Christ Fulfills and Clarifies the Law

Introduction

As we begin this message I just want to state that this sermon is not going to be a light message. It will be informative, but it will not be comfortable. We are going to be talking about the Law of God, and when we do this it always acts to reflect the fact that we are not good on our own. It can stir up deep emotions and I pray that the Spirit would stir something in all of us. In the saints, may they confess and repent from sins that they have, so that they may seek the Kingdom of God in purity, holiness, and sincerity. To the lost, that they might repent and believe, that they would leave their lifestyles of hollow joy and sinfulness for the new life in Christ. I pray that the Lord would guide us, so that when we hear this message, we may seek Christ, for He is our only salvation. Today we will be speaking about how Jesus clarifies and fulfills the law, but doesn’t abolish it. Jesus clarifies and fulfills the Law, but doesn’t abolish it.

What is the Law? And what is the Point?

The Law is God’s rules for creation which reflect His holiness and righteousness. It was given to Moses on the Mount Sinai in the form of the Ten Commandments. It reflects who God is. He is a lawgiver and seeks righteousness. Without rules or laws, we cannot determine good and evil. Without justice we cannot make the wrong right. Through the Law we see God’s character and what He values. In the tithe, His provision for those who are devoted to Him, for the law of harvest, where the Israelites are commanded to leave the edges of their fields unpicked, shows God’s love for the poor and outcast. His commandments, where He shows His value of loving each other, but more importantly loving Him. It also helps to clarify His plan of the Savior He sends. It shows us the depth of His love and planning.

It also helps us to restrain ourselves from sin. Having laws and regulations, even secular laws, have expectations that come with and restrict certain behaviors. Simply having a rule or law some people will follow it, but others, and parents will know this first-hand, that as soon as you tell them not to do something, that is exactly what they do. This is what, in Romans 7, talks about in regards to the Law. However, you have some people like the Pharisees, who want to be seen as good, will sin less outwardly to be seen as good people.

The Law has one other function. It reflects our depravity in relation to God’s holiness. Studying the Law shows God’s goodness and expectations for His people and how short we fall. The Law points out that we cannot make ourselves holy. Our natural inclination is toward depravity. This makes the Law essential in His redemption plan for us. It shows that we need help. Desperate help. That we are hopelessly fallen, and that only the future promise of a Savior can save us.

Does the Old Testament Still Apply?

I hear what some of you might be thinking, “A lot of this is old testament though, do those things still matter, and if they do, should I be following them to the letter?” I used the excerpt from Matthew 5 to show that Jesus does not remove the law, but fulfills it, creating the new covenant that we are now a part of.

Matthew 5:17–20 (ESV)

“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.

If we continue on in the chapter Jesus says some pretty harsh things about law breakers . He goes into various sins and seems to elevate the Law above what has been taught in that time. There’s nothing new here though. Jesus is reiterating things that were spoken of in the old testament. The easiest example of this is what He talks about in regards to adultery in verses 27 and 28. Matthew 5:27–28 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘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.”

You shall not commit adultery is the seventh of the Ten Commandments, but if you look at Exodus 20:17

Exodus 20:17 ESV

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

You will see that by looking at your neighbor’s wife with lust or desire, you are coveting her breaking the tenth commandment. This idea wasn’t foreign to the old testament. Proof of this is in Job 31:1 ““I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” Jesus is reintroducing laws that were in place before His time on earth.

What are the Laws?

Some of you might still be saying, “Okay, well I get the ten commandments, but what about the dietary restrictions? The verse in Leviticus where it talks about not wearing clothes with two fabrics? Should we also be following those?” This is where we talk about fulfillment of the Law. There has been categories that can be helpful when discussing this topic, but is not explicitly in Scripture. Some people split the Law into three parts the moral law, the civil law, and the ceremonial law. These distinctions can help us in understanding what was being fulfilled in Christ.

The civil law is the law of land of Israel. It is the ordinances that God proclaimed to the land in Exodus 21, 22, and 23. This would be like civil punishments for sins, how the laws of the land worked for Israel, verses of that nature. You will also see these laws in Deuteronomy as well. These were put in to provide for the people of the land and show them how to live and how to live civilly with their neighbors and foreign nations. They used this to help the nation of Israel become a strong nation, but also reveal God’s character to His people in governance. We do not totally dismiss these laws, but they are not binding, as Christians. We can learn about the culture, the law of governance, and the way God can apply these laws. Jesus’s death on the cross nullified these laws by bringing the new Israel to all believers, that no longer the promises of God’s covenant would be contained to just the Jewish people, but fulfill the promise to Abraham, to bless all the nations.

The second category is the ceremonial laws. These laws are about the ways that Israel related to God. These would be animal sacrifices, eating restrictions, things to do with the tabernacle, cleansing ceremonies. Most of these were talked about in the book of Leviticus for the Levitical priests to keep the nation holy. These were to set apart the people of Israel and the people of God. It was to show that God is intentional in how He does everything, and He wants His people to do the same thing. He wants them to show that there is a cost, decorum, and respect to how to be with their Lord and God. These also were intended to show the separation between the people and God because of their sin and uncleaness. Jesus fulfilled these laws by living a life that is unblemished and holy. This fulfilled the requirements of the atoning sacrifice laid out in the law. That we no longer need to sacrifice animals. After Jesus’s death on the cross, there’s a verse in two of the gospels about the veil being torn. This represented in the levitical laws the separation from where God resided and we were. God was no longer separate from us. He no longer resided in the Temple in Jersualem, the tabernacle, or any other holy place specifically. God could be with us in spirit and truth. We could be granted the Holy Spirit and have Jesus intercede for us, so that we can have communion with God just like in Eden.

Finally we have the moral laws. These are do’s and don’t’s for all people. These would include the ten commandments, purity laws, sexual ethics, things more behavioral. These are the laws we would argue the most about following today. Jesus fulfilled these with His perfect life. He followed the Law to the letter. Even His birth, His virgin birth, is thought by many to be so that He is not a Son of Adam, but the true Son of God. The new Adam.

Now again I want to make this clear, these categories are not inerrant. They can be helpful, but there are believers that don’t think these are necessary distinctions. Where we would agree is that Jesus fulfilled the law in one way. Jesus died because we could not follow the law. Our application amongst those who differ in opinions on this subject would also converge on the fact that we need the cross, we need Jesus to make us right with God.

So We Don’t Have to Follow Any of Them?

I’m of the persuasion that you are in Christ, therefore the Law is not binding to you. I say this, but many people would say like Romans 3 states, “Doesn’t that mean we can sin all we want?” By no means. God has made it clear in His law about what He desires. Jesus says in the Gospels “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15. How can we say that we love someone and actively do what they hate seeing us do? We are bought with a price 1 Corinthians 6:20. Paid for in blood. The Law points to Christ. The traditions of the holy days and the ceremonial laws were to point to Christ. That’s why we don’t follow the dietary roles. Jesus even confirms this in Mark 7:18,19. But Jesus does denounce acting unrighteously. Continuing in Mark 7 until verse 21, we see a list of behaviors that are evil Mark 7:21–23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” So we know that God still detests things that He created the Law to point out. I was reading an article from Ligonier Ministries that had this story from R.C. Sproul, “Let me give you a personal example. Several years ago, I was speaking in Rye, N.Y., at a conference on the holiness of God. After one of the sessions, the sponsors of the conference invited me to someone’s house afterward for prayer and refreshments. When I arrived at the house, there were about twenty-five people in the parlor praying to their dead relatives. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I said, “Wait a minute. What is this? We’re not allowed to do this. Don’t you know that God prohibits this, and that it’s an abomination in His sight and it pollutes the whole land and provokes His judgment?” And what was their immediate response? “That’s the Old Testament.” I said, “Yes, but what has changed to make a practice that God regarded as a capital offense during one economy of redemptive history now something He delights in?” And they didn’t have a whole lot to say because from the New Testament it is evident that God is as against idolatry now as He was then.”

God hasn’t changed His mind on His views of marriage, He hasn’t changed His view on gender, He hasn’t changed His views on adultery, or coveting, or wickedness, or witchcraft, or pride, or sensuality, or deceit, or any of it! You cannot use grace to justify your sinful lifestyle, just because the world, your friends, or even if you tell yourself that it is okay. This isn’t what grace means. What that is, is called not even tolerance, but apathy. To live your lifestyle, you just want God to leave you alone until You need Him. That’s not a master, Lord, or God. There’s a quote from the book called Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems by J.D. Greear, there’s one line that always sticks out to me. “If God doesn’t ever disagree with you, then you don’t worship God. You worship a larger, more powerful, you.”

God and I don’t always agree. We don’t always think the same things, but I trust Him enough and know Him well enough to know that I am wrong, not Him. I come to you with this sermon to wake up those who are sleeping. Those who think that God is their insurance policy against Hell. I do this not as someone who got it all right, not as someone who figured out the top secret tricks, but as someone who thought they had it all figured out, until God proved Him wrong.

Now some might say that this violates Matthew 7 judge not lest ye be judged. If you continue on in the passage, you’ll notice that it is talking about a specific kind of judgement, that yes we do need to be careful of, and that is hypocritical judgement. We do need to call out sin. Several places like 1 Corinthians tells us the importance of it, but to do so without being hypocritical we must remember where we as saints were. We are saved by grace! Not because we are special, not because we are good enough, but because God in His mercy decided to save us. How does this look? We have pity on those who are fallen, but we don’t affirm them in our pity. We call them out so that they can live a life that is full of life in Christ. Hopefully it leads them to love the Lord and repent, but we can at least try and ask God to do the rest.

To those who are uncomfortable or feel called out, I say, I know I did too. I put myself as the idol of my life. I thought I knew God, but He was just a means to my ends. I lived life how I wanted to. I was a Pharisee, a whitewashed tomb, someone who seemed nice and good on the outside, but inside was dying from the weight I was putting on myself. I put my emotions, my identity, my desires on the throne of my life, and I almost lost it. I lived in a way that seemed good, but I was doing things I know I shouldn’t have, things I knew better to do, and I thought if anybody knew what I’d done that I wouldn’t be lovable. So I almost took my own life. God had saved me from that mistake, and yet in my arrogance, it wasn’t until years later that I came to Christ and submitted to Him. I was half right. I did need to die, but I needed to die to myself. To be given new life in Christ. It wasn’t easy to get there. God really had to work on me, but I don’t have regrets. Christ is greater than all my sin. He is greater than yours, too. To the saints in these seats, I say, confess your sins to a brother or sister in christ. Go to war on sin in your life. Abide in, or grab on to, Christ. Let God shine brightly in your life. Let it be a bright light for all to see. For those who don’t know Christ, or aren’t sure, I say this, seek Christ with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Abandon all sin, and surrender yourself to Him. He will make you clean. He will be costly, but He will be worth it I promise you.

Let us close in prayer.