Thru the Bible

Host: Now, I have a very remarkable letter here to share with you. Comes from Vesta, California. Listen to this. I happen to be one of your Roman Catholic friends, also a member of the Third Order of St. Francis for lay people. Now, shocking as it may seem to some Protestants and Catholics today, I relish your interpretation of the Bible, because in many ways, it's closer to the great tradition of the fathers of the church like Augustine and Bernard than the spiritually sterile neo higher criticism being taught these days by both Catholic and Protestant scholars. A perfect instance is your stress on the Christocentric application of the Psalms, which is exactly that of the fathers and medieval spiritual writers. And of course, you rightly extend this theme to the entire Bible as they did. So, we have this paradox that today a conservative Catholic finds the exegesis of a conservative Protestant more congenial and more true than that of the liberals. And I say to you, friends, that is a remarkable letter.

Host: Well, praise God for once again fulfilling His promise that those who seek Him find Him when they search for Him with all their hearts. Let's pray for each other as we study together. Heavenly Father, thank you that your Word is alive and for piercing our hearts with your truth. And thank you, Lord, for receiving us as we seek you in Jesus' name. Amen. Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Matthew 5 on Thru the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now today our study brings us back here to the fifth chapter of Matthew, and we're not very far along, we just got down through the fifth verse. But I must increase the tempo just a little to keep up with our program that we must follow in this five-year program. But this is such an important section and so misunderstood and abused. And I actually feel like that it has become hurtful and harmful. Many people, it's given them a religion that keeps them from Christ, when in reality the Sermon on the Mount ought to bring us to the Lord Jesus.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, I trust you have our notes and outlines. They're available and all you'd have to do is write in and ask for your copy if you do not have them. Now we put in today here again at the beatitudes. And last time we took this beatitude, closed with it. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Now, that is one that certainly has been misunderstood. Meekness is something that you and I cannot produce. It's not by self-effort but by Spirit effort.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We are told today that only the Holy Spirit can produce in the heart of a yielded Christian meekness. The Christian who's learned the secret of producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit can turn here to the beatitudes and read, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." And see the rewards of meekness. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:2, "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? We are joint heirs with Christ."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, the beatitudes present goals that a child of God shall want to realize in his life. But he can't do it on his own. Probably heard the old cliché today the man who said, "I have a message that I give, the title of it is meekness and how I attained it." And he said, "I haven't given the message yet." But he says, "As soon as I get an audience big enough, I'm going to give that message." Well, I have a notion that he's rather lost his meekness, don't you think? Because the very minute that you and I attain to it in our own effort, we're just a little proud. Now it goes meekness. Well, this is a fruit of the Spirit.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we are told verse 6, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." But what about the natural man, does he hunger and thirst for righteousness? Not the ones I meet. The natural man Paul says, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, for they're spiritually discerned." This is one that has found that Christ is his righteousness, that he's been made unto us righteousness. And that our righteousness is in Him. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now this is one that is quite interesting and so misunderstood today. This is not the condition on which we obtain mercy. Listen to Paul in Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." And we should be merciful because we have obtained mercy. "But you're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: By the way, that's 1 Peter, the second chapter, verses 9 and 10. So that here you have a condition. And notice the next one, verse 8. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Now any honest man knows today his heart is not pure. How can the heart of man which is desperately wicked be made clean? The Lord Jesus says, "You're clean through the word which I've spoken unto you." And it's by the washing of regeneration that we are made clean today. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from all sin.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now you will notice verse 9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." Well, would you like to name one peacemaker in the world right now? There's no one today that can make peace. Christ alone is the great peacemaker and he's made peace by his blood between a righteous God and an unrighteous sinner. And being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then in verse 10, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Now the application of this beatitude today and to the remnant of Israel in the great tribulation is easy to see. But can it apply to the kingdom that's to be established? Well, will not all evil be removed? I think many scriptures show that in the millennial kingdom there will still be evil in the world because it's a time of testing. And the outbreak of rebellion reveals that evil was prevalent during the Millennium.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, we come here to verse 13. "Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and be trodden under foot of man." You're the salt of the earth. Now Paul says that of believers. And the Lord Jesus says that again, that we're salt and also light. But God's people in any age, under any condition, are both salt and light in the world. The interesting thing here is the way the Scots translate this word savor. And I like their word much better. They translate it by the very expressive word tang. If the salt have lost its tang.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: The problem today is that most church members, they've not only lost their tang as salt, but as pepper, they've lost their pap also. We've got very few salt and pepper Christians today. You're the salt of the earth. Salt doesn't keep fermentation and that type of thing from taking place, but it sure will arrest it. And you and I ought to be salt in the earth. We ought to have a good influence in the world today.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And then he says, "You're the light of the world." And certainly in the kingdom, the believers are going to be the light of the world. And this is a tremendous principle, therefore, for us. A city that's set on a hill cannot be hid. We need to be today a light in the world, in your neighborhood, or wherever you move. The word of God is light. We haven't any light within ourselves. It's to give out the word of God in some way or another. Now it doesn't mean that all of us are to spout it off all the time. But it's very easy for you to cultivate some person, and very quietly, someday, hand him a book, or say, "Why don't you hand him a radio card and tell them to go through the Bible with us?" There are many ways that you can be light in the world, you see, and we are to give light.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." There are those of the liberal persuasion that have spoken of the Sermon on the Mount being anthropocentric. That's their term, and that it's not theocentric. Now, very candidly, those two words are very simple in a way. Anthropocentric means it's man-centered. And what they're trying to say is this is for mankind and blah, blah, blah, along that line. But honestly, the Sermon on the Mount is not anthropocentric. It's not man-centered, it is theocentric.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Listen to this. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify you and pat you on the back and give you a gold medal and a loving cup." Is that what it says? No. You and I are to let our light so shine in this world that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven. It's God-centered. During the Millennium, during the kingdom here on the earth, everything that's done and said is God-centered. And in this lost world today, you and I should have as our motivation that what we do is to bring glory to God. And I think that is something every Christian should consider very seriously.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he says here, "Think not that I'm come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to fulfill." Now, remember that part of the law was the ceremonial law, and he was the sacrifice for the sins of the world. And he came not to destroy the law or the prophets. He came to fulfill all. Now, how did he fulfill the law? Well, he was the fulfillment of it in that he kept it. And that which it set before man, he was able to attain and he's able to make over to me his righteousness. But now notice, God's standards haven't changed.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It just means that today you and I can't attain them in our own strength and we need help, we need a savior. We do need mercy. We obtain mercy when we come to Christ. Now will you notice verse 18, "For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." Now, I hope you don't interpret what I'm saying that I'm saying today that you can break the law. I'm not saying that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: In fact, the matter is it's still a standard. And it reveals to me that I don't measure up to God, therefore it brings me to the cross of Christ and in so doing I carry out what our Lord said that he fulfilled the law. That's the only way I can fulfill it. It's my standard, but I can't measure up to it. "Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven." You can't break the commandments and get by with it, of course you can't.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: But let me see you keep it in your own strength. But you can come to Him for salvation and for power and strength. "Whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say unto you." Now notice this, this is very important to see right here. The Pharisees had a high degree of righteousness according to the law. But that wasn't acceptable. How are you and I going to surpass it? Listen to him. "For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the Kingdom of Heaven."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We're going to need Him. Listen to Him. "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not kill." Now he takes two of the commandments. Here's one of them. "And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, raqa, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That's a tremendous statement. That means that if you're angry with your brother, you're a murderer. You want to qualify? You think you keep the law today? My friend, we need a savior today. You can't break the law and get by with it. You can't say, "The Sermon on the Mount's my religion," and then break every bit of it, friends, and still mouth the fact that you're religion. May I say to you, God has lifted it. Now the Lord Jesus to the very nth degree. And if you can't measure up, you're going to need a savior. I'll tell you that.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now if that didn't get you, this one will. He moves on down. Now I'll move down here to it. He says, "Verily I say unto thee," verse 26. You see, he's lifting his teaching above Moses. He's lifting himself to the position as the Law Giver now, and the interpreter too, by the way. "Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: "But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." How about that one? I had a man that came down to me one time. I've made for years the statement, no one has ever kept the law. And I still make it. I'm making it right now. There's not a person listening to me right now that has kept the law. A red-faced fellow, a great big burly fellow came down to me one Sunday morning and says, "You're always saying nobody keeps the law. I want you to know I keep the law." And he belonged by the way to a cult, but he attended our services. And I said, "You do?"

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: He said, "I sure do. I want you to know that." I said, "All right, let's look at it." And I gave him the one on murder and he said he kept that. I don't believe he did, but he said he did. But I gave him this one. I said, "Now it says if you so much as look upon a woman to lust after, you're guilty of adultery." And I said, "Look me straight in the eye and tell me you never done that." He was already red-faced, but you should have seen him. He really got red-faced and he just turned and gave some sort of an epithet like, "Oh, pshaw!" And he turned and walked out. You bet he walked out. May I say to you, if you're honest, friends, you come to this commandment here and these are only two. There were ten commandments. I think he lifted all ten of them to the nth degree. And he tells me, "I need a savior." He tells me that all have sinned and that I need to come to Him for mercy and help.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: You see, that's what the Sermon on the Mount does for me. It shows me I'm not measuring up and you don't break it, my friend. The man that says he lives by the Sermon on the Mount is breaking the law and he says that the law is not important. You say, "How's that?" Well, because he's breaking it. He says, "All you got to do is just say you live by the Sermon on the Mount and you keep the commandments," and what you really mean, you vote for them.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now our Lord deals in a tremendous way with the law and man's relationship to it. And these are tremendous statements. Verse 29, "If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, cast it from thee. For it's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off." This is severe. This is very severe. And it reveals, friends, that if you can't meet God's standard, you need a savior today. Don't kid yourself and fool around with this and act as if you're keeping it. You're doing nothing in the world but being a hypocrite. And I feel that in our Christian circles today we're so busy patting each other on the back and complimenting one another.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And I find out in church work today, you've always got to give everybody credit for what they do. May I say to you, we're all a pack of low-down, dirty, rotten sinners not even fit for heaven. We need a savior today. Oh, you need a savior. This Sermon on the Mount ought to drive you to the cross of Christ and to cry out for mercy. That's when you honor the law, my friend. That's when you keep the law really, when you say, honestly, I'm not measuring up to it. Don't kid me that you're keeping it. I know you're not, because you're just like I am.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, let me read on. Verse 32. "But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication." Now, he gives here one grounds for divorce. Now I'm not going to go into that today because when we get to the 19th chapter of Matthew, we'll find out that he puts down again this great principle on which there is divorce today. Now, I don't want to enter into that right now because I'm already in trouble with a lot of folk. But I really get in hot water when I get on the divorce question and we will get to it in the 19th chapter, and I won't avoid it then. But he makes it very clear there's only one grounds here for divorce. He calls it to commit adultery. And whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Now that means divorce that's not on scriptural grounds, which is adultery on the part of the other one.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: That is something that today is entirely ignored in Christian circles. But I say, "This will be the law of the Kingdom." Because there are going to be men and women who want to leave their mates during that period. Now he says again, "You've heard that it has been said by them of old time that thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it's God's throne, nor by the earth, for it's his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it's the city of the Great King."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now he said to be the kind of a person that you don't have to take an oath. Today they have people taking oaths. I can remember as a boy that my dad could go into the bank and borrow money and maybe come back in two days later to see him just sign the note. And that's all he did, just signed the note. He could call and they'd put so much to his account. I know that the other day when I went to the bank, I had to sign, I think, four different places. Believe me, brother, they have you sign up. Why? Because mankind's not to be trusted. And they were a lot in that day were not to be trusted. But he said the child of God under all circumstances should be that way. And he says, "Let your communication be yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever's more than these cometh of evil."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: When a man says to me, "I'd swear on a stack of Bibles a mile high," that's the fellow I don't believe, because I think the lie he's telling is a mile high. Verse 38, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you that you resist not evil." Now he's changed all of that and that'll be changed when he's reigning in the kingdom. "But whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." How about that, friends? You follow that. Now there's a principle here. But we're living in a day when he also said, "A strong man armed keepeth his house." And I think that's it. And Paul could say, "Alexander the coppersmith didn't me much evil, the Lord reward him." In the kingdom you can turn the other cheek.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: It's like the Irishman. Somebody hit him on one cheek, knocked him down. He got up, turned the other, and the fellow knocked him down again. He got up, and he just beat the stuffing out of that fellow. Someone said, "Why'd you do that?" Well, he said, "The Lord says turn the other cheek," and I did. But he never told me what to do after that. And he knew what he wanted to do after that. Now verse 40. "And if any man will sue thee at the law, take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow thee, turn not thou away."

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Take that down to your bank, where you have a banker that says he lives by the Sermon on the Mount, and see how far you get with it, my friend. Let's quit being hypocrites. Let's be very frank that this is the law of the kingdom and when my Lord is on the throne down here, you can go by this. But this is a great principle today. We ought to help those. And I'm afraid that we don't do enough of that. Now he says, "Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." That I insist is for the kingdom.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And he continues on in this way that we are to love those that are not just relatives and friends or our little clique in the church, but that we're try to get this gospel out to others and that's the way that you express your love for others today. Get to them a saving message that'll bring them to heaven. We take the sixth chapter next time. May the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.

Host: What a fitting close to such a down-to-earth lesson from the Gospel of Matthew. If you'd like the notes and outlines that Dr. McGee mentioned, just visit TTB.org or download the Digital Book Briefing the Bible, or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE and we'll happily send you an abbreviated print copy by mail. Again, that's TTB.org or 1-800-65-BIBLE, or email us at Biblebus@TTB.org. Or if you listen through our app, just check the menu section. They're right there waiting for you. I'm Steve Schwetz. Join me again next time as we continue discovering the riches of God's Word and together make our way through the Bible.