None Righteous

You have heard that it was said.... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. - Matthew 5:27, 48

In His mountainside sermon, Jesus repeated one particular phrase six times. The phrase was, "You have heard that it was said...." The Jewish religious leaders had taken the Law of God and modified it in unacceptable ways. To reveal their error, Jesus took six examples of their modifications and then revealed the inadequacy of each change when compared to the intent of God's heart, purposes, and desires.

Jesus had not come to abolish the Law of God, but to fulfill it, and He had to show these men where they had fallen short. In so doing, He has also shown all of us.

Whenever anyone attempts to reduce God's perfect standard of holiness to an achievable goal, they reveal their own aching need for grace. God's perfect standard was not given so that we could achieve it, but rather that we might see our own inadequacy and cry out for mercy.

Our sin is what separates us from God, but it's our self-righteousness that keeps us from running to Him for the grace He willingly gives. - Thomas Brooks