Exceeding Grace, Surpassing Righteousness
To watch the sermon Exceeding Grace, Surpassing Righteousness | Torah of the Kingdom Series
Download the Discussion Guide: Download
Download the 5 Day Devotional: Download
I have so many things I want to say about that.
I smell Tony. I mean, you know, it's amazing. Let's give it up for him one more time. Thank you, guys.
Most enjoyable. However, buckle up. We are going to dive in.
I'm sure that I'm not the only person that has ever made a trip to the chiropractor for an adjustment. I'm not a good candidate for that because when they get ready to pop my neck, I tighten up in expectation and then I just make them mad. But going to a chiropractor for an adjustment is kind of like also going to an optometrist. When you get new eyeglasses, you do that because something is out of focus, something needs an adjustment. In both cases, once you get the cure, something comes into alignment, comes into focus so that you can function the way you were created.
Today is a little bit of both. As we continue our kingdom journey and our study of Christ's sermon on the Kingdom, the Torah of the Kingdom, there are things we're gonna. A couple things we're gonna look at today that are out of focus, that need some adjustment. And Christ's Torah on the Kingdom does exactly that. Why was the adjustment needed and in what context?
It's so that the people, the Jewish people who were gathered there that day would see what the Torah was actually about and how it should be lived in a manner consistent with God's own heart, which is not the source of the interpretations that they were being given by the Scribes and the Pharisees. Now, today we're going to look at the next two sections of his instruction. And Yeshua is going to address two topics. And what a fun day to address these two topics. And some of you are going to want to run to the door, don't.
The subject of adultery and divorce. And all God's people said, yay.
But, my friends, I come to you this morning. I want you to know that neither of these is actually the primary topic of what Jesus is talking about. We have to remember that Jesus ministry is all about two things. Number one, the declaration of the nearness of the kingdom. And that declaration is not just you go, oh, yeah, the kingdom's near, but that you can begin to participate in the manifestation of my.
The Kingdom of Heaven in your life. Now, the Kingdom is drawn near to you because God is bringing his presence. And with his presence comes his power. And with his power, things begin to happen. So Jesus is preaching about the Kingdom, but he's also preaching about the transformative power of righteousness once it is truly unleashed in our lives.
Once those who are following God, trying to walk in his ways, who are not just talking about the rules of righteousness, but are actually allowing their hearts and their minds to be conformed into the image of Christ so that they move out of selfishness into selflessness and begin to do grace, giving, living, which is righteousness. It was a call to live and experience the kingdom, not just to talk about. Was a call to become what God always intended his people to be, grace givers. And he's going to do that through two very difficult topics that we have to interpret in light of Jesus primary purpose, the kingdom, its presence, and its power to transform us from selfish people into selfless grace givers. Will you pray with me, Abba?
Father, can I just stop and say thanks for our kids, thank you for our little ones who come to the front to receive a blessing every week and then bless us by reminding us of the very prayer you taught on that mountain in the Torah of the kingdom. Thank you for a family of faith where we can gather each Shabbat to celebrate and worship and remember who you are and what you've done for us. But Father, I pray today that you would adjust us, that you would focus us if our understanding of these topics has been through the eyes of the Pharisees hypocrisy. Adjust us if it has been through the eyes of fear and shame. Refocus us on your grace, but have your way within us here in this place.
For both those who are here in presence today, watching online, or for those who would possibly come upon this at a later date, Father, would your Holy Spirit move to orient us to the instruction of your son? I pray this in his holy name. Amen. So before we can fully understand what Jesus is talking about, when we dive into the topic of adultery and divorce, there is an adjustment we desperately need to make. And I have mentioned it before, but I want us to look at it again.
It is an adjustment in how we understand grace. Last Saturday we began to look at the fulfilled Halakah. For those who are new to that term, halakah just means the interpretive ruling that the scribes and the Pharisees gave for how Israel, how the Jewish people were supposed to walk out the Torah. And we began, we took time to remember how Jesus is giving us a new Halakah, a new way to walk out his instructions in righteousness. As we take a quick look at grace, I want you to remember what Jesus said.
You have heard that it was said, thou Shalt not murder. Now, that may sound like a strange verse to quote when you're about to talk about grace, but Jesus goes on to show us that what is in our hearts and minds is as important as what we actually do. He then goes on to show that what is in their hearts and minds is going to come out in what they do. Now, here's where we have to start with our adjustment. Last week when Jesus told us thou shalt not murder, he then went on to talk to us about things that we weren't even supposed to say about another person.
He goes on to say, there are two things that we are never to say or speak about someone else. We are never to call someone worthless or view them that way in our hearts and minds. You remember those passages. Secondly, we are never to call or perceive somebody as a fool. Basically, we are never supposed to see or say something to someone else that demeans their value and reduces them to worthlessness.
Yet that is exactly what many in modern Christianity preach and teach as an essential element to our understanding and receiving God's grace. Now, I'm not trying to bash Christianity. I'm a Christian. I'm a part of that mess that we've created. But by not paying attention to what Jesus has taught us, we've missed a central part of the theme of the gospel, which, ironically, we talk about all the time.
I mean, there's no limits to how many sermons you can go online and find about the topic of grace. The Hebrew word that we translate as grace is hesed. It means loving kindness and covenant loyalty. So how is it that we sometimes mess up such a wonderful topic like grace? We get this idea that in order for a person to truly experience the grace of God, they have to see themselves in the very way that Jesus told us to.
Never frame a person. Worthless. Come on. And I have done it as a preacher, stressing so much that the only way you can really understand grace is to understand how utterly wretched, pitiful, and worthless you are.
We end up using grace as a justification to say things to people. Jesus said, don't say, when we tell someone they're worthless, how do we do it? Sometimes there are segments of Christianity that say this. You are so totally depraved, and by that they mean so absolutely unredeemable that God has to decide who gets saved and who doesn't. That's how bad you are.
You are literally a fool when it comes to responding to his grace and his mercy. You can't do it unless he forces you to. There's a huge group part of Christianity. That's what they teach. Growing up, the message of grace was always couched in the context of how it is undeserved.
Now, some of this comes from the Greek word karos, which we translate as grace. But this kind of violates the actual definition of the word which means unmerited favor or unearned favor. Now put on your thinking caps with me today. Remember, we're going through some adjustments. There is a huge difference between that which is unmerited, meaning unearned, and that which is undeserved.
And in Christianity. And I said, like I've done this, I have preached both attempting to elevate the goodness and grace of God by demeaning the people that he loves without even realizing I was doing it. Christianity spends an enormous amount of time making that point that nothing makes us worthy of his chesed, of his loving kindness.
And to do so, we end up so utterly demeaning the value of a person that what? That when they hear unmerited and undeserved, they translate as worthless and not lovable? Come on. And Jesus said, don't ever say that to somebody. Are you ready for an adjustment?
What child does not deserve their parents love?
Now listen, I know I am. It doesn't matter what theological frame of reference you, Calvinism, Armenian. I'm standing over here pointing the finger at all of them. What do you mean a child doesn't deserve the love of their heavenly Father or their earthly father or mother?
One of the things that keeps people from God's grace is because Satan spends so much time telling us of how worthless we are. Anybody? You don't have to wave at me. I'll just wave at you. Because I know there's tons of you in here that have struggled because you came into faith with this idea that you were so unbelievably worthless.
And then we spend the rest of our time having been told we don't have to earn or deserve God's love. But it's almost impossible to not turn around and try to do that because we've been told how worthless we are. Unmerited is not the same thing as undeserved. And by the way, when we come along as believers and say that to people, we're agreeing with what Satan is sowing into their hearts and minds. And then we wonder why Christians grow up and never come to peace about their relationship with the Heavenly Father.
Because we have taught them to see it only through the eyes of their own worthlessness instead of the Father's love. Does this make any sense? It's an adjustment. I know unmerited doesn't. Unmerited means there's nothing I need to do or earn to make God love me.
Because he already does. I'm his child. Now listen, I love the song Reckless Love by Corey Asbury and I will give him some poetic freedom. But God's love is not reckless, it's lavish. And I understand that.
As long as we understand that's kind of what Cory is trying to get at. Reckless is not the same thing as lavish. God's love isn't foolish. It is very focused on his children. I couldn't earn it.
I don't deserve it. Yes, you do.
Why? Because you were literally created to be the object of his love.
But what do people hear when they hear I don't deserve it?
They hear something that's not true. Yes. You don't have to do something to earn his love because he's your father. You're already loved. What is a fool?
Someone who is incapable of recognizing and responding to truth. And that's exactly what Calvinism teaches. But it's echoed in the pulpits of even Arminian pulpits. God's hesed his grace is his righteousness being demonstrated in acts of loving kindness and covenant loyalty. That's the definition of hesed loving kindness and covenant loyalty.
Because God loves us, he is covenantally loyal to us. We wonder why people struggle to believe it.
Well, it's what we taught them.
We have made a mess of grace.
The way we have taught grace now triggers people about doing any kind of work of righteousness, which just is a manifestation of love because we start co opting it to earn our Father's love. The way we have taught grace ultimately perpetuates the lie that people have no intrinsic value or worth to God. And that's not. And I want to speak to any of you who are here today who really struggle with self worth. If you have bought the lie that you have no intrinsic value to God because you're such a sinner, so depraved, I'm telling you that's the way Satan interpreted it.
Jesus interprets it completely differently. And if you have forgotten what his interpretation is of your value, look to the cross.
You know, we put the little dollar sign in front of the numbers to tell us how many dollars. You want to know how much you're worth? Just put a cross in front of your name. That's the value sign of how much you're worth.
So let's go on with this grace adjustment and look at these two very difficult topics. Matthew, chapter 5, verse 27 through 30. 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, throw it from you.
For it is better to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown in 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 body parts than for your whole body to go to hell. Now do you see the juxtaposition between grace, loving kindness and covenant, loyalty and adultery? God's righteousness manifests as his faithful love and covenant loyalty to us, while man's unrighteousness, his selfishness, manifests as covenant disloyalty.
When we give our minds over to lust after someone that is not ours, adultery is a violation of covenant. And as a violation of covenant, it's a violation of love. It's a violation of grace. You know, I make so much about the juxtaposition of righteousness as selflessness versus unrighteousness as selfishness. Now Jesus helps us understand the true intent and reason for the commandment to not commit adultery.
It's the exact opposite of grace. If you wanted one word to describe how God shows and manifest his love, there's only one word that captures all of it. Grace. His loving kindness. His heart for you, to do good to you, his intentions, and to remain faithful and loyal to you, even when you are not as faithful to him as you should be.
Adultery is an act that is opposite of grace. Now remember that Jesus is exposing the false interpretation of the scribes and Pharisees. He's exposing how their interpretations are the ones that actually nullify the commandments. This is why we should be very careful how we teach grace. Because we don't want to be guilty of doing exactly what they did.
No, no, I'm preaching grace. It's in the New Testament. That's right. Are you preaching his grace?
Because when a person encounters grace, their sense of value, their sense of worthwhileness to God, should go up and not down.
You can use the verbiage of grace, but are you giving them the interpretation of God's grace manifested in Jesus? It's not the same thing. In Matthew 23, we will hear Jesus say the following. Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, the scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. Therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds.
For they say things and do not do them. And please hear this. They tie up heavy burdens. Everybody say heavy burdens. I don't want you to forget that they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.
There's two things contextually that you need to know. The first is this terminology about the seed of Moses. This means that they have seated themselves as the final say of Torah interpretation and application. Which by the way, according to the Torah did not resolve reside with them. It resided with the High priest.
The very fact that they took it unto themselves is a violation of the Torah.
Now Moses had this right. God gave not only gave the law to Israel through Moses, he also gave Moses the right of interpretation and application. Notice how Jesus describes their interpretation. He says they tie up heavy burdens and put them on people. Do you remember what Jesus would later say to his disciples?
He told them whatever they would bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Now I know that there's segments of the body of Christ that love to run around binding and loosing things. And okay, we have the authority to do that. That's not exactly what he's talking about here. This is very rabbinic terminology.
It's really seed of Moses terminology that whoever sits in the seat of Moses has the authority to either bind or loosen. To give the Halakah or the application interpretation, a commandment should be walked out. Jesus gives that authority to his apostles. I'm always flabbergasted by when I hear about people who have trouble. Well, all I want to do is read what Jesus said.
Well, Jesus said, these are my apostles and they're going to teach you. I am vesting apostolic authority in them, including Paul, who was chosen by God.
He didn't choose you, he chose him.
That's why we have the apostles doctrine. What is the apostles doctrine? Not only the Gospel, but how we are to live and walk out. And Jesus tells them whatever they bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Meaning if they, if they impose it on us, it's imposed.
If they loosen it, if they don't impose it, it's not imposed. Listen to what was. You remember Acts chapter 15 when the apostles came together to try to answer the question about circumcision for Gentile converts and they decided not to do that in Acts 15:28. Listen to how they frame their letter to the Gentiles. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, not just the opinion of men.
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no burden greater than these.
Did you hear that? When they came together to wrestle with what is the relationship with the Gentile and the Torah, they decided not to do what the hypocritic Pharisees and scribes have been doing, loading people up with heavy burdens. And so they gave us four things. Prohibition of eating meat sacrificed to idols. Sexual immorality in all its forms.
Eating of blood and meat strangled. But for today, my point is simply to cause you to see that the apostles moved forward in grace. And their Halakah, their application, their interpretation, that which they imposed by the Holy Spirit was to not lay a burden upon you greater than what you could carry. Meanwhile, the Pharisees had no problem loading people with heavy burdens. We saw it when they brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus.
They said, the Torah demands death. They were right. But that extreme judgment was the worst case scenario and was never their only option. All laws had to be interpreted and applied, and mercy is always an option.
But they never chose grace.
The Pharisees are fine with their heavy applications, and as long as it doesn't apply to them. We don't have time for me to go into the very two of the very difficult things that Jesus says about if your right eye causes you to stumble or if your right hand causes you to stumble. So let's just understand that Jesus is really throwing this in the Pharisee's face.
Are you really willing to walk a path of extreme Torah observance and faithfulness?
Do you want that standard applied to you? I know they didn't want that standard applied to them. They wouldn't even submit to John's baptism, which would have required them to repent, which would have changed how the rest of the people saw them. And they wouldn't do that. Every interpretation that Jesus gives is not only to open our eyes and our hearts to what God actually wants, but it's also to open their eyes to the fallacy of what the Pharisees were doing.
Now let's stop for a minute and ask this. Is Jesus saying adultery is no big deal? Of course not. But he is exposing that those who are supposed to be teaching covenant loyalty with their harsh applications of the Torah actually know nothing about keeping a covenant of love and grace. Which, by the way, the Gospel of John says the giving of the Torah was An act of grace.
The next section on divorce doubles down on exposing their lack of grace. And this is where you know, when the preacher has to talk about a subject, it's not comfortable for me, and it's not comfortable for some of you, because some of you have been through the pain of divorce.
But where did Jesus start? He started with adultery. And he started by showing that every person who has committed lust in their heart has already committed adultery.
So as awkward as it may be for you, if you are here and you suffered the pain of divorce, how do I say this gently? Get over it. Nobody is calling you an adulterer. Because if I call you an adulterer, I have to call everybody an adulterer. But Jesus makes it clear almost all of us have committed adultery.
So can we take that awkwardness out for right now? Can we do that? If that's your experience, can we just take that? Just. This isn't a shame game.
Let's find out what he's actually saying.
Verse 31. It was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unfaithfulness, unchastity, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Jesus said, I did not come to nullify the law of the prophets, but to fulfill my friends.
Moses was Israel's great redeemer and prophet, and he had the right of halakhic interpretation and application. And Jesus did not come to nullify that or set it apart. So breathe a sigh of relief. But he is going to double down on what God's really looking for. And he doubles down on the Pharisees.
He is now going to show them that not only do they misapply the justice of the Torah in regard to covenants breaking adultery, but they also completely miss the point of why Moses allowed them to give certificates of divorce in the first place. Jesus deals with this first command, thou shalt not commit murder. And then he moves on to adultery. And now he's talking about divorce. There's a reason for that.
Who said this phrase, God or Moses? Moses. Because he had the right of interpretation. Did he have the right to say it? Absolutely.
He had the right of interpretation and application. So why did Moses give a provision for divorce and give the instruction that if you divorce your wife, you must send her away with a certificate? Has Jesus changed topics? No. In fact, he's still amplifying the first commandment he spoke about, Thou shalt not murder.
Why? Because Marriage is a life covenant. Till death do we part. Unless she has committed adultery. Which means the only exit from that covenant is death.
Now you do the math. Cain got mad about messing up one time at the altar and murdered his brother.
What are you going to do with a woman who perpetually burns the toast?
That's a joke.
What happens if that relationship doesn't turn out to be something you can continue to live in peacefully before the Lord? And what if the only exit from that is she's got to go permanently? We have to ask ourselves, why did Moses grant them certificates? Because he knew the hardness of their hearts. And you think, oh, Brent, that's silly.
Really. How fast did we go from eating one piece of fruit to murdering our brother?
Whatever interpretation Moses is giving it is for the sake of perpetuating righteousness. Adultery is a breaking of a life covenant. Divorce is a breaking of a life covenant. Man, Jesus is on point. It is the scribes and Pharisees who are perverting the people's understanding of life covenant.
How do I know? Because they were telling you. They were interpreting Moses instruction. Well, you know, she burns the toast. Get rid of her.
Give her walking papers. Seriously? It's interpreted that way in some orthodox communities even to this day.
Is Jesus going to contradict or nullify Moses? Nope. Moses had the right, just like Jesus gave his apostles. So why did Moses add the provision for divorce? Because the hardness of their hearts to keep the men of Israel from committing an even greater sin.
Secondly, the second one raises the question for why the purpose of the letter now, in the Torah, only the man has the right to divorce his wife. The wife can request a divorce, but ultimately the right of divorce is with the man. So why would Moses give the men the right to give her a certificate of divorce? Why? Church.
Hear me. Because if they don't, then the man who is actually breaking the life covenant is sending a daughter of Abraham into the midst of the people. And all the people are going to assume that she has done what? Committed adultery.
The certificate of divorce was to protect the integrity and character of the woman and put the burden of covenant breaking on the man.
Moses is trying to say, if you're going to violate righteousness, you're going to do it righteously. You're not going to send her into the community with a scarlet letter. Come on. Have you ever heard this? There's a context.
How do we figure it out? We understand that the law is about righteousness. And so is Jesus teaching. The command was for the benefit of the woman to Protect her. Moses isn't going to add a law or an interpretation that would do otherwise.
And Jesus didn't need to nullify what he'd said, but he did double down on the men and say, you need to know the only reason you can send her away legitimately is if she commits adultery. Now let me say again, has he nullified the right of divorce? No, he hasn't. But he's putting on our shoulders as kingdom grace people, a call to a righteousness. Come on.
That exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. Is this making sense?
Like many of the commandments, the commandment was there to protect the weaker person, the slave, the wife. Moses intention was to stop men from breaking covenant and to protect women from falsely being accused. And as Jesus goes on, you put her in the position committing adultery. If she remarries, you have put her in an impossible position. And he's saying to the men, and you make her commit adultery.
Is that righteousness? Nope.
Well, it's not fair that only the men can give a divorce. You really want that burden? Ladies, Jesus is trying to teach us about grace.
We had a responsibility to protect that covenant.
We are not called to put people in a position where they commit adultery. Now let me just say one other thing. As we get headed downhill to the close, there are men and women in this room who have committed adultery in your heart.
But you do not walk around with the shame of believing you are permanently an adulterer.
We forgive ourselves, don't we? We accept the grace of God for that that fall. We let the blood of Jesus cover us that we sang about, and we move on. If you're here in this room today and you were a victim of divorce or even a perpetuator of it and adultery ensued, plead the blood of Jesus, receive the forgiveness of Jesus and move on in his grace.
You don't bear that shame anymore than the men of this room who can have the security of it happening up here. But nobody knows, so they're safe. No, the blood of Jesus covers both. He's calling us to a kingdom of righteousness. Worship team, you can come back.
Why does Jesus double down so hard on us as kingdom people, not being violators of life covenants? Because doing so is literally the opposite of grace.
It's the opposite of loving kindness that manifests as covenant loyalty.
A love and a loyalty that God has shown to every single person in this room.
And you deserve it because he's your father.
You can't earn it. You can't do some great act of righteousness. And then the Father says, okay, now I love you again. The Bible says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He loved us before we loved Him.
So how do we walk this out as kingdom citizens who are to be passionate preservers of the life covenant with our mates? As God has remained covenantly loyal to us, how do we live that out? By being people who do righteousness. By showing and giving God's grace, his loving kindness and covenant loyalty to others. That means when someone fails you, you forgive, you give grace.
By not being a stumbling block to others because of our covenant disloyalty, but taking seriously our responsibility in Christ, not just our rights in Christ. When you leave this place, people are either going to experience covenant grace in you or they're going to experience the opposite. We need to stop telling people that they don't deserve the love of God. Yes, they have to understand they don't have to do something to earn it, but they were literally created to be the focus of his love.
I want to close by asking a couple questions.
How many heavy burdens, how many heavy burdens did we put on people when we came to Torah?
How many heavy burdens did we put on people by ignoring apostolic doctrine?
Well, I know they said this, but you have to do this, this, this and this. How many heavy burdens burdens did we put on people when we told them you have to abandon your families because they celebrate that holiday? I mean, but who cares about honor and love and respect? How many friendships were destroyed when we told people they were pagans when we laid our interpretation of the Torah on their hearts? Said you're not acceptable unless you meet my interpretation.
Oh yeah, there's some emails, some texts, some phone calls that need to be made as a result of today asking forgiveness for putting burdens on people you had, you and I had no right to put on them.
How many heavy burdens have we laid on people in the name of grace?
We wanted them to come to Jesus, but as soon as they came to Jesus and repented of their sins, we expected all those sins to just go away. You know, just like it happened for you.
We, we want them to, to be where it took us 10 years to get. We want them there in 10 days in the name of grace. Now I'm not saying we, we diminish the value of repentance. Repentance must be genuine and real.
But how many people have had a heavy burden laid on their heart because of our expectations instead of his covenant loyalty? How many people have we avoided because we predetermined they would never respond to his grace. Come on.
So we decided they're too far gone. You know that person that's too far gone in your life. God may raise up to be the greatest preacher in this generation.
May raise up to be a godly woman, a godly mother, an end time handmaiden filled with the Spirit of God.
Jesus doubles down. The kingdom is here. The manifest power and presence of God is here for you to walk out grace.
Not to lay heavy burdens on people, but to lift them off of their shoulders. Not because they've done something to deserve it, but because they're God's child and he loves them just as much as he loves you. If Jesus doubles down on grace, hff, it's time for us to do the same.