When it comes to Jesus, you can't really be neutral, can you? There is no middle ground. You either accept him, receive him, or you reject him.
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Jesus said, Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For 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.
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God's Word is eternal. It's forever. And everything in God's Word matters. Right? No matter how big or small it is. Psalm 119 .89 says, Forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven. Forever. Forever, this world will pass away. But God's Word will never pass away. We will have God's Word for all eternity. Do you realize that? God's recorded Word, it's not going away. It's not going to become irrelevant.
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How righteous must you be to enter the kingdom of heaven according to verse 20? How righteous must you be? Your righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.
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Jesus was not impressed by their religious performance. Why? Because it was all on the outside. It was all outward. Again, Jesus said, you are like whitened sepulchers. You are like graves that were painted white. But what's inside? Dead bones. Dead man's bones.
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Jesus says what? That even if you're angry with someone it's as if you committed murder. Even if you insult someone... it's as if I would run him off the road and he crashed and died. Wow, that's serious.
Jesus said, yes, you've been taught that. You should not commit adultery. Sexual sin. Meaning, have sexual relations with someone who is not your wife or your husband. What did Jesus say? Even if you lust after a man or a woman. Even if you lust, you look at someone, you give them a second look, and there is some lustful thought in your mind. Jesus said, it's as if you went to bed with that person. Wow. I mean, talk about hard teaching.
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So what is Jesus pointing out? That sin is dead serious. You cannot minimize sin. You cannot excuse sin. Jesus says, if there is something in your life that is leading you to sin, get that out of your life. At all costs. Right. It's going to hurt sometimes. Just like plucking your eye out and cutting off your hand, you will definitely hurt. You will suffer loss, but in the end, it's good for you.
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You must be holier than the holiest people you know to enter heaven. But it's not, and it's again, it's not just about your outward actions. It's your thoughts, right? It's what's in your heart. That's what God cares about. Not just your outward actions, but what's in your heart.
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It seems unattainable. It seems that Jesus was setting an impossible standard. Well, and that is the point. That is the point. You cannot earn heaven by your good actions. Because even if your actions are pure, just like the Pharisees pretended, your thoughts are not.
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God is holy and He must judge all sin. But there's good news, isn't there? There is good news. And that's that God is merciful and He sent His Son to be the Savior of those who repent of their sin and turn to Jesus in faith, trusting that He paid the penalty for our sin on the cross.
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Thank God he did, thank God he does, and what happened on the cross was an amazing transaction that took place: our unrighteousness, our sin for his righteousness, and that's how you can be righteous and that's how you can be holy—not by anything you can ever do but it's because of what he did, only because of what he did and who he is. You trade places with Christ.
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So, again, I want you to be thinking about the statement: is Jesus really raising the bar? Is he raising the bar or is it all in God's Word? He is shining a spotlight on what they neglected. Again, they focus on the big sins and they neglected to look at their own hearts.
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But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.
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Be ye therefore what? Perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Okay, again, but I say unto you, love your enemies. Love your enemies so that what? So you can be like your Father.
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We cannot do it on our own. There is no hope for us in our own abilities or in our own merit. So what do we do? We look to God. Look to God for mercy. God says you can only enter the kingdom of heaven if you're perfect. Well, I can't do it on my own. So what am I supposed to do? Look to Jesus. Trade places with Jesus.
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If you've traded places with Christ, if you've accepted his sacrifice for your sins, how does God see you? God sees you as holy. God sees you as perfect. Again, not because of what you've done. Not because of what obedience and righteousness you have on your own. It's because of Christ. It's because of Christ. He, again, he was the only one who fulfilled the whole law.
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He said, Paul said, I was blameless. You look at my life, you can't find fault in my life. But this is what he said. But what things were gained to me are those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, Jesus my Lord, from whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung. That's not a very nice word. Excrement. He says, all that righteousness that I counted on is garbage. It's excrement. Why? I want to be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
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That is the only way you can get to the Father and get to heaven.
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