Jesus & the Old Testament

If you would open up your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 5, this is our last installment for

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

our fall series on the Beatitudes.

So during the fall, we've been focusing on one Beatitude at a time in Matthew 5, and

then we're lingering a little longer, and so last week we were in the salt and light,

and today we are in Jesus talking about His relationship to the Old Testament.

It is extraordinary.

And so on page 963 of your pew Bible, or in Matthew 5, 17 through 20, let's hear what

our King has to say.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or 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 these 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.

May God bless the hearing of His word.

There is a terrible epidemic in the United States.

This is me being dramatic.

Terrible epidemic.

Where do you put your old tech?

Where does it go?

We have drawers in the Salvati household with old phones and external disk drives, old laptops,

even a camcorder or two.

What?

This old tech is out of date.

It's irrelevant and useless.

And so we put it in drawers and shelves, out of sight, out of mind.

I don't know what to do with them.

Do you?

Some people, when it comes to the Old Testament, the 39 books starting in Genesis, ending in Malachi,

the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, some people, they think the Old Testament's like old tech.

It's out of date, irrelevant, and useless.

The question is, what does Jesus think about the Old Testament?

And how do we, His kingdom citizens, how do we take on the same mindset of Jesus towards the Old Testament?

We must think about the Old Testament the way that our interpreter-in-chief, our forever king,

has told us to understand the Old Testament.

So just exactly how are we supposed to understand it?

Well, Jesus is going to say something extraordinary.

Maybe you've already picked up on it when I was reading it.

Far from being out of date, irrelevant, and useless,

Jesus is going to say something like,

the Old Testament actually points to me.

And Jesus is never outdated.

He's never irrelevant.

He's never useless.

Quite the contrary.

Amen.

So here's how I want you to walk away from this morning.

Here's the point.

We need to understand the Old Testament the way that Jesus teaches us to understand the Old Testament.

We need to be interpreters of the Old Testament as Jesus interpreted the Old Testament,

which is essentially about Him.

It's an extraordinary claim.

And so in order to help you this morning,

I'm going to ask and answer five questions about this passage.

And Lord willing, you're going to walk away with a clearer sense of what the Old Testament is accomplishing.

So question number one.

Generally speaking, what did Jesus think about the Old Testament?

What did Jesus think about the Old Testament?

Well, He mentions the law and the prophets here in verse 17.

But if you flip back to the end, towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount in 7.12,

you know this as the golden rule.

He says,

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.

For this is the law and the prophets.

So whatever Jesus thinks about the Old Testament, the law and the prophets,

He has a high view of it.

If you turn all the way back towards the end of Matthew chapter 22.

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

In Matthew chapter 22, verses 34 through 40, which I know is elder Steve Bickle's, one of his favorite passages.

Matthew 22:34–40

Amen.

Jesus gets peppered with questions by a lawyer.

Teacher, verse 36,

Which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said to them,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great first commandment, and the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

Jesus has a high view of the Old Testament.

In our passage, verse 18, we see some other truths about how Jesus viewed the Old Testament.

He sees it as enduring.

He says,

As long as there's a heaven, as long as there's an earth, there's going to be the Old Testament.

It's got a really long shelf life.

The other truth that he points to is that he gets at the extent of it.

There's maybe a view of the Old Testament as,

Yeah, generally speaking, that's from God in kind of big picture kind of ways.

But did you see what Jesus said?

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot.

The most minute details of the Old Testament.

Not an iota, not a dot.

We'll pass from the law until all is accomplished.

The iota and the dot are referring to the smallest strokes of the Hebrew letters in the Old Testament.

The vowel pointing.

The slightest stroke that distinguished one Hebrew letter from the next.

It would be kind of like the hook on the English lowercase j that separates it from an i.

What Jesus is saying is it's all from God.

Not just in its enduring nature.

Not just in its detail.

But it's seeking to accomplish something.

Before we talk about this little phrase, until it's all accomplished,

would you just turn to your right in your New Testament to 2 Timothy 3.16?

The Apostle Paul, scholars believe, made up a word to get at the very nature of the Old Testament.

Paul says, all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.

The Old Scripture, all Scripture he's referring to is all the Old Testament.

And that English phrase, breathed out by God, is one word in the original language.

And what it's getting at is the God-originating nature of every word in the Old Testament.

And what Paul is saying is simply kind of capturing what Jesus believed about the Old Testament.

Every word has come from the mouth of God.

Of the Old Testament.

Every word.

Every word.

That's what makes it enduring.

That's why down to the most smallest details, it's going to endure.

And it's going to accomplish something.

Until all is accomplished.

It reveals there's a plan.

You don't talk about something being accomplished unless something is seeking to get something done.

There's a plan.

There's a purpose.

And we actually, in the verse before 2 Timothy 3.16, we get at the plan.

Paul talks about it this way.

But as for you, verse 14.

This is 2 Timothy 3.14 and 15.

But as for you, continuing what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it,

and how from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings, the Old Testament,

which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Until it's all accomplished.

The Old Testament is revealing God's plan for the fullness of time for all people everywhere to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

And that is going to culminate in a moment where Jesus comes back and he makes all wrongs right.

And he judges the world, separating them like sheep and the goats.

And at that moment, God will have gathered all of his people from all of time to sing his praises.

Jesus, this plan that he's seeking to accomplish is a big plan and it's a glory plan.

And Jesus is saying that plan is made known in the Old Testament.

Jesus has a very high view of the Old Testament.

Because he believes it's God speaking.

In fact, you can make an argument that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity,

was actually there when the Old Testament was given.

It's enduring down to the details.

It reveals a plan that is going to find its culmination in Jesus.

That's a high view of the Old Testament.

How does Jesus view the Old Testament, generally speaking?

Very highly.

Second question.

How did Jesus view his relationship to the Old Testament specifically?

Specifically, there's this word fulfill.

In chapter 17, we read,

I have not come to abolish them, the law or the prophets,

but to fulfill them.

In other words, Jesus didn't come to relax the law or reduce the law or to remove the law.

He came to fulfill the law and the prophets and the Psalms, all of the Old Testament.

He came to fulfill it.

So the question becomes, how does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament?

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

And I get to tell you this morning, he fulfills it in more than one way.

The first way that you think of, generally, that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament is through Old Testament predictive prophecy.

Like, if you flip back to Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14,

Isaiah 7:14

I mean, we're getting ready for the Advent season.

We read this by Isaiah,

And then we look at Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1:20–23

verses 20 through 23,

and we learn this,

That's just one prophecy, predictive prophecy.

From a prophet.

Do you guys know the first predictive prophecy of the coming of Jesus?

Genesis 3.15.

It's actually a curse on the serpent.

There's going to be a descendant of Eve that's going to crush his head.

So there's this predictive prophecy in both the law and the prophets of the Old Testament,

but that's just one way.

There's another way that Jesus fulfills the Old Testament,

and it's by way of themes,

or what some people call typology.

It's like this.

In the Old Testament,

you have this sacrificial system established,

where there is sinning by God's people,

and then they've got a sacrifice.

Blood must be shed to atone for the sin,

and it happens over and over and over again.

It happens all the way through the Old Testament,

and when you get to the New Testament,

in John chapter 2,

John 2 · chapter mention

when John sees Jesus,

do you remember what he says?

Behold, the Lamb of God,

who comes to take away the sin of the world.

The greatest sacrifice.

Hebrews 10 talks about Jesus being the once-for-all sacrifice.

There's no more need for the blood of goats and bulls,

because Jesus has died once and for all.

So there we have a theme,

a kind of typology being kind of fulfilled in Jesus,

and we have that with kingship,

we have that with the priesthood,

we have that with the temple,

we have that with places.

It is all throughout your Old Testament

being fulfilled by Jesus in the New.

And then there's the moral fulfillment of Jesus,

of the Old Testament.

I'm guessing if I said,

hey, can you rattle off the Ten Commandments,

you'd be able to like, yeah, six of them.

And then if I ask, hey, of those six,

have you been obeying all of them today?

You're like, well,

two of them.

Check it out.

Jesus lived 33 years.

Let's just take the Ten Commandments.

Every day, every week, of every month, of every year,

he perfectly obeyed,

both in behavior and in emotion,

heart intent,

all of the Ten Commandments,

every day of his life for 33 years.

And that's just ten of the commandments.

I have a hard time obeying one every day.

Jesus was morally perfect

when it comes to the commands

of the Old Testament law.

He obeyed them,

and we couldn't.

He was the righteous one.

It's 1 Peter 3.18,

who gave his life for the unrighteous.

And then,

there's this other fulfillment

that I'm calling

gospel fulfillment.

At the end of Luke,

if you want to turn there,

Luke 24,

it's on page 1052 of your pew Bible,

Jesus has risen from the dead.

And he now is appearing

to his disciples.

And he shows up

with two of his disciples

on the road to Emmaus.

And this conversation ensues,

and then Jesus says this

in verse 25 through 27,

O foolish ones,

slow of heart to believe

all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary

that the Christ should suffer

for these things,

a reference to his death,

and enter into his glory,

a reference to his resurrection?

And beginning with Moses

and all the prophets,

he interpreted to them

and all the scriptures

the things concerning himself.

Jesus is clearly saying

that there are an abundance

of scriptures

in the Old Testament

that are pointing to me,

and not just me,

his death and his resurrection,

the very good news

that we get to proclaim.

It's gospel fulfillment.

And 24 continues,

and his disciples

are back in Jerusalem.

He shows up there

in Jerusalem among them,

says, hey, peace be with you.

And then in verse 44,

we read this,

these are my words

that I spoke to you

while I was still with you,

that everything written about me

in the law of Moses

and the prophets

and the Psalms

must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds

to understand the scriptures

and said to them,

thus it is written,

that the Christ should suffer

and on the third day

rise from the dead

and that repentance

for the forgiveness of sins

should be proclaimed

in his name

to all nations

beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses

of these things.

It's gospel fulfillment.

Jesus fulfills

the Old Testament

in a number of ways.

We call this

a Christological understanding

of the Old Testament

or a Christocentric way

of understanding

the Old Testament.

And it is absolutely remarkable

because who makes a claim

like that

other than Emmanuel,

God with us?

How did Jesus understand

his relationship

to the Old Testament?

Well, to put it short and sweet,

he says it's about me.

I came not to abolish them

but to fulfill them.

Which brings up

question number three.

Another aspect

of this fulfillment,

we see it

in the verses

that follow

back in Matthew 5

in verses 21

through 48,

Jesus is talking about

restoring the original intent

of these Old Testament commands.

I mean, we just looked at

Luke 24

and on a higher level,

Jesus is saying

the Old Testament

is pointing to me,

my death and resurrection

in a variety

of different ways.

But in verses 21

through 48,

Jesus tackles

six examples

of how

he

restores

the original

scope

and intent

of the law

of God.

He brings fullness

to it.

He restores it.

He restores it.

He restores

the original intent

of the law.

And can I just tell you

the way in which

he restores it

is found in verse 48

of chapter 5.

He says,

you therefore

must be perfect

as your heavenly

Father is perfect.

And so he's going

to explain

these six examples

by way of

kingdom perfection.

perfection.

This is what

true righteousness

and holiness

looks like.

In verses 21

through,

I'll just point to

verses 21

through 26,

it starts by saying,

you've heard that

it was said

to those of old,

you shall not murder

and whoever murders

will be liable

to the judgment.

Verse 22,

but I say to you

that everyone

who is angry

with his brother

will be liable

to the judgment.

Whoever insults

his brother

will be liable

to the counsel

and whoever says

you fool

will be liable

to the hell of fire.

Do you know

what he's doing?

He's like,

here's the true intent

of the command

you shall not murder.

It's not only

forbidding the actual

physical act

of murder,

but it's actually

addressing

your anger

and hatred

to your brothers

and sisters.

he's saying

your anger

is murderous

intent.

So he's bringing

out the fullness,

the full meaning

of the law.

And in verses 27

through 30

he does something

very similar

with the law

you shall not

commit adultery.

You've heard

that it was said

verse 20,

you shall not

commit adultery,

but I say to you

that everyone

who looks at a woman

with lustful intent

has already committed

adultery with her

in his heart.

So someone can think

oh you should not

commit adultery

like okay I'm not

going to touch

anybody else's spouse,

right?

But what Jesus is saying

is even if you look

lustfully at someone else

you've broken the command.

Your lust

is adulterous intent.

And so what Jesus

is doing is

he's moving beyond

the behaviors

and exposing

our hearts.

Do you remember

in times where people

would talk about Jesus

as one speaking

with authority?

This is it.

Here's the true

intent of the law.

It is to expose you.

It's to show you

who you really are

and you can't hide

behind your behaviors.

You can't just manage

your behaviors

and think you're okay.

And so what he does

in verse 31

with no fault divorce

what he does

in verses 33

through 37

in terms of

how you use your words

to swear oaths

and he gets at

in 38 through 42

when he gets at

this kind of

this vindication

we can feel

an eye for an eye

tooth for a tooth

and he gets at

in 43 through 47

when people say

love your neighbor

but hate your enemies

and he's like

what?

Did you not know

that your enemy

is your neighbor

and you're to love

your enemy?

He brings about

the true intent

of the law.

He restores

the original scope

and reach

of the command.

Remember he was there

when they were given.

There's no escape.

It exposes our hearts.

We are shown

for who we are

and you know

what it leads us to?

Declaration of

spiritual bankruptcy.

of being able

to say

you know that's

I'm a breaker

of that command.

I can't

I don't obey

that command.

I'm

I'm in debt

I'm in over my head.

That's the intent

of the law.

That's how Paul

talks about

the use of the law

when the law

is a tutor.

It brings us

to the end

of ourselves.

It exposes

our hearts

shows us

who we are

and it shows us

our desperate

need

for a savior.

The guy's speaking.

So how does Jesus

restore

the commands?

He brings

he brings

their true

intent back.

He

wants

our hearts

to be exposed

leading us

to spiritual bankruptcy

leading us

to mourning

over our sin

leading us

to a meekness

leading us

to a true hunger

and thirsting

for true righteousness

purity of heart

mercy

and it's a way

in which he fulfills

the law.

he brings

back its

true meaning.

Can't escape it.

Fourth question.

What does it mean

when Jesus says

relaxing the least

of these commandments?

We read that

in verse 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.

Remember Jesus

has been reiterating

in this passage

that he did not

come to remove

the law

or to reduce

the law

or to relax

the law

but he's come

to restore

the true intent

of the law.

Maybe a better

question to ask

is

who's Jesus

talking about?

Who's relaxing

the commandments?

Who does he have

in mind?

And the surprise

is that he has

in mind

is the Pharisees.

The religious

professionals

of the day.

it was these

religious

professionals

that

are the ones

he quotes.

You've heard

that it was said

to those of old

in verse 21

27

you've heard

that it was said

verse 31

it was also said

33

again

you've heard

that it was said

38

you've heard

that it was said

43

you've heard

that it was said

you should not

you should love

your neighbor

and hate

your enemy

your Bible

doesn't say that

it's actually

a relaxing

of the law

you're like

what hey

how does that work?

Here's how

they're relaxing

the law

they're adding

to the commands

they're focusing

on behavior

and by doing so

they are actually

avoiding

having

the commands

thoroughly

search

their hearts

they're avoiding

the exposure

to be the sinners

that they

really were

so these six

examples

that you have

heard

that it was said

these are the

distortions

of the Pharisees

this is actually

them relaxing

the commands

so that they

can manage

the commands

and feel good

about themselves

but Jesus

says

in every

single

of these six

examples

but I say

to you

let me

just correct

this relaxation

of the command

and he

presses into

the full

intent

and impact

of it

calling us

to perfection

he doesn't

Jesus doesn't

relax

the standard

of perfection

of pure

holiness

he calls

us to it

and so

these Pharisees

they thought

they were

perfect examples

of righteousness

but you remember

what Jesus

calls them

whitewashed

tombs

you look great

on the outside

but on the inside

you're just

rotten death

kingdom citizens

when we

come across

the commands

instead of

thinking

okay

okay

how can I

how can I

make this command

fit my life

what we do

is like

oh

I'm exposed

I'm exposed

my heart

has been exposed

I declare

spiritual bankruptcy

so relaxing

the commandments

is interpreting

God's commands

in such a way

to avoid

the sin

in your heart

to manage

behavior

so let me ask you

a question

along these lines

when you confess

your sins

to God

what are you

typically

confessing

are you

confessing

behaviors

or are you

also

confessing

sinful

acts

sinful

behaviors

and sinful

attitudes

sinful

heart

postures

anger

and hate

and lust

and greed

and

insatiable

desire

for comfort

if you're not

you've got

room to grow

to be able

to say

oh God

would you

expose

my heart

shine your

light

through your

commands

on the

darkness

in my

heart

so that I

can walk

in a

purity of

heart

of acknowledging

your sin

now if you're

in the room

and you're

actually saying

something like

this

you know

what

let's see

I'm trying

to remember

the last time

I actually

confessed

my sin

in which

I wasn't

prompted

hmm

if you don't

remember the last

time you've

confessed your

sin

you need to

ask a

different

question

what does

that reveal

about you

what does

that reveal

about your

hunger

and thirst

for righteousness

maybe

you're not

relaxing

the commands

as much

as you are

a little

too

relaxed

about

the commands

you're not

taking them

seriously

enough

we must

view the

Old Testament

the way that

Jesus viewed

the Old Testament

not relaxing

the commandments

but allowing

the commandments

to search

our hearts

and expose

us

and then we

cry out to

him

again and

again and

again

one last

question and

answer

chapter or

chapter 5

verse 20

for I tell you

unless your

righteousness exceeds

that of the

scribes and

Pharisees

you will

never

enter the

kingdom of

heaven

what kind

of righteousness

is this

that exceeds

the scribes

and the

Pharisees

I mean

weren't the

scribes and

Pharisees the

most righteous

people around

they were the

ones that would

kind of wrap

their cloaks

around them

when they were

walking through

just the normal

everyday people

so not to be

touched and

made unclean

aren't they the

most righteous

people aren't

aren't they the

ones who are

pictures of

holiness

if you ask

them they would

say of course

we are

but they were

relaxing the

commandments

Jesus isn't

calling us to

a just like

two notches

better than the

righteousness of

the Pharisees

by degree

that's not the

righteousness that

Jesus is referring

to here

he's talking

about a

different kind

of righteousness

he's talking

about a

righteousness

that is

given to

those who

declare spiritual

bankruptcy

those who

are saying

I am utterly

unrighteous

help me

Lord

and then

they're made

righteous

don't you

want to know

how that works

remember

Jesus fulfilled

the righteous

requirements of

the whole law

and the prophets

he did what we

could never do

and when a

sinner declares

spiritual bankruptcy

for the first

time they're like

I am shot

through by these

commands I am

exposed for the

sinner that I am

there's no way I

could save myself

I am justly

under God's

wrath

when you

recognize that

and admit that

to God

and say

oh help me

Lord Jesus

God forgives

your sin debt

Jesus pays

for all that

debt on the

cross

so there's no

more debt over

your head

and it just

doesn't end

there

it's God

then credits

your account

with the very

righteousness

of Christ

so not

check it out

the righteous one

was made

unrighteous

so that the

unrighteous ones

could be made

righteous

and on the

basis of

that work

by faith

in Christ

welcome to

the kingdom

what kind of

righteousness

exceeds that

of the

scribes and

Pharisees

it's Christ's

righteousness

and without it

no one can

enter the

kingdom of

heaven

and when

Christ's

righteousness

is imputed

to you

you are going

to hunger

and thirst

for the

real

righteousness

a heart

righteousness

that which

the commands

actually call

us to

I started

talking about

an epidemic

where do you

put old

tech

maybe your

home has

an old

tech

graveyard

like our

home does

old tech

that's

irrelevant

it's out

of date

it's useless

but as we've

been seeing

Jesus here

speak about

the Old

Testament

what I hope

you're seeing

this morning

is that Jesus

is extraordinary

and this claim

by which he says

he came to

fulfill the Old

Testament

it's extraordinary

so far

from being

out of date

irrelevant

and useless

the Old

Testament

is always

to date

it's incredibly

relevant

and it's

super useful

because it

gives us

Jesus

it points

us to him

again

and again

and again

the Old

Testament

is a

Christological

gold mine

unto salvation

but don't

take my

word for

it

take

Jesus

word for

it

I came

not to

abolish

them

the law

and the

prophets

but to

fulfill

them

that's

something to

be very

thankful

about

and it

changes

the way

you view

the Old

Testament

let's pray

God in

heaven

thank you

for the

Old

Testament

every word

in it

and thank

you for

these words

of Jesus

that give

us light

in order

to understand

the Old

Testament

that in

ways that

not

we don't

always

understand

but are

ways that

are glorious

that these

39 books

point again

and again

to your

great work

realized in

the person

of Jesus

Christ

by which

you're gathering

a people

for yourself

who will

praise you

for eternity

God thank you

so much

for the

Beatitudes

thank you

so much

for these

words of

Jesus

we've been

gathering

around this

fall

would you

prepare our

hearts

as we

enter

the Advent

season

in Jesus

name we

pray

amen

amen

so