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Matthew 5:21-26 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

I was talking to a married lady one day, and noticing she seemed upset, I asked “Did you wake up grouchy this morning?”. She told me “No, I let him sleep”.

It seems that her husband has a “heart” problem.

A politician running for office (I won’t say who) stated “2900 children die from gun violence every year”. That is tragic. What is more tragic is that the same politician does not acknowledge that 125,000 children die by abortion worldwide each day, and 3000 of these are performed in America. Each. Day. 3000. Yet this politician – along with many others – is for abortion.

It seems our nation has a “heart” problem.

What are the solutions to what ails our country? Some say that it is one political party or the other. Others think that we can throw more money at it and make it go away. Some suggest that the solution is in a better justice system, increased imprisonment, or some sort of social reform. The truth is, the problems we face cannot be fixed unless we stop addressing the symptoms and go to the cause or the heart of the matter.

Mankind Has A “Heart” Problem

As Jesus sat on the mountain teaching His disciples sitting at His feet, our Lord began to address the forces that caused Israel to be in bondage to Rome. Why was God’s nation, a nation He led through the Red Sea, a nation that spawned heroes such as Moses, Joshua, King David, the Prophet Samuel – WHY WAS THIS GREAT NATION BEATEN AND NOW THE LAPDOG OF ROME? Why was this great nation under a puppet King called Herod? Why did a Roman governor called Pilate have any authority whatsoever against God’s people? God fought for Israel, and at one time caused the sun to stand still and another time to move backward for His people. Why had God abandoned Israel?

Israel had a “heart” problem.

God had not abandoned Israel. Israel abandoned God. God has not abandoned America. America has abandoned God. Many local Churches have abandoned God. We are too proud to kneel at His feet. We are too proud to sit and hear His Word.

America has a “heart” problem.

New And More Laws Will Not Fix The “Heart”

Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment

There is and never will be a more perfect written Law than the Law of Moses, the Law that God gave to Israel on Mount Sinai. The Mosaic Law has three divisions: moral, civil, and ceremonial. The moral code reflected the conscience that God places in every human. The civil code was for Israel alone. The ceremonial code was also just for Israel, but this code taught of the Coming Christ. We studied what Jesus said last week:

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

Jesus would later tell us in …

John 5:45-47 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

And at the end of His ministry on earth Jesus said:

Luke 24:44 … These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

God gave a perfect written Law to Israel.

The Apostle said in Galatians 3:21, “if there had been a law which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law {of Moses}”.

The Bible tells us “the law is light” (Proverbs 6:23).
The Bible tells us “by the Law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
The Bible tells us “the Law is holy” (Romans 7:12).
The Bible tells us “the Law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14).
The Bible tells us “the Law is good” (1 Timothy 1:8).
But the Bible also tells us this:

“The Law is NOT MADE for a righteous person”
1 Timothy 1:9

The Law was “made for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and the sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers (heterosexual sinners), for them that defile themselves with mankind (homosexual sinners), for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons …” (1 Timothy 1:9-10).

The Law defines sin. Murder is a grievous sin. Jesus does not dispute that murder is a sin. He does not eradicate or erase the Law. He acknowledges it.

Matthew 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment

The Law, this Perfect Law, defines the problem. Murder is a violation of the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). Before the Mosaic Law was ever given the Lord told Noah:

Genesis 9:5-6 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

To murder someone {Hebrew רָצַח râtsach (pronounced raw-tsakh’)} is to steal something that belongs to God. God owns the soul of us all. God said:

LISTEN UP! Every SOUL BELONGS TO ME!
Ezekiel 18:4

Your soul belongs to God.
Whether you believe in Him or not, your soul is a gift from God.

If you are a Christian “you not your own – you do not belong to you! YOU ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE!” (1 Corinthians 6:20)

This is why God’s perfect Law was so harsh with murder. God said:

Numbers 35:16-18 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.

Murder Begins In The “Heart”

The reason no written Law will fix what ails us is because murder, like all sin, begins in the heart. Jesus brings this out. He said:

Matthew 5:21-22 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you,

The most perfect Law said “murder is hated by God. If you murder, you steal a life. If you murder, you will forfeit your life.” But then Jesus says, “Let’s not address the SYMPTOM. Let’s address the PROBLEM”. Here’s the problem:

Matthew 5:21-22 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment

Murder starts in the heart. It begins by being angry without a cause. Being angry for foolish things. Being angry because YOU don’t get your way. Being angry because someone else doesn’t agree with you. Being angry because your heart, like a wild stallion, is not under the control of the God Who loves you. Being angry because you have made yourself your own idol.

When we are born into this world, we are born because God gave us life. But we are born broken. The Bible says of our hearts:

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

God can see your hearts. God can control your hearts (Jeremiah 17:10). But you must give your hearts to God.

One day the Pharisees chastised Jesus for allowing His disciples to eat without first washing their hands. Under the Law a person who touched something unclean was to wash their hands (see Leviticus 15:11). The Pharisees considered all things unclean, and so disparaged Jesus for allowing His disciples to eat without washing their hands.

Matthew 15:16-20 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? 17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

What defiles a person before God? It is what is in the heart. Out of the heart comes … MURDERS. That’s what Jesus is saying in our focal text. Read it again:

Matthew 5:22 I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Murder starts in the heart. Anger without a cause – a God sanctioned cause – leads to murder. It starts in the heart. Then it comes from the mouth. “Raca” is original to the Greek text, but it is not a Greek word. Many suppose it comes from the Aramaic Reka, which means “empty headed” or “foolish”. To call someone Reka is to make that person less than God made them. To call someone “thou fool” (moronos) is the same as saying “you are damned” or “you are going to hell” (see Psalm 14:1; Luke 12:20).

Every life has value. God made you in His image to walk with Him. Every person, whether in the womb, on their feet, or in the long term care facilities – every person is valuable. God made you for Himself. God gave you life to live with and for Him.

And no one has the right to devalue or diminish a person.

Granted, there are many sins that God commands we avoid. We saw several today in the book of 1 Timothy. But no written law is going to fix anything. No Constitutional adjustment or amendment is going to fix the murder problem in America.

The heart must be fixed. The heart must be filled with Godliness and righteousness. This is only possible through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jesus Is The Fulfiller Of The Law,
The “Fixer” Of The Heart

Matthew 5:23-24 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

Do you belong to Jesus? Have you believed on Him for salvation? If so, then no one has to chase you to make you serve the Living God. You want to approach the altar, a wonderful figure of serving God. And if Jesus is in your heart you know that you are to love as you were loved. God has taken from you that stony heart of the lost. The Apostle spoke of those who

Romans 2:15 … shew the work of the law written in their hearts

God promised His Old Covenant saints that one day the Law of God would be more than on tablets of stone, on parchment, on paper. He told Israel that the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ would come. He said that through the Christ:

Jeremiah 31:33-34 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Hebrews chapter 10 quotes from this prophecy in Jeremiah, then tells us:

Hebrews 10:19-25 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Has Jesus possession of your heart? Then love is planted in your heart. God the Holy Spirit influences you. And you value every person for Christ’s sake. You have had a heart transplant. You belong to Jesus.

Jesus Christ is “Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). Jesus Christ is “a Lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). It is the …

“Blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. {Who purged our} conscience from dead works {so that we can} serve the Living God” (Hebrews 9:14)

My heart belongs to Jesus. Does yours?

This wonderful Savior,
This sinless Redeemer,
This marvelous incarnation of God among us,
This precious Son of God
This Jesus.

bids you come to Him. Kneel at His feet. Realize that He is the only Solution for what ails America. Jesus Christ is the only Solution for what ails EVERYONE. We need Him. We need to fall in love with Him. We need to heed His Word – the Red Letters!

In closing I’ll share a parable I heard from Pastor John MacArthur. He said:

“There’s a tale told about a certain rabbi whose name was Simon Ben Eleazar, and Simon Ben Eleazar was coming from his teacher’s house, and he’d just had a lesson at the feet of this great teacher, and he was feeling uplifted in the thought of his own scholarship, and he was so pleased with his own erudition, and he was so thrilled with his own righteousness, and his own goodness, and his own holiness. And as he was walking along he came across a very low, rather ugly common man who passed by and greeted him. And the rabbi did not return the greeting, but said, “You, Raca, how ugly you are. Are all the men of your town as ugly as you?” To which the man replied, “That I do not know, go and tell the Maker who created me how ugly is the creature He has made.”

God made you to walk with Him. Come to Him. Come to Jesus. Give Him your broken heart, and He will make your life anew. Oh, that God the Spirit would open your hearts to the wonder of Christ today! Amen!