Jesus Fulfills the Law
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“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
We have separated Scripture into the Old & New Testaments.
Testaments, Covenants, Compacts, Contracts.
Agreements between parties.
The old covenant was based in the Law.
It had many components.
Adamic covenant
Noahetic covenant
Mosaic covenant
Rabbinic covenant
All with a different list of rules to be followed.
All of which were summed up by Micah
He has shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
The new covenant is based in Jesus’s blood.
Blood that was shed for the remission of our sins.
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
We often act like Jesus did away with the old law, the rules given to Israel by the prophets.
But here Jesus tells us not only that He is not here to destroy the law.
But that He is here to fulfill that law.
To pay what all of those animal sacrifices couldn’t.
For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Until the very end, until it is fulfilled, not even one punctuation will pass from the law.
To fulfill all that the Prophets had taught Israel.
What does that mean for us today?
Do no work on Saturdays?
Do no work on Saturdays?
Observe the three feasts?
Do we have to give up bacon?
We need to distinguish between God’s Law and man’s law.
And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Much of the Rabbinical laws are commandments of men.
Then, we need to learn which laws God gave specifically to Israel and which He gave to all mankind.
Like feasts & dietary laws.
matt 15
Good news for us bacon lovers!
Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?
Good news for us bacon lovers!
But it’s better news for those who want to understand and follow Jesus’ commandments.
Then we need to separate God’s Laws from man’s spin on them.
And to see who each of God’s Laws were given to.
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
So how do we do this?
First, understanding that all Scripture is given by God
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
We learn from Scripture, not we copy Scripture.
Just because Solomon had 700 wives does that mean we should?
Be thankful we don’t. 700 wives means 700 sets of in-laws.
So what do we do with Scripture?
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
By hiding God’s Word in our heart, not just bits and pieces but all of it.
By hiding God’s Word in our heart
We can see how God wants us to act.
We can recognize the patterns that God has given His people.
And we can distinguish between what God has commanded for Israel, for the church of Christ and what are historical examples to learn from.
What are examples to follow and what are those to avoid.
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
If you break one of God’s commandments, and teach others to as well, you are the least in heaven.
If you do what God has said to do, and teach others to, you will be called great in heaven.
Notice, there is no middle ground.
To quote Yoda, “Do, or do not, there is no try.”
You don’t get points for trying
And you don’t get points for doing nothing.
And whether you break God’s commandments or follow them, you are teaching others to do so as well.
Not just those up here in the pulpit.
Your family
Your neighbors
Your co-workers.
Whether we follow God’s commandments or break them is so important, your reputation will follow you into heaven.
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
How can we be more righteous than those whose whole life was studying God’s law?
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
And not just the Pharisees of Jesus’ time,
The Pharisees tried to obtain righteousness through works, but we are made righteous through the work of one man, Jesus.
What about the person with a Master of Divinity, or Doctor of Divinity?
How can we out righteousness them?
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
The Pharisees tried to obtain righteousness through works, but Abraham believed God, and THAT is what was accounted to him for righteousness.
We will see this more in the next few sermons, but we see here that it is not simply the doing of the right things, but the heart behind them as well.
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
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God is going to test Abraham’s faith by asking him to do something very difficult.
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
God tests us so we will learn.
Do you think God was up in heaven worrying what Abraham was going to do?
God has seen, and has shown us, that Abraham feared Him.
It was not the sacrifice of his son that justified Abraham,
But that he believed God is what justified him.
That was accounted to him for righteousness.
For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Just as our sin was inherited through the disobedience of one man, our righteousness comes through the obedience of one man, Jesus.
If we try to earn our way into heaven,
By good works.
By following the rules.
We are no better than the Pharisees, and will not enter heaven.
When we believe God, as Abraham did.
When we trust the gift from God of a saviour.
When we are obedient to His Word and His Will
When we accept the free gift the Jesus has purchased for us.
Then we are justified,
Then we are clothed in His righteousness,
Then we will enter heaven.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We think of the law as a list of dos and don’ts that we need to follow.
But Jesus fulfilled the law.
All of the punishment for our breaking the law was paid by Him.
He gave us a simple summation of what we must do.
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
mt 22
So what do we do with this information?
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Do we treat Jesus’ sacrifice like an eternal “Get our of jail free” card?
Do we make excuses for our mistakes?
Do we beg forgiveness, but only to get out of the consequences for getting caught?
Actions like these are trampling on the gift of salvation and spitting in Jesus face while He hangs on the cross.
Or do we live in the freedom Jesus purchased?
Do we recognize that sin no longer needs to hold sway over our lives?
Not only that we should say no to sin, but we can.
Are we slaves, purchased by Christ with His own blood?
Are we willing slaves, or compelled ones?
As a child I was given a great gift by a friend of the family
But I didn’t recognize its value.
Because of that, I treated the gift as something common.
As a child of God, we have all be given a great gift.
Do we recognize its value?
Do we treat it as something common?
Do you live as someone whose sins have been paid for?
