Introduction:
One of the clearest proofs of man’s sinfulness is the superficial way that he thinks about sin.
Sin has affected the way we think about sin.
One example is our tendency to think about sin, almost exclusively, in the terms of COMMISSION. We rarely think about sin in the terms of OMISSION.
I think about what I DO TO YOU, but I don’t think about what I OWE TO YOU.
I think about what I GIVE TO YOU, but I don’t think about what I WITHOLD from you.
I think about what I SAY TO YOU, but I don’t think about what I REFUSE to EXPRESS TO YOU.
Sin is not just action; it can be inaction.
There’s a lot more we could say about that, but the reason I bring it up, is because in our verses Jesus contrasts the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees with true righteousness, and the subject matter is love.
And what Christ emphasizes is what love is responsible for.
How LOVE is responsible to think.
How LOVE is responsible to behave.
And, specifically, the fact that it cannot WITHOLD ITSELF based on personal injury. It cannot be OMITTED because it has been MISTREATED.
Even with enemies — persecutors — LOVE IS MY DEBT. God commands me to love.
False righteousness is a stranger to that kind of love — to the supernatural love of God.
It doesn’t understand it, it doesn’t demonstrate it, because it doesn’t HAVE IT.
ESV 1 John 3:17 But aif anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet bcloses his heart against him, chow does God's love abide in him?
You see, this is the issue. SOME PEOPLE HAVE THE LOVE OF GOD IN THEM AND SOME PEOPLE DO NOT.
Who has the love of God?
Those who have the Son of God. Those who have the Spirit of God.
ESV Romans 5:5 and ahope does not put us to shame, because God's love bhas been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
People who do not possess that love, but want to believe themselves righteous, seek to find ways to excuse their lovelessness.
Legalism attempts to reduce the Word of God to the level of its own understanding (what makes sense to me) and its own experience (what I do and what I’m willing to do). This is what the scribes and Pharisees had done.
AND THE THREE AREAS WHERE THEY HAD GOTTEN LOVE WRONG

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