Matthew 5:17-20 - Part 1

Please take out your copy of God's Word and turn with me to Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Our text for this morning is Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 through 20.

Matthew 5:17–20

! Before I read that, nine weeks ago I had intended to begin a study of Exodus 20 with a particular concern for the place of the law in the life of the law.

Of the Christian. And this was a oft-used cross-reference text for that very study.

What is the place of the law in the life of the Christian?

In my studying, I discovered broad disagreement on the matter.

So, we decided to call an audible a week before I was meant to begin that, on Friday in fact, before we were meant to begin that series,

and begin a series on Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount,

knowing full well that we would arrive at our text for this morning and be pressed once again to consider the place of the law in the life of the Christian.

This morning, we will only have time for the beginning of that consideration,

but I promise that we will work it out together in the coming weeks.

So, let's read together Matthew chapter 5 verse 17 through 20 in order to begin this first part of our study.

Matthew 5:17–20

Beloved, this is God's Word to us.

It was written for His glory and for our good.

And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.

Verse 17 and following.

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.

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.

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.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Before I proceed to say anything concerning today's text,

I want us to be reminded that this most famous of Jesus' sermons was aimed primarily at His disciples

and was about what their life in the kingdom of heaven was to look like.

Recall back in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 17,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Matthew records,

From that time Jesus began to preach saying,

this is Matthew's summary of Jesus' preaching,

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then at the beginning of Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

we see that Jesus, seeing the crowds, went up on the mountain,

and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him,

and He opened His mouth and taught them saying,

and then we launch into the Beatitudes.

While His primary audience are the disciples,

we cannot lose sight of the fact that there were crowds.

The image in my mind is that Jesus who is escaping to teach a primary audience.

So He's getting away from the hubbub and the noise in order to teach His disciples.

But as the crowd begins to gather around Him and this teaching,

He also has to pick up the matter of teaching others

who are gathering to hear this most astonishing of sermons.

So He's also speaking to those outside that closer and inner circle.

We get a clue of this in the very end of this sermon on the Mount,

Matthew chapter 27 and verse 28.

Matthew 27 · chapter mention

Matthew records,

And when Jesus finished these sayings,

the crowds were astonished at His teaching.

So there are crowds,

and they are hearing what's being said.

And then Matthew tells us why the crowds were astonished in verse 29.

For He was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

This is what was so amazing about Jesus' teaching.

He taught with absolute authority.

And this made Jews seeking to evaluate Jesus very nervous.

They were concerned with what He thought of the law

and what He thought of Moses and the prophets.

So Jesus, speaking to His disciples,

has said some incredible things in verses 3 through 16 of chapter 5,

which we've been considering over the past nine weeks.

He has told them that citizens of His kingdom

would be about the work of turning this upside-down world back right-side up.

That they would be a people marked by spiritual poverty,

sadness over their sin and the sins of others,

meekness, a longing for righteousness,

mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking.

That they would bring preservation and light to the world

and that they would be hated for it.

Recall Jesus' themes throughout the Sermon on the Mount

of human flourishing.

Who is the blessed man?

Human and whole person righteousness.

Less what you do and more who you are.

The religious leaders of Jesus' day

had so manipulated God's law

with the rabbinical, scribal traditions

meant to interpret the law

but served rather to obscure it,

They were only concerned with the outward,

the tangible and imposed impossible burdens on others

and quite frankly on themselves.

They were the very definition of legalists.

Making themselves appear righteous,

righteous in their own eyes

by asking others to conform to them.

And this was a great issue of their day.

To give you some flavor of it,

I'm going to read you just a bit of commentary

from John MacArthur's commentary

on this very text.

Where he writes,

The rabbis,

And this was a tradition.

They had many written sayings.

They're called the traditions.

Interpretations of the law.

The rabbis looked through the scripture

to find various commands and regulations.

And to those,

they would add supplemental requirements.

They're often called hedge laws.

To the command not to work on the Sabbath,

they added the idea

that carrying a burden

was a form of work.

They then faced the question

of determining exactly

what constituted a burden.

They decided that a burden is food

equal to the weight of a fig.

Enough wine for mixing in a goblet.

Milk enough for one's swallow.

Honey enough to put on a wound.

Oil enough to anoint

a small member of the body.

Water enough to moisten eye salve.

Paper enough to write

a customs house notice.

Ink enough to write

two letters of the alphabet.

Read enough to make a pen.

And so on and so on.

To carry anything more

than those prescribed amounts

on the Sabbath

was to break the law.

So out of what I believe

would have began

as a good intention,

a wrong understanding of the law,

but a good intention

to keep it,

these types of burdens

had been amassed

and built up.

And the religious leaders

of the day said,

do these things

look like us?

These outward keeping,

this exterior farce

of keeping the law,

and you will be

in God's good favor.

Jesus was not standing

for this type of thing.

Listen to what he said

in Matthew 23

in verse 15

to these very men.

He says,

Woe to you,

scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites.

He points out the very fact

that they weren't keeping

their own expectations.

And then he goes on to say,

For you travel across sea and land

to make a single proselyte,

a convert to Judaism.

And when he becomes

a proselyte,

you make him twice

as much a child of hell

as yourselves.

This was the good

that these types

of expectation were.

They simply damned people.

Matthew 15

and verse 6.

Jesus says of these

religious leaders,

For the sake

of your tradition,

you have made void

the word of God.

This was the religious world

that Jesus is speaking into

as he preaches

the sermon before us

this morning.

He is addressing those

who would pile up

impossible burdens.

But he is also speaking

to those who interpreted

Jeremiah chapter 31

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

and verse 31,

which says,

Behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord.

when I will make

a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah.

He is addressing also

those who would take

Jeremiah 31, 31

to mean

that the Messiah

would annul

the old covenant

in its entirety

and replace it

with a completely

new moral basis.

There were many

that Jesus was speaking to

that were seeking

for the Messiah

to come and wipe

the slate entirely clean.

to put away

Moses and the prophets

and start with

a fresh piece

of parchment

and write

new command

altogether.

In many ways,

these are the people

who are on the opposite

side of the

legalist coin.

They're the licentious,

the antinomians,

the ones who wanted

nothing to do

with the law

anymore.

And he's speaking

to both of these crowds,

both those who wanted

everyone to keep

these very carefully

put in place

hedge laws

and those who were

exhausted by

the demanding

hypocritical legalism

of the religious leaders.

So it is at this point

in Jesus' sermon,

as he has already said

so much to flip the world

on its head,

that he makes

two audacious claims

concerning the Scripture.

So this is your outline

for this morning.

He makes two audacious claims.

Number one,

that the Scripture

is authoritative.

The Scripture

authored by God

is authoritative.

And secondly,

Jesus makes the claim

that He

is the authority

of the Scripture.

He says,

I am the authority

of the Scripture.

The Scripture

is authoritative.

And Jesus

is the authority

of the Scripture.

So first,

the Scripture

is authoritative.

Jesus says

in verse 17,

Do not think.

Which would suggest

that some were thinking.

Right?

Do not think.

Do not make

the error of thinking

that I have come to

abolish the law

or the prophets.

Now,

we'll talk a bit about

the word abolish

in a moment,

but first,

let's take a look

at this idea

of the law

or the prophets.

Now,

the Jews of Jesus' day

referred to the law

in four different ways.

They would use this term,

law,

in four different ways.

First,

the Jew of Jesus' day

may have said the law

and be referring

specifically to

the Ten Commandments

found in Exodus

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20,

those commands

that God etched

in stone

and gave to Moses

on Mount Sinai.

So that's first,

the law,

the Ten Commandments.

Secondly,

they could have also

used that phrase,

the law,

to refer to

the Pentateuch,

the first five books

of the Old Testament

traditionally said

to have been authored

by Moses.

We don't know that

with great certainty,

but traditionally,

this is what

the Jews of Jesus' day

believed,

that Moses was the author

of Genesis,

Exodus,

Leviticus,

Numbers,

and Deuteronomy

called the Pentateuch.

Third,

this term,

the law,

was used

to refer to

the entire Old Testament.

It was used

very broadly

in that sense.

And fourth,

this term,

law,

was also used

to refer to

those rabbinical

traditions

that I was

mentioning previously.

All of those

extra interpretations

out beyond

God's inspired

word.

This

is the teaching

that Jesus

is referring to

in Matthew 15,

6,

when he says,

for the sake

of your tradition,

you have made

void

the word

of God.

So,

it's used

in a lot

of ways

and it's

used

very broadly.

However,

Jesus here says

in verse 17,

do not think

that I have

come to abolish

the law

or the prophets.

And this

phrase,

the law

and the prophets,

Jesus here saying

the law

or the prophets,

used roughly

15 times

in the New Testament

with slight

variation,

was always

used to refer

to the entirety

of the Old Testament.

To the entire

thing.

Those that we

now have,

we know as

39 books

of the Old

Testament.

You see,

beloved,

Jesus had a

very high

view

of his Bible.

The part that we

consider the Old

Testament was

the Bible

of Jesus'

day.

And I want

to show you

that.

I want you

to be able

to wrap

your mind

around.

And this

is a thing

that you

can help

others with.

How is it

that we

know

this is

the Scripture?

We can have

a great

confidence

in the Old

Testament text

because Jesus

had a great

confidence

in the text.

If we are

followers of

Jesus Christ,

we believe

his words,

he said

some astounding

things about

the Old

Testament text.

He quoted

from every

section of

it almost

countless

times.

Many,

many,

many times.

He's referencing

back,

he's referencing

back,

he's referencing

back.

But there's

this really,

really astonishing

thing that

Jesus does

in Luke

Luke 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11.

And I want

you to turn

there with

me because

I want

you to see

this.

Mark,

Matthew

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5.

Turn to

Luke chapter

Luke 11 · chapter mention

11.

And I want

to show

you the

Bible of

Jesus'

day.

Luke 11,

and we'll

read verses

49 through

51.

Now,

I don't

want you

to wrap

your mind

into what

Jesus is

really teaching

at this

point,

but he

makes,

as a

proof to

what he's

trying to

say about

demanding

justice for

the prophets,

an astounding

thing that he

does here.

So,

beginning

of verse

49.

Therefore,

also the

wisdom of

God said,

I will

send them

prophets

and apostles,

some of

whom they

will kill

and persecute,

so that the

blood of all

the prophets

shed from the

foundation of

the world

may be charged

against this

generation.

From the

blood of

Abel to

the blood

of Zechariah

who perished

between the

altar and

the sanctuary,

yes,

I tell you,

it will be

required of

this generation.

So,

he's

indicting

the

generation

for the

blood of

the

prophets

and he

bookends

the

prophets

between

Abel

and

Zechariah,

right?

So,

we have

Abel

who Jesus

is claiming

was the

very first

prophet.

Most of us

don't tend

to think

of him

in these

terms.

However,

Genesis 4.10

and the

Lord said

to Cain,

what have

you done?

The voice

of your

brother's

blood

is crying

to me

from the

ground.

Jesus

says he

was the

very

first

martyred

prophet.

So,

Abel

is the

one

bookend,

but then

Zechariah?

It would be

really easy

to read

passages

and I

have no

idea

why Jesus

puts

Zechariah

at the

other end.

Some of

you might

be thinking

that he's

using

A to

Z.

This

was not

the

alphabet

of his

day.

I am

sure

that many

American

Bible

readers

have made

that

error.

So,

why then

is

Zechariah

the

bookend?

This

particular

Zechariah,

in fact,

the bookend

of the

prophets

that Jesus

is here

referring to.

We see

the martyrdom

of Zechariah

in 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 24:20

chapter 24

verse 20

and following.

So,

this is

the Zechariah

who perished

between the

altar and

the sanctuary.

It says,

then the

Spirit of

God

clothed

Zechariah

the son

of Jehoiada

the priest

and he

stood

above

the

people

and said

to them,

thus says

God,

why do you

break the

commandments

of the

Lord

so that

you

cannot

prosper?

Because

you

have

forsaken

the

Lord,

he

has

forsaken

you.

And then

verse 21,

but they

conspired

against him

and by

command

of the

king,

they

stoned

him

with

stones

in

the

court

of

the

house

of

the

Lord.

Okay,

so this

is

Zechariah

in

2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 24 · chapter mention

chapter

24.

If you're

with us

week,

didn't

you?

Now,

chronologically,

in real

time,

the last

martyr was

Uriah,

whose death

is described

in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 26 · chapter mention

chapter

26.

Chronologically,

so,

Abel

to Zechariah?

Why does

Jesus do

this?

The

Jewish

Bible

of

Jesus'

day

was

ordered

differently

than

ours.

Our

Old

Testament

is

grouped

by

literary

type.

That

can be

confusing

sometimes

as you're

trying to

read through

the

narrative.

You

can't

read

from

Genesis

1-1

to the

end

of the

Old

Testament

and

have

it

make

a lot

of

sense

because

it's

grouped

differently

than

the

order

in

which

it

was

written.

Jesus'

Bible

was

entirely

different.

1

and

2

Chronicles

were

one

book,

the

book

of

Chronicles,

and it

was

written

as an

overview

of

Israel's

history,

so it's

looking back

over

Israel's

history,

with a

particular

emphasis

on

David

and the

temple.

Rightly

understood,

the book

of Chronicles

was at

the end

of the

Jewish

Old

Testament

because

it was

meant

to point

us to,

and God's

people then

to,

a

better

David

and a

better

worship

that's

found

in

the

Messiah,

Jesus

Christ.

That's

why it's

ordered

in

that

way.

Honestly,

it's

a

better

order,

and it's

why our

Bible

reading plan

took us

through

the

scripture

in

that

way.

So,

in

Luke

11,

he's

speaking

to a

Jewish

audience

when he

says,

from

the

blood

of

Abel

to

the

blood

of

Zechariah,

he

knows

that they

have

in their

hand,

they

have

been

reading

and

reading

taught

the

first

prophet

to

the

last

prophet

in

the

text.

You

see what

he's

done?

He

has

now

bookended

their

Old

Testament,

which

is

ours,

now

organized

into

39

books

and

rearranged

for

literary

type,

but he

is affirming

that all

of those

writers

in between

were

prophets.

This

was

his

Bible.

It's

incredible.

It's

an

incredible

case.

Luke

Luke 11:49

chapter

11

verse

49

and

following

can

serve

you

in

that

way.

So

it

is

this

Bible

when

Jesus

says

I

do

not

come

to

abolish

the

law

or

the

prophets

that

Jesus

is

talking

about.

Now

the

Greek

word

here

translated

abolish

is a

strong

word.

It

means

to

tear

down,

to

demolish,

to

destroy

utterly.

It

is the

very same

Greek

word that

Jesus

uses in

saying

in

Matthew

Matthew 26:61

26

verse

61

I

am

able

to

destroy

the

temple

of

God

and

to

rebuild

!

It

in

three

days.

That

strong

language

of

destroy

in

English

is the

very

same

word

here

translated

abolish.

Jesus

is saying

I

did

not

come

to

tear

down

to

utterly

destroy

God's

word.

Rather

what

he does

and what

he does

for us

in the

rest of

the

Sermon

on

the

Mount

and

in

the

rest

of

the

gospel

accounts

is

he

clarifies

he

explains

right

he

helps

to

get

a

right

understanding

of

God's

law

in

our

mind

and

in

theirs

in

that

day.

In

fact

there's

a

pretty

stark

theme

that

emerges

throughout

chapter

5

of

this

you

have

heard

that

it

was

said

but

I

say

to

you

you

have

heard

he's

referring

to

the

traditions

he's

referring

to

the

wrong

interpretations

of

the

law

you

have

heard

it

was

said

he'll

follow

that

with

something

but

I

say

to

you

and

he

brings

the

clarification

what

the

law

was

actually

meant

to

command

us

to

and

you

can

see

this

again

and

again

and

again

chapter

5

verse

21

you

have

heard

it

was

said

in

verse

22

but

I

say

to

you

27

and

then

28

chapter

5

chapter

5

verse

31

this

time

it

was

also

said

then

verse

32

but

I

say

to

you

and

then

in

verse

33

and

34

38

and

39

43

and

44

so

he's

just

bringing

he's

not

abolishing

he's

bringing

a

clarification

he's

helping

God's

people

to

understand

what

God's

word

always

meant

he had

a very

high

view

of the

scripture

it

is

authoritative

Matthew

4

4

Jesus

being

tempted

by the

devil

responds

it

is

written

man

shall

not

live

by bread

alone

but

by

every

word

that

comes

from

the

mouth

of

God

he

there

affirms

for

us

that

it

is

by

our

very

living

that

the

scripture

speaks

to

you

and

he

goes

on

to

say

in

verse

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

now

iota

was the

smallest

letter

of the

greek

alphabet

and

a

dot

was

the

smallest

part

of

a

letter

in

the

greek

alphabet

he's

saying

the

very

tiniest

portion

of

it

any

little

bit

of

it

will

not

pass

away

until

it

is

all

accomplished

jesus

goes on

to say

that both

doing

and

teaching

the

law

is

of

highest

importance

in

the

kingdom

of

heaven

verse

19

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

right

this is

this

wealth

of

information

for

whole

person

righteousness

and

human

flourishing

right

beloved

if we want

to honor

our

god

and do

well

in our

lives

by god's

definition

of

doing

well

we

will

be

obedient

and teach

others

to be

obedient

to god's

word

paul exhorts

!

timothy

paul's

last letter

that he

wrote

read

second

timothy

and just

the

matters

that he

presses

so much

of second

timothy

is about

the

scripture

itself

his

last

letter

written

to his

beloved

spiritual

son

timothy

he

says

all

scripture

in

second

timothy

3

16

and

17

all

scripture

here

paul's

referring

to

what

our

old

testament

the

law

and

the

prophets

all

scripture

is

breathed

out

by

god

and

profitable

for

teaching

for

reproof

for

correction

and

for

training

in

righteousness

that

the

man

of

god

may

be

complete

equipped

for

every

good

work

so

paul

simply

comes

alongside

jesus

and

unites

with

christ

in

his

high

view

of

the

bible

not

only

did

jesus

claim

that

the

scripture

is

authoritative

but

he also

claimed

that

he

is

the

authority

of

the

scripture

he

says

verse

17

do

not

think

that

i've

come

to

abolish

the

law

or

the

prophets

i

have

not

come

to

abolish

them

but

to

fulfill

them

we

will

talk

about

this

quite

a bit

in the

coming

weeks

but

in

brief

to

fulfill

as

some

have

suggested

does

not

mean

to

fill

out

as

if

something

were

lacking

right

that

he

fulfilled

the

law

and

the

prophets

by

his

teaching

they

were

already

inerrant

already

complete

already

sufficient

already

authoritative

his

teaching

is

clarifying

helping

us

to

understand

that

the

word

of

God

is

it

links

up

old

and

new

beautifully

together

this is not

what's meant

by this

he didn't

he didn't

fill it

out

he

filled

it up

he

fulfilled

it

jesus

fulfilled

the old

testament

by

being

its

fulfillment

all

of the

old

testament

points

to

jesus

and

he

embodies

the

obedience

required

by the

old

testament

law

and

the

devotion

to

god

that

the

prophets

called

god's

people

to

we're

going to

have to

spend

some more

time

on that

a great

deal

of

time

in

fact

on

the

meaning

of

this

word

and

we'll

get

into

that

next

week

but

for

now

I

want

you

to

turn

your

attention

again

to

the

astounding

phrase

I

say

to

you

so

I

know

I'm

skipping

a

stone

off

the

surface

when

I

simply

say

Jesus

fulfilled

that's

what

he

said

right

the

law

and

the

prophets

we'll

spend

much

time

on

that

next

week

but

look

now

at

the

phrase

I

say

to

you

who

does

this

Jesus

think

that

he

is

no

one

can

use

language

like

this

no

one

did

use

language

like

this

it

would

have

been

the

greatest

of

blasphemies

!

The

prophets