---

***The following is an unedited auto-generated transcript and may contain serious errors and speakers other than Dallas Willard. It is included here to assist your study. Please check the original audio for an authentic record of the event.

Dallas: into the study because I thought we might do better to spend the time that
way for the first day but now I want to come in on a couple of things before we
get into the lesson today and one is the study that I’m asking you to do I am
asking you to study please study please put your mind to things which are
suggested or stated to read and please do the memorization please do the
memorization now I know that perhaps your experience in Sunday school and so
on makes you think that that’s kid stuff small stuff or all that but if you will
just do the memorization you will find it will be immensely helpful to you
because I’m going to ask you to memorize verses which incorporate basic
principles basic ideas which you really desperately need to be a holder just
like the one for this Sunday beloved let us love one another for love is of God
and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God and he that loveth not
knoweth not God because God is love now if you just fix that in your head you
just fix that it will help you a lot and like the other one that I asked you to
to memorize for last time it was what is Matthew 5 20 for I say in you that
accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the
Pharisee now that’s a particular kind of righteousness which we’re going to be
discussing you shall in no wise in no case enter the kingdom of heaven now the
Gospels talk about entering about seeing the kingdom of heaven entering into it
they lay these down I’ll always state on the sheets that I hand out want you to
memorize for the coming Sunday what you study like at the bottom of this one for
two weeks from today we’re not having Sunday school class next Sunday we’re
having a marriage and so we’re not having this so this is for July the 9th
on the bottom I’ve asked you to memorize Matthew 6 31 through 34 and I’ve asked
you to study this outline and I want to ask you to compare it with the outline
on the Xerox sheet that I handed out I’ll give you something to compare on
this Xerox sheet that I handed out there is an outline of the sermon right here
on the first column what I’d like for you to do is to take these two outlines
we’ve got two weeks to study and I wish you’d take the sixth fifth sixth and
seventh chapters of Matthew and just tear these outlines apart and just tear
that sermon apart until you’re on the inside of it and you can give a better
outline than either one of these two at least work with your mind on the
Gospels if you really put yourself to it studying critically thinking hard trying
to break this thing down see whether or not the way I’ve got the material in
that sermon range makes any sense compare it to the way he’s got it around
I hope you’ll read this whole page here this is the page for that I was quoting
last time which says the Sermon on the Mount is not a real discourse the nature
of its elements clearly demonstrates this they are mostly individual sayings
the attitudes the new commandments and the parables of the builders and so on
each group is complete in itself and has no visible connection with the other
groups now I think that’s completely wrong and I’ve tried to show why by the
way I’ve organized the sermon and what I’d like you to do is just be as
hard-nosed and critical as you can in studying that sermon over turning it one
way and then the other to see what the meaning it is a difficult thing to
follow because Jesus’s way of teaching was not the way which were inclined to
teach today and this is what I say in the method of the sermon here on this
outline I handed out Jesus preaches and teaches by paradox illustration simile
and metaphor he doesn’t teach systematically he doesn’t suppose he’s
got to give write a book for you and hand it to you so you’ll have all the
rules and doctrines down rightly he supposes rather that he will communicate
to you a spirit and attitude which will rectify your mind and he supposes that
just as what he’s giving you is from the spirit the spirit will be with you as
you study as you think about so please put your minds to it as rigorously as
with as much vigor as you can and don’t assume please don’t assume you know that
we already know everything we need to know and that consequently all we do is
just read it to sort of confirm what we already believe as if you do that you’ll
get nothing out of read it critically read it as if you’ve never seen it
before read it as if you’d never heard of Christianity or of Christ read it
that way just read like you’ve never heard of it before it’s something new
you picked up read it that way read it as if there were no such thing as a
church yeah read it as you as if you were you know a Chinaman or someone
who’d never heard of all this before and all of a sudden you find this is what
does it mean what’s being said here and probe and dig until you get something
out of it that makes sense to you then organize it try to do it in some way the
whole sermon so that you will have a grasp of that whole sermon and see Jesus
preached a sermon which is cumulative if you look at the sermon you will see that
it is cumulative in the sense that when Jesus comes to the end he refers back to
the whole thing and hopes to have gained a result from that whole discourse that’s
what he that’s what he supposes what regardless of what the man in the
interpreters Bible or I suppose he supposes apparently from the way that’s
written a previous whole discourse which has a cumulative result so try to look
especially at those last verses and see well now why does he think this gets us
here now another thing I’d like for us to do as we go through these weeks
during the summer is to pray for one another and I wish during today you
would look around at the group and take some people who are here as your special
subjects of prayer pray especially that our minds will be able to receive the
truth of God that’s where our salvation lies only the truth will set us free
only the truth will deliver us it doesn’t matter an awful lot how we’re
feeling or what we’re trying what matters is what we have opened ourselves
to what has been implanted in our minds in the way of truth you can feel all you
want to and try all you want to but if you don’t know how an internal
combustion engine works you’re going to be in bondage when it breaks down
believe me you’re going to be in bondage you can have all sorts of good feelings
or bad feelings good efforts or bad efforts it won’t make the least bit of
difference what you need is to know what makes that thing go and it’s the same
way with the spiritual life it’s the same way in living with God living with
our brothers and sisters we need to know the truth that’s why we want to use our
minds in this way and that’s why we want to pray for one another that we will
really be able to receive the truth into our minds now I’ll probably show up
around here about 930 each Sunday morning in case anyone anyone wants to
come and take that time to talk or visit or whatever and if you want to talk at
other times don’t hesitate to call me and we’ll try to have more time than
just this one hour to discuss think be together see what will happen to us so
don’t hesitate to call me I’m thinking also maybe of having some and setting
some nights during the week in which we could those who wish to could get
together work over some of the material in a little less formal context than
then we have here on Sunday morning so keep that in mind please all right
I was in a most moving ceremony the other night I’m easily moved by these
rites of passage which we have even in our culture where rites of passage have
become small cheese but I went with my family to watch my long-haired hippie
type son graduate from junior high school and I was very moved by that
very moved broken almost because I watched between six and seven hundred
young men and women as they walked to their places and I watched them and saw
how desperately they wanted to be interesting how desperately they wanted
to be attractive happy how desperately they wanted to be able to give something
to others and I thought god help god help them because they’re walking into
the jaws of a system of this world which is going to make most of them miserable
and wreck their lives and their health and make them hate themselves and make
them fear others
I realized that the only person the only teaching the only group of persons that
could save those children are people who really understand and have in their
lives the way which Jesus taught I remembered that he said I am come that
your joy might be full that your lives might be good that you might be happy
that you might not drive your families crazy that you might not ruin your
children’s lives that you know it might not worry your neighbors to death and
all of these other things which lead through various complications to
miserable lives unhappy people desperate situations of all kinds and I’m very
much concerned that we try to understand what he was saying people who’ve heard
him had an immense sense of joy at what they heard they realized that what he
had to say was indeed good news and they watched him and realized that what he
did was a manifestation of Kingdom of God that they could live in that walk
and then I turned and I realized that the very words of Jesus are among the
things which are most used to bring people in fun this very fifth chapter of
Matthew which we’ve been studying last time in this time are among the very
things which are used to beat people down make them think God does not love
them that God is not good to rob them of the elemental faith which would save
them everything from this first be attitude which we talked about last time
some which has sent people out trying to get themselves into some position of
false modesty where they can call themselves blessing make themselves
humble beat themselves down blessed are the mousy for theirs is the Kingdom of
God that sort of thing these be attitudes have been twisted in turn and
how people have used these as a curse and this is especially true when we go
on and come into the things we’re going to be discussing today but I’m so
concerned that we look at these things that Jesus said to understand what they
mean and not to interpret them just in terms of how we had somehow had been
handed on to us to make us miserable I was telling I guess Bob Harrison the
other day when we were working together or Steve one that it often seems to me
that many people have a vested interest in others being miserable if the world
were a genuinely happy place filled with joyous people it would be a different
kind of place not just because the people would be happy but because those
who attempt to manipulate others in their misery would not be able to do so
Jesus was essentially killed because he cut free the way of blessedness from a
system which had marked that out as its pre-order prerogative he was
essentially killed because the people realized the people who were responsible
for the religion of Israel realized that what he was saying was their undoing and
so they killed
Jesus whose yoke is easy whose burden is light taught the truth which would set
us free as I said last time these first verses are kind of shock technique to
invert in the minds of the people who were listening to him the order of
blessedness to show that being well off is something which is in reach of the
ordinary person by the grace of God now if you will look at this outline on the
white sheet that I’ve given you you see I have put what we attempted to cover
last time under roman numeral one I won’t go back into what was said at that
time though I know that there are a number of you who weren’t here I urge
you to be sure and get a sheet from this first lesson and look it over and
perhaps we can discuss about what I want to do today is come into the second
heading there roman numeral two where Jesus begins to contrast the way to
blessedness which man would divide and which was most fully represented by the
Jewish law and the system of institutions and doctrines and rules he
wants to contrast that with the way of the child of the kingdom of God way of
living now he wants to do this in a number of different principal life
situations and this is what the main body of the Sermon on the Mount is given
to it takes different types of life situations and gives illustrations of
how it is for one who’s going man’s way and how it is for one who’s going God’s
way but before he gets in that he’s very careful to do something very careful to
do something which must be done in order to keep those who are in the in the
kingdom of God from despising those who aren’t this is why he says I have not
come to do away with the law the law is a good thing it itself is an instrument
of God God ordained it in the hand of a mediator or interpreter or go-between
for the good of people and the person who is not in the kingdom of God had
better spend his days on his knees thanking God for some kind of law
because to be without law is to be in the worst of conditions unless you live
by grace to be without law is a terrible thing so what Jesus does is says instead
of doing away with the law I’m come to fulfill it now what does that mean to
you I’m come to complete it here’s what it means to a lot of people that means
he gets all these little rules and regulations and does every single one of
them and does not do the ones you know which prohibits what he does that that’s
what a lot of people think that means now there’s a very key phrase in Paul
where he says the letter kills but the spirit gives life the letter kills but
the spirit gives life what is the spirit of the law now please try to hang on to
this because this will help us in all of the cases which follow the spirit of the
law is the good which the law was given with the intention of realizing the
spirit of the law is the good which the law was given with the intention of
realizing there is a larger good around any set of rules you can never bottle a
human activity up into a set of rules you can’t even do that with something
like basketball or baseball all you all you have in baseball basketball for
example our set of rules which lie down per parameters within which that game
may be played but you can’t capture an activity in a set of rules and you can’t
capture life in a set of rules there is a larger good incorporated in the
activity which the rules are set down to regulate now what Jesus means when he
says I’ve come to fulfill the law is I have come to realize that larger good I
have come to realize it and to bring others into it now after having made
secure the relationship between the child of the kingdom with his liberty
and his way of grace and the way of law he’s made that secure after having done
that he turns and says now if your righteousness is not more than the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees you shall in no case enter the
kingdom of heaven so you see he puts it very sharply in both directions on the
one hand he just says don’t look down on the law don’t try to destroy it don’t
try to do away with it it’s good and then he turns right around and says it’s
not enough and he puts it in such such sharp turns that you can’t miss the
point if you look at it careful now may I just stop and go aside here moment to
say I would suggest that for someone in your position or mine about the most
important thing we can do is try to find out exactly what the righteousness of
the scribes and the Pharisees is right and exactly how we’re to go beyond right
look at the verse unless your righteousness exceeds if I say if you
don’t go beyond Fallbrook you will never get you to paint a canyon right now if
you don’t know where Fallbrook is forget it because all you can do is wander
around and perhaps you’ll get there but if you have directions like this you
must go beyond something you must know where that mark is now I ask you to
please put as a main question in your mind until you answer it what is the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees what was the righteousness
they had now of course I’m going to answer that for you but my answers are
always answers which I hope you will argue with what you will take with a
question mark after them because that’s the only way that you will really learn
is not by accepting what I say perhaps by listening to it but by always
questioning listening to it critically trying to find out whether or not there
is any justification for it now I’m not going to go into much of a justification
I’m just going to state what I think the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees are or righteousness is and and then we can work on it from there as
we go along through the weeks well as a matter of fact I said that in
writing yellow sheet what is the righteousness of the scribes in the
Pharisees it consisted in control over externals often involving manipulative
control of other people remarkably righteousness of the scribes and the
Pharisees was externalism externalism now you will see this at every point as
we go through the sermon on the man because every contrast will be what is
external for example the scribes and Pharisees don’t kill someone said don’t
kill someone right that’s an external action but Jesus said that’s not enough
scribes and Pharisees said don’t commit adultery that’s an external action and
Jesus said that’s not enough scribes and Pharisees said the knife or an eye on a
tooth for a tooth scribes and the Pharisees when they did their
righteousness boy they blew a horn in front of them and said get ready
everyone and watch because I’m going to do it now and when they prayed they go
stand on the street corner and really rattle it off stand there for a long
time just praying as loud as they could see externalism the scribes and the
Pharisees judge and condemn the people that’s an external action Jesus just
said don’t do it judge not scribes and the Pharisees took their good things and
tried them to force tried to force them down people’s throats and Jesus said
don’t take anything no matter how precious and try to feed it to something
which can’t digest it then after having said those two things about how we’re
not to do external things to people he says if you want to work with things
like that ask knock seek God answers prayer God will work in the inward route
if you want to straighten someone out don’t straighten them out by condemning
them don’t straighten them or out by stuffing things down their throat
straighten out like rain the inward way see the mark of the righteousness of the
scribe and the Pharisees is externalism
big numbers big buildings big deals a scribe or a Pharisee who could cast out
a demon or heal someone was really on the way now Jesus said you can do all
that and miss the boat entirely the righteousness of the scribe and the
Pharisees was external external external remember it remember it that’s where
Fallbrook is and you’ve got to know where it is if you’re going to get
beyond and if you don’t get beyond it you won’t walk in the kingdom of God
because the kingdom of God is where in the heart right the kingdom of God is
within you kingdom of God is hidden Jesus said the kingdom of God cometh not
with observation it’s inward there’s a beautiful person that I think it’s for
Samuel 16 Samuel says to Saul man looketh on the outward appearance but
God looks on the heart and we can decide whether or not we’re beyond Fallbrook by
seeing how much of our religion and our righteousness is something which no one
else but God can observe now it will have external effects but no one will
understand us because it won’t have an external cause the cause is inward the
effect is outward that’s why Paul says nobody can understand the spiritual man
they’re just completely bum-fuzzled by people jump on him he says bless you
praise forum they persecuted what’s wrong with that guy must be something
physiologically psychologically sociologically people bite him he
doesn’t bite back people condemn him and he says I wish the best for it means
people who persecute him he turns around and does good for that’s that’s not
doesn’t make much sense he’s out of this world literally as Paul was said his
citizenship is in heaven he is in the kingdom of heaven he is working with a
realm of reality which other people simply don’t suspect or if they suspect
it they don’t know how to get hooked into it and consequently he’s a
bewilderment to everyone around now watch some of the things that this man
is going to do and here I want to just turn to reading with comment verses 21
following in the fifth chapter of Matthew I’ve grouped these first three
incidents in terms you will see in the heading heading B under roman numeral 2
contrast of the two ways in three types of situations where the aggressiveness
of the male is usually displayed now the male was the dominant factor in that
society whether or not he is in this one we won’t get into that I hope but in any
case he was in that one and they didn’t have even have any women’s lived
movements in that society not that they didn’t need them because they certainly
did but they weren’t even getting that far along and thinking about whether or
not women were really human beings so this first set of illustrations and they
are only illustrations they are not laws they’re not systematic principles they
are illustrations of how the aggressiveness of the male is handled
these three situations first of all in reference to other men you have heard
that it hath been said by them of old time thou shalt not kill now that was
the law that was an external regulation of what you weren’t to do right now a
good Pharisee would not do that he might wish somebody was dead he might hope he
would fall in a hole and disappear he might hate him he might eat his guts up
with resentment and anger he might call them all sorts of things the spirit of
that regulation is respect for the right of the other before God and before men
to live and be what he is that’s the spirit of that law now watch how Jesus
carried this through he immediately goes to the attitudes whoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall indeed shall be in danger of judgment and whoever
shall say to his brother you empty-headed dumb ox you feather-brained
knit with vain fellow vain means into business I’ll be in danger to count but
whosoever shall say about who shall be in danger of the fires of Hades the
fires of the underworld therefore because these attitudes are wrong and
harmful and hurtful and bad you want to be very careful with your brother you
have a run-in with your brother knows he doesn’t say here don’t ever get mad at
your brother that’s all right like Paul said don’t let the Sun go down on your
ass be angry and sin not you can be angry without sinning and we’re going to
see the same application where in the next verse we must be very careful with
it because many people have condemned themselves in the next passage where
it’s talking about adultery you can desire a woman or a man without sinning
it all comes in how you hold that anger if you hold it in a certain way then
you’re wrong it’ll hurt you and it’ll hurt others and you ought to have now in
order to correct these additives Jesus does an interesting thing he says he
invokes invokes the religious rituals he says when you bring your gift to the
altar the sacrifice to the loving God who loves all men equally and who
doesn’t think any of them is vain idle worthless now when you bring that gift
and you remember that your brother has something against you leave your gift
and go be reconciled to your brother now what does that mean that means go give
in give up let him have his way stop fighting
then come and offer your gift
agree with iron adversary now Jesus turns to a context of a court of law
agree with the person who is opposing you quickly while you’re walking down
the road to the judge while you’re in the way with him while you’re walking
down the road to the judge because if you go this route if you want justice
and you go to the judge the judge may deliver you to the officer and you’ll be
cast in prison and you won’t get out until you pay everything if you want
justice be careful you may get it that’s what he’s saying if you want to live on
the basis of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you’ll get the
result that the scribes and the Pharisees get and there’ll be no mercy no
grace you won’t know what it means and you’ll receive no help you will pay the
full price let me read you a little passage here out of 1st Corinthians
which I’ve referenced in the in the in Roman numeral 2b1 1st Corinthians 6 1
through 8 they had a situation here in Corinth where church members were suing
one another before the law now we’ve advanced beyond that stage today but we
will illustrate this by the errors of antiquity by looking at this passage
nor will no Christians today would sue another Christian especially if he was a
member of the same church would never do a thing like that but they were doing it
then and Paul has a fascinating fascinating statement there any of you
having a matter against another go to the law before the unjust that is before
non-christians and not before the same that is he’s saying what do you mean
going to a court of law to get an issue settled between two brothers instead of
bringing it to the church do you not know that the Saints shall judge the
world and if the world be judged by you are you unworthy to judge the smallest
matters that is these sorts of things which they were suing one another about
which are usually the smallest matters perhaps they don’t even exist except in
someone’s imagination sometimes it goes on down I speak to your shame is it so
that there is not a wise man among isn’t there anyone in the church who has
enough sense to tell what’s right and wrong what’s good and bad and make a
judgment on this brother goes to law with brother and that before the
unbelievers now therefore this is utterly a fault among you because you go
to law with one another now here’s the part I urge you to look at why do you
not rather take wrong why don’t you just take why do you not rather let
yourselves be defrauded
nay in order to avoid that you turn around and do wrong and defraud and that
your own brethren the answer to that question is of course the mind of the
flesh we do not take wrong because after all we have to take care of ourselves
don’t we we have to look out for ourselves you know if you don’t look out
for yourself no one else look out for you and you heard that that’s in the
Bible in has a kind of 380 I think that is you don’t look out for yourself no
one else look out for you can you imagine a Christian saying that now you
just think casting all your care upon him for he careth for you that’s what
Peter said look remember that remember that next time you hear someone say you
don’t look out yourself no one look out for a person wants to look out for
themselves all you can say is good luck you’re going to need it I think I have
to look out for myself and I just have to confess that in the measure to which
I’ve been able to put that burden down I found great peace and facing my brothers
and sisters as well as people who aren’t brothers and sisters let them do what
they will it’s all right I mean God has to do with reputation with money or
whatever else one of the great medieval saints was once under attack for his
reputation he looked out the window and saw a dog shaking a carpet you know how
dog would play with a carpet and he said as he watched that the Lord seemed to
say to him that’s what I’m doing with your reputation I’m just gonna let him
tear that up you don’t need it reputation seldom does anyone much good
and so often we go around talking big about how we have got to preserve our
witness for God’s sake well I’m sure there is some degree of legitimate
concern in that but the truth of the matter is our witness and our reputation
isn’t our business it is our business to trust God and do right you love others
why don’t you suffer it wrong well Jesus is saying in the way of the
kingdom people do they suffer they take and then don’t even get bitter about it
very often they don’t even notice after a while so the aggressiveness of the
male in the world of business or property or whatever is handled in this
simple way give in give in stop fighting stop taking care of yourself be careful
for nothing but in everything with prayer and suffocation but your requests
be made known unto God and the peace of God that passive understanding will keep
your heart and mind
then he goes on you’ve heard it said that you shall not commit adultery so
we had a lot of people thinking well that was the mark of righteousness that’s
Fallbrook we come up to there and we’re safe that he says to us no you have to
go beyond that if you want to be sexually righteous and in order to get
at this he speaks to the Pharisee right where he is he speaks to the man who
believes that you’re sexually right if you just don’t do it right where he is
because that man usually is the very sort of person who will break his neck
looking at and lusting after another man’s wife another man’s daughter
purposefully now that’s word purposefully is the one I want to
stress because this verse has harmed done much harm by misguided teaching by
people who read it this way whoever looks at a woman and lust after her has
committed adultery with her in this heart that’s false that’s not what he
said now it’s difficult to get what it says because of the inability to
translate a Greek preposition cross the word that you have here in the King
James Version it says looks on a woman to lust after her just does not get over
the point now if a Greek wants to say looks at a woman and lust after her
there’s all sorts of material to say that but this is a very definite
structure involving the preposition cross together with the accusative case
the accusative case which means in a content on in a context where there is
consciousness purposive human action involved like looking it means as
Alfred Marshall translates it in this in his interlinear version it means looking
at a woman with a view to lusting now that’s exactly what it said looking at a
woman with a view to lusting it doesn’t say lusting after her the after her is
supplied and if you look at your Greek text you’ll see that the that the
pronoun there is supplied they put it in bracket the original text that simply
says whoever looks at a woman with a view to lusting and by that picks out
very nicely a state of mind with which I think all of us are quite familiar men
and women alike it is that purposive stewing in love which many people get
involved in as a means of titillation and excitement short of the act short of
the act and people who think that sin lies in the act are especially prone for
that sort of thing and if you will open your eyes and your ears and look around
you you will catch people involved in just this very thing which Jesus is
talking about purposively putting themselves in a sexual stew
purposively proposing putting their imagination to work upon some flesh and
blood creature which stands before them and these matters the imagination is the
chief culprit when there is a culprit as the imagination tends to create objects
in this sort of situation which aren’t real which could never be found which
you wouldn’t know what to do with it you did but this is an extremely bad state
of mind for two reasons one well I’ll put it in terms of a disjunction this is
an extremely bad state of mind because it’s going to do one or two things to
you it’s going to lead you to do something which is explicitly wrong and
overt action of law or it is going to lead you into a state of mind which will
bring depression dissatisfaction and all sorts of other harmful attitudes towards
yourself and towards others I think one of the most harmful things this kind of
state does is it leads us to make comparisons between this creature half
perception and half imagination which we have placed before ourselves and those
who are placed in our lives as legitimate sexual partner and consequently
we may and it often happens that those who will do this kind of thing condemn
their actual partners because they don’t match up to this critter of imagination
which is flitting around in their minds and all sorts of harm and hurt come from
this and what Jesus is saying very simply is if you think you are right
merely because you don’t do it think again think again because there can all
sorts of harmful attitude be present in the heart and this is what he called
adultery in the heart of course adultery in the heart is not is not adultery
this Jesus is graphic way of saying there is something wrong in the person
sexually positively stated the motive which is to govern our sexual life is a
genuine love and concern for all of those involvement that includes our
children that includes our neighbors but most importantly it includes the close
relation of the two people who may and may be involved in the ad in the in the
situation whether it’s of act or of attitude and what Jesus is saying among
other things here is simply that if I refrain from committing adultery with
someone and that motive is not my love for that person and those with whom they
are involved for that person’s husband that person children if my motive is not
love if it is simply I didn’t do it because I was scared or I couldn’t get
them to cooperate or I lacked opportunity that doesn’t mean anything
the meaning of Jesus is simply that sexual righteousness is a matter of the
heart which is governed by love now let’s please put out of our minds
forever this idea that there are certain thoughts which are in themselves
essentially dirty okay please I beg you to do this is not only sexually but for
example many people many people like they get mad at their father and they’d
really like to kill him you know and then they get feeling very bad about
that well maybe they ought to if they hold that anger in a certain way but
just to get mad at someone there’s nothing wrong with that just to think of
a woman as a sexual partner or a man is there’s nothing wrong with that now let
me make two final points on this I’ve got three minutes so they’ll give me a
minute and a half for each point in their big point okay let me make two
final points many people have read this verse and gotten themselves in a
position to where you could not be tempted without sinning because in order
to be tempted sexually you have to think of sex and if thinking of sex is a sin
you can’t be tempted sexually without sin let me remind you that Jesus was tempted on all
points like as we Jesus knew what it was to be to be tempted is not to sin now
let’s turn it around and get the second point second point this reading of this
verse makes it out in such a way that the sexually virtuous person is the one
who doesn’t even think about who has no inclination and no opportunity at least
no inclination the good guy is the one who is attempted now the scriptures say
blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall
receive the crown of life James 1 12 and everyone knows that the virtuous person
is the one who’s been tried he’s been tried if he could put his hand in the
till and didn’t that means something about that person but if he didn’t have
an opportunity or if he didn’t want to that means something different if he
wanted to and had the opportunity and refused to that’s a virtuous man or
woman and it’s the same way in sex it’s the same way everywhere else now there
are certainly times when we ought to run when we’re under temptation but that is
not the best way to handle it in general if we feel like we’ve got to run in
order to avoid a greater evil for goodness sake pray for speed right but
while we’re running at least let us be praying that God will give us the grace
next time to be still and to watch his delicious and let us above all
understand that the general method of handling temptation is not running it is
rather to know the strength and goodness of the love of God in our hearts which
will keep us from hurting other people simply because we love them that’s that’s
the crucial temptation that is the way of escape and we must learn to take we
must learn to receive as a gift when we do then what will happen the people who
don’t understand may say well you must have some kind of hang up something
happened to him in the oral stage something like that which doesn’t permit
him to do these kinds of things but we will know that is the grace of God which
brings salvation we will know very simply that the power of God is able to
keep us and we will rest in that and then those who understand will as
Matthew 5 16 says they will see our good works and glorify who our father not us
glorify our father because they will know that we’re kept in his hands Lord
we’re thankful for this time to look at these words which you left us and we
pray for renewed ability to criticize and think and pray honestly about what
they mean for our lives make us adventuresome in the way we read this
book and especially the words which have been left by your followers
challenge every mind every person who is in this room to go beyond the
righteousness of scribes and Pharisees and walk into the kingdom of heaven and
the praise will certainly be yours amen