The Warning of the Kingdom 2

Matthew 5:17–20 KJV 1900

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus spoke of the Supremacy of Scripture.

Think not!

I am come to destroy, but to fulfill.

The Moral law - which applied to everyone.

The Judicial or Civil law - Was designed for Israel as nation to show how Israel was to live with each other and the nations around them. They had certain dietary laws, certain laws of dress, of agriculture, laws within their relationships with certain things they had to do. These set them apart.

God’s people are no longer located in a race of people, but rather under the umbrella of God’s authority and sovereign rule.

The Ceremonial law - was designed as a means of Israel’s worship of God; restoring relationship and interact with God through the sacrifices.

The judicial element has passed away since Israel has been set aside for the time. The ceremonial element has passed away since Christ has performed the final sacrifice. But behind all of that was God’s moral law, and in no way has God ever changed His moral standards.

Testify!

Christ fulfilled the Old Testament.

How do we testify the validity of scripture?

Receive it as the Word of God!

Honor it as the Word of God!

Study it as the Word of God!

Defend it as the Word of God!

Proclaim it as the Word of God!

The Stability of the Law.

Matthew 5:18 KJV 1900

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

For verily = amen =

Sola Scriptura, or “God’s Word alone,” maintains that the Bible is the highest source of authority in a Christian’s life, the final court of appeal (though not the only authority: the Bible itself mentions governmental and other authorities).

Sola fide, or “faith alone,” affirms that justification—being made right with God—comes only through faith in Jesus.

Sola gratia, or “grace alone,” says sinners are saved as an unearned gift of God’s grace, “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8–9).

Sola Christo (“solus Christus”), or “Christ alone,” emphasizes the exclusivity of Jesus’ role in salvation: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

And soli Deo gloria, or “to the glory of God alone,” says that the purpose of creation, salvation, and everything—including our goal as Christians—is the glory of God, “that God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).

Scripture is Authoritative and Divine.

Scripture is able to save.

Luke 16.

Luke 16:27–29 KJV 1900

27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

Scripture frees us from Error.

Mark 12:24 KJV 1900

24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?

Scripture is good for defense.

By the way, in Matthew 4, He even used Scripture in His own defense. When Satan came to him three times and tempted Him in three areas, each time, Jesus answered by saying, “It is written.” He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:16, and 6:3. He didn’t have to quote the Bible, He could have made up new verses. What was He doing? He was letting us in on a pattern of how to deal with temptation: by Scripture. It is the authoritative, powerful word of God.

The point is this: if you’re going to accept Jesus Christ and believe that He’s God, you’d better listen to what He says about the Bible. What He says about it is that it’s binding on you and you’d better live according to its principles. If you want to be a Kingdom citizen and have Kingdom character and give a Kingdom testimony, you’ll have to obey the manifesto of the King. God hasn’t set aside His standards. Our dear Lord is the theme of all the Scripture. His authority is absolute.

People say, “There are errors in the Bible, though.”

That presents a three-fold possibility.

If there are errors in the Old Testament or in the Scripture, then number one, there were errors, but Jesus didn’t know it. That means He’s ignorant, and if He is ignorant, He’s not God, right?

If there are errors and He did know it. What does that mean? He’s dishonest.

If there are no errors. If He knew it and hid it, He was a hypocrite. If He didn’t know it, He wasn’t God.

If the Word of God is Supreme and Stable, then it ought to be Significant in your life.

The Significance of the Law.

So we pose the question,

“What is the Christian’s relation to the law of God?”

We’ve been saved by faith; the Bible talks about being free from the law, but what does it mean when it says we are still obligated to obey?

What is the believer’s relationship to the law?

Are we free from it or are we not free from it?

Matthew 5:19 KJV 1900

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whosoever therefore” takes you backwards.

Therefore, since God’s Word is Supreme because God wrote it, the prophets applied it, and Christ fulfilled it, then the Word of God is stable. And if it is stable, then it is Significant.

The Bible is not a book of suggestions, but rather a book of commands.

What you and I do with God’s moral law will bring upon our lives a direct effect.

How we deal with God’s law will directly affect us.

Jesus gives us 2 categories to explain what you do with the law will determine your position.

Matthew 5:19 (KJV 1900)

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Law Breakers - the least.

Negatively,

Luo “break”

Let me help you understand this thought. The word ‘break’ is a very interesting word; it is the word luo, a very common word in the Greek. It means ‘to loose, to release, to nullify, to destroy.’ T

he idea here would be that if you loose yourself or release yourself from an obligation to obey God’s least command, you’ll be called the least in the Kingdom. It’s kind of interesting to see the word here because of the word that went with it earlier in verse 17.

Matthew 5:17 (KJV 1900)

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

There, Jesus said, “Think not that I have come to destroy the law.” This is another form of that same word luo.

Jesus said, “I did not come to loose the law, and if you do it, you’ll be considered the least in the Kingdom,” only Jesus used a more intense word.

Jesus used the same verb, only with a kata on the front, which intensifies it. What He is saying is this: “I did not come to utterly nullify, I did not come to utterly destroy, I did not come to utterly devastate and abrogate the law.

But if you even loose one little part of it, you’ll be called the least in the Kingdom.”

In other words, Jesus is saying, “I did not come to destroy at all, but the temptation to the believer is going to be to fool around with parts of it, and set aside what doesn’t accommodate what they want to do.”

That’s a very common problem, you know. It’s very possible for a Christian to do that; it is impossible for Christ to set it aside, but it possible for you to do it.

We are disobedient to God’s Word.

We are ignorant of God’s Word.

We misrepresent God’s Word.

We manipulation God’s Word because of selfishness.

When we do these things, we have ceased to be Christlike because it is a sin.

Did you know the Jews had divided up the Old Testament into 613 commands in 2 categories.

248 positive commands and 365 negative commands.

Then, they would sit around and argue or debate which were the heavy ones and which were the light.

Jesus is saying that there are not heavy or light. If you take what you may consider light and set it aside and loose yourself from your obligation, you will be the least.

Remember, there were some parts of the ceremonial law and civil (or judicial) law that related to Israel that Christ would fulfill. Once fulfilled, these were no longer binding on us.

In other words,

when Christ set Israel aside and built His church, then the civil law related to the nation of Israel was set aside.

When Christ died on the Cross, the ceremonial law was set aside; the veil was rent in two, the holy of holies was wide open, the sacrificial system came to a screeching halt. A few years later, the whole city of Jerusalem was wiped out, the temple was flattened, and there have never been Jewish sacrifices since. So when Christ came, there were some things that were fulfilled, judicial, civil, and ceremonial things. But the moral law of God hasn’t changed.

Are some commandments more important than others?

Remember in Matthew 22, they were addressing this very thing. They said, “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

They were wanting to live these because it was hard to keep the little ones.

Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” The second is like it, “Love your neighbor as yourself”

Jesus gave a greater and a lesser.

Aren’t you glad that even when you fail and loose yourself from God’s law, and go ahead and do what you want anyway, and turn your back on God, and disobey Him as flagrantly and openly as you want, all you can do is be the least? But you’re still going to be in the Kingdom.

But I feel it’s a place of blessing, a place of fruitfulness, a place of usefulness, and a place of reward.

What I believe Jesus is referring is that you can’t be kicked out of His Kingdom, but you will be an individual that can’t be used, that He want bless, and that want have a reward.

James 2:10 KJV 1900

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

If it is serious to break God’s law, than how much more serious is it to teach others to do break God’s law?

James 3:1 KJV 1900

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

Teaching is performed in 2 ways -

by what you say

by what you do

But notice the other consequence.

The positive one.

Law Keepers - the greatest.

Here, again, we see the two things:

doing and teaching,

precept and pattern,

life-living and life-teaching,

what you are and what you say.

A the time Jesus was talking, Israel was still a nation. They were still a duly constituted nation and were being offered the Kingdom.

Consequently, they were still under civil law, still under the Old Testament judicial (and I’m using ‘judicial’ and ‘civil’ synonymously) or civil law of Israel, and they needed to keep every bit of it.

They were also still under the ceremonial law, right? They were also still involved in all the sacrifices, all the feasts, all the Sabbaths, and all the other things, because Christ hadn’t yet died.

The church hadn’t yet been born, so at the time Jesus spoke, they were under the civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law. It was all still binding on them.

Nothing had changed for them.

Now for us, the civil law, the law that duly constituted Israel as a nation, has been fulfilled.

The ceremonial law, the law that set up the sacrificial system and a priesthood, has all been fulfilled; we have a new priest, a new sacrifice, and a new temple not made with hands. The only law left for us, really, is the moral law. The law that is the extension of God’s character and His nature, beloved, that is still binding on us.

1 Thessalonians 2:10 (KJV 1900)

10 Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:

In other words, Paul new God’s moral law had not changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 KJV 1900

7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

I could show you many more.

But the idea is that the ceremonial law was fulfilled in the Cross; the civil/judicial law was fulfilled in the birth of the church and Israel being set aside.

A new people was carved out for God’s use. But the extension of God’s nature, and His moral and ethical law, is still the same. So we are to obey it because of its character and consequence.

Paul lived in the fact that He knew there was awaiting him in Heaven some crowns. He mentions:

a crown of life.

a crown of righteousness.

a crown of rejoicing.

a runner’s crown.

an incorruptible crown.

Why was he expecting these crowns?

because he had no broken God’s law willfully and unrepentantly.. He upheld God’s law and taught others to keep God’s law.

So many people say that was in the old dispensation, in the past, it was before the Cross, so we don’t have to worry about it.

So many people say that we are sinners because we are still in our flesh and we can’t deal with holiness until we get our resurrected body. That is hogwash.

The entire New Testament and epistles make it abundantly clear because of its repetition.

So,

Did the Cross end our obligation to the law?

Was it all finished at the Cross? Not on your life, and the epistles make this abundantly clear. They teach two paradoxical truths, which I’ll give and illustrate to you. They are tremendously important.

Peter, John, Paul, James, and Jude in their epistles teach the law has been fulfilled and is no longer binding.

Remember, the judicial or civil law was for a limited people for a limited place and purpose and time. That law given to Israel has passed away. The purpose of Israel’s law was to keep them separated from other nations. They had different dietary and clothing laws, different rituals, and all kind of thins to them apart.

However, through the church,

Ephesians 2:14 KJV 1900

14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

Jesus broke down the middle wall.

What is the middle law? The civil and judicial law that set Israel apart from the Gentile world.

The Jew and Gentile became one.

Remember Acts 10 where Peter sees the sheet with clean and unclean animals. The Lord simply said, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” which sparked an argument between Peter and the Lord where Peter was reminded that he better dare not call unclean what God had sanctified.

There is no more difference.

There is now the blending of Jew and Gentile in the church.

The civil/judicial law came to an end.

What about the ceremonial law?

Mark 15:38 KJV 1900

38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

This allowed anyone access into the presence of God.

The ceremonial law was over.

Colossians 2:16 KJV 1900

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

The feast were a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ.

When you have Christ, you don’t need the shadow.

Therefore, the ceremonial law came to an end.

So, in a sense the epistles do teach that the law is no longer binding on us. The law being referred to is the civil and ceremonial law.

That leaves the moral area.

Do the epistles teach that the moral law is no longer binding? Yes, in one sense. This is tremendous.

This is the sense, Colossians 2:14.

When Christ died on the Cross, it says here what happened.

Colossians 2:14 KJV 1900

14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

God had a moral law, and every time you broke that moral law, God wrote it down, until against you was a handwriting of broken laws.

Then do you know what God did with all of those? He put them on Jesus, nailed them to the Cross, and He paid the penalty. In that sense, and in that sense alone, the law isn’t binding on you.

You know what sense it is? The sense of the penalty of the law; you are not under the penalty of the law. Who paid the penalty for you? Jesus.

So you will not suffer the consequence of your sin in terms of ultimate penalty.

The same thing is said in

Romans 6:14 KJV 1900

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

What does he mean, that you don’t have to do anything any more?

Do you not have to live a moral life or obey God? No!

What he means is that you are no longer under the power of the penalty of the law.

It can’t kill you anymore; you can only die once. That’s all, only once. Christ died on the Cross, and you, by faith, died in Him. That pays the penalty, so in that sense, you are no longer under the law. That is, the law has no power to slay you. The law had a penalty, the wages of sin is death, and Christ took the penalty.

So if we are no longer under the penalty of the law, then we don’t need to be under the power of the law either.

If we walk in the Spirit, we will freely energize God’s Spirit to fulfill the law in a positive was. We don’t need to feel the guilt that comes when we violate that law.

Listen, the Gospel does not overthrow the law, but rather exalts the law, because you never forget that for Christ to save you, He had to fulfill the whole penalty of the law for every man who ever lived.

When you put your faith in Jesus Christ and are united with Him in His death, then you die to the law in terms of its power and penalty. You have risen in a new life. You have been delivered from the law.

Romans 7:6 KJV 1900

6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Great, I don’t have to Keep the laws or rules and I don’t have to confess my sins. That is old stuff.

But before you get to excited, you are bound by the law in another sense.

1 Corinthians 9:21 KJV 1900

21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

You are not lawless, you are not under the law of God but under the law of Christ.

Romans 7:7 KJV 1900

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

Don’t blame the law for your sin. The law is not your problem. You are the problem.

So,

the law reveals sin.

But also,

The law provokes sin.

Romans 7:8 KJV 1900

8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

Once there was a law, once God set a standard, it just made our sin obvious. It stimulated or aroused my sin.

The law provokes sin and condemns sin.

Romans 7:9 KJV 1900

9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

When I found out about the law, it condemned me.

Romans 7:12 KJV 1900

12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The law is not the problem.

So, should I keep the law? Most definitely.

Paul goes on in Rom 7:22

Romans 7:22 KJV 1900

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Romans 7:23 KJV 1900

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

God’s law is good. I delight in God’s law, the problem is me to which he replys.

Romans 7:24 KJV 1900

24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

It’s not God’s law, it’s me.

Romans 7:25 KJV 1900

25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Here is the solution.

It starts with Christ.

Romans 8:4 KJV 1900

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Next week we will study the righteousness of the law in verse 20.

God, helps us to be obedient. Help is to be salt and light.

I don’t want to be the least, I want to be the greatest.

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior?

Are you the least or the greatest?