Christ Our Righteousness

A Broken Covenant

Exodus 25:16 ESV

And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

First, what is the law? Stated plainly, God’s covenant expectations.

The Law ordered (life was built around the Law) the lives of God’s people.

The Law taught them how to express devotion to God.

The Law hemmed in people’s rebellion.

The Law set God’s people apart from other nations. Two examples:

The sign of circumcision

The law of retribution

But, the law could never make good on what it required.

So, the testimony was kept in the ark where the blood would be applied every year.

A Fulfilled Promise

The Picture of Fulfillment

Recall the picture of the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt.17:1-13).

Recount how the OT was read with the Messiah in mind (Luke 2:22-38).

Remember the message on the Emmaus Road.

Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Luke 24:44 “Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

If the OT is the headlights that drive the car forward to its consummation in Christ, then the NT is the GPS voice saying you’ve arrived at your destination!

Jesus has always been the point.

Galatians 3:17 “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.”

Galatians 3:24–25 “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,”

The Promise of Fulfillment

Jesus’ proclamation in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt.5:17-20). Let me trace a bit of this out:

Jesus came to fulfill the law and prophets, not do away with them. More on that in a moment.

Because of the abiding nature of Scripture:

Those who relax the law will be least in God’s kingdom.

stern warning about departing from the word

notice what Jesus says about the religious leaders of His day:

Matthew 23:23–24 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!”

Matthew 23:25–28 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “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. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

The greatest in the kingdom is the one who both does and teaches the law. The only One who does them rightly and teaches them well is Jesus the Messiah.

Recount the perfect obedience of Jesus

Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

1 John 3:5 “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”

Recount a few of the fulfilled prophecies - since it is the Christmas season and I’m not giving you Christmas messages, per se, let me recount a few that surround His birth.

Isaiah 7:14a “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son…”

Abraham and Davidic lineage, fulfilled in Matthew 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

God with us — Isaiah 7:14b “…you…shall call his name Immanuel.” Fulfilled in John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Provision of Fulfillment

Christ is the righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees (Matt.5:20)

Christ is the perfection of the Father given to us (Matt.5:48)

We need perfection, but can’t achieve it.

We receive perfection when we surrender to Jesus.

The law/testimony laid out covenant stipulations for God and His people. Because they often broke covenant, atonement had to be made. However, the law pointed to a greater reality. Jesus is that Greater Reality as all the prophets anticipated Him, and He fully accomplished all the law required. Now, the imperfections exposed by what was formerly written are replaced by the perfect obedience of the One who is the final word.