WWUTT 1941 Whoever Annuls the Least of These Commands (Matthew5:17-20)

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Jesus said that whoever annuls one of the least of the commandments shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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You know, one way that we see some people annul the law of God is by not even using it at all when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we're in Matthew 5, and I want to come back to the passage that I did last week in verses 17 to 20.

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So let me begin by reading here from the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets.

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I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly

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I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

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For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Now of course

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I did this section last week, and it would just make sense here at the start of a brand new week that I would continue on into the next section where Jesus begins going through the law.

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You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not murder. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.

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Now it was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

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So Jesus going through the law and explaining the law because the Pharisees had been twisting the law.

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They had been taking away from it and even adding to the law. And of course we're going to get to that. We'll continue on into that next section tomorrow.

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But I felt like on this last passage that we had looked at, which was Wednesday of last week, verses 17 to 20,

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I kind of rushed the middle. I spent most of the time talking about the righteous requirement that Christ puts on the beginning of the passage and on the end.

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Verse 17, do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

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That was a declaration of his righteousness, that he would righteously fulfill the requirements of the law.

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And then he brings up righteousness again at the end of the section. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the

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Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So most of that time on this particular passage last week,

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I spent talking about righteousness and I rushed the middle. I went through the middle too quickly. Let's consider the middle again, verses 18 and 19.

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For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the iota or the yode are the two words that are used here.

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The smallest letter or the stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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And those words describe just the smallest little marks and dashes that were used in either

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Hebrew or Greek writing. Verse 19, whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

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So let's look at those two verses again. First of all, in verse 18, Jesus saying, truly

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I say to you, that is a statement of truth. And notice that that is said twice in this particular section.

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Well, I'm talking verses 17 to 20. Jesus says in 18, for truly I say to you, and in verse 20, for I say to you, these are declarations of authority.

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And consider what is said at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount, when

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Jesus finishes the sermon at the very end, verses 28 and 29 of chapter 7.

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It says, now it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as one of their scribes.

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These statements here in verses 18 and 20 are statements of authority. For truly

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I say to you, for I say to you, Christ is saying that it's what he says is the true explanation of these words.

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And that's something to keep in mind too when we get into the law in the next portion. For example, verses 21 and 22, you have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not murder and whoever murders shall be guilty before the court.

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But I say to you, that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court.

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Right? So Jesus' statement of, I say to you, these are declarations of authority.

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And we have this declaration made twice in just these four verses. So in verse 18 again, truly

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I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away. In other words, as long as we live in this creation, before Christ's return and the new heavens and the new earth are instituted.

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Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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And that is not a statement regarding Christ's life, death, and resurrection.

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For the law is still in effect even now. In Romans chapter two, where it talks about even those who do not have the law will still be judged according to the law.

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So the law of God still has authority over mankind. It was not done away with by anything that Christ did.

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It's the very statement that Jesus is making here. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

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Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law. So these laws are still important.

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It's still something that we have to pay attention to. And I mentioned to you last week from Romans chapter three, where Paul says, do we overthrow the law by our faith?

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On the contrary, we uphold the law. So even we who have been saved by grace don't throw out the law.

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And Paul had said to Timothy in first Timothy chapter one, that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

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So the law should be used to point out a person's sin, to help them identify their sin that they understand that they have sinned before a holy

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God. And in being told this, in being shown this according to the law, a person's heart may be convicted and they see their need for a savior.

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Now I talked about this a little bit on Friday, and that's part of the reason why I wanted to come back to this section, because as I was critiquing that message from Rachel Gilson, you'll have to go back to the

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Friday episode, the Q &A there. As I was critiquing that, I was recognizing that her presentation, speech, whatever you would call it, did not have either law or gospel.

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She was not bringing people into an understanding of their sin according to the law, nor was she then giving the gospel to resolve the conviction that one should feel when they hear the law.

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She would say things like, when a person comes to faith, there should be some things that they recognize in their life are not

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God -honoring, all right? But she never said exactly what those things were, never pointed to the scripture and said, the

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Bible says that this is wrong, and those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Just consider 1 Corinthians 6, verses 9 and 10. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

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Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

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And then Paul goes on to say in verse 11, such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Consider also the works of the flesh being contrasted with the fruit of the

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Spirit in Galatians chapter 5. The apostle Paul says that the works of the flesh are evident.

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Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which

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I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Now, notice that when Paul started that list of vices, he said, the deeds of the flesh are evident.

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Everyone should be able to recognize the wicked deeds of our flesh, which are in rebellion against God.

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But the thing about those who are of the flesh is that they have suppressed the truth with unrighteousness, as said in Romans 1 .18.

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So they need to be shown the law to take the blinders off, to recognize what it is that they're doing is rebellion against God.

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They would be shown, these are the deeds of the flesh that you are in. This is contrary to God's righteous standard, and he will judge all those who continue in this disobedience.

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And we help a person recognize that by showing that according to what

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God's Word says. It's like looking in a mirror. Whenever we look into the law of God, it's like looking in a mirror.

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We see our wicked, sinful selves and our need for a Savior. James even talks about this, makes the same comparison in James 1, that if a person hears the

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Word of God and doesn't do what it says, it's like a person who looks at himself in a mirror and then immediately forgets what he looks like.

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And that sounds absurd. I mean, who looks at themselves in a mirror and then forgets what they look like? But that's what it's like when we look into God's Word.

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We see his righteous requirement, and if we walk away and don't do what it says, then it's like we've looked at ourselves in a mirror and then forgot what we look like.

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You know what God says about your sin and what righteousness requires.

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And when you don't do the righteous thing, it's as absurd as a man who forgets his own reflection.

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And so, again, the Bible is like looking at ourselves in a mirror, that we may know our sin and our need for a

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Savior. And a person who has suppressed the truth in unrighteousness, we help them to open their eyes and see the truth about their condition, and that only

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Christ can save them. This is the way that we use the law in the present.

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And so we should not think that the law has been done away with, far be it from us to consider such a thing, to think that there is no more law.

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For, as Christ said, again, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest stroke of the pen shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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And that statement, all is accomplished, may not necessarily be in reference to all the law is accomplished, just all is accomplished.

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All that God means to accomplish. Is he still doing things now? Yes. And so there's still a need for the law, and the law still has authority, even in our present context.

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You and I, we are still obligated to keep the law. Now, the law does not save us.

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The law doesn't even sanctify us. Christ does both of those works. He saves us, and he sanctifies us.

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But it is through the law comes knowledge of our sin and need for a Savior, and then we're saved. And it's also through the law comes knowledge of God's righteous requirement that we may live in a righteous way.

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But as Paul says in Romans 13, love is the fulfilling of the law. We have that also with the fruit of the

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Spirit in Galatians 5. So if we love one another, then we're not murdering, we're not committing adultery, we're not coveting what it is that they have, we're not stealing from others, on and on it goes.

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So love is the fulfilling of the law. And we understand what love is supposed to look like when we see what the law says.

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What is God's righteousness required? That's there in the law. And so as God is continuing to sanctify us, it is through Christ, but it is by obedience that he works this sanctification in us, and so the law is still accomplishing something.

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Therefore, not even the least mark of the pen is going to pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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Then we have this statement in verse 19, whoever then annuls, whoever then does away with one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same.

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Now what does Jesus mean by the least of these commandments? What are the least of the commandments? I don't know.

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It could just be that Jesus was speaking hyperbolically, just like he was saying earlier with the smallest letter or the stroke shall not pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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So he says here, if someone diminishes, if someone annuls, if someone kicks out even the least of these commandments, whatever commandment you would consider to be small and insignificant, and somebody says, the law doesn't need that,

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God didn't really need to write that commandment in there. I think we can take it out. And then he teaches others to do the same.

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He will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Now when you consider the two great commandments that are the summation of all the law and the prophets, what are they?

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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And Jesus says a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

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It could be that the second one might be referred to as the least of these commandments.

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All the law and the prophets can be summarized by those two commands. So it could be that the second one is the least because the greater one is you shall love the

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Lord your God. So anything that you're taking out of what would be the least of the commandments, like that second table of the law, well, you shall be called least in the kingdom of God.

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You would even consider one of those commandments to be least. This is less than the other commandments is to lessen yourself.

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You will not inherit God's kingdom. And as I said last week, that statement of shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven is not like, you know, you'll get a small little shack over here instead of a mansion.

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It's the same statement as in verse 20. You will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is speaking rhetorically there.

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He's using a good rhetorical device when he says, if somebody diminishes or kicks out the least of these commandments, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever does the commands of God and teaches others to do the same, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

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Whoever does even the least of the commands and teaches others to do the commands will be called great in God's kingdom.

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And remember that Jesus said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you keep my commandments.

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That's John 14, 15. And he also said, they will know that you are my disciples because you love one another.

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So we show love for one another and we demonstrate that we belong to Christ and we follow his word and we obey his commands, especially this one, that we are to love each other.

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Whenever we don't use the law to point out somebody's sin, like we're afraid it might make them mad or offend them.

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We are treating these commandments as being least and annulling them.

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They're not important. You don't need to follow this. I don't want to make anybody mad with it anyway. So let's just ignore that that commandment is there.

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And one way that you see that happening in our culture today, even in many churches, they won't talk about homosexuality being sin.

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They won't even confront a lot of sins. Just let people get away with them because,

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Hey, our church is growing. We've got a lot of numbers here. We don't really want to kick anybody out, kind of need the money anyway.

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So let's just keep any, let's just keep everyone in here and do everything that we need to do to make sure they remain.

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So they don't use the law. They don't use the law to convict anybody of sin. They just want to give very positive and encouraging messages to help build people up, make them feel good about themselves.

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Well, they are annulling the commandments when they do that, when the commands are no longer important.

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I don't even need to use this to convict you of your sin because I just want you to feel good about yourself. And if you feel good about yourself, then you'll feel good about God and others, which a person's perspective then of God and the way that they love others is entirely self -centered.

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It's how I feel about it. Not according to what the Bible says and a person doesn't realize it, but they've just annulled the law.

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We don't need the law. We just need to do positive and encouraging things. Now we need the law to recognize our sin and know the right way that we are to go.

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Psalm 141 .5 says, let the righteous man smite me in kindness and reprove me.

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It is oil upon the head. Do not let my head refuse it. It is good to be rebuked and shown the right way.

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And the instruction is given to us in Colossians 3 that we would correct and admonish one another with goodwill.

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To admonish means to correct somebody with good intentions. You desire for them to be on the path of righteousness.

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Don't go the unrighteous way to your own destruction, but live in righteousness according to God's instruction.

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Proverbs 12 .1, whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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The man who loves correction loves knowledge, giving correction or receiving correction.

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The man who hates to give correction because he doesn't want to make anybody mad. Even he is the one who hates reproof and is stupid.

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You need to be willing to receive correction when it is warranted and where you see a brother or sister going astray, tell them so that they would repent.

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This is loving one another when we do this in a loving and a righteous way. For God did it for us.

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He showed us our sin according to his word that we would turn from our sin to the

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Lord Christ and live. And so we should be extending that same love toward others.

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If we don't have that attitude, then it's like the one who annuls the least of the commandments and will not inherit the kingdom of God.

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Whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. You know, we're still kind of at the beginning of the

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Sermon on the Mount here. This is toward the very beginning. It's at the very end when Jesus gives the parable of the man who builds his house on a rock and the man who builds his house on the sand that Jesus says, again, whoever hears these words of mine and does them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

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Whoever hears these words, whoever hears the commands of God and does them and teaches others to do the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven is like the man who builds his house on the rock and you will enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Now our ability to do what God requires of us doesn't come by our own merit. It is by the merit of Christ that we're able to do this in a righteous way.

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But you have heard the word of God that you may turn from your sin to Christ and so live and receive his kingdom.

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Let's finish there with prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would be brave and courageous, even in our present day, that with our brothers and sisters in the

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Lord, we would share with them. We would encourage them to walk in the right way. And if anybody is going astray, if anybody is going into sin, that we would have the courage to correct them because we love them, because we care about them.

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And they would turn from their sin to the right way, to the righteous way. And if we ever stumble into sin and somebody needs to correct us, may we be willing to receive it, recognizing our brother or sister in the

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Lord loves us. And that's exactly why they're correcting us and setting us on the right course.

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Help us to do these things in the fear of the Lord and in love for one another. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

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It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt

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.com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our