Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 5:17-20

What is Required to Go to Heaven?

 

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil 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.[1]

Jesus our Saviour came to save sinful people.

This is a profound statement, though we who are Christians often take it for granted.

We are not good people; we are sinners who mercifully have been called to life in Christ the Lord.

Salvation is a big concept, and it is one which is too frequently distorted.

The Word of God speaks of salvation in thee tenses—we are saved, we are being saved, we shall be saved.

We Christians have been saved.

By grace you have been saved through faith.

And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast [*Ephesians 2:8, 9*].

Similarly, we are being saved.

/The word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God/ [*1 Corinthians 1:18*].

In this same spirit, the Apostle also writes of future salvation near the end of the same letter.

I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain [*1 Corinthians 15:1, 2*].

We anticipate that we shall yet be saved.

While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life [*Romans 5:6-10*].

Stating these views is not some form of “chrétienesque” distortion of the language.

When we put our faith in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord, we are forgiven all sin, declared holy in the eyes of the Father, and set free from all condemnation.

Salvation is by faith alone, but the faith which saves is never alone.

Having been born from above, we shall be transformed.

God’s Spirit takes up residence within our lives and He begins to change us into the image of God’s Son.

Thus, we are being saved.

We shall be saved, in that when Christ appears we shall be like Him and forever delivered from all that contaminates and dishonours the Lord our God.

Were I to restate the issue, I would say that we who have been born from above through faith in Jesus as the Risen Son of God are saved.

We are now saved from the penalty of sin.

We are being saved from the power of sin.

We shall be saved from the presence of sin.

God works thoroughly in our lives for our benefit and for His glory.

The focus of the message arises as result of the last statement Jesus made as recorded in our text.

Of course, in this Sermon delivered on the mountainside that day long ago, Jesus had much more to say.

However, this one particular statement is important for us to understand.

Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

If we understand what Jesus was saying in these words, it will be sufficient for our contemplation this day.

The Foundation for Our Faith — Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.

The actual Sermon on the Mount begins with this *seventeenth verse* and continues to *verse twelve* of *chapter seven*.

In a sense, the Beatitudes and the words concerning the nature of those who follow the Christ are introductory words for the message which is to follow.

Note that the words /the Law/ (and~/or) the Prophets forms an *inclusio*, meaning a repetition of words that both begin and end a section.

The words serve to wrap what lies between their occurrence.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets [*Matthew 5:17*].

This is the Law and the Prophets [*Matthew 7:12*].

During the remainder of this year, I propose to consider on an intermittent basis the message which flows from the words of our text.

Those who are Christian, those who are truly righteous, as Christ demands, will reveal their righteousness through their manner of life.

This is a novel concept in this day of laissez faire religion.

Nevertheless, salvation transforms the life of the believer.

Those who have been born into the Kingdom of God will let their light shine before others, so that they give glory to our Father [*Matthew 5:16*].

Whatever I may have to say on this vital subject must of necessity be clearly revealed through the written Word of God.

The written Word of God is the foundation for our Faith and the beginning point of Jesus’ words.

At the time Jesus spoke, all that existed was the Old Covenant, and his reference to the Law and the Prophets is an inclusive reference to what we have received as the Old Testament.

Some have speculated that Jesus was addressing an error common among those awaiting the Messiah.

These individuals assume that some among the Jews were awaiting a Messiah who would set aside the Law of Moses and establish a new law.

However, there does not appear to be significant evidence which would support this view.[2]

His opening salvo in the message, Do not think… could lead to such speculation.

Other scholars speculate that Jesus was addressing misunderstandings concerning His position.

Later, in the Gospels, Jesus is condemned as presenting a message which is less demanding than that of John the Baptist [*Matthew 9:14*].

Others accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard [*Matthew 11:18, 19*].

He was on other occasions accused of favouring sinning on the Sabbath [*Matthew 12:2*].

There were even objections to the fact that He healed on the Sabbath [e.g.

*Mark 3:1-6*].

Bear in mind, however, that Jesus had only begun His ministry when He delivered this message.

Therefore, I suggest that He is simply employing a rhetorical device to call attention to the importance of His Words.

In this way, He carefully lays the groundwork for the means by which anyone will be able to recognise those who fulfil the Law.

I observe that few of us keep the Law today.

Indeed, most of us who name the Name of Christ will vigorously contend that He has cancelled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

This He set aside, nailing it to the cross [*Colossians 2:14*].

However, we must still grapple with the words Jesus spoke which inform us that He did not come to abolish the demands of the Old Testament, but to fulfil them.

In what way did Jesus fulfil the Old Testament?

There are some who understand that Jesus came to fulfil the moral demands of the Old Testament.

Of course, we cannot deny this.

He was sinless.

He could challenge His enemies, Which one of you convicts me of sin? and leave them speechless.

What a powerful statement concerning the nature of Jesus, our Great High Priest we have in *Hebrews 4:15*.

We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Repeatedly, Jesus our Saviour is declared to be without sin.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God [*2 Corinthians 5:21*].

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth [*1 Peter 2:22*].

You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin [*1 John 3:5*].

These are powerful claims.

If even one flaw were to be demonstrated in the character of Jesus, we would be compelled to confess that He cannot be our Saviour.

Nevertheless, though we can establish that Jesus was sinless, we err in insisting that the word fulfil applies to living up to the moral code.

The issue in this paragraph is not how Jesus lived, but what He was teaching.

The great Baptist theologian, John A. Broadus, clarified this point when he wrote, “The thought is, then, not to perform by his life, but to complete by his teaching,” citing such luminaries are Luther and Calvin.[3]

Other scholars have taught that Jesus, by His own teaching, brought to completion the inadequacies of the Old Testament.

These individuals would say that the teachings of Jesus fulfil the Law in that He adds to the Law all that is necessary to make it complete.

However, listen again to Jesus as He spoke on that day.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.

I am left with the distinct impression that He has no intention of adding to the Law.

There is not a hint of inadequacy or incompleteness of the Law in His words.

Jesus did provide us with the Gospels through His apostles, and we do have the remainder of the New Testament; but that is clearly not what Jesus is speaking of here.

I suggest to you that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament pointed forward to the coming Messiah, and now Jesus was present to bring to fruition all the prophecies concerning Him.

What this means, is that the Bible is about Jesus.

Every sacrifice pointed to the perfect sacrifice which would be offered once for all.

The moral code is fulfilled in His life.