Sermon on the Mount - The Heart of the Law - Matthew 5:17-20 Pastor Daniel Reese

Well, good morning.

If you have your Bibles, Matthew chapter five is what we're going to be.

Y'all look good in your camo.

I like how we can just throw something out there and y'all just get on board.

So in honor of a wild game, we're wearing camo this week.

Next week we're going to be wearing leather.

So wear your favorite leather pants.

Favorite cowhide, deer skin, whatever it is, just that's the plan.

Just kidding, please don't show up in leather pants.

Please don't show up in leather pants.

We are now in week three of our series of going through the Sermon on the Mount.

We know and we learned from verse one that Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds

that were following him and he wanted to take some time and spend some time with his disciples.

Because there could have been some confusion on their part as to what it meant to be his

follower.

They could have thought that Jesus came, only came to heal people and to draw a large crowd

because that's what they had seen him doing.

There was probably still some thoughts in their heads that Jesus came to overthrow the government

and establish his own kingdom here on this earth.

From what we know so far in the ministry of Jesus, this is the first time that he actually

sat down and he gave his disciples some hard teaching.

Throughout the sermon, Jesus is going to teach against what they believe to be true.

He's going to begin to open their eyes as to why he came to this earth.

If you read this sermon correctly and you put yourself in the position of those who

are hearing it, I believe that this was going to be extremely offensive to them because

this goes against their way of thinking.

It's going against their way of living and that's where we are.

So this morning we are going to look at the first of some of the hard truths that Jesus

preaches in this sermon.

This is the first time he's really presenting a difficult idea to his disciples and so that's

where we're going to be this morning.

I'm going to invite Elevet up here this morning.

She's going to read from chapter 5 verses 17 through 20.

If you are able, we'd invite you to stand as we honor the Lord's word together.

Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

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

pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Therefore, whoever relaxes in one of these least 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 of the scribes and Pharisees, you will

never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Amen.

I pray, Father, we thank you for Elevet again.

Just thank you for her willingness to read your word, her boldness to read your word

in this place.

And I pray that you bless her for it.

God, as we look at your law, as we look at the words of Jesus, I pray that those seep

into our hearts.

I pray you'll speak to us.

We ask all these things.

In your name, amen.

Thanks, Elevet.

Now, before we dive into this passage, we need to understand a couple things.

We need to understand what Jesus was referring to, because this is one of those topics where

skeptics will say is the reason that they can't believe the Bible to be true.

This is one of the supposed contradictions that people look for in the Word of God.

Jesus says in verse 17, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

And I'm convinced that Christ stated this specifically for all of those well-intentioned

people who are forever saying, I'm not under the law.

I'm under grace.

And somehow, there are those who have gotten this idea in their heads that Christ stamped

the Old Testament with a big red stamp and red letters that say, null and void.

And we have drawn the faulty conclusion that the Old Testament no longer matters, that

the Old Testament no longer applies, and that the Old Testament is just a collection of

historical books.

Well, except for the Ten Commandments.

Most of us would let those stand, at least the two big ones, like murder and adultery.

And yet Christ plainly said, I have not come to abolish the law.

I've come to fulfill it.

And so can these words really be coming out of the mouth of Christ?

Because Paul says in Romans chapter 10 that Christ is the end of the law.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

And so this is where skeptics start believing that there's contradictions in the Bible.

I mean, after all, Christ was executed for breaking the law.

He didn't follow the prescribed hand washings.

He healed on the Sabbath.

He picked grain on the Sabbath.

And yet here he speaks about the law with as much reverence as any scribe or Pharisee.

So here's what we need to know.

When Jesus is speaking about the law, he's referring to the entire Old Testament.

Now the Jews often break down the Old Testament into three different sections.

The first is the first five books of the Bible.

They call that the law.

And we have the prophets, which consist of both the major prophets and minor prophets.

And then there are books that they call the writings, which include the historical writings

and the books of wisdom.

The first thing we need to understand when Jesus says it in come to abolish the law,

but fulfill the laws, we need to understand that word fulfill.

It's a word that means to fill up.

It's a word that means to make complete.

So in other words, Jesus came to this earth to make the Old Testament law, to make the

prophets complete.

Without Jesus, the law could not be complete.

Let's see why that is.

So first of all, let's briefly look at the idea that Jesus came to fulfill the prophets.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus literally fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament.

From his virgin birth to his resurrection were prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled

exactly and completely by Jesus.

Now, now that one seems pretty obvious, but how did Jesus fulfill the law?

And how does this relate to Paul's assertion that we have been released from the law?

That's a little bit more, more difficult of a question to answer.

Some Bible scholars have suggested that the law can be divided into three different classifications.

We have the moral law, which is the principles of right and wrong in the conduct of life.

That's like, think of the Ten Commandments.

Then we have the ceremonial law, which is instructions for worship, including the design

of the tabernacle and instructions for sacrifices.

And then you have the civil law or the social law that's rules that govern the social, political,

economic life for the nation of Israel.

Rules about their diet and sanitation, farming and dead and things like that.

And so I think it's quite helpful to use those classifications in order to understand what

Jesus was talking about when he said, I came to fulfill the law.

I think it's also helpful for us in understanding how the Old Testament law applies to us today.

However, we need to be careful not to take this too far, since it does not appear that

the Bible makes a clear distinction between these classifications.

We don't want to elevate them.

In fact, some, and maybe even much of the Old Testament, could fit into two or three categories.

But clearly we see how Jesus fulfilled the moral law.

He came to this earth.

He lived a sinless life.

He observed all of the commandments perfectly, the requirements that were given in the law

to be justified before God had never been able to be accomplished until Jesus walked

on the earth.

He fulfilled the moral law.

He also fulfilled the ceremonial law.

All of the ceremonial law, all the instructions on worship, all the instructions on sacrifice

were designed to point to Jesus Christ.

His death and resurrection put an end to the need for further sacrifice, because Jesus

took all of our sin upon him when he died on the cross.

All the blood that was spilled was finally no longer necessary for the people's sins

to be forgiven.

Jesus also fulfilled the social law.

Now, originally, the social law was given to the people of Israel when they lived in

the theocracy.

The people were governed by God, and he passed down the rules to live through Moses.

When Jesus fulfilled the social law, he replaced it with a new way of life that is appropriate

for the new life he is given to us as believers.

But rather than the letter of the law, he gives us the Holy Spirit that we might live

according to the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.

It is a law that makes provisions for the inner man.

Then Jesus moves on to verse 18.

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.

Now there are those who have said that this sounds so unlike Christ that he could not have

possibly said it.

There's a growing movement out there that implied that maybe Matthew invented the saying

himself and attributed it to Christ.

Well in order to properly understand what Christ said, it would help if we knew what

Christ was saying.

First what was or what is the law.

We've already said that the law that Christ was referring to was the Old Testament.

That's what Christ said wouldn't pass away.

But there's also in Jewish thought there's a fourth meaning of the law, which was the

oral law and the scribal law.

We have to understand this in order to understand that there's not contradictions in the Bible.

The oral and the scribal law is the law that Christ and Paul both attacked.

In the Old Testament, there's very few rules and regulations, but of many great principles.

But to the rabbis, that's not enough.

They would say that if it wasn't there explicitly, then it must be there implicitly.

And so out of the law, the rabbis said it must be possible to deduce a rule for everything.

For example, a great Old Testament principle in God's law is remember the Sabbath and keep

it holy.

It's not a detailed commandment, and so the religious teachers ask, okay, remember the

Sabbath and keep it holy.

How do we keep the Sabbath holy?

Well, by not working.

Okay, but what is work?

Okay, let's define that.

Okay, work is to carry a burden.

Okay, now we've got to define a burden.

What's a burden?

And this is how they define it.

Less than a burden is food equal to a dried fig, enough wine to fill a goblet, milk enough

for one swallow, honey enough to put on a wound, and enough oil to anoint a small member.

So if you carry or use more than any of those things, you are in violation of the Jewish

law.

So to a Pharisee or a scribe, the Jewish law consisted of not just the Old Testament,

but also the Mishnah and the Talmud.

Now the scribe law or the Mishnah is 800 pages long.

That's a lot of rules.

The Talmud is 72 volumes.

That is not the law that Jesus was referring to.

When Jesus says that not one dot will be removed from the law, he was not referring to Jewish

commentary and Jewish traditions.

Now put yourself in the disciples position.

Imagine how offensive that could have been.

This idea was to a practicing Jew.

Even to this day, there is a dedication to the Jewish law outside the Old Testament.

If you were to ever go to Israel and you were to spend a week there, on Saturday, many Jews

will stay at a hotel on Friday so that they don't have to do any work, so that they can

honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Now it's okay for other Jews to serve them, and it's okay for other Jews to break the

Sabbath, but for them, they're going to go to hotel and be served.

You don't want to take a certain elevator on the Sabbath, which they call Shabbat.

They have a Shabbat elevator.

So imagine staying in a 20, 30-story hotel room, and you go in the Shabbat elevator because

it would be work to push the button stops at every single floor.

You don't want to get on that elevator.

So what happens is you get on your own elevator, and the Jews will come, sneak in there, and

ask you to push the button for them so they don't have to do every floor.

You should see their face when you tell them, no, I'm not going to do that.

Now that might seem ridiculous, and we laugh about it, and that can't be any fun to live

their life that way, but what about us?

What about us today?

How many people leave churches because they stop doing what they believe should be law?

The church I was growing up at, growing up, had some serious issues with stuff like this.

It's a true story, we had just remodeled our sanctuary, took about a year, year and a half

to remodel this thing.

We remodeled it, and part of that remodel was a lift, was installing a lift that would

raise the piano from the ground floor up to the stage if needed.

One Sunday morning our worship leader decided to lift the piano and roll it into the center

of the stage.

He would have thought that he burned the Bible in the middle of a worship service.

It was so offensive to people that they left the church because the piano has been there

for 30 years.

You don't touch the piano.

Did he violate any scripture by bringing it onto the stage?

Did he become less reverent as he led us in worship of the Lord?

No, no.

But the piano is supposed to be on the left side of the stage and they couldn't get over

it.

The Ten Commandments are a summation of the law in the Old Testament.

Those Ten can be summed up by saying that they are commanded us to respect and show

reverence to God and are supposed to respect and show reverence to our fellow man.

The Greek word used here means to level up to the top, to finish something.

Christ did not come to destroy the law.

That's what he said.

God had been speaking to his people for 4,000 years.

He wasn't about to say, oops, I've changed my mind now.

That's not what's going on.

And that's why Christ said this in verse 19, therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least

of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the

kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom

of heaven.

Christ wants us to know that he's not changing the rules in the middle of the game.

Now the first thing that we need to recognize is that the law is necessary.

We have to understand that.

And the second thing is that the Christian is not exempt from the law simply because

he's a Christian.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, he says, everything is permissible for me,

1 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

not everything is beneficial.

Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

We have the power to do all things because Christ has the power to forgive all things,

but we need to be careful not to let that mindset in.

Now, keeping the law applies to the laws of the land as well as to the laws of God.

And if you don't agree with them, then you have every right to break them.

The society has every right to punish you for it.

In a word, we talked about this last week, A, the Christian preserves the world order

against decay by keeping the laws of the land.

If the laws are unjust, he may break them, but that doesn't mean that he is freed from

paying the price for breaking them.

However, just being legal is not enough.

The motive under the scribes and Pharisees lived was just simply to satisfy the law.

Everything they did was aimed at following the law.

Theoretically, a person could say, I have done all that is required by the law.

The difference though is the Christian, our motive is not the law, our motive should be

love.

We seek to satisfy God, not so that we have fulfilled the law, but because we love God.

We obey the law because we love God.

For the religious leaders of Christ's day, the scribes and the Pharisees, their aim was

to satisfy the law of God.

The Christians' aim is to show his gratitude for the love of God.

Christ set before the Christian.

He set before you and me, not the law of God, but the love of God.

The truth is when you love God, then you don't do what you want.

You'll do what he wants.

When we see the love of God that he sets before us, we seek to answer that love with a reciprocal

love.

That's why Jesus said in John 14 and 15, if you love me, you will obey what I command.

If you love me, you will obey what I command.

If you what?

If you respect me as a great teacher, no?

If you acknowledge me as God, no?

Jesus said you'll obey me if you love me.

Respect and fear will only take you so far.

It'll be love that takes you the rest of the truth.

Now I want us to notice this little verse because if you want to be considered least

in the kingdom of God, you will make sure that you don't take these things seriously,

and you'll make sure that you lead others to do the same.

Jesus summarizes the law by saying that the greatest commandment is to love God.

The second one is like it, to love people.

The ceremonial law, the civic law, the first five books can be summarized by those two

saints according to Jesus, love God and love people, that they all have to do with how we

approach God and how we approach others.

Do your actions and your words show that you love God and you love others.

Now as you know I have four children which has proven to be a pretty heavy responsibility.

Not only are we responsible for keeping them alive by feeding them and getting them to

the doctor when necessary, there's all these other things that are part of being a parent.

We have to get them to where they need to be.

We need to make sure that we're at their activity so that they know they're loved and we're

there to support them.

My life is consumed by my children.

Now most days I wouldn't have it any other way, but as parents you know some days you

just need to take a nap, right?

But on top of all that responsibility of just getting them through life and getting them

out of my house, on top of all of that responsibility I have this command from God to train our children

in the way they should go.

I am to be diligent in teaching them the commands of God.

I am to train them in the ways of God and I'm to do all of that in a way that does not discourage

them, that doesn't lead them to becoming discouraged.

That has proven to be a lot more difficult than making sure they get to practice on time.

It's my responsibility to teach my children that it is better to be considered great in

the kingdom of God than it is to be considered great on a stage or a field.

Now I want my kids to do great at whatever they do, but not at the expense of their soul.

So we have taught them and we continuously teach them that worship of the Lord takes priority

over everything else that we do.

Worship of the Lord takes priority over everything else that we do.

Now on some days that's not the most popular decision, but I am to be diligent in talking

them through it.

I am to be diligent in standing firm in what I know is best for them according to the scriptures.

I'm also to walk them through times when they're not loving others well.

The other day one of my kids got in some trouble at school.

One major but nonetheless spent some time in the principal's office.

Now I would blame Sina for that, but I think the only time she was ever in the principal's

office was when she was getting an award for being kind to everybody.

So it's probably on me.

I've accepted that.

Well my kids' response to getting in trouble was to send an email to the teacher and the

principal explaining the situation from their point of view.

I'm all for that.

I'm all for it.

However, I wanted to read the email before it got sent.

And as I read it, I could tell from the first two sentences a couple things.

Number one, need to spend some more time in the English class.

Number two, it wasn't loving.

It was defensive.

It was accusatory.

So we had to talk about how best to show love while at the same time standing up for yourself.

I want to be diligent in teaching those things to my children.

We are to love God and love others.

And if we don't, we might be considered great in our circles.

We might be considered great in business, but you won't be considered great in His kingdom.

Do you have an attitude that wants to reflect the love that you have for God and the love

that you have for others?

Does your behavior reflect that you love God and you love others?

Do your priorities show the world that you love God and you love others?

In verse 20, Christ states something that's pretty scary because it's here that He tells

His followers, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

That's a pretty heavy phrase.

After all, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were committed to obeying every

aspect of the law, no matter how minute.

I doubt very, very much if there are very many Christians who in practice come even

close to the righteousness of these men.

However, I trust that our motive, our righteousness will outshine that of even the Pharisees.

You see, again, we have to go beyond the law and not just meet it, but fulfill it to cram

it full of the love of God.

I hope that we can see beyond the law.

I hope that we can see people and I hope that we can see beyond our own righteousness to

our reason for trying to be righteous, and that is our love for Christ.

Jesus tells us a story in Luke 18.

He says this in verse 9.

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and

treated others with contempt.

Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee standing by himself prayed this, God, I thank you that I am not like other

men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I get.

But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat

his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Which church would you rather be a part of?

A church filled with people who look down on others because they feel morally superior,

or a church full of people who come in understanding that they are sinners in need of mercy.

I've been in, I've been a part of churches where people come and they open up about their

sin and they're not welcome.

They're talked about, they're looked down on, they're criticized because of how they're

acting, they're criticized because of the mistakes of their past.

And I know some people who have experienced that type of hurt that never want to walk

inside a church again, I'm sure you do too.

One of the biggest oxymorons there is, is an arrogant Christian.

Maybe you're better than me.

And you're nailing the rules, and you're nailing the law, and you never struggle to keep the

commands of God.

You never have a bad thought.

You handle all of your anger righteously.

You never once look at somebody else's stuff and say, man, it'd be nice to have that.

I'm for sure not there.

I wrestle with my flesh every single day.

And so I know, I have no shot at being more righteously outwardly than any of the Pharisees.

I am unable to fulfill the law I rely on the one who did.

The law's purpose is to reveal the brokenness of the world because of sin.

It's like an x-ray.

It reveals where all of the fractures are.

So I can take just the 10 commandments and realize that I am broken because I have worshiped

other things before God.

I can take the 10 commandments and realize I'm broken because I have not been the best

throughout my life and honoring my parents.

I realize I am broken because I've looked at some things that aren't mine and wished

I had them.

And so because I see the brokenness that the law has revealed in my life, I can sit here

and beat my chest unworthy and ask God for mercy because I'm a sinner.

I can point to the one who not only fulfilled the law but paid the punishment that I deserve.

Do you want to go home justified today?

Jesus says, humble yourself before him.

Confess that you are a sinner.

Thank him for fulfilling the law that you are unable to.

Call upon his name to save you.

Call upon his name to forgive you.

If you want to leave here unchanged and just another notch on your spiritual journey, if

you want to leave here unchanged, then do not look in the mirror and make sure that you

look around this room and dwell on all the things that others have done wrong to you.

If you want to leave here unchanged, make sure you do that.

The law is a heavy burden that you and I can't carry.

That's why Jesus had to come fulfill it.

This isn't one of those fun kumbaya types of texts.

And so we have to do something with it.

And so here in just a minute I'm going to pray and we're going to invite the worship

team to come lead us in worship and we can finish out this service real easy and just

sing the song and act spiritual and then walk out of here unchanged or we can sit here and

beat our chests and call ourselves the sinners that we are and ask God for mercy.

Those who do that are the ones who are justified.

Maybe you are more or less superior than I am, most of you probably are.

That's why I'm so grateful that he fulfilled the law that I couldn't do.

So I'm going to pray for us.

I'm going to ask the worship team to come lead us in worship and we're just going to

see how the Lord moves in our hearts today.

Father, thank you for your word.

Thank you for fulfilling it.

Thank you for completing it.

God, I pray the cornerstone will be known as a group of people that cry out for mercy.

That see our need for a savior that obey you because we love you.

Not because it gets us salvation, not because it earns us any sort of favor, but we obey

you because we love you.

So Father, I pray that you will move in this place.

I pray that your spirit will fill it.

I pray that you will convict us.

I pray that you will break any spirit of rebellion.

I pray that you will humble us.

So we give you this time.

Ask you to move.

Your name is pray.

Thank you.