Reaffirming the Law (Matthew 5:17-20)
Reaffirming the Law
Matthew 5:17-19
As you know we are studying through the Sermon on the Mount,
And by now we should have all come to agreement
THAT THIS SERMON IS VERY CONVICTING.
Jesus first revealed to us 8 qualities that we do not possess.
Then Jesus revealed to us 2 expectations that we do not fulfill.
And when you read through those qualities with an honest heart,
We realize that we have a problem.
And if you have studied the Bible much at all in your life,
You know that the problem we find ourselves in here
Is the same problem we find when we study the Old Testament.
I do not measure up.
“It’s impossible to keep all those commandments”
You may remember that when there arose an argument in the early church About whether or not the Gentiles had to be circumcised
The early church leaders made this statement.
Acts 15:10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”
They understood that no one
Was able to strictly obey the Old Testament Law.
The Law was the explanation and expectation of God’s righteousness.
This was what He ordained as the way of life
In order to be righteous in His sight.
The Law did not make a person righteous,
But the Law did outline what righteousness was
And revealed those who were not.
Romans 3:19-20 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
The Law did not come to impart righteousness to people.
The Law simply arrived as an unbiased observer,
Strictly spelling out the difference between the righteous and the wicked.
The problem was that the righteousness the law revealed
Was so perfect that no man ever measured up to it.
And therefore instead of being a beacon of light leading us to God,
The Law actually became a barricade that kept us away from Him.
And over time, this fact
Changed the way that people began to look at the Law.
No longer was the Law viewed as a good thing, but as a negative thing.
(Perhaps you’ve even seen that view in the church today)
That view is certainly alive in Israel today.
I witnessed to a Jewish man who only reads the first 5 books
and doesn’t believe them.
If they read the whole thing, or believed any of it,
All they would find is condemnation.
They view the Law as a negative thing.
And sadly, so do many even in the church.
Treating the Law like it is some sort of evil list of rules
Or some sort of negative problem that Jesus finally got rid of.
THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE.
What did Paul say about the Law?
Romans 7:7-12 “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
The Law is not the problem.
Yet, because sinful man has never been able to fulfill it,
The Law has always been looked upon as some sort of negative list
That had to be removed if people were ever going to get to God.
And perhaps as we study the first parts of the Sermon on the Mount you’ve had similar thoughts.
I mean, if I’m going to go to heaven,
Then God is going to have to lighten up on some of those requirements.
God is either going to have to let more people in than just the humble,
Or just the mourners, or just the hungry, or else I’m stuck.
No doubt this was part of the cry of Israel
As Jesus preached this sermon.
Their desire was to justify themselves by reducing the requirements.
If they could succeed in lowering the standard,
Then salvation would be more accessible.
And without a doubt this is what they expected
The Messiah to come and help them with.
They just knew that when Messiah came
He would help them by clarifying which commandments really mattered
And which ones didn’t.
Remember the woman at the well?
John 4:20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
And then moments later said:
John 4:25 “The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
She was looking for the one who would explain
What really mattered and what didn’t.
This was also the attitude of the Rich Young Ruler.
Matthew 19:16-18a “And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” Then he said to Him, “Which ones?”
He was looking for the Messiah to narrow down
Which commandments mattered and which ones didn’t.
They both thought (as do many today) that
If salvation was to be obtained then
God was going to have to compromise and learn to give a little.
God would have to be willing to overlook a few commands
And just enforce a few.
I remember a movie Carrie and I watched in which a lady said, “Nothing is certain until your dead, and even then I’m sure God negotiates.”
That is what many people count on.
That God will give in and compromise and reduce the standard.
Friend, if that is what you are hoping for,
I have some bad news.
For in Jesus sermon here,
He addresses that very issue, and His verdict is severe.
THE LAW STANDS
In fact in our text this morning Jesus gives 3 things
THAT CANNOT HAPPEN TO GOD’S LAW.
#1 IT CANNOT BE ABOLISHED
Matthew 5:17-18
“Do not think”
It indicates to us that Jesus is confronting a common mindset of the day,
And one that is obviously wrong.
It was commonly accepted that in order for salvation to be achieved
Then the Law was going to have to be removed.
Jesus said, “Do not think” that.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets;”
In other words, if you are looking for Jesus to be a Liberal,
You are barking up the wrong tree.
No one was ever more committed to the whole of Scripture than Jesus.
• No one read it closer…
• No one understood it better…
• No one obeyed it more…
• No one preached it harder…
• No one explained it deeper…
• No one loved it more…
And so He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish” it.
“abolish” translates KATALUO
“to reduce to inactivity” or “to destroy” or “to overthrow”
It is the same word Jesus used in regard to the temple of His body.
Matthew 26:61 “and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.'”
It meant to completely remove it and take it out of the way.
To strip it of power and push it aside.
And many people expected Jesus to do this to the Law.
Many in the church assume that is what Jesus did to the Law.
And yet nothing could be further from the truth.
He did not come to reduce, tear down, or overthrow, or destroy the Law.
And of course the reason is because the Law cannot be destroyed.
(18) “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
It is not just that Jesus would not abolish the Law,
It is that He could not abolish the Law.
The Law cannot be removed.
Jesus said, “until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stoke shall pass from the Law”
“letter” translates IOTA
It corresponds to the name of the smallest Hebrew letter YOD
Ever hear the term “I don’t give one iota”
“stroke” translates KERAIA
“a little horn”
It refers to a stroke that makes up part of a letter.
It is like the difference between a capital “P” and a capital “R”
And Jesus here says that neither will ever pass away from the Law.
And so if your plan for entering heaven
Requires the bending of the Law at any point,
Then you have a bad plan, because it will not happen.
The Law is here to stay, and it will be there even until the day of judgment.
It is the standard, it is the plum line,
And men will be judged according to it, both now and forever.
The Law is not going anywhere.
• It is still in effect.
• It still matters.
• You still have to obey it.
• You will still be measured by it.
If someone ever came and told you that the Law was gone,
They lied to you. It is still there.
The Law cannot be abolished.
#2 IT CANNOT BE ANNULLED
Matthew 5:19
Some people want to simply remove the Law altogether.
They try to pretend like it doesn’t matter, and they simply throw it aside.
Others are much more diplomatic about it.
They don’t want to remove the whole Law,
They just want to remove the parts that offend them.
These are the people who sell those Big Black Bible Blotters
That you can use to mark out the verses of Scripture you don’t agree with.
They just try to annul part of the Bible.
“annuls” translates LUO
(It is actually a less intense form of the same word translated “abolish”)
It means “to loosen, especially by way of deliverance”
This is what the liberal preacher loves to do.
He sees people living in sin,
And rather than take the Scriptures and confront their life,
He just reassures the people that their sin is no big deal.
He just “loosens” or “delivers” them from that specific command.
Don’t like verses on adultery – no problem we won’t preach them
Don’t like verses on greed – no problem we’ll overlook them
Don’t like verses on gossip – I’m sure God understands and it’s OK
Their favorite phrase is “That doesn’t apply today”
They are those who love to let people off the hook,
As though they have the authority to do so.
They annul the commands of God.
But Jesus says, you can’t do that either.
“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;”
ARE SOME COMMANDS GREATER THAN OTHERS?
Mark 12:28-31 “One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus also said to the Pharisees
Matthew 23:23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.”
Jesus insinuated that some commands weighed more than others.
We tend to do the same today.
We obviously rank commands concerning murder and adultery
As weightier than commands about being faithful to attend church.
But please notice the point Jesus made.
While some are more important than others, none can be annulled.
“Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments…”
That person is called “least in the kingdom of heaven.”
In other words, even if it is a true Christian
Who tells you that certain commands don’t matter,
Rest assured they may be saved, but they don’t hold much clout.
They are the lowest of the lot.
On the flip side:
“whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
And the point of Jesus is crystal clear.
You cannot abolish the Law and you cannot annul it either.
You are not allowed to go through the Scriptures and pick and choose
Which commands you like and which ones you don’t and go from there.
You are not allowed to only apply what makes you look good
And remove what makes you look bad.
YET THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE LOVE TO DO.
Some even find teachers to do it for them.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
Jesus said it doesn’t work that way.
You can’t destroy God’s Law
And you can’t just pick and choose what you want.
The Law stands – ALL OF IT
And you must obey it all.
It Can’t Be Abolished, It Can’t Be Annulled
#3 IT CAN’T BE AVOIDED
Matthew 5:20
Here is one of the key and most convicting passages of the entire sermon
And of all of Scripture.
“unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus revealed a common misconception of the day.
The Jewish people had actually started
To replace God’s Law with a new standard.
They replaced God’s Law with
The standard of “the scribes and Pharisees”
They had written so many commentaries and books of on the Law
That most Jews followed those books instead of the Law itself anyway.
And the result was that instead of studying the Law
And seeking to be like God.
The Jewish people studied the writings of the Pharisees
And sought to be like them.
They had replaced God’s divine and holy standard with a man-made one.
• On one hand this was actually more difficult as the Pharisees had added to many laws, actually making them much more labor intensive than God ever intended.
• But on the other hand, since they were human in origin and not divine, they were actually attainable by human standards.
They had re-written a code that better suited the abilities of man,
And were using this code as a means of
Declaring themselves righteous or not.
This concept is what spurs the entire “You have heard…but I say”
Portion of The Sermon on the Mount.
The people were actually avoiding God’s Law
By seeking to fulfill a different standard.
AND PEOPLE DO THIS TODAY
One preacher is actually quoted as saying:
“The one thing I’ve learned is that when you get into the pulpit you’ve got to somehow communicate without using the Bible, because the Bible turns people off. I’ve spent a long time developing the ability to communicate to people without ever using the Bible. I started out in my ministry saying this verse says this and this verse says that, and I finally realized that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Now I say it in my own way and people will accept it.”
(MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series; Matthew 1-7, pg. 264. Moody Press, 1985)
That is exactly what the Pharisees were doing.
They avoided God’s word, in order to replace it with their own.
BUT THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THAT.
IT WON’T WORK
Because in the end, regardless of whether or not you studied it,
God will use His book as the standard.
And God’s book has a much higher standard.
And that is why Jesus says:
“unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
In other words you can be what every man thinks you should be,
And it won’t matter a hill of beans at the judgment.
You will not be measured by the standard of men.
You will be measured by the standard of God.
Isaiah 28:16-17 “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. “I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies And the waters will overflow the secret place.”
When you stand before God, He will not drop a Pharisee down beside you.
When you stand before God, He will not prop you up next to a scribe.
God will measure you by the perfect standard of His holy Law.
And you do not fulfill that Law, you will be judged forever in hell.
You cannot remove the Law, annul the Law, or ignore the Law.
It stands forever, All of it, and only it.
If you don’t fully obey the whole Law of God you will not enter heaven.
James 2:10-11 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”
SO WHAT DO WE DO?
I hope you noticed, that earlier we skipped a pivotal phrase in this text.
Look back at verse 17.
“I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
• The requirement of the Law has not been removed.
• The commands of the Law have not been annulled.
• The standards of the Law have not been replaced.
Jesus did not come and lower the bar
To make it easier for you to get into heaven.
Jesus came and made a way for you to get over the bar.
He didn’t abolish the Law, He fulfilled it.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
I mean He perfectly kept every command
And perfectly fulfilled every intention of the Law.
If you were to break down the Law,
You could break it down into three categories.
THE MORAL LAW – “thou shalt nots”
THE JUDICIAL LAW – command to be separate people
THE SACRIFICIAL LAW – sacrifices for forgiveness.
Jesus Fulfilled it.
The Moral Law – by fully obeying every single command.
The Judicial Law – by truly being set apart and different.
The Sacrificial Law – by laying His life down as an offering for sin.
Furthermore He fulfilled the prophets
By being everything that the prophets said Israel should be.
He didn’t remove the standard, He made a way for us to achieve it.
That way is Himself.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, the Bible says
That His perfect righteousness is credited to our account.
That means that God looks at our account
He sees the perfection of Jesus Christ
and we are stamped “Requirement Fulfilled”.
Romans 8:1-4 “Therefore there is now no condemnation 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.”
You see when people seek to get rid of the Law,
All they are really doing is trying to get rid of their need for Jesus.
Because if the Law doesn’t matter then Jesus isn’t needed.
But if the Law is still in full effect,
Then everyone in this place needs the righteousness
That only He can provide.
And friend I am here to tell you that you need it.
If you have never died with Christ and been raised with Him
Then you had better check out that Old Testament,
And you had better make sure you never break a command,
For that Law explains the righteousness that God requires
And He will require it of you.
Or, you can place your faith in the only One
Who ever did fulfill it and allow Him to pick you up over the bar.
That is the emphasis of Christ
And that is the message of the Sermon on the Mount.
The Law still stands.
It can never be removed.
But Jesus Christ has made a way for you and I to fulfill it.
2 Corinthians 5:20-21 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
