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Matthew: Hey, it's about Jesus, dummy! Let's talk about it on Key Life.

If you've suffered too long under a do-more, try-harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve has invited Jerry Parrys to teach us this week. Jerry is an author and the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center House of Grace.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew. Hi, Jerry.

Jerry Parrys: Hey, how you doing?

Steve Brown: Doing good. Jerry, Dr. Parrys is one of the voices of Key Life and he's in this week talking about the first book in the New Testament, the book of Matthew. But he's not just talking about words, he's talking about a person. That person is Matthew, but above Matthew, it's Jesus. And so this whole book has a Christological kind of emphasis, doesn't it?

Jerry Parrys: Yeah, it really does. It affirms Jesus' divinity and then his identity as the Son of God and the promise of the Messiah. So it's really, really an incredible book.

Steve Brown: You know, one of the great texts in Matthew is the Sermon on the Mount. That's in 5 and 6, and that's where we get the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they'll be comforted. The meek, they'll inherit the earth.

Those who hunger for righteousness will be filled. The merciful shall get mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, they'll see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for my name's sake. That's Matthew 5:11. Every time somebody criticizes me, I rejoice and I put a mark in my Matthew 5:11.

You know, you said something to me, and you've said a lot of things that have taught me, but for those of you who are not in our television audience, Dr. Parrys is Black and I'm white. Just wanted to bring that up. And Jerry said to me one time, he said, "Do you know the difference between white and Black churches?" And I said no. And he said, "Black churches preach the law and live grace, and white churches preach grace and live the law." And when you said that, I thought of ten churches and I thought, you know, you're right about that.

Jerry Parrys: Yeah. Sometimes we have a tendency to preach a lot of grace, but when someone needs the grace, we don't give it. And then a lot of our African American churches are so, "You can't do this, you can't do that." But when somebody screws up, they hug them and say, "Well, God loves you."

Steve Brown: You know, that's what Jesus did too, isn't it?

Jerry Parrys: Well, that's what the Beatitudes are about. If you're not a Bible reader, you won't know this. The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, is Jesus explaining the Ten Commandments in a way so that people who think like the Pharisees and religious people think they can keep it. He is telling them, "I want to tell you and show you what the Ten Commandments really mean."

Steve Brown: Oh, and it's not very pretty.

Jerry Parrys: Oh, it's not very pretty. I like our friend Tullian who says the Ten Commandments is not a ladder that you climb to please God. It is a wall that you crash into to let you know you need God. Great statement.

So I want to read a couple things about this Sermon on the Mount that Matthew is showing us. He's not showing us saying this is what God is requiring of you. This is what he is saying, this is what God is... well, let me rephrase that. God is requiring this of you without Jesus, without grace. But because he, Jesus, is fulfilling the law—and that's what Matthew is all about—he wants to show you what will happen if you reject Jesus. This is the standard that God expects you to keep.

And in one of the scriptures is in Matthew 5:21. It says, "You have heard that our ancestors"—again, this is Jesus explaining the Ten Commandments—"that you shall not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment." But here's Jesus explaining what murder is: "But I say unto you, even if you get angry with someone, you are subject to judgment. If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you cuss somebody out, you're in danger of going to hell."

So Jesus says murder is not only physically. Murder is emotionally. When you emotionally murder someone, it is the same as physically killing them. That's God's standard. And Matthew is showing us that when we are saying that we can keep the law or we're going to be a law-based church, he says, "Now, can you really do this?"

Steve Brown: Yeah. Once you understand how gigantic it is, nobody can do it.

Jerry Parrys: Nobody can do it. And one of the scriptures in 27 says, "You have heard the commandment say you must not commit adultery. But I say anyone who ever look at a woman or a man with lust has already committed adultery in their heart." That standard is so high that if you're not careful, you'll be condemning people for things that you are doing yourself. And so I want to give people the grace and mercy that God has given me so that I don't do what the Pharisees did.

God was preaching and by the way, Matthew's Gospel as well as the other Gospel is really heavily focused on the children of Israel and the Jewish people. And that's why God sends Paul to preach to the Gentiles because they are focusing on the law and God is saying, "I'm going to fulfill this, but do you really think you can do this?"

Let me jump down to 38 right quick. This is good. "You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Then Jesus comes back and says, "But I say, do not resist an evil person." Oh my goodness. Did he mean somebody's going to stab you in the back and lie on you, you've got to accept that?

And he says, "If someone slap you on the right cheek, turn the other one." That's not metaphor. That's God's standard. If somebody slaps you, you have to turn the other cheek. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give them your coat also. If a soldier demands that you walk one mile, walk two. Give to those who ask and don't turn away from those who want to borrow.

Steve, can you do that? Can you let somebody... now, somebody may slap me once and I may turn the cheek. But you slap me a couple of times, or you slap my children, you slap my wife. God's standard is so high. I just think that we have dumbed down the law to say that we can keep it. But when you read what Jesus says the standard is, it is something that you cannot do in your own power.

Steve Brown: And it lifts up mercy and forgiveness. Yes, it does. You know, the reason you said, "I want to give grace because I've gotten it." Well, of course you do. Because Jesus said you give it, you'll get it. But the problem is that we remove the main message of the gospel from our preaching and teaching and we lose what this thing is all about. We create religious rules that nobody can do.

Jerry Parrys: Yeah. And then we preach that every Sunday.

Steve Brown: I know. And the Bible is clear, the strength of sin is the law. The more law you preach, the more sin people do.

Jerry Parrys: Yep. The less law you preach, the less sin people do.

Steve Brown: So we all have an authority problem. You tell me not to do it, I'm going to do it.

Jerry Parrys: Listen, I was teaching a class and we were on Zoom call and I had a TV behind me. And I'm teaching and I'm going through the whole class and I tell them, I said, "Hey, I want to say something to you. Everybody look at me." I say, "From this point on, do not look at that TV behind me."

And as soon as I said that, I said, "You know what you guys want to do? Everybody wants to look at the TV because I've given you a law not to look at the TV." And when we preach law, it arouses, Paul says, the sin within us.

And so Matthew is saying, "I want to show you what Jesus really came to do." So I'm talking to pastors and preachers that are so hard on other people. You need to realize that the grace of God is what covers us and makes us live better, not make us live worse.

Steve Brown: That's so true. If you want to get better, this is what you've got to do. You've got to be forgiven. You've got to be loved. You've got to be acceptable. You know, I'd go through a wall for Jesus. I'd do a lot of things that I wouldn't do for anybody else but Jesus. But I don't do it because he tells me to, or that he won't love me if he doesn't. I do it because...

Jerry Parrys: He loves you.

Steve Brown: Yeah, right. And there's no explanation for that, Jerry. None whatsoever.

Jerry Parrys: Right. Let me tell you something. I screwed up one time—well, I've screwed up a whole lot of times—in my family. And when I screwed up, my wife came and hugged me and loved me. It made me love her more. Oh yeah. Because she forgave my screw-up. More so than me saying, "Oh, I'm going out to screw up some more."

Steve Brown: Now guys, we are not... Jerry is not saying that you can go out and sin all you want. But he is saying that if you do, you'll be forgiven. And the next time you'll sin less.

Jerry Parrys: Yeah.

Steve Brown: Hey, we gotta go. But meanwhile, you think about that. I mean it.

Matthew: Thank you, Steve and Jerry. Tomorrow, we'll continue our 30,000-foot survey of the book of Matthew, exploring the idea that grace is wonderful and free, but it is not easy. Do hope you'll join us for that.

As we've mentioned, this week is the first in a new Survey of the Gospels series. We'll take a look at Mark, Luke, and John later this year. That's why I want to tell you about a special booklet called *Through the Eyes of Grace: The Gospels*. This is taken from Steve's classic overview of the New Testament. It includes highlights of the Gospels, including introductory comments, major themes, and important teaching.

And as we proceed through this series, I think you'll find this booklet really helpful. So get your free copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE. That's 1-800-539-5433. You can also email Steve at steve@keylife.org to order that booklet or go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the US and Canada. Again, just ask for the free booklet called *Through the Eyes of Grace: The Gospels*.

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