To watch the sermon Kingdom Court | Torah of the Kingdom Series

Download the Discussion Guide: Download

Download the 5 Day Devotional: Download

Have you had a good week?

How many say meh? Well, you made it through another cycle. You made it through another week, so praise the Lord for that. I'm excited about the message we get to look at today. One that is, quite honestly, in my opinion, counterintuitive to where I would begin.

If I had been Jesus sitting on that mountainside that one day, talking to the masses that had gathered around him for what we call the Sermon on the Mount. You know, I've been thinking lately about what's going on in our political arenas and culture. It's kind of hard not to right now. Things are amped up at probably the highest degree of tension that I've ever seen in my 62 years on the planet. And one thing keeps getting thrown back and forth across the aisle.

Everybody seems to be destroying democracy. Have you. Have you heard that? Maybe you've been the one pointing the finger at some. The other side or the other position.

But everybody's destroying democracy. And, you know, that's a real tragedy, except that we're a part of a kingdom, not a democracy. And so I don't want to see bad things happen in my nation or democracy. But at the same time, my hope is not built. My faith, my life isn't based around whether or not somebody is using lawfare.

You know, whenever we get mad, we come up with new terms, don't we?

One of the accusations that is disturbing is that our judicial system is under attack. And I would say it's under attack from multiple sides and levels. But one of the things that we have enjoyed as Americans is what is called the presumption of innocence. If someone, if you are accused, even if you are arrested for a particular crime, there is a presumption that you are innocent until proven guilty. And we appreciate that.

It's a bedrock principle of our legal system. And it turns out it is a principle with which Jesus begins his exposition on the Torah of the Kingdom. Let me read it. Do not think. Well, let me.

I read from the New American Standard and it's been updated. So let me change the word and read it the way they now translate it. Do not presume that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Therefore, whoever nullifies one of these, the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus begins this section of the kingdom sermon by appealing to the presumption of innocence. Now, when I first saw that change in term from do not think to do not presume, I immediately knew I've got to go look at the original Greek. I've got to go find out what made the translators think this was an appropriate change in terms.

Because do not think, you know, that. That. That's pretty powerful for me. Do not presume doesn't seem quite as strong, but in actuality it is, because the Greek word for presume is literally built on the word, the Greek word for law, which is the word namos. Have you ever heard of a antinomian?

That's someone who's against the law. The very word that Jesus uses, or what Matthew uses to quote Jesus, is this word that has to do with don't make a presumption of guilt. Don't presume that I have come to do something to violate the law, to nullify the law, or to demean the law. In fact, I have not come to do any of that. I have come to.

To fulfill. Jesus says, just don't presume that I've come to nullify the law of prophets. Don't think that that was. That's my goal. Do not render a false legal verdict that I have come to nullify the Torah.

Now, let me ask you a question. Why is Jesus talking about that? Why this early in his ministry? And there's been quite a bit of things going on up at this point, lots of miracles. I mean, enough has gone on that when he goes up on that mountain, the masses come to him.

And yet already in his ministry, Jesus knows what is going on in the hearts and minds of the scribes and Pharisees and the lies that they are trying to sow among the masses. And so he has to begin this way with the presumption of his own innocence.

It really hints at how those who were. It talks about those who are not willing to hear him. Scribes and the Pharisees, the rumor mill. And they didn't need TikTok, they didn't need, you know, Facebook, they didn't need Instagram. All they had to do was show up in the synagogue, show up in the streets where everybody was, and start sowing the lies.

It also sets up an irony to his entire story, the entire story of his interaction and conflict with the religious leaders. Listen to what he says again in Matthew 5:20 for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses, far surpasses that of the scribes, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. Do you hear what he just said? We know who are the people in the crowd who are presuming his guilt. We know what they're doing.

And Jesus, before he gets into the explanation of the Torah, exposes them, the ones who are the scribes, the lawyers and the Pharisees as being the ones who are nullifying and setting aside God's Word.

I want to stop right here and I want us to pray. Because the scariest thing for me, a believer, especially as someone who gets to stand before you and try to present what God's Word, what I truly believe, it says, the context. Having studied all of these things and sought the Lord in prayer, it terrifies me that I might say something to you about what he said that was not what he said.

The scribes and Pharisees didn't have a problem with that. They would say what he said, but then they would override it with their own applications. I don't want to do that. I also, as we pray, I want you to understand that burden. But I.

That's on me. But I also want you to understand the burden that's on you. Because there is no generation in modern history like you, a generation of Christians, of believers who fell in love with the Torah. We hadn't seen that. A generation of believers who could find themselves making the exact same mistakes that the scribes and Pharisees were making in how they were handling the Word of God.

That should terrify you. I don't want to preach it falsely. And you should not want to receive anything that's false. You should want to know what Jesus said and why he said it. And to that end, I invite you to pray with me.

Abba. Father, I come to you in the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, the one who sat upon that mountain and opened his mouth as the Word of God and spoke truth to the masses that has resounded throughout the generations, even to this moment in time. Here in South Oklahoma City, we are a people gathered at his feet to hear his words and to receive the kingdom. Lord, I pray that you would find in this place willing hearts, receptive ears, receptive minds and humility to receive the kingdom you so generously want to give. I pray this in Jesus name.

Amen. Jesus begins his sermon on the kingdom by clearly pointing out who the real culprits are, who the ones really were that were doing the nullifying and the Setting aside. And I want you to understand the irony of this. As he's standing there, an uneducated, you know, viewed as an uneducated rabbi, mesmerizing the people while they stand aside. You know, any local preacher has had this moment, the preacher that stands there week after week in front of his congregation, and then they bring in the revival speaker and the revival speaker just goes off.

And inevitably the preacher and the revival speaker will be at the back door and the people of that congregation will walk up right in front of the preacher and go, oh, that was what? We don't get preaching like that very often here. And just kills the soul of the preacher who is invested in their lives. Can you imagine the scribes and Pharisees sitting there being just not just one upped, but just uber upped by Jesus? Not just in his style, not just in the masses, but the depth and the wisdom of what he was saying.

These were the ones who were guilty of claiming that they were the most righteous, the most innocent.

You see, the presumption of innocence is a good thing. The pretense of innocence is not the pretense of innocence that I am not. I'm without sin or I'm the go to guy for all things righteousness. That is pretense. The presumption of innocence protects the innocent.

The pretense of innocence protects the guilty because it's a facade. And we're all good at doing things like that. We're all good at condemning the innocent and ignoring our own guilt. How do I know we're all good at that? Because I watch what we post on Facebook.

How do I know this? Because Jesus begins his kingdom sermon on the Torah or the Torah of the kingdom with a law of which all of us would immediately declare ourselves not guilty. And if you are guilty of this sin today, please see the leadership immediately after the service. Since we're going to be talking about murder, most of us would presume or have the pretense of innocence. I love how Jesus dives into the meat of his sermon.

I love not only what the Bible says, but I've said it before. I love the way he says it. There is a geniusness to the geniusness. There is a genius to the Bible. We often miss.

And it's very true of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew's gospel is like a novel. It is. The Holy Spirit has picked one primary theme, one primary mechanism that he's going to use throughout the book, and he's going to weave those things into the story. It's going to tell the irony, the ironic story of the scribes and Pharisees who are the ones doing the things that Jesus, they're accusing Jesus of doing.

And so Jesus chooses a law to begin with that none of them would say they could ever be guilty of murder.

Now, I've shared this with you before, but we have some new people. So I want you to understand that one of the mechanisms of the way Matthew tells the Gospel is that he sets up a juxtaposition. You're going to be so sick of that word. And if you don't know it, go home and Google it because you're gonna hear it so many times. A juxtaposition is the pairing or the comparison of two things.

And Jesus is going to. Or Matthew's Gospel is consistently going to compare the scribes and Pharisees, the lawyers, the experts on the law. And if you're an expert on law, you should be what? An expert in not breaking the law. And the Pharisees who wanted everybody to believe that they were the go to on what it meant to live in righteousness.

I mean, we've said this before, righteousness has to do with giving. I mean, these guys tithe their salt and pepper. I mean, they have set themselves up as the living breathing example of what righteousness is. Alongside the men who are the living, breathing experts on not sinning, they are juxtaposed to two other types of people, tax collectors and sinners. Now, if a scribe is an expert on the law and not breaking the law, what is a sinner an expert on?

Breaking the commandments of God. And I know that to not today. I'm among a lot of experts.

That was a joke. I just called. I just called you sinners, including me. I mean, if I'm an expert at doing anything, I'm an expert in sometimes doing the wrong thing. I mean, a sinner is the person who is the supposedly the exact opposite of a scribe.

What is a tax collector? If the Pharisees set themselves up as the ultimate givers of righteousness, what is a tax collector? A tax collector does not give, he takes. You see the juxtaposition, this is going to be a standard thread throughout the Gospel of Matthew as they are exposed for who they truly are. And it's consistent and it's constant throughout the story.

So let's look at the first thing Jesus deems most important to start off with on his Torah of the kingdom. Verse 21, Matthew, chapter 5. You have heard that the ancients were told, you shall not murder. And whoever commits murder shall be answerable to the court. I love the fact that Jesus starts with this commandment.

I mean, when you think of all the commandments he could have started with, why did he start with this one? How many of you got up this morning in your devotional time and you asked the Lord to keep you focused and do all these things and oh, by the way, Lord, help me not to murder an innocent person.

He's talking about me. Anyway, thank you. God bless you. I see that hand. I mean, honestly, what day of the week have you got?

Okay, maybe some help with road rage, you know, but most of us don't think in the top 10, the first 10 commandments. Most of us breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief and say, well, at least I didn't do that one, you know, that's a gimme, hopefully. And again, if it's not for you, please turn yourself into the authorities.

The reason I love this is that Jesus begins with the law that most of us would seem least relevant. And he's going to show us how it's most relevant. He also is going to show us and expose our self pretense innocence that we could be so arrogant as to assume that we are innocent even of that one. So what does murder have to do with righteousness? Everything, because it's a juxtaposition to righteousness.

If the action of biblical righteousness is selfless giving, there can be no clear opposite. The most extreme version of that would be the most selfish taking of somebody else's life. Murder is the it is the best antithesis opposite of righteousness because it is one of the most grossly selfish things that a person could do to take a life that is not theirs, that is precious to God, and yet take it from someone else.

And it's an act so selfish and so vile and yet most of us would say we would never do such a thing because that's exactly what the Pharisees and scribes are going to say. We can't even imagine being so self centered and self indulgent that we could ever take the most precious thing that someone else has, their very life, from them. But if you want to understand how corrupt society can be, just look at the topic of abortion. When people literally can flip the script so much that the taking of the innocent life of a born or unborn baby is then presented as righteousness.

Beware when they say evil is good and good is evil. Because if you can't figure out the highest morality is the preservation and the holiness of life and you can come to the place where you're okay living in a culture that's perpetuating a holocaust against innocent life. It's for this reason that Jesus begins with murder. It has everything to do with righteousness.

And why is our culture so in love with the opposite of righteousness? Murder, she Wrote.

Come on. How many shows do we watch that are based on murder?

This one's going to hit a little closer at home. Psych.

But it's funny.

It's about the opposite of righteousness and who done it. Think of our beloved villains and monsters. You know, there's a reason our culture loves vampires. It's the perfect personification of the opposite of righteousness. They are the most selfish villains we could invent.

A vampire is dead, but prolongs his life by taking the innocent life and blood from another, while Jesus gave his life so that the dead.

I don't know why anybody would ever dress their child up as a vampire, ever. One takes life and death, and the other gives life through his death. I kind of have this premise that you find out what the culture loves, and you will find the exact opposite of the heart of God. Murder is the ultimate act of unrighteousness and selfishness. A selfishness that none of us could ever think that we could be guilty of.

Verse 22. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be answerable liable to the court. Please pay attention to all of the legal terminology. We're talking about the Torah. We're talking about the law.

If you who is angry with his brother shall be liable to the court. And whoever says to his brother, raca, you good for nothing, worthless, shall be answerable to the Supreme Court. And whoever says, moron, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fires of hell.

Now, I need to give you a warning before we proceed. It's about to get awkwardly real. I'm going to say some things that are going to be excruciatingly uncomfortable, but we need to hear them first. I need you to recognize something very important. We, right here, right now, in our time, are in the very same situation as those gathered in the mountain on that day.

They had heard the Torah their whole lives. It wasn't just a bunch of laws. It was what distinguished them from all the other nations and all the other peoples. The Torah was very much a part of their identity doctrine. To hear anyone demean it in any way would have been an unthinkable thing to do.

But no matter how important it was to them, they had heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it and heard it. Kind of like those of us who grew up in church.

We have heard the Sermon on the Mount over and over and over and over again. So much so that we can almost yada, yada, yada to the end and then presume to think we don't need to hear it. But Jesus says otherwise. The law was simple and straightforward. It was a grievous sin to take the life of an innocent person because life was precious.

I mean, what could anyone say that was new about that law? Today we face the same dilemma. We've heard Jesus teaching, do not hold on to anger.

You have heard, do not hold on to anger as many times as you have heard. Thou shall not murder. We become so familiar with it, it can just rush right past us. Jesus says, do not call someone Rockaway. Oh, don't worry about that.

I've never used that term. Yes, you have. In a different language. Do not speak the evil that someone else's life has no value. Do not call someone a fool, a moron.

The Greek word literally is where we get the word moron. Growing up, there were certain words I knew not to say. Calling someone a fool was one of them. I mean, when you were a little kid. When I was a little kid, if someone ever said, oh man, you're a fool, all the kids would say, umm, we all knew it.

If someone said, oh my God, umm, we all knew you don't do that.

But Jesus says to do it is to make us liable to be bound over to the court. We recognize that Jesus was telling them and telling us to go on beyond the letter of the law. You don't murder because you recognize the value of another person's life. And here's the thing about that. That means every life you encounter as you leave this place, as you sit in this place, when you're at school, when you're at home, when you're at your place of work, when you're that everybody's.

There's nobody's life in that room that is not sacrosanct and special and precious to God.

And righteousness begins there. Righteousness begins when I start valuing you the way I value me. That's righteousness.

Like the Pharisees, most of us cannot see ourselves ever being guilty of those sins. Oh, maybe we occasionally call someone a moron in jest. I forgive you, Chris. He didn't do that. Not out loud anyway.

Or we use it maybe as a description of their political prowess or Abilities, but never about them personally. And we would never call someone a fool or devalue their life because after all, Jesus told us, don't use these words. So we don't. And just like that, we're in the same situation as them.

The pretense of our innocence.

So here's where it gets awkward. American culture has surpassed all others in being a narcissistic society. Whatever the original people meant by the American dream, it has become an American nightmare. Because generation after generation of young Americans have grown up believing life revolves around them. And that's not true.

It revolves around me.

Narcissism. And in America, I think it's even. It's worse here than anywhere. Narcissism is the complete consumption or obsession with self. And it is the number one appetite.

Remember when Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our flesh hungers for selfishness.

We bemoan the entitlement mentality in our culture while contributing to it in practically everything we do. I mean, little Johnny must have access to every possible sport, activity and technology. Because if little Johnny doesn't get what he perceives everyone else has, then he'll grow up scarred and we'll be bad parents.

And what happens when little Johnny gets married and the missus doesn't serve him and kowtow to every one of his selfish inclinations, not including the remote control that is a man's tool belongs in a man's hand.

You understand my point? We raise kids believing they have a right to everything.

And pretty soon those who believe that begin to believe they have the right to everything and the responsibility for nothing. Satan has been creating another kind of narcissism. And this is one that makes the use of the term awkward. Why awkward? Please hear my heart when I say this.

By attacking the family and breaking down those basic mores and values, we've become a culture that abuses each other.

We used to fear someone would do something bad to our children. Now the presumption of who might be responsible are the parents or the closest. I mean, when there's a murder, they don't go looking for that weird, mysterious person that nobody knows. They start looking at the people that knew them best.

I say wounded narcissist because somehow most of us in our lives have become the victim of somebody else's selfishness. Selfish. We wound our children in divorce, abuse, violence, lack of discipline, abusive discipline, sexual abuse, premature sexual awareness.

You know, no one wants to drop a negative term on somebody who's wounded. And I don't want to do that to you today. Because sometimes our narcissism is a mechanism we use to heal and protect ourselves. I've always said the conceited person that's always talking about themselves is only giving the compliments to themselves. They don't think you will give them.

They don't see themselves as significant in your eyes. So they have to have this exaggerated life of constantly telling you how good they are, how great they are, whatever.

Yes, it's incredibly irritating. But they're wounded. And by using this term, I'm not trying to shame people. But there's only one cure for self centered selfish woundedness and it's righteousness.

It's meeting the Son of God who gave up everything of heaven to come and serve your greatest need and my greatest need, the only way to break out of that. And I would suggest that probably all of us in this room have some level of wounded narcissism functioning in our lives. It's the thing that gets us in trouble the most. It's the thing that drives that moment when we know we shouldn't and we do it anyway because we want what we want when we want it.

And in some ways we're committing self murder when we do that. Because the very thing we think we're going to get from that narcissistic word or attitude or action actually ends up, this is the thing. And all of you who've been around, you know, narcissists know that they always point the finger at you and they're the ones doing the thing they're accusing you of doing. And they're utterly blind to it. And that gets incredibly frustrating.

But it's all flowing out of woundedness. Why am I so passionate about preaching and teaching the kingdom of God and his righteousness? As I just said, it's the only cure. It's coming to the foot of the cross, it's coming to the feet of Jesus and laying down and giving up everything because of what he gave. For me, it's the reason the church in a lot of ways is impotent in its power, because its people are completely obsessed with self.

We look at our programs. The body of Christ has to function as the body of Christ. There are programs that we need moments that we create to be together, to meet your needs and all of that.

But Jesus said, go and make disciples.

Go teach people. There's freedom. I would never say to someone's face, you are worthless. But what am I saying when I talk incessantly and never give anyone else a chance to Tell their story. I've never done that.

No. I have bruise marks on my thigh where my loving wife's hand just slips over and begins to clench. And I know exactly what that clinch means. Shut up and let someone else talk.

That's why I stand up here when I preach. You can't reach me anyway.

What am I saying about their life when I'm only interested in my own? What if I am more interested in someone's? And what if I am more interested in someone knowing my spiritual gift than actually using that spiritual gift for their benefit and not my ego?

Told you. It's going to get awkward. It gets uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to stop and step back, say, why am I really doing what I'm doing? Am I in this to look good?

Did I say yes to this committee? This just so, or is it really about someone else? Because here's the thing about spiritual giftedness. The person that runs around telling me about their spiritual giftedness is the last person I'm going to turn to.

If they have a greater need for me to know how gifted they are, then they're the last person I want to go to because they were going to use their giftedness to build themselves up. And I have a genuine need, and I don't need that. I know. Awkward.

This gets really close to home. Again, I would never say to someone to their face, you're a fool, because I know that thou shalt not.

But kingdom people, you know, the law had all these rules about what happens if you violate somebody and. But kingdom people don't have to worry about that if their view of the other person's life is as great as they view their own. I don't even need a law to teach me that. Jesus taught me how valuable my life was when he hung on the cross.

So why do we do it? Well, it comes from our broken flesh. And it's, as I said, it's medication. And here we are 2000 years later, and Jesus is still taking us to school.

Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar and there you remember 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. Come to good terms with your accuser quickly while you are with him on the way to court, so that your accuser will not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid every last quadrance, every Last cent.

Have you ever read of a story where an issue. Where there was an issue between brothers that was revealed at an altar? What if Cain had gone to Abel instead of going to meet him in the field and kill him?

The book of Jude talks about the way of Cain. The way of Cain. In a word, narcissism. Even after God came and extended grace and mercy to Cain and said, listen, sin's knocking at your door, but you must conquer it. And don't you know that if you.

If you do right, you'll be accepted? He goes like a father and says, hey, son, yeah, you messed up, but I love you. And you're. And that wasn't. No.

Cain's ego was bruised, and so he chose narcissism. And that narcissism led to murder. Do you realize how dangerous this is? We went from the first sin of eating a piece of fruit for our own selfish needs to taking the life of somebody else because of our own selfish needs. Are you beginning to understand why Jesus started there?

Because that's really where the story of mankind outside of Eden began.

But we also notice the context of when this needs to be rectified. When you're standing at the altar to present an offering, and there remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your offering that which you're giving to God and go be reconciled to your brother. You know, I had never noticed this, but the man that Jesus is talking about is guilty.

The man who is mad at the man who's at the altar is the one who is the victim. He has something against the man at the altar. And Jesus says, if you don't go make that right, you're going to get thrown in jail until you pay him what you owe him. So who is right and wrong in that story? The man at the altar going through all of the tradition, all of the expectations of presenting themselves before God and hoping he wasn't paying attention to how we were treating our brother or our neighbor.

He did owe him some money, but how many times in our life do we just convince ourselves under the pretense of innocence, no, I'm not the guilty party. That I would not. That. That wouldn't have had. If they hadn't done this, this.

Then I would. No, I'm sorry. You're the guilty party. And what God really wants is to see us go and do righteousness. What does the Bible say?

Sacrifices and burnt offerings. I don't really desire those. What does he really want in our lives? Manifestations of righteousness, which is a manifestation Of. Of the kingdom of heaven.

How is an admission of my guilt an act of righteousness? It is the giving up of my claim to innocence. And that's terrifying for some of us because we have wrapped ourselves into that. Make believe me, that keeps me from seeing who I really am. And remember why the Pharisees couldn't receive the kingdom of heaven.

The Bible says it was because they rejected the baptism of John. And in rejecting the baptism of John, they forfeited the purpose of God for their lives. Why didn't they want to go through with that baptism? Because it was a baptism of repentance.

It would have changed. That's my rabbi. Why does he need to be baptized? I can tell you. All of your church leaders need to be baptized in repentance.

And if you're banking your faith and your consistency with the Lord on the perfection of your spiritual leaders, shame on you. You are setting yourself up. But these men didn't. They weren't going to go to the waters of repentance and immersion because it would change the way the people saw them. And they were too busy building that kingdom of their own.

And that was the powerful nature of John's baptism because it revealed the people who wanted a kingdom, who wanted a kingdom where their righteousness was surpassed by the king. And they would do what the king said. They would go and do righteousness. They would repent.

It's giving over of my life into the hands of the one I sinned against. Ouch.

Does that sound familiar? It's exactly what we must do when we come to Jesus. We must acknowledge and confess that we're sinners and that we are lawbreakers. Because if we don't, and I want you to hear this, if we don't, we're on the wrong side of that juxtaposition. We're no different than the scribes and Pharisees offering a pretense.

Well, I'm not as bad as that person because I didn't do this. And here's the thing, and I want you to hear my heart on this. This isn't to shame you or to scold you. It's something the body of Christ has to come to terms with. That we cut ourselves off from the power of the kingdom of heaven because we won't let ourselves get close enough to it.

Because we know the truth about how we're living, thinking and behaving. We'll be exposed. And so it's just safer to just stand back here and on Saturday or Sunday, doesn't matter. We know how to make it look good. And it's safer than getting close enough to being exposed.

This is the kingdom, my friends, fellow minister, friend of mine once said, many people go to church their whole lives and never get saved.

Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, I told you that. This is Matthew's gospel is an amazing book. I never realized it was a murder mystery. If you want to read a good whodunnit, read the Gospel of Matthew.

You see, Jesus not only uses this law because we think it's the least relevant and uses this law because it takes us back to the very beginning. He also uses this law because it's going to begin to expose the people. He's exposing the ones who, at the end of the book, the ones who denied that they had needed to repent, the ones who were literally living the way of Cain.

This is what Jesus says to them. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you build the tomb of the prophets and decorate monuments of the righteous. And say, if we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the shedding of the blood of the prophets. Jesus says, so you testify against yourselves that you are in fact the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

And then he says this. Fill up the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You snakes, you offspring of vipers. How will you escape the sentence of hell? Remember what Jesus said.

Don't think I haven't come to nullify. I have come to fulfill. Fill it up. Righteousness. What did he just say to these scribes and Pharisees?

Go ahead and fill it up. Go ahead and fill up the testimony of your fathers, because you testify that you are their sons and you will do exactly what they did. You will be guilty of murder. And not long after, the words that Jesus spoke, they turned an innocent man over to the Romans and conspired to commit murder. So Jesus says, go ahead and fill it up, worship team.

You can come back.

You know, I've come to the conclusion that all of us, there are two things being fulfilled in all of our lives.

The pattern of righteousness or the pattern of selfishness. When I say we're fulfilling, just as they were fulfilling the pattern of their fathers, we have a choice. Today Jesus is preaching. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. He's inviting us.

Which one do you want fulfilled in your life? Because if you stand behind that presumption of innocence, even though There's a pretense of innocence there. That's not true. You can fake it, but you're never going to fake it till you make it. Because you're not going to make it.

Because you will come before the court of the righteous judge and he will expose it. But if you want to just keep fulfilling that selfishness, he says, go ahead, fill it up. You may never pull a trigger and end another person's life, but you will end up going through life.

Do you know why we have this term church hurt? We have that term because there are people within the body of Christ in all of its flavors who are over here being selfish and narcissistic and running roughshod over broken people. Is that what you want to fill up? You have a choice. You can either fulfill that or you can fulfill the righteousness that he's calling us to.

First instructed in the law of Moses and then revealed in the life of Jesus.

And the Bible says that Jesus prophesied, the prophets, prophesied that there would come a generation who would do exactly that, who would love unrighteousness so much they would call it good instead of calling it evil.

Jesus knew what he was doing when he started with murder because it goes to the very heart and core of how you see me and how I see you. And even beyond that, how I see those people out there and how I see those people online that disagree with me.

I put a post on Facebook yesterday just kind of mocking the ludicrousness of the extremes that we, we are going through in America, calling out people why I can't even be with. I can't even be in relationship with you.

There's more than one way to call a person a fool. There's more than one way to kill us. The soul of another person. Hff. When people come through these doors, if this is the first time they meet with us, I want them to leave having their soul well up with goodness within them because they interacted with the people that knew.

It's not just about us. It's not just about making us look good. And maybe if their first encounter with HFF is out there, I want them to be so stunned by our compassion and our goodness and our righteousness that they want to know why.

And we can do that as we go into this response time. I know you have things that you want to happen in your life with the Lord, but I'm just going to ask you to consider one thing as we stand and sing here in a moment.

Is there business with men? Is there business with sisters, Brothers? Is there some business with someone else that you need to take care of? Go do it. And then come to the altar.

Then come to the Lord. Because the righteous offering that he is looking for from us. It's not just the songs we sing. It's the souls we bless by doing what he commanded. This is the Torah of the kingdom.