In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the listeners that he had come to accomplish everything that the law required, that the Law and the Prophets had been pointing to him all along. Mankind not looks to Jesus Christ for righteousness. Jesus points out six topics to which the law speaks, and how he can work into us a righteousness the law could never accomplish. This morning, we will look at the first three of those, murder, adultery and divorce. The law has a something to say about what is forbidden and the punishment for transgression. But the law can never get to the depth of anger, lust and faithfulness.

In case you didn’t notice, it’s election season. Early voting has started. But people have been uptight, distressed, angry and anxious about the election since, well, the last election. As important as elections are, as necessary as government is, there is a limit to what government can do in our lives. Therefore our hope for what government can do FOR us cannot touch the hope for what Jesus can do IN us. Our hopes for government cannot go too high, nor can our fears, because what Jesus Christ can do in our hearts is our hope. Jesus can govern you and I in the deepest recesses of our hearts, down to the level of our desires.