Christ and the Law, Part 2
Matthew 5:18
Matthew 5:17-20 is our text for tonight. Again, we come to this intensely rich and magnificent text. I don't know if we've ever had a more wonderful time than we've had studying the Sermon on the Mount. I want you to know that it thrills my heart to see a full church of folks who have come together again to study His Word. In studying Matthew 5, we are looking at this great, first sermon that the Lord gives us in the chronology of the New Testament. It is magnificent, wondrous, all that any sermon could ever be. In fact, I don't know how it would be possible to have stood on that hillside, listening to what He said, and to have taken it in at one sitting.
My wife always says to me, "Honey, you always have so much material. If you cut your material in half, it wouldn't be so hard to absorb." I think about Jesus, who must have stood there and given the whole Sermon on the Mount in one straight shot. It's enough to boggle the mind; it takes me one whole hour to get through one verse of this three-chapter sermon. These incredible statements by our Lord need so much background and filling in. Words cannot express how dynamic and far-reaching this particular text is, Matthew 5:17-20.
Our Lord says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."
We find, for our understanding and interest tonight, that this passage sets forth the absolute base, the rock bed foundation for truth, which is the Word of God. The law of God, as it is stated in verse 17, will not pass away, and cannot be broken even in its least commandment. The absolute base for truth in the world is the Word of God. It is the Scripture, the static, abiding, objective source of all truth.
Obviously, then, this passage becomes a primary one in establishing one of the basic dogmas of the Christian faith, and that is that the Bible is the Word of God. You don't have to be very alert to know that today, the Bible has become a battleground. Liberal theology has for years argued that the Bible is not inspired by God, but that it is man commenting - some kind of a religious man, to be sure - but a religious man commenting on his experience with God as he sees it, but that we cannot really trust that it is God Himself. That is the front door, open, flagrant, head-on attack on the Bible.
The rear attack on the Bible today comes from those who say that what really defines truth is experience, so they interpret the Bible by their experience. The sideways attack comes along and says, "The Bible isn't enough; we need to add philosophy, psychology, human wisdom," and so forth, so the Bible gets it from the side, the back, and the front. The constant shot at the Scripture, in our day, has deafened the real truth of Scripture in the ears of many, many people who should know better.
In fact, it is amazing how that, when I speak out in certain circles and say that I believe absolutely in the inerrant Word of God, it becomes something that people chuckle about because it's rather antiquated and out-of-date. But this Scripture here tells us the number one reason why I think we should believe the Bible is true. It is the number one reason why we believe it is the rock bed foundation of truth and why we can trust it absolutely, and it is simply because Jesus said that it is absolute truth. Jesus said that it didn't lie, and that not one jot or tittle would ever pass from it until all was fulfilled, and frankly, folks, the word of Christ about the Bible is good enough for me. I don't know of any higher authority than that.
So here, at the very outset of Jesus' ministry, early in His Sermon on the Mount, He gives His view of the Old Testament, the law of God, the Scripture. By inference, incidentally, it even carries on to His view of the New Testament. It is a powerful statement. Let me give you a little review of what we looked at last week.
The historical setting is interesting, and you need to know why He says what He says. He was different than the other teachers in Israel, and He knew it and they knew it. He didn't preach and teach like the scribes and Pharisees did; He was meek and humble and they were proud. He broke with rabbinic traditions, whereas they scrupulously observed the rabbinic traditions. He preached grace and mercy, and all they preached was law and judgment. He didn't identify with any of the sects of His day, not the Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, the zealots, the Essenes, not with anyone. He spoke with absolute authority and didn't have to always be quoting some rabbinical source. He befriended publicans and sinners instead of turning His back on them, as the other religious leaders did. He seemingly was never concerned with outward regulations; He was always concerned with the heart.
Because of these very obvious differences, the people's question was this: "Is He truly an Old Testament prophet? Does He really believe the Old Testament? Is He one who is tearing down the old standards to set up some new standard? Is He a radical who wants to overthrow the Old Testament, the old law of God, the traditions?" That's the historical setting in which this text occurs. They wanted to know about this new prophet, and what they wanted to know was, "What is His view of Scripture? What is His view of the Old Testament? How does He feel about Moses?" In fact, they asked Him that, in His lifetime, many times.
So summing up, at this time, the people were wondering, "Does this teacher believe in the sacred Scripture? Does this teacher believe in the Old Testament? Does He believe in the law of God?" His answer is a ringing, "Yes!" In fact, He takes the law of God from the barnacles of their tradition, which had corrupted it and dragged it down to a human level, and sweeps it clean and lifts it up to an altitude it hadn't been at in centuries. He gave a greater commitment to the Scripture than the most scrupulous, pious scribe or Pharisee ever thought of giving. He held the Old Testament higher than they ever did. So that's the historical setting; He wants them to know that this is no big change which will eliminate God's law. This is in continuity with God's Old Testament.
There is also a Scriptural context here in the chapter that you need to see. Jesus is preaching about His Kingdom here, He is announcing that He is a King, and that is Matthew's purpose in the whole gospel of Matthew. He has told us about the birth of the King, the homage of the King, the lineage of the King, the forerunner of the King, the prophecies fulfilled by the King, and what amounts to the victory of the King over the usurper, Satan, in His temptation. The whole setting has been established, and in chapter 5 comes the manifesto of the King. He declares the character of His Kingdom, and it begins in verses 3-12.
He says, "Here are the characteristics that should be true of people in My Kingdom," and He gives all of the Beatitudes. He is saying, "It is character that causes people to enter My Kingdom. It is what they are inside, before we concern ourselves with what they do on the outside." Consequently, He runs head-on into the legalistic externalism of the Jewish religion of that day.
He wants to establish the character of His Kingdom. First of all, it's internal (verses 3-12). Then it becomes external as the testimony goes out (verses 13-16) and He says that we are salt and light. So this internal character is manifest externally in the world. Then He says that living in His Kingdom is not only a matter of character, of testimony, but a matter of commitment to obedience to God's inviolable law (verses 17-20). So what He is saying is, "A true Kingdom son truly obeys God's laws." He said it this way in another place, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Whosoever keeps My word loves Me. If you continue in My word, then you are My real disciple."
In other words, Jesus was always affirming that true Kingdom character and true Kingdom testimony will be predicated on a commitment to obedience to the law of God. It is no different in this day. We cannot survive with a Christianity that is not biblical, a quasi-biblical Christianity. We cannot manifest the true virtue of Kingdom sons unless we are committed to the absolute authority of the Word of God. That is the message that needs to be preached.
People in the Kingdom that belongs to Christ have a high, exalted view of Scripture; they hold Scripture above everything else. They would not desire at all to deny it, to disobey it. Even the Apostle Paul, struggling with the old habits of his life, says that, "In my heart, I delight in Thy law." The Psalmist says, "Oh how I love Thy law." That is true of anyone in God's Kingdom that really has Kingdom character and wants to manifest Kingdom testimony - there will have to be a commitment to the absolute, inviolable authority of the Word of God.
This is a message that you've heard at Grace Church a lot. It is no less important now than it has ever been; in fact, if anything, it is more important when the Bible is being attacked in a non-subtle way, and in a very subtle way. People will say, "That's only your interpretation," or, "We take the spirit of the Bible, not the exact words," and on and on. But the Word is the key to our righteousness, beloved. We cannot manifest righteousness unless we know the rules, unless we know the principles and live the life. Let me tell you, if you live a righteous life in the world because you obey the Word of God, then and only then will you have an effective testimony in the world.
As I've said to you before, the problem in the world today is not that the church doesn't articulate very well, it's that the church doesn't live separated from the world very well. We don't have a believable testimony because we don't abide by the righteous standards that God has set forth. If we were the people the Beatitudes talk about, if we were those who were poor in spirit, mourning, if we were meek and constantly hungering and thirsting after righteousness; if we were merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, willing to be persecuted and falsely accused; if we were those kinds of people, we would be the salt and the light of the world. That kind of righteousness is only born out of a commitment to the Word of God.
It says it in II Timothy 3:16, it couldn't say it any more clearly, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly equipped for every good work." I'll say it again: righteousness, perfection, maturity, being able to do good works is based upon Scripture and a commitment to the authoritative Word of God.
So our Lord here, in the context, is laying down a basic principle: if you're going to live a Kingdom life and know righteousness that is going to be a testimony to the world, a glory to God, and a blessing to you, then you must predicate it on an absolute commitment to the authority of the Word of God. That's why we say, at Grace Church, that what we want to do is to be obedient, above all things, to the Word of God, no matter what that costs us.
There are four things in these four verses as we break it down into an outline. There are four aspects of the Lord's view of God's law; this is the Lord looking at the law of God, and He sees four things. He sees the preeminence of the law, the permanence of the law, the pertinence of the law, and the purpose of the law. The preeminence, the permanence, the pertinence, and the purpose of the law. These are all factors of Christ's statements regarding God's word. It is preeminent, permanent, pertinent, and purposeful.
Last time, we looked at the preeminence of God's law. The word 'preeminence' means 'uniqueness,' it is the fact that it is the highest, noblest, best. It is preeminent. In verse 17, I believe, as we saw last time, that Jesus gives three reasons why it is preeminent, why the Bible has no equal, why it stands alone, why it is absolutely authoritative. Reason number one, it is authored by God. "Think not that I have come to destroy the law." He doesn't even need to designate any more than a definite article, He just says, "The law," because the law, everyone knew, was God's law. It was God's law, authored by God, that made it preeminent. When God writes something, it is preeminent. When He says something, it is preeminent. That is the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, implied by what He said, as we saw last time. He really has in mind the law and the prophets, the whole Old Testament, with its moral, judicial, and ceremonial elements.
So He says it is preeminent because it is authored by God. Secondly, it is preeminent because it is affirmed by the prophets. "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets." You'll remember how the prophets took the original law of God and repeated it and placed it upon the people as binding and indicted the people when they disobeyed it. They applied it to their lives, reinforced it, reiterated it, preached it. So it is preeminent because God chose His prophets, who were nothing but His mouth in the world, to continue to reiterate and preach and reinforce and apply His law.
Finally, and most marvelous of all, the law of God is preeminent not only because it was authored by God and affirmed by the prophets, but most of all, because it was accomplished in Jesus Christ. At the end of verse 17, Jesus says, "I came not to destroy but to fulfill," and we went into the incredible reality of what that statement means last week. Christ said, "I didn't come to nullify the law, or abrogate the law, or lower the standard, or drop the standard, or set aside God's law. I came to fulfill God's law." We saw last time that that meant every single element of God's law.
You'll remember that in John 5:39, the Lord said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify of Me." In other words, He says, "I am the fulfillment of the whole Old Testament." He was the fulfillment of all of it, in one way or another.
In Hebrews 10:7, Christ says, "Then said I, 'Lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of me.'" People, the whole Old Testament pointed to Christ; He was the moral fulfillment in that He alone kept totally the law of God. He was the judicial fulfillment in that He became the judge of a rejecting Israel. He was the ceremonial fulfillment in that every type, analoogy, symbol and picture found its ultimate fulfillment in Him. He fulfilled the law morally, ceremonially, and judicially. He was also the fulfillment of all the prophets; the prophets spoke of Him, as Peter said, "They spoke of Christ, who was to come." He is the fulfillment of all of it, and that's why it is preeminent.
Let me tell you something, this Book is preeminent because it tells about Jesus Christ, and since He is the preeminent one, the Apostle Paul says, "The book about Him must be the preeminent book." The law and the prophets were not set aside, they were fulfilled. When He fulfilled all righteousness, when He set God's law in perfect order in His own life, when He set Israel aside and called out His church, and all of the judicial features of Israel's identity passed out of existence - "There is no more clean and unclean," Acts 10 says, "No more Sabbath day," Romans 14 says - all of those things that were identified with judicial law in Israel came to an end when He called out His church. That was fulfilled.
He fulfilled the sacrificial law by dying on the cross. The veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom, and the whole sacrificial, ceremonial system came to a screeching halt and was over, the whole thing. Because of what He did, He made it possible for us to fulfill the law through His power, according to Romans 8:4.
There is nothing wrong with God's law. The Bible says it is, "Holy, just, and good." The psalmist was right to say, "Oh, how I love Thy law," but it had to be fulfilled. All of those pictures needed a fulfillment. All of the types needed an anti-type. All of the prophecies needed a Messiah to fulfill them. All the pictures had to have a reality; someone had to be the perfect person and fulfill God's moral law. Someone had to come and be the perfect sacrifice. Someone had to come as the judge, and graft in o the stock of blessing a new branch. Christ did it all and fulfilled it all.
Let me just add this footnote to our review of last week. The moral law was behind everything; behind the judicial law and ceremonial law is the moral law of God. Those are standards of right and wrong in terms of behavior and attitude. Behind the judicial law, even, was the moral law. Behind the ceremonial law was the moral law.
I don't know how I can say this simply so that you'll understand it, but I'll try it this way. The moral law is nothing but the expression of God's character. It is the expression of God's nature. To help people to understand the moral law, God developed, in Israel, the ceremonial law, to help them focus on His character. He developed the judicial law to help them focus on His character, but the judicial part of it and the ceremonial part of it were simply outgrowths of the moral law which is unchanging. The judicial element has passed away since Israel has been set aside for the time. The ceremonial element has passed away since Christ has performed the final sacrifice. But behind all of that was God's moral law, and in no way has God ever changed His moral standards.
In fact, the Jews had lowered them something awful, hadn't they? Jesus lifted them back up where they belonged. You see, the Jews had felt they were going to be alright if they just didn't commit adultery, but Jesus put God's law where it belonged and said, "No, no. God's law says you shouldn't even look on a woman to lust after her or you have committed adultery in your heart." The Jews thought it would be alright if they didn't murder anyone, but Jesus took God's moral law and put it up there where it was equal to His character. He said, "No, not only should you not murder, but you shouldn't even think a thought of hatred toward someone, or you've committed murder in your heart. Let's get God's law where His character is, back up at His level." So the standard isn't lower.
The ceremonies are gone, the judicial identification of Israel as a separate nation, God's people, is gone for the time as He works through the church. But the moral law stands in the background.
As people learn about this, they say, "What's the basis of the moral law?" We always say the Ten Commandments. So people say, "What about the Sabbath? Is the Sabbath a moral issue? How did the Sabbath get stuck in with all those moral things?" Let me help you with that. The Sabbath was part of the moral law, there is no question about that. So people say, "If it's a part of that original moral law, and God's character is revealed in His moral law, does it still stand?"
Well, let me tell you something interesting. There are elements in all those categories that are still around - ceremonial, judicial, and moral - and there are some elements that have been fulfilled, that are no longer observed. For example, we do not accept today the judicial laws of Israel. We don't wear the kind of clothes they were required to wear for their unique identity. We don't keep kosher; we eat ham and things that would have been forbidden for them, and that's OK, because Acts 10 says, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat. You can have whatever you want." Of course, Peter said, "I can't take this, Lord. I've been kosher all my life; this change is too fast. Now I'm supposed to have a meal with Cornelius? Yikes, I can't handle it!"
Nonetheless, God did change some of the judicial law; He set it aside, it was no longer uniquely identifying Israel in a separate way. So there were elements of the judicial law that were set aside when Chr