Righteousness Fulfilled

Matthew  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  46:26
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The righteous are those that display the glory of the kingdom of heaven while on earth. Righteousness is the requirement to inherit the kingdom. 1 Cor. 6:9 “9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,”
Speaking on Matthews kingdom ethics and the righteousness that characterizes kingdom citizens, Kostenberger says they...
“must be undergirded by a heartfelt hunger and thirst for righteousness - a purity of heart that longs to fulfill the deeper, underlying intent of the various constituent portions of the law.”
The law is never the vehicle for our righteousness
Galatians 3:18 “18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.”

Abolish or Fulfill?

“abolish” - to annul, officially declare invalid or inapplicable, demolish
Law - Torah (set of instructions), Pentateuch, first 5
Prophets - rest of the OT
“fulfill” Kostenberger points out that Jesus is not here to uphold, but to fulfill, satisfy
the law is pointing forward to Jesus to live it and reveal it
Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
John 6:14 ESV
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”
Acts 3:18–23 ESV
18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
John 5:46–47 ESV
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
He completes or fulfills the law
The Mosaic Law was largely used to communicate to a nation-state, revealing what righteousness looked like as God’s chosen nation, even making restitution for hard hearts. After Jesus inaugurated the new Kingdom community and imparted His Spirit within them, we now have the ability to live according to righteousness from a pure heart in a broader and deeper application of the Ten Commandments.
Matthew presents Jesus as the greater Moses who goes up on the mountain (5:1) to give deeper meaning and application to the law. Some scholars suggest that Matthew organizes his gospel in 5 discourses, mirroring the 5 books of the Law. This sermon reveals that righteousness is more deep seated than external law abiding.

. י

the law is not out of use until the kingdom is fully actualized and God’s people are glorified, completely holy
righteousness is always required for the kingdom
Luke 16:17 ESV
17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.
Matthew 24:35 ESV
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
accomplished
the Messiah fulfills God’s will. The will of God is that His people be made holy 1 Thess. 4:3 “3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;” Therefore He fulfills that and keeps them in that until their glorification where they will dwell forever in the presence of the living God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Romans 8:1-4 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Can I break the law just a little?

the idea here is that some are untying the law from obligation or from the conscience, in the sense that complete righteousness is required.
looking for a complete and perfect righteousness requires us to look outside of ourselves and unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith
in the sense that we now have His Holy Spirit within us we become, as James says, doers of the word and not hearers only
Ezra 7:10 ESV
10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Exceedingly Righteous

exceeds - abundant or plentiful
their righteousness doesnt cut it
Matthew 23:3-7 “3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.”
Matthew 23:27 ESV
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
“mere external compliance which does not arise from purity of heart and a genuine, heartfelt hunger and thirst for righteousness will inexorably (ultimately) result in hypocrisy, as in the case of the scribes and Pharisees - religious exercises whose external facade betrays a lack of inner devotion to God and is thus schizophrenic, disingenuous, and ultimately deceptive. “
true faith trusts God who sees in secrets will reward
Matthew 6:33 ESV
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
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