Fulfillment of the Scriptures

Good morning, all. Can you guys hear me okay? Great. Grateful to the Lord and to you for this opportunity to share God's word this morning.

! We're going to continue on in the Sermon of the Mount, Matthew 5. Today's verses are in 17 to 20.

Matthew 5, 17 to 20. As Sean said, these four verses are really important and dense.

And they play a critical role in this Sermon of the Mount. And many Christians have poured out much ink over its interpretation, debating its interpretation.

So we're going to ask for God to help us to understand his word. If you need a Bible and would like a paper copy, please raise your hand.

One of our members would be happy to get you one.

Amen.

Please pray with me. Bow your heads as we ask for God's strength this morning.

Heavenly Father,

Father,

we are your people, called by your name.

We ask that you would address us by your word today.

You'd give us eyes to see and ears to hear what you have said, Lord Jesus, in your sermon.

That it would not be my words, but it would be your words that shine through and pierce our hearts and make our hearts burn within us.

Not to me, not to us be the glory, but to you as we look to your Son, who is the fulfillment of the scriptures, of the law, of all righteousness.

The Son is all that we need.

And so we pray for eyes and ears to, again, remember afresh the gospel.

Speak to us, address us.

And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you are able, please stand with me for the reading of God's word.

Matthew 5, 17 to 20.

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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

In college, I had the blessing of spending one of my summers on missions

on the westernmost island of Indonesia, Sumatra.

And as you guys likely know, it is predominantly a Muslim country.

And part of our daily work was simply just to build relationships

with local college students who wanted to learn English.

And in doing so, there was one conversation that a teammate of mine had

with a Muslim student that I still remember today.

The Muslim student admitted to my teammates that there are times at night

when she experiences panic attacks or she cries herself to sleep,

all because she gets to thinking about the afterlife,

about heaven and hell,

about what her afterlife is going to look like,

because she didn't know.

She didn't know what it's going to be,

how it's all going to turn out.

While she did her best to follow the five pillars of Islam,

like the daily prayers or fasting for Ramadan,

she did not know whether Allah would have mercy upon her

on that judgment day.

You see, in Islam, there is no assurance of salvation

because they believe that Allah alone knows

how the scales of justice will tip.

Muslims don't even know if Muhammad,

the true prophet of Allah,

the founder of the religion,

made it to heaven.

So all the student was wondering

was,

is my devotion to Allah enough?

Is my faith enough?

Am I good enough?

After reading our passage today,

are you asking the same thing?

Is Jesus requiring that we need to be

incredibly scrupulous,

no, actually even more scrupulous

in our obedience to the law

than the scribes and Pharisees

in order to make it into the kingdom of heaven?

Look at how Jesus closes the first chapter

of the Sermon on the Mount

with a daunting command.

He says,

you therefore must be perfect

as your heavenly father is perfect.

That sounds a lot like

what our Muslim friend was feeling

and thinking,

keeping her up at night.

This is an important passage

for us to properly understand.

And the interpretive key,

the crucial legend on the map

is this idea of Jesus' fulfillment,

fulfillment,

which is why our three points

of the sermon today

is all about this.

It's about how Jesus fulfilled

the scriptures,

how he fulfilled the law,

and how he fulfilled all righteousness

for those who believe.

To the praise of God's glory and grace,

to enter the kingdom of heaven,

we can find our righteousness

in Christ Jesus.

Find your righteousness

in Christ Jesus,

the fulfillment of the law and prophets.

That's the main point of my sermon today.

So before we get into the passage,

this is a good point

to remember the setting of the sermon.

Jesus has gone up the mountain,

just like Moses,

to declare God's laws

to his fellow Jews.

And the fact that they're Jews

is a really important part.

At this point in Jesus' ministry,

he's already gotten into some hot water

with the Pharisees and the scribes,

who were the conservative,

law-abiding, rule-following Jews.

And he's healed paralytics.

He's plucked grain on the Sabbath,

all big no-nos,

according to the Pharisees.

Later, Jesus is accused

of being a glutton and a drunkard,

a friend of tax collectors and sinners,

something that the clean

and pure Pharisees would never do.

But mind you,

Jesus has not broken

a single one of God's laws,

but he has broken

the man-made pharisaical ones.

So rumors about Jesus

are likely swirling around,

spreading like gangrene,

and the Jews,

they're wondering,

Jesus, you disregard the teachings

and the practices

of our religious leaders.

Is it true that you have no respect

for our laws?

You have no respect

for the teachings

of our holy prophets.

That's what the Pharisees

are saying about you.

To quell all these fears,

Jesus makes it abundantly clear

that he has not come

to abolish,

dismantle,

disregard

the law or the prophets,

which is just another phrase

to mean the entirety

of the Old Testament,

all 39 books

in our Bibles.

To this,

we can just hear

an audible,

whew,

from the Jews.

I can imagine all the Jesus fans

elbowing their Jesus-hating buddies,

right,

saying,

see, see,

he's not so bad.

He's one of us.

And indeed,

Jesus did share

much of the Jews' reverence

for the Old Testament scriptures.

He quotes from it frequently

throughout his ministry,

and he speaks about it

like it's authoritative

and reliable.

Even more so,

Jesus highlights

both the permanence

and the infallibility,

the inerrancy

of the Old Testament scriptures

in verse 18,

when he says,

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.

The law is so important

and without error

that even the smallest

of its letters,

these iotas,

these dots,

which likely refer

to the smallest of letters

in the Hebrew alphabet,

they will never pass away.

Like the dot above our English I's

or how we cross our T's,

the least stroke of a pen

of the law

will never pass away.

They will never lose

their relevance,

their truthfulness,

and their authority over us.

Until heaven and earth

pass away.

Or in other words,

when Jesus returns

for the second time.

Part of why I liked

engineering and math

as a student

was, you know,

before you get to the

higher levels,

is that there's only

one right answer

to the questions.

You either get it

completely right

or you get it

completely wrong.

It's binary.

It's two plus two

can only equal four.

But when it comes

to the arts,

when it comes

to writing,

I get frustrated

by this,

that there's no

perfect piece

of writing.

An essay

can always be adapted,

can always be edited

to be improved,

change this sentence

structure,

swap out this adjective

for a synonym.

There is no

right piece

of writing

that is

but Scripture.

Scripture.

Jesus is saying

that every word,

every letter,

every jot

and tittle

of the law

of the Bible

is just right.

Nothing needs

to be tweaked

or edited

because not even

the smallest

of its letters

will pass away.

This is the highest

endorsement

that Jesus could give

about a text.

When you publish

a book these days,

it's really important

for publishers

to get endorsements

from really important

voices in the field.

And they're plastered

on the back

of these books

saying,

this is the best book

ever,

you should read it.

This is Jesus'

highest endorsement

of the Old Testament

Scriptures.

This is how important

this book is to him.

There is no other book,

no other writing

that will stand,

that will persevere

the test of time

like these

holy scriptures.

The American Constitution

will pass away.

The Quran

will pass away.

The Book of Mormon

will pass away.

Charles Darwin's

The Origin of Species

will pass away.

Karl Marx's

Communist Manifesto

will pass away.

Surely all of our

Facebook posts

and Instagram posts

and X posts

will pass away.

Even,

as I dare say,

all sermons

and books

by a John Piper

or a Tim Keller

or Charles Spurgeon,

as helpful as they are,

they too will pass away

because they are

the words,

mere words of men.

But this book,

Holy Scripture,

without error

and full of truth,

are the very words

of God.

Isaiah 48 says,

The grass withers,

the flowers fade,

but the word

of our God

will stand forever.

There is no book

like this

in all of human history.

So if the Old Testament

is vastly important

to Jesus,

it also should be

vastly important

to us.

But,

instead,

like the Jews,

Christians,

we have historically

struggled

to appreciate

the value

of the Old Testament.

Jesus,

we like.

New Testament,

we like.

but all these

weird,

antiquated food

impurity laws,

the instructions

for building

the tabernacle,

the rules

for the sacrificial system,

we don't get.

It feels irrelevant,

feels unrelatable.

Who of us,

when we read through

the Bible in a year

and we get to the book

of Leviticus,

we honestly just groan

a little bit.

So how do we

appreciate

the Old Testament

and why

is it so important

to Jesus?

To that,

we have to look

to the end

of verse 17.

In 17,

after Jesus says

that he's not here

to abolish

the law

or the prophets,

he continues,

I have not come

to abolish them

but to fulfill them.

That audible

sigh of relief,

whew,

then turns

into a shocked gasp,

a palpable silence.

That verse

takes a turn

that you don't expect.

You would expect

Jesus to say

that if he's not

come to abolish

the law,

then he's come

to uphold it,

to honor it,

to preserve it,

something like that.

But no,

Jesus takes

a different route

altogether

when he claims

that these cosmically

waiting scripts

scriptures

that are more solid

than the very earth

we stand upon,

he fulfills.

He is fulfilling.

What exactly does

Jesus mean by this?

We find clues

throughout the book

of Matthew

because he uses

this word up to

16 times in his gospel,

the most out of all

the gospel writers.

And almost every time

that Matthew uses

this word,

fulfill,

he is pointing to the fact

that Jesus is

fulfilling a prophecy

from the Old Testament.

So in other words,

what Jesus is saying

is that all

of the Old Testament,

from the law

of Moses

to the exiled

minor prophets,

from Genesis

to Malachi,

it's all

pointing to Christ.

In the Old Testament,

God reveals himself

as the Lord,

a God merciful

and gracious,

slow to anger

and abounding

in steadfast love

and faithfulness.

We love those verses.

I love those verses.

And as you read

the Old Testament,

you read of how God

graciously promises

great blessings

to key figures

like Adam

or Abraham

or David.

To Adam,

he promises

that the seed

of the woman,

Eve,

will come

to crush

the head

of the serpent,

Satan.

To Abraham,

he promises

that through his offspring,

all the nations

of the world

will be blessed.

To David,

he promises

that a son

from his lineage

will sit

on his throne

forever.

The Jews rightly

understood

that these promises

are not predicting

a slew

of different people,

but it all pointed

to one Messiah figure,

one Savior to come,

Israel's prophet,

priest,

and king

who will conquer Satan,

who will be a conduit

of blessing

for all the world,

and who will sit

on his throne

forever.

But there's

one big problem,

one question.

By the end

of the Old Testament,

these promises

have not been

fully fulfilled.

Many partially,

yes,

but none of them

fully.

So all of the Old Testament

is about waiting.

It's about waiting

for God

to fully deliver

on his promises,

to wait for this

Messiah figure

to come.

The Jews wonder,

is it Abraham?

No,

he doesn't bless

the nations

in his lifetime.

What about Moses?

He's great,

but he isn't

even allowed

to enter

into the promised land.

Surely,

it's David.

He's a man

after God's heart,

but he falls

into grievous

sexual sin.

Time and time again,

we go through

this cycle of,

is this the one

he's showing

some promise

to the deep

disappointment

of his abject

failure

and his human

weakness?

Is God

going to bless

us

like he said

he would?

Is he really

abounding

in steadfast

love and mercy

as he declares

himself to be?

Part of reading

through the Old Testament

is for yourself

to experience

that anticipation,

that waiting.

Before becoming

parents,

I'm sad to admit

that there have

been way too many

times where my

wife,

Christine,

she'll be

relaxing,

and she'll be

watching a movie

or a TV show

on her own,

and I'll want

to join halfway

in because I want

a break from

seminary work

or whatever I'm

doing.

So,

as I do,

I annoyingly ask

her to pause

the movie

and to explain

everything that's

gone on,

to explain the

plot,

who's this,

what did he do

to that character,

and nine times

out of ten,

she will graciously

give me a patient,

detailed answer,

here.

I'll leave you

guessing what

happens at one

other time,

but as I watch

along,

I notice something

interesting as the

movie progresses

to its emotional

climax.

I notice I'm not

really feeling

anything.

I'm not really

into it.

I'm not longing

for the hero

to return.

I'm not heartbroken

when he's betrayed

or relieved

when good prevails.

And it's not that I

don't know what's

going on.

Christine lovingly,

patiently told me,

but it's that I

haven't spent the

time with these

characters to learn

their story.

Just mere

information,

just mere

knowledge transfer

doesn't suffice to

feel the full weight

of the story.

And likewise,

we need to read

our Old

Testaments to

feel the full

weight of the

biblical story,

of the entire

biblical timeline.

But if we know

the long waiting

of the Old

Testament,

you know what

happens?

Joy springs up

when we read

passages like

2 Corinthians 1

that all the

promises of God

find their yes

in Christ.

Christ,

our Messiah,

has finally come

to fulfill every

single one of

these open

promises.

All our waiting

is over.

That's exactly

why theologian

B.B.

Warfield has

said that the

Old Testament

is like a

chamber richly

furnished,

but dimly

lighted.

The Old

Testament has

all the ornate

furniture,

it has all the

original expensive

paintings,

but without the

light of Christ,

we are blind to

see and appreciate

the beauty of the

Old Testament.

And what is the

result then of

seeing that

beauty?

Seeing how the

law and the

prophets point

to Jesus.

In Luke 24,

we read of how

the resurrected

Jesus on the

road to Emmaus,

he opened up the

scriptures to two

of his disciples

and he showed

them their true

meaning,

their true beauty

as they all

pointed to

himself.

And what did

the disciples say

to them,

to one another?

They said,

did not our

hearts burn

within us

while he opened

to us the

scriptures?

Did not our

hearts burn

God?

May our hearts

burn within

us when we

do read Hosea

or Ecclesiastes

or the Psalms

because they all

point to Christ,

our Savior,

the lover of our

souls.

Yes,

even Leviticus

because Jesus

fulfills the law

of Moses,

which brings me to

my second point.

Reading on in our

passage,

Jesus says in

verse 19,

therefore,

whoever relaxes

one of the least

of these commands

and teaches others

to do the same

will be called

least in the

kingdom of heaven.

Whoever does

them and teaches

them will be

called great

in the kingdom

of heaven.

Again,

remember that

Jesus is speaking

to this accusation

that he is a

false teacher

who just spits

upon the law.

And to that

charge,

Jesus is

clarifying that

he is not an

antinomian,

he is not

anti-law.

In fact,

he teaches

that whoever

relaxes one

of the least

of these commands

in the Mosaic

law will be

least in the

kingdom of heaven.

There is a

strong similarity

in the original

Greek between

this word relax

in verse 19

and the word

abolish in verse 17,

hinting that

there is a

connection there.

So if Jesus

did not abolish

the law,

not even the

least of these

commands,

then neither

can we.

He also makes

a connection

to verse 18.

He's saying

that if the

smallest of

these letters

are that

weighty,

aren't as

permanent as

the very

earth we

stand upon,

then we

also ought

to obey

the smallest

of these

commands.

The small

letters and

the small

commands are

all important

to Jesus.

What are

these small

commands?

I think

Matthew 23

is a good

hint.

Sean read

this passage

recently for

one of his

sermons for

the Beatitudes

where Jesus

is rebuking

the scribes

and the

Pharisees for

their obsession

to obey the

smaller ceremonial

purity laws

while neglecting

the weightier

moral ones.

He says,

according to

Jewish tradition,

there are

613 commands

in the law

of Moses.

613.

So if Jesus

is saying

that we

need to

do and

teach

the smaller

ceremonial

laws,

do we now

need to

obey all

613 commands?

Do we need

to go home

and rummage

through our

fridges and

throw out all

our bacon

and pork

belly?

Do we have

to get

ourselves and

our male

sons circumcised?

Do we have

to start

slaughtering

some animals?

See,

the key to

understanding

this verse

is still

the idea

of Jesus'

fulfillment

of the law.

Romans 10.4

says that

for Christ

is the end,

which means

that he's both

the goal

and the purpose

and the terminus.

I'll explain

what this means

later.

Christ is the

end of the law

for righteousness

to everyone

who believes.

in other

words,

the law

is like

a big

old arrow

sign

that was

pointing

to Christ

all along

and it

did so

in many

ways.

When the

law demands

holiness

and purity

in the

ceremonial

laws,

justice

and integrity

in the

judicial

laws,

love of

God and

worship of

him in

the moral

laws,

it exposes

our sin.

It exposes

that we need

external help

for a savior.

It's been

pointing to

our savior,

Jesus Christ.

The Mosaic

Law's

insufficient

animal

sacrificial

system,

it's been

pointing all

along to

the final

once for

all sacrifice

of our

Passover lamb,

Jesus Christ.

The Levitical

priesthood

pointing to

our need

for an

intercessor

between God

and man,

pointing to

the great

high priest,

Jesus Christ.

the righteous

law of

God points

to what

kind of

life the

perfect,

sinless

Christ would

live.

It predicted

how he

would act

and think.

In that sense,

the law

was like

this traced,

dotted

outline of

a man that

Christ came

to step

into and

it fit him

perfectly.

In this sense,

Christ was

always the

end goal,

the purpose

of the

law.

So once

Christ came

and fulfilled

the law,

while the

law was,

is,

and will

be the

inerrant,

reliable,

truthful,

normative

word of

God until

heaven and

earth pass

away,

we just

talked about

that,

the role

of the

law nonetheless

has changed.

It's similar

to how Paul

says later

in Galatians

3 that as

kids we

sometimes had

babysitters,

maybe we

sometimes still

have

babysitters,

but if

we're good,

we listen

to our

babysitters.

We did

what she

told us

to do

it when

she told

us to

do it.

But then

when our

parents come

home,

there's a

dynamic

shift in

roles.

We listen

to our

parents over

our

babysitters.

To listen

to your

temporary

guardians

over your

parents who

have full

authority over

you is

then an

act of

defiance.

When

Jesus came,

he brought

the law's

role as

our

guardian,

our

temporary

guardians to

completion,

to its

terminus.

And the

entirety of

the Mosaic

law and

the Old

Covenant,

it passed

on, all

613

commands.

But again,

this by no

means signifies

that Jesus

is anti-law.

In fact,

the New

Testament has

even more

commands than

the Old

Testament.

Did you

know that?

So instead

of the law

of Moses,

we are now

under the

law of

Christ.

We are not

slaves to

sin, but we

are slaves to

righteousness.

Christians

must obey

Christ and

his commands

because obedience

really matters

to Jesus.

We are

saved by

faith alone

and not by

our works,

yes, but

there is not

a single

line, not

a single

command in

Scripture that

we should have

a dismissive

cavalier attitude

towards.

It's a simple

point, but one

to really

consider.

Friends, is

the posture

of your heart

to take

every single

one of God's

commands

seriously?

Do you

orient your

life around

what Jesus

tells you

to do?

Or are

there things

that you know

that Jesus

is calling

you to do

that you

are ignoring,

you're taking

lightly?

If so,

this is a

sober wake

of call.

you are

playing with

fire and

you will,

if you

haven't

already,

you will

get burned.

But if we

do take

seriously the

commands of

this book,

of God's

laws, as I

know that many

of you

faithful do

in this

church,

we also

fulfill the

least of

these commands

in the

old covenant.

For the law

of Christ

compared to

the law of

Moses,

does not

lower, but

it raises

the standard

of righteousness,

of obedience.

And this is

really, really

key to

understanding

this particular

verse.

So let's

look at some

examples to

explain what I

mean.

In the very

next passages,

in the rest of

chapter 5,

we're going to

preach on soon,

Jesus reinterprets

the law and

pronounces his

higher standard

of obedience.

For example,

in the very

next passage,

after today's,

Jesus says that

you have heard

that it was

said, you

shall not

murder, but

I say to

you, you

shall not be

angry with

a brother.

That's a

quick paraphrase.

Jesus declares

that it's not

simply enough

just not to

murder, but

we can't even

be angry with

one another.

Do you see

how if we

fulfill the

true meaning

of the law,

Jesus'

interpretation

of the law

that we

will automatically

then fulfill

the least

commands in

the Mosaic

law?

If we can't

even be angry

with one

another, how

would we

even ever

get to the

point of

murdering

one another?

Let's keep

going.

We already

read in

Matthew 23,

23, where

Jesus rebukes

the Pharisees

for carefully

tithing their

herbs and

spices.

They would

carefully weigh

out these

tiny seeds

and tiny

leaves,

saying,

nine for

me, one

for God.

Nine for

me, one

for God.

But Jesus

expands this

command, not

by continuing

this practice

of tithing for

new covenant

believers.

Not saying

that we give

to God 10%,

but we have

to give to

God 100%.

Everything that

we own belongs

to him.

We are not

to store a

single treasure

here on

earth.

We are not

to be motivated

by storing up

money here

on earth.

We can't

serve both

God and

money.

What about

the food

laws?

The Mosaic

law prohibits

the consumption

of foods like

pork or

shellfish.

To that,

Jesus says

that we

don't have

to follow

these food

laws anymore

because it's

not what

goes into

the mouth

that defiles

a person.

So you

bacon lovers,

you oyster

connoisseurs,

you are free

to eat.

But right

after he

allows the

consumption

of these

unclean

foods,

he again

raises the

bar for

obedience.

He says

that it's

not what

goes into

the mouth,

but what

comes out

of the

mouth,

out of

our hearts

that defiles

us.

And in

terms of

what an

easier law

is,

the Mosaic

food law

is way,

way easier.

It is so

much easier

to cut out

bacon or

oysters from

our diet

than it

is to

prevent

evil

thoughts,

anger,

lust,

greed,

and envy

from bubbling

up in our

hearts and

coming out

through our

mouths.

You see,

Jesus is

expounding

upon the

true meaning

of the

law.

And the

law was

always

pointing to

the need

for more

than external

conformity

to a set

of rules.

It's always

pointing to

more than

external

obedience.

He's been

wanting

internal

transformation

and purity.

That's

precisely

why Jesus

says in

verse 20,

for I

tell you,

unless your

righteousness

exceeds that

of the

scribes

and Pharisees,

you will

never

enter the

kingdom

of heaven.

Jesus

drops this

second bomb

on them

now.

There was

a Jewish

saying back

then that

if two

people went

to heaven,

one would

be a

scribe

and the

other a

Pharisee.

To this

statement,

the listening

Jews must

have been

flabbergasted,

thinking the

scribes and

Pharisees

aren't making

it.

They're the

best of us.

What hope

do I have?

But actually,

as we'll see

later on in

Matthew,

many, many

times,

Jesus rebukes

the scribes

and Pharisees

because they

only put on

a mere

facade

of righteousness.

righteousness.

And even

for us

today,

it is so

easy to

get caught

up in

the external

show,

is it not?

It's in

our nature

to be easily

impressed,

to be made

insecure by

what other

people are

doing,

by what

they can

do in

their own

strength.

And in

one sense,

man can

seemingly

do a lot.

Take the

example of

Rudolph

Bultman,

who was a

famous

theologian.

who had a

major,

major impact

on the

course of

church history.

There are

only a

handful of

men that

fit that

description.

And he

intimately

knew the

scriptures,

so much

so that

if you

asked him

to recite

any

random

verse

in the

New

Testament,

he would

tell it

to you.

In

Greek,

in the

original

Greek.

Ask him

what

Jude 6

is,

and he'd

tell it

to you.

Ask him

what

John 3

tan is,

and he'd

tell it

to you.

Can you

imagine

knowing

God's

precious

word that

intimately?

Imagine

waking up

for your

morning

devotionals,

and you

just sit

there,

and you

remember

the whole

chapter

you're

supposed

to read.

Based

on that,

you might

think that

he was

one of

the most

faithful

of us,

that he

is the

best

of us,

but

barring

last-minute

conversions,

I think

I can

confidently

say that

Rudolf

Bauman

won't

be

dining

with

us

at

the

wedding

supper

in

heaven.

Because

although

he knew

the

scriptures

probably

more than

any

of us,

he didn't

believe

in them.

It's

really

quite

sad.

He had

a major

impact

on the

course

of

church

history

negatively

when he

pioneered

this idea

of

demythologizing

the Bible.

Basically

meant that

anything

supernatural

he just

threw out.

So

creation,

the

incarnation,

the

resurrection,

all

myths.

In the

end,

Jesus is

neutered

to be

just

a nice

guy,

a good

man

to model

our lives

after.

Instead

of

Emmanuel,

God

with us,

God

incarnate

come to

save the

world

from our

sins.

It's

not enough

to merely

know some

Bible

or some

theology

externally

obeyed

some rules

to look

all nice

and pretty

on the

outside.

No one,

no one

will fool

God

with empty

works of

righteousness

if there's

no faith,

there's no

love in

them.

For the

Lord sees

not as

man sees.

Man looks

on the

outward

appearance,

but the

Lord looks

on the

heart.

Christ is

looking for

those who

are righteous,

not just on

the outside,

but on

the inside

too.

But if

the Jews

are feeling

a little

squirmish,

feeling nervous

because the

Pharisees

aren't

making it,

what about

us?

If Jesus

did not

lower the

bar,

but he

raised the

bar and

the standard

of obedience,

if the law

of Christ

is not

less but

more demanding

than the

law of

Moses,

how can

we possibly

make it

into the

kingdom of

heaven?

If we

need to

be perfect

as our

heavenly

father is

perfect,

who by

their own

sheer willpower

could possibly

conjure up

this kind

of righteousness.

Martin Luther,

the reformer,

he tried

this.

As a monk

before his

reforming days,

he woke up

at 3.30

a.m.

every day

to pray.

He fasted

for days

on end.

And he

punished his

body so

severely that

he permanently

damaged his

digestive system.

Celibate by

choice to

devote himself

to scrupulous

rule following,

he obsessively

confessed every

little sin to

his confessor.

Mind you,

he's still Roman

Catholic at

this point.

And he'd do

this for up

to six hours

a day.

Can you

imagine?

It's all

because he

was terrified

that he

might have

overlooked

some little

sin.

He would

confess

everything

that he

remembers,

he would

remember,

and that he

would leave,

and that he

would just

come rushing

back,

running back,

because he

realized he

forgot some

other little

foible,

some other

little sin.

His confessor,

the one who

was hearing,

had to sit

for six hours

hearing all

this,

he once got

so annoyed

that he

told Martin,

look here,

if you're

going to

confess so

much,

why don't

you go

and do

something

worthy of

confessing?

Kill your

mother or