0:00 So we'll continue our study in the sermon on the mount. And for those who may be new, I want to mention the sermon on the mount. Basically Jesus spoke about nine right attitudes that we can have 0:19 towards God. And that's in Matthew chapter 5 and verses 3-2. And then the rest of the sermon on the mount all the way to the end is nine wrong attitudes that we can have 0:38 towards God. And in between he said in verse Matthew 5:13 to 16 that if we have these right attitudes then we will be like salt in the food or light in a room. The light of the 0:55 world the salt of the earth. And if we don't have it, then the light has gone become dark. So if you want to know that if the light of God is shining in you, you just got to check yourself through Matthew 5:3 to 12 and see if you have those qualities 1:14 and see whether the light is shining brightly and whether you are like salt that influences you know how salt changes the taste of everything you put into it. Whether you are influencing people where you live, where you work, 1:31 you you cannot avoid the taste of salt. Just a little bit of salt and you taste it. And that's how all of us should be. Wherever we are with our unconverted relatives or in our place of work, one person can make a difference. 1:47 And then we saw how Jesus said that he has come to not to abolish the law but really when you think about it to explain what the law was all about that it was not an outward thing but inward. 2:04 And so he contrasted the commandments of Moses the law with what God really wanted. You know, Moses went up to the mount and brought ten commandments which he called the law. Jesus went up to the mount also 2:23 and sat with his disciples and explained to them that it's not an outward thing. It's inward. The main difference between old covenant and new covenant is the old covenant was all outward. The new covenant is inward. So if you make 2:39 your Christian life only consist of outward activities like going to church or singing songs, you're really back in the old covenant. You must recognize that the fundamental requirement of the new covenant is something inward and all 2:53 those qualities mentioned in Matthew 5 3-11 are inward and everything else that comes in the rest of the sermon on the mount. So if you can remember one thing that the old covenant was all external the sacrifices were external. 3:10 In the new covenant if you make a sacrifice you don't let anybody know about it. And there are a lot of other sacrifices which we make privately and internally which even your wife or your husband may not know. That is real new 3:24 covenant life where other people do not know anything about the sacrifices you're making. In fact, even about prayer, he said, "Nobody should know how much you pray. Nobody should know how much you give. Nobody should know 3:39 anything about your sacrifices. If you reveal to other people the sacrifices you're making, you're going back to the old covenant. They sacrificed their ox publicly. Everyone could see this by bringing an ox or a sheep or whatever it is. And this is 3:55 such a fundamental thing. And yet I find so many Christians, even preachers, are always wanting to show off what they've done and let everybody know what they've done and what they've sacrificed. And it's Christianity has drifted so far 4:11 away from God because from God because their preachers have not explained the new covenant to them. They have not understood it themselves. So please remember this that the foundation of the new covenant is everything is hidden. 4:28 It's in secret between man and God. For example, why is it that 30 years of the life of Jesus not nothing is written about it except that he went to a temple once and he came home and obeyed his parents. 30 years. Can you imagine what all he did in those 4:45 30 years to glorify God? all hidden. But there's a verse in John 16 which says the Holy Spirit will take of those things and show it to me. That's the verse that gripped me when I was gripped by the new covenant. I said, 5:04 Lord, I want the Holy Spirit to take of the things that Jesus did in the first 30 years of his life and show them to me so that I can do them. And other people won't know about it because it'll be in my life also. It'll 5:19 be as secret as it was in Jesus life. And you ask me what are those things? Well, I'm not supposed to tell you. It's supposed to be secret. You can ask God yourself. God will show it to you. And it's far better God shows you. You make 5:33 this a plan in your life. Go to the Lord, the Holy Spirit of God, and say, "Uh, claim this verse." This is what I claimed and I'll tell you it's because the secret of the new new covenant is fundamentally inward. See this is the 5:51 verse I took. When the holy spirit has come John 16 verse 13 when the holy spirit has come he will guide you into all the truth. And what will he do? All the truth means 6:09 a lot of things which are hidden. Verse 14, he will take of he'll glorify me. He'll take of mine and reveal it to you. Can't I read it in the gospels? No. He's going to take the things that are not revealed in the gospels. In fact, if you 6:28 learn to the turn to the last page of John, it says in John's gospel, the last page in the last verse, do you know the last verse of the gospels? Here it is. There are many other things John 21:25. 6:46 This is the thing that gripped me. There are many things which Jesus did which if they are written in detail. Remember this is the Holy Spirit inspired John to write this. The whole world will not be able to contain the books 7:02 that are written. Do you believe that Jesus did so many things in those first 30 years that there'd be so many books could be written about it? I'll tell you something. 99% of Christians have not even bothered to 7:19 find out what it is. Nobody told me to find out. I I read it. God gave me a revelation on John 16:13. And the Holy Spirit will show it to you if you're interested. Most Christians are not interested. Have you ever asked the Lord to show you 7:37 what Jesus did in those first 30 years? A lot of people are jumping into how he preached and did miracles and healing. That's after 30 years of a private life. So I would encourage you, it's changed my life just to understand what Jesus 7:52 did in those first 30 years. I'd recommend it to you. Keep that in mind because this is the fundamental principle of the sermon on the mount. We'll come back to Matthew 5:21. You'll understand it better. Now you have heard that it was said Matthew 8:05 5:21, you shall not commit murder. That is a Old Testament law. don't come kill. But Jesus says, I want to go to the root of it. I want to go to the hidden spring, bad spring from which murder comes. And that is anger. 8:25 When a man goes to kill somebody, it started with anger against that man for something or the other. I'm not talking about hired killers. I'm talking about somebody who's personally angry with somebody and goes and kills him. It 8:36 starts with anger in the heart, maybe comes out with anger in the mouth, and then leads on to murder. Murder is sort of the last stage. And the Lord says that is new. In the old covenant, if you don't kill, you you all that anger is 8:48 boiled up. It's okay so long as you don't kill. But in the new covenant, it's got to be dealt with where it begins. So he said, the old covenant said, you shall not commit murder. Verse 21, but I, verse 22, but I say to you, 9:06 if you're angry, you're guilty. In the old covenant, he said, "If you murder, you're guilty. But I say to you, if you're angry, you're guilty." And then he uses a human illustration of court, Supreme Court, and higher judgments. You know how there's high 9:23 court and supreme court. And same thing he says here, if you are angry with your brother, you're already guilty. That means just a little anger in your heart against someone. How many Christians believe that? Have you believed it? said that if you got 9:36 anger in your heart against somebody, you're already guilty. Most people think if I express it, then you're guilty. Well, that is the second stage. Actually, the first stage is you're angry and it's in your heart. And the second stage is you 9:51 go and say to him some say something to him. That second stage and then you know how it is with anger. You don't feel you've said something and you don't feel happy that you've said enough and you think about it a little bit bit and come 10:02 back and say some more. That's what he says here. And then you come back and say something more. So he says there are three stages. The first stage you're guilty of the court. Second stage you're guilty before the Supreme Court. And the 10:14 third stage you go to hell. Where in the world have you heard a preacher say to you that if you allow anger to continue in your heart, you will go to hell. Only Jesus said it. I've never heard in my entire 67 years as a believer any 10:31 preacher preaching that from a pulpit that anger can finally lead you to hell. It's because they don't read Matthew 5:22. And so he says if you've had such anger in your heart against anybody, something unsettled, some grudge against someone, 10:48 somebody who cheated you, somebody who robbed you of something or did some harm to you or did some harm to your children, which you just can't forgive that guy. Okay, I want to say to you that he's not in danger. You're in danger. 11:02 And there you have a reason, he says, why your prayers are not answered. Why is it so many believers pray and pray and pray so much and nothing seems to happen? Here's one of the reasons. They've got something in their heart 11:15 against somebody that's not been settled. And so he says, then when you come to present your offering, what's the offering? We come to the altar with prayer. Lord do this for me or do that for me. And there you remember you got 11:30 this bitterness against somebody. You got this anger against someone that's not settled. You hurt somebody and that's the second part that you hurt somebody you haven't asked his forgiveness. You see there are two things. One you have to forgive people 11:41 and the other you have to ask forgiveness. So both he refers to here. Uh one is you're presenting in the altar and you know that you got a bitterness in your heart against someone. Settle it. And the other is you remember when 11:53 you come with your offering verse 24 that you've hurt him in maybe with words or some action and then he says don't pray. We mentioned this last time the one place where Jesus says do not pray. Have you ever heard a preacher tell you do not 12:11 pray. Well you hear a lot of things from me which you don't hear from others but it's from the Bible. Leave your offering at the altar. What does it mean? Don't pray because God's not listening. He doesn't pick up the phone. Go and settle 12:25 that matter again and then present your offering. I've heard people tell me, "Brother Zach, I heard you say that before." Well, you haven't done it. Then you need to hear it 25 times. When you actually done it, then you can say, "I 12:36 don't need to hear that again." If you can say, "I have settled everything with every human being that I have ever hurt that person," then you don't need to hear this message. you've done it. But if you say, "Brother Zach, 12:51 I heard that before." Well, you need to hear it another hundred times. If you still haven't settled it with that person, if you haven't asked forgiveness from that person, we need to keep on hearing it for your salvation. 13:02 So, leave your offering there. God's not going to listen to you. I believe here is the reason why multitudes of prayers that Christians pray are never heard. You can please yourself that you have prayed, but I want to tell you, it 13:16 didn't reach heaven. He just went to the roof and came back because that applies to everyone sitting here. Is there anybody first of all that you have a grudge against whom you have hurt in some way whom you're angry against whom you got 13:33 something in your heart still there not settled and the reverse of that have you hurt somebody and you've not asked his forgiveness. These are the two things. somebody hurt you and you don't forgive him or some you hurt somebody and you 13:47 haven't lost his forgiveness in both cases your prayer is not going to be heard and Jesus said make your offering go first be reconciled in verse 25 make friends quickly quickly have you heard that word quickly in this matter of settling matters with 14:05 others is not settled make friends quickly otherwise you can be thrown thrown into prison. Verse 25. And that's hell again. And you won't come out at all till you've paid the last scent. And you'll never be able to pay pay anything once you get to 14:22 hell. Okay. The next thing he talks about is adultery. [clears throat] Now, it's very interesting after Jesus said in verse 20, I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the 14:39 kingdom of heaven. Now many people if they come to you, you know, an unbeliever comes to you or even sometimes nominal Christians, how can I enter the kingdom of heaven? Well, we said Christ died for our sins, believe in him. But don't stop there. Tell them 14:55 unless your righteousness verse 20 exceeds the righteousness of Pharisees, you won't enter the kingdom of heaven. Nobody preaches that part of the gospel. that repentance must result in a changed life which is far superior to the 15:10 external religion of the Pharisees. I tell you because people don't read the scriptures carefully, they're going to get a lot of surprises when Christ comes again. When you come to Christ comes again and as judgment seat he certain he 15:23 says certain things and Lord I didn't know that and the Lord will say that was written in Matthew chapter 5. If you opened your New Testament, it is almost within five pages you come to it and you didn't read it. Well, some preacher said, "Well, why did 15:39 you listen to a preacher when you know English and you have a Bible with you? Don't you read it?" Yeah, it's very serious. But I'll tell you one thing. Nobody who has listened to me in any of our CFC churches will ever be able to say to the Lord, "Lord, 15:57 I never heard that." Never. You'll hear it clearly more than once. Whether you respond to it and obey it is quite another thing that's between you and God. But you'll never be able to say to the Lord in if you are regularly 16:11 attending a CFC church, I can guarantee you'll never be able to say to the Lord, there was something written in the New Testament I never heard. You'd heard it thoroughly. So here it is. Why did Jesus mention these two things? 16:26 Your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. Verse 20. And I told you the other day that the righteousness of the Pharisees was external and they had the right doctrine and they had a good external life. What they lacked 16:42 was an inner life. And then he take mentions two areas particularly. First of all, when he he goes on to other subjects, but what are the first two things he talks about? Anger 16:59 and sexually lustful thinking. Now tell me if this these are not the two major problems that all men have and anger all women also have. Major problem. You go and ask any husband or wife. Go and ask anybody who works in an 17:17 office where they're unrighteous bosses. Anger and for men sexually lustful way of thinking. [clears throat] Do you believe that is serious? Most churches they never talk about it. They talk about adultery. 17:37 They talk about murder. They're leading people to the old covenant. In the new covenant, it is anger [clears throat] and sexually lustful way of thinking. You, he says in verse 27, you heard that you should not commit adultery. But I 17:51 say to you, if you look at a woman, what did you do? Look at a woman. And if it's an ugly woman, you won't usually look further. It's a pretty woman. You look at a pretty woman, maybe someone down the street or on a cinema 18:08 poster or somewhere you saw a very very pretty girl and the first look is temptation. The second look is sin. Can you follow that rule? You'll save yourself from many sins 18:26 if you recognize this. The first look is temptation. The second look is sin. Repent. And make sure that in future you avoid that second look. If you're serious about your Christian life, 18:44 if you want to believe all those stories that all the other preachers preach to you, go ahead. But you'll get a surprise at the judgment seat of Christ. You will hear the Lord telling you that that the first look was temptation, the second 18:56 look was sin. What was the necessity for that second look? Yeah. People say, "I was just admiring the wonders of God's creation." Aha. You better say that to the Lord in the final day. He's not deceived. 19:13 Anyone who looks at a woman with lust for her, lust is a word, unfortunately, it's got a bad connotation. All it means is a strong desire in your heart. You know you cannot go and commit 19:32 adultery with her. So you do the next best just lusting and enjoying the look. That's lust is not something physical. It's something inward in the heart. It says remember in verse 26 in your heart it's there. You've already committed. 19:50 You haven't committed it physically but you have committed adultery [clears throat] in your heart. Now, is it possible for a man to look at a woman and commit adultery in his heart? Yes. And most men have committed it numerous 20:06 times. And they've never repented of it. And because they don't repent of it, and they don't take it seriously, they keep on doing it. And they keep on saying, "The blood of Jesus cleanses me." And that's why I'll tell you, that's why their lives don't 20:20 count for God at all. I believe that many men could have been mighty servants of God on earth if they had only taken this seriously and because they don't take it seriously. God says he doesn't take my word seriously. I could have used him 20:35 mightily to serve me but he's just drifting around takes things lightly. Are you one of those? I hope not. God wants many, many servants in these days, in these last days. I want to challenge you men to be one of those and start 20:49 when you're young. I started when I was 23 and I didn't get taught by somebody. I just read the Bible. That's all. I spent seven years studying the Bible and I discovered all types of things which I never heard from preachers. You don't have to listen to 21:03 me. Just read the Bible. Read the New Testament and read slowly and ask God to show you the truth and say, "Lord, cleanse my mind of all the shallow Christianity that I've heard from others. This is a matter of life and 21:15 death." If your right eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away. Imagine the radical way the Lord is saying you got to deal with sin. That it's better. It's basically what 21:34 he's saying. It's better to lose one eye than to lust. In plain simple terms, if your right eye is causing you sin, tear it out. Don't lust. And then if without that you'll I would carry on and say that if your left eye causes you to lust, tear that 21:52 out too. How many people take that seriously? It is better for you, verse 29, to lose one part of your body and go into God's presence than to keep your whole body and go to hell. 22:10 Have you heard anybody preach that to you, brothers? Especially for men. And sexual sin can be committed with your right eye or verse 30 with your right hand. Jesus doesn't u go into any details there but you know what that 22:28 means. And he's talking about sexual sin and adultery. And if your right hand is what causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose your that hand than to go to hell. Can you go to hell 22:45 that way too? I believe so. I believe the words of Jesus more than what anybody else says. So [clears throat] these are the two sins which are most common among all men. Anger among all men and women and anger and sexual lust among 23:04 all men. And Jesus makes that puts that at the top of the list and says if you're serious about following me take these sins seriously. You know when you come into these trying to overcome these things you find it's so difficult. 23:23 Exactly. And that's where we are driven to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the need that we find in our life that drives us to God and say Lord how can I overcome? Give me the power of your Holy Spirit. And there's 23:37 nothing that will drive us to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit better than reading the sermon on the mount. You read it, I tell you, you will not be able to keep quiet. If you're a serious Christian and you want to follow it, 23:50 you'll say, "Lord, I can never do this." No amount of determination or being challenged by a message. I mean, you're challenged today by hearing this. You can be scared. Oh, I'm scared. I better do it. I tell you, even getting scared 24:02 will not make you obey. You see, I just can't do it. Lord, I agree with your statement that without you, I can do nothing. I'm like a branch. The only way that branch can produce good fruit is stay in the branch. Lord, give me stay 24:18 in the tree. Give me the power of your Holy Spirit. I found that reading the sermon on the mount gives will give you such a tremendous passion to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit that you won't rest until God gives it to you. 24:32 And the proof of it will be that you'll be able to keep the things that Jesus the standard that Jesus spoke in the sermon on the mount. I say the best way to find out is whether you're filled with the spirit or not and see whether 24:43 you it helps you to keep Matthew 56 and 7. What a cheap counterfeit the devil has produced by in so many Pentecostal churches. You babble something in tongues and you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Brother, that's wrong. You keep the sermon on the mount 24:57 then I'll tell you you're filled with the Holy Spirit. how the devil has deceived people. You want to know whether you're filled with the spirit? Just read Matthew 5:6 and 7. You don't have to speak in tonesues. Jesus never spoke in tonesues. 25:10 There are lots and lots of godly men who never spoke in tonesues. But a godly man took Matthew 56 and 7 seriously. So I'm glad that we're taking this study. Let's move on to another thing in verse 31. He's talking about divorce which has 25:26 become so common in the world today. Christians, pastors are divorced and married more than once, divorced and married. It's become so light. You know once you be take uh lusting with the eyes lightly then the next step is go 25:39 divorce is also light taken lightly. You go step by step by step till you reach hell. And he says here if you in the old testament the law was you you were permitted to divorce just give a certificate and you can divorce. But I 25:54 say to you, if you get married and you divorce your wife except for the fact that she was unfaithful to you and gave her body which is meant for you to another man, I'm paraphrasing it. When a woman marries a man, 26:13 her body is meant exclusively for him. And if she does not keep that law but goes and gives that body to somebody else, it is adultery. And then you are permitted to divorce 26:32 your wife. That's what Jesus said. You don't have to. If you want, you can forgive her and let it go, but you're permitted. And if you marry a divorced woman, you've committed adultery. There's another way to commit adultery. One is 26:50 by lusting with your eyes and the other is by you fall in love with a divorced woman who's been separated from her husband for some reason. And do you know the number of so-called bornagain Christians who have married divorced 27:05 people and in CFC I've taken a very strong stand against it. I said a person who's married a divorced person can come to the church by all means we receive sinners. What can what can you do with people who are ignorant of these things 27:23 and they're unconverted? We can receive murderers in the church. There are murderers who are in heaven or converted. The last thing that Jesus did was forgive a murderer. So we don't say we will not receive murderers and 27:34 thieves and divorcees in the church. We'll receive all of them. All sinners can come to the church and be forgiven and be a part of the church. But if a person has left his wife and married another, we will not allow him to minister God's 27:53 word in the church. Because we read in 1 Timothy 3 that a person who shares God word must be the husband of one wife. verse more than one it says in 1 Timothy 3 he's not qualified to lead the church so we are strict on that but we won't 28:09 say he cannot come into the church he's welcome God can forgive him he can be a child of God he can come into God's kingdom and he can grow to be a spiritual man but there are certain limitations he cannot marry again if 28:22 he's married a divorced person so things like that you know if we keep these standards I find God's blessing will be on our church and that's one of the things that we've tried to maintain right from the We want to maintain God's standards in 28:35 the church. We want to maintain God's standards in the matter of anger, in the matter of adultery, in the matter of divorce. And we pray that God will help us to res preserve those standards in our church. Let's bow 28:53 before God in prayer. Heavenly Father, we know that there's absolutely nothing that Jesus commanded that he will not give us the power to obey. He'd be teasing us if he told us something and not give us the power to obey. We are absolutely convinced, Lord, 29:11 in this church anyway that anything you have commanded in the sermon on the mount, you will give us the power of the Holy Spirit to obey. Help everyone here to have faith when they read Matthew 5:6 and 7 that the power of the Holy Spirit 29:25 is available to keep every one of these standards. Thank you, Father, in Jesus name. Amen.
