Calvary Chapel Staten Island

Guest (Male): When the world is just too much, turn it off and turn on Positive Encouraging K-LOVE.

Guest (Female): I'm going to praise. I'm going to praise. World-up on K-LOVE. K-LOVE is sunshine for my soul. I love K-LOVE! God has carried us through!

Listen now on your radio, online, or on the free K-LOVE app. K-LOVE makes me feel so good. Positive Encouraging K-LOVE.

Guest (Female): Hello and welcome to God in Our City, the daily edition. Your host and Bible teacher is Pastor Dave Watson. Pastor Dave has been the pastor of Calvary Chapel on Staten Island for 35 years.

In addition, he is the co-founder and president of the New York Institute for Biblical Studies. To receive a special downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, please go to CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. That's CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. Now here's Pastor Dave and our show.

Pastor Dave Watson: Hello again everybody, welcome to a brand new week of God in Our City, the daily edition. Hope you had a great weekend. Hope you went to church. I hope you were blessed by the sermon and that you blessed somebody by your presence there.

Just being there and having mercy, the gift of mercy. I hope you blessed somebody by being merciful to them or showing mercy to them. I hope if you're an exhorter, you exhorted someone. If you're a teacher, you taught someone. If you're a prophet, you put somebody in line. If you're a giver, that you gave and gave generously.

If you served, you got a chance to serve. Any and all of those aspects, I hope that happened with you this weekend. If not, let's try again next weekend. Let's try again this week. It's such a privilege to be with you. As our announcer said, my name is Pastor Dave Watson, pastor of Calvary Chapel here on Staten Island since January 1st, 1990.

A bunch of years back, a friend of mine, Tom O'Reilly, my wife, and I founded the New York Institute for Biblical Studies. That's something that we have and would love to have you take part in it. Just go to NYIBS.net and look for our newest offerings coming up in the fall.

So we have been studying here at God in Our City the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. We're just having a good time doing it. We're not hurrying. We're looking deeply at these scriptures because they're very important and because they tell us how we ought to live as representatives of the kingdom of God.

We're going to continue to do that today. I encourage you, if you haven't already, to take advantage of our incredible resources. These resources will help you to follow along, and you're going to be blessed by them. There's just no doubt about it.

What resources am I talking about? Well, we have our study guides. Study guides are free, they're downloadable, and they're for you. We encourage you to take advantage of that. You just download it and it's there. We're on week five of the downloads.

Beyond that, we're giving away the Gospel of Matthew in the journal Bible form. So you'll get the Gospel of Matthew sent to you free of charge. We pay postage and handling. On one side is indeed the text of the book of Matthew, and on the other side is a place for you to write.

It's a great way to listen and a great way to study. It's a great place to put your questions. Again, you just fill in the paperwork there. We pay for the postage and handling. There is no gimmick. We just want you to have it.

While you're at the place where you get all this, which is CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC, while you're there, please consider making a donation to God in Our City. It's a local church-sponsored program. We are continually trying to make it both that and a listener-supported program.

If you can help us by a gift of any amount, it's always appreciated and it's always tax-deductible. It's always needed. We would really appreciate if you could give us something on a monthly basis, a recurring monthly basis. If you click on the button to donate, it will take you through those steps.

We don't want you to take from your local church or from a missionary you're supporting, but we want you to think of us as a mission. We are presenting the gospel to our city through radio, YouTube, and Facebook. We're also presenting the gospel to the world through those same mediums. We're talking about Jesus and teaching about Jesus all over the world. What an incredible privilege.

Now every week we take a moment to read our scripture for the day. This week we're going to be working through Matthew 5:21-32, a very poignant set of scriptures that I know are going to be a huge blessing to you. So we're going to work through those together and we're going to go deep into them.

But I want to start by reading them, having a word of prayer with you, and getting started. So we read these words in Matthew 5:21-32: "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. So if you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you've paid the last penny.

You have heard that it was 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. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.

And 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. 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." Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the word of God. Heavenly Father, thank You so much for the Holy Spirit who is our teacher and guide, our illuminator. Thank You, Lord, for Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank You for the three members of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—three persons, one essence.

Thank You, Lord, that You are so active in our life on a daily basis. Lord, help us to listen to You. Help us to give our hearts to You. Heavenly Father, please change us. Make us more like Jesus. And Lord, for our audience today, our listeners, please minister to them.

Please encourage them. Please, Lord, do a deep work in them. We thank You for all You do, and we pray Your blessing on our time together now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now we're talking about this kingdom quest, and in that discussion, I'm assuming something. I'm assuming that you have already experienced God's salvation as found in Christ. Kingdom living is designed for kingdom subjects, people who have become part of the kingdom of God.

You don't get to be part of the kingdom of God just because you like it or you want to say you're part of it. To become part of the kingdom of God requires that I make a commitment to Jesus Christ. Jesus died for me on the cross and rose again for me. On the cross, He took upon Himself my sins.

He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He died in my place. I should have died for my sin, but Jesus took the penalty for me. Not just physical death, but spiritual death in terms of Him experiencing the wrath of God.

But hallelujah, Jesus rose again, showing us that God was satisfied with His sacrifice and that He is alive and that we can have a new life through Him. So as we begin this new week, I want you to understand that I'm talking about supernatural living here by the subjects of the King, the King being Jesus.

And if you've never entered the kingdom of God through trusting Jesus Christ as Savior, placing your faith in what He did on the cross, giving your heart to Him, then what I'm saying to you is very irrelevant because this is not something you can pull off.

Remember how we started a few weeks ago looking at these verses? We talked about from Matthew 5 the first set of verses there, the experience of salvation, what would happen in our life in order for us to come to faith. We saw the phrase, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," that sense of bankruptcy—that I have nothing to offer God.

I'm broke, worse than broke. I'm in debt. I owe for my sin. And then, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I'm not just bankrupt, I'm broken over my sin. It goes on to say, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." I'm bowed, I'm bankrupt, broken, and bowed.

And then it goes on to say, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." Have you had the experience of coming to God, and it's really an expression of our salvation, saying, "I'm bankrupt, I've got nothing. I'm broken over my sin. I'm bowed before You, God, and I'm begging for You to give me the righteousness that is Christ's"? Wow. Has that happened in your life? Have you had a salvation experience?

I'm not saying has there been a time in your life where you went down an aisle, said a few words that you kind of meant, and went on. I'm saying have you experienced this salvation, the bankrupt, broken, bowed, and begging salvation? What happens when we come to God that way is that He, our God, saves us.

He gives us a new life. Well, how do we know we have the new life? Well, He goes on to say, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." An evidence of salvation is that I am someone who's pardoning. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I have a desire for being pure, being holy.

It doesn't mean I'm always living up to it, but I have that desire. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." I'm a peacemaker. I want to bring other people to have peace with God through Christ. And, "Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I am in a situation where the world doesn't like me. Why? Because I'm all in for the Lord. So there is this expression for salvation of bankrupt, broken, bowed, and begging, and then there is this evidence of salvation: pardoning, purifying, peacemaking, and persecuted that should be part of what has happened to you and I.

The ultimate result of all this is the effect: we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world. That's what it says in verses 13 and 14. We're the salt that slows the evil in our world. We're the salt that causes people to thirst for what we have.

We're the light that draws people, that helps people to see their need for God. Sometimes that makes them angry because men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. But that's all happening because we have entered into this relationship with the Lord and we are subjects of the kingdom.

Jesus then goes on to say in verses 17 through 20 that we looked at last week that He wants everyone to know that He didn't come to abolish the law or the prophets. Remember the Hebrew Old Testament is broken up into three sections. One is the law, the Torah. The other is the prophets.

The final is the writings, which would include the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Song of Solomon—those books. When you wanted to talk of the whole of scripture, you said the law and the prophets. In fact, Jesus will say in this same sermon in the seventh chapter that the law and the prophets is essentially summed up by the phrase: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

In Matthew 22, he's asked what's the greatest commandment. He says the first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and the second is like unto it: you love your neighbor as yourself. He says on this ride all the law and the prophets.

But Jesus wants us to know He didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill the law and the prophets. And then He makes it incredibly clear that unless the righteousness that we possess, unless that righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, we'll never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What does He mean there? Here's what He means. There is a righteousness that's by my works, by my efforts, by me. And there's another righteousness. There's a righteousness that comes by faith alone. The just, the righteous ones, will live by faith. Have you entered into that faith relationship, or are you trying to appease God by your efforts?

I want you to know there's a big difference between thinking that you are appeasing God by your efforts and understanding that you want to please God because of what He's done for you and for me in sending Christ. There's a big difference in that.

If you think today that you're going to get to heaven because you've been very good, you're wrong. You're wrong. There really is no one good but God. The only way I get to heaven is, number one, I'm forgiven, but as part of that, I have now the righteousness of Christ.

How do I get that righteousness? How do I get the righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees? The Pharisees had an outward righteousness but not an inward righteousness. How do I get the inward righteousness? It is by faith. "To him who works not but believes on the one," Paul will say in the book of Romans, "who justifies the ungodly."

I place my faith in what Jesus did. Jesus lived a perfect life. He who knew no sin, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. If I will give my heart over to the Lord, if I will depend on Him, if I'll place my faith in Him, He will account to me the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of Christ. Me! You!

Have you done that? I didn't grow up in church the way some people have. I didn't grow up in an evangelical church. I grew up in a Congregational church in western Massachusetts. The Congregational church really was the Puritans and Jonathan Edwards, who brought about the Great Awakening in our nation.

But they long since left the gospel. In my little town, the last guy that we could ascertain had been a gospel preacher had kind of been run out of the church in the mid-1900s. The church I went to didn't have solid Bible teaching. It didn't teach salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

There were two teachers there, two people involved. Eva Shaun was one of them who shared Christ with us. It was through her witness and through another Sunday school teacher's witness that I came to want to know Jesus. I asked, I doubted whether I had eternal life.

I asked a religious person I knew, and he invited me on a day-long retreat. And there he shared with me and two other football players the good news of the gospel: that Jesus died for me and rose again, that I needed Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

I'd heard that message from Percy Holmes, that Sunday school teacher at the Congregational church, but hadn't placed my faith in Christ. And it was there on that dock in Schroon Lake, New York, that I gave my heart to Jesus. And I've never been the same.

He came into my life and He changed me from the inside out. He gave me a righteousness that wasn't my own, that was His. He gave me a desire to please Him and walk with Him. And I am so grateful that happened to me in 1973, October 7th, 1973. Have you had a conversion experience?

Have you had a salvation experience? Have you had that moment where you transferred your faith from yourself to Jesus? Everyone just, if you would just take a second now and bow your head and close your eyes and pray with me. If you're not sure of that salvation, would you just open your heart to the Lord now and say something like this?

"God, I know I'm a sinner. I know I need a Savior. I know Jesus died in my place and rose again. I know that I need His saving, His righteousness. Jesus, come into my life today. Be my Lord, be my Savior. Save me from my sin. From this day forward, I want to serve You. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen."

Lord, we pray for those who just made this commitment. We pray it will be more than real to them in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer and you meant it, I want you to do something. I want you to call 718-720-5390. 718-720-5390.

I want you to just call and say, "I want the follow-up book. I want the follow-up book." We'll send it right out to you. Thank you for joining us today. Again, if you prayed that prayer, 718-720-5390. Please join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in another edition of the daily edition of God in Our City.

Guest (Female): Thanks for listening to God in Our City with your host, Pastor Dave Watson. We hope the show was a blessing to you. Again, to receive a downloadable gift from Pastor Dave, go to CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC.

That's CalvaryChapelSI.org/GIOC. Please check out Pastor Dave's blog at NYCShepherd.com. That's NYCShepherd.com. Please invite a friend and join us every weekday for another edition of God in Our City.

Guest (Male): When the world is just too much, turn it off and turn on Positive Encouraging K-LOVE.

Guest (Female): I'm going to praise. I'm going to praise. World-up on K-LOVE. K-LOVE is sunshine for my soul. I love K-LOVE! God has carried us through!

Listen now on your radio, online, or on the free K-LOVE app. K-LOVE makes me feel so good. Positive Encouraging K-LOVE.