Christ and the Law Part 2
The Sermon on the Mount • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Introduction:
Introduction:
We come again together to this so rich of a text in Matthew 5, this being the first and the great sermon by our Lord in the chronology of the New Testament.
Theses verses are so full of rich truth for us, there are times when I have been studying this passage over these last many weeks that I can see the Lord standing on that Mountain and those people sitting listening to him speak as the gentle wind comes over and down that mountain.
The Mount of Olives is a single peak of a two-mile long ridge that borders eastern Jerusalem, forming a barrier between the city and the Judean wilderness to the east.
The Mount of Olives itself is a mile-long peak that is approximately 2700 feet above sea level, and it stands about 300 feet over the city, past the edge of the Temple Mount where the terrain dips into the Kidron Valley.
What a view it must have been as Jesus spoke about the real meaning being Kingdom citizen and the relationship of the Himself and the true followers of God to law, as they could look slightly down and to the west and see the Temple.
What a setting for this great sermon by our Lord.
I guess I fall into the same problem that most preachers do in that my wife says to me a lot, “Honey, you do not have to preach everything you know on a subject in one sitting, you know you can divide to make it easier of people backsides.”
You and I know she is right, but when you have this kind of book from which to preach, and you are preaching about such a great God, and you are preaching on such massive life changing subjects, it because difficult at times to find the proper stopping point.
And I will admit to you that over the years I have failed miserably in finding the right stopping point.
Because when you are tasked with this responsibility and privilege it is difficult to stop.
And then I think of Christ, who probably stood there are the mount and He must have given that sermon in one great shot.
It boggles the mind; because sometimes it takes me a whole hour to get through one verse, because these are such incredible statements by our Lord, the warrant our time and attention.
And as we continue with these great truths this morning, I want to remind of something that we said to you last time and this is the absolute foundational rock bed of all Christian thought.
That the Scripture are absolutely the infallible (without error), inerrant (incapable of error), Word of God; completely and entirely inspired in every word and every part.
And being that it is all of those things it is the static, abiding, objective source of truth.
Jesus makes that point very clearly in the verse that we looked last time together.
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
So, obviously, this becomes one of the dogmas of the Christian faith, that the Bible is the Word of God.
But it is simply amazing to me the people that claim to be evangelical and yet call into question the inspiration of the Scripture.
I had one “evangelical Pastor” tell me, “not all of the Bible is God breathed. All of those times when Paul, for example, says, ‘I speak, not the Lord,’ all of those times the Word is not inspired.’”
And no matter how much we spoke on the issue and I trued to explain to him that those quotes by Paul just simply meant that what Paul was about to write was not spoken by the Lord during His earthly minstry, does not been that what he is saying is not inspired, he would not accept that facts of inspiration.
But how does a man lead a congregation of people and then questions the fact of total inspiration?
At best he does not believe in Sola Scriptura, which means that Scripture Alone is the final source of faith and practice and alone is totally sufficient for the needs of the believer; and at worst he is a heirling.
Jesus made some powerful statements in the verse that we looked at last time together.
That the Scriptures are Preeminent because they are authored by God.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
And other than these two verses just quoted, this verse in Matthew 5 is the most definitive statement on the sufficiency and the perfection of the Word of God.
And, of course, we said last time that Jesus is speaking here directly about the law because that the Scriptures during the ministry of Christ.
Remember that we said to you last time that Jesus was different than all the other teachers in Israel that the people were used to hearing.
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
And so, as He spoke with great authority and not like those that were teaching on the law, they naturally thought that he was going to set up His own law and do away with the OT law.
Christ it very plan that that is not His agenda because that law is the Word of God and He did not come to destroy it was authored by God.
But we also saw that it was affirmed by the Prophets.
And we also saw that it was Accomplished by Christ.
Jesus came as the fulfillment of all the law; the judicial law, the moral law, and the ceremonial law.
We need not to go through the sacrificial system of the High Priest and all that stuff because the one who fulfilled the law and done away with the sacrifice of ceremony and had accomplished for His people what the law and the High Priests could not do.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Jesus Christ is not the end of the law, He is the fulfillment of the law.
And being that He is the fulfillment of the law, His people love His law.
You see, as believers, we are not looking for a way around the law.
“Well, Christ is my fulfillment, so I am free to live like I want without any repercussions because of disobedience”.
Well, that is not what the Word of God says.
Notice these passages.
MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.
I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And even though the judicial law was done away with the crucifixion of Christ, and the ceremonial law was done away with because Christ came and was the perfection of that law, and even though His death satisfied the Holy demands of God when I disobey the moral law.
The true believer sees the moral law of God as a good and godly thing that they long to obey.
The moral law is the expression of God’s character, the expression of God’s nature.
And to help people understand the moral law, God developed, in Israel, the ceremonial law, to help them focus on His character He developed the Judicial law.
But the judicial part of it and the ceremonial part of it were simply outgrowths of the moral law which is unchanging.
The judicial element has passed away since Israel has been set aside for the time.
The ceremonial element has passes way since Christ performed the final sacrifice.
But behind all of that was God’s moral law, and in no way has God ever changed His moral standard.
Israel needed the judicial law because they could not keep God’s moral law.
They needed the ceremonial law because they could not keep the moral law.
So, again, behind all the law, was the moral law; and that has not changed.
But the Jews had lowered the standard a lot.
Then Jesus came and lifted them back up where they belonged.
And you see, that is going to be the point of the passage that we will see in verses 21 and following.
The Jews thought that they would be OK as long as they did not commit adultery, but Jesus put God’s law were it belonged and said:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
The Jews thought that they would be OK as long as they did not murder anyone, but Jesus took God’s moral law and put it up there where it was equal to His character.
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Let’s get God’s law where His character is, back up to His level.
So, the standard is not lowered.
The ceremonies are gone, the judicial identification of Israel as a separate nation, God’s people, is gone for the time as He words through the Church.
But the moral law stands in the background.
And as people learn about this they say, “What is the basis of the moral law?”
We always say the Ten Commandments.
So people say, “What about the Sabbath? Is the Sabbath still a moral issue? How did the Sabbath get stuck in with all those moral things?”
Now, the Sabbath was part of the moral law, there is no question about that.
So people say, “If it was part of that original moral law, and God’s character is revealed in His moral law, does it still stand?”
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
Well, let me tell you something interesting. There are elements in all those categories that are still around—ceremonial, judicial, and moral—and there are some elements that have been fulfilled, that are no longer observed. For example, we do not accept today the judicial laws of Israel. We don’t wear the kind of clothes they were required to wear for their unique identity. We don’t keep kosher; we eat ham and things that would have been forbidden for them, and that’s OK, because Acts 10 says, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat. You can have whatever you want.” Of course, Peter said, “I can’t take this, Lord. I’ve been kosher all my life; this change is too fast. Now I’m supposed to have a meal with Cornelius? Yikes, I can’t handle it!”
But God did change some things of the judicial law; He set it aside, it was no longer uniquely identifying Israel in a separate way.
There were elements that were set aside when Christ came and founded the Church.
However, there are parts of God’s judicial law that are still binding.
For example, God’s high standard for marriage has not changed.
God still desires honesty, purity, and wholesomeness among those that are married.
God still desires monogamy and not polygamy.
God still has the same feelings towards marriage, remarriage, divorce, and those things.
In other words, when some factor of Israel’s judicial law touched a timeless principle, it still goes on, even today.
Take the ceremonial law: we do not kill rams, goats, and turtledoves, but we so some of the ceremonial elements today that Israel did.
Israel used to praise God, we do that.
Israel used to pray to God, we do that.
Israel used to sing songs to God, we do that.
Israel has music, we do that.
You see, there are still elements of the ceremonial law expressed by Israel that are still around today.
We cannot go into the Bible and just whack up everything, we have to be very careful.
Listen, there are parts of the judicial law that are still around, there are parts of the ceremonial law that are still around.
Why should we be shocked if there was an element which was part of the moral law that is not around.
If God can leave a part of some, He can also cancel parts of others.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
What do I mean? I mean I believe the Sabbath has passed away. Why? It is the one of the Ten Commandments never repeated in the New Testament; every other one is repeated in the New Testament. We know that the early church met on the first day of the week. It’s in the book of Acts; they started out meeting every day, but it finally got down to a meeting on the first day of the week. Why did this happen? Because the Sabbath had been fulfilled.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
Remember, the commandment said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” But people get that messed up. The idea was not to not work, the idea was to be holy. Do you see that? In the Sabbath law, God was not saying, “Please don’t work,” or else everyone who takes Sunday off is fulfilling God’s law. No. The idea wasn’t not working, the idea was being holy. The concentration on holiness was aided by not being involved in earthly, gainful pursuits. But the idea was to be holy.
I mean, that is still part of God’s command today.
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
So, the point is this: God wanted people holy. Let me tell you something wonderful; when Jesus died on the cross and you put your faith in Him, instantly, believing in Him, you were made holy. The Spirit of God took up residence in you and something happens in the New Testament that never happened in the Old Testament, and that is that there is the imputed righteousness of Christ given instantly to you. The Spirit of God took up residence in your life and total righteousness was imputed to you, you became holy before God. So in a real sense, the Sabbath concept, the picture of the Sabbath of the Old Testament is fulfilled in the righteousness and holiness that is granted to you in Christ.
The Law of God is Preeminent.
Listen, the Law of God is Preeminent, because it is about the Preeminent One.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
The word “preeminence” there is the Greek word “πρωτεύω” and it is saying that in all things He may be “top,” “have first place.”
That there be nothing above Him, He is the preeminent One, He is first place, He is at the top in all things.
And this brings up to our second point.
Not only:
I. The Laws Preeminence (vs. 17)
I. The Laws Preeminence (vs. 17)
II. The Laws Perpetuity (vs. 18)
II. The Laws Perpetuity (vs. 18)
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Notice what Jesus says: “Till Heaven and Earth pass.”
There is another absolute.
This is a linguistic anachronism, to make something an absolute.
It would be almost like someone saying, “I cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.”
This is Christs’ way of saying, “The Word of God will be here until heaven and earth pass out of existence.”
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
In other words, there is coming a time when there will be an end to the universe, but until the universe ends and we enter an eternal state, this Word will always abide…what a great statement.
This is a timeless book.
People have the audacity to say, “what does a 2000 year old book have to say today?”
First of all, it is a lot older than that.
Second of all, everything!!
It was authored by the eternal, living God.
It is His eternal, living Word.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
So until heaven and earth pass, this Word will abide.
Every type will be fulfilled, every prophecy will be realized , ever law will be verified.
Then notice what Jesus says:
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Now what is Jesus talking about here?
Jesus says that not one “jot” that is the word “ἰῶτα” which is the 9th and, get this, the smallest letter of the Greek Alphabet.
And what Jesus is saying here is that everything in the Word of God will stand, everything down to the smallest letter.
People say that we do not have the inspired Word of God today, when in fact, not only do we have the Word of God today, but Jesus everything down to the smallest letter will stand.
Every “ἰῶτα” will stand.
Then He talks about a “tittle,” and this is interesting.
This is the Greek word “κεραία” and this is a little bit difficult to illustrate, but I will illustrate it this way.
The difference between an “E” and an “F” is one tiny stroke.
The “F” has two line that run perpendicular and the “E” has three lines.
And that last little line makes the difference between the “E” and the “F.”
And what Jesus is saying is not only that the smallest letter will stand but also that the smallest stroke of the quill will stand.
Every word, every part, and every stroke of the quill is God’s authoritative word that will stand and be fulfilled.
If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
I recently heard a preacher say, “One thing I’ve learned is that when you get in the pulpit, you have to communicate without using the Bible because it turns people off. So I’ve spent a long time developing the ability to communicate to people without using the Bible. I started out in my ministry saying, ‘This verse says this, and this verse says this,’ but I realized it wouldn’t get me anywhere. Now I say it in my own way, and people accept it.” You know, his words are impotent, but God’s Word is powerful. He’s missed it. When Jesus dealt with Satan, He didn’t do it with His own words, which would have been divine. He quoted Scripture.
You now, the first time that He ever gave a sermon in His hometown?
He did not anything but read Isaiah 61:1-2 and then sat down; and they were dumbfounded.
They were smitten because the Word of God is powerful.
Not the smallest letter or any stroke of the quill will pass away until it all is complete.
Now, listen, if not one jot or tittle is passing away, then we should receive it as the Word of God.
This is the Word, the breath of the very living God.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Christ and the Law, Part 2
Spurgeon said, “They called George Fox a Quaker. Why? Because when he spoke, he would quake exceedingly through the force of the truth he so thoroughly apprehended. Martin Luther, who never feared the face of a man, yet declared that when he stood up to preach, he often felt his knees knock together under a sense of great responsibility. It were better to break stones on a road than to be a preacher unless God had given the Holy Spirit to sustain him.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Because this is the Word of God, there a couple of things that believers need to do.
First, we need to receive it.
Second, we need to honor it.
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Third, Study it.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Fourth, defend it.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Lastly, proclaim it.
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Listen, and since the smallest letter or the tiniest stroke of the quill will not pass away, we are responsible for its claims on our lives.
As believers we are responsible to listen, heed and obey its mandates.
For those who have not truly repented and trusted Christ, you are also responsible for the truth claims that this book makes on your lives.
You will stand before a holy, creator God one and give an account for your sinful life and, based on your responsibility to be believe and obey, God will send you to hell if you do not repent and trust Christ.
The Word of God is true and you are responsible to it.
