The Way To Growth In Christlikeness - Part 5 — Zac Poonen

The Sermon on the Mount and Growth in Christlikeness

We want to continue our study in Growth in Christlikeness Which is the title I've given for our study of the Sermon on the Mount. And so far we looked at nine right attitudes that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5.

Which are also known as the attitudes by some that's in Matthew 5 verse 3 to 12. We covered that and we saw at the end of it that Jesus said this is what makes the salt Have its taste and this is what makes the light shine brightly.

So if you don't have these qualities. And if you don't pursue them the salt was loosed its saltiness and the light will become dim and. And that's how The foolish virgins missed out on being ready for the coming of the Lord.

So this is a very relevant passage in relation to the coming of the Lord. And we saw that the salt refers to the inner light invisible but which can give taste and the Light refers to the outer visible light.

Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father. Then we're 17 onwards. Jesus speaks about the law. Moses came down from the mountain and gave a law to Israel which was Showing them a little bit of the heart of God for mankind.

Now Jesus expands on that and he says. Now what I'm going to tell you now is not cancelling the law and the prophets. No, I did not come to abolish them. But I came to fulfill them. Please remember that so in what we read in Matthew 5 6 7 is An expansion and a fulfillment of the full purpose of the law which was seen only in a very small way 1 of it in the mosaic law.

Here Jesus explains that same thing is not an abolishing of the law. But making that 1 a hundred percent the full picture. And then he goes on to say that your Righteousness must he says if you cancel any of these commandments, you'll be called the least in the kingdom of heaven verse 19.

But if you keep even the least of them, he shall be called great. Important thing here in verse 19 is to see how Jesus gives importance to the least commandments. So that teaches us there are commandments which are more important than others.

But the test of our obedience is Not in whether we keep the main commandments, which even non-christians may be keeping but in whether we keep the least commandments, that's where our Fear of the Lord and love for the Lord is tested not in the major commandments.

But in the small ones, please remember that always right through. Everything in the New Testament there are major commandments and commandments with Jesus called here in verse 19. The least the least means right at the bottom not as important as some of the others, but our value in God's kingdom is Determined by our attitude to the least commandments and even in the church there are commandments that are very small and there are commandments that are big and Many Christians glory in the fact we are keeping the big ones.

That's fine. But to be great in the kingdom of heaven according to verse 19 You're tested by what your attitude to the least of God's commandments because the important thing is not What the commandment is but who gave them?

Almighty God Jesus Christ gave them so then the least is as important as the greatest. Okay. Now we go to verse 20, which is again What Jesus was saying about fulfilling the law and the prophets. He says the Pharisees only understood the external letter of the law and unless your righteousness surpasses Exceeds the Righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Inner Righteousness Beyond Pharisaical Religion

So the righteousness of the Pharisees when it says exceeds Jesus is not talking about how often you pray or how often you fast or how much money you give. He's talking about the quality the quality of the righteousness of the Pharisees was Cleaning the outside of the cup as he said in Matthew 23 and the inside was dirty it's very clear and Now he says your righteousness must exceed that meaning if your righteousness is only on the outside.

You're no better than the Pharisees. If you keep only the external commandments that people can see and admire you for and esteem you for. You're no better than the Pharisees and we don't apply that to believers in the church to every one of you who are listening Born-again Christians if your testimony is only something that other Christians admire because they can see it.

You're no better than a Pharisee. The important thing is the inner life the salt Which cannot be seen but which can be tasted and God is the one who tastes it. In other words that inner life, which only God can see.

That is where our righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees not in quantity but in quality in other words Not just our words and deeds which others can hear and see but our words and deeds in private which the vast majority cannot hear and see and Our thoughts Which nobody can see not even the devil.

Holy God our attitudes to people inward attitudes. Not how we behave towards them, but our inner thoughts about them our inner motives with which we do something which can be discerned by discerning believers.

But otherwise it's hidden so these are the areas that are important. So if you want to seriously grow in Christ likeness, you've got to concentrate on thoughts attitudes motives and Words and actions done which are not seen by your fellow church members.

Evaluate your Christian life by these things. I just mentioned and then he says I'll explain to you. The Lord says what I mean by your righteousness will succeed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees first example, he says in the old covenant the law which Moses gave was You shall not commit murder.

That was the law. He said now I'll go to the root of it. The Lord says murder comes from anger so The Mosaic law was only giving you the surface thing the outside of the cup. You don't commit murder. The outside of the cup is clean but the inside of the cup can remain dirty if you're still angry and Most Christians who glory in the fact that I don't commit murder.

The inside of that cup is filthy. Because they got anger and It's Jesus speaks here about three stages how this anger can develop it starts with just being angry in the heart and then you're guilty before the court and Then that anger which is in the heart Comes out in your through your tongue in a few words to your brother and rude words and then you're more guilty and Then cannot content with that you go on with still stronger words.

Against your brother in anger. The anger is exploding now. It's like a volcano. Then you are guilty enough to go to hell. So anger in the heart is the first of three steps to hell. That's what Jesus said now very few Christians believe that.

Hardly any church preaches it and yet Jesus said that if you hear these words, remember the end of the Sermon on the Mount and You don't do them. You're like a man who built his house on sand. He can stand for your whole life.

But when Christ comes back You listen to be discovered. There's no foundation there. It was destroyed because you heard these words, but you did not obey them. You did not seek to get rid of anger in the heart.

Let me show you a verse in Ecclesiastes. Which says here that anger dwells in the bosom of a fool. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 9. Because that's where Jesus started speaking about anger. The last part of Ecclesiastes 7 verse 9 says anger is dwelling making a permanent residence In the heart of a fool.

That's that's what a person is who's got anger in his heart. But this person who's a fool with anger in his heart. We read here in Matthew 5 verse 22 calls his brother a fool. He think there's something wrong with him.

But he doesn't realize this anger in his heart makes him a fool and he's a bigger fool when he expresses it. Now how many of you have seen that. Unless your righteousness goes beyond the righteousness of the Pharisees.

That means we don't just clean the outside of the cup where we control our tongue and don't say anything angry. That's Buddhism and yoga. Whereas Jesus taught the cleaning the inside of the cup, but there's no anger in the heart.

Anger, Sin, and Righteous Zeal

It's from there from the heart. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 12 that from the evil treasure in a man's heart. The evil words come out. The mouth speaks this is Matthew 12 34 the mouth always speaks Of that which fills the heart so don't just say oh that was in an unguarded moment.

That I said that okay in an unguarded moment you discovered what was in your heart face up to it. Like a saintly person once said a cup full of sweet water can never spill. Sour dirty water, however violently it is shaken.

So if it is sweet water in your heart, no matter how violently somebody shakes you what will come out is sweet water and if what comes out in this provocative situation is bitter water. You got to thank God for that person who provoked you because he helped you to see what is inside your heart.

He helped you to see the snake that was hidden under the cupboard when he toppled that cupboard. Thank God that he toppled the cupboard and exposed the snake hidden there. Anger is something very serious.

It says in Ephesians 4 and verse 26. Ephesians 4 and verse 26 Be angry. That's a command but don't sin. It's not don't be angry. Let's read it carefully. Be angry, but don't let it be sinful anger. So there is an anger that is not sinful and There is an anger that is sinful.

We need to distinguish between the two and like I've often said When you want to know the meaning of an English word you go to an English dictionary. And when you want to know the meaning of a word in the written word you go to the living word the word made flesh.

Which is Jesus. So Jesus is our spiritual dictionary the word made flesh and how do I see in Jesus be angry? Righteously, but don't be angry unrighteously very clear. When Jesus saw people making money in the name of religion in the name of the Jewish faith in the temple.

He was angry. He made a whip of cords and chased them all out toppled the tables of the money changers. Another time when he saw the Pharisees. Unwilling to let him heal a man who was sick in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

It says he looked at them with anger. There was anger in his eyes, even though he never said anything. And then he rebuked those Pharisees and healed the man. So where was Jesus angry whenever? The glory of God was being touched or affected in the temple in our case in the church or When people were very hard on someone who was suffering whenever people were violating the law of love to God and love to man and Violating the principle of doing everything for the glory of God.

Jesus was angry when they violated the sanctity of God's house and When was he not angry. He was not angry when they called him visible he forgave them. Matthew 12. When they spat on his face, he forgave them when they crucified him.

He forgave them. So he was not angry even when they killed him. Even when Judas betrayed him he put his arm around him and said friend you betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss. So what we see there is be angry whenever it concerns the glory of God and.

And never be angry when it's only you who's affected now, is that what we see in Christians? No. How would Jesus react for example today when he sees Christian preachers on television. Urging poor people to give money to them to support their grand lifestyles for them to buy aircraft to fly around the world.

How would Jesus react to people making money in the name of Christianity? Would he get angry? Yes, it is just like those money changers in the temple so if you are a Christian and you watch that TV program of that man trying to make money in the name of Christianity and You don't get angry in your heart against that man.

You are not Christlike. That's not the place to be gentle. But when people abuse you accuse you if your wife is upset with you or your husband is upset with you and then anger in The house or anger in the office there if you get angry you are sinning.

It's very important for us to understand this clearly because anger is one of those sins which the entire human race is enslaved to and Jesus mentions it number one in your righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

To show them how important it is. To finish with this first of all He goes with the things which are man is most enslaved to it. He even wants them in Matthew 5 22 that if you don't control this, it'll finally lead to hell.

It's like a doctor telling him this cancer. You've got is pretty serious. If you don't cut it out and cut out even perhaps the organ That is infected with cancer. It'll kill you and you despise it and say well, it doesn't really matter.

You see an illiterate Uneducated person in a village who doesn't even know the meaning of the word cancer will sleep peacefully when a doctor tells him He's got cancer. Because he doesn't know the seriousness of it.

It won't bother him one bit. He'll go about his normal duties and he'll die. That is an educated person who knows the meaning of cancer. The doctor tells him you got cancer in the fourth stage, but I can cut out that organ of yours and save you from death.

He won't sleep that night he'll do something immediately the very next day. He's not doing things to get rid of that organ that's causing the cancer. That's the difference between being uneducated and educated now apply that spiritually when Jesus says that anger can lead you to hell finally the first of three stages a spiritually Uneducated person say oh, it's okay.

Everybody gets angry. It's not serious. That's a spiritually illiterate Uneducated man, and you need to ask yourself whether you who think you're born again and wholehearted whether you are actually in God's eyes spiritually uneducated and illiterate.

Proved by your wrong attitude to your anger. That you don't get angry when it concerns the glory of God. You don't get angry when people are making money out of others in the name of Christianity. But you do get angry when your wife gets upset or something goes wrong in the house.

Or you do get angry with others in your office. You got it all wrong. You got it upside down. You're angry just like the worldly people. That is not Christ likeness and if you want to grow in Christ likeness.

You've got to take this seriously say think anger like a cancer. The other thing I want you to see in Ephesians 4 is Be angry, but don't sin he says. But if you do get angry he makes a provision for those who are willing to travel second class.

We don't want the first class. Don't let the Sun go down on your anger. This is not This it's a provision God has made. It's like saying if you've got a thorn in your foot Best is take it out immediately.

Best is be careful that you don't walk. When you walk that you don't get thorns in your feet. But if you do get it at least take it out before you go to bed. Otherwise it'll get infected. That's what he's saying.

Okay, you you didn't get victory over anger at least. Do the second best which is before sunset which is a time when people go to sleep by then. Settle it with whoever you got angry with. Confess it to God confess it to your wife or husband or whoever you got angry with settle the matter and then go to bed.

Very very important advice. In fact this quotation in Ephesians 4 and verse 26 is actually from the Psalms and I want to read that verse to you in the Psalms in Psalm and chapter 4. Psalm 4 this is a direct quotation from Psalm 4 and verse 4 where it says.

And the margin of my Bible says tremble with anger. But don't sin, that's what he's quoting in Ephesians 4 26. Psalm 4 4 tremble with anger. But don't sin, but in the Old Testament, there was no Holy Spirit dwelling in people's hearts.

So he says here's the next best thing you can do when you're angry. Verse 4 go into your bedroom lay down in your bed and keep quiet till you cool off. Meditate on God's Word. That's the provision under the old covenant in the new covenant.

It is seek for the power of the Holy Spirit who can help you to overcome anger and Definitely go to bed with all anger settled. And the other thing I want you to notice in Ephesians 4 27 is If you don't get rid of your anger, you're giving the devil an opportunity Ephesians 4 27 to get a hold on you.

I Don't want the devil to have a hold in any area of my life. And I hope you feel like that too. So anger is a very very serious thing take it seriously and He says that if you hurt your brother Ephesians 4 sorry Matthew 5 and Verse 23 and you come to pray to God stop praying.

Stop praying. Stop giving your money to God. Stop preaching. Until you have gone to that person whom you offended maybe your brother maybe your wife maybe your husband. Don't do anything. Till you go and ask forgiveness.

Be reconciled and then come and offer your offering. Whatever that person may have did done what he did was evil. Maybe he crucified you but you still have no right to be angry. You have to ask forgiveness for your anger that's not permitted in God's kingdom and Then God will accept your offering otherwise here.

You know that so many people's prayers are not answered because they got angry with somebody and they never asked that person's forgiveness. That's what it says. You're an Ephesians. Sorry Matthew 5 and verse 22 to 26.

Meditate on that and stop there and Then we go to the next thing the next. We've seen one wrong attitude, which is anger sinful anger and Then the next wrong attitude is sinful sexual lust as I said, there is a right Anger holy anger and there's a sinful anger in the same way.

Lust, Holiness, and the Discipline of the Eyes

There is sex which is holy and right. Which God spoke to Adam and Eve? Multiply. He blessed them and told them to Multiply. How were they to multiply by legitimate sex in marriage between husband and wife.

That is the right good sex. But here he's talking about the bad sex where you Lust after some other woman in the old covenant. It was commandment number 10. You shall not lust after your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's daughter.

Neighbor's wife or neighbor's daughter covers every woman in the whole world. Everybody is either your neighbor's wife or your neighbor's daughter. And I must not lust after her. I must be satisfied with the wife God gave me and if I'm not married then I must be satisfied with the Lord himself until he gives me a wife and Control my passions see for the power of the Holy Spirit to subdue My sexual desires that I don't give into them in any sinful way.

Because it says here About adultery in the Old Testament. It was commandment. You shall not commit adultery verse 27 of Matthew 5 27, but I say to you If you look at a woman. Not if you look at a woman only but if you look at a woman with lust.

You you haven't done anything. But you looked at a woman and there was something attractive in her which made you lust. Proverbs says don't even lust after a beauty in Proverbs 6. Don't lust after a beauty don't lust after a body.

If you do you've committed adultery. It's very dangerous. To admire pretty women. Let me tell you that to recognize that someone is pretty you can't avoid it but to begin to admire it whether on the screen or in a poster or And on the street or anywhere it's dangerous.

It leads to sin. The sin has already begun when you begin to admire someone who's not your wife. And may not be just the face to admire a woman for anything that she is better than your wife at. You're on the way to adultery.

The standard of the New Covenant is very high. And that's why he gives us the power of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't just give us a commandment. At the end of Matthew the Sermon on the Mount. He said ask ask the Father and He'll give you the Holy Spirit To help you to keep these commandments.

That's how the Sermon on the Mount concludes. So that's what we need to bear in mind here. And if you're right eye Causes you to stumble because you're lusting with it. Tear it out. Can you imagine a man pulling out his eye?

The doctors do it sometimes when it is so badly infected that it would kill you or ruin the other eye. So there are Situations where medically they remove an eye. So here's your right eye. Causing you to lust after a woman it says this is such a serious sin that you should be willing to be blind in That eye Lord blind that eye with which I'm lusting after this woman.

But you know you get rid of your right eye and then you can lust with your left eye. You don't need two eyes to lust after a woman. One eye is enough. So what do you do when you lust with your left eye?

You've got to pull that out, too. That's the spirit of this commandment. In other words be willing to be totally blind. So in practical terms what that means is when you're tempted to lust turn your eyes away from there.

That's the meaning of pull it out turn your eyes away from there and Say Lord, I don't want to admire that. I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it on the screen. I want to Scroll down and go somewhere else.

I don't want to be on that page. I want to turn immediately. See we live in a world today where accidentally we can see these terrible pictures and Billboards and on a computer screen when you're not even expecting it.

I mean there are Evil people who go seeking for it in pornographic sites. I'm not talking about that type of evil. I'm talking about accidentally coming across something like that when you were not looking for it well, and the Lord says Cut it out.

That means become like a blind person at that time switch off the computer. Turn it off. There's one sin which we are told to run away from one Corinthian, you know. Many sins we resist we stand and risk.

The Bible says in James 4 Resist the devil and he'll flee from you even the devil himself. You're commanded in James 4 6 7 to resist him submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee. But there's one sin from which we are told to flee the devil will flee from us.

But when it comes to this sin, which is mentioned in one Corinthians and chapter 6 verse 18 flee from Immorality one Corinthians 6 verse 18 flee from immorality and the same thing Paul tells Timothy. Timothy is a 45 year old man.

And when Paul writes to him, he says To Timothy to 22 flee from youthful lusts a Wholehearted brother who had worked with Paul for 25 years 45 year old wholehearted Timothy flee from youthful lust and I would say to every wholehearted brother listening to me.

Even if you're as wholehearted as Timothy about whom Paul could say He does not seek his own in anything. Even if you're like that here is the Word of God to you flee from youthful lusts. Don't try and battle it run away.

Turn your eyes away. Against Goliath, that's the devil you can stand and resist. But when it's but Shiva coming against you turn and run. But Shiva knocked on David the one who had conquered Goliath you can resist the devil he'll flee from you.

But if you stand in front of pornography instead of running away from it, you will never conquer it. It'll knock you down. But Shiva has got more power than Goliath. Please remember that and so the only way is to flee.

Turn off the computer. Turn off your phone immediately run away from that temptation and In relation to sexual sin, the Lord also says in Matthew 5 verse 30 if your right hand Makes you stumble in some sexual way.

Cut it off. Act as one who doesn't have a hand. Act as one who doesn't have a left hand or a right hand. Jesus doesn't go into any details, but he tells you that these are dangerous Things that can ruin our life attitudes towards sex.

Illegitimate sex in our thoughts. This is in our thoughts. You see this is talking about the inner life inside of the cup and many many Christians their life is ruined because the inside of the cup is dirty.

The ministry is corrupted the good clean water. The Word of God is corrupted with this filth that is in their system. You can't preach God's Word in purity if your mind is full of these dirty thoughts and I'll tell you something one way to know whether we have dirty thoughts in our mind is What's your dreams?

See our dreams are very often the accumulated result of years and years of years of filthy thinking. So we don't have to condemn get condemned over it because dreams are unconscious sin and we don't Confess it.

We have to ask God to cleanse us, but it's not something we are consciously choosing good but we must acknowledge that it is a result of years and years of polluted thinking and watching polluted pictures and The person who's never watched polluted pictures all I will not get filthy dreams.

So what shall we do now? We should be careful that from now on it may take years to cleanse the filth of the past. The illustration I've often used in terms of the pollution of our mind is here's a bowl full of dirty muddy water.

Where we put mud in it for years. That's our mind now we're going to pour into it into this basin of dirty water a Jug of clean water the pure Word of God and as we pour the pure water the Word of God that water gets more and more diluted and Less and less filthy and it begins to overflow overflow overflow.

It may take years but one day that basin of water will be Pure water, but it should be getting less and less and less and less and less. God wants to keep our thoughts pure and Because he watches that I asked the Lord once Lord.

Why have you allowed? The sexual desire to come up in a person when he's just 13 14 years old and He can't get married for another 10 years. Why didn't God allow it to come up only when he's 24 or 25.

Now I believe the reason is God wants us to overcome sexual temptation before we get married. Otherwise marriage won't solve the problem. Many married people are totally defeated in their thought life though they won't acknowledge it and So we need to battle it when you're single that's the time to battle it battle it battle it and seek for the power of God.

So it goes on from there to sexual sin that leads to. The other aspect of this is the inside of the cup is our attitude to marriage. Marriage is a holy act in God's eyes and So he goes on from there to receive Sexual Unity is one of the functions of marriage.

Marriage is given primarily for companionship. It's not good for man to be alone and Therefore God gave him a wife and it's also for man to men and wife to procreate and have children so that they can have a family that glorifies God.

And thirdly, it's also for sexual unity to you know to make the unity between man and woman a pleasurable experience only within marriage, but Unfortunately, even in the Old Covenant there were people who would divorce their wives.

So he goes on from this in verse 31 to the subject of divorce. He said in the Old Covenant Divorce was permitted. That's basically what he's saying. You just give a certificate and divorce in this. Same thing is today absolutely true in Babylonian Christianity.

One mark of Babylonian Christianity is they don't bother about divorce. Divorce people are pastors and divorce people are preachers and divorce people are elders in churches and All types of things music leaders and all types of things divorce doesn't make a difference.

That is the mark of a Babylonian Church. But Jesus standards are higher. Let your light shine before men let the salt not lose its taste and His standard is if you divorce your wife. Except for the reason of unchastity or fornication as it says in some verses you commit adultery.

Now, it's very interesting. There are two different words used here and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. It's very clear. It's Jesus is against divorce and If you marry a divorced woman, it is an act of adultery.

You're not supposed to marry a divorced woman. That's what Jesus said, but do you think Christians bother about that and say who cares for Jesus? We follow what the rest of Christendom follows and we have follow what our lusts tell us to do.

Okay. Then be honest about it and say I don't care for God's Word. Scratch it out of your Bible. Just scratch out that verse and say that's not that's not for me. They won't do that they want to act holy but they're disobeying it all the time so we have to take this matter seriously because it has become so rampant and common and The percentage of divorces and unconverted people in the world today is about the same in America even among Christians.

It's not such a big thing in India, but it's slowly coming up. But it's an area that we all need to in the church have a clear stand on. So so I want to show you a few verses in this connection. Matthew.

I'll try and show you all the verses in the New Testament about it in Matthew 19 we read similar words and You know that this Matthew 19. I don't have to time to go in detail, but you can read it yourself.

Matthew 19 and verse 3 to 9 the Pharisees asked Jesus is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife and Jesus said it is because of the verse 8 because Matthew 19 8 because of the hardness of people's hearts that Moses permitted divorce a Person who divorces his wife is thereby testifying.

I have a very hard heart. I'm Divorcing my wife. I'm divorcing my husband because my heart is hard the words of Jesus He permitted it but from the beginning It was not so God made One man for one woman.

He didn't provide a number of women in Eden for Adam to choose one man for one woman. Very very clear and what God has joined together where six let no man or no preaching or no doctrine separate that is God's standard and For a church to be according for new covenant Church.

We have to maintain those standards no matter who gets offended or Who ignores these standards in Mark's gospel chapter 10? He says in verse 11, whoever marries whoever divorces his wife and Mark 10 11 and marries another woman commits adultery and If now here's the case of the woman and if the woman divorces her husband and marries another man She is committing adultery.

Both are mentioned here any man who Divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery and A woman who divorces her husband or his divorce and marries another man is committing adultery, too.

Now here there is no You know clause saying except it be for immorality in Matthew 5 We find that phrase If a person divorces wife except for unchastity or fornication and Makes a committed adultery and I want to say a word here.

You know, there are a lot of people who Appear to be very scholarly or pretend to be scholarly and who go to the Greek. And see this is what the Greek says and the Greek says this for this word and that word well, the interesting thing is that Jesus never spoke Greek and These people of disciples who are sitting on the mount when Jesus spoke.

He was not speaking to them in Greek. So he was reading the Greek translation of it. He was speaking to them in Aramaic. Which is a language spoken by people in Israel. Now, how in the world are we to know exact word that was used used there?

I'll tell you You don't need to know What you need to know when you read scriptures to understand the spirit Behind to see that God has given us his word to see his heart. If you understand the heart of God You will understand this passage on the other hand if you go into the Greek and the Aramaic and all type.

Well, you will go astray and I'll tell you why because Jesus said in Matthew 11 verse 25. Thank you father. You've hidden this from all the great scholars clever intelligent people who can study Greek Aramaic and everything else.

But you reveal them to little babies. Who don't know these things who don't know these languages. But who got a heart of humility and simple faith. That's what children have children have a simple faith in their parents and humility such people understand these verses Better than all the great scholars.