Be Angry And Do Not Sin (Matthew 5:21-26)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.240 --> 00:00:09.429 Back in the fall, I believe was October, November, sixty minutes on 2 00:00:09.589 --> 00:00:16.870 CBS aired a video where they showed for a few minutes, they showed men, 3 00:00:17.190 --> 00:00:24.420 women and children in Syria being gassed to death. It was horrific and 4 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:29.579 the editor in chief of CBS news was asked the question why would you show 5 00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:34.659 that on television and he said this. He said you can read about horrific 6 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:41.250 reality all day long, but until you've seen it, it probably won't change 7 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:49.289 you. I realized this couple months ago and realize it again this morning, 8 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:56.000 knowing I was I mean I was going to preach this message that there are 9 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:59.280 a couple of different options of mirrors that you can get dressed in. In 10 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:03.590 my house. You probably have the same you can get dressed in front of 11 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:08.030 the mirror and the bathroom. I don't like to do that because the the 12 00:01:08.310 --> 00:01:15.430 image in the mirror, it kind of squishes the image and I'm trying to 13 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:22.379 lose some weight. I don't want to have my image further squished. There's 14 00:01:22.379 --> 00:01:25.299 a mirror, a long, full length mirror, in the corner of our 15 00:01:25.340 --> 00:01:27.459 room, but it tends to be long gate the image and I really like 16 00:01:27.700 --> 00:01:33.849 that that image because makes me look kind of skinny. Then there's a mirror 17 00:01:33.930 --> 00:01:38.969 on our wall that is kind of a perfect medium between those and it probably 18 00:01:38.969 --> 00:01:42.049 gives the most accurate representation of what I really look like. But I never 19 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:45.769 get dressed in that mirror. This morning I got dressed in the full length 20 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:49.439 mirror. That made me look really skinny. We're skinnier than I am because 21 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.799 we want to see ourselves in the best light. Right. You want to 22 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.000 do the same. I want to do that. We like to to look 23 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:02.150 at ourselves in those mirrors that make us look good. Now it's been said 24 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:07.949 that the law of God is like a mirror that you see your true self 25 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:15.219 in. Right, but in our day and age, maybe a maybe a 26 00:02:15.340 --> 00:02:21.900 more accessible analogy for many is the law of God and may be more like 27 00:02:22.259 --> 00:02:30.169 a high definition video. You can take video with your iphones now or any 28 00:02:30.169 --> 00:02:34.849 kind of smartphone or other equipment things you can hold in the palm of your 29 00:02:34.930 --> 00:02:39.409 hand and get instant, instant video. And I got captured on video a 30 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:44.090 couple months ago and someone showed me the video and I thought, okay, 31 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:47.159 do I really look like that? Like I know the camera adds ten pounds, 32 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:54.000 but how many cameras did I eat, and I think that is what 33 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.280 the law of God is. Look, I guess it's a mirror, it's 34 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:02.629 it's like that live, raw video footage that we look into and we see 35 00:03:04.030 --> 00:03:08.550 maybe a horrific reality. We'll see what Jesus has a say about the law 36 00:03:08.550 --> 00:03:13.659 of God tonight, and so I would ask you a stand for the reading 37 00:03:13.699 --> 00:03:20.580 of God's word. Matthew Chapter Five, versus twenty one through twenty six. 38 00:03:20.860 --> 00:03:27.289 is comes from the sermon on the Mount. Lord is speaking about the law. 39 00:03:28.969 --> 00:03:31.770 Matthew Five, Verse Twenty One. This is what Jesus says. You 40 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:36.569 have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder, 41 00:03:36.729 --> 00:03:39.689 and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that 42 00:03:39.810 --> 00:03:45.800 everyone who was angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, whoever insults 43 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:49.719 his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be 44 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.199 liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift of 45 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:57.870 the altar and they remember that your brother has something against you, leave your 46 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:01.669 gift of there before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and 47 00:04:01.750 --> 00:04:06.629 then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while 48 00:04:06.629 --> 00:04:11.139 you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to 49 00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:14.259 the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. 50 00:04:15.060 --> 00:04:18.060 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have 51 00:04:18.220 --> 00:04:27.649 paid the last penny. A man. Please be seated. A couple of 52 00:04:27.730 --> 00:04:32.089 you know the story because I got to church with you and you've seen her 53 00:04:32.129 --> 00:04:38.089 on facebook. But back in February my wife and child and I were coming 54 00:04:38.209 --> 00:04:44.360 back from speaking out a missions conference in Tennessee and on the last leg of 55 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:50.279 the trip our child was a little fussy. He's just turned to children under 56 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:54.829 the age of two get Fussy, children over the age of to get Fussy, 57 00:04:54.949 --> 00:05:00.470 adults kid Fussy, but especially kids who have a sinus infection, whose 58 00:05:00.629 --> 00:05:03.949 ears won't pop as you get up into the sky, and so a sending 59 00:05:03.990 --> 00:05:09.459 and descending his his ears hurt and so he started to fuss, he started 60 00:05:09.459 --> 00:05:12.899 to cry and the couple right in front of US started to get really angry 61 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:16.220 with us and they turned around and they stared at us like they were staring 62 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:24.329 through our souls, that kind of intensity, and then they started talking about 63 00:05:24.490 --> 00:05:30.970 my son in a fairly loud tone where everyone around them could hear what they 64 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:34.879 were talking about and who they were talking about. They even spoke about my 65 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:42.160 son in expletives, saying I can't wait to get off this plane in away 66 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:49.709 from this bleeping child. Then they made gestures to each other in talking about 67 00:05:49.750 --> 00:06:02.389 my son as if they were wrangling him, and words can express how angry 68 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:11.420 I was won't do it justice, but I didn't say anything to them. 69 00:06:15.860 --> 00:06:18.649 I did say to my wife if I ever see them again, because they 70 00:06:18.689 --> 00:06:24.009 live in Tusson, if I ever see them again, I would dot dot 71 00:06:24.129 --> 00:06:30.970 dot. What does Jesus say about that? What does Jesus, Jesus, 72 00:06:30.009 --> 00:06:33.720 say about not just their anger, what does Jesus say about my anger? 73 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:42.199 Look back in verses Twenty One and twenty two, Jesus says. You've heard 74 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:44.319 that. It was said to those of old you shall not murder, and 75 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:46.870 whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone 76 00:06:46.910 --> 00:06:51.629 who was angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, whoever insult his 77 00:06:51.709 --> 00:06:55.269 brother will be liable to the council, who ever says you fool, will 78 00:06:55.310 --> 00:07:01.220 be liable to the hell of fire. Jesus says, I'm a murderer. 79 00:07:01.300 --> 00:07:08.220 Right, I murder, even though I didn't say anything to them, I 80 00:07:08.420 --> 00:07:13.019 just thought it. But I'm a murderer because I have offended, I have 81 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:18.370 sinned against my brother, my neighbor, and I really can. I read 82 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:20.529 that text and I would say, okay, Jesus, but really, who 83 00:07:20.889 --> 00:07:26.410 is my brother? Who is my neighbor? Well, Jesus had a parable 84 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:28.889 or about that. Right, the Good Samaritan. He says, look, 85 00:07:28.970 --> 00:07:31.240 your your brother, your neighbor, is the one lying in the road who 86 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:38.399 you would like to have nothing to do with. That's your neighbor and you've 87 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:43.519 murdered him. So that's our first point, murdering your neighbor. You know, 88 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.149 in Jesus reminds those listening to him what the law says. He you 89 00:07:47.269 --> 00:07:50.389 notice, he doesn't say this is, this is what the law says, 90 00:07:50.430 --> 00:07:56.910 that you shall not kill. He doesn't say that. He says you are 91 00:07:57.149 --> 00:08:03.259 not to murder. There they're two different words. They mean two different things. 92 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:09.980 The law has to do with murder, okay, not not killing in 93 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:16.769 self defense, but has something to do with with a a passion and ingrained 94 00:08:16.810 --> 00:08:24.889 passion, a feeling, a sin that is deeply rooted and premeditated. It's 95 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:31.040 taking their life in your mind, in your heart, taking their life because 96 00:08:31.160 --> 00:08:39.120 you think that they are worthless. Who here is guilty of that? Yeah, 97 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:41.830 you raise your hands if you think you're okay. You've been angry with 98 00:08:41.950 --> 00:08:46.470 someone. Okay, good, yes, we were all murderers. If you 99 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:50.669 don't think you are, you are okay. The law has to do with 100 00:08:50.750 --> 00:08:54.269 murder. Now, the Lord inspired David to write Psalm for and, and 101 00:08:54.350 --> 00:09:01.059 it's all him, for David said be angry and do not sin. Okay, 102 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:07.220 and the Apostle Paul quoted this as he was in writing to the Ephesians 103 00:09:07.659 --> 00:09:11.570 about what new life looks like in Christ if we live loud, lived out 104 00:09:11.570 --> 00:09:15.809 as God had intended us to live. And he says be angry and do 105 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:22.769 not sin. But the question is, can we actually do that? Can 106 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:30.080 We? Can we actually be angry with someone, murder them in our hearts? 107 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:35.039 Right, because, because when we are angry with people, we are 108 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.629 usually murdering them in our hearts. Can we be angry with someone and not 109 00:09:37.830 --> 00:09:43.549 sin? Right? There is such a thing as righteous anger and and I'm 110 00:09:43.629 --> 00:09:46.870 still trying to to discern whether it. When is the last time I was 111 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:52.340 filled with righteous anchor. Right. When's the last time actually hated the sin 112 00:09:52.500 --> 00:09:56.100 but didn't also hate the sinner? Because we say that he'll hate the sin 113 00:09:58.139 --> 00:10:01.500 but don't hate the sinner? I can't remember the last time that happened. 114 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:09.529 It's all murder now. Is Anger Wrong? No, but I'm not saying 115 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:13.690 that we can't be righteously angry. We can write and to say we don't 116 00:10:13.690 --> 00:10:20.370 usually do that angers not out wrong right. God made us in his Im 117 00:10:20.529 --> 00:10:24.200 and she's a god of passions, not just come passion, but passion. 118 00:10:24.519 --> 00:10:31.440 He is a God who can get angry righteously. We can as well right, 119 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.029 but never are are we given the privilege, given the right in scripture 120 00:10:35.710 --> 00:10:43.710 by the Lord, to to be angry with those who sin, even our 121 00:10:43.710 --> 00:10:48.309 enemies. What did Jesus say? Pray for your enemies, Love Your Enemies. 122 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:54.580 Point is this, to be angry at sin is to simultaneously be compassionate 123 00:10:56.259 --> 00:11:01.379 towards the center, because that is the character of God. Those that we 124 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:05.730 show anger towards may have indeed infinited us for some reason, or those that 125 00:11:05.809 --> 00:11:09.210 we love in their ignorance and arrogance. But we don't get the right to 126 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:13.649 be angry with them, to hate them. But think, think about this. 127 00:11:15.330 --> 00:11:20.879 Why is Jesus here preaching this sermon to these people? And I don't 128 00:11:20.919 --> 00:11:26.600 mean here, meaning Judea, I mean here, as in the earth. 129 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:31.559 Why is Jesus here? It's well, think about some of the very last 130 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.389 words that Jesus said on the Cross. He says, father, forgive them, 131 00:11:35.909 --> 00:11:43.190 for they do not know what they're doing. Jesus came to live and 132 00:11:43.429 --> 00:11:48.139 to be killed for and to be raised again for people who were ignorant and 133 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:58.179 arrogant. Incarnate compassion of God has shown in his love for sinners. When 134 00:11:58.220 --> 00:12:01.610 someone's like like you, like me, have been spared from God's wrath, 135 00:12:01.009 --> 00:12:05.009 how can we hate our neighbor in our anger? Look back at verse thirty 136 00:12:05.049 --> 00:12:11.529 two again. Are Excuse me. First twenty two Jesus says this, but 137 00:12:11.649 --> 00:12:13.289 I say to you, everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to 138 00:12:13.370 --> 00:12:16.960 judgment, whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says 139 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.360 you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Now, when someone 140 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.519 insults his brother, I don't know what translation of scripture you have, but 141 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:31.149 some translations will use the term rock got says when someone someone says rock got 142 00:12:31.269 --> 00:12:35.870 to his brother. That's the air make word, meaning you are worthless, 143 00:12:35.950 --> 00:12:41.950 you have no value at all. You will face judgment when someone says you 144 00:12:43.190 --> 00:12:50.019 fool. Do you know what the term is? Moron? When someone says 145 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:52.500 you moron, you will be liable to the hell of fire. Now more, 146 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:56.700 Moron is not just a word that speaks to someone who is idiotic. 147 00:12:58.259 --> 00:13:01.690 It speaks to someone who is in moral, who is godless, who is 148 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:05.929 lawless. That Jesus actually calls the Pharisees later in Matthew Chapter Twenty three, 149 00:13:07.250 --> 00:13:13.399 when he's speaking woes against them, he actually calls them morons. But he 150 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.720 is fully God and he is righteous, he's holy and he he can call 151 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:24.000 them morons in their godlessness, in their immorality, right in their lawlessness. 152 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:31.309 But we, as we sin, we are showing ourselves, in our sin, 153 00:13:31.470 --> 00:13:37.110 to be moronic. And when we act as morons, we as morons, 154 00:13:37.149 --> 00:13:43.179 don't get the privilege of calling other morons morons or treating them like morons, 155 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:46.820 as immoral, godless people, when we have acted the same way, 156 00:13:48.899 --> 00:13:52.539 because we proven ourselves to be just that. But it's no good incidence that 157 00:13:52.620 --> 00:13:56.450 Jesus says that those who insult another are liable to the hell of fire. 158 00:13:56.210 --> 00:14:00.769 Jesus, they are in verse twenty two. He speaks of these judgments and 159 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:05.250 and and he for a couple verses, he brings up the different judgments of 160 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:11.159 the council. And you'll be liable to the to the hell of fire and 161 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:16.759 all these metaphors. Everyone, all the commentators, agree that there are metaphors 162 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:22.159 for eternal judgment. But the language of hell of fire is something that should 163 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:31.590 should appear very familiar to those that are listening to Jesus sermon, because it 164 00:14:31.629 --> 00:14:35.509 alludes, alludes to something that everyone knew about. It alludes to the trash 165 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:41.379 heap outside the city walls were all the refuse, all the garbage, all 166 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:48.580 the unwanted things went to be earned. And so if you are saying or 167 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:52.970 even thinking that someone was worthless, surely that would bring up in your mind 168 00:14:54.009 --> 00:15:01.009 and all the other Jewish minds of that time that they were so worthless that 169 00:15:01.129 --> 00:15:05.889 they need to be cast outside the city walls and burned with all the other 170 00:15:05.970 --> 00:15:13.080 garbage. They should be destroyed because when we hate someone in our hearts, 171 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:20.000 that's what we're doing right we're destroying them. We met at physically murder them. 172 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:22.389 We may not say the word to them, and yet we've utterly destroyed 173 00:15:22.429 --> 00:15:26.789 them in our hearts. Now, on that plane back in February and one 174 00:15:26.870 --> 00:15:31.990 millisecond, I tore that couple apart limb from whim in my mind, in 175 00:15:33.149 --> 00:15:39.179 my hatred. But at least I didn't say anything to them. Right, 176 00:15:41.019 --> 00:15:43.820 don't we excuse or something like that? Sometimes, Hey, at least I'm 177 00:15:43.899 --> 00:15:46.779 I was a good southern boy. I didn't say anything. My Mama taught 178 00:15:46.820 --> 00:15:50.090 me right. You can think all you want, but just don't say anything. 179 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:58.009 You're good. I still murdered them on my heart. We can't balance 180 00:15:58.169 --> 00:16:03.210 the scale to just a couple applications with this this point. First, every 181 00:16:03.370 --> 00:16:07.240 every person. Every person has worth because they're made in the image of God. 182 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.840 Even if we don't like that, they do have worth. I am 183 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:15.279 no more worthy of God's kindness. You are no more worthy of God's kindness 184 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:21.350 than any joe blow on the street, because they're also made in God's image. 185 00:16:22.230 --> 00:16:25.269 Second, Sin, including our anger. It has an effect on the 186 00:16:25.350 --> 00:16:29.350 community. Right Jesus says if you're angry with your brother, that you will 187 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:33.059 be liable to judgment, you will be liable to the council, the Sanhedron, 188 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:36.700 in other words, and this should remind us that God has made us 189 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:45.019 for and put us into community where there is both mutuality a shared call from 190 00:16:45.139 --> 00:16:52.610 God upon our lives for love and accountability. The third the hatred that we 191 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:56.330 display in our anger. It stems from pure pride and we have to we 192 00:16:56.450 --> 00:17:00.799 have to know that it's all pride. You know, pride is the root. 193 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:03.440 It's a sin, but it's also the root of all sin. At 194 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:10.240 C S Lewis said, there is a test that psychologists give called the narcissism 195 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:15.990 test. It tests to see how narcissistic you are. Go figure. But 196 00:17:17.230 --> 00:17:22.190 but just in the last couple of years they have looked at the result of 197 00:17:22.390 --> 00:17:26.950 this narcissism tests and seeing that the results were quite extraordinary. It tests for 198 00:17:27.109 --> 00:17:32.539 things like how do you agree with, how much you agree with with comments 199 00:17:32.660 --> 00:17:36.619 like I believe I'm extraordinary or I love to be the center of attention, 200 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:41.059 and across the board, over the last two decades the average score of this 201 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:45.690 test has increased by thirty percent, meaning that by far I'll call our culture 202 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:51.930 in this day and age is more self focused than two decades ago. But 203 00:17:52.009 --> 00:17:56.730 that really should not be any surprise to us right, because pride, again, 204 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:00.799 is the root of all sin. It makes us want to be God 205 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:04.720 even though we're not. Adam and Eve sin because they bought into the lie 206 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:11.000 that their world, that God had put them in, was all about them. 207 00:18:14.230 --> 00:18:18.230 That's not true. The novelist David Foster Wallace, who died a few 208 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:22.990 years ago, he gave a commencement address in two thousand and five at Kenyan 209 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:26.259 college where he spoke about this. This reality is very sad reality, and 210 00:18:26.380 --> 00:18:30.380 this is a man. He was not a man of faith at all, 211 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:33.940 but he said this. He said everything in my own immediate experience supports my 212 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:38.380 deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realist, 213 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:42.609 most vivid and most important person in existence. We really talked about this sort 214 00:18:42.650 --> 00:18:48.289 of natural basic selfcinnerness, because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much 215 00:18:48.329 --> 00:18:51.609 the same for all of us deep down. It is our default setting, 216 00:18:51.609 --> 00:18:56.160 hardwired into our boards at birth. Think about it. There is no experience 217 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:59.640 you've ever had that you were not at the absolute center of the world. 218 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:02.240 As you experience it is right there in front of you. Were behind you 219 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:03.319 are to the left or right of you, on your TV, on your 220 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:08.200 monitor or wherever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you 221 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:17.630 somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent and real, so true. 222 00:19:17.910 --> 00:19:21.910 Our pride makes us feel that we are more important, more superior, 223 00:19:22.470 --> 00:19:30.099 infinite, infinitely more worthy than anyone else. This leads us to not only 224 00:19:30.500 --> 00:19:34.740 destroying our neighbors, murdering our neighbors, but it also leads us to destroying 225 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:41.890 ourselves, murdering in essence, ourselves. There is a movie that came out 226 00:19:41.890 --> 00:19:45.609 in the S. it's a comedy, it's pretty funny and has a lot 227 00:19:45.650 --> 00:19:49.609 of old actors and actresses, like Peter Sellers, who's in the pink panther 228 00:19:49.769 --> 00:19:56.720 movies, and it's about this one millionaire, billionaire, rich guy lives in 229 00:19:56.799 --> 00:20:00.279 this kind of spooky mansion out in the woods and he invites all the world's 230 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:06.279 greatest detectives to his mansion for the weekend to try to solve this crime that 231 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:14.509 he is set up. And this one detective couple are staying at that mansion 232 00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:17.470 over the weekend and they go up to the room that first night and the 233 00:20:17.589 --> 00:20:21.029 Butler is leading them and he opens the door and what they see in the 234 00:20:21.109 --> 00:20:26.700 room is just dust and cobwebs and and they say wow, it looks like 235 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:32.500 that. No one has lived in is stayed in here for years, and 236 00:20:32.660 --> 00:20:37.170 he said that that's right, no one has stayed in here since Madam killed 237 00:20:37.250 --> 00:20:41.410 her she's being Badham murdered herself. And they said, don't you mean she 238 00:20:41.569 --> 00:20:45.049 killed herself, and he says no, it was definitely murder. She hated 239 00:20:45.329 --> 00:20:55.400 herself. What is hatred? Her Anger? Due to US internally destroying the 240 00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:00.200 Bible, about two sons of David, absalom and Amnon, am no on 241 00:21:00.319 --> 00:21:07.109 raped their sister Tamar, and Absalom wanted to murder him, but he waited 242 00:21:07.150 --> 00:21:14.230 two years. He waited, he plotted, he waited some more, plotted 243 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:18.700 some more, waited for the right time and then he killed his brother Amnon. 244 00:21:19.660 --> 00:21:23.380 But we hear that story, we read that story in scripture and sometimes 245 00:21:23.460 --> 00:21:30.259 we may think, well, that was a heroic killing because Amnin he was 246 00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:36.289 he was going to get it, he deserved it. We like heroic killings, 247 00:21:36.769 --> 00:21:41.690 right, like like Edmund Dantes and the County Money Cristo. Right, 248 00:21:41.809 --> 00:21:45.930 he's he's falsely imprisoned by his friend and he goes to the Chateau de prison. 249 00:21:47.009 --> 00:21:48.039 You think he's never going to get out, where everyone goes there to 250 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:52.720 die, and he escapes and he gets all this money and the stead of 251 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.839 going right to that old friend who stole his life and stole his love from 252 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:03.309 him and kill him. Then he waits and he waits and he plots and 253 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:08.309 then at the very end he gets it and we cheer. Yes, he 254 00:22:08.470 --> 00:22:12.589 got it. Way To go, Edmond. It's a heroic killing. We 255 00:22:12.750 --> 00:22:21.700 love it when the bad guy gets it right. But what did that do 256 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:25.059 to Edmund? Internally, what did I do to Absalom? And internally, 257 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:30.529 what did that do to me or to you? Harboring anger is like drinking 258 00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:37.049 poison and waiting for the other person to die. It only takes one word, 259 00:22:37.170 --> 00:22:40.210 one thought, to absolutely destroy someone else. But we like to stay 260 00:22:40.250 --> 00:22:48.160 angry right why? Because on some level it's delicious. I want to be 261 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:52.759 angry with that person that you know. My wife and I various times are 262 00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:59.069 o marriage. We do something or say something to the other person that's unloving 263 00:22:59.829 --> 00:23:07.150 and we are very quick to apologize and very quick, but not very quick, 264 00:23:07.190 --> 00:23:11.190 to forgive, sadly, sometimes, and we'd say to each other. 265 00:23:11.509 --> 00:23:14.859 I just I just want to stay angry, just for a little while, 266 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:22.059 because we like that. We like to harbor anger, we like to wait 267 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:26.019 to take out vengeance on other people. But you know, hatred does linger, 268 00:23:26.059 --> 00:23:32.089 it grows and it isn't satisfied actually when that person is destroyed. ABSOLOM's 269 00:23:32.769 --> 00:23:38.009 anger was not satisfied when am non was killed. Neither is ours most of 270 00:23:38.009 --> 00:23:44.079 the time, because if you give us time, we will find someone else 271 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:52.759 to fall victim to our pride. Jesus said that our righteousness is to exceed 272 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.430 that of the Pharisees. He said earlier in Matthew Chapter Five. How does 273 00:23:56.549 --> 00:24:00.869 this happen? While he says we are to be poor in spirit, were 274 00:24:00.910 --> 00:24:03.789 to warn over sin, we're to humble ourselves before the law of God, 275 00:24:03.910 --> 00:24:07.910 God and our need for his righteousness. But what we are saying when we're 276 00:24:07.950 --> 00:24:11.940 angry toward our neighbor and hate them in our hearts, is that we actually 277 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:17.900 don't care about holiness, we don't care about God's law, we only care 278 00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:23.369 about ourselves. However, the problem is that, though are anger, our 279 00:24:23.450 --> 00:24:27.329 hatred for our neighbors says that we only care about ourselves, in reality, 280 00:24:30.130 --> 00:24:33.130 what it does, is it? It says that we actually hate ourselves, 281 00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:40.440 because it's destroying as we're drinking that poison. It's killing US inside. We 282 00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:48.759 are destroying the image that God has made after his own likeness. You're destroying 283 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.680 what God is called good. Here's what Psalm Ninety seven says. This is 284 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:56.630 Oh, you who love the Lord, hate evil. Proverbs eight. The 285 00:24:56.710 --> 00:24:59.670 fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil, pride and the arrogance in 286 00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:03.910 the way of evil and perverted speech. I hate. But here's the deal, 287 00:25:04.349 --> 00:25:10.460 folks, is that we can't love the sinner when we lack a hatred 288 00:25:11.859 --> 00:25:17.339 for hatred, not other people's hatred, now other people's anger, but ours. 289 00:25:17.980 --> 00:25:22.049 We have to hate it. What does Jesus say in Verse Twenty Three, 290 00:25:22.049 --> 00:25:25.769 three, twenty six. Look back with me, says. So, 291 00:25:25.930 --> 00:25:29.450 if you are offering your gift of the altar and then remember that your brother 292 00:25:29.490 --> 00:25:33.450 has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first 293 00:25:33.490 --> 00:25:36.759 be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to 294 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:40.400 terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest 295 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:42.319 your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge, the guard, 296 00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:45.680 you and be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you 297 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:49.549 will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Well, is 298 00:25:49.589 --> 00:25:52.630 Jesus saying? He says work it out with your with your brother, work 299 00:25:52.670 --> 00:25:56.990 it out with your neighbor if you're angry with him. If you know anything 300 00:25:56.029 --> 00:26:00.549 about the God of the Bible, you know that this God is a God 301 00:26:02.109 --> 00:26:08.059 who is fully intent and is devoted to having his people show compassion on other 302 00:26:08.420 --> 00:26:18.210 sinners and to restore relationships, to reconcile that relationship with one another. But 303 00:26:18.369 --> 00:26:25.529 my rebuttal to the Lord with my instance on this on this plane back in 304 00:26:25.650 --> 00:26:29.650 February, was but Lord, I don't have relationship with this couple on the 305 00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:37.920 plane. Here's how I think the Lord Responds. Oh, you don't have 306 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:44.039 a relationship? Are you breathing the same air that I gave you and them? 307 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:48.750 Are you on the same plane that where I have providentially placed you and 308 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:56.390 them? Are you both made in my image? Do you both need my 309 00:26:56.710 --> 00:27:03.779 grace? You have a relationship with them? I came to die for you 310 00:27:03.099 --> 00:27:11.099 and for people like them. I've met you together, you know, without 311 00:27:11.140 --> 00:27:15.009 really knowing you guys, I know there's probably a lot of confession and repentance 312 00:27:15.089 --> 00:27:19.690 that might need to take place between you and someone else. I know that's 313 00:27:19.730 --> 00:27:25.250 true of me. But as we grow in holiness, the more that we 314 00:27:25.289 --> 00:27:30.240 should be angry towards sin, our own sin especially, and compassionate towards other 315 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:38.799 sinful people. Lastly, when you love your sin more than the law of 316 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:45.109 God, that doesn't just lead to murdering your neighbors and implicitly murdering yourself, 317 00:27:45.069 --> 00:27:51.549 but you end up murdering your Lord. Peter, in that great sermon that 318 00:27:51.589 --> 00:27:55.390 you preach, an acts to with a thousands of people surrounding him. After 319 00:27:55.470 --> 00:28:03.579 the Lord's ascension, he he started speaking about this incarnate Christ and he spoke 320 00:28:03.619 --> 00:28:11.180 of Jesus this way, he says, this Jesus Whom you crucified. Now 321 00:28:11.539 --> 00:28:15.769 they're thousands of people. There were some who were present at Peter's sermon, 322 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:22.450 and acts too, were some. Probably they're shouting crucify him, crucify him. 323 00:28:22.890 --> 00:28:30.599 Before pilot, yes, most likely, but we're also people, they 324 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:34.839 are listening to Peter who were not before pilot, shouting crucify him, crucify 325 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:44.430 him, even people that were long time disciples of Jesus. Yes, so 326 00:28:44.829 --> 00:28:49.869 how can peter say to them this Jesus, whom you or in the Greek 327 00:28:51.190 --> 00:28:57.140 all Y'All, crucified? Well, look again in verses twenty three and twenty 328 00:28:57.180 --> 00:29:02.180 four of what Jesus says. He says. So if you are offering your 329 00:29:02.220 --> 00:29:04.619 gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 330 00:29:04.740 --> 00:29:08.619 leave your gift before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother and 331 00:29:08.660 --> 00:29:14.569 then come and offer your gift. What Jesus is doing is exposing something that 332 00:29:14.650 --> 00:29:18.690 we're all guilty of, and that's trying to balance with a lot of good 333 00:29:18.849 --> 00:29:23.049 things, right balance the scale, a lot of good things to cover up 334 00:29:23.170 --> 00:29:26.519 all of our sin, right to weigh against our sin. And the Pharisees 335 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:32.480 were experts at this. They just didn't go to church or Synagog Temple, 336 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:36.200 you know, one time a week. That would go multiple times a week. 337 00:29:36.200 --> 00:29:37.789 They go every single day. They just didn't tie ten percent. That 338 00:29:37.869 --> 00:29:45.190 would tie even upwards of eighty percent if they could. They made sacrifices all 339 00:29:45.230 --> 00:29:48.309 the time. They brought gifts to the altar. They did all those things 340 00:29:48.190 --> 00:29:55.460 while hating their brother in their hearts. But for a god that has commanded 341 00:29:55.619 --> 00:30:00.740 a sacrifices be brought to the altar in order to reconcile this people to himself. 342 00:30:00.980 --> 00:30:06.980 Where's the value and where is ultimately, the worship and that act of 343 00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:14.130 worship? If you harbor sin, it's not worship, apart from continue worship 344 00:30:14.170 --> 00:30:21.049 yourself and your pride. But Jesus says, you know what you have done 345 00:30:21.210 --> 00:30:23.920 to the least of these, you've done to me, and we can take 346 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:26.880 that in a positive way and in a negative way, right, for again 347 00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.400 and for ill. If you have done good, if you've loved your neighbor, 348 00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:33.880 what you've done to the least of these, these outcasts, the people 349 00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:37.390 you don't like, the you have also done to me. But if you 350 00:30:37.509 --> 00:30:42.789 have sinned against them, if you have murdered them in your hearts, you've 351 00:30:42.829 --> 00:30:48.549 also murdered me. That's why Jesus, or that's why Peter says, an 352 00:30:48.589 --> 00:30:57.259 acts to this Jesus whom you crucified. Jesus hung on the Cross because of 353 00:30:57.500 --> 00:31:07.849 our sin. We put him there, we crucified him. Point is this, 354 00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.890 when you try to Turne for your own moral failure by doing good, 355 00:31:11.970 --> 00:31:18.490 to balance his scales, you're saying I don't need saving and therefore, you 356 00:31:18.529 --> 00:31:22.400 don't need Jesus. He's worthless to you, and if you don't need him, 357 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.039 then you have proven to be a godless and lawless men, and lawless 358 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:30.559 men were the ones who murder Jesus again, not just Romans, not just 359 00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:37.549 Jews, but us our sin. Jesus was cast out past the city walls 360 00:31:37.670 --> 00:31:42.269 to a place called God Gotha, carrying his cross. They'll goth is the 361 00:31:42.309 --> 00:31:45.789 place where they would put all the garbage. It was the trash heap. 362 00:31:45.950 --> 00:31:49.660 We're all the worthless things went, and he did so. He went to 363 00:31:49.819 --> 00:31:52.700 that place so that you and I wouldn't have to face the hell that he 364 00:31:52.859 --> 00:31:59.700 faced. He paid every last penny of your debt and of my debt that 365 00:31:59.859 --> 00:32:05.009 we owed the Lord because we could never balance a scale enough to earn God's 366 00:32:05.089 --> 00:32:07.730 favor to get us out of jail, to get us away from the judgment 367 00:32:07.769 --> 00:32:15.289 of God and his wrath. But the same one whom you crucified, Who 368 00:32:15.650 --> 00:32:21.880 I crucified, God also raised from the dead so that we might be raised 369 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:23.799 with him. That's that's the beauty of the Gospel, that's the hope of 370 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:29.200 the resurrection. He made you and me, who were an enemy and a 371 00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:36.990 moron and a fool. He made us a friend, even though we didn't 372 00:32:36.990 --> 00:32:42.190 deserve it, even though we can never be worthy of God's love. He 373 00:32:42.349 --> 00:32:47.299 counts us as worthy because all of our worth is found in Jesus saying to 374 00:32:47.579 --> 00:32:55.940 his father, father, there with me, there with me. So how 375 00:32:55.980 --> 00:33:00.250 do we respond? Well, I don't want to make any assumptions. I 376 00:33:00.450 --> 00:33:07.529 would even though I would say probably all of you here are Christians, but 377 00:33:07.730 --> 00:33:09.490 if you are hearing, you're not a Christian, or at least if you 378 00:33:10.609 --> 00:33:15.200 have relationships with a non Christians, which you should. You should have many 379 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:20.200 of them. The point is this, that Jesus is the judge of all 380 00:33:20.279 --> 00:33:23.680 men. He is the prosecutor who holds up the Mirror of the law of 381 00:33:23.799 --> 00:33:29.549 God or held, holds up that live raw video footage, and your exposed 382 00:33:29.630 --> 00:33:34.869 for all of your law breaking, all that that horrific detail, no matter 383 00:33:34.990 --> 00:33:38.109 how good you think you might be, or good those other people think they 384 00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:43.660 they might have, all the good they might have done. And so your 385 00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:49.099 response is to repent, repent and believe in Jesus, that Jesus was put 386 00:33:49.180 --> 00:33:52.299 on the Cross because of your sin and you need to obey God's Law and 387 00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:58.490 Follow Him repent of your sin. Believe that he is taken as far as 388 00:33:58.529 --> 00:34:01.569 the East is from the West, so that you may know a life that 389 00:34:01.769 --> 00:34:07.969 is beautiful, a life of flourishing and goodness and peace, and life of 390 00:34:08.090 --> 00:34:15.320 restoration and reconciliation between you and God. But whether you're are a Christian or 391 00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:20.079 whether you're not a Christian, you also have to know this is that Jesus 392 00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:23.510 not just your prosecutor, he's also your defense attorney. He stands between you 393 00:34:23.710 --> 00:34:29.829 and the wrath of God. Is Perfect. Obedience to God's law should be 394 00:34:29.869 --> 00:34:34.230 the impetus for our obedience. Right it should be, if you believe in 395 00:34:34.309 --> 00:34:40.460 him. Must we follow God's law? Yes, we have to, but 396 00:34:40.579 --> 00:34:46.980 the love of Jesus, for fools like us, it changes are our our 397 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:52.699 hearts to the point where we look at God's law we say, not only 398 00:34:52.820 --> 00:34:58.289 do I have to follow God's law, but I want to. I want 399 00:34:58.329 --> 00:35:07.519 to do we love God's law more than we do our pride. If we 400 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:15.400 do, then we will respond to others in love and we can lead them 401 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:19.199 and the love of Christ. Let's pray