Did Jesus really mean what he said when he talked about having murder in our hearts?

Hey friends, Michael Brown.

Welcome to today's broadcast as we continue in the words of Jesus.

Now we begin to get into the heart of the sermon on the Mount and words that strike us to the core.

These words that are words of spirit and life, these words that are words of spirit and life,

these words that are words to live by, these words which were to have in our heart and our mind,

they are life transforming and they are flesh killing. May God give us ears to hear, may he

give us a heart to respond.

The words of Jesus sometimes are so radical that our tendency is to basically say, well, he didn't really mean what he said.

Now, we understand he used hyperbole.

He used exaggerated figures and things like that, like swallowing a camel or something like that

while straining out a knack.

These are ridiculous images meant to convey a point.

We'll see later as we talk about the sermon on the mountain.

When he talked about cutting off the hand or the foot, he was making extreme points.

And in that sense, he was using hyperbole or

metaphorical speech. But he absolutely meant what he said. The heart and soul of it, he absolutely

meant what he said. And we who are followers of Jesus, friends, we are called to live differently.

We are called to be of a different spirit. We are called to

operate by a different set of rules, the rules of the kingdom. And the sermon on the Mount

lays out the conduct of the kingdom of God, the conduct of children of God. So Jesus says this, Matthew 521.

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder.

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