You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (v.21-22)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (v.27-28)

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. (v.20)

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (v.48)

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (v.17)

In this passage, Christ surprises people with the true meaning of the Ten Commandments. Those people gathered around Christ were mostly (if not all) Jews who thought they kept the Law pretty well. Some came thinking Christ would free them from the Mosaic Law.

God foresaw the coming issue with antinomianism and legalism within churches and preached on the meaning of the Law. In a nutshell, God’s words deny both antinomianism and legalism.

Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. (Proverbs 4:27)

Going a straight way, not turning to the right or to the left was repeatedly mentioned in the OT. All the Apostles tried to teach people on this matter because there were the libertines who promoted antinomianism. On the other hand, there were the Jews who hold legalism – salvation by works. Among all the Apostles, Paul spent much time writing on this issue.

In this passage, Christ’s messages are the reflections of why He came to the world – There is no good works without being united with God. All good works are from the Spirit.

Therefore there is now no condemnation at all for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are in accord with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are in accord with the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:1-11)

Under the Reformed Puritanism, people are often forced to do things that their churches define as good works. They are given false assurance that they have the Holy Spirit and are persuaded that they must do good works to prove they are saints before others. Without having any understanding of God, they falsely believe they are saved and do works as they like. Thus, false teaching produced many hypocrites.

All good works, even repentance unto life, are initiated by God. Even after we are reborn, we continue to struggle with sins as written in Romans 7. There are many speculative theories on Romans 7. Romans 7 reflects the life of saints after being born again. Through the temptations and trials, saints rely on God alone and confess that there is not a good thing in us. Even Adam, who was sinless, became sinful. There is not a good thing that we can do apart from God. We cannot overcome temptations without God. We cannot even start good works without God. It is not that we do the half of the works and God does the rest. God does 100% of our good works. And we do not even remember that we did something good.

I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ (Matthew 25:44)

the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and they will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they [g]existed, and were created.” (Revelation 4:10-11)

Not to us, LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, because of Your truth. (Psalm 115:1)

There are many churches in the world who give false assurance to their people and say that they can do great things of God. Even in the Reformed denomination, churches say that they can make people disciples. Those who were fooled by their messages now work as ministers and professors in seminaries. Because they do not have understanding, they rely on human philosophies and go after Aquinas’ teachings when he stopped writing at the end of his life saying all his writings were like straws.

Christ tells people their righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. Christ is not talking about strict law keeping. Christ talks about being clothed with God’s righteousness. Again, the Book of Job gives much knowledge on this matter.

even though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save themselves,” declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 14:14)

Here, the word righteousness is tsedaqah (Strong 6666), not yashar (Strong 3477). The Book of Job shows us how Job’s mere uprightness (yashar) becomes righteousness because of God. Without grace of God and without being united with God, there is no true righteousness.

Christ goes on and says that we must be perfect like Father. How can a man’s righteousness be like that of the Pharisees and be perfect? Does Christ want to hear from our mouths, “Yes, we are able.”? No. Christ wants to hear from us, “No, we cannot. We cannot do anything from the beginning.”

What God wants from us is our total reliance on God alone. From the beginning, God wants us to believe in Him alone.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

The issue with the Protestant churches from the 17^th century is that people disguise themselves as Christians by good works shown to the world and try to get saved by works. They say they are justified by faith, but their words and actions deny it. They often have no understanding of the Bible, do not read the Bible, and are busybodies. They go from house to house to slander and use both God and the devil to keep their power within their churches. This I saw in my dream.

Another important thing Christ teaches us here is that sin springs from our heart. Therefore, it is not that Eve and Adam ate and everyone sinned. More accurately, the original sin started from their heart even before they ate the fruit. God did not condemn their heart and stopped them from eating the fruit although He knew what was in their heart. It is because God wants to teach us this very truth – “apart from Me you can do nothing”.

Again, the original sin is not about one’s will. Eve and Adam were bound to fall into temptation and fail. In their pride, they thought they could reach God and be like Him by their own power and will. Their failure teaches us what God wants in His saints is not mere uprightness but righteousness of God. Uprightness may seem to result in a moral life. All religions promote this moral life. But, uprightness produces only pride and rebellion.