YE HAVE HEARD

YE HAVE HEARD

Mat 5:20 For 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.
Mat 5:21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Mat 5:22 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, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

When Jesus was delivering the Sermon On The Mount, He described a condition that existed in the Congregation of The Saints. That same condition is present with us today, in any Congregation we should want to examine. Oftentimes we find rank disunity in the midst of the Church. Families and individuals often sit apart from others because of some emotional rift that has come between them and others.

The sad part of this is that WE JUSTIFY OURSELVES in the ill will, and often, what is worse, we tell our grievances to others, and soon the group is “polarized” in division. GOD WILL NOT HONOR SUCH A CONDITION. There can be no Spiritual Growth.

All the while, we keep up a pretense (yes, I said PRETENSE) of Spirituality. It is only a SHOW for the sake of others looking on.

Anger and ill will, in all of its forms and degrees, is insipient MURDER.

Only the Spirit of God can bring about a deliverance from the latent Ill Will that is in each of our lives. BUT HE CAN DE.LIVER US, AND HE WILL, IF WE ASK HIM TO.

John the Baptist was sent of God to declare the need for Repentance (a turning around), because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He said:

Mat 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

The root-cause of our problems is in our hearts. It is there, in the heart, that Jesus is planning to deal with the problems we create.

Luk 6:43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Luk 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

We are living in the time of, and we have access to, the promise foretold by Jeremiah.

Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR INWARD PARTS, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Trouble is: We lack the DESIRE for this to happen. We rather like the feeling of “having been wronged” by someone else. We humans, ALL OF US, are Divisive by nature. “Feeding” that nature is more pleasant than asking God for deliverance from it.
We DO HAVE a choice, you know.

Jam 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jam 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, WHEN IT IS FINISHED, BRINGETH FORTH DEATH.