Well, brethren, do you want to be sure that your spiritual house is built upon the rock, our Savior Jesus Christ? Do you want to make sure that your spiritual house will not seriously waver and will certainly not fall in the difficult times that are certainly coming upon this earth? They're difficult enough already, but they will become even more tumultuous in the days ahead. Well, then it makes good sense to study the teachings of Jesus Christ, and we've been doing that now for five different Sabbaths. This is the sixth part in the Sermon on the Mount. So, as Christians, we do need to take to heart Christ's words.
This is the most popular sermon for good reason. Here we find instructions. We find words from the Word of God and, again, the foundation upon which we should build our lives, build our spiritual temples upon Christ. So, today we're going to continue these foundational teachings. So, rather than take a lot of time to summarize what we've covered, I would again encourage you to go to our website and to review. Or, perhaps, if you missed a sermon, to go back and listen to these sermons, because they are very important for our spiritual well-being. Last time, we did cover three main principles. Number one, as followers of Christ, we should strive to keep even what some would consider the least of the commandments, and we should also teach others to do likewise. Secondly, know that you will not enter the kingdom of God unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. So, now is the time to cultivate a soft, repentant heart, one that is motivated by the true love of God that will allow you to walk in the Spirit, which, of course, far surpasses the letter of the law. And number three, don't let your anger get the best of you. We talked about that quite a bit. Don't let your anger get the best of you, but bring it into the spirit. Lest you be guilty of murdering someone in your heart.
Now, I did want to clarify something that I said last time in regard to the phrase Without a Cause. In Matthew 5, verse 22, where it says, But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Now, the New King James Version and the King James Version of the Bible, the New Testament part, is based upon the Byzantine Greek text known as the textus receptus or the received text, which we as a Church view as more trustworthy overall, even though they are not necessarily the oldest ones that have been discovered.
Most Bibles and most biblical scholars actually prefer the Alexandrian text just because they are the oldest that have been discovered. The Byzantine texts include the phrase Without a Cause, while the Alexandrian or the Egyptian texts do not have that phrase included. Now, William Barclay, from whom I've quoted a number of times, he does seem to favor the Alexandrian texts, but the United Church of God and the Church of God for many years has favored the Byzantine texts, and that's why we largely use the King James Version, and now most of us use the New King James Version of the Bible.
So, I personally believe it is best to have the phrase Without a Cause included, and it is likely what Jesus Christ said and what he meant. We should never get angry unless there is a good reason to be angry. When someone wrongs us or another person, it is often a natural response to become angry. As someone who has done something wrong and has hurt someone, hurt you, or hurt others, it is rather natural to have a little bit of anger because of that. And again, hopefully that is righteous indignation, the right type of anger. Scripture tells us that it is acceptable to be angry, but sin not.
So, we can become angry, but it doesn't have to lead to sin. It shouldn't lead to sin. We should not become angry when things don't necessarily go our way, when we're being selfish or perhaps envious, when we're being jealous of others. In a wrong sense, we should also always have our anger well in control so that it does not cause us to do something or say something that would be wrongful or sinful. So, I just wanted to add a clarification to what I had said last time.
Now, let's go to Matthew 5 and we'll read verse 23 and 24. Matthew 5, verse 23 and 24. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, speaking of a sacrifice here, if you come to the temple and you bring your gift or your sacrifice to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, Christ says, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift or then make sacrifice. Brethren, sacrifices were given to atone for one's sins, but only for sins of ignorance or sins of passion and weakness, not for deliberate, willful sins, sins that they referred to as sins of a high hand.
The idea was that by making a sacrifice, a person admitted their sin and sought to restore the relationship between them and God. Also, great emphasis was placed upon relationships with one another. It was understood that a person who made sacrifice to God must seek to have a right relationship with his fellow man.
In order to give the sacrifice, one must first reconcile with anyone he may have offended or wronged, and he should make restitution just as he has offended God by his sin, for which he was now making a sacrifice. So, it was very, very important that people learn to get along, that people learn to love each other, to care for each other, to be considerate toward one another, not to hold grudges toward each other, to learn to forgive one another.
Christ is saying we need to be that way as well. Now, William Barclay says that the Jews were quite clear that not even the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement could avail for a man unless he was first reconciled to his neighbor. This breach between man and God could not be healed until the breach between man and man was healed.
Remember, how can we love God unless we love our brother? How can we love God whom we've never seen unless we learn to love our brother, who we see, who we interact with? It's a very important principle that we really do need to take to heart.
So, the person was to go and make things right with anyone he had wronged, including someone that he needed to forgive himself and hadn't yet done so. After making things right with the other person, then he could return and make sacrifice to God for his own sins. So, if you want God to forgive your transgressions against him, you must first repent of your own transgressions, and you should repent of those transgressions against your brother, your sister, and make amends. You must also forgive your brother his transgressions against you. So, it is very, very important that we do take to heart these words and that we do go to our brother. Last year, I gave a couple of sermons on going to your brother and learning to make things right with your brother, with your sister, and not to hold grudges and harbor resentment and hatred toward one another. Now, in Matthew chapter 5, verse 25 and 26, we read, Christ says, Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assurely I say to you, you will by no means get out of there until you have paid the last penny. Now, Jesus is giving some very practical advice here, but human beings are not always known to be very wise or very practical. Many seem to enjoy making it difficult for themselves, and so they don't heed Christ's advice here. He is saying that it makes good sense to settle a dispute quickly, especially if you are likely in the wrong. Otherwise, you may end up paying a much larger price in the long run, and typically it is pride that gets in the way.
There are two scenarios to which Jesus may be alluding to here. Under Greek law, and of course there was a great deal of Greek influence at the time of Christ, there was an arrest that was called a summary arrest. This is according to what Barkley says in his commentary. He said it was what they would call a summary arrest, where one person would literally arrest another person by grabbing him by the robe at the throat, in such a way that if the person struggled, he would end up strangling himself. The crime for which one might be summarily arrested in this way was thievery, such as clothes stealing. People stole clothes back in those days quite a bit, evidently, because when they met in the Greek public baths, it was easy to steal clothing. Also, picking pockets, breaking into someone's home, and then kidnapping, usually a gifted slave. It was very common for gifted slaves to be kidnapped. So a summary arrest could possibly take place under those circumstances. So a plaintiff and a defendant might easily find themselves on the way to court together. If you have someone by the throat and you're moving them toward the court, you're going to get there about the same time. So, Barkley says that could be one thing that Christ might have been alluding to, but it is more likely that Jesus was referring primarily to Jewish law and specifically to one of debt. In a small town, one could easily bump into another person on the way to court as they were both going to court. Perhaps they could even settle out of court if they were wise. The person primarily in the wrong would be wise to seek remedy and make peace rather than go to court and perhaps lose much more, perhaps even winding up in debtor's prison. Also, Jesus may be hoping that we will also see the spiritual application. Of course, I'm sure he was hoping we would see the spiritual application in regard to repenting quickly when we've sinned. If we acknowledge our sin, if we can admit that we've sinned, and then we go to God and we ask for forgiveness, if we fall upon God's mercy, then of course God will forgive us. He's a very forgiving God, but he does expect us to repent. In fact, he is the one who grants repentance based upon our heart. Of course, we need to seek repentance. We need to be sorry for what we've done. We should be remorseful for our sins, and we should ask God to humbly forgive us those sins.
A day of reckoning, of course, is coming. The Scripture clearly talks about a day of reckoning for all of us. We actually know that judgment has begun upon the house of God, and now is our day of salvation. Those of us who have been given understanding, who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are held accountable for what we understand and for what we know. This is our day of salvation. We know a day of reckoning is coming upon the earth in a very real way when Christ returns. Of course, those who are faithful and have endured to the end, who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them, they shall be saved. They will be changed into Spirit at the return of Christ. Well, we're going through a judgment period now that will guarantee that we will be in God's kingdom, and it's how we live our lives right now. The choices that you make and that I make will echo in eternity. We will live forever if we humble ourselves now and if we readily admit our sins and we fall upon the mercy seat of God, then God will forgive us. And of course, we should strive to put sin completely out of our lives. As I said last time, our goal should be to become perfect. Be you perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect. We know we won't get there in this life because we're still in the flesh, but we should strive to be as perfect as we can possibly be with God's help and with Christ living in us. So a day of reckoning again is coming upon all people, and we do not want to be caught unaware. We want to repent now before it's too late, lest we go into great tribulation. Whether it's before the actual great tribulation, because some people go through an awful lot of tribulation already. You know, life is difficult, and sometimes we bring that tribulation upon ourselves. Sometimes it's of no fault of our own. It's just God is testing us and allowing certain things to happen. Time and chance sometimes also happens. But how we deal with time and chance and how we respond to that makes all the difference in the world. So now is the time, brethren, to seek God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our might. Now in Matthew 5, verses 27 and 28, You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now we know that you shall not commit adultery as one of the Ten Commandments. The commandments that were given on Mount Sinai to show us how to live. Violating this commandment brought the death penalty. Let's see that in Leviticus chapter 20, verse 10. Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 10.
Here it reads, The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Obviously, this is a law. It's a rule that God doesn't want us to take lightly. And yet, what is the modern approach in our society today in 2016, almost 2017? What is our modern approach toward adultery in many, many cases?
People often marry. They commit adultery. They divorce. They remarry. They commit adultery. They divorce again. They commit adultery. They divorce again.
In fact, some years ago, I met a woman who had been married 10 times. And this was the mother of one of our church members.
So, the example that he had growing up was certainly not a godly one. Ten times. And a few of them may have died, but the majority, she had divorced. And I don't know all the details, but I know that it's not proper in God's sight.
And that was several years ago, so if she's still living, it could be a dozen or more by now. You know, Christ told the woman that was called in the act of adultery to go and sin no more. That was his instruction. This was a situation where those who wanted to see her stoned to death were also guilty of similar things, maybe not exactly the same thing, but similar things. Sins that were worthy of death.
And, of course, they were wanting to kill her.
They weren't calling for their own deaths at that time, even though they were all guilty of sin as well. Jesus, of course, was showing them that he who is without sin should cast the first stone.
Only Jesus Christ was without sin, right? He was the only one there that was without sin. Thankfully, they went away after that, and they realized that they, too, were guilty of sin.
He who is without sin cast the first stone. He could see their attitude. He could see their approach. And it was a very important lesson. Christ is not interested in our death. He's interested in our lives. He's interested in how we live our lives.
He wants us to choose life. To choose those principles that are so well outlined in the Bible that we should live by. We should choose life that it will be well with us. He did tell her to go in sin no more. Christ is not soft on sin, but Christ is merciful. He gives us chances to repent. He gives us many opportunities to repent of our sins. Thankfully, we've all been forgiven many, many times. I know I've been forgiven many times. And you have as well.
But we should strive to go in sin no more.
Rather, we live in a very, very permissive age, a very permissive society today. Much more so than when I was a teenager. It's changed a lot in the last 40 to 45, 50 years. Not quite 50. Not for me. I was not a teenager 50 years ago. Much younger than that. But the point I'm making, it has changed quite a lot.
It is a very, very permissive society these days, more so than perhaps at any time in history, although it was a very permissive back at the time of Christ as well.
The Greeks, the Romans, they were steeped in sin as well, just as we are today.
Now, William Barclay in the commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, he says, according to the original meaning of the Greek, the man who is condemned is the man who looks at a woman with the deliberate intention of lusting after her. The man who is condemned is the man who deliberately uses his eyes to awaken his lust, the man who looks in such a way that passion is awakened and desire deliberately stimulated. We embarkly back in 1956 wrote this. He said, in an attempting world, there are many things which are deliberately designed to excite desire, books, pictures, plays, even advertisements. I suppose today we would say especially advertisements. The man whom Jesus here condemns is the man who deliberately uses his eyes to stimulate his desires, the man who finds a strange delight in things which awaken the desire for the forbidden thing, the thing that God forbids. To the pure, all things are pure, but the man whose heart is defiled can look at any scene and find something in it to titillate and excite the wrong desire. Now we know the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So this is a very dangerous world that we live in. Today it's gotten worse since 1956. I think it's a more tempting world in many respects because of just the abundance of illicit things that are out there that are so readily available. Now you can pick up a phone and within seconds you can be watching some extremely filthy things. That's the world we live in. It's a dangerous world.
We should not take that lightly. We should realize that Satan is our adversary, that he is the great tempter, and that Satan would love to destroy us. Now notice in Matthew 5, verse 29, he says, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. Now he was just talking about looking at a woman to lust for her. And then he says, if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you, for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hellfire, to be cast into Gehenna. Perhaps the right eye is used because it's normally it's percentage-wise, I suppose, it's the dominant eye in most cases. Most people are more right eye dominant. There are also more right-handed. I don't know what the... maybe it's not as much as one would think. It seems like there's a lot more right-handers out there than there are left-handers, a ton more. So maybe it was just because it's the dominant eye. In verse 30, it says, and if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you, for it is more profitable that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Jesus Christ is advising his disciples that anything that contributes to or causes a person to sin, it should be cut off. It should be eliminated so that faithfulness and obedience may prevail. He is not suggesting that he wants us to go gouge out our eyes and cut off our limbs. That's not primarily what Christ is saying at all, but figuratively and spiritually, that is exactly what he wants and expects us to do. Let me say that again. Figuratively and spiritually, that's exactly what Christ wants us to do. He wants us to cut off and eliminate these things that cause us or tempt us or contribute to sinning. Now, the word translated cause in the New King James Version and translated offend in the King James Version is the Greek word skandalon, s-k-a-n-d-a-l-o-n, which is a form of another very similar word that means the bait stick in a trap. The bait stick in a trap. This word has also been translated as a stumbling block. In fact, Barclay translated it as a stumbling block.
If a stumbling block leads you to sin, let me see exactly how he worded that.
If your right eye proves a stumbling block to you, or if your right arm proves a stumbling block to you, causes you to sin, then tear it out, cut it off. He's saying, it is the stick or arm upon which bait is placed. Perhaps you've baited a mousetrap. I must say I've baited a lot more mousetraps than I would like to admit. I may have shared with you that the house we bought in Oklahoma was basically infested with mice. It was unbelievable. I trapped 200 mice. I'm guessing I didn't keep track of every single mouse, but we had a lot of cats, and every morning they were fed mice. It was unreal. It was disgusting. But I've set a lot of mouse traps. So we're familiar with a mousetrap, and it's the rod or the piece of metal that one puts the cheese or the peanut butter on. Peanut butter works really well. When you bait the trap with peanut butter or cheese, then the mouse comes along, sticks his nose down there on the... some of these mice are incredibly smart or sensitive. I had mice licking the peanut butter off and not getting caught. But typically they get caught. They stick their nose down there on the trap. They hit that stick or that rod that is attached to a spring, and when the mouse attempts to eat the bait, triggers the spring, which releases the piece of metal that slams down upon him, and traps and kills him. Now the cause, the right hand or the right eye, is also like a snare. It's like a trip wire or a thin layer of grass, sticks, cloth, and debris that may be used to cover up and disguise a large hole. A hole that perhaps a lion could fall into. You've probably seen movies where the natives dug a big hole and then they covered it up with sticks and grass and branches and stuff. And then a lion comes along and falls down into the pit and he's trapped.
Our eyes and our hands are indicative of major parts of our bodies that are involved with our sins. Oftentimes it starts with the eye because sometimes we see things and we begin to lust for things. Whether it be a woman or whether it be a bass boat or a car, whatever it might be. I don't lust for bass boats. My wife has accused me of that, but no, not really. Anyway, the hands are also involved in much of what we do. We use our hands a lot. Satan will do his best to scandalize you. Did you notice the word that was translated calls scandalon? From this word we get our English word scandalize. Satan will do his best to scandalize you, to tempt you to sin, to entice you, and ultimately to destroy you. That is really Satan's goal. He's jealous. He's envious of our relationship that we have with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. He blew it a long time ago, and he wants us to blow it. He's referred to as the prince of the power of the air, and I believe he does broadcast his thoughts and desires into our minds. I think Satan is actively striving to do that. We must learn to reject those ungodly thoughts when they first come into our minds. Let's go to James 1 and consider what James writes here in regard to sin. How does sin begin? What happens? What's the process? James chapter 1 verse 12. He says, Blessed is a man who endures temptation.
For when he has been approved, and this word temptation could also be translated tested. Satan tempts us, but God tests us. God allows Satan to tempt us. Thereby we are tested. Will we pass the test, or will we fail? Blessed is a man who endures temptation or testing. For when he has been approved, in other words, when he makes the right choice, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him. And how do we love Christ? We love him by keeping his commandments, by loving each other.
God looks on our heart. He knows whether we have his love within us. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. That's right. God is not going to tempt you to sin. That's why Satan is around. In a sense, Satan has a purpose. God allows Satan to tempt us.
And again, when that happens, then we are going through a test. He says, but each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. As I said, we have carnal minds. We have sinful desires. There are things that we want to do, that we should not want to do. But we do want to do them because we're flesh and we're weak. Verse 15, then when desire has conceived, in other words, when we act upon our desires, if we have a wrong desire, then we should admit that we're having a wrong desire. And it's unhealthy to dwell on that wrong desire or that wrong thought. That's the time to cut it off. That's the time to eliminate it. That's when we should seek God with all of our heart and soul and mind, instead of going down that road that leads to destruction. Now, I've been fighting in the good fight for many years, and many of you have as well. And I know you understand what I'm talking about. That's when we need to wage war against Satan the devil. Instead of being a pawn in his hand, we need to stand up and do the right thing. We should eliminate those types of thoughts. Fight back. Bring every thought into captivity. When you have a wrong desire, a wrong thought, don't let it go unchecked. Recognize it. Admit it. And eliminate it. And we'll talk about how we can eliminate those thoughts a little bit more. So, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. When we dwell on these desires, when we go down that road, then we will sin. It's inevitable. And you've probably done this so many times you don't even like to think about it or remember. When you did not cut off those wrong desires, those wrong thoughts, and you went down that road, just like a mouse, sticking its nose into the trap.
Further and further, until you're caught, Satan will do his best to scandalize you. And he's brought down many good men and women. He's been very effective. He doesn't have to be effective with you if you will apply what Christ is saying here in the Sermon on the Mount.
When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is the breaking of the law. And it can be in the letter or it can be in the spirit of the law. Christ is showing us that we have to go beyond the letter, and we have to consider the spirit of the law. And sin, when it is full grown, when sin is not repented of, it becomes full grown.
If you don't take your sins seriously, then you will sin more and more and more until your sins are full grown. And you will find it very difficult to repent, because you've damaged yourself so much that you've allowed it to go on so long that you've taken it so lightly, and that you have not fought back, but you've gotten that nose deeper and deeper into sin. And when sin is full grown, what does it bring? It brings death, because the wages of sin is death, and that's what we deserve. God is not to blame. We are to blame. Anyone who is cast into the lake of fire has only himself to blame, because God will give all of us fair opportunity to repent. God isn't calling everyone right now, and perhaps that's because He realizes that some would not be able to repent and live properly at this time, but He has called you. God knows that with His help, you will succeed. If you will humble yourself and you will seek His help, if you will allow Christ to live in you, then you will have victory over sin when Christ returns. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren, is how James ends this section here. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. I hope none of you are deceived, and that you realize that sin is what killed our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ laid His life down for us. He died for us. He was your sins and my sins that made this necessary. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but should have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. That's what God's interested in doing. He's interested in saving the whole world. He's interested in saving all of His children, but God doesn't force any of us. He doesn't force any of us. We all have free moral agency. We get to decide. We get to choose. You get to choose. Obviously, you've been choosing life. I doubt if you'd be here. Keep choosing life.
Don't take things in this world lightly. This world is a dangerous place. It's a very dangerous place to live. It's hard to be good, as my son told me at age five. Remember?
I found him praying. He had done something wrong. I think I had to spank him or something. I don't remember all the things, but he had some very profound words. He said, Dad, it's hard to be good. It is hard to be good. I know that. It's hard to be good. We're not always good. We need the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we need to cling to that sacrifice.
We need to cling to that sacrifice and never take it for granted or lightly. Of course, when we pray regularly, when we study our Bibles regularly, when we meditate on God's way regularly, and when we fast regularly, we will strengthen ourselves spiritually, so that we will not falter, and our house will not fall. But if you're neglecting those things, then you're neglecting your spiritual salvation.
So, what's more important to you? Is it your work?
Is that why you're not praying and not studying the Bible? Because you're working way too many hours. Or, what is it? What's more important to you? What is your idol that is more important than doing that, which is good and pleasing to God?
Is it watching TV?
Hours, hour after hour, to the point where you're neglecting prayer and Bible study? Or fasting? There are many idols out there, but be honest with yourself, and ask yourself if you have any idols. And if you do, strive to get rid of them. Strive to put them out of your life. Don't allow them to be more important to you than your own salvation. These things will strengthen us, doing good works, serving others, being involved with one another. It'll help in your battle, in your fight.
Stirring up the Spirit of God is what gives us victory over sin. Stirring up the Spirit of God within you, God in us gives us victory over sin. God does the work in us. We get out of the way when we humble ourselves, when we admit that we've sinned, when we ask for forgiveness. God will forgive us, and then He will also strengthen us to do better.
And we will be of much greater value to one another if we can learn to do this. Remember, if you break one of the least of these commandments, and you teach others to do likewise, your example is a bad one, someone sees your example, they do the same thing, you shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Greater those who do these things, even the least of the commandments, and teach others to do them as well. So let's go to 2 Corinthians 10. I mentioned this verse earlier. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 5. Well, let's read verse 4 along with it.
He says, well, let's read verse 3 along with that, too. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. Remember, I said you had to fight back. You had to make war with Satan. Well, you don't do that in the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Addictions are strongholds. Whatever addiction you might have, it's easy to have an addiction. The flesh lends itself to addictions.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. For even addictions, for helping us overcome things like that.
Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.
God will give us the strength to make war, to fight against Satan the devil. Casting down arguments in every high thing, every prideful thing, every lofty thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. There is a lot of vanity and pride out there. There are people claiming to be the two witnesses out there. I just had a guy call me yesterday that is convinced that he knows who the two witnesses are, and they're actively preaching today. I've seen this over 40 years in the church. Dozens and dozens of two witnesses. People claiming to be something they're not. False ministers, false prophets, false apostles. We have to be careful that we aren't duped and deceived into believing much of what's out there. I'm not going to say that. Everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Christ was perfect. Christ never sinned. He was perfectly obedient.
Being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. It's very hard to really help others when we're sinning ourselves. It's hard to go to your brother when you are a huge sinner. What does it say about the speck that's in your brother's eye when you have a moat? In your own eye? How do you help your brother get rid of that speck if you have a moat in your own eye?
You have to get the plank out, but you also should work at getting the speck out so that you can see clearly and help your brother and sister in Christ grow and overcome. It puts them out of their lives and draws closer to God.
We ought to bring every thought into captivity. Philippians 2, verse 5, Paul says, Paul says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you.
Do you have the mind of Jesus Christ? Are you there? Of course, none of us are there. None of us have the perfect mind of Christ, but that is our goal. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, not my will be done. But your will be done. That's what Christ said. He was completely surrendered to the Father's will. That is our goal. Christ is our example. He is the light. Remember, we are to be lights to the world. Christ is that great light. We are to reflect His light in how we live our lives. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And then in Philippians 4, it tells us what we should think about. And if we would always do this, then we would have very...
We would not be deceived and go down that road if we would just apply this verse. Philippians 4, verse 8. Paul says, finally, brethren, he's coming to a conclusion. It's always important when he says finally to pay close attention. He's going to sum things up. He's going to give you something very, very important. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things out there are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are a good report, whatever things... I'm sorry, if there is any virtue and if there's anything praiseworthy, then meditate on those things. Now, we could reverse that and we could say, whatever things are impure, whatever things are not so lovely, but instead they're ugly even, whatever things are a bad report, not healthy things, if there is anything that's not virtuous, if there's anything that is not worth praise, don't meditate on those things. Don't think about those things. Don't allow yourself to dwell on those ungodly negative thoughts. Drive them out. Eliminate them. Cut them off. Don't be like that mouse who sticks his nose deeper into the trap.
1 Corinthians 10, verse 13 tells us something very important in regard to this fight that we're battling in. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.
Paul says, No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. There's nothing out there that others haven't had to deal with. No temptation has overtaken you, except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.
God will not allow you. So if you're tempted to do certain things and you find yourself doing them, know that you can overcome that, because God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able. Paul, you can put that sin out of your life, because God's not going to allow you to be tempted in such a way that you can't overcome it.
So remember that when you think there's no way you can stop doing something, whatever it might be, realize that, no, you wouldn't be in this fix if God wasn't there to rescue you.
But God gives you instructions on how to handle things. And if you don't do it, then you put yourself into a temptation that you're not going to be able to overcome, because you've gone too far down the road. You've stuck your nose too deep into the trap.
Does that make sense? Does that make sense to you? I mean, I know I stick my nose way too deep sometimes. And then I think, God rescue me. Yeah, it's too late then. You're not strong enough. You are not strong enough. If you go down a certain path, you are not strong enough at that point to stop sinning.
You've gone too far. You've gone too far. So if you don't get anything else out of anything I ever say, not just today, but ever, no, that you don't have to go that far down the path. If you'll catch yourself early, if you'll deal with your thoughts, ungodly pleasure, ungodly desires, if you'll go to your knees then, if you'll seek God then, pray about it, ask for strength, then you'll have the strength to overcome.
But when you shove God aside—and that's what we do— we shove God aside. We don't want God nosy—you know, we don't want Him budding in. A part of us doesn't want God there, because we want to do what we want to do. We don't want to do what God wants us to do. Let's face it. We want to do what we want to do. And that's what always gets us in trouble.
We can even scandalize ourselves.
So, brethren, today we've covered some very important principles. Principles of living from the Sermon on the Mount. Number one, if you want God to forgive your transgressions against Him, you must first repent of your transgressions against your brother and make amends make restitution. You must also forgive your brother his transgressions against you. You must be a forgiving person, just like Christ is, like God is.
Number two, agree with your adversary quickly and admit your wrongdoing lest you bring upon yourself greater punishment. Number three, get right with God and man before it's too late for you and you suffer severe consequences. Be sure your sins will find you out. Number four, it is not enough to follow the letter of the law in regard to adultery or sexual immorality. But we are to strive to follow the spirit of the law and learn to bring our impure thoughts and our desires into captivity.
And number five, learn to make those hard choices now. Learn to make the hard choices now. The hard choices is when we want to do something, but we know it's wrong, but we want to do it anyway. That's the hard choice. That's when it gets really tough, because then we're denying ourselves something that we really want to do, and a lot of us are not very good at that.
So learn to make the hard choices right now. Take the drastic measures necessary to be faithful and obedient and guard your thoughts. Guard your minds. Bring your thoughts into captivity. Don't go down that road. Don't stick your nose into that trap. So, brethren, if you want to build your spiritual house on the rock, then take heed to what Jesus Christ says in the Sermon on the Mount.
In the weeks ahead, of course, we're going to study into detail Christ's instruction that leads to peace, at least to contentment right now. And ultimately, it will lead to God's eternal kingdom. It will lead to eternal life for all of us. We should have confidence in God, because God is a powerful God. If you're here today, there's hope for you. Now, there's hope for everyone out there that's not here today, either, thankfully. But there's certainly hope for you. You're here. You want to do what's right. A part of you, at least, wants to do what's right. A part of you, not so much.
So, but we're all in this together, so we all have to fight the good fight together. And to me, it's encouraging to know that there are others. I'm not the only one. There are others who are struggling with the same things, fighting the same battles. Next time, there's some really good stuff to go through. So, I hope you'll all be here.
