Before we get started, we’ve talked before about the wrestling match that a pastor has when we preach about the commandments of God and Grace.
Many times we feel like as soon as we start teaching on Grace, everyone takes that as a cue to live like Hell because, “Hey, The worse we are, the better God looks for covering us with more grace.”
Which, if you’re new to this stuff — that’s the wrong attitude.
But then there are clear passages from the New Testament where He really lays out that we are to behave differently as Christians.
And when we teach on that, many people get to the point where they think, “Okay, so I need to throw out my T.V., stop drinking, and stop talking to non-believers, and just get into a bunker and wait for Jesus. If I just follow those commandments I’ll be safe.”
Which, if you’re new to this stuff — that’s also the wrong attitude.
But, it’s our nature to go off to one extreme or the other, and as pastors we are trying to bring you to the heart of the law and grace.
Tonight we are tackling a passage of scripture, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount that deals with this issue head on.
I hoping that you will leave here tonight with a clearer understanding of where you stand with God and what is expected in the relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Let’s Pray before we dig in to the text…
Now please read with me Matthew 5:17-20
This is one of the toughest areas to understand in the Scriptures and again I think if you don’t get this, if you don’t grasp what Jesus is teaching about the Law, you will either go way out into some legalistic zone, or you’ll read v 20 and simply give up hope.
I have studied this passage at length and I am going to take many points from a pastor named John MacArthur because really, he made it clearer than any of the commentaries that I studied.
Here we go. The Question that we ask when we see this passage is:
What do we do with the Old Testament Now that we have Jesus?
And, some of you may not have any knowledge of the Old Testament, and we are going to get into some summary information tonight.
The first thing we are told is, Don’t Discount the Law — It is still valid.
Read Matthew 5:17-18 again.
— To understand this passage we first need to understand that there are three separate types of Law found in the Old Testament: John MacArthur explains it like this
— There’s,
Look at it like this:
o Moral Law — Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). This is the foundation of the way we are to live, as commanded by God. Even if you don’t know the Bible, you’ve probably heard of these. They are in the greatest hits collection of scripture.
o Judicial Law — How the Nation of Israel was to function as a community and in relation to other nations.
—They had laws about how and what they ate, how they could dress, how they were to conduct their relationships (parents to children, husbands and wives, sick and healthy, you name it).
—They had laws for everything and that goes back to what we talked about last week.
— It goes back to how they were set apart, how they were to be that light in the dark world. As foreigners interacted with the Jews, they would see a nation of people who were totally different — Totally devoted to God.
—And if they were doing that correctly, if they were following God’s judicial Law, which sprang from the Moral Law — the ten commandments — this would bring the glory to Him, to God and bring other nations to Him.
—This Judicial Law, the law for the Nation of Israel was fulfilled in Jesus at the Cross.
—Because when the people of Israel made the ultimate rejection of Jesus, when they screamed out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” the nation of Israel was no longer considered God’s one and only people.
—When they rejected Jesus, they Rejected God.
—They were no longer a nation set apart by God.
—Because of their rejection, we have been blessed and included in the redemption.
—Read with me Matthew 21:33-43 (This is Jesus talking about the final rejection and the handing of the Kingdom to other peoples).
—But, don’t write off the nation of Israel, God promises that He will draw them back to Him in the last days.
—Anyway, that’s the judicial law. When they rejected Jesus, that law, setting them apart was completed and the keys t the Kingdom were taken from them and given to ALL who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
o Moving on to the Ceremonial Law — How the Israelites were to worship God. These laws were also fulfilled in Jesus. We’ll go over a few examples.
—Again, if you look to the Old Testament,
They had priests that were intermediaries or the go-betweens between God and Man.
o Now Jesus is our High Priest and our mediator. We don’t need to go to a man to talk to God, that barrier has been tor away. The high priests pointed to Him.
The Israelites were to make animal sacrifices and that blood was to cover their sins. This had to be done over and over, because it was only a covering.
But, those imperfect sacrifices pointed to Jesus. Jesus’ blood, spilled on the cross was a perfect — once and for all sacrifice for all of our sins.
And it did not cover our sins. It washed our sins away. Every sin that we have committed and every sin we will commit was taken from us and put on Him, on the cross, and we were washed clean.
All of the ceremonial laws pointed to Jesus and were fulfilled by Him. They have been fulfilled by Christ on the Cross.
—When He died, it was finished. His work for salvation was complete and the Ceremonial Law was accomplished.
All that said, lets look at Matthew 5:17-18 again. "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.
18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
— So we’ve got the judicial laws for the Nation of Israel that aren’t in effect because the nation rejected Him — That part is fulfilled. That part is accomplished.
— We’ve got the Ceremonial Laws that are no longer in affect because they simply pointed forward to Jesus and have been fulfilled in His life, death and resurrection. They are accomplished.
— And that leaves us with the Moral Laws, the foundation.
— Are they fulfilled? Are they accomplished?
o Yes, Jesus fulfilled them by living a sinless life. You go down the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) and He can check them all off. He, Jesus accomplished them.
— However, the moral Law still has value for us today, the moral law was not for the Jews alone, they are the way we were designed by God to operate.
Let’s read Matthew 5:19 again:
We are not only to follow His commands, but we are to teach others to do so as well. The difference is, we don't teach, "Follow these or else." We teach, "Follow these, it is how Jesus said we can show or love for Him." (John 14:15)
Lets all turn to Exodus 20 and we’ll do a quick review of what He is calling us to follow.
—v 3 We are to Love God. That means we will recognize Him and ONLY HIM as our God.
— vv4-6 We are not to make idols of anything else, back then they actually bowed down to golden calves, and wooden statues and other things that they hoped would bring blessings on their crops or their procreation, or whatever else.
We don’t bow to statues anymore, but we do have the temptation to look to our Jobs or our friends, or even our wives, husbands, children or parents to bring us happiness and satisfaction more than we look to God.
He says knock it off, Make God ultimate, above everything else.
And just to keep hitting on this a little further, In the same way we make Jobs and family into idols, some of us are worn out or hurt by the world so we also look to drugs or alcohol, or gambling, or sex, or shopping or whatever else to escape the pain or to forget the pain.
God says stop bowing to those idols, too. Turn instead to Him for strength, and comfort, and guidance through the storms and trials of life. His grace is sufficient.
— v 7 We are not to misuse His name. That means of course not to use His name as a cuss word, but also not to give Him credit or blame for bad things happening to us, or bad things happening to other people, when those things may not be from Him.
And don’t say God’s telling us to say things that he didn’t say, things that clearly contradict His word. Don’t misuse His name.
— vv 8-11 We are to remember to take time out, to rest. Now Jesus did teach people not to make this into some ritual that takes the heart of it away. He doesn’t want it to become a burden that we have to bear.
But, this is a basic need that we seem to have forgotten. We are designed to pause, to be still, to recharge.
— v 12 We are to honor our fathers and mothers, and the Old Testament is clear that that was a double sided command, we are to honor our parents, and they are to point their children to the Lord, Exodus 20:12 says:
Later on, after God had given the 10 commandments, He ended up scattered the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and curses came upon them because they fell away from their devotion to Him.
As parents, we are to be honored by our children, but we are also to lead them in the Word, so that they will live long in the Land that God is giving them, which is ultimately Heaven and relationship with God. And that is only able to happen if they find salvation through faith by grace. Raise those kids up right.
— Vv 13-14 We are not to murder or commit adultery. These seem pretty basic, but we will see in the next couple weeks How Jesus makes a point of clarifying these commands.
— v 15 We are not to steal
— v 16 We are not to lie
— v 17 And we are not to be envious of anybody else. That means don’t be jealous of their job, their wealth, their stuff, their relationships, their abilities or talents, ANYTHING.
So that’s a basic rundown of the moral law in its simplest form. And Jesus sums them all up and says all of the law hinges on two things — Loving God and Loving one another (Matthew 22:36-40)
And remember, Matthew 5:19 states that we are to not only practice these, but also to teach them to others.
I’m not going to ask for a show of hands, but who has been able to truly practice those, let alone teach them?
Then we get to Matthew 5:20 and this is the one that causes a lot of people to go crazy, this is where people throw their hands up, they throw in the towel and they say, “Impossible, I can’t do it! No one can do it! If this is true if verse 20 is true, we’re all doomed!”
Let’s read it together:
Matthew 5:20 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.
So, we are to align our lives, our walk, to moral Law and teach others to do the same (v 19).
But, if we are honest, we can admit that we all have broken those Laws.
Some people might have broken some of the Laws on the way out to church tonight.
So how are we to SURPASS the righteousness of the Pharisees, who were legalistic about their obedience? Are we doomed to be left out of the Kingdom of Heaven?
NO!
First remember that Jesus was always going after the Pharisees because they were devoted to the Law but not to God, they had made the law an idol. Thus breaking the second commandment.
And they added all of these other rules on top of the law that God gave them and those unnecessary rules caused countless Jews to stumble.
And Jesus went at them again and again as hypocrites because they followed the Law and all of their rules for external glory.
Glory and recognition and esteem for themselves. Not for a heart that loved God. Not for His glory.
But, don’t misunderstand the teaching. Jesus doesn’t somehow let us off the hook to just go against the law since the Pharisees were so corrupt.
No, in Matthew 23 Jesus tells His followers, do what the Jewish leaders say, but not what they do.
Here’s the heart, we take on a righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees, only when we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ Himself.
And that can only happen when we come into a saving trust in His work at the cross
At the cross where Jesus, who lived a sinless life here in the world, was put to death — and in that death, absorbed the wrath of God that was due to us
When we trust in that, we are cleansed of our sins.
Our sins are removed and they are as far from us as the east is from the west, when we trust Him as our Savior, there is no longer any condemnation,
We are no longer slaves to the sin that made us unrighteous in the eyes of God.
We are made righteous once and for all by Christ.
And when we recognize Him as our Lord, as our King, we will begin to walk in the light of His moral Law
By the guidance and encouragement and strength of the Holy Spirit.
And, because we recognize His love for us, and mercy and grace to us, we will — out of Love and gratitude — seek to please Him, and thank Him, and serve Him by Loving Him in the way He has designed us to show love and admiration
– That is, in obedience to the Law.
– But remember, our obedience is not what saves us, it is faith! Our obedience is imperfect, but it will progress higher and higher as we continue to focus on our love and gratitude of Him, not a focus on the Law itself.
And we will Love others — those close to us and those who we feel are unlovable — we will love them because of Him.
We will do it all:
— Through Christ and
— For Christ
— In order to Worship Christ and
— Draw others to Christ
Let’s pray…
