Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In last week’s Gospel reading, Jesus told us that he did not come “to abolish the Law and the Prophets… but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17, ESV).[1] The Old Testament is not “old hat.” The Ten Commandments are not merely the Ten Suggestions. The Law God gave to Moses is still in effect. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus teaches his disciples what it means to live as salt and light in the world around us.
First, Jesus tells us that getting angry at someone and calling them names is the same as murder in God’s eyes. “Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matt. 5:22). How can this be? Because murder and anger come from the same place in the human heart. And even though murder and hateful words have different earthly consequences, the eternal consequences are the same: eternal death and damnation—unless you repent and receive Jesus’ mercy.
Jesus also tells us that lust is the same as adultery in God’s book. “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt. 5:28). You don’t even have to go to bed with somebody. If you just “check them out” or fantasize about what you’d like to do in bed with them, then you are already guilty in God’s eyes. Again, the earthly consequences of having an outright affair versus looking longingly at a cute waitress are vastly different, but the eternal consequences are the same, because they both come from the same place in the human heart.
Jesus even goes so far as to call divorce a form of adultery, since it attacks the holy estate of marriage in which he enjoins man and wife together. The only Biblical allowances for divorce are adultery and abandonment (5:32; cf. 1 Cor. 7:15). Divorce for any reason apart from these makes the divorced parties the same as adulterers in God’s book, and anybody who marries a wrongly divorced person also becomes an adulterer.
Jesus continues by telling us that we should also be careful about the way we speak. In order to convince others that we tell the truth, we ought never to say, “I swear to God,” or “I swear on a stack of Bibles,” or “I swear on my grandmother’s grave.” Jesus says not to swear at all. “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’: anything more than this comes from evil” (5:37). Instead, we must simply do what we say and say what we mean. Disciples of Jesus must be honest, forthright people of their word whose walk aligns with their talk. Anything less than that is an affront to God. Any waffling or walking back what you’ve said is an evil lie.
Notice how, in rapid succession, Jesus has accused us of breaking the Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Commandments. Which of us can claim that we are not a murderer, adulterer, or liar? None of us can claim innocence. All of us are guilty. The Law of Christ is much more demanding than the Law of Moses. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus raises the bar much higher than God’s expectations in the Ten Commandments. He will even go so far as to command us, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 6:48). Jesus tells us to be perfect? As our heavenly Father is perfect? How can we attain divine perfection? We can’t. We will never measure up. If our eternal hope is based on what we do or don’t do, then we are hopelessly, helplessly lost.
I recently had a conversation with a man who told me that he is certain he will go to heaven when he dies.
“How can you be so sure?” I asked.
“Because I haven’t done anything wrong,” he claimed. “I never killed anybody or cheated on my wife. I make mistakes, but I try to be a good person.”
“That’s not good enough,” I told him.
His eyes widened in surprise. “What do you mean?” he asked.
I answered: “None of us is good enough to get into heaven because of our good works. The Bible says no one is righteous [Rom. 3:10]. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God [Rom. 3:23]. And if we try to keep all of God’s Law but fail even at just one point, we’re still accountable for breaking all of it [Jas. 2:10]. So trying to be a good person won’t get you into heaven.”
“Then what will?” he asked.
“Only the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Believing that Jesus died for your sins on the cross is the only way to be saved. It doesn’t matter how much good you do, or how much bad you avoid. We’re saved by grace alone.”
His brow furrowed as he asked, “Are you telling me that some schmuck who spends all his money on booze and women can go to heaven if he just asks God’s forgiveness?”
“Yes,” I replied, “that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“But that’s not fair!” he protested rather angrily.
And that’s precisely the point. Grace is not fair. None of us deserves to be saved. None of us deserves to go to heaven. What all of us deserve is to burn in hell and suffer torment for eternity. That’s what would be fair. That’s the due reward for our disobedience and failure to keep God’s commandments. The Law will always accuse us (lex semper acusat).
Thanks be to God that he isn’t fair. He is gracious and merciful, and he is just. He poured out his justice upon Jesus on the cross. Jesus bore the full blow of God’s righteous anger over our sin. He took our punishment in place of us on the cross. Because we cannot keep the Law—not just the Ten Commandments, but also the requirements of the Sermon on the Mount—we deserve damnation. But Jesus kept the Law for us. He fulfilled the Law by his perfect obedience, and at the moment of death, he declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). He is the only perfect human being who ever lived, and yet he died like a common criminal. But he did it for you. He shed his blood for you. He gave up his ghost for you. He died for you! All the evil we did, and all the good we failed to do, is reckoned to Christ, and then his righteousness is reckoned to us. G.R.A.C.E. is God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. He died the death we deserve and gives us the life we could never earn.
So do not be afraid to admit that you are a murderer or an adulterer or a liar. I am the same as you: a sinner. But I am a forgiven sinner because Christ died for me and lives for me. Jesus offers forgiveness to all who call upon his name and ask for mercy—even murderers, adulterers, and liars such as we are. So no matter what sins you have committed, they are not too great for Jesus to forgive, and they are not too small to be worthy of his attention. Good people don’t go to heaven. Only forgiven sinners can become saints. As Martin Luther once said, “Christ died only for sinners. See to it that you are one.” In the name of the Father and of T the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.