Sermon on the Mount

If you have your bibles and you want to take them, we're going to have our reading and then Chris Tilly is going to come and bring God's word to us. Our reading is from Matthew chapter 5, and we're gonna read verses 17 to 26. Let's hear what God says. Jesus is speaking. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

For truly, I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, or by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside 1 of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to people long ago.

You shall not murder, and if anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raka, is answerable to the court. And anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the fire of hell. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there, remember that your brother or sister has something against you Leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First, go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who has taken you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way. Or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly, I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Thank you thank you, Dean. My name's Chris Tilly. I'm 1 of the elders here at Cornerstone Church. And before we get started, let me let me pray. Father, please help us as we come to your word.

These these are serious words. We just heard some very serious things We heard some very serious warnings read. We heard some some clear application which we're gonna we're gonna be thinking through. So help us as we listen to take this and for our hearts to be soft and for your words to hit us and for you to speak to us very clearly this evening. Further we do ask this in your name, our men.

Okay. Well, if you if you remember last week, Ben was taking us through the previous passage, which we just read. And Jesus was saying that he hadn't come to abolish the law, he'd come to fulfill the law. Meaning that he was he was here to deepen it. He was here to he was here to give it its true meaning, to explain it to us.

But the process of doing that exposes us, the process by which exposes the hypocrisy in human hearts We also heard about the pharisees who made the law their mantra, and they cherished keeping the law to the letter. If any of you been watching Line of Duty, that's Ted Hastings's favorite. Isn't it? The letter of the law? He absolutely I can't do the accent, but he that's 1 of his favorite things.

But the pharisees, they loved that. They would have loved hastings, the letter of the law. That's what it's all about for them. Not 1 bit more, not 1 bit less. These guys, they they were professionals at this.

And worryingly, we were told that our righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the pharisees. We've got to be better than these professionals And that's an an that's an uneasy thing. And that's in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. If we're to have any chance of entering the kingdom of heaven, our righteousness must surpass that of the pharisees. So the stakes here are high.

Ben likened it to what what follows to these 6 these 6 sort of points of application that Jesus makes, these 6 explanations of the law that he gives in the following statements to to to a doctor coming to town. It's a bit like the doctor coming to town and setting up a clinic and diagnosing and treating some pretty nasty problems. And he's on the lookout for some key symptoms as he does it. These are these are almost gonna be like our guiding principles today that we're gonna apply throughout. So the first thing that he's really on the lookout for is this sort of denial or delusion that we're in keeping with the law.

If we think we're in keeping with the law, if we think we're law keepers watch out. You're in trouble. Second, he's looking for attitude. He's looking at principle and how you apply principle. What's your attitude to the law?

Are you someone who who does what they have to? Or are you someone that wants to and and wants to do the maximum that you can, or do you just seek to do the minimum amount that you have to? Attitude is a big thing that he's on the lookout for. And finally, he's he's looking at remedies and cure and this this really translates into lifestyle. Choices and how we go about this kind of thing.

And really, are you willing to accept the doctor's diagnosis? And will you take the treatment that he offers? Because the consequences of disputing it and refusing the treatment are severe. We just heard the severity of of that. As I said, this is this is high stakes stuff.

So That's by way of a quick introduction and the first point really is is further investigations needed. So you've gone to the doctor, a bit of further investigations needed. Let's prod on that sense of unease about that verse, your righteousness must surpass that of the pharisees. Now there's 2 ways to look at law really. There's there's a way of looking at it that laws something that you have to do.

You might not want to do it. You might not even agree with it. But if it exists and you want to stay on the right side of it, then you will do what you have to. Perhaps begrudgingly, to keep it that way, to keep on the right side. And this is the camp that the varices were in.

This is this is what they fall into. So when they see something like do not murder, they think, brilliant. I can do that. Says what it means, it's clear. I can easily keep it, and I can feel better about myself.

I mean, it's fairly straightforward to not murder someone, isn't it? What they won't do is think about the behavior and the principle that a law like do not murder is trying to encourage. So they'll just do the minimum that they have to to keep in keeping with the with the law. It's here's a really this is a stupid example and the more I'm thinking about the more stupid the example seems to me in my own head, so I don't know what it's gonna be like to you. But it's a bit like a 20 mile an hour speed limit.

Easy enough to keep sort of I mean actually it's not because I was thinking, I actually think I broke it on the way down here coming down the road today. It's actually not that easy to keep. But in in theory, in theory, it should be fairly easy to keep to 20 miles an hour. We can do it. But what's the point of it?

What's the point of the 20 mile an hour speed limit? We've probably all wondered this. What is the point of a 20 mile an hour speed limit? Well, Daryl, there may be children crossing, there may be a school, there may be a nursery, there may be a park, there may be an old people's home. The point of that 20 mile an hour limit is that you should slow down and drive with them on your mind to care for those people in those situations.

That's the point. And so you can take that even further, can't you? And say, right, I'm gonna adapt all of my driving to be careful to care for people, you can take it further. If you were if you were like an incorrect way of applying it would be to drive it bang on 20 miles an hour, but God help anyone that steps out in front of you because you're not gonna stop. You're just gonna keep driving regardless because you're doing 20 miles an hour, not 1 bit more, not 1 bit less, and it's your fault if you get in the way.

That there's no care for people in that. It's it's a complete misunderstanding and misapplication, isn't it? It's ridiculous, actually. It's a little bit stupid. I said it was.

But there you go. And the thing is we all have this slightly uneasy relationship with laws, don't we? We like it to be clear cut. We like it to be simple. We like it to be to be fairly black and white so that we can tick it off and not have to think much about it.

But that's exactly how the pharisees thought. That's exactly how they went about things. And it's also how we too often approach laws such as do not murder. We think, great. Got this 1 in the bag.

I've never killed anyone and I really don't intend on killing anyone. So what's this got to do with me? In fact, it's funny me and Bernadette were talking about it on the way down here. We were saying, like, surely, the Pharacies would have thought, why would God give a law that really doesn't apply to most of the population? I mean, I don't know if more people were killing people back in those days maybe there were.

Maybe there was a much higher murder rate. But even so, why would God give a law that really doesn't apply to actually anyone today? I mean, has anyone in this room killed anyone? Does anyone plan on killing anyone? Does anyone even know anyone who's killed anyone?

Like, not killed but murdered them. No. Not really, it's actually a very, very, very small percentage of the population of the planet that does this. So why would god bother putting it in the 10 commandments? Surely that must have been a question on their mind.

But instead, they just went, I'll take that. I'll take that. I'll I'll tick that 1 off it's easy to not kill anyone. Well, according to Jesus here, no, it's not. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

Murder according to Jesus goes further than just the physical act. Is something that goes far, far deeper and has serious implications for the way that we conduct ourselves. You can murder someone with emotion. Did you know that? You can murder someone with thought.

And you can murder someone with speech. So Jesus clarifies exactly what the law means for us here and it's uncomfortable reading. What does it mean to surpass the righteousness of the pharisees. Well, he explains it firstly by what murder really is. Who is a murderer and how they murder?

And the first thing that he talks about to explain this is anger. And that brings us on to 0.2. So that's that's really the the disease. So we've we've investigated a little bit further. We've prodded and poached at this uneasiness and we've uncovered something.

And we now know that we've got something wrong. So let's find out the full extent of what we've got wrong here. So verse First 21, I've gone too far. Verse 21, there you go. So verse 21 says You have heard that it was said to the people long ago.

You shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgments. So in many ways, I guess this is I guess this is like the root cause actually. Maybe even the primary motivator for murder. It's angers like the thin end of the murder wedge or it's like the thin end of the wedge that opens the door to murder, isn't it?

How many physical murders do you suppose have occurred without anger being part of the equation. I doubt any, actually. I I I reckon even your most dispassionate psychopathic serial killers are probably or they always comes out, doesn't it? They were always angry about something in their past, whether they're mother was weak and they despise all women or their father was a brute. And now they just that, you know, they're just angry about it or they were abused in some way.

It always comes out. There's always anger at the root cause. Or there's crimes of passion, isn't there where, you know, spouses are angry at each other. And then there's this this murder, this crime of passion, and they murder in their anger. You hear about these things all the time.

So anger does really seem to be at the at the root of it, and Jesus certainly identifies that. And so when we are angry with a brother or sister, notice the family context here. We are subject to judgment. Our anger will be judged. We will be judged in our anger.

Now this isn't a prohibition. It's probably worth saying. It's not a prohibition against all anger. There are situations where anger is completely appropriate, actually. Think of a husband or a wife's anger in situations of of adultery.

It's appropriate anger. It's it's actually right to be angry because it shows that you care. If you weren't angry, you just wouldn't care, would you? It would be weird. Or think we hear of horrendous things done by regimes around the world to their own people, Belarus, Myanmar, and you you know, you could go on and on.

And we're angry about that. There's no world in which that's right to do that, rightly so. That's right anger. However, there is always a problem with human anger. I mean, we did a whole sermon series on angry angry men a couple of years ago.

So if you really wanna bottom that subject out, then I would suggest going and listening to those. But there is always a problem with human anger. And that is that the very thing that we are angry about we're usually guilty of In fact, we're almost always guilty of. In fact, it happens to me all the time. Every time I drive, I get angry at someone for doing something and then I do it.

Before I get home, and I'm furious at myself, and it's like this repetitive cycle is very, very frustrating. But that's the problem with human anger. And especially so when we start applying Jesus' teachings here. He makes it impossible to wriggle out of. Our anger usually fails to take into account our own wrongdoings.

Isn't that true? We direct anger at somebody else without without examining ourselves first to see where we're in error. It's always the way. And our anger can be stirred up by the most significant of things that don't even matter. I mean, yesterday, for example, this was ridiculous.

It was a beautiful day. We went to the garden center. Me, Sarah and Bernadette, we went into we went home to the garden, and we made the garden really nice and had a great time. But I was grumpy. I don't even know why I was grumpy.

And then I was angry. Do you know why I was angry? Because we left the house 15 minutes late. We didn't even have to be there. It was like, what there's no it's not like we booked in or anything.

I don't even know why. Where did that come from? It's ridiculous. And then before, you know, Bernadette's dead, Sarah's dead, and then everyone I meet on the road on the way there's dead, and it's just a disaster. It's ridiculous, isn't it?

Our anger flares up without warning at a moment's notice Now god's anger on the other hand is is is always justified. It's totally justified, and there's a few things that you can see that in. So here you've got deuteronomy 9 7. So God's anger is always legitimately provoked by human action. So remember this, and never forget how you aroused the anger of the lord your god in the wilderness.

From the day you left Egypt, Until you arrived here, you've been rebellious against the Lord. God's provoked into anger. He doesn't get angry for no reason. He's angry for a reason. God's anger is also slow to come.

It's totally the opposite to us in that way. Psalm 103 verse 8 says the Lord is compassionate and gracious slow to anger, abounding in love. Think of it this way. How many millions of times each day For the entirety of human history, are things thought, said, and done against God. By every single human being that's ever lived.

I mean, that you could start imagining the list compiled and stacking up all the time and yet he holds his anger in check, and yet he's patient, and yet he shows mercy for the good of people who are his enemies, and yet he even sends his son to die for them. But we have 1 tiny insignificant thing done to us, and we're furious. We're furious that someone dared to stand up to us. Dead to slightest or didn't measure up to our expectations or failed us in some way. It's pathetic.

It's ridiculous. But that's the human heart. And what follows what follows from that anger, the things done in that anger. It's a slaughter. It's an absolute slaughterhouse.

And Jesus goes on to give us the examples He moves on to the subject of verbal abuse. He he further clarifies it in verse 22. So he says so, but I tell you anyone who's angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment again. Anyone who says to a brother or sister Raka is answerable to the court. And anyone who says you fool will be in danger of the of the fires of hell.

Now, yeah, it's a bit of a weird 1, isn't it? I mean, we don't know what rackham means. I mean, I don't I doubt any of you, Mamey, unless you've preached on it before, really understand what Raka means. And it's actually quite a difficult thing to translate in the English language. But it but it essentially means you empty head.

You numbskull. You idiot is what it's kind of saying. You're empty in the head. You're devoid of any thoughts. It's it's it's basically the equivalent to like, what are you thick or something.

It's basically you're a thicko. You're an idiot. You stupid individual. And we're not talking about friendly banter. This is not what we're talking about here.

Friendly joking, like friendly banter is something totally different, isn't it? I think, you know, we know that. It often reveals like the strength of a relationship between people. It shows a level of trust. It shows a bit of understanding between people that we can sort of pull each other's leg a little bit in a playful jokey way.

And it it helps to lighten things so that we don't take each other so seriously. But you have to be careful with that. You still have to be careful with that. It depends on the people involved. It depends on the strength of the relationship, the timing, the context, all that kind of thing.

But you've got to be careful. You don't take it too far, and it's so easy to do. And of course, not everyone appreciates it anyway. So some of us just don't like that at all. Take why Phil comes to mind.

That would take full Cooper, for example. So the I've lost count of the times that I've been talking to him and I've said something, and he just does this strange chuckle and just goes, No. I don't think so. And just walks off. And you think, what?

Where are you going? But it's, you know, that's friendly banter. I get it. I, you know, I love feel for that kind. Of thing or take take other like, take Jerusalem.

She's my cousin. So we're always going after each other. Me and Sarah, brother and sister. Always going after each other. Alex Divain when we're at rooted.

I mean, me and Rory, we're always having fun with him. There's a lad at the moment called Rory Wilson. You know? And it's just a great backwards and forwards. The strength of the relationship is brilliant.

I mean, Kerry Reid, we're like brother and sister. She's fair game as far as I'm concerned. Say what you want to her. But Do you get what do you get what I'm saying here? This isn't this isn't what Jesus is talking about.

And we do have to be careful because he is saying brothers and sisters, He is putting it in a brother and sister context. It means we've got to be very careful with 1 another. It means we've we've got to be careful we don't push it too far. But the real thing he's talking about is what's the intent behind the words? Are you saying it and you mean it?

Are you saying it to destroy? Are you saying it to hurt and to maim? Are you using your tongue to stab them in the back in the other words? Are you are you murdering them? You you don't even have to do it to people's faces, do you?

You say, oh, she's such an idiot. Or he's he's a he's a complete fool. Like, oh, he can just be a bit of a fool sometimes, can't he? We've got these little throwaway things that we say so often. It's so easy.

It's so easy for the words to come out in the heat of the moment, especially when we're angry, especially when our backs are up. It's easy to come out and it's very difficult to take them back. It's character assassination. That's what Jesus is really talking about here. So what's the direction of your action with other people?

Are you someone who lifts up? Are you someone who encourages who promotes people, who serves them. Are you are you a life giver? Or are you someone who puts down, who discourages, who stifles, who sips away? Are you an assassin of your brothers and sisters?

It sounds weird, doesn't it? But are you a life taker? Are you a life stifler? I think if we're gonna be completely honest with ourselves, we probably find a mix of the 2 things at work in us don't we. And according to what Jesus says, that means that we are subject to that judgment, answerable to the courts, and we're in danger of the fires of hell.

Serious stuff. Jesus doesn't mention hell all that much, but he mentions it here. It's a serious thing we're talking about. You know, as I was preparing this sermon, it was it was actually quite hard. There's things in my past that I'm really actually quite ashamed of.

When I think back over the way that I treated people at school, think back as some of the things I did and said and the, you know, the the the just the the playground bullying that went on. And even then into the workplace as a young man, and, you know, it's it's hard actually to think back on that. Now. But if I'm gonna be honest, as much as I would like to say that that this was sort of just confined to back then. The truth is is that I've just been doing this my whole life.

And I still do it now. The problem is I've I've actually just become a more skilled assassin That's all that's happened. Nowadays, I can even get other people to do my killing for me. That's how skilled My tongue has become at this kind of thing. A word here, a little look there, a raised eyebrow when someone's talking, an idea planted, an opinion influenced.

And I can just sit back and watch people do my dirty work for me. I was telling myself, hey, look, I've got no blood on my hands, so I didn't say it. God have mercy on us. I'm a I'm a horror at my worst and at my best, I'm not much better. That's the truth.

So that's Jesus' analysis of the problem. Like the like the doctor, he's he's identified the disease and he's exposed like the full depths of it. The just how bad this thing is. It's like a cancer that's spread through the whole body. There's really not many places.

This isn't affecting. So what are our options here? What what are our options here, doc? What do we do about this? Is it treatable?

Is it curable? Well, fortunately, the answer to both of those questions is yes, as it happens. Believe it or not. However, If you refuse the treatment, then this is terminal. This will end you.

Now why would you refuse the treatment you ask? I can hear you asking. So that's why I say, why would you refuse the treatment? Because well, it's gonna involve some changes in your lifestyle some changes in your attitudes, some changes in how you treat people. Whoa.

Okay. Whoa. Let me let me stop and think about this for a second. Let's just you know, just jump in with 2 feet here. It's a serious problem, but it's a serious it's a serious treatment.

And that brings us onto the the third point, the treatment and the cure. So are you are you ready for the treatment? Are you ready to hear what the treatment is? Now we know what the problem is, do we want to know how to treat it? It doesn't sound like it.

I mean, very hard to know with the mask. I don't know if you're smiling or scowling at me or what. I'm gonna tell you anyway. So in verse 23, here it goes. Therefore, If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First go and be reconciled to them, then come and offer your gift. If your brother or sister has something against you, go and make amends. This is all about relationship and the restoration of relationship. We've come a fair way from not from just like not killing people physically, haven't we? Which was with the Pharisees understanding of this law.

And we've actually gone beyond even these feelings of anger and destructive abusive words. It would appear that actually what Jesus is really saying is that the true meaning of do not murder is that you should be a peacemaker to not be a murderer, you need to be a peacemaker And if you're not about being a peacemaker, well, you're a murderer. Because you're not about restoring relationship. You're not about rescuing what's broken. Peace making should be our mantra.

And applying it in our lives should be what we're about. And it goes both ways, doesn't it? Whether whether or not you are the 1 who's in the wrong If there is bad blood between you and a brother or sister, then Jesus says that you need to swallow your pride and go and sort it out with them. Be reconciled to them. Jesus says.

Offer a way of sorting the relationship out and notice what it says about how you should do this. He doesn't say do it when you feel like it. He doesn't say leave it till next week. It's not it's it's not something that's like, oh, we'll take it or leave you. You may or may not have to.

It's drop what you're doing. Leave it right there at the altar in fact. Whatever you were bringing, drop it and go and sort this out immediately before you do anything else. It's of first importance. Essentially, what this means is, don't pretend like everything's okay.

And carry on as if everything's normal, when you know it's not. When you know a problem exists, Remember, this is in the family context. This is a family matter. This is this is this is about family unity. It's important.

You can't just turn up and and expect to be able to to worship alongside and pray alongside and do all the things that you'd normally do alongside a brother or sister. Who's got a serious grievance with you? Who's who's angry at you for something you've done? Or maybe you're angry at them for something they've done. It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter. Sort it out. Sort it out before you do anything else. Now, this is this is quite a hard thing to say. Halfway through a preach, but here it goes.

Is there anyone here who shouldn't be here? Is there anyone here who shouldn't be here? Because they've got something against the brother or sister. Or they know that a brother or sister has something against them because that's surely an application here, isn't it? Directly into church life, directly into the church family.

Don't come to the father and carry on with church family life. Expecting everything to be normal when it's patently not. If you've got issues to resolve, drop everything and sort that relationship out first. Now, it look, it it's not just as easy as that, is it? It's not as simple as, oh, let's go and sort it out.

It's sorted out. It's all done. I mean, you you you may go and attempt to repair a relationship, offer a path to reconciliation, but the other side refuses. Well, there's not much more you can do in that situation apart from to keep on extending the peace offering, is there? But the point is, your attitude, your application, your direction is that you are about peace, and you want to make peace, and you want to find a way and open a dialogue and get this thing sorted out whether the other side buys in or not, that you actually can't control that.

But you can control what you do, and you can be a person that's about peace. It may be the other way around, and the brother or sisters offered a way forwards. But you're ignoring it. Through some sort of stubborn pride. You're refusing to reciprocate.

Well then, sorry, but according to this, you cannot expect to simply be able to carry on serving and participating on your own terms, these are these are important issues, and they must be resolved. Says Jesus. There must be an attempt to resolve them. Otherwise, you've got to leave your gift at the altar. Go and resolve them and then come and enjoy family life.

I mean, for goodness sake, what is the point of these disputes anyway? Why are we here to fall out with each other? What's the purpose of the church existing on on on this planet? It's to witness to the the gospel to tell people about the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, we're getting bent out of shape about something that definitely doesn't matter.

It's very hard to form an argument for something that actually really truly matters than we should be falling out about. Put it to 1 side. Drop it Let it go. Swallow your pride. Don't be stubborn.

And repair the relationship. Don't just cancel the other side out. Don't just separate and leave. You may as well have just murdered them if you do. This is about the body of Christ, isn't it?

That's what the church is. And this is why this is of such high importance The body can't function if it's at war with itself. Paul in his letter to the Ephesian Church wrote these words. So there's a prisoner for the lord then. I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling that you have received.

Be completely humble, and gentle, be patient, bearing with 1 another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is 1 body and 1 spirit just as you were called to 1 hope when you were called, 1 lord, 1 faith, 1 bat ism, 1 God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all, 1. Not 2. Not separate, 1, and we're joined together in 1 oneness.

It's atonement. It's at 1 man. To be at 1 with God as his church body. And so this is how we are to behave daily. This is our regular daily treatment, our regular application of what it is to not murder people.

But what about when we fail? Because we've got to be real, haven't we? I mean, what about when we fail? What about the great debt we've incurred over the years? Where's the payment for that?

Is that what just swept under the carpet as well? No. Like these things must be brought out and treated and and engaged with and worked through. Well, that stuff has to be paid for too. How do I how do I escape facing the judge in the court?

How do I avoid the fires of hell? Well, it brings us on to the final 1 and that's the cure. And what I would strongly advise, in fact what Jesus advises is to go for an out of court settlement. It's quite simple. It's quite straightforward.

Go for an out of court settlement. That's the cure. Before you even get there, don't. Just settle. Don't go to court and plead not guilty, settle before you get there.

And we see this in verse 25. He says, settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you're still on the way together. Or your adversary may hand you over to the judge and the judge may hand you over to the officer and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

I was I was doing some I was looking up some statistics I was preparing for this. I I love a few stats. I always find them interesting, but did you know a bit of where you probably wouldn't because I can't imagine you would have ever looked this up, but did you know that some 60 percent of the world's population live in countries where murder, interestingly actually, that it doesn't appear to be a single country on the planet that doesn't have a law against murder. Funny, isn't it? Everyone seems to be in agreement with murder's bad.

But there's 60 percent of the world's population live in countries where murder, especially multiple murder, carries the death sentence. So if we were to take Jesus' teaching on murder and apply it to those laws, then some 4800000000.0 people are up for execution immediately. 4800000000.0 executed. The rest, imprisoned for the rest of their lives serving out multiple life sentences, millions of life sentences. But that's just a taste of what awaits a final judgment, isn't it?

The point Jesus is is is making is that if you leave it If you hold off and you don't reconcile with brothers and sisters and you don't reconcile with God, and you wait to plea your case. You wait you wait to to say how badly you've been wronged. And it wasn't really my fault, and you haven't understood the whole argument and the, you know, and and the blah blah blah. Drop it. If you turn up with that argument and try and plea your case and you plea not guilty, well, if you know any courtroom drama, you know what happens when someone plays not guilty, they're either gonna get off or they're gonna have the full weight thrown at them.

They'll get a harsher sentence than if they pleaded guilty. A way harsher sentence. If you turn up with that attitude, then you are facing the full weight, the maximum. And let me tell you it's not an argument you will win. It's not an argument you can win.

It's only gonna go badly for you. That that line in verse 26 where Jesus says, truly, I tell you you will not get out until you've paid the last penny. It means you're never getting out. In in Jesus' time, when you were thrown into into prison, there there was no way of earning money. I mean, nowadays, like prisons, they got all schemes, haven't they where you can make stuff and you can make clothes or you can make like little zippo lighters and all sorts of stuff.

There wasn't that in those times. There was no way of earning any money whatsoever. So if you went into prison and you couldn't pay the debt, there's no way that you are getting yourself out of there, you are there. The only way that you're coming out is if someone buys you out. Someone from the outside has to step in and rescue you.

That's the only way you're going to walk free. And Jesus says that every lost penny must be paid. Every last penny, the the word he uses for penny is actually it's like 1 60 fourth of a day's wages, you know, and everyone's got to be paid, and there's a lot of them to be paid. There's an awful lot of them to be paid. More than you can afford.

More than anyone can afford. Every wrongdoing must be accounted for and paid up in full before you are walking free. Now, we, every human on the planet is on their way to that courtroom. We've got a date set in court. We're gonna have our day in court.

It's it's a certainty. It's in the future. At some point, some of us sooner than others. But for all of us pretty quickly, actually, it it won't be long. I was thinking the other day, I've probably got around about 45 years if I'm lucky.

And it may be any time between then. If I'm unlucky, it might be 65 years. I don't I'm not really sure I wanna live that long. It's not that far, is it? It's not a very long time.

And the absurdity is is that as we go, as we get close to that date, we're just adding more crimes to the list. We're just increasing the debt. It's just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And if you wait if you wait till that day in court and you try and plead not guilty, say I was basically a good person. I didn't ever do anything wrong, really.

It was the other people. You don't understand the other side of the argument. I mean, I've never killed anyone. I'm not that bad. I'm not a killer.

I'm not a thief. I didn't do any of those things. Well, then what I would say is God have mercy on you, but he won't because by that time it's too late. Jesus says the time to settle is here and it's now, while you're still walking to the courtroom with him. He's offering a settlement.

He's extending an out of court settlement for you. He wants you to settle with him. He wants to he want he wants for you to stop being his adversary, settle matters quickly with your adversary. Well, you're his adversary if you haven't settled with him. Settle with him.

Remove that barrier. He offers a way of reconciliation. Is that not what he offers at the cross? He goes to death row in our place. He he so that we, the mass murderers, the serial killers, the barabuses, if you remember, go free.

And all the blood that we've shed over the years with our many, many murders is washed away and replaced by his blood. Only then can we be part of the family? Only then can we be right with our father god? Only then can we be forgiven of of all of these murders, these killings, and then enjoy relationship with with our brothers and sisters in Christ. So how are you doing with this?

Are there things that you need to sort out? Perhaps you've made that settlement. You've done that out of court settlement, but there's now problems with brothers and sisters and they need to be sorted through. Are you are you perhaps harboring some sort of resentment against people? Are there people that you've you've hurt or have hurt you?

And you need to reach out to them find a way to repair the relationship. Well, then do that. Do it before you do anything else at least reach out, at least go in that direction, at least have that attitude to try and make peace and and to reconcile and repair Or perhaps perhaps you've never settled with Jesus. Perhaps you've never taken that out of court offer. Of total forgiveness, complete redemption, and you're on a collision course for your day in court.

Where you will be judged according to what you've done in its totality. Well, if that's you then then do that. Do it before you do anything else. Let me pray. Father, these are these are these are hard words and these are hard things for us to hear, and yet to hear that the Lord Jesus Christ would come and stand in death row in our place and would take the penalty for people who are as broken and and as vile to other human beings as we can be is stunning.

And father, we we pray that we would take that out of court settlement if we haven't already, that we wouldn't face that courtroom alone, but we would face it with the lord Jesus Christ by our side, advocating on our part. He is the perfect 1. He is the perfect sacrifice. He died in our place because he could. And father, if we have if we have settled If we have settled our account with Christ, if we have accepted his death on the cross and his resurrection back to life, then help us to apply this peacemaking non murdering principle and attitude to our lives.

Help us to work in our relationships with our brothers and sisters. Help us to set aside our stubbornness. Help us to set aside our pride. Help us to be peacemakers so that we can enjoy the church family to to the full and enjoy our relationship with our father in heaven. Father we do pray, we pray for all of us.

This is this is hard stuff and it's hard to hear. So in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray that you would help us with this amen.