Liable to the Hell of Fire

Preached at Cornerstone Church in Cascade, IA on March 23, 2014

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:21-26. Today, we continue our journey through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As we work through the text today, and every Sunday for that matter, it is important for us to remember that every passage has context; meaning that the Bible is not to be read as random unconnected statements of facts, but that we must read it as it flows from one passage to the next. Today that is doubly true, because we are looking at a portion of text that is within a singular Sermon and it flows out of a statement that Jesus just made. So with that said, let us look read our scripture, pray and then exposit it.

• Matthew 5:21-26 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
  
  

Last week we saw Jesus proclaim that He came to fulfill the legal requirements of the law of God. Jesus is the only person ever to exist that has fulfilled the entire law of God. He is the only one who is without sin. Everyone else on the planet is a sinner, you, me and everyone who has ever existed.

Jesus then goes on to say that for us to get into heaven our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. As we saw last Sunday, this creates a problem for us, because Romans 3:10 tells us that, “None is righteous, no not one.” Therefore, we lack righteousness, yet we need righteousness to get into God's Kingdom. As I said, Jesus proclaims that he fulfills the law, therefore He is righteous. Therefore Jesus has what we need, righteousness. And the good news is that Jesus will give us His righteousness, and the way we receive it is through faith in Him.

• Romans 4:5 – “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, “
  
  

The teaching of faith in God was not a new teaching. Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden God had revealed to humanity that faith in God is the key to salvation. Faith has always been what pleases God. You can see this very clearly in Romans 3 where Paul uses the patriarch Abraham to show that his faith was the key to righteousness, not his circumcision.

• Genesis 15:6 – “And [Abraham] believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”
  
  

Likewise, the author of Hebrews does the same thing in Hebrews 11. Going through a long list of Old Testament people such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the rest of the prophets showing that it has always been faith, not works, that makes you right with God.

Having said that, the religious leaders during the times of Jesus, the scribes and the Pharisees, had made a mess of this age old truth. Instead of placing the focus on faith in God, they put the emphasis on faith in good works. And Jesus was calling them out during the Sermon on the Mount when he said:

• Matthew 5:20 – “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
  
  

He was intentionally drawing the crowds attention to their false teaching. So with that background, let us answer the question, who are the Scribes and Pharisees? To answer this, look at verse 21. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old…” This is helpful in understanding the scribes and the Pharisees.

In the days of Jesus, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and not many people could read Hebrew because the language of the day was Aramaic. In addition few people had copies of the Old Testament. If you were a commoner, people like you and me, the way you would know the Bible was through teachers. They would orally tell you what the Bible said, but they wouldn't just read it to you, they would teach it. This is why Jesus said, “You have heard…” You can see this same pattern through the rest of Matthew 5, “You have heard, you have heard, you have heard.” What Jesus is referring to is the teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees.

The people couldn’t check to see for themselves what the Bible said, they had to trust the Scribes and the Pharisees. The Scribes and the Pharisees were the religious leaders of the Jews. They were the ones who were in charge. The problem with the people not having Bibles is that you cannot trust humanity. As I stated, the scribes and the Pharisees had a made a mess out of God’s Word. They had placed themselves, not under God’s Word, but over it. They manipulated it, changed it, added to it, and subtracted from it and then they went out and taught the people. As you can imagine, Jesus was not happy with them. In fact, Jesus eventually pronounces judgment on them in Matthew 23.

• Matthew 23:13 – “"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”
  
  

Can you imagine the arrogance of the Scribes and Pharisees to manipulate God’s Word to serve their purpose, while keeping the people in the dark about what the Bible really says? Can you imagine this? Of course we can! It is the oldest trick in the book, literally. This is exactly what Satan did in the Garden, manipulate God’s Word. Ever since the beginning, Satan has made God’s Word his playground. Sadly, many times the vessels he uses are “Religious Leaders.” They go around and tell people what the Bible says, and twist it into a false gospel, and keep the people away from the true Word of God. For a real world example look at same-sex marriage. Many religious leaders are now teaching the doctrines of the world.

Never trust a person or a Church who doesn’t encourage you to check their teaching against God’s Word. If a Pastor or Priest or some other religious leader tells you to let them worry about what the Bible says, run away as fast as you can. If Sunday morning is all about rituals, and going through the motions and God’s Word is not preeminent, then welcome to Satan’s playground. For Satan loves to twist and distort what God’s Word truly says. He did it in the Garden, he did it in the days of Jesus and he is doing it today, and the main way he does it is by turning our eyes from God and to ourselves. This is exactly what Jesus is rebuking through the rest of Matthew, Chapter 5.

The Scribes and Pharisees had turned God’s law into something it was never meant to be. The Scribes and the Pharisees turned God’s Law into a list of things that you did externally in order to earn your way into heaven. They turned God’s law into a mechanical process, teaching that as long as you jumped through the right hoops, you would be accepted by God.

Jesus comes and blows the roof off of Satan’s house, and he starts with what we see as the “sinful” human act Murder.

• Matthew 5:21 – “"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.”
  
  

Now at first glance, many of you may be saying, what is wrong with that statement? Isn’t’ that what the Bible says? Yes and no. This teaching by the Scribes and Pharisees is actually a combination of two versus, most likely.

• Exodus 20:13 – “You shall not murder.”
  
  
• Numbers 35:30 – “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses.”
  
  

The Exodus 20:13 verse is one of the Ten Commandments. The Numbers 35:30 is a civil statute in regards to how Israel operates as a Nation State dealing with the criminal violation of 1st Degree Murder. It is similar to the Iowa Code that sits on my desk at work. Both of these verses are given by God, but both are independent in regards to the spirit of what they are proclaiming. When the Scribes push these two verses together and teach them as one there is a distortion of what is being taught. The Pharisees take a behavioral regulation and turn it into spiritual judgment. Therefore they taught that “God will accept you, unless you physically murder someone.”

Behind this teaching of the Pharisees is a different spirit, or intent, then what God intended. The spirit behind the Scribes and the Pharisees was to instruct that you could be good enough to get into heaven, all you had to do was obey externally. This is what we call works based salvation, that your ability to get into heaven rests in your own hands. Jesus comes to reeducate the people and the way he does it is important. Look at verse 22.

• Matthew 5:22 – “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment”
  
  

They way Jesus corrects the false teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees, is to start each of the next sections with “But I say to you…” I want us to understand the superiority of Jesus’ statement. Jesus is speaking with authority in this moment. He is not quoting from anything, He is not saying “This is what I think it means.” He is putting himself above the Scribes and Pharisees and setting himself as God’s equal. In fact what Jesus was doing was shocking.

• Deuteronomy 4:2 – “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.”
  
  
• Proverbs 30:5-6 – “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.”
  
  

God's word is God's word. As we have already stated, it is not up for man to manipulate. Sadly, however, people, churches, leaders, scribes and Pharisees have done this since the beginning of time. Having said that, Jesus is not adding or taking away from God's word. He was proclaiming unadulterated truth. He is proclaiming the original intent of the law that had been lost. God's Word is not something he had studied in his systematic theology class and is trying to give a modern, relevant spin to. Jesus is the living Word of God, and when he speaks he does not speak as someone who has merely read the book, he speaks as if He wrote the book.

And what does the Author of the law say about murder?

• Matthew 5:22 - “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. “
  
  

Jesus takes the act of murder, and makes it a matter of your heart. He takes murder from an external obligation to an internal indictment. For that is what this is. Jesus, who just said previously that every dot of the law will be fulfilled by Him, says that the law as it relates to murder is not about the action, it is about your thoughts. Jesus is proclaiming a standard that is unattainable by sinful man. There is not a person on the planet, other than Jesus, who has not been unrighteously angry, insulted, or called another person a fool or a moron. How many of us, Christians have done this, even this week. The words of Christ are stinging.

How many times have you heard people say that they are going to heaven because they are a good person? When they say this they are thinking like a Pharisee and Scribe. They believe because they have not violated any major civil laws, they are “good.” Because they have never actually acted out their anger by ending someone else's life, the believe that they are good enough to get to heaven. This is just not true. For your thoughts towards another person is enough evidence to make you liable to the hell of fire.

The issue is not the level of the offense. The issue is, and has always been, your heart. Think about sickness and symptoms. Symptoms do not determine sickness. Symptoms point to the reality of our sickness. Physical murder is a symptom that you are a sinner, but so is insulting someone. They are symptoms of the same sickness..sin.

To end, Jesus then says this:

• Matthew 5:23-26 - “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
  
  

Why does Jesus says this? I believe it is because the Scribes and the Pharisees were all about the form of religion, but the denial of the power. They were dead inside. They were robots who went through the motions of religion. They would treat people like dirt and then head to the temple, thinking that as long as they said their meaningless prayers, and gave their meaningless money, and sat through the meaningless rituals, they would be ok for another week.

Do you know what? God detests this form of hallow religion. He is not a God that will be mocked.

• Matthew 15:7-9 - “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
  
  

God doesn't want religion. He wants your heart. He wants true worship. He doesn't want sacrifice, he wants loving obedience. These Scribes and Pharisees with their twisting of God's Word and hiding it from the people were ushering people straight to hell encouraging them to merely go through the religious motions and telling them, that as long as they are Jews, and they followed the traditions of their family, they would be just fine.

What the people needed was Jesus Christ. For what stands in the middle of liable to the hell of fire and loving obedience is Jesus. For when we accept Christ in our lives, and His spirit comes and dwells in our hearts, we no longer go through the motions, we live out faith. We are convicted by the Holy Spirit to obey and we lay down our offering and we go and reconcile ourselves to our brothers. The only way we can do this is by Christ in us.

If you are sitting here today at Cornerstone Church and you call yourself a Christian, and there is someone out there that you have sinfully angered, and you think that you being here is the answer, then you don't get it. Sitting in these chairs doesn't save you. Christ saves you. And those who have been saved by Christ, live to reconcile. Reconciliation is your spiritual DNA. So stop fooling yourself, and make things right with your brother, before it is too late.