The Fulfillment of the Law
Notes
Transcript
Pray
Introduction: The nominally Jewish writer A. J. Jacobs spent a year working on an unusual experiment: he tried to put into practice everything he read in the Bible. The resulting book was called, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. For example, on Day 62 of his experiment he tried to put into practice the command to stone an adulterer. So he records wandering into Central Park and meeting a mid-70ish man sitting on a park bench. Jacobs told the man, "I'm trying to live by the rules of the Bible. The Ten Commandments, stoning adulterers …" Jacobs records the rest of the conversation:
"You're stoning adulterers?" the man asks.
"Yeah, I'm stoning adulterers."
"I'm an adulterer," the man replies.
"You're currently an adulterer?"
"Yeah, Tonight, tomorrow, yesterday, two weeks from now. You gonna stone me?"
"If I could, yes, that'd be great."
"I'll punch you in the face. I'll send you to the cemetery."
He is serious. This isn't a cutesy grumpy old man. This is an angry old man. This is a man with seven decades of hostility behind him. I fish my pebbles from my back pocket.
"I wouldn't stone you with big stones," I say. "Just these little guys." I open my palm to show him the pebbles. He lunges at me, grabbing one out of my hand, then flinging it at my face. It whizzes by my cheek.
I am stunned for a second. I hadn't expected this grizzled old man to make the first move. But now there is nothing stopping me from retaliating. An eye for an eye. I take one of the remaining pebbles and whip it t his chest. It bounces off.
"I'll punch you right in the kisser," he says.
"Well, you really shouldn't commit adultery."
Read: Matthew 5:17-20
Explanation: In our passage today we find a lot to unpack. Let’s go ahead and spend some time breaking this passage down so that we can get to the point of it all. The pharisees thought Jesus was out to destroy the law. Think about it from their perspective. He was not given any kind of authority from any of the top leaders. He didn’t teach from any of the recognized authorities in the area instead He taught with authority. The hatred for Jesus transcended His authority into His actions and activity. To the pharisees, Jesus seemed to go against the law as He purposely healed people on the Sabbath paying no attention to the pharisees and their traditions. He also associated with those the pharisees thought the law prohibited them to associate with. He dined with the harlots, tax collectors, rebels, and other sinners. Instead, Jesus tells them that the law wasn’t being destroyed but fulfilled. He made the claim that He was the fulfillment of the law. This proved to be a little confusing I think. I know that it is confusing to some today. So let’s look at what it means that Jesus fulfilled the law. His birth fulfilled the law. Just check out what Galatians 4:4 says,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
He was born under the law. He lived every prescribed ritual for a Jewish boy. He went to school, synagogue, temple. His perfection was evidence of the fulfillment of the law. No one was ever able to accuse Him of any wrong. He did everything God had commanded Him without submitting to the traditions of the pharisees and scribes. This was evident on the day Jesus was baptized as a voice from heaven called down, “this is my son with whom I am well pleased.”
He fulfilled the law in His teaching. If you recall, it was due to His teaching that He had constant conflict with the pharisees and other religious leaders. Jesus brought people back to the living word of God freeing the word from the man made traditions of the pharisees.
The biggest fulfillment was in His death and resurrection. He took the curse of the Law upon Himself. Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, Galatians 3:13,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
The ceremonies found in the Old Testament were fulfilled in Jesus as they are no longer required for God’s people as we read in Hebrews 9-10. With His resurrection he completed the Old Covenant and brought in the New Covenant. So contrary to what the pharisees thought, Jesus didn’t fight the law, He destroyed it but fulfilling it.
If I have an acorn, I can destroy it in one of two ways. I can put it on the sidewalk and take a hammer and smash it to pieces. Or, I can plant it in the ground and let the acorn fulfill itself by becoming an oak tree.
By Jesus’ death, He tore the veil opening the way into the most holy place. The separation between the Jews and Gentiles is no longer there. No longer do we need temples made with hands or rituals. Jesus has overcome the Law that we may have freedom in Him! As John wrote, John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
So what does this mean for us? How do we fulfill the law through our lives?
We fulfill the law as we
Application:
Live in Obedience to Jesus
Live in Obedience to Jesus
The pharisees thought that by keeping the letter of the Law they were doing God’s will. However, it wasn’t about the obedience to the law, it was about obedience to God Himself. The pharisees added to the law, the created man-made traditions. They thought they had things figured out. They missed the point! I love what Oswald Chambers said, “The golden rule for understanding in spiritual matters is not intellect, but obedience.” -Oswald Chambers.
The only way we truly can be obedient is because of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. By giving in to the power of the Spirit we will learn to obey. Romans 8:1-3 says,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Although we cannot live a sinless life, by the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus lives out His life through us. Paul reminds us, Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
We have the ability to do and teach the law in the context of Jesus’ fulfillment. That doesn’t mean that we are under the OT Law. Our ministry is of the New Covenant. There is a proper ministry of the Law, 1 Timothy 1:9-11 says
understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
This proper ministry of the law is not contrary to the wonderful message of God’s amazing grace. The moral law has not changed. Consider that nine of the ten commandments are repeated and commanded to believers in the NT letters. (Sabbath commandment not repeated, sign to Israel see Nehemiah 9:14).
This obedience is not done because of fear. Our obedience is out of love. It was Augustine that said, “Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love.”- Augustine. Your obedience, driven by love, is a testament to the Grace of God.
Conclusion: Are you living in obedience to Jesus? Jesus desires for us to seek and know more of the righteousness of God then obey it, and as we live and obey it we share it with the world around us. Simply by the way you live in obedience to Jesus can help destroy fear and wake people up to the law of Grace. You must choose to live in obedience to Jesus. Live according to the One who fulfilled the law and has brought you into His marvelous light!