The Attitude Behind the Act A

God is concerned about what you really are, not what you appear to be. This sinful thought or attitude is not as bad as that sinful action. But is categorizing sin the right thing to do? Are your actions, the sins people can see, really the main issue, or does the problem lie deeper? Well, John MacArthur examines important questions like those as he begins a series today on grace to you that he calls, The Sinfulness of Sin.

Now John, to start things off, the title of this series may have some of our listeners scratching their heads. What are you getting at when you talk about the sinfulness of sin? It really is odd, isn't it, that you have to describe sin as sinful.

But sin has been diminished in the culture. Everybody acknowledges sin, but the definition of sin is almost like some slip-up. It's a mistake. It's a mistake. It's an error you made. Yeah, you hear people say that all the time. I admit I made a mistake.

I admit I made a bad decision. So we have to redefine sin. And by the way, the sinfulness of sin is an old phrase.

It goes way back into the Puritan era. Even then, there were people who wanted to minimize sin. There are always going to be people who want to turn sin into mistakes, or they want to turn sin into miscalculations that I made because somebody else did something to me or misinformed me. So the idea of the sinfulness of sin is to set the excuses aside, the cheap, shallow definitions aside, and let's go to the heart of what sin really is. And by the way, that's exactly what Jesus did in Matthew chapter 5. He said, oh, you think sin is this? To the Jewish leader, I'm telling you, it's this. And he went from the behavior to the attitude, to the heart, to the motive.

What's behind the act? Who is really an adulterer? Who is really a murderer? What is man's biggest problem? It's not what he does.

He does what he does because of what he is on the inside. So understanding the true, profound depth of sin, and the fact that man cannot escape it in his own power, nor is he willing to, is very, very essential. It's a critical understanding to understand your relationship with Christ and even to presenting the gospel. Somebody said years ago, people are receiving the gospel and not even knowing why, because sin is not being dealt with. You can't present the good news until people understand the deadly reality of the bad news. So it's a gospel lesson we're going to be learning in these days about the sinfulness of sin, which leads to the glory of the forgiveness of sin in the gospel.

Right. And friend, this study looks at some of Jesus' hardest and most convicting teachings. It might even reveal areas in your life that you've never thought to examine. But as John said, when you see the depth of your sin, you'll see the depths of God's grace more clearly. So here again is John MacArthur to launch his study titled, The Sinfulness of Sin. Now most people evaluate their lives and the lives of other people on external appearance. First Samuel 16 7 says, Man looketh on the outward appearance. Jesus said in John 7 24, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, the Apostle Paul said, Do you look on things after the outward appearance?

We dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves. There are people who commend themselves on the basis of their outward appearance. There are people who are satisfied with how they behave externally. There are people who evaluate others on the basis of what they see visibly in terms of religious behavior.

Now this is rather typical of fallen man. He is basically satisfied with externals. God is not so concerned with the outside as He is with the inside. And the outside is only validated insofar as it is representative of what is on the inside. And that is frankly the basis of the text that lies before us. Jesus emphasized here in the Bible that the Jesus emphasized here in the Sermon on the Mount and frankly throughout His whole ministry that external ceremonies, that external religious rites, that certain works are not the whole issue. That God is concerned with the heart and that is precisely the thrust of verse 20.

Look at it. I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now the scribes and the Pharisees had a righteousness that was external. And what Jesus is saying is you must have one that exceeds that which is internal. God is concerned about what you really are, not what you appear to be.

It is the internal that is infinitely more important than the external. That is essentially what verse 20 means. The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was an external, ceremonial, ritualistic, hypocritical legalism. And the righteousness that God demands is something internal. And by the way, it's always been God's concern.

It isn't anything new. Jesus isn't articulating something never before known. In 1 Kings 8 39 the scripture said, Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and give to every man according to his ways, listen to this, whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men. And so God is enjoined in that verse to respond to men not on the basis of outward deeds but on the basis of the heart which God alone knows. In 1 Chronicles chapter 28 verse 9, also in the Old Testament, the scripture says, And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.

The same emphasis. God is concerned with the inside not the outside. Now the standard that God set, and people this is really critical, the standard that God sets to evaluate men and women is the standard of the heart.

The message is clear. God is concerned with external behavior. Yes, absolutely yes, but it is only justified insofar as it is the outgrowth of internal righteousness. For God evaluates the heart. And so He has said this is what God requires, it's internal character. Now at this point He shows how such people living by such principles relate to the Old Testament law.

Why? Because this is critical to the Jews listening to Him speak. Because so far what He has said is revolutionary to them. Theirs is purely external religion and He has laid down axioms that are not common to their understanding of religion. And so their question at this time is, well this is well and good, but how does it relate to the Old Testament? How does it relate to Moses? How does it relate to what the rabbis have taught? How does it relate to the system of traditional law that we ascribe to? The Jews to whom Jesus was preaching would lean so totally on the teachings related to their own Judaistic law that our Lord couldn't bypass this section.

He has to show how this relates to their system. And really verse 20 is the key. He says, God's standard is higher than yours. What you now know as a righteous standard is unacceptable. Now they're going to immediately say, wait a minute, we obey the law of God. And in essence Jesus is saying, I have to redefine the law of God for you because it's been lost in the midst of your tradition. So that in fact, and I want you to get this, the Judaism of the time was far from that true Old Testament law which God had given. And so Jesus is saying essentially in verse 17, I am not here to destroy the law.

I am not here to destroy the prophets. In fact, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle shall in any way pass from this law. And I'm not going to tolerate anybody who sets aside one of God's commands. But what you have is not God's standard. What you have is not God's law.

And so I will redefine it for you. And frankly, that's exactly what He does through the rest of chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7. All three of these chapters are Jesus' explanation of what He said in verses 17 through 20. How does all of this new information, how do these beatitudes relate to the Old Testament? How do they relate to the Judaism extent at that time?

How do they relate to what these Jews knew as their system of religion? Jesus said, it isn't God's law I'm setting aside. You've lost God's law in the midst of your tradition and I'm about to set God's law back in its primary place. And that is precisely what He does in chapter 5, chapter 6, and chapter 7.

Now let's see how He goes about it in chapter 5. Look at verse 21 and watch this common occurrence. "'Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of judgment. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of judgment.'"

Stop right there. Jesus says, "'You have heard it said, but I say unto you.'" Now look at verse 27. "'You have heard that it was said by them of old, Thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.'" Again He says, "'You have heard it said, but I say unto you.'" Look at verse 31. "'It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife except for the cause of fornication causes her to commit adultery.'"

Same formula. "'You've heard it said, but I say.'" Verse 33. Again, "'Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old, Thou shalt not perjure thyself, but shall perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you, swear not at all.'" Verse 38. "'Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, ye shall resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.'" And finally in verse 43. "'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies.'" Now listen. Six specific illustrations. And I want you to get this.

They all follow a similar pattern. Jesus is saying, your religion teaches you this. "'But I say unto you.'" And what he's doing is this. He's not comparing himself with the Old Testament. He's not raising the standard higher than the law of God. He's not talking about what Moses said. He's not talking about what the Old Testament said. He's not talking about what God said. He's talking about what their religious system taught them.

And he's saying, your standard is too low. You only worry about murder. God looks at the heart and says, if there's hate there, it's the same thing. You only worry about fornication. God says, if there's lust in the heart, it's the same thing. You see, God's standard is an attitudinal standard. Yours is only dealing with action.

That's the difference. The internals are what God is looking after. Now in selecting his illustrations, he's very careful. First of all, he chooses two commands from Moses, from the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Then he chooses two other, rather wider, social commandments taken from other portions of the Mosaic writings. Social relationships. He starts with the very firm Ten Commandments. He broadens to social relationships. And finally, he broadens to discuss the whole subject of love.

It's almost as if there's an ascending thing here. He's saying that it all begins at the foundation of life. Murder and marriage. The organism, the individual, the organization, marriage.

It all starts there. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

One is the right of the individual and the other is the basic definition of the social system. God has standards right there. And they're not only behavior standards in terms of what you do, but of what you think. And from those very basic things, he moves to a wider set of social relationships. And he talks about things like truth and justice and honesty. And finally, to the widest possible attitude, which is love.

And so there is a threefold progress from a lower to a higher. He starts with an individual dealing with an individual. And then in a family with marriage. And then expands to the whole category of truth and love and justice and honesty.

And finally, to the category of love which reaches as wide as not only your neighbor but your enemy. And he says in all of human living, from the individual and his sanctity, to the family, to social relationships, to the wide world of our enemies, we should be characteristically righteous on the inside. And your religious system doesn't have that definition. So therefore your righteousness in order to please God must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Theirs is strictly external. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, don't think it for a minute, did not come to set aside the law of God. He came to strip the rabbinic barnacles off the law of God to make it bare and naked and pure as it was when God gave it and lifted back to where it belonged. God had always been concerned with attitudes, always.

That isn't anything new. But the people of Israel had lowered the standard and then justified themselves by what they didn't do while their hearts were full of murder, full of lust, full of lies, full of hate, full of anger. And yet they were self-righteous because they had lowered the standard to accommodate their abilities.

Jesus lifted it right back where it belonged. And what our Lord is saying is this, thoughts are just as important as deeds. That's why no man can be justified on his own. You may not do the deed, but if you thought the thought, you're damned. That's what He's saying.

He is literally devastating the Pharisees. He is saying, I don't accept your externals. Your heart is rotten. And in Matthew 23, later on, He says, outside you're whitewashed.

Inside you're like a tomb full of dead men's bones. And so a man is not to be judged by his deeds so much as by his desires. A woman not to be judged by her actions as much as her attitudes.

This is different than the world's standards. For the scribes and the Pharisees, you see a man or a woman was righteous if they never did the forbidden thing. They didn't care about their thoughts.

They didn't care about attitudes. But Jesus said, a man is righteous if he never desires the forbidden things. Patrick Fairbairn says, and it's worth reading, listen to it. In the revelation of law, there was a substratum of grace recognized in the words which preface to the Ten Commandments and promises of grace in blessing also intermingled with the stern prohibitions and injunctions of which they consist. And so inversely, in the Sermon on the Mount, while it gives grace the priority and the prominence such as in the Beatitudes, it is far from excluding the severer part of God's character and government. No sooner indeed has grace poured itself forth in a succession of Beatitudes than there appears the stern demands of righteousness and law. Listen.

End quote. God is not saying you're a Christian, you're free, do whatever you want. God is saying you are a child of the kingdom, then the standard is raised for you, not lowered.

The standards are still there. God hasn't changed. And God examines the heart to see the attitudes. Look with me for a moment to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. 1 Corinthians 4. I just want to make a couple of comments. Verse 3, a very key passage.

Listen to what it says. But with me, Paul says, he's talking here about his ministry, about the fact that God has made him a servant and a steward, and he knows the Corinthians are critical of him. And so he says, with me it's a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by man's judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self. Now stop there for a minute.

Paul is saying, look, I will not allow myself to settle for human evaluation. I won't do it. Not yours and not mine. I can identify with that because I tend to be biased in my own favor, right? So do you. Sometimes people will come and say, oh, you know, such complimentary things, such gracious things, such kind words, and I'm appreciative of those. But I, for me, it is a small thing how you evaluate me. It is a small thing whether you evaluate me negatively, whether you evaluate me positively. I don't feel it's necessary to answer my critics, and I certainly don't want to believe those who are kind.

It's a small thing. I don't even evaluate myself. Why? Because you, whether you're critical or kind, me, whether I'm critical or kind, don't really know the secrets of the heart. I know a little more than you, but I don't know the whole picture.

And so in verse four, Paul says, I know nothing against myself. I mean, I've checked around. I can't find anything wrong. Yet am I not by that justified, even though there's nothing there that I can see that's wrong. That doesn't justify me.

He that judges me is the Lord. I can see the externals. You can see them. You can say, oh, you know, on the outside, everything's good. On the outside, it's wonderful. On the outside, it's fine. Or on the outside, it may even look bad to you. You may say, boy, so-and-so's out of line.

Look what they're doing on the outside, boy. They're out of line. I'll never forget one time when I was in college and I was at a school where they had so many rules, they couldn't even read them in a whole year. There were so many rules you could break them and not even know they existed.

They passed out books on them. And I remember one time a guy was called to the high tribunal of this school. And he was told, you have broken the cardinal rule. We saw you leaving the campus with a blonde in a blue dress sitting next to you in your car. Where were you going? Now, in this particular thing, you couldn't go anywhere with a girl. You couldn't leave the campus in your car. This was a horrendous crime of the first order, to which the young man replied, that was my blue laundry bag and hanging out of it was a yellow towel.

By that time, the rumor was long gone that here was a dissolute young man who was seen driving around with a blonde in a blue dress. It is a small thing, frankly, how you see the picture. It is a small thing, be it critical or positive, it is a small thing to be able to see the picture. It is a small thing, be it critical or positive, it is a small thing whether I justify myself. It is the Lord that judges me. Therefore, verse 5 says, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the... I'll substitute a word... motives of the hearts. You see, you can stop right there. That's the point. When God judges righteous judgment, He judges motive.

He judges inside. You may be one who goes through life and you've never struck a blow to anyone. Why? You've never killed anybody. You've never even fought with anybody. But you literally burn inside with anger. You may be one who's never been unfaithful in your marriage, but you cultivate the thoughts of adultery repeatedly. That's what God's looking at.

You may want so bad to do something and all your life never do it. And God says, it's as if you did it. And God judges the evil desire. And so, you see, Jesus is literally hitting these Pharisees right between the eyes. Their hearts were filthy while their deeds were religious.

They just dealt with externals. The state of the heart was not their concern, but it was Jesus' concern. Look at our society.

They did this all the time. Oh, so-and-so is such a good person. Oh, so-and-so is so charitable. We hear this all the time, but only God knows what's going on inside. Only God knows what motives are behind what we do. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Today, John began to show each one of us the magnitude of our sin and the incomparable breadth of God's love and forgiveness. It's a study titled, The Sinfulness of Sin.

Keep in mind, this study is available on six CDs, or you can download this entire series for free. To review these lessons, or to pass them along to a friend, get your copy of The Sinfulness of Sin when you contact us today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org. The Sinfulness of Sin costs $27, and shipping is free.

Again, to order, call toll-free 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, gty.org. And if you'd like to have the lessons from The Sinfulness of Sin study on your phone or your computer, you can download all six messages for free at our website. In fact, all of John's sermons are free of charge, both the MP3s and transcripts at gty.org. And if you've seen your love for Christ grow after hearing John's verse-by-verse teaching, or maybe the Lord has used this radio broadcast to draw you to faith in Christ, please let us know. Your letters encourage John and the whole staff. You can write to us at Grace To You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or send your email to letters at gty.org. That's letters at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today, and make sure you're here tomorrow when John continues his study, The Sinfulness of Sin, with another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.