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YOU HAVE HEARD IT SAID
A. Introduction: We are in the middle of a series on Jesus’ most famous teaching, the Sermon on the Mount.
We are considering the sermon in terms of the big picture (or God’s purpose for humanity), and in terms of
how the men and women who first heard Jesus deliver the sermon would have understood its contents. We
have more to say in tonight’s lesson.
1. Remember the big picture. Almighty God created human beings to become His sons and daughters
through faith and trust in Him. Our sin has disqualified us for God’s family. Eph 1:4-5; Rom 3:23
a. Jesus is God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus took on a human nature
(incarnated) in the womb of the virgin Mary, so that He could die as a sacrifice for sin. Heb 2:14-15
b. Through His sacrifice, Jesus opened the way for all who surrender to Him as Savior and Lord to be
forgiven of their sin and restored to God’s family. He not only opened the way for this restoration,
Jesus, in His humanity, is the pattern for God’s family. Jesus shows us and teaches us what sons
and daughters of God look like—their character and behavior. John 1:12-13; Rom 8:29
2. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount opens with seven specific statements about what Christ-like character and
behavior looks like in a son or daughter of God. Today, these statements are known as the Beatitudes.
a. According to Jesus, God’s sons and daughters are humble and truly sorry for their sin. They are
gentle and long to do what is right in God’s eyes. Their motives are pure, they are compassionate,
and they make an effort to get along with people. Matt 5:3-10
b. With this list, Jesus wasn’t setting up an impossible standard for human behavior. This is what is
normal for human beings. We were created to live this way. We’re made in God’s image, with
the capacity to express His moral attributes—mercy, love, patience, holiness, peace. Gen 1:26
c. Each Beatitude begins with the word blessed or happy because the person who has Christ-like
character is the one who is truly happy, since he has been restored to his created purpose.
1. Jesus did not come to earth to give us an external list of rules to follow. He died to produce an
interior change in human beings. Jesus died to restore us to people who want to, and can, live
in obedience to God our Father, just as Jesus did while He was on earth. II Cor 5:15
2. When someone acknowledges Jesus as Savior and Lord, God (the Holy Spirit) indwells that
person in what the Bible calls a new birth. This is the beginning of process of transformation,
a return to normal, a progressive restoration to Christ-likeness. John 3:3-5; II Cor 3:18
3. After Jesus gave the Beatitudes and made some related comments about them (Matt 5:11-16), He began
to talk about the Law, meaning the Old Testament (or the Law of Moses and the Prophets). Matt 5:17-20
a. Remember the context of Jesus’ sermon. He delivered it to 1st century Jews, people whose lives
were dominated by the Law (Moses and the Prophets). But, their understanding of the Law came
through the religious leaders of that day—men known as the Scribes and the Pharisees.
b. The Scribes were professional scholars who, down through the centuries, interpreted the Scriptures
and applied them to daily life. By Jesus’ day, there were thousands of Scribal interpretations that
were expressed in rules and regulations not found in the Law itself.
1. These interpretations (or traditions as they were called) gutted the Law of its true meaning,
because the interpretations missed the spirit behind the Law. None the less, these traditions
were considered to be on the same level as the Law (the Old Testament) itself. Matt 15:1-9
2. The Pharisees were men who separated themselves from ordinary activities of life in order to
keep the regulations. They served as watchdogs that identified infractions of the regulations.
c. First century Jews got their picture of what is right according to God from the teaching and example
of the Scribes and Pharisees. However, Jesus told His audience that to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven, their righteousness (or rightness) had to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. Matt 5:20
1. These leaders had come up with ways to keep the letter of the Law, but they violated the spirit
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or intent behind it—the need for godly motives, desires, and attitudes, as well as godly actions.
2. These leaders professed love for God, but disdained and despised people made in the image of
God. These men were the opposite of the traits that Jesus gave in the Beatitudes. They were
proud, haughty, and unforgiving instead of humble, meek, and merciful. Luke 18:9-14

B. In the next part of His Sermon Jesus used six examples from the Law of Moses (murder, adultery, divorce,
oath taking, retaliation, and loving your fellow man) to present the true spirit behind the Law and expose the
false righteousness preached and practiced by the Scribes and Pharisees. Matt 5:21-45
1. Jesus framed each example with the statement: You have heard it said…but I say unto you. In each
case, Jesus quoted the Law of Moses. But instead of giving the Scribal interpretation He gave His own
interpretation, which was consistent with the Law of Moses but different from the Scribes and Pharisees.
a. Last week we looked at Jesus’ first example: You have heard that it was said to those of old, You
shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone
who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to
the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire (Matt 5:21-22, ESV).
b. Jesus was not teaching that if you insult someone or call them a fool, you’ll go to Hell. Jesus was
illustrating the spirit or meaning behind the Law. It means more than simply not killing someone.
1. Don’t murder is the letter of the Law. Don’t have anger, resentment, and disdain toward others
is the spirit of the Law. Although the Pharisees didn’t commit the act of murder, they despised
and harshly judged those who didn’t follow their example in righteousness Matt 23:23-25
2. Jesus listed three increasingly severe punishments for anger and verbal expressions of anger.
He was not being literal with these punishments. Jesus was showing the seriousness of lasting,
unforgiving anger and disdain. This kind of anger is as unacceptable to God as murder.
c. Jesus told His audience to make peace and be reconciled to people instead of holding on to anger and
seeking revenge. Matt 5:23-26
1. Jesus will later clearly state the spirit behind the Law when He sums up all of God’s commands
in two statements: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all
your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment (Deut 6:5). A second is equally
important. Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18). All the other commandments and all
the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments (Matt 22:37-40, NLT).
2. This love is not a feeling. It is an action. The number one way that we show love for God is
by the way we treat people. We are to treat others the way we want to be treated. I John 4:20
A. Getting control of anger involves how we think and talk to ourselves. Don’t feed anger.
Think: How would I want to be treated in this situation? Do my thoughts and behavior
in this moment glorify God? If Jesus were standing right here now, would I act like this?
B. Instead of calling this person is an idiot, remind yourself that he is precious and valuable to
God. Instead of insisting on your rights (how dare they do or say that to me) humble
yourself. Let it go and give up the fight. You don’t have to have the last word.
2. Jesus next used the example of adultery to further illustrate the spirit behind the Law: You have heard it
said, You shall not commit adultery. 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 5:27-28, ESV).
a. The Law (of Moses) does say men and women are not to commit adultery (Ex 20:14). But Jesus
made it clear that not only is the action forbidden, so is the thought or intent prior to the action.
1. The Pharisees had reduced this Law to the mere physical act of adultery (sex with someone
other than your spouse). However, the Law also said: You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife (Ex 20:17, ESV). The word translated to covet means to desire passionately, to lust; to
have an inordinate desire for what belongs to another.
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2. Jesus was not talking about the normal desires that are part of human nature. If an attractive
person walks by, you can’t help but notice. This is someone who looks with lustful intent.
Look means to direct eyes upon. To lust means to fix the desire on, long for, desire earnestly.
3. In other words, you look, you are aroused, and you keep looking. You deliberately use your
eyes to feed or stimulate your desires. Jesus puts this on the same level as the act itself.
b. Jesus immediately followed this statement with: If you right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and
throw it away…if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that
you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell (Matt 5:29-30, ESV).
1. At that time, people believed that the right hand and the right eye were more important than the
left. Jesus’ listeners would have heard Him say: No matter how valuable something is to
you, if it causes you to sin, get rid of it.
2. Take radical action, whether it’s a habit, activity, or relationship that leads you to sin. Do
whatever you need to do to get rid of it, because your actions in this life affect the life to come.
3. Following His comments on lust, Jesus dealt with the Pharisees’ misinterpretation of the Law concerning
divorce: It was also said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say
to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her
commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Matt 5:31-32, ESV).
a. This passage has done great harm to people in our day who experience divorce. Based on this
passage, some say that if anyone who is divorced remarries, they are committing adultery, and their
second marriage is invalid and sinful.
1. Jesus was not giving the rules for divorce for all time and every circumstance. He was using
the example of divorce as the Pharisees practiced it to expose their misinterpretation of the Law.
2. For a more complete discussion of this issue, go to www.richesinchrist.com and listen to the
lesson on marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
b. Note what the Law of Moses said about divorce: When a man takes a wife and marries her, if she
finds no favor in his eyes because of some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce
and puts it in her hands and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she
goes and becomes another man’s wife (if the latter man divorces her or dies) then her former
husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife (Deut 24:1-4, ESV).
1. The Law of Moses did not institute divorce, the Law regulated it. The Law was designed to
protect women, make divorce something formal, and emphasize the seriousness of it. That’s
why the husband who divorced his wife could not remarry her.
2. The bill of divorcement read: Let this be from me thy writ of divorce and letter of dismissal and
deed of liberation, that thou mayest marry whatsoever man thou wilt. The husband only had to
hand the woman this document in the presence of two witnesses, and she was divorced.
c. The problem is, what did the phrase “some indecency (Deut 24:1)” mean? The Scribes debated the
issue for centuries, with both a liberal and a conservative school of thought (lesson for another day).
1. The point for us in that in 1st century Israel, the Scribes and Pharisees taught that the Law
commanded and even urged men to divorce their wives under certain conditions—if a wife was
a bad cook, if she was quarrelsome, if she went out in public without a head covering.
2. A rabbi Akiba said, “If a man saw a woman handsomer than his own wife, he could put her
away because the Law said she found no favor in his eyes”. Josephus, the Jewish historian,
divorced his wife because he was not pleased with her manners. By Jesus’ day, divorce was so
easy that girls did not want to get married because the institution of marriage was so insecure.
d. Note that Jesus discussed divorce right after He talked about lust. Married men would lust after
another woman and divorce their wives to have the woman they lusted for. According to religious
leaders, they had the full permission of the Law to do so if they gave their wife a bill of divorcement.
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4. Jesus then dealt with taking oaths: You have heard…You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to
the Lord what you have sworn. But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all…Let what you say be simply
“Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil (Matt 5:33-37, ESV).
a. The Law said: You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain (Ex 20:7). This had nothing to do
with using foul language. It condemns swearing to what you know is false, in the name of the Lord.
(This also does not mean that a Christian cannot swear an oath in a court of law.)
b. The Pharisees reduced oath taking to simply not committing perjury. They said oaths that used the
name of God were absolutely binding, but those without God’s name were not binding—and you
were free to break them. So, people swore by all sorts of things (their head and hair, the earth,
Jerusalem, Heaven), and did not keep their word.
1. But Jesus said that Heaven is God’s home, earth is His footstool, Jerusalem is His city, and you
can’t make one hair on your head black or white.
2. Therefore, whether you name God or not, He is involved, because He is everywhere. The
spirit of the Law is: Speak the truth and keep your oaths. Anything else is wicked.

C. Conclusion: There were two problems with the Law. One, the religious leadership wrongly interpreted it
and missed the spirit behind it (love God and love your fellow man). And two, sinful human beings have no
real power to fully keep both the letter and the spirit of God’s Law. Jesus came to remedy both issues.
1. Through His teachings, Jesus explained the true meaning of the Law. But He did more than that. Jesus
told the audience: I did not come to abolish the Law…I came to fulfill them (Matt 5:17, NLT).
a. Jesus fulfilled the Law by perfectly obeying it in spirit and letter, as well as by fulfilling all the
prophecies about Himself, His ministry, and His death and resurrection.
b. The audience didn’t yet know it, but Jesus was also going to fulfill the Law by empowering all those
who believe on Him to keep the Law, the Law of love—love God and love your fellow man.
c. Remember, Jesus died to produce an interior change in all those who submit to Him. He came to
turn us from living for ourselves our way, to living for God His way. II Cor 5:15; Matt 16:24
2. The Bible is a progressive revelation of God’s plan to restore His family. When Adam sinned, God
immediately promised the coming of the Seed (Jesus) of the woman (Mary) who would undo the damage
done by sin (Gen 3:15). God repeated and expanded that promise through the centuries.
a. God promised His Law would be written on men’s hearts: I will put my laws in their minds, and I
will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people (Jer 31:33, NLT).
1. Ezek 11:19-20—I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will
take away their hearts of stone and give them tender hearts instead. So they will obey my laws
and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God (NLT).
2. Ezek 36:26-27—I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new
spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new obedient heart. And I
will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command (NLT).
b. Through His sacrifice at the Cross Jesus opened the way for God to indwell us by His Spirit and
and empower us to keep His Law: For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,
God did: Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he
condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:3-4, NASB).
3. This transformation is not automatic. It requires our voluntary cooperation. As we choose to obey
God, He is in us to help us do so. Christianity is not rule keeping, it’s relationship with God, longing to
know Him more fully and to please Him in everything you do—with the assurance that He loved you
enough to die for you and that He will help you as you move toward Him. Much more next week!