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And we're starting the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount. Now, the Sermon on the Mount, we'll see why it's called that, but this sermon goes from Matthew five to Matthew seven. So this is Sermon on the Mount part one. And so chapter six will be part two and then chapter seven will be part three. So just so you know that when we get done with chapter five here, it's not like he's done preaching his sermon. It's just the fact that it's split up into three different chapters. But the first thing to see here is in Matthew chapter five in verse one, it says, in seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. So where do we get this term Sermon on the Mount? Well, he went up into a mountain. So he went up onto a mountain. So what's being said here? Well, there's a whole bunch of multitude of people. And actually, if you go back to chapter four, the last verse there, it says, and there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. And then it says, and seeing the multitudes. So he's saying this, it's not like there's this big space of time. He's basically talking about, hey, there's these multitudes from all these different places. And he goes up into this mountain and his disciples also came to him. So basically, the one thing I want you to get here before we get into talking about what's being said in chapter five here, is the fact that you're dealing with a lot of different people that he's talking to, meaning that I don't believe, actually, we know for sure that everybody that he's talking to is not saved because Jude's the scariest in this mix. You think about it, his disciples, if he's with the 12, then we know one's not saved. But all that to say is that he's talking to a multitude. So when we get into some of these harder sayings, I want you to realize that he's mainly talking about two believers, okay? And even the stuff that's being said, even if there was just believers there, it's not a bad thing to say even to believers just so they know good doctrine. But I'll get to that later. But the first thing we see here is what the big theological term is, the beatitudes, okay? You're like, what in the world are you talking about? Well, beatitude means like supreme happiness or the state of blessedness, okay? So that's where that phrase comes from. And if you're Catholic, you probably heard of like the Pope being beatified, you know? They beatified him, and I'm like, are they beating him? Like, what's going on, you know? But it's not like what, you kind of think if the word beauty has the word beat in it. So it's kind of dealing with blessedness or happiness. And so what's interesting about this, okay? And with all this stuff, there's so much stuff in this chapter, I'm gonna have to just basically touch on it and go because I don't have that much time. But I do wanna talk about these blessed are statements here. Now, what's interesting is that there's nine of these statements. There's nine statements. And what I wanna link this to is do you know how many statements are made about the fruit of the Spirit? Nine, okay? And I actually believe there's a strong link to this. And what I wanna first say is that this is not talking about how you get saved, okay? When it says blessed are they to do this and that, this is talking about a Christian walking in the Spirit, okay? And so let's go through this. It says in verse three, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad. Notice this, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So this is saying, you know, blessed are they that are persecuted because you're gonna go to heaven. No, it's saying that you're gonna have a great reward. Okay, so go to Galatians chapter five, and I kinda wanna show this parallel with this, that when we're talking about these blessed are, he's talking to believers. So he's basically saying, hey, listen, believer, you need to be poor in the Spirit. You need to mourn. You need to be meek. You need to hunger and thirst after righteousness. You need to be merciful. You need to be pure in heart. You need to be peacemakers, and you need to suffer persecution. And actually, that's mentioned twice, okay? So actually, that's an interesting point there, is that persecution's mentioned twice when it comes to things that you should do as a Christian. And so what it's saying is that if you do these things, you'll be blessed. You know, your joy will be full, so to speak, as the Bible says in other places, you know, that Jesus said, I write these things unto you that your joy may be full, and that you may have life abundantly, that you may have an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so when we're looking at this, he's talking to believers, and he's talking about walking in the Spirit. Now, Galatians chapter five is where we find them, free of the Spirit, and notice in verse 18, first of all, it says, but if you be led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. So we're talking about being led of the Spirit and not, you know, fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. And notice in verse 22, so I'm not gonna get into the works of the flesh, but I just wanna get into the fruit of the Spirit here. Notice in verse 22, it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. So what we're gonna be dealing with here when we're dealing with the blessed are these Beatitudes, so to speak, is the fact of walking in the Spirit and having the fruit of the Spirit, okay? So basically, what's the fruit of the Spirit? I mean, you're dealing with the fact of what the Spirit produces, okay? Now, what we see here is nine things here, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Now, some of these are kind of a little harder to put into a category or, you know, I was trying to figure out which category to go. Some of these are very easy, okay? Meaning that, for example, joy, you can think of if you mourn, you shall be comforted. So you think about the fact that if you mourn, you're gonna have joy. You're gonna have joy when you do that. How about peace? Peacemakers, peacemakers, right? You think of goodness. Well, what's a synonym for goodness or good? Righteous, so hunger and thirst after righteousness. Faith, well, he had chosen the poor rich in what? Faith, so the poor in spirit are rich in what? Faith, so, and meekness, meek, the meek shall inherit the earth, right? Longsuffering and temperance, I put those as the persecution ones. You think about the fact that you have to have patience. Longsuffering is kind of another word for patience. Temperance is, you know, kind of controlling yourself and having a tempered spirit, so to speak, in those times of tribulation. And then for love, I put pure in heart. And gentleness, I put merciful. So, and maybe those get sweet, I don't know, you know? But what I'm saying is that a lot of these fit perfectly as far as just exactly what's being said here. And I do believe that there's a lot to be said about being pure in heart and having love and, you know, dealing with gentleness and being merciful. You know, obviously gentleness and meekness are very close together as well. But I do see that here. I see this walking in the spirit and having the fruit of the spirit. And you say, well, why is it called the fruit of the spirit? Because I don't believe it's, it's not quantifiable, if that makes sense. If you said fruits of the spirit, it almost kind of sounds like it's quantifiable, meaning that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace. It's not just love. It's not just joy. It's not just peace. It's not just any of those things. It's all of those. So that's why I believe it's singular, meaning that the fruit of the spirit is all this at the same time, okay? So, but I do believe that these blessed are statements that Jesus is saying is basically talking to Christians and saying, hey, listen, you're gonna be blessed if you do this. You're gonna be blessed if you do this. And he basically giving us a key to how to have joy, to have the fruit of the spirit, to have goodness and peace and all this stuff in the Christian life. James chapter three actually touches on this a little bit too. James chapter three, it's interesting how all these things, and there's other places where you deal with the fruit of the spirit. I did a whole sermon on the fruit of the spirit, but anytime there's like the same number of something, I always kind of see if there's a link and I believe there's a strong link to this as far as the fruit of the spirit compared to these statements. Now in James chapter three and verse 17, it says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. Can you see a lot of the fruit of the spirit in there and the statements that are being made, blessed are the merciful and the peacemakers and peace of them that make peace. And you can see all this stuff working together talking about the fact of having the wisdom that's from above and having the fruit of righteousness. The fruit of the spirit is one thing, right? The fruit of the righteous is another thing and then there's fruits of righteousness. So the fruit of righteousness would be basically what you're reaping for being good, for being righteous, does that make sense? And so walking in the spirit, you're gonna have fruit from walking in the spirit and if you win souls, that's your fruit. So fruit is always a product of something and so don't get into that box and be like, well, the fruit of righteousness is the same as the fruit of the righteous, which is the same as the fruit of the spirit, no. They're different products of something. And so, but James chapter four hits on this as well. What you, I think I ate a bug. I think it's dry. Good night. I might be able to finish. I need like a, maybe if I take a tic-tac, that'll help. I need the fruit of, not a dry voice. So in James chapter four, there we go, back to normal. In James chapter four, we kind of have this famous passage of drawing nigh unto God who will draw nigh to you. And then it says, cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, you double-minded, be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. And so a lot of this stuff works together, obviously. We need to mourn with them that mourn. But in the end, weeping shall endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And so that's temporary. When you're dealing with all this stuff, you think of these blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, and being persecuted and all this stuff. It's all temporary type stuff. And it's all in this life that you're dealing with this. If you mourn now, you're gonna be comforted later. In all these things that Jesus is promising to us and telling us, hey, walk in the Spirit, do what you need to do now. Yes, it's not fun now. A lot of these things that you're going through aren't gonna be fun, and it's not gonna be instant gratification, but in the long run, it's gonna be worth it. But going on from that, when it comes to being led of the Spirit, the Bible says this. You look at these passages and people will say stuff like this. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. They'll be like, well, see, you gotta be a peacemaker to be a child of God. Well, to be a peacemaker is meaning you're preaching the gospel of peace, first of all. So if you're gonna take it down that road, you better be preaching the gospel to say that you need to do that to be saved. But the Bible says this in Romans 8 and verse 14, and some of these things I'm just gonna blow through because we're just trying to get through all this different stuff in this chapter. But it says, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And it says, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. I preached on this before, but the fact is is that our inner man is our children of God, but our outer man's not. So if you're walking in the Spirit, you're gonna be called the children of God. So that's why it's saying that the peacemakers are gonna be called the children of God. And if you're led of the Spirit, then you are the children of God. Does that make sense? Because you're walking in the new man, you're walking in that child of God, so to speak. And it even says in 1 John 3, in verse nine, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. In this, the children of God are manifest. And what? The inner man, that sinless, perfected child of God that's inside of you. But if you don't walk in it, no one's gonna see it. So when you see those things like, then you'll be the children of my father, it says later on here, and stuff like that, that's what that's talking about. It's not saying that you're not saved if you don't do this or that. So if you're not a peacemaker, doesn't mean you're not saved. If you don't love your enemy and you hate your enemy, doesn't mean you're not saved. But you're not walking in the new man. You're not walking in the Spirit. Okay, and so this chapter can be definitely very confusing if you didn't have the rest of the Bible to kind of show you what's being said here. And so it's always good to go with those other sources in the Bible to kind of define that stuff. Now go to verse 13 in Matthew chapter five, verse 13. This is something I quote to Holly all the time when I eat. Salt is good, amen. So this is coupled together, being the salt of the earth and being the light of the world. So notice in verse 13 it says, ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden underfoot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. And so this is a very famous passage, obviously. And I kind of want to talk about the salt and then I'll talk about the light. But this is not saying to be a lifestyle evangelist. Okay, now this is very important though when it comes to being an evangelist though. Okay, I want to say that. Meaning that, what does it mean by lifestyle evangelist? It means that someone's going to get saved just by watching you live a righteous life. That's never going to happen. Unless you open your mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel, no one's getting saved. How shall they hear without a preacher? I mean, it's very clear that you got to preach the gospel, but don't throw off this. Meaning that if you're not living a righteous life and you're not trying to live a separated life, I'm not saying you couldn't win somebody here and there, but you're not going to be abundantly fruitful if you're not separating yourself like the Bible says here. So the salt of the earth, what is this talking about? Well, in Mark 9, it says this. It says, salt is good, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another. So salt can be used for a lot of different things, but if you think about it, it's a seasoning, right? It's something that you spice up your food with, right? And first of all, salt is good. And the thing that's being brought up with this passage or this little portion here is as far as your good works, being good, okay? And so being the salt of the earth has to do with you being righteous, but it also has to do with having a little spice to what you're saying, okay? Because in Colossians, go to Colossians 4 and verse six. When I think of this being the salt of the earth, I think of this passage right here. Colossians 4 and verse six. Because it says in Mark, it says, have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another. And so I honestly believe that this a lot of times has to do with being righteous, being godly, and living as separately, come out from among them, be separate, said the Lord. And I will be a father unto you. And you think about the same thing of walking in the Spirit, being separate from the world. But in Colossians 4, six, it says, let your speech be all way with grace, what? Seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man. So in this passage, it's saying that you're the salt of the earth, but if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salt? Salted or seasoned in another place. And so what, notice the language here that it uses. This is some harsh language. It says, it is henceforth good for nothing. That means that if you don't have salt, if you don't have, like the Bible was saying here, you know that you have salt in yourself and you're seasoned with salt, you're good for nothing. That's strong language and he's talking to Christians. So sometimes in the Bible, it'll use some really harsh language dealing with Christians and when it comes to these liberal Christians that don't stand up for the Bible and that are against true godly Christians that are standing up for the Bible, and I think of Pastor Burzins, who's going through persecution right now, lost his job because a bunch of sodomites don't like him. Go figure. But you have that with Pastor Burzins and I guarantee you have Christians that'll be like, oh, you know, he shouldn't say that type of stuff and they're just like down on what he's preaching. They're good for nothing. And there's a lot of Christians in the world that are good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot of men. That's what the Bible says. That's what Jesus says right here. And so sometimes if I'm down on other Christians, listen, I don't hate them. I want them to get right with God. I want them to start serving the Lord. I want them to start actually reading the Bible for themselves instead of just going to some liberal church or reading watered down commentaries and devotions. I want them to get on fire for God. But until they do, they're good for nothing. And the Bible uses strong language in the fact of purging them and throwing them into a fire. And so there's some strong language in the Bible as far as a Christian that's not profitable and what the Bible says about it. Now, going into the light of the world, it's kind of the same application but it's kind of giving you different avenues to understand what's being said there. Meaning that if you're not saying anything, you're not preaching the gospel and you don't have a little salt in what you're saying when you're preaching the gospel or when you're in your communication, in your speech. The light of the world kind of goes into that too because it says in verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Do you notice how your light shining before men and what's that coupled with? What does that mean? That they may see your good works, okay? Now, good works doesn't get us saved, good works doesn't get them saved, okay? But what they see is gonna reflect on whether they're gonna listen to you. I mean, you think about if you went up to the door with a beer in your hand, do you think you're gonna listen to you? And so you gotta be someone that demands respect and righteous people demand respect from people. Someone that's good, they may not like you and they may hate your guts because you're stepping on their toes but they're gonna respect you to a certain extent because you're actually doing what you should be doing. You're not a hypocrite, you're actually walking the walk, right? And so in Philippians chapter two, it talks about this a little bit, it says in Philippians 2, 14, it says, do all things without murmurings and disputings that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of light, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. So he's saying, hey, we're light unto them and you need to do all things without murmurings and disputings, that why? That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God. So obviously it's not saying that that's how you become the sons of God but basically you're walking in the spirit, you're walking as a child of God, you're a light unto this crooked and perverse nation that we're in and that's how you're gonna reach them. Now in 1 Peter, go to 1 Peter chapter two, last thing I wanna say about this subject here with being the salt and being the light of the world is, you know, and what it says there about glorifying your father which is in heaven, how are they gonna glorify him? Because they're gonna get saved, okay? Meaning that if you're living a righteous life and you're separating, you're abiding in Christ, listen, you're gonna be fruitful, you're abiding in the vine. John 15 is very clear on this, is that he not only wants us to be fruitful but to bear much fruit. And so, you know, he wants us to bear a lot of fruit. So you can live probably a worldly life and go out soul-wanting here and there and win someone here and there and, you know, kind of, you know, the word of God, the gospel's powerful, my friends. And so people are gonna get saved. But you wanna really be a powerhouse for God, then you need to live a separated life. You need to do good works and that's, you know, gonna be making you more effective. Now in 1 Peter chapter two and verse 11, it says, the dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, notice this, they may behold your good works, or I'm sorry, they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation. So you can see, like, the day of visitation, what? Now it's the day of salvation. And so these may even be people that are, like, saying you're an evildoer and, you know, kind of against you, but you're just, you know, doing what you should be doing. They see, hey, this guy, this guy's, he goes to church all the time, he doesn't cuss, he's not drinking, he's not using foul language, you know, like, there's different, you know, all these things, they're gonna see that. And then when you go to give them the gospel, they're gonna be like, yeah, that's a good guy to listen to about that. That's someone that's worth listening to. And a lot of times they may end up getting saved because of that. And if you weren't like that, you may lose that opportunity. Now go to Matthew 5, verse 17. Matthew 5, verse 17. So this chapter kind of just, I don't wanna say it switches gears because there's a lot of things that are very similar and linked, but it's really kind of hitting a lot of different things in this chapter. Verse 17, it says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. But verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now, notice that he's definitely talking to believers here. Cause he's not saying like, you're gonna be cast into hell. He's just saying, at this point, he's just saying, listen, you're gonna be greater least depending on how you do this. And this goes out to all those people that are like, oh, I'm not under the law, brother. Your body is, your body's under the law of liberty. And if you don't keep the law, like the Bible says, you're gonna be judged without mercy. And I'm tired of these, you know, these liberal Christians would be like, I'm not under the law, I'm under grace. And therefore I can do whatever I want and not have any consequences. That's not what Jesus said. And you know, the thing is, is that there's people that are teaching, oh, we don't need to do that. You know, that's too hard. You know, and you think about all the commandments in the Old Testament, moral law, my friends, moral law that there's like, oh, we don't need to keep that. We're not under the law, we're under grace. I guess we can murder people now. We can commit adultery now. We can steal now. We can lie now, right? You know, because that's the Old Testament. Now that's ridiculous. And so notice that he even implies, he says that whosoever therefore shall break one of the least commandments, one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so. So notice that they're not only breaking them, they're teaching people to do it. And it says, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. So you're dealing with a believer, and there's many pastors out there that like this. They're just like, oh, you know, you don't need to worry about, we're under grace, my brother, we're under grace. You know, I can drink, I can smoke, I can, you know, have long, hippy hair. I can do all this different stuff, and it doesn't matter. It's like, yeah, it does matter. You're gonna be the least in the kingdom of heaven. And so don't forget about that. Don't forget about the fact that, hey, we need to be righteous, we need to do good works, we need to keep the law, because if you love me, keep my commandments. And so anybody that says, oh, you know, I love Christ, and then they're not actually keeping his commandments, they're drinking, they're committing fornication, or doing all these different things, it's like, yeah, you're saved because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but you're gonna be called the least in the kingdom of heaven if you just live your life that way. Now, Matthew chapter five, verse 20, notice this phrase here. Now, this is where I'm saying, you know, he's talking to a multitude of people that I don't believe all are saved. But even so, let's say it was all saved people. If I said this to my congregation right here, who I believe is saved, you can understand why I would say this, right? It says in verse 20, it says, "'For I say to you that except your righteousness "'shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, "'you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.'" So I could say that to believers, and you'd be like, amen. Because there's none righteous, no, not one. And in Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10 destroys the, well, it doesn't destroy what he's saying, it bolsters it, but it gives you the answer to it, meaning that the scribes and the Pharisees were tithing on mint and anise and cumming, you know, like they were doing a lot of these little meticulous things and they were, you know, trying to keep all the law and all these different parts and everything. Now, obviously they were hypocrites in a lot of cases, but all that to say is that he's saying, listen, you know, unless your righteousness exceeds them, you're not entering into the kingdom of heaven. So what does he mean? It's meaning that you can't get there on your own righteousness, okay? And he's saying that, you could say that to believers and you get an amen from the believers, or you could be saying that to a bunch of people that may not be saved and get them to understand, hey, you're in trouble. Because unless you're better than them, like the people that are, you know, like it's kind of like being someone that's in full-time Christian service, you want to say that, you know, is what the Pharisees, you know, you'd look at that that way is like someone that that's their job. And basically saying, unless you're better than these pastors over here, better these people that are like preaching the word of God and doing all this other stuff and these scribes, unless you're better than them, you're not going into the kingdom of heaven. And you know what that implies is that the scribes and Pharisees aren't going, because you got to be better than that. But that's going to show you, hey, I'm in trouble. I need help here because, you know, he's making a point that you're not gonna make it. Now in Romans 10 verse one, it says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness had not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. There's your answer. So yeah, I mean, Jesus said, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And it says, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So how do you get enter into the kingdom of God, be born of the Spirit? And you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's how you get that righteousness. Because guess what? My righteousness does exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees because I have Christ's righteousness imputed on me. It far exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees because I have his righteousness imputed. And so that's what he's saying there. And so it's a great point to be made in this sermon. Now, and obviously, but the him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And it was imputed unto Abraham for righteousness and not to him only, but also to all those that believe on Christ. Now, going back to Matthew chapter five verse 21, we're gonna get into a little more into the weeds here. So, Matthew 5 21, notice what it says here. It says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Now, this is kind of a hard saying here because now there's really kind of two ways to answer this. And I generally, when I see the word hell, I take it literally. When I'm looking at hell fire or hell, I'm looking at it as a literal sense. But it is used figuratively sometimes in the Bible, meaning go to James chapter three and you think of other passages in the Bible where it says the pains of hell have compassed me about. So you can think of like how you'd use that figuratively or they have enlarged their desires as hell. It says in Habakkuk. So it's kind of used in a figurative sense or more so like using hell as an example of like something else. It's kind of like a comparative, if that makes sense. So you can think of danger of hell fire. I'm gonna show you a figurative use of it in James chapter three. But I'll say this. I tend to believe this is talk and a literal because like I said, he just got done saying, unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, now he's going into a whole, he's going into this tour de force of like, hey, you've heard thou shall not kill. I'm saying that if you're angry with your brother without a cause, you've committed a murder already. So he's basically saying, listen, you think it's just murder that you're gonna be in danger? Listen, it's even more harsh than that. And then he goes on to lust with lusting after a woman committing adultery. And then he says lusting after a woman. So I believe more so that he's basically saying, listen, you're in trouble if you think that you're gonna get there by your righteousness. Because even like being angry with your brother without a cause, you're gonna be in danger of the judgment. Now, when it says brother, that's where you maybe get into the case of, is this talking about a believer with his fellow believer? And so, but notice that it doesn't say that when it says thou fool, it says, but whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hellfire. So notice it doesn't say brother there. Other places it does, but then it just says, you know, judgment or the counsel. Because obviously, we're in danger of judgment as believers physically. So we're in danger of destruction or judgment physically, but it's almost like he's switching gears like, oh, by the way, anybody that says thou fool is in danger of hellfire, if they're not a believer, obviously. But this goes all the way to Matthew 7, which we haven't got to yet, but judge not that thou be not judged. And it's saying with what judgment thou, you know, judge it be meet unto you or measured back to you. And so basically what it's saying is that you say thou fool, you're gonna be judged just the same as you're judging that person with that condemnation. But James chapter three is talking about the tongue, and it's gonna use hell as a figurative use in order to describe how bad the tongue can be. Does that make sense? So what we're gonna see here, and so James chapter three and verse one, it says, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, for in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same as a perfect man, enable also the bridle of the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listed. Even so, the tongue is a little member, and boasts with great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindle it. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. So obviously the tongue, your tongue in your mouth is not like a literal fire, right? But it's likening it onto a fire. Does that make sense? It's likening it onto hell fire. And notice, and I mean, to give credence to the idea that it's figurative, what's being done in Matthew five, something's being said. So something's being said, thou fool, or Rekha. Something's being said, and it's saying you're gonna be in danger of hell fire. So it's kind of like, if figuratively, you're spewing out hell fire, it's coming back to you. Because whatsoever man sowed, that should also reap. So I can see that, but I tend to look at it more so as far as he's kind of switching between talking to believers, and then talking about just people in general, and the fact that, we would all be worthy of hell fire for any of these things that he's stating as far as judgment goes. So the next one we see with hell, I believe it's literal. But I just want you to see that there is kind of a case for that, and even in James chapter two, it says that they should have judgment without mercy, who hath showed no mercy, and we shall be judged by the law of liberty. Well right before that it says, if you keep the law and offend at one point, you're guilty of all, and it uses notice, kill, and adultery as the two examples, basically saying, you commit no adultery yet if thou kill, which is always funny to me, like kill is less than adultery which maybe it is, when you think about what damage it does. But anyway, thou art become a transgressor of the law. And so basically saying, hey, we're gonna be judged according to that, and it's interesting because those are the two things that Jesus is bringing up in Matthew five, is killing and adultery. And he's talking to believers in that, but he's also, I think, hitting on unbelievers too, okay? But it'd be like me saying that, you know, like, fornication, you know, you're in danger of hell fire with fornication, it's like, well yeah, I mean, as unbelievers you would be, and we all would have been if we didn't get saved. What I see here a lot is where he's really showing some condemnation, he's saying, listen, unless your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you're not entering the kingdom of heaven. If you say thou fool, you're in danger of hell fire. And as we go down the line, we'll see even other things that he says there. And so, going back to Matthew chapter five, and verse 25, and I know I skipped a little bit there dealing with some of the other stuff, but you know, take your time, some of this stuff is kind of self-explanatory of what's being said, but in verse 25 it says, agree with thine adversary quickly while thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Fairly I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. So he's kind of just giving you good advice, basically saying, listen, you need to settle that from the start, you know, don't let that linger, just deal with the situation, whatever you gotta do to settle with your adversary. Proverbs 25 and verse nine and 10, kind of talk about this in the same thing. It says, debate thy cause with thy neighbor himself, and discover not a secret to another, lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away. So it's kind of like, if you have a quarrel with somebody, you need to deal with it quickly, the whiles that are in the way with it, meaning like, you know, deal with it now, and also keep it between you and them. You know, don't like broadcast this to someone else, you know, just kind of deal with it, and kind of keep it together on that. So just some wisdom there. And before that, it was just talking about the fact that, you know, bring your gift to the altar, to the Lord, if you've offended your brother, you need to take care of that first. So listen, you wanna be blessed by God, you know, you need to be right with your brethren. And that goes into a lot of avenues with loving your brother. You can't love God if you don't love your brother. But in Matthew 5, verse 25, we get into the adultery aspect here. It says in verse 27, it says, ye have heard that it was said by them of old, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Now, one thing I wanna point out here is that, remember, he said, I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. Has he destroyed any of the law here? Now, he's actually making it a lot more intense. He's basically saying, you've heard thou shalt not kill. He's not saying like, oh, that doesn't apply anymore. No, he's saying, he's making it more extreme, basically saying, listen, even if it's in your heart, you got problems. And so, he keeps saying this because, it's kinda like if we go out soul-winding and someone's like, oh, I'm not that bad. Have you ever lusted upon a woman? And sometimes you have to take it that far with them. If they're like, oh, I've never lied before, it's like, have you ever lusted after a woman? Have you ever been angry with somebody without a cause? And so, you kinda have to dig a little deeper there because they may not think they're that bad, but in the end, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. And I believe Jesus is kinda sticking that in there, like, hey, listen, none of you are guiltless. And kinda putting this in there. Now, this next thing that's being said here, that's why I kinda link it with, you know, thou fool, you'll be dangerin' a hellfire, because when it comes to the adultery, it kinda goes into the same thing. And I tend to go with the literal interpretation of it. In verse 29 there, it says, And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. For it is proper for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. For it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And so, this actually comes up again in Matthew 18. And Matthew 18, because I just want you to see, being cast into hell and being in danger of hellfire, I think I can understand, I can more so look at the being in danger of hellfire as like seeing that figurative, like kind of like the hell, the pains of hell have come to me about kind of thing. But being cast into hell, I tend to believe this is literal on that. Now, if someone has a different view on that, you know, I'm fine, I'm fine with them. Because here's the thing, as long as you don't come out and say that Christians are gonna spend time in hell, we'll be all right, okay? Meaning like, I'm fine with your doctrine, as long as you don't believe that you have to do good works to go to heaven, and that a Christian is gonna spend time in hell, okay? But all that to say is that when it says this, Matthew chapter 18 says very, very, very similar. It says, woe unto the, in verse seven of chapter 18, it says, woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee, it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into hell fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. And this same thing's brought up in Mark chapter nine. And when it says that to be cast into hell, it says into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. I think it's very clear to me personally that we're talking about people being cast into hell. And I believe personally that this is talking about the lake of fire because we're talking about bodies going into it. Okay, when you're talking about hell beneath, it's the soul that goes there. When you're talking about the lake of fire, it's soul and body. So when it says fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, that hell is referring to the lake of fire, okay? Now, when we're dealing with this, what I believe Jesus is doing is showing the severity of hell. And if you think about it, he just said, unless you're righteous and succeed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you're no case entering into the kingdom of heaven. And then he's saying, listen, imagine that. Imagine they're thinking, well, I gotta be, I gotta be righteous, I gotta be really righteous. He's like, if your eyes offend you, meaning that, because it says that if you offend at one point, you're guilty of all, meaning that you transgress the law. And it doesn't mean that if you kill somebody, that means you committed adultery too. It just means that you broke the law. It doesn't matter what point you break it, it's broken. It's gone. And I've heard preachers look at it this way, it's kind of like a link chain where you kind of have the law hanging on a chain. It doesn't matter which link you break, it's broken and it's fallen. Does that make sense? And so, that being said, is that he's showing the severity of hell, basically saying, if you had to go by righteousness, and let's say it was by being perfect. Now, if there had been a law given which could have been like fairly righteous, it should have been by the law. So obviously, we know that it can't be that way. But if you were to try to go there by being perfect, and let's say you were perfect up to a certain point, right? And you were tempted to lust after a woman, it's better for you to pluck out your eye and go through life with one eye than having two eyes being cast into hell. That's what he's saying. He's saying it's better just to cut off your hand, cut off your foot, whatever would cause you to sin, then you need to do it. Now obviously, the fact of the matter is, is no one's in that state to where you're in a case where I'm perfect and I just want to make sure I don't mess up, okay? But notice the severity of hell, that he's basically saying chop off your hand. Chop off your leg. Pluck your eye out of your head because it's better than going to hell. And obviously, we can understand why, because hell is eternal fire and torment. But Mark 9 says this, right? That's the end of Mark 9. Well, Mark 10 goes straight in, it talks about the rich young ruler, and he goes through that whole thing. He's saying keep the commandments, right? Because obviously, he wasn't understanding that Jesus was God, and he's basically saying, good master, what good thing shall I do to inherit the kingdom of God? And he's trying to make a point with him, same thing that we're dealing with here. He's trying to make a point saying, listen, there's none good. He just told him there's none good, and then he's saying, hey, I've kept it all, okay? Now, after all that's being said, his disciples, it says in verse 26 of Mark 10, it says, and they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, with men it is impossible, but not with God, but with God, all things are possible. And in Mark 9, this is sandwiched between what's being said about the fact of if your hand offends and you cut it off. In Mark 9, Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. So you have it sandwiched in there, it's to him that believeth, all things are possible, and then on the other side of that sandwich is it's impossible, men, but with God, all things are possible. So he's basically just making a point like, hey, it's impossible, but if it were, then that's how extreme you need to be, that you don't sin. And so people take this verse, though, they take these verses and be like, oh, well, you can lose your salvation. I don't think I've ever seen anybody chop off their hand, and I'm not saying people haven't done it. I mean, there's weird people that have chopped off their ear and given it to their girlfriend, you know, like that painter, right? It's the only thing I remember from art class. Anyway, so, but all I can say is that I believe it's easily understood to just the fact that Jesus is saying, listen, this is how serious it is, this is how serious hell is, that you're rather cut off a limb than go to hell. And so the Bible, Matthew chapter five, verse 31, I'm gonna try to, I'm just gonna brush through this. I preached a whole sermon on this, dealing with divorce, but in Matthew 5, 31, it says, it hath been said, whosoever shall put away his wife, let her give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, committed adultery. So again, when it comes to this, he's not saying like the law is done away, because I don't believe the law of murder or adultery is done away, but he's clarifying it. And basically saying, saving for the cause of fornication. And in Deuteronomy 24 is where that bill is written, or where that talks about that bill, and I'll just read it for sake of time real quick here in verse one. So just take notes if you want some references on where to go for this, but in Deuteronomy 24, one, it says, when a man hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and sent her out of his house. So if you know other places, the Pharisees were basically saying, can we divorce for any cause? Because uncleanness, when you look at that in Deuteronomy, it's kind of, uncleanness can mean a lot of different things. It can mean they didn't bathe that day, you know what I mean? Or they were unclean for some other reason. Does that make sense? But what he's clarifying is that the uncleanness has to do with fornication. So he's giving a more specific thing there. And I believe Joseph and Mary is a great example of a case where divorce would be legitimate. But that's another sermon for another day. Matthew five, verse 33. We deal with oaths or taking vows, okay? And basically, it's saying not to do it. And this isn't just New Testament. But Jesus says in verse 33, it says, and again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of all time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black, but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Now, Ecclesiastes says this in chapter five, it says, better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. So it's not like this is just New Testament. It's basically just saying, you know, don't vow. Anytime, usually in the Bible, when you see someone vowing, it's never a good thing. Jephthah is a prime example of that. But also, you know, the only time that I see it being a good thing is in marriage, because that's just the way it has to be. Okay, it's death till you part. And so that's the way, that's a big deal. Obviously you should, but basically, besides that, you know, when it comes to vowing, if I came up to court and they said, you need to swear, I'd be like, no, let me yay be yay and my nay nay, I'm gonna show them the Bible. I'll open up that Bible that they're having me put my hand on and say, this is where Jesus says, vow not at all, or swear not at all, right? You know, if you want me to put my hand on the Bible. So why? Because, you know, you just have a chance of messing up, and you don't wanna break a vow to God, okay? James 5 hits this as well, it says, let your yay be yay and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation. So don't just start making vows and swearing, you know? Like, I swear I'll be there, brother. It's like, no, you know, the Bible says, if the Lord will, we will do this or that, you know? You don't even know if you're gonna be able to make it there so don't swear on that. And what does it mean? It's just basically, take my word for it. You're gonna be like, I'm gonna be there, you know? Let your yay be yay and your nay nay. I don't have to swear on it. And so, but notice in Matthew chapter five, verse 38, this is another one that people try to attack and try to say, you know, he's trying to change, you know, like, oh, it's no longer eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. But again, has he yet changed anything that he said as far as what's in the law? And verse 38 says, ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. So you say, well, it seems like he's saying it's not eye for an eye. No, what he's doing is clarifying this because people are taking it too far. Eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth is talking about being named. Look at that, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound. It's talking about maimed, okay? If someone smote you on the cheek, you're not maimed. It hurts, more so your pride probably, but when you're dealing with someone smiting on your cheek, what are they doing? They're challenging you to a fight, right? If someone slaps you in the face, it's not gonna hurt, I mean, it's gonna hurt, but it's not gonna probably maim you, right? So what he's saying, what he's doing a lot of times here is people are taking it too far. And basically saying, they punched me in the arm, so I punched them in the arm. You can kind of think how people would just take everything and be like, if he did this to me, I'm doing it. This is where it comes into not rendering evil for evil, okay? Now obviously maimed, if someone kills somebody, then life for life, like it says. And so that's being maimed though, like they take your eye out. I mean, that's a little different than someone slapping you in the face, okay? And so that's why he goes into smiting on the cheek, but then basically someone sues you and takes your coat and be like, here, just have this too. Or if someone says, hey, walk with me a mile, go twain. He's basically saying, go the extra mile. Just kind of overcome evil with good is what it comes down to with a lot of these cases. That's not negating life for life though. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, it's not negating it, it's not saying that that shouldn't still be the law, because it should be. That's the perfect law of God. But the Lamentations chapter three, you don't have necessarily to turn there, but Lamentations chapter three hits on this dealing with bearing the yoke, and we haven't got there yet in Matthew, but obviously take my yoke upon you and all this other stuff dealing with following Jesus. But in Lamentations 3.27 it says, It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust, if so be, there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him. He is filled full with reproach. So Lamentations 3.30 teaches the same thing that Jesus is teaching in Matthew chapter five. So it's not like Jesus is coming on the scene and being like, I got some new doctrine for you. No, most of the time he's pulling stuff out of the Bible saying, as it is written, have you not read? You know, and he just keeps pulling out more information. And so I hope that makes sense with that. And then the last part is love your enemies, and I preached a whole sermon about this. So I don't really think I need to belabor this too much. But the Bible's very clear that, this is from the Old Testament as well. I'll give you some Old Testament dealing with this because when it says thou shalt, you know, you had heard that it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. You can look at this in the fact where you say, well, it doesn't say hate thine enemy. Yeah, it doesn't. But it does say that we hate those that hate the Lord and we count them mine enemies. And you can see how people can twist that. You can see how people can twist that and say, well, that means I should hate all my enemies. Anybody that's against me, I should hate them. No, it's very specific when it says who we should hate. It's not just hate your, it's not like just hate your enemies. It's hate them that hate the Lord, and I count them mine enemies. But my personal enemies I'm supposed to love. Those that hate me, those that persecute me, I'm supposed to love them, bless them, and not curse them, right? Those that hate the Lord, it's a different story. So you can understand why he's bringing this out because of Psalm 139 of other passages in the Old Testament that people are twisting and trying to take too far. Just as much as they're trying to take eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth too far, he's trying to show, hey, no, this was meant for maiming. And then hating your enemy would only apply if they hate the Lord. So most of the time that's not the case. Therefore, most of the time you should be loving your enemies and so it's talking about personal enemies here. And so Exodus 23, it talks about in verse four, it says, if thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, that shall surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. That's Moses' law right there, love your enemy. But what's interesting is in that same chapter, so that's the beginning of the chapter. The end of the chapter, it says this in verse 22. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. Oh, that sounds familiar because Romans chapter 12 says that same exact thing. Romans chapter 12, the last thing I'll show you and then we'll be done. Romans chapter 12, verse 18. Romans chapter 12, verse 18. It says, if it be possible as much as lieth in you, you will live peacefully with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Hasn't changed, my friends. It's always been that way. And so the one thing I wanted to really get out of Matthew chapter five here is that Jesus isn't changing anything. It's not like, well, in the Old Testament, it was this way and the New Testament's this way. No, he's just expounding it. He's just taking Old Testament passages and just saying, here's exactly how you interpret this. This is exactly how you deal with this. And so this is the Sermon on the Mount, part one. Stay tuned for the other two parts. A lot of interesting stuff in it. And so let's end with a word of prayer. Today on the Father's Law, we thank you for tonight and thank you for this passage. It's just such a powerful passage, such a profound passage in the Bible. And Lord, we just thank you for your Sermon on the Mount. And Lord, we just pray that you'd help us to use it in our lives. And Lord, it's not enough just to know what's being taught here. We need to use this. We need to apply it to our lives, that we'd be blessed and that we'd be fruitful, that we'd be salt of the earth, and that we'd be the light of the world. And Lord, we love you and pray that you give us safe travels tonight. In Jesus Christ's name, amen.