Kingdom of God Sermon: Adultery

Matthew 5:17-19 and the Fulfillment of the Law

If you're new to Apologia Church, you've been in the study for quite some time now, verse by verse through the gospel according to Matthew. As you guys get there, just a background that I've announced many times before, this was the most popular of the gospels, of the four gospels in the second century of the church.

So this has been a book, a letter, a text from God that has been used by God to shape the church for 2 ,000 years. And it's exciting to think that our brothers and sisters early on were feasting upon this text from the very beginning of the church and Christ's kingdom breaking into history, his rule into the world.

So Matthew, the gospel according to Matthew chapter five, we spent a great deal of time on the blessings that Jesus pronounces upon his people, the beatitudes, and then we spent a great deal of time in Matthew chapter five, specifically verses 17 through 19, which are vitally important to understand to understand anything Jesus is saying here in the rest of the text in relation to the law, and it's very important to understand in terms of how God calls us to live in relation to his law under the new covenant.

But Matthew chapter five, I'm actually gonna start after Jesus talks about the law, and he talks about not even beginning to think that he's come to abolish the law or the prophets, and after he says that you must have a righteousness greater than that that surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, or you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, he then begins to talk about the law in literal quotation.

So we're gonna read that together, pray, and then begin to unpack the text. We'll probably spend about two weeks on this specific section of scripture. Starting in verse 21, hear now the words of the living God.

You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the courts. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court, and whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, shall be guilty before the supreme court, and whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell, Gehenna.

Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go, first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.

Adultery in the Heart and the Sixth Commandment

Here's the text for today. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

As far as the reading of God's word, let's pray. Father, I wanna pray that you'd bless today, God, this time together that we reach into your word, God, that we study your word to know you, to worship you, Lord, to obey you, to be intimate with you, to bring you glory and praise.

God, bless this time as we come before your throne, submitting ourselves to your word. Help us, God, to have eyes to see. Help us to have ears that actually open and hear you. God, help us, Lord, to be transformed, conformed to the image of your son.

Father, I wanna pray right now. This text bites all of us. God, there's not a person in this room that isn't gonna come to this text and not see our own condemnation. God, I wanna ask for your mercy. I pray, God, for your mercy upon those of us who have been indifferent towards this.

God, we live in a culture today that, God, you know, you're the sovereign. You know we live in a culture today that has just abused the gift that you've given us of our own sexuality. God, it's just wreckage out there.

We can't even drive down the road, turn on the TV, search through our newsfeed. We can't do anything without seeing perversion, without seeing so much that causes us to stumble. And, Lord, so many of us, God, have just had the secret lurking in our hearts and our minds for so long, a little pet sin that we own and we don't share, a pet sin we've allowed to live, Lord, in our home, and we have not ever done what it takes to cut and to throw, to pluck and to throw.

God, only by your power and your mercy and grace will we ever get free. And so, Lord, we're pleading with you now as your church, men and women, young and old, we're pleading with you to meet us in this place, to convict us, God, to move mightily, Lord, to free us, in Jesus' name.

Amen. So, this is a powerful section because, and we gotta unpack to get to this point once again, Jesus in Matthew chapter five, verses 17 through 19, says very specifically, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. May namasete tells them, do not even begin to think, do not even begin to think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Jesus tells the religious people of his day that he has not come as a messiah, as a prophet, but as a teacher, to subvert the law of God. Matthew 5, 17 is a key text to understanding Jesus' view of the law.

Now, why do I bring that up? I bring it up because many times people have approached this text, good, God-fearing Christians, people that love Jesus, that serve God, people that I admire and look up to, they have a particular view of Jesus' relation to the law where they actually come to this text and they say, Jesus actually gives us a higher view of the law.

He creates a new law in the Sermon on the Mount. When in reality, what Jesus is doing in this text is explaining the law of God as it was intended to be obeyed from the heart. Jesus doesn't come and say, the law of God is done and over and we have nothing to do with that.

I've come to really set it aside and give you a new way. No, in reality, Jesus is showing you God's law condemned murder in the Old Testament, whether it was external and actually actualized in the world or whether it was in the heart in its very genesis and beginnings.

God called us in Deuteronomy 6. It's at the very foundation of our faith. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God, Jesus says, with all your heart and your soul and mind and strength.

We're to love God with our hearts. All of God's commandments, love God, love neighbor, everything built upon those two foundations. And God called us, whether in the old or the new, to love God from the heart.

And that means that our obedience towards God comes from the very bottom. And this is what I told you last week and I think is what compels me the most about Jesus. It's what I love about Jesus. In my quiet moments, beyond the very rigorous philosophical arguments for Jesus and God, beyond the prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, what draws me so much to Jesus, why I love Jesus, why I'm enamored with Jesus, is that Jesus is not merely a prophet, a religious leader that comes in history and gives people a bunch of new commands and lists of commands to obey.

There are plenty of those. Plenty of charlatans and con artists and spiritual manipulators that have come in and said, I'm from God, here's my list of rules, obey those things. Jesus comes not as a novelty in history, not as a new thing, but Jesus comes as what was promised in history to bring about the redemption of the whole world.

And when he comes, he comes as you would expect God to come talking about us and our relationship. Now think about this for a second. Human beings, we can only see the outside. We can only see the external.

That's all I can see in your life is what I observe, what's in front of me, your actions that I see in the world. So you would think human religion is always gonna be focused in upon the externals. And why is that?

It's patently obvious because it's all we can see. If we wanna think somebody is righteous, we can only base that upon what we see. And in some sense, that's actually biblical. Faith without works is dead.

If you wanna see if someone truly has faith, it's gonna be seen in what they actually do in the real world, so amen to that. Except there is a possibility that you can have external conformity to some laws and be internally a wreck and a devil.

But here's the thing, human religion only cares about that because human religion can only see the outside. It can only see the moral behavior. But how would you expect God to talk about us and his law when he comes?

It's only God that can see the inside. It's only God that knows what you're thinking, that sees into your heart, that knows what you were doing on the internet last night. It's only God that knows the secret meeting that you had with somebody outside of a relationship with your spouse.

It's only God that knows these things. It's only God that knows when you're praying, whether that prayer is for the praise of men so that people think you're very spiritual and very erudite, or whether that prayer was because you really wanted to talk to your father.

Only God knows if your fasting was truly you being hungry for God, or whether your fasting was so that people saw you and gave you praise for being so spiritual. Only God knows that your giving is truly for him from the heart in secret, or whether it was really to put money out there so people see it and give you praise and applause.

Only God knows that. And so what does Jesus do? God comes in the flesh, and it's exactly as you think. It's exactly as you would actually put down on paper. If God came, he would look like this, he would say these things, he would act like this, he would treat his law in this way.

And lo and behold, Jesus comes in, God incarnate, love incarnate, God tabernacling among us as John chapter one says. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

All things are made through him, and then it says in John 1 14 what? And God became flesh, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And when the word becomes flesh and dwells among us, what does he say about his law?

Does he say, oh that was all too harsh and too wrong? The God of the Old Testament was a big meanie, he was very focused in upon law and wrath, and I'm really the God of the new. I'm into friendship. I'm into loving relationships and meals.

The God of the Old Testament would have never sat down with you to have a meal. He's not somebody you wanna eat with. I'm that God. That's really the perception many people have of Jesus, right, the God of the Old Testament is all wrath, God of the New Testament is all love, right?

Until you read Revelation and see Jesus coming and stomping people into the ground, so much so that the blood goes up to the horse's bridles. Yeah, Jesus is very gracious. And he is, but in reality you begin to see that the God of the Old Testament and New Testament are exactly the same, and when that God who gave the law on Sinai came and talked to his people and actually begins to address their criminal mishandling of his word, he acts in exactly the way you'd want him to.

And, might I add, in exactly the way you don't want him to in your hypocrisy, because what does Jesus do? He shows them that though they would say, thou shall not commit murder, okay, I'm good, haven't done it, he shows them that you're really actually a killer at heart, because you are satisfied in your heart with being cold and extended and bitter and angry towards your brother, which is the very beginning of murder.

Murder doesn't take place without first the hostility inside you. And so Jesus shows that if you're the kind of person that's willing to turn somebody into human garbage by saying you good for nothing, you idiot, Jesus says that right there is guilty, and that right there is worthy of death.

Jesus shows you that your obedience to God, your intimacy is wrapped up in your heart and your relationship with God. And I love Jesus for this, I love Jesus for this, because he confronts me in my own sin, in my own wickedness, in my own selfishness, in my own pride, he cuts right through me and he shows me who I really am.

And since he's given me all of his righteousness by faith apart from any work of law, I know that I stand before God as righteous and blameless, and I know I can read Jesus here in Matthew 5, brothers and sisters, and I can let him open me up.

I can let him expose all my adulterous thoughts, I can let Jesus expose my hatred for brother, I can let Jesus expose my hypocrisy because I'm redeemed. So layering this down real fast before we even get into you should not commit adultery, let me just say this.

Jesus didn't come to give you a bunch of laws to obey, to say here's these laws in order to get right with God. That is false, wicked religion. You cannot climb a moral ladder to get to God. George Whitefield said, trying to get right with God by obeying his laws is like trying to build a ladder made out of sand to the moon.

It's not gonna work, you're never gonna make it. The glory of Jesus is that you do have a righteousness greater than that of the scribes and the Pharisees. How? Because you have his righteousness, his perfect law keeping.

Through faith you have a righteousness before God, you are wrapped in it, and you stand with bold and confident access because of Jesus, not because of you. But there's something else, listen closely because this is missed.

You actually do have a righteousness greater than that of the scribes and the Pharisees, actually practically. Proof, Romans chapters five through eight, says those who are in Adam all die, they're condemned.

Those who are in Christ have the gift of eternal life and righteousness, and those who are in the flesh, Paul says in Romans eight, cannot please God. He says this, therefore there is no more condemnation for you who are in Christ Jesus, you are no longer in the flesh, Paul says, but in the spirit, and he says this, you can fulfill now in Christ, in the spirits, the righteous requirement of the law.

Christians actually, redeemed by God in Christ and dwelt by his spirit, listen, born from above, born again, do fulfill the righteous requirement of the law from the inside, it happens. However imperfectly, it does happen, why?

Because of you, no, because of him. What's the promise in a new covenant in Ezekiel 36? I'll just say it briefly, Ezekiel 36 is a favorite verse it's a favorite verse among Calvinists, reform folks, love Ezekiel 36, why?

Because the new covenant is described there and what God's gonna do. God says he's gonna sprinkle clean water on you and you'll be clean, he'll cleanse you from all your, listen closely, idols, which is gonna be very important for today, all your idols, he says he'll put his spirit within you, he'll give you a new heart, heart of stone now, replaced with the heart of flesh, and he says this in Ezekiel 36, I will cause you, them, to observe my statutes, God does that.

That's the righteousness greater than that of the scribes and the Pharisees, not just Christ's perfect righteousness received by faith, but it's the true righteousness and obedience towards God's law that God had intended from the beginning.

So, murder, listen, this is important, was against God's law in the Old Testament, actually, with a knife in your brother, and potentially, from the heart. It was both ways in the Old Testament. But these people, these religious people, in Jesus' time, and of course, before that, had so put a lawyer finesse on the law of God, they would say, well, I haven't actually committed murder.

And Jesus shows, actually, you have committed murder because you hate your brother from your heart, you're angry with your brother from your heart, and you cast them out as human garbage. You're guilty of murder.

And then Jesus goes, and he shows what the Old Testament intended, and the Old Testament adultery was against God's law, amen? But not just actually, it was also from the heart. God in the Old Testament wasn't saying, look, have all the adulterous affairs in your heart and mind, and you please, just don't actualize it.

That's fallacious. We know that's not God's intention, so what does God do? He takes on flesh, he walks among us and touches people, and he says this, ready? Verse 27, you have heard that it was said, you should not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Jesus quotes there from Exodus 20, 14, Deuteronomy 5, verse 18. It's important to note here that adultery in this specific text, sexual immorality is spoken of, fornication, adultery, this text specifically, adultery is in the context of a planned liaison with another person's spouse.

It's not simply, and this is really important to grasp, a lot of people get concerned here, so, because they get sort of hyper piety, well, Jesus says it's adultery if it begins in your heart, so if I see anybody that's remotely attractive, and I actually acknowledge that attractiveness, then that's adultery in the heart.

Well, that's not true. You could actually, in a righteous kind of way, see a beautiful creation by God, something that God creates that's actually pretty awesome, and you could say, good job, God, and then move on.

Yay, God, awesome. It's when that person is walking down the road, or walking past you, and you begin to actually prepare and concoct a plan in your heart for an actual adulterous relationship, and the actual text here goes more towards a person planning an adulterous relationship within them.

So, I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in the heart. Now, I gotta stress this once again. Deuteronomy chapter six, verse four, moving on.

You are to love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Obedience was always intended to be from the heart. However, in the Old Testament, God had actually, we need to talk about it, it's important to do this, God had actually said that there are specific rules of justice in the world for particular crimes, for particular sins.

Not all sins were crimes. Everyone get that? Not every sin was a crime. There were particular sins in Israel, God said that's a sin, but he didn't call it a crime. For example, any kind of using drugs and alcohol in the Old Testament for the purposes of drunkenness, for the purposes of pharmakia, for to get into an altered state of consciousness, to sort of connect to another God, any kind of activity like that was considered sin.

However, God never penalized anybody for drunkenness judicially, because that issue was an issue of the heart that he did not say to handle judicially in the Old Testament. However, there were sins in the Old Testament that were punished judicially.

Sin, listen, adultery was sin in the heart in the Old Testament. Everyone see that? It was the same. God was concerned with lust in the Old Testament as well. But did God have you brought up on charges for thought crimes like adultery in the Old Testament?

No. Everybody would have been dead. Amen? Hallelujah. Okay, that's the truth, that's the truth of God. Everybody been dead. But God did say in the Old Testament, Leviticus 20, verse 10, that if adultery had been committed, that it was the role of God's servant, God's deacon in Romans 13, the civil magistrate, the judiciary, it was the role of the civil magistrate to give out as justice the death penalty for that crime.

Now let that hang there for a second. You gotta let that hang. Because I wanna say this, we as Christians today in the 21st century, modern evangelicals, we look at God's law in the Old Testament, we look at the justice system in the Old Testament of what God said was actually just to do, and what do we do?

We mock God. We say, God, he was really harsh. That seems like that was an inappropriate penalty for God to give. And you compare the two. Our modern society that is so flippant about divorce, so flippant about marriage, as though we're not a very special thing, we can make it whatever we want, we can call circles squares, we can abolish it, we can destroy it, it's not really meaningful.

You look at our society where all these marriages end in divorce, you have adulterous relationships, affairs over and over and over with no penalties from the judicial system. You have all these kids today in our orphanages by the tens of thousands because they were in broken homes.

You see, the system today is so broken judicially, and you compare what we have today and how we treat the family and those who break covenant in the family, and you look at the Old Testament times where God actually said about the family, it is so special, it is such a gift, it is so unique, it is so powerful, it is so essential, it is such a blueprint that if you actually violate it and try to destroy the family by breaking covenant, it's worthy of the actual death penalty.

You look in the Old Testament, there's absolutely no death penalty for treason against the state, none. But you see today, oftentimes we'll see somebody, oh, that was a spy, or this person was that, that was treason against the state, that's worthy of the death penalty.

There is no death penalty in the Old Testament for that sort of a thing. What does God do? He sees the family is so special, so foundational, so important, he says this, if somebody actually violates covenant in that way, it is actually worthy of the death penalty.

You might ask the question, how's God feel about it today? Well, let me just unpack this with the scriptures. It's very important to do, it's vitally important to do to understand this subject, because there's no way we can talk, brothers and sisters, in a meaningful way, about God saying you should not commit adultery without actually going to the text themselves to say what does God say about it?

Leviticus 20, verse 10, again, God says that it was the judicial system's role, God's servant's role, to actually say that that was the just penalty for that crime. The apostle Paul in Romans chapter 13, go there.

In Romans chapter 13, the apostle Paul does say that the role of the civil government is to give out justice. Go there quickly. Romans 13, every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. Now, real quickly, think here for a moment. This is important to do when you read the Bible, right?

What do you think about? You think about author, you think about context, you think about audience, you think about biblical context, right? Now, this, watch. The apostle Paul is writing this letter to the church in Rome, a church that he didn't necessarily have anything to do with but he'd heard about.

Their faith, he says, in Romans 1 was being proclaimed throughout the entire world, right? But he writes this letter to people that he hasn't actually officially really met yet, and he tells them post-cross, post-resurrection, post-ascension.

In other words, Jesus is done, and he is seated now as ruling king. Amen? He tells them then that this today, with Jesus on his throne, is the current role of the civil government. Listen. Verse three, for rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil.

Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For it is a minister of God to you for good. That's the role of the civil government. What is it? To be a minister of God to you for good.

But if you do what is evil, be afraid. For it does not bear the sword for nothing. For it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Okay, so just quickly. What is the civil government's role according to God post-cross, post-resurrection, post-ascension?

God's, ready, here's the word, deacon. We've got deacons here, right? What do they do here? What do they do? They serve you. They serve you. They make sure you have your needs taken care of. They serve you.

They're your servants. That's what it means. So the civil government in Romans 13 is God's servant, God's deacon, meant to give out what? Justice, to punish evildoers. It's not really for the people who obey, is it?

It's for the evildoers. And under the new covenant, Paul says in Romans 13, that today, currently, the civil government is God's deacon. That's their official role. Now pause for a second. Because if you think about it, that sounds kind of wacky.

Do we really think that in the first century, Paul was describing Rome really well? Like the Roman system was actually doing really good as God's servant. I seem to remember them actually punishing Christians, crucifying them, cutting their heads off.

Were they acting like God's deacon there? No. Does that mean you need to obey every government, no matter what they say, no matter what wicked and righteous decrees they give? No, that's the stated role of the government.

Now you might be asking, why are we bringing this up? Because I would need to bring you into the context that Jesus is speaking into. You should not commit adultery. Well, what if they did? Leviticus 20, verse 10 says that the civil system had the responsibility to give out that as justice.

But brothers and sisters, you might be asking, under the new covenant, is God concerned with the family so much? Does he see adultery in the temporal sense as an actual crime? I want to say God's standards are based upon his own character and God does not change.

Does that mean, brother, pause. Does that mean that there is no forgiveness, no mercy, no redemption for those who are adulterers? Absolutely not, God is a God of mercy and we need to recognize the difference between salvation and the church's call and the role of the government in justice in the world.

Amen, do you see the difference? There's the church and our call of the gospel for salvation and forgiveness and the washing away of all sins and then there's the role over here of the government that sees these things as actual crimes.

Now, you might be saying, okay, now how do we move from there into the rest of the sermon? Well, here we go, Paul in Acts chapter 25 verse 11, go there, I want you to see this. In Acts chapter 25 verse 11, the apostle Paul is now being brought up on charges.

Now watch this, I'm gonna bring you from in verse 25, let's start in verse eight. No, verse seven, watch this, by the way, I'm reading out of the NASB, forgive me, I have been changing, Jermaine mentioned to me, I don't know what in the world you're doing because you're like ESV, I will either be in the ESV, the NASB or the HCSB, it's your job to catch me, okay?

Okay, those three are awesome translations, the NIV makes excellent kindling and the message is no message from God and so yeah, okay, I'm sure we're gonna clear out the room in just a moment here but verse seven, after Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him which they could not prove.

While Paul said on his own defense, I have committed no offense either against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar. What's the context? I have not violated the law of the Jews which is what?

The law of God, verse nine. But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before men on these charges? But Paul said, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried.

I've done no wrong to the Jews as you also very well know. Now watch this, here we go, verse 11. Listen, this is important, this is big time, this is one of those big verses like wow, didn't even see that, that changes everything.

This is the Apostle Paul standing at trial. This is a judicial scene. You already know how Paul feels about the judiciary. What does he feel about their role? Their role is God's servant to deal what?

Justice and now the Apostle Paul is standing before this trial now and what does he say post cross, post resurrection, post ascension? That's where he's at in time, watch. He says, if then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die.

But if none of these things are true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them, I appeal to Caesar. Now watch, bring you into this real fast. Why am I bringing this up? You know the Apostle Paul's feeling towards you should not commit adultery?

You know the Apostle Paul's feeling about the civil government and in this text, standing before trial, what's he say? He doesn't say, guys, Jesus died and rose again. You can't give me the death penalty.

Jesus has abolished all that stuff. He actually says this, after the resurrection, after Jesus has saved him from his sins, he says this, if I violated God's law and I've done anything worthy of death, then I don't object to dying.

Think about it for a second. Oftentimes, Christians go to the law of God and they say today, God is no longer concerned with justice. God is no, again, no, we're redeemed in Jesus. He doesn't care about those.

But the Apostle Paul, the man who wrote the most of the New Testament, actually says under trial, if I violated God's law and I actually am worthy of the death penalty, then I don't object to dying. That's New Covenant.

As, listen, a saved person, as a redeemed person under the blood of Christ, raised up, forgiven, no more guilt before God, he sees the difference between the two worlds. I'm a redeemed Christian before God, washed all my sins, raised up in Jesus, counted righteous.

However, there's another role over here, your role, the judicial system. If I violated God's law, I don't object to dying. Do you see God? In relation to both relationships. Now watch this, because you might be saying this.

I'm an adulterer. You might be saying that right now. So is God out to get me? Is he merciless? Is he only concerned with justice? And brothers and sisters, I will tell you this. Yeah, God is very concerned with justice.

And if you've turned from sin to trust in Jesus, every ounce of that justice was absorbed into Jesus. The full wrath and penalty of God, given for those sins, was exhausted in Jesus on your behalf. If you are an adulterer, and you're looking at one, you are washed, you are forgiven, you are redeemed.

Somebody might say, oh, that's so harsh, Pastor Jeff. You seem to have such a very rigid view of the law of God. I think I have a very biblical view of the law of God. It's in the text. But if somebody says, but that just seems so harsh and so big, and that doesn't seem merciful and loving, brothers and sisters, I'm preaching this sermon as an adulterer.

But my being an adulterer in my past experience cannot alter the words of the living God. I cannot say because I am an adulterer in my past that because of that, I need to manipulate and destroy the text of God's word in an attempt to soften the blow.

God's word is holy, his standards perfect and good. Now watch. Not only is there complete washing and forgiveness and mercy because of Jesus, and God saying, I'll remember your sins no more. I will never count them against you.

I will count righteousness. Christ's righteousness for you by faith, and it's by grace, and it's a gift. Not only does God say that, but God, guess what? In his law, has a much better system. You know why?

Because you already know this. Although God's law said, you violate the family, break covenant, and destroy the home, it's worthy of the death penalty, God always left it up to the victim to give mercy, to give forgiveness.

Isn't it amazing? God's law, awesome. It's, ready? Here. Compare God's law to the legislation made in the United States last week. You can't fit Obamacare into this room, and God's law affords no mercy.

I'm sorry, God's law does afford mercy. Man's law affords really no mercy. In man's law, if you commit a crime, and the state gets involved, now the state's the victim, and they determine whether to give mercy or not.

In God's law, if you violate me, I have the choice. I have the option to say, you're free to go. Proof? Matthew 118, go there quickly. Matthew 118. Didn't know we were gonna be in the Christmas text, did ya?

Matthew 118, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows, when his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, which was essentially a married contract. They were in covenant together. It was considered marriage, legally.

Before they had come together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph knows how this happens. And so, Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, had planned to send her away secretly.

Now pause for a second. Under God's law, if Mary had been in an adulterous relationship with somebody else, what was technically the law of God concerning that situation? What could Joseph had done? He knew it.

He knew it. And he didn't say, God, your law is bad. It's wrong. I don't wanna do it. No, all he did was he said, mercy. I wanna give her mercy. I'm gonna put her away secretly to not disgrace her. It's my choice.