Where’s your heart this morning?
Scripture
Matthew 5: 21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 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.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The Perfect Story: There was a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone at the roadside in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor?
Answer: The perfect woman. She's the only one that really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.
A Male's Response: So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving. This explains why there was a car accident.
Source Unknown.
Where’s your heart this morning?
Heart is used in Scripture as the most comprehensive term for the authentic person. It is the part of our being where we desire, deliberate, and decide. It has been described as "the place of conscious and decisive spiritual activity," "the comprehensive term for a person as a whole; his feelings, desires, passions, thought, understanding and will," and "the center of a person. The place to which God turns."
J. Stowell, Fan The Flame, Moody, 1986, p. 13.
As we come to another time of opening the Word of God, it is important that we ask ourselves, “Where is my heart this morning?” We all come to this assembly each week, and we come from all different directions. We’ve each of us lived a different week that the person next to us, or around us. We’ve done things this week, we’ve had things done to us. Testing our strength, tempting us to sin, discouraging us or encouraging us.
And all those things can cause reactions from us. As Jesus pointed out, our hearts can respond “raca,” “fool” they can respond with lust, indulgence of our flesh.
Scripture calls on believers to look at their hearts.
2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
Galatians 6:4 – “But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.”
1 Corinthians 11:28 – “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.”
So, as we come to this time of worship, where’s your heart? Is it calling out to God this morning?
The world will tell you that if your hearts not in it, you should not do it. But that’s not what Scripture says. Ask God to change your heart.
Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
Psalm 119:36 – “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
Psalm 141:4 – “Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity.”
Ezekiel 36:26 – “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Jeremiah 24:7 – “I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”
Deuteronomy 30:6 – “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
Prayer
I began with that this morning because we are moving to a study of the moral law of the Old Testament. If you have been with us, you know that we have spent some time in the Mosaic law. And our chief aim was to continue laying the foundation for our faith in Christ. Our Bibles consist of both Old and New Testament, and some Christian groups will tell you that the Old Testament is no longer relevant, or applicable to today. That in Christ, the Old Testament law is done away with. And there is some truth to that. As we have been studying, we’ve talked about the civil and ceremonial laws of Israel. The civil laws were those laws that covered the time of Israel as a sovereign nation, in the promised land. But, as we learn from history, Israel ceased being a sovereign nation around 586 B.C. when they were overthrown and exiled by Babylon. So, since they were no longer in the land, laws about ownership of the land became moot. We also talked about the ceremonial laws. These were the laws that regulated their religious life; the temple, the sacrifices, and the priesthood. But those laws also became irrelevant in 70 A.D. when Roman besieged Jerusalem, and destroyed its temple.
So, for those practical reasons, we as believers no longer follow Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws, first, because they were for Isreal in a specific time and place, but more importantly because Jesus completed their purpose. We no longer need to sacrifice animals to atone for sin, because Christ is our Lamb of God, sacrificed for our atonement. We don’t need to go to a priest, Christ is our High priest. We don’t need a temple, He has made us the temple of the Holy Spirit.
So, I told you that the civil and ceremonial laws were temporary. But there is a third kind of Old Testament law. The moral law. What laws are these? These are laws that apply across human history. They are not bound solely to Israel as a nation. They are God’s standard for every nation. Think of the ten commandments.
God’s moral laws in the Mosaic Law can be grouped into several categories that reveal His unchanging standards for all people, not just Israel. They include worship and devotion to God—commanding exclusive loyalty, reverence for His name, and obedience to His Word; honor for authority—such as children respecting their parents and people respecting leaders; sanctity of life—forbidding murder and violence; sexual purity—condemning adultery, fornication, and other immoral practices; honesty and integrity—prohibiting theft, lying, fraud, and coveting; and justice and fairness—requiring impartiality, care for the vulnerable, and honesty in dealings. These laws form the moral backbone of the Ten Commandments and are echoed throughout the prophets and the New Testament, showing that they reflect God’s holy character and His design for how all people should relate both to Him and to one another.
So, as you read your Old Testament, how can you tell which laws are moral laws, and which are temporary? Here are some tests. Did this law exist before the Mosaic law? Did it exist before Israel, or even Abraham? Now, that doesn’t mean they didn’t apply to Israel, they predate Israel. Second question, did Jesus reiterate the law in the gospels, did the apostles reiterate it in the New Testament? Third question, Is the practice of this sin excluded from the millennial kingdom, and heaven? Only God’s heart enters into eternity.
Here are the categories of moral laws. Violence Laws, Intimacy laws, Honor laws, Truth laws, Property laws, Fairness laws, Compassion laws and Worship laws. Today we want to look at Violence laws, and intimacy laws.
Violence laws before Mosaic law
From the very beginning, God made clear His judgment against violence and the shedding of innocent blood. In Genesis 4:8–11, when Cain murdered his brother Abel,
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
God confronted him and pronounced judgment, showing that murder was condemned even before the giving of the Law. Later, after the flood, God established the principle of capital punishment in Genesis 9:6, declaring that whoever sheds human blood must pay with his own life, because mankind is made in the image of God. So, the prohibition against the violence of murder wasn’t a law just for Israel.
Mosaic law
But under the Mosaic Law, this standard was reinforced with the commandment, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).
Exodus 21:12 – “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death.”
Exodus 21:14 – “But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.”
Leviticus 24:17 – “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.”
Numbers 35:30–31 – “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses.”
Deuteronomy 5:17 – Restatement of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not murder.”
Deuteronomy 19:11–13 – The willful murderer must be handed over to die; “your eye shall not pity him.”
Deuteronomy 27:24–25 – Curses pronounced on those who strike down or take a bribe to shed innocent blood.
Proverbs 6:16–17 – Lists “hands that shed innocent blood” as one of the seven things the Lord hates.
Now, we know that the law also made provision for cases of accidental killing through the establishment of cities of refuge, so that justice could be carefully applied (Numbers 35:9–15).
But the Mosaic law was explicit in its condemnation of violence and murder, crimes such as striking parents, kidnapping, or intentionally shedding innocent blood carried the severest penalties; capital punishment.
Jesus and the New Testament
In the New Testament, Jesus did not lessen this command but deepened it, teaching in Matthew 5:21–22 that even unjust anger makes a person liable to judgment. The apostles reaffirmed this standard, with Romans 13:9 repeating the prohibition against murder,
7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
and 1 John 3:15 declaring that hatred itself is equivalent to murder and reveals the absence of eternal life.
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Eternity
We know this is a moral law, applicable to everyone, because, Scripture says it is one of the sins that will not go into eternity. Let me explain that further. Remember, Israel had civil laws and ceremonial laws. But don’t find God holding us to those laws after Christ. There’s no New Testament command not to eat pork, there’s no New Testament condemnation of working on the Sabbath, there’s no New Testament command to bring a sacrifice to a priest. But, the moral law of committing violence against someone is reiterated in the New Testament.
Scripture warns of the eternal consequences of unrepented violence: Revelation 21:8 lists murderers among those condemned to the lake of fire, and Revelation 22:15 confirms that they will be excluded from the New Jerusalem. God’s moral law on violence has been consistent from the beginning—life is sacred, justice must be upheld, and unrepentant murderers will not inherit His kingdom.
And I hope you can say, I haven’t murdered anyone. Even if you have, before Christ, in Christ it is forgiven. I hope you can say that you are not a physically violent person.
But, the message for the Christian is that during your life, God is not only at work on your actions, but also on your heart. Jesus said,
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.
What Jesus is describing there is violence in thoughts, and words. So where is your heart on your violent thoughts and words? By the time Jesus returns, or you die, He wants you to be perfect.
2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 3:12 – “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”
Hebrews 10:14 – “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Hebrews 13:20–21 – “Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.”
James 1:2–4 – “Count it all joy… for the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
1 Peter 5:10 – “The God of all grace… will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”
Ephesians 4:31–32 – “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
Colossians 3:8–10 – “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self… and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
James 1:19–20 – “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
James 3:8–10 – “No human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God… My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
1 John 3:14–15 – “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Before Moses
God’s design for sexual intimacy was established before the giving of the Law, when He ordained marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman, declaring in Genesis 2:24 that a man shall leave his father and mother, be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
God’s blessing of this union, excludes other unions; casual non-committed unions, multiple spouses, same gender unions, and other perversities.
Even before Sinai, immorality was condemned, as seen in the perversion of Sodom in Genesis 19:4–7, and in Joseph’s refusal of Potiphar’s wife, when he recognized adultery as a sin against God in Genesis 39:7–9.
7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
Joseph was asserting that God’s law against adultery applied outside of the children of Israel.
Mosaic law
Under the Mosaic Law, these standards were made explicit: adultery was forbidden (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10), incest, homosexuality, and bestiality were strongly prohibited (Leviticus 18:6–23), and prostitution was condemned (Deuteronomy 23:17–18).
New Testament
In the New Testament, Jesus upheld and deepened the call to purity, teaching in Matthew 5:27–28 that even looking at someone with lust is adultery of the heart. The apostles also reiterated these commands, with Romans 1:26–27 condemning homosexual acts,
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
1 Corinthians 6:18 urging believers to flee sexual immorality, and Hebrews 13:4 honoring marriage and calling for the marriage bed to be kept pure.
Eternity
So, we have said that this is a moral law that extended beyond Israel. It wasn’t done away with in Christ. Paul emphatically makes that statement.
2 Corinthians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
Eternity
Scripture further warns that those who persist in sexual sin will face exclusion from God’s kingdom: 1 Corinthians 6:9–10 declares that the sexually immoral and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of God, Galatians 5:19–21 lists sexual immorality among the works of the flesh that bring judgment, and Revelation 21:8; 22:15 affirms that the sexually immoral will face eternal separation from God. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s moral law is clear: sexual intimacy is to be kept within the covenant of marriage, and all distortions of His design bring serious consequences.
Let me say this. None of us can change the past. We’ve all made decisions that we regret, even as Christians. But the danger for Christians is when they choose to never seek for and discover the heart of God on the matter. We just go on with life, “Well, everybody sins, everybody has hateful or lustful thoughts. I’m not perfect, I’m forgiven.” But you forget that even if you never commit that sin again, even if you never have that thought again, God not only wants to change my actions, my words, my thoughts, He also wants to change my thoughts about my thoughts. When Jesus returns, He wants our heart and His heart, to be in perfect alignment.
In the 18th century, large English estates were often left in the hands of stewards while the landowner traveled abroad. The steward’s job wasn’t just to “keep things going.” He was expected to manage the household, direct the workers, and keep the affairs of the estate running exactly as the master would have wanted. History records that the very best stewards were those who cared not only about the master’s instructions, but about the master’s intent. They didn’t simply keep the rules of the estate; they sought to understand the heart of the owner, so that when he returned, he could say, “You managed this place as though I had been here myself.”
Jesus drew on this same idea in Luke 12:42–44, asking: “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household…? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.” The faithful servant doesn’t just avoid wrongdoing; he aligns his heart, his priorities, and his actions with the master’s will, so that when the master returns, the work has been carried out in perfect agreement with his desires.
And that is God’s purpose for us. Not merely that we would stop sinning, or even stop thinking sinful thoughts, but that our hearts — our very thoughts about our thoughts — would be so aligned with His, that when Christ returns, He finds us not just forgiven, but transformed into His likeness.
But once again I ask today, “where is your heart?” If you belong to Christ, He not only wants you to stay away from this sin, He wants you to stay away from it’s thoughts and influences.
Call to Avoid Corrupting Influences
📖 Taken together, these passages show that Christians must guard their eyes, minds, and influences — keeping their thoughts pure, avoiding situations that stir up lust, and rejecting corrupt companions or media that foster immorality.
✦ In both areas, the pattern is consistent: God’s standards existed before Moses, were codified in the Law, reaffirmed and deepened by Christ and the Apostles, and violations are clearly shown to lead to exclusion from the eternal kingdom unless forgiven and transformed by God’s grace.
And they also point to a kind of completeness that our Father wants for us, demands of us; be ye holy as I am holy.
This is how the Old Testament moral laws regarding violence and immorality are the foundation stones for the Christian faith. Next time we will look at honor laws and truth laws.