But Jesus comes along, and He sees right past their outward show, and He looks into their hearts, and He sees that their hearts are corrupt. They have a corrupt heart hidden by a shell of righteousness, and they tried to make everybody believe that they were perfect.

In fact, over the years, they had added 613 man-made rules to God’s original simple Ten Commandments. Isn’t that just like human beings? God gives 10 simple commandments, and they said, “Well, we’re going to add more.” And they added more, and they added more. And over the years, they had 613 man-made laws that they tried to follow, and they tried to force other people to follow. Jesus said, “You put heavy burdens on men’s backs that they’re not able to bear, and you don’t lift a finger to help them.” They wrongly thought that by keeping all these external religious rules, that’s how a person proves they’re right with God.

Jesus, though, refused to follow their man-made rules. He healed on the Sabbath. He touched lepers. He ate with sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes. And this drove these people crazy, and they accused Him. And we’ll see this more as we get into His life more and more. They accused Him of breaking the law, of violating God’s law. But He wasn’t violating God’s law. He was ignoring man’s religion.

And that’s the reason for His opening statement here in Matthew 5:17. Here’s how He opens this section. And I’m just going to touch on this, and then it’ll become very important as we close in a couple of hours. Matthew 5:17. Jesus said this: “Do not think that I have come to abolish or destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.” That’s a very important word. “I’ve come to fulfill them.” He’s letting them know, “I’m not here to fulfill your religious rules. I came to fulfill My Father’s law.” He goes on in the next couple of verses to assure them that not a single letter of God’s law will ever pass away, because His law is perfect. It’s eternal. And living up to God’s perfect law is the only way that a person can get into the kingdom of heaven. And that’s precisely what Jesus would accomplish. And that’s why He is the only way to God. Now that’s become very important at the end.

And He punctuates that in verse 20, saying, “I’ve come to fulfill all the law, all the prophecies. They’re going to be fulfilled in Me perfectly. None of it’s going to pass away.” And then He says this: “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.”

This must have been a shock. Everybody was sure that if anybody was going to get into heaven, it was the Pharisees. I mean, they had a free pass into heaven in everyone’s eyes. They were the gold standard of holiness. They memorized huge portions of the Old Testament Scriptures. They fasted twice a week. They tithed so meticulously, even down to the number of leaves they picked off their herb garden to give to the Lord. And Jesus says to the people, “Not only are you not going to make it into heaven, the Pharisees aren’t even going to get in.”

This was a crushing statement. I mean, if the religious professionals couldn’t make it to heaven, who could? Who could?

The problem was the Pharisees focused on outward behavior while ignoring their own hearts. And here’s a stern warning we’re going to see today and throughout Jesus’ ministry. It was a warning for them, and listen to me, it better be a warning for us: Outward religion can be carried on even when no inner transformation has ever happened. Boy, let’s be careful. Let’s be careful. It’s easy to come in here dressed to a T, smiling, singing the song, saying amen, and your heart is corrupt.

Jesus would later say to them in chapter 23, Matthew 23:23, He said, “Woe to you.” It’s a strong word. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites. You tithe of your spices, mint and dill and cumin, but you’ve neglected the more important matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.” He says, “You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.” Jesus says, “You’ve kept the letter of the law, but you’ve missed the spirit of the law completely. You’ve missed the intent, the heart of the law.”

And so here in today’s verses in Matthew 5, Jesus gives several illustrations, six actually, to highlight the contrast between outward religion and internal transformation. And everything we’re going to see this morning is about looking past the outward performance, the outward show, and looking at the heart.

Now, as I said, we’ll only be able to touch very briefly on each one of these, but I hope this will be a help to all of us. In these illustrations, Jesus uses a unique pattern. He repeats this again and again. He will say, “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.” Every time He says, “You have heard that it was said,” He then reaches back and quotes something from their Old Testament law. And then He’ll say, “But I say to you,” and then He reveals what God’s true intent behind that law is.

First of all, and as soon as we hear this one, we all check out: murder. Murder. Look at verse 21 of Matthew 5. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder.'” Now, He’s quoting Exodus 20:13 there, straight from the Ten Commandments. “And whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca'”—it was an ancient term of the worst kind of contempt you could show to someone. That person, He says, will be liable to the council. That’s the Sanhedrin. We’ve talked about that many times. “But whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be in danger of hell fire.”

Now, as Jesus said that first part, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not murder,'” these people knew their Scriptures better than we ever will. Their mind immediately went back to Exodus, to the Ten Commandments there in chapter 20. And they said, “Yeah, of course. Absolutely. We know the law says you shall not murder. I’ve never murdered anyone. So I’m good to go.” And then Jesus says, “But I say to you, but I say to you,” and He drops this bombshell: “If you harbor anger in your heart, if you view someone with hatred, you’re in danger of judgment.”

He’s saying it’s not just murder that’s wrong. It’s the internal attitude behind it. You can murder someone with your hands or with your thoughts. You can murder someone with a weapon or with your words. Do we murder anybody in traffic this week? How about on social media?

The crowd listening to Jesus must have thought, “Wait, wait, wait. If hating someone is murder, then we’re all guilty of murder.” Exactly. That’s what Jesus needs them to see.

And then in the verses that follow that, He goes on with those well-known words, you know, if you come to bring your offering to the altar and you remember that you are harboring something against somebody, leave your offering, go and reconcile with that person, and then come back. What’s He saying? He’s saying, “Not even your worship to Me matters if your heart is off.” This is why before Communion, what do we always say? David always leads us in this. Pause, stop, contemplate, search yourself, examine yourself. God says in Malachi, numerous places in the Old Testament, “I don’t want your offerings, because your hearts are corrupt.”

The second example He gives starts in verse 27. He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.'” Now, He’s quoting from Exodus 20:14, again, the Ten Commandments. “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” And I imagine there was a collective gulp. “Who is this guy? Why is He getting under our skin like this? We were comfortable before He came along. I never murdered anybody. I never committed adultery on my spouse. I’m a good person.” Jesus comes and says, “You’re actually not.”

The Pharisees believed and taught that as long as you didn’t commit physical adultery against your spouse, you were clean. You were righteous. But Jesus goes deeper. He says, “No, in fact, anyone who even looks at another person lustfully has committed adultery with them already in their heart.” And every honest person there would have thought, “Well, that means we’re all guilty.” And again, exactly. This is the point Jesus is driving home. We’re all guilty. Every one of us, we’re all murderers. We’re all adulterers. Happy Sunday, everybody.

And then Jesus goes on in the next couple of verses with those familiar statements. You know, if your right eye causes you to sin, it’s better to pluck it out than to let it ruin your life. I mean, this is extremely graphic language He’s using to convey, “This is not a game we’re playing.” He’s saying this is vitally important at the end of the day. He says it’d be better for you if your eye is causing you to lust, take it out. Whatever you need to do, deal with this. Don’t let this linger.

And then He goes on in verse 31, and He talks about divorce. He says, “It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

Now, boy, this is a tough one to tackle in a few minutes. We’ve talked about this numerous times before. We’ve gone into all the passages before, back into Malachi chapter 2, where Jesus talks about, you know, covering your wife with a garment of violence instead of a garment of protection and so on. Here’s the problem. There are biblical reasons for divorce. The problem was the religious leaders in that day had made it so that a man could divorce his wife for any trivial reason. Literally, you burned the meal. That’s grounds for divorce. You didn’t smile at me quite the way I wanted you to. That’s grounds for divorce. This was what they taught. This is what the rabbis taught. They were casually discarding their wives whenever they felt like it.

And the problem being addressed here is the same as the previous two examples Jesus has given. It begins with the wickedness of the heart. The heart—that’s where the problem is.

Later, just to show this with one other example, later in Jesus’ ministry, the Pharisees would try to trip Him up by saying to Him, “Jesus, isn’t it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” Now, there were two schools of thought back then among the rabbis. The school of Hillel said, “You can divorce your wife for any reason.” The school of Shammai said, “Well, wait a minute. Not so fast. Yeah, you know, it’s pretty broad, but maybe we need to have some limits.” So there was this argument between these two rabbinical schools. And I think they were trying to make Jesus pick a side so that whichever side He picked, they would have an attack against Him from the other direction.

They said, “Isn’t it lawful for a man to divorce his wife, Jesus?” You know, they said, “Moses gave us permission to get divorced.” And Jesus said—now here it comes back to the heart again—Jesus said, “Do you know why Moses gave you permission to do that?” And maybe they leaned in, and He said, “Because of the hardness of your hearts.” Ouch.

You know what? There are things that God permits in the Bible—I want to be very careful how I say this—that He never wanted to permit. He says in Romans, “You want to keep sinning, you want to keep going your own way, there’s going to come a point when I just turn you over to that. You can have all the evil you want if that’s what you want.”

“Hey, Jesus, what do you think about marriage and divorce?” Jesus says, “I think your heart needs to change.” They were focused on the technicalities of it. Jesus said, “Folks, it begins way before that.” Way before that.

This is why, you know, our beloved Moose Keller, who was one of our elders here, went home to be with the Lord a few years ago. My mentor for 38 years. I think I would go to him complaining about something, and he’d always point it back to my heart. Made me so stinking mad. “Check your heart, Phil. Your heart’s wrong.” “Shut up, Moose. It is not.” But it was.

Number four: oaths or pledges, promises, commitments. Verse 33, Jesus says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely,’ or ‘You shall not break your oath, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.'” And they said, “Yes, yes, we’re familiar with that.” “But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by earth, for it is His footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no.’ Anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

Again, oh, there’s so much. We need much more time to unpack all of this. But what’s going on here is, again, the Pharisees had created this elaborate system of oath-making with built-in loopholes for themselves. In that day, you could swear by heaven, you could swear by earth, you could swear by Jerusalem, you could swear by the temple, you could swear by the gold in the temple. And depending on what formula you used, your promise might or might not be binding. It was a deliberately complicated system that made them look honest up front but gave them an easy out if they changed their mind.

“Well, but Rabbi, you promised.” “Oh, no. I swore by the gold of the temple, but it was after 4 p.m. on a Tuesday with the weather below 30°.” You know, you know what I’m saying? And so it doesn’t really count.

Jesus says to them, “The reason you break your vows, the reason you break your oaths has nothing to do with legal technicalities. It’s because your heart is wicked.” So it doesn’t even bother you to say one thing and then turn around and do the exact opposite. He again addresses this, just for one other reference and example, back in Ezekiel chapter 33. It says this, “My people,” God says, “My people come to you as they usually do and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice.” Here it is now: “With their mouths, they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.”

Listen, here’s what God wants. Here’s what God wants. Be a person of such character that you don’t need to swear by heaven or earth or your mother’s grave or a pinky promise. Be a person of such godly character that people know you will do what you say. Why is that important? Because that’s the heart of God. He says when we live this way, we’re reflecting our Father in heaven. That’s how we should be as His children.

Quickly, number five. I don’t know what to call this—retaliation, maybe. Verse 38, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. But if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If someone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” What? “And if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

The law, “an eye for an eye,” was specifically given to limit retaliation. It was given to—how can you say it—to prevent unnecessary escalation in a dispute. “An eye for an eye.” You can literally hear it in the language. It’s saying the punishment must fit the crime. Now, you can’t say, “You damaged the right corner of my house, so I’m going to tear your whole house down.” No, an eye for an eye. It prevents extreme retaliation.

But the Pharisees had twisted this law into justification for revenge. “You hurt me, so I have the right to hurt you back.” Jesus flips it completely. He says, “If your heart was right, here’s how you’d respond. You’d show mercy. You’d be generous. You’d go the extra mile, even when you’ve been wronged.”

Y’all look so happy. This is tough, man. This is a tough section of Scripture. I promise you it is. It gets so beautiful at the end.

Where does this “extra mile” phrase come from? In that day, you know, Jerusalem was owned by Rome. They were controlled by Rome. And the Jews hated the Romans. But the law said that a Roman soldier could stop any Jew on the street, no matter what they were doing. If they were rushing to a doctor’s appointment or carrying groceries home from the market, whatever, a Roman soldier could stop any Jew and demand that they carry his armor, his backpack, whatever. And the law says the Jew has to carry it for one mile. That was the law.

And I could just see those Jews carrying that heavy armor, and they’re counting off their steps, and they get to one mile, and they throw it down in the dust, and they smirk at that soldier, and maybe spit on the ground, and they walk away. Jesus comes along, and He said, “Go two miles.” So when that Roman soldier looked at this follower of Jesus going the extra mile, he would stop and think, “What kind of person is this? They showed me love. They went the extra mile when they didn’t have to.”

Listen, can I just encourage you here? Don’t get hung up on the metrics of what Jesus is saying here. We do this so often. It’s like Peter: “How many times do I have to forgive?” Don’t get hung up on the details, the metrics, the specifics of what Jesus is saying here. You know, “Does that mean I have to become a doormat for people, Phil? Does that mean I just let everybody sue me?” Look, forget the details for just a moment and just pray. Just pray. “Lord, give me a two-mile heart like Yours.” Just start there. Just start there. Forget all the other details. “Lord, give me a two-mile heart.”

Finally, number six: love. Verse 43. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

Now, I must point out the “hate your enemy” part was never part of God’s command. The scribes and Pharisees had taught that. In fact, it was brutal. I’ve told you this before, but they would teach the Jews, if you see a Gentile drowning, don’t save them. And by the way, today still—I’ve got about half a dozen videos in my research files on this—you go to Jerusalem today, you stand on the corner and you talk about Jesus, they will spit on you. Hm. This was their heart.

God said, “Love your neighbor.” And they said, “Okay, but we can hate our enemies.” Well, the problem was they had conveniently redefined who a neighbor was and who an enemy was. They had structured it so that they were teaching the people your neighbor is only the people you like. It’s only the people who are like us. Everyone else was fair game for hatred. That’s never what Jesus intended here. He says, “Love those who are difficult to love. Pray for those who persecute you.” Why? Because that’s what our Father in heaven is like.

You know, the ultimate example of this kind of love was Jesus on the cross. He hung there suffocating, beaten, bloodied, mocked, spat upon. The very people He came to save called Him a fraud and a failure. Yet He prayed, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” That’s the kind of love Jesus demonstrated, and that’s the kind of love He taught.

Now, I must tell you, a message like this is painfully challenging to bring because I stand here as a failure in so many of these areas. But it gets worse. We have one more verse left, and boy, does this one hurt. Jesus ends this section with the most crushing statement of all. Matthew 5:48. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” I mean, if you weren’t discouraged before, you are now. You say, “Perfect? Man, I can’t even be consistent. I can’t make it through a day without falling short in one of these areas. I can’t perfectly keep everything Jesus has just laid out here.” And again, that’s the point. That’s the whole point.

The Pharisees thought they were perfect, or at least some of the honest ones thought they were close to perfect. Jesus shows us we’re not even in the ballpark. So, church, what hope do we have? I mean, I don’t know about you, but this is freaking depressing. What hope do we have after hearing all of this?

Our only hope is knowing—and listen to this, and don’t ever forget this—the righteousness God requires is the righteousness He provides. God’s not asking you to do the impossible. He’s pointing out that it’s impossible. He requires perfect righteousness. But the righteousness He requires, thank God, is the righteousness He provides. The Gospel is not “try harder to be righteous.” The Gospel is “receive the righteousness that Christ is offering you.”

When He said you must be perfect to enter the kingdom of heaven—we all know we can’t achieve that. None of us can attain that goal. That’s why the statement Jesus started with is so important. And I’ll wrap up with this.

Back at the beginning of this section in verse 17, He said, “Don’t think I’ve come to abolish the Law, to do away with the Law. I haven’t come to abolish it. I’ve come to fulfill it.” This is so critical to our faith. “I’ve come to fulfill God’s law, every part of it, every prophecy, every promise, down to the smallest letter, the smallest stroke of the pen. I have come to perfectly live out God’s law and to fulfill it completely.” He didn’t lower the standard. He met it. He kept every one of God’s commands. He met every righteous requirement of the law. And then He credited His flawless record to all those who trust in Him.

I mean, we’ve gone from devastating news to the greatest news you could ever hear. “He became sin, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”

You say, “Phil, can you explain that?” No, sir. No, ma’am. I can’t. Don’t ask again, because it annoys me. I can’t explain it. I don’t know how to put that into terms. It doesn’t make sense. It’s illogical. But I believe it by faith.

Here’s the image that came to mind as I was putting this together. It’s the image of Jesus turning in an exam with a perfect score, except just before He turns it in, He writes your name at the top, and He hands it in. He says, “Boy, look at that old Phil. He got a hundred.” Phil’s going, “100? I’m like minus 100.” Jesus says, “No, no, Phil. You called out to Me. You believed on Me by faith. Remember that, Phil? You were nine years old. Simple, childlike faith. You said, ‘Lord, I’m a sinner. I need You. Please come into my life right now. Save me. I receive the forgiveness that You’ve made available to me.’ Phil, in that moment, because of your faith, you were saved.”

And now, and please don’t ask me to explain this part, when God looks at you, Phil, He sees perfect righteousness. I’m perfect, y’all.

Now we look in the mirror and we see that devil staring back at us and go, “Boy, you rotten critter. You deserve a grave one of these days.” But God looks at us through Christ, and He says, “You’re perfect. You met the mark. Oh, not because of your external stuff, not because of what you did, but because you put your faith in My Son, you have His perfect righteousness.” So the question is, are you still trying to polish your image? Are you still trying to prove that you’re good enough for other people or for God or to yourself?

I’ll tell you one thing I’ve struggled with my whole life. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this, but I don’t like myself very much. I just don’t. I could write a book on how much I just don’t like me. I’ve had to deal with that in the proper way through what God says in Scripture about me, about who I am. But I’ve got a long way to go on this. Yet I believe by faith that God’s Word is true, and I no longer strive to be good enough in God’s eyes. I’ve reached the point where I don’t understand this, but I accept it, and I go, “Man, I’m going to heaven on His righteousness, not my own.”

Are you still on that hamster wheel, striving, that exhausting process of trying to prove your righteousness? Or are you living in the freedom and the joy of the righteousness that has already been secured for you by Christ? That’s the only righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees. That’s the only righteousness that will save, and it can be yours this morning.