0:00 Okay, let's >> [clears throat] >> turn to Matthew's gospel chapter 5 where we continue uh study in the Sermon on the Mount. >> [clears throat] >> If ever you you know, I tell all believers if ever you go to some place and you're deciding 0:20 which church to join, one of the things you could ask the elders or leaders of that church is, "Do you preach the Sermon on the Mount? Do you teach all your people in your church that they must obey everything taught in Matthew 5, 6, and 0:38 7?" And well, many people say yes because it's dangerous to say no to something in the New Testament. Then you need to ask another question, "Have you ever taught it?" That'll be the test. And you'll discover that I guess that more than 99% of churches 0:56 never teach the Sermon on the Mount in detail like we do. Could ask them specific questions. "Do you teach in this church that anger is equal to murder in the New Covenant? That lusting with the eyes is equal to adultery in the New Covenant?" 1:13 It's very searching pointed questions. That's what Jesus said. Now, strictly speaking, if you had asked any of the 12 disciples or the 11 disciples if they taught that, they'd say yes. Every one of them would say yes. You ask 1:27 Paul, "Did you teach that in every church?" He'd say yes, sure. So, why is it that it's not being done today because >> [snorts] >> the devil has diluted the message so much and that's why we have a third-rate Christianity 1:41 that the devil's not afraid of. And the worst part of it is it is leading so many people into hell and preventing so many Christians from living the full Christian life that they could have lived. 1:59 And they die without living the way God wants them to live. That's a tragedy. Now, many people think it's a great tragedy that people go to hell. I agree. But I believe it's an equal tragedy if I have not lived to the full extent 2:15 that God wanted me to live. And if I have not taught other people to live to the full extent of God wanted them to live. Or if you have not taught your children, if I have not taught my children to live up to the full extent that God wants 2:27 them to live, I have failed as a father. Now, I'm not responsible how my children live, but I I'm responsible if I have not taught my children how to live. Please recognize that, dear parents. You have a big responsibility to teach 2:40 your children as they come to an age of understanding the principles of the Sermon on the Mount. Very, very important. I'll tell you why. Because at the end of it Jesus said, let me repeat, "If you listen to this and don't do it, 2:55 you're building on sand. If you listen to it and do it, you're building on rock." Okay. I keep repeating that because that is so important. So, we looked at the first the nine right attitudes and now we've been looking at the wrong attitudes. And the 3:09 first wrong attitude we saw was anger in Matthew 5 and verse 22. And at the end of that sentence it says, "You can go to hell." You know, Jesus spoke about hell three times 3:27 in the Sermon on the Mount. Imagine in the Sermon on the Mount he's seeking to lead people to the highest possible standard of living to say there's a danger of going to hell. That means instead of living up there, you'll be going right down to the 3:40 bottomless pit. So, some of these uh sins must be pretty serious for Jesus to say that you go to hell. And I hope you remember that I mentioned it in verse 22. Anger can finally lead you to hell. 4:00 And verse 20 nine, your lusting with the eyes can lead you to hell. And verse 30, sinning with your right hand in that context can also lead you to hell. Those are the three places where hell is mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. So, we got 4:19 to take it seriously. Jesus was the one person who spoke more about hell than any other preacher. We hardly hear many preachers talking about it today. And then he goes on to speak about divorce, which is another area where 4:32 there's a lot of compromise in today. And Jesus' statement is very clear. The Old Covenant was when you put away a wife, give her a certificate of divorce. Now, there's no there was It's not that God said, "Okay, if you want you can put 4:48 away your wife in the Old Covenant." Even in the Old Covenant, Malachi chapter 2, I think it's verse 16, where God says, "I hate divorce." God hates divorce. That's so clear in Malachi 2:16. So, it's not that he changed his mind in 5:05 the New Covenant. He always hated it. He always wanted a man to be married to one woman. Now, sometimes the husband is not responsible for the woman divorcing him. So, we we must not judge a divorced couple saying they've disobeyed. We 5:19 don't know the circumstances. Always be merciful and always assume the best. If I meet a divorced man, I wouldn't assume that he left his wife. I would assume that his wife left him. Or the other way around also. I want to 5:33 assume the best of my fellow believers. We don't know the full story and we are not called to judge in any case. But we're talking about the future, not about what happened in the past. If you divorce your wife except for one 5:48 condition is if your wife was unfaithful to you and gave her body to another man, then she's broken the covenant of marriage, then Jesus permitted divorce because the woman has broken that covenant. That shows how important it is 6:06 to for a woman to be absolutely faithful with her body towards her husband. I mean, so serious that Jesus permitted divorce. The only con- reason for which Jesus permitted divorce. And he also said in verse 32, and this 6:21 is not something that is taken seriously. The last part of verse 32, "If you marry a divorced woman, you're also committing adultery." That's not preached in most churches today. There's hardly any churches that preaches 6:37 verse 32 at all. So, that's something very serious and uh because there are so many divorced people nowadays in many countries, we have to understand what shall we do as a church when divorced person wants to be a 6:55 member of the church? It's like a prostitute converted prostitute. For example, if Mary Magdalene who had lived so much in sexual sin came to join NCCF, would you receive her? Jesus received her. I mean, Jesus made her the first human 7:13 being to see him after his resurrection. What an amazing honor he gave to someone who lived like that. So, we should not become super spiritual and think that when Christ forgives and cleanses a person's sin, it's still 7:29 there. So, we don't look at Mary Magdalene anymore as a prostitute or any such thing. And so, we don't look at the person who's had that unfortunate event of divorce in the past as a adulterer or any such thing. No. We have to be merciful. 7:45 And if any sinner, whatever sin they have committed, even if it's a murderer, if uh they been forgiven and they come Paul was a murderer and they he he became an apostle. So, we God's forgiveness is so complete, the blood of Jesus cleanses and not only 8:02 cleanses, but justifies. And the word justification, I don't know whether every single person here understands justification. >> [snorts] >> What is the difference between you're saying you're forgiven and saying you're justified? It's very important. 8:17 We If you know it, please ensure that your children also know it. It means that not only I am forgiven, which is a great thing. I've probably done a hundred foolish things in my life, but the Lord's forgiven me. Not only that, 8:31 but the Lord looks at me in Christ as though I never did those things. That's another amazing statement. Not only that I never did those things, but that I was totally righteous from day one. That is the meaning of justification. It's such an amazing 8:50 truth that most believers don't believe it. >> [clears throat] >> Well, if you don't believe it, according to your faith be it unto you, but makes a tremendous difference to know, particularly the person who's lived so much in sin, 9:02 to know that when he's the Bible says that he's justified by the blood of Christ, that means the blood of Christ has cleansed him so thoroughly that not only the past is blotted out, but it looks as God looks at him as if he had 9:15 never committed a sin in his life. Not only he never committed a sin, but he was totally righteous, which is the positive thing. To say he never committed a sin is a negative statement, but to say he was positively righteous from day one is an 9:28 amazing statement and that shows the power of the blood of Christ. That is another thing which many Christians are never taught. They're only taught the blood of Jesus cleanses you from sin. That's great. More than that, Romans 5:1 says we are 9:40 justified by faith. And well, further down in the chapter it says we are justified by the blood of Christ. So, that's very important. So, we don't look at a divorcee as though as he's a divorcee. He's forgiven. God's accepted him. 9:52 But we do make a difference when it comes to ministry in the church. Because it says in 1 Timothy in chapter 3 that a person who is to be an elder and overseer must have a good testimony. And it says here 10:11 he must verse 1 Timothy 3:2, he must be the husband of one wife. That's a condition. And to understand that it says in Romans 7 10:29 that if while a husband Romans talking about adultery and in divorce in Romans chapter 7 verse 3, if while her hus- Romans 7:3, if while her husband is living 10:49 she's joined to another man, so she's divorced and married another man, she shall be called an adulteress. If her husband dies then she shall not be called an adulteress. So these are serious statements in the New Testament and 11:02 that's why though we would accept those who are divorced freely and welcome them just like any other sinner like and just like ourselves who are sinners who converted and justified but we would not give such a person a public ministry 11:18 in the church. Okay, we go on to the next subject. And that is telling lies. Verse 33, Matthew 5:33 You have heard that it was said you shall not make false vows. That 11:37 means it's like in the court, you don't tell a lie when you go to court. People put their hand on a Bible and make a vow, I'm going to speak the truth. And the there in the Old Testament when you're in such a state where you have in 11:49 a court or something like that, you put your hand in a Bible, you make a vow, you must speak the truth. The rest of the time it doesn't matter if you tell lies. Whereas Jesus said it doesn't it's not a question of making 11:59 an oath. You don't you First of all, you're not supposed to make an oath verse 34, by heaven or by throne of God, you know, I swear by God and all people say, we don't do that. We we're not to swear by the earth or or Jerusalem or any such thing verse 35. 12:17 And you're not to make an oath by the hair on your head any such thing. Jesus said, when you say yes, verse 37, it must be yes. No qualification. When you say no it must be no. 12:34 Anything beyond that, you know trying to fool people is evil. Your yes must be yes. Your no must be no. I It also applies to when you make a promise. I will do this, yes. Now, if circumstances change and you're 12:54 not able to do it, God understands that and you got to explain to that person, I'm sorry. Circumstances changed so I could not keep my promise. I told you I would do it but I sorry, I couldn't do it. That's understandable. God understands. 13:06 But it's not that you're deliberately going and breaking a promise. If you promised to for example, if you made a promise to sell something to someone at a certain price. And he says, I'll come tomorrow and take it. And by tomorrow you discover that the 13:25 actually the price is much much more than what you offered for. You can't change your mind tomorrow. That's a Christian. You must be willing to suffer the loss because you gave your word. And I'll tell you this, if you honor God 13:43 in these little things like this, particularly in the matter of finances etc. that you say yes, it is yes. God will honor you. But very few Christians take all these things seriously. I hope in this church everyone will take 13:57 this seriously that when you sets told someone you would do something, you would do it. And you circumstances may change or you got sick or you can't do it and just it's understandable. You say, I'm sorry, I couldn't do it because circumstances 14:12 changed or I felt sick and I couldn't come or something like that. That's perfectly understandable. But what the Lord is saying is that it should not be that you give a promise when you have no intention to keep it. So be very careful even in a thing like 14:28 this. Lying, telling a lie is very very serious. It's one of the first things that we need to teach our children like I've quoted this verse before but I want to quote it again. Isaiah 58 Sorry, Psalm 58 14:48 and verse 3. You know what the Bible says? That children tell lies from the time they are born. The last part of verse 3, the children speak lies and go astray from birth. That's how babies are. 15:09 They cry like anything in giving the mother the impression that they're in terrific pain when they're not, they just want to be picked up, that's all. That's that's where they start lying. And from that time lying continues in a child. 15:24 So one of the first things we need to teach all our children is to speak the truth and to sit down with them saying, I don't care what wrong you did, I don't care what you broke or what crime you committed but if you tell me 15:36 the truth I'll forgive you. It's very very important that we teach our children from right from the earliest possible time to speak the truth always. Because it says here they go astray from birth telling lies. It's inbuilt in them 15:52 because of the nature of Adam that's come down through all of us. So that's the third wrong attitude, telling lies, anger, sexually sinful ways of thinking and lying. And we go to number four which is taking revenge. Verse 38 16:10 In the Old Testament it said, you an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Now, there again, the Old Testament did not say that if somebody knocks out your eye, you must knock out his eye. That's not what the Old Testament said. 16:23 Or that if he punches you and takes out one tooth of yours, you must take out one tooth of his. No. What the Lord said was if somebody hurts you and takes out your eye, don't take out both his eyes. I mean, if you don't take out anything, 16:37 that's fine. It's not a command that you must take out his eye. What the Lord was saying is don't do more than what he harm than what he did to you. Limit what you harm that you do to him to the extent that he did it to you. Of 16:49 course to you could live at a higher level and don't do anything in return in in revenge. So in the Old Testament it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and the meaning was not that you have to take out his eye or take out his tooth 17:01 but don't do more than what he did to you. But I say to you you don't do it at all. If he took out your eye and your tooth or took out all both your eyes and all your teeth, you just forgive him. I say to you, do not resist an evil 17:15 person. Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. And if somebody wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat. And whoever forces you to go 1 mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of 17:29 you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. Now, it's very easy for us to take these words literally and go astray. We need to understand the spirit in which Jesus was saying things and I'll prove it to you right now. 17:46 Take for example this statement. If somebody was middle of verse 39 if somebody slaps you >> [snorts] >> on one on your right cheek, turn the other to him. Now, how many of you know the answer to 18:05 this question? When Jesus was standing before the high priest or Pilate, one of them and somebody slapped him on one cheek did he do this? Do you remember? What did he What did he did he turn the 18:25 other cheek? Not only he didn't turn the other cheek. He asked him I spoke what's right, why do you slap me? So did Jesus disobey what he taught? You know, this is the danger 18:43 of our not understanding the spirit of scripture. Jesus said, the words that I speak to you are spirit and life. Legalists will go according to the letter when it is convenient for them. 19:01 And not go according to the letter when it's not convenient. And the majority of Christians are legalists in that sense. So I can when somebody slaps me on the right cheek, I'm not going to show the other cheek to him. Certainly not. 19:17 What I understand from that is that I don't slap him back. And I'm not going to have any bad thoughts towards him. I'm going to forgive him. That's the way I understand this. Not literally say, okay, slap me on the other side 19:30 also. Jesus himself never did it. And um if somebody takes you to court and says, I want this bit of your property unrighteously what are you going to say? Okay, take some more also. Jesus is not teaching that. 19:49 Understand it properly. But it can look like that if you take by the letter if somebody sues you and wants to take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And give to him who asks of you and don't turn away from him who wants to borrow 20:03 from you. Now in my younger days nobody taught the Sermon on the Mount in the brethren assembly I used to attend. I don't think they ever teach that in any brethren assembly that I've heard of. But so I never was taught what I thought 20:19 I read the scripture I must obey it. And I was a naval officer. I was earning a huge salary and I was single and I had a lot of money to spare at the end of every month. And so there was another junior sailor who came to our church who was a Christian. This 20:34 I'm talking about way back in 1963 I think. And uh he came and uh so he said brother Zach, can you give me some money? I'm in need. He was an older person. I said sure. How much do you want? And I gave him exactly what he asked for. 20:52 He said I'll give back to you next month. Next month came along and I didn't ask him where is it? I didn't ask him hey, return it. He came up to me and said I'm sorry brother Zach, I couldn't return it. Can you give me some more? I need a little 21:05 more. So I remembered Matthew 5:42. Give to him who asks you asks of you and don't turn turn away from him. If you only if he wants to borrow from you, give it. So I said sure, how much do you want? He said some more. I said 21:18 okay. He said he'll give it to you next month. Next month came he said brother I'm still tight. I'm sorry I can't give it to you. Can you give me some more? I said how much do you want? I was obeying Matthew 5:42 literally. 21:31 I gave him. And of course he never returned it. And then he got transferred away from there to some other place. He never returned anything that he took from me. And then the guy left the faith and went back to backslid 21:49 and went into some other thing and then when I heard that I wrote him a letter. I said hey if you have forsaken the Lord I don't have any obligation to keep that money with you. I'd ask you to return it so I can give it back to God's work. 22:07 And he wrote such a stinker to me saying even when I was in the Roman Catholic church, the priest did not persecute me like you're persecuting me. I said okay brother, please forget it. I don't want the money, keep it. And then I went to the Lord. 22:22 I said Lord, what did I do wrong? I obeyed your word literally. And [laughter] I said he asked me and I gave. And the Lord gave me an answer that day that I've never forgotten till today. He said if somebody it was an illustration Lord 22:40 gave me in my mind. If somebody had given you 50,000 rupees to keep with you and he'd come and take it later. And somebody else knowing that you have some money with you comes and says hey brother Zach, I hear you've got 50,000 22:53 rupees with me. Can you give me about 30,000 rupees of that? What would I do? I'd say hey listen, that's not my money. Let me ask him. If that guy permits you to take it, I'll give it. But I can't give it, it's not mine. 23:08 And the Lord said you treated that money as if it was yours because you earned it as a salary. Learn today that what you earn is not yours. It's mine. There's a verse in the Bible in 1 Corinthians 10 which says the earth is 23:27 the Lord's and everything in it. All the money in the earth is the Lord's, it's not mine. I learned a lesson. I'm very thankful that day because it never happened to me again. I never got deceived again. So I didn't mind going through that loss of a little 23:40 few rupees because I learned a lesson that what I earn, my salary is not mine. It's God's. All the money in the world is God's. He gives me a little bit of it. Somebody wants to borrow it, I'd say well hang on, let me ask. So the next 23:57 time many years later when somebody again came and asked me for some money I said hang on, I'll go to ask the Lord how much to give. And uh then I gave him what I felt free from the Lord to give. So here's a lesson, don't go by the 24:12 letter of the law because it can lead you into doing a lot of stupid things. But otherwise the principle of give to him that asks you and don't turn away is a principle of we must help those who are in need but recognizing when you 24:32 give that it belongs to the Lord so I must get the Lord's permission because there are a lot of people in the world even in Christendom who are out to cheat you. There are pastors and preachers nowadays. Christendom is filled with 24:45 them who will ask for money and you are not ashamed to ask for it. And of course that's why we took a very strong stand in CFC churches that nobody would receive a salary in in all these 50 churches, all our 300 leaders in all our churches not one 25:04 of them has received a single cent of salary including me. We don't believe that. We because Jesus never received a salary and Paul never received a salary and none of the apostles received a salary. The Old Testament priests did. 25:18 So I believe this principle of paying a pastor is 100% old covenant. And therefore you they build old covenant churches. So in the area of money you find that is easily you detect what is a new covenant church and what is an old 25:34 covenant church. So there are a number of things which if we stand by what we read in the Sermon on the Mount you'll find that there's a clear line drawn between certain types of churches. And that is why many churches don't 25:53 preach the Sermon on the Mount because it'll expose them as being disobedient. So in CFC churches we want to emphasize this very strongly and everybody who becomes a part of CFC church, not who comes as a visitor. We don't Visitors can live just as they 26:09 like. But if you want to be a part of the church, I say this is a standard we preach. May God help us. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that we shall understand the spirit 26:27 of your word when we read it and help your Holy Spirit to help us to understand it so that we live by it and to live by the high standard you've called us to live because we know that if we live by that your fullest blessing will be ours as well. 26:45 We pray that this that every one of us here will have that faith to believe that as we seek your best you will give us your best as well. As we seek your highest you will give us your best. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
