Maranatha Baptist Church
Christ Has Fulfilled the Law
- The Solid Rock
Psalms 18:1ESV
Psalms 18:2-4ESV
Psalms 18:5-7ESV
Psalms 18:8-11ESV
Psalms 18:12-14ESV
Psalms 18:15-17ESV
Psalms 18:18-21ESV
Psalms 18:22-25ESV
Psalms 18:26-29ESV
Psalms 18:30-33ESV
Psalms 18:34-37ESV
Psalms 18:38-40ESV
Psalms 18:41-43ESV
Psalms 18:44-47ESV
Psalms 18:48-50ESV
- I Will Glory In My Redeemer
- Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
Matthew 5:17-18ESV
Matthew 5:19ESV
Matthew 5:20ESV
- Yesterday, I happened a cross a video of a Jewish comedian. And the clip wasn’t funny at all - but it was interesting. And the comedian himself made a joke about exactly that. But he is doing crowd work and he asks religious people to clap. And as they do he spots someone clapping in the crowd and he starts talking to them. The response of the person in the crowd is that he grew up Jewish, but he recently had become a Christian. The comedian was shocked that this might happen - and so he spends the bit trying to get the guy to share about his faith. He makes the point that the Old Testament points to Jesus. The comedian doesn’t really get it. And the audience member wasn’t able to give an example. But he also said he only went to church for the first time a month before.But one thing that I found interesting is that in the comments section there were many comments mentioning how Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Daniel 7.So what I find most interesting about this is how this man began a conversation and others watching it demonstrated how Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets.Last week, I mentioned that this portion of the text that we will be looking at today is the conclusion of the introduction to the sermon on the mount. The end of the beginning.So here Jesus wraps up the beatitudes and the instruction of his sermon.A right understanding of our sermon text today is essential to properly understanding and applying the Sermon on the Mount. The rest of the Sermon on the Mount is very application driven. But here Jesus sets up appropriate guidelines for how we must understand our relationship to the law and the prophets and how we understand our relationship to righteousness.I’ve said several times throughout the past few weeks that the Beatitudes are not a checklist for how to be a Christian. And that is true of the entirety of the sermon on the Mount. Nothing in the Sermon on the Mount is about earning salvation. And this is important, because if we grab our Bibles and a memo pad create a checklist of the following sections about anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, loving your enemy, giving to the needy, prayer, fasting, storing up treasures in heaving, anxiety, judging others, treating others, then we will get ourselves in trouble. Jesus is telling is how we ought to interact with the world - he is not telling us about earning salvation.I continue to mention that because of how quickly many of us will fall back into the trap of thinking “If I do all these things right then God will love me more,” or “If I get in A+ in this then God will have to let me into heaven.” Jesus’ statements here make it clear that we cannot earn our salvation.
Matthew 5:17 ESV 17 “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.But that being said Jesus also isn’t disregarding the law. It’s really easy to misunderstand Jesus’ words here. A whole lot of people have read Jesus’ words here and still left with the idea that Jesus has abolished the law.Christ did not come to abolish the law and the prophets - but to fulfill them. Jesus also did not come to establish a new law. When you look at the Sermon on the Mount and you think I will never be good enough to live up the things that Jesus tells me to live up to - I have bad news - that’s correct you wont - but the good news is what Jesus begins with here - he has fulfilled the law. And so the response that we should have when feel like we can never live up to what Jesus states here is not despair but to look to Christ who has fulfilled the law for us.In verse 17, Jesus says he has not come to abolish the law or the prophets. This is a shorthand way of him referring to the Old Testament.This is important because of how many people throughout church history have said that we do not need the Old Testament, but only the New. That is a heresy called Marcionism.Jesus does not want us to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. Jesus wants us to dive into the Old Testament head first to find him there.We best understands how Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets when we study them.Fulfillment does not mean that it is unnecessary. When we look back at the Old Testament we marvel rejoice in the Old because it shows us Christ. One of the most incredible things about the Old Testament is how we can look back at what was written 1400 years before the birth of Christ and still so accurately points to his work - God makes it clear that Jesus was never plan B - but rather that the offspring of Eve, is the prophet greater than Moses, he is the Son of David, he is the Son of Man in Daniel, He is the living redeemer that Job longs to see, he is the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, he is the yes and amen to all of God’s promises. Not by happenstance or the stars aligning - but because God was working all things for his glory - and the glorification of his son.2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.Jesus fulfills the promises of the Old Testament. The promises for an offspring of Eve who will crush the head of the serpent, the promise for a King whose throne will never end, the promise of Immanuel who will be born to a virgin, and the government shall be on his shoulders and he shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and though he face death his body will not see corruption, though he suffers and dies his days will be long as he will rise again… and all these promises and more we see find their fulfillment in Jesus.Jesus also fulfills the punishment of the law. The punishment for sin is death. And as our sins bring separation between us and God, and deserve wrath - Jesus fulfills that punishment by taking that punishment upon himself.Which fulfills additional prophecies of scripture. That he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and by his wounds we are healed - and it pleased the Father to crush him.What does it mean that Christ came to fulfill the law and the prophets.But also what does it mean that Christ did not abolish the law?Do we still need to keep the law. This is a big discussion. We are not saved by the keeping of the law. We are saved by faith in Jesus. The law is a tutor that teaches us our sin and our need for a savior. However, as we will seen in the next few months - Jesus still repeats many of the 10 commandments. And those still serve as a guide for how we love neighbor and love God.The ceremonial law, and the dietary restrictions have been fulfilled. For the Christian, they are like a poster for an event that has already happened. They remind you of the perfect Holiness that is present in Christ - but to fulfill them with the goal of obtaining your own holiness - is like if I was trying to invite you to go attend Ronald Regan’s inauguration. It’s impossible.We still have an obligation to keep the moral aspects of the law - which are summed up in loving God and loving neighbor.Jesus fulfilling the law does not mean that we have no obligations to keep the commandments of the Lord. The idea that “Jesus died to save me from my sins so I can do whatever I want” is one of the first heresies.Jesus did not come preaching something contrary to the Old Testament, it’s not that the Old Testament is “wrath, wrath, wrath” and the New Testament is “Grace, grace, grace.”And verse 18, is where things get a little tricky.Matthew 5:18 ESV 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.iota/dot - jot or tittle… iota is a greek letter, it is the greek equivalent of the letter i. and then Jesus says dot - or serif, some translations put jot and tittle. Jesus is stating that not even the smallest letter or the tiniest punctuation mark will pass away until all is accomplished. This all is accomplished is referring to the full consummation of the kingdom of heaven.The law is not the problem. The law is not bad. Our approach to the law is often bad. The law is not able to save us - it was never designed to save us. The longest chapter in the entire Bible is devoted to the love of the law of the Lord.And yet, though relationship to the law has changed - we don’t disregard the law entirely.But before I comment further, verse 19 follows up with a strict condemnation for those whoMatthew 5:19 ESV 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.Our relationship to the law has clearly changed. This is made obvious by:Jesus himself declared all foods clean in Mark 7, demonstrating that for the Christian there is a new relationship to the law. His teaching on this was to show that it is not what enters into a person that makes them clean or unclean, but that which comes out of a person. What comes out of our hearts reveals our sinfulness, or the work that the Lord has done in us.And also the temple has been destroyed. But in Christ we are made into a temple - and the sacrifices of the Old Testament pale in comparison to what Christ has done.We celebrate the law for what it teaches us about Jesus, but we rejoice more in Jesus because he is better than us trying to earn our salvation.And this ties us well to verse 20. Since we see that what Jesus us demonstrates that even if we were to attempt to use them law to earn our ticket into the Kingdom of heaven, it would not be good enough.Matthew 5:20 ESV 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.This is not about works. We do not exceed the righteousness of the scribes and pharisees by working harder than them. This isn’t necessarily an insult concerning the scribes and Pharisees - it might even be a bit of a compliment. The Scribes and Pharisees were this groups that kept the law to a T. So Jesus is communicating to them that they certainly were a group that worked hard to maintain righteous living.The Scribes were a group that started their training at a young age and continued their training and studies until formal ordination at 40. They were a generally well respected group. They knew the Biblical law better than anyone else. Scribe is a profession, but the Pharisees were a jewish sect.Today, we generally use Pharisee and Pharisaical as insults. And for good reason as they are antagonists in the gospel. However, they were a group whose main legacy was their desire to keep the law. They did this to the extent that they would not even get close to the laws of Torah. (Torah is the Hebrew word for Law, and how they referred to the books of Moses.)They were said to have built a fence around the Torah. This means that they would create, and force upon others, laws that were more strict than what was in the Torah so they never got close to the breaking the biblical law.Examples would be limits that were placed on the amount of weight that could be carried on the sabbath. One source said that they weight that they permitted to be carried on the sabbath one dried fig. A dried fig can be anywhere from 8-24gs.I’m not sure how many of you use grams often but…When I make a single cup of coffee I use 16gs of coffee beans… when I make a small pot for Vanessa and I it’s 30 grams of coffee.Additionally, they would only permit carrying enough milk for a sip. So a cup of coffee on the sabbath was clearly out of the question. Clearly, they weren’t starting their sabbaths off with a cup of coffee. (But also they didn’t have coffee in the middle east until the 15th century.)Additionally, they could only walk 1000 yards, a little more than a half mile.They would keep the law so as not to murder, but they had no scruples about trying to have Jesus killed by Rome.They kept the letter of the law, but they ignored the heart of the law.How can our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and pharisees?We might hear that and think “oh that’s easy.” But what Jesus is conveying here is actually to lead them to realize the impossibility of this. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the most righteous people you know. A modern comparison might be unless you are more righteous than the most godly pastor or missionary that you can think of you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus’ intention is to say that you cannot work your way to heaven.The most moral, most righteous person you know is not good righteous enough to earn their entrance into the kingdom of heaven.But we remember the beatitude from Matthew 5:6:Matthew 5:6 ESV 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.And therein lies the good news, that though our righteousness needs to exceed that of the scribes and pharisees - we know someone who did that. Jesus Christ himself is the one whose righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees.And those who repent of their sins - turn from their desire to earn their way to heaven, turn from their desire to live life their own way - pleasing themselves, and turning from God… having faith in Christ Jesus. Believe in him as Lord and savior, that he died to save us - that he rose again - and that only he save us from our sins - and that he is coming again. For that person… you are given the righteousness of Christ.But this does not mean, we do nothing, in fact, most of the sermon on the mount is caught up with the idea of how we display practical Kingdom righteousness.This text is not just about the imputation of righteousness but also about the pursuit of righteousness.Because of what Christ has accomplished for us in his life, and on the cross - we rejoice that we are given the righteousness of Christ. But we also pursue to live of a life of righteous deeds. Not to earn anything but in response to what Jesus has already done. Matthew 5:17ESV
2 Corinthians 1:20ESV
Matthew 5:18ESV
Matthew 5:19ESV
Matthew 5:20ESV
Matthew 5:6ESV
- It Was Finished Upon That Cross
Matthew 5:21–26ESV
