The Sermon on the Mount Matthew Chapter 5
Sermon on the mount chapter 5 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Part 1 was the Beattitudes and learning the foundations for Joy and Fulfillment
Part 2 we will look at how Jesus saw the Law of God and what value it still has for us today.
The Value of a Standard
The Value of a Standard
What is a Standard?
Standards are crucial for a civil society to survive. Think of the caos of a world without standards or laws.
Does God have Standards?
The Old Testament Law is, in a sense, a revelation of the Standard of God.
The Old Testament Law is, in a sense, a revelation of the Standard of God.
The OT law reveals the high aspirations, God has for His people. The hard penalties of breaking the law reveals how serious impurity is to God.
God had made a Covenant with the people of Israel to be their God and they would be His people.
Before we get into Matthew, I am going to remind us of the backdrop to what Jesus said in 5:17-20.
God had established a Covenant (binding agreement) with the people of Israel.
‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;
and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord had commanded him.
All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.
Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”
The book of the covenant was essentially Exodus 20:22-23:33
The book of the covenant would reveal to the people how Holy God is and how incapable they were of walking in complete Holiness. The whole of the OT would reveal the shortcomings of the people of God and God’s promise to deliver them from unholiness in a greater way than He delivered them from Egypt.
In part 2 of Matthew chapter 5, Jesus addresses the people, who have a great appreciation for the standards or laws of God.
Many have come to look at the Law of God in a negative way.
People who use the Law or Legalism as a means for condemnation or approval are using the Law of God in a negative way.
What Jesus says is crucial for us to understand the relationship of law and grace correctly.
What Jesus says will bless the people and also shock the understanding of the people.
Let’s read the passage:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Let’s look at what Jesus teaches us about the Law and or Standards of God.
He will live out these principles in His life and ministry.
1. God’s Law/Standards are Good!
1. God’s Law/Standards are Good!
(17-19)
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The Law or Standard of God is eternal. “not pass away”
Whoever teaches the Law, in proper context, will be called great in the Kingdom of heaven.
wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.
But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
The Law shows us the Holiness of God.
God would love for us to never break the pure principle of His Law. In Part 3, Jesus will help us see the purity of the Law is much higher than the people understood. Jesus would later be accused of breaking the Law but He never did as He was the embodiment of a much higher standard of the Law.
A deeper understanding of all of this is in Romans 6-8 a look at just a couple verses helps us see what Jesus was saying.
But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
He goes on to say in verse 12 the Law is holy, in verse 14 the Law is spiritual, in verse 16 the Law is good.
The Law is perfect and still reveals the Holiness and High standards of our God. Jesus let’s us know that His “spiritual Law” is even a higher standard than the written Law. God is still interested in practical Holiness and Purity in His family members.
2 The Standard of the Law of God cannot be attained by humanity.
2 The Standard of the Law of God cannot be attained by humanity.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
This was shocking to the crowd!
Keep in mind that the Pharisees were the standard bearer of purity in the culture of the Jewish faith.
Jesus is letting us know that no one cane keep the perfect law of God in the power of their own flesh. It is impossible.
The legal standard was never presented as a means of justification.
The legal standard was never presented as a means of justification.
nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
God’s holiness is even higher than the written law. That is part three.
Some have conveyed the Law was too weak to do what God wanted but Paul says the flesh is what is weak and the Law reveals that so that we may cry out to Jesus for help.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
The Law is not weak. The Law could not and was never intended to save because the flesh is weak!
3 Jesus is the Fulfillment of the requirement of the Law and Standard of God
3 Jesus is the Fulfillment of the requirement of the Law and Standard of God
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
What our weak flesh could not do, Jesus did and fulfilled for our sake. This was always the plan of God.
Read the Road to Emmaus as Jesus makes it all clear! Luke 24.
Paul spells it out for us in
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
That is the Gospel of Grace.
The Law and Grace are not rivals.
The Law and Grace are not rivals.
The Law reveals the need for Grace.
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is the undeserved Grace of God offered to us.
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is the undeserved Grace of God offered to us.
Now we who are in Christ Jesus live out the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus as the fruit of our justification not the means of our justification.
Now we who are in Christ Jesus live out the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus as the fruit of our justification not the means of our justification.
Do you acknowledge your inability to keep the perfect standard of God? That is called missing the mark or sin.
Will you today ask Jesus to forgive your sins and ask Him into your life to fulfill God’s standard of righteousness and give you a new eternal life?
For the rest of us, has God spoken to your heart about the fruit of justification? Do you desire to honor Him in pursuing His holiness as the fruit of justification not to earn justification?
