Surpassing the Scribes -- Called to a Higher Standard -- Part 1

Introduction

It is finished…Tetelestai…the famous final words of our Lord before He took His last breath. But what exactly did He mean by this phrase?

Now, some of you are probably saying to yourself… “uhm Brother Bobby we were in Matthew Chapter 5 before Mother’s Day…how did we end up this morning at the crucifixion?”

Well, we are still in Matthew Chapter 5 and the scripture we will be studying today is the reason behind these famous final words.

Today, we are going to be looking at a what would have been an extremely controversial subject to a good bit of Jesus listeners.

Keep in mind, we are still making our way through Jesus famous sermon on the mount. Our subject group to which Jesus would be speaking still hasn’t changed. There were multitudes of people who had showed up to hear our Lord’s greatest sermon.

The prestigious and the poor, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, along with the sick, the maimed, the poor. Those with enough money they could never spend it all and those who didn’t have a penny to their name.

All had come to hear the wisdom of the Lord spoken although the piety of the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes would cause their hearts to harden to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the poor, the maimed, and the sick, Jesus words would bring hope! For the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes they would bring anger and malice!

But no matter how they decided to take them, they were still truth and light to world sitting in darkness.

Jesus came to complete what no other person had ever been able to do.

He came to bring hope to those without hope, light to those who sat in darkness and eternal life to those who had for so long only seen eternal death as their only option!

He came to right the wrongs. He came to raise the dead. He came to straighten the crooked. He came to instill truth where truth had been misconstrued and He came to expose sin and self righteousness for what it was and that’s exactly what He did and because of this…those who were offended, nailed Him to a tree and crucified Him hoping to do away with their problem but what they actually ended up doing, was help Him fulfill what He knew all along had to come to pass and in so doing, bring to pass the fulfilling of scripture that in death He would bring life to all who would believe upon His wonderful name!

Tetelestai…It is finished!

Over the next few weeks, we are going to finish out Chapter five of Matthew but today we are going to focus on Verses 17-20 at a message I have entitled…Surpassing the Scribes - Called to a Higher Standard.

And if you are here this morning and you have been born again, I want to ask you to pay very close attention to the message today and I want to ask you to do a spiritual check up on yourself.

And the reason I ask you to do that is because we are going to be looking at some of the most religious people in all the Bible…the religious elites…the ones who followed the law to a “T” but Jesus tells the crowd that unless their righteousness exceeded the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees they shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven!

Does your righteousness this morning exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees?

I sure hope it does!

When we get to the end of this sermon, you may be surprised at HOW one’s righteousness gets to the point that it exceeds the righteousness of the most religious, most pious people in all the land!

So, if you have your Bibles with you and you’re turned to Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 17 would you say, Amen.

The Satisfaction of the Law — (Vs. 17-18)

What was Jesus referring to when He spoke of “the law or the prophets”?

He was referring to the Old Testament Scriptures.

Keep in mind, there was no New Testament at this point. The only scriptures they had was the Old Testament scriptures. The law and the prophets.

And Jesus says here, “I didn’t come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them!”

Listen this morning friend, what you need to understand about the Old Testament this morning is that everything written therein pointed toward the day when Jesus would come!

They pointed specifically to Him, the Messiah, and what He would come to do!

Luke 24:27

27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he (Jesus) expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Peter said in...

Acts 10:43

43 To him (Jesus) give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

And Jesus Himself said in...

John 5:39

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

And He says here, “think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

The word destroy used here means “to tear down or destroy completely, to destroy the works or the efforts of another, to put an end to, to make invalid or abolish something in force.”

And Jesus says here that’s NOT what He came to do but rather He came to fulfill!

The word used here for fulfil means “to come to an end, to make complete, to finish or provide fully, to supply all that’s needed.”

So what Jesus is saying here is... “I didn’t come to do away, to put an end to or to abolish the law but rather I came to complete it, I came to provide and supply full payment for the demands of the law that man cannot do on his own!”

You see friend, the law, when given, was never intended to save a man but rather given so that a man, woman, boy or girl might see their sinful condition and understand their need for a savior!

Adrian Rogers — There used to be in Bible times a person who walked children to school. That's what the Old Testament does. It takes us by the hand and brings us to Christ. It presents the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the purpose.

Galatians 3:21–22 KJV 1900

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. 22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

Galatians 3:24–25 KJV 1900

24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

But listen this morning dear friend, the Bible says in...

Galatians 2:16 — “for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

One writer said, the law was designed to show people their sinfulness and then drive them to God for His gracious salvation. The law tells me how crooked I am; grace comes along and straightens me out.

Romans 10:4 KJV 1900

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Now, listen to me very closely...If you’re listening say, Amen.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin is death. Do you know what that means?

It means that the payment, the penalty, for sin...my sin, your sin, the sins of the whole world...the penalty for those sins is death.

So when we sin, the only payment that God, Holy and Righteous, will accept for those sins is death. Someone has to die to pay the penalty for sin.

For the wages of sin is death “but”…I am so thankful there’s a “but” there: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Because of your sin, because of my sin, we owe a payment and that payment is death but God in His infinite wisdom and unfathomable love, sent His one and only Son the Lord Jesus Christ, the gift of God, the greatest gift that has ever been given, and He sent Him to pay the price for my sin, for your sin, the penalty of our sin was placed upon Him and He died in our place!

He gave His life, so that we might have life!

He died so that we can live!

He payed a debt He did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay!

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That’s what Jesus means here this morning when He tells the crowd… “I didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets: rather I came to fulfill it!”

I came to do what man cannot do.

I came to satisfy the righteous demands of the law!

And then He goes on in Verse 18 and says… “Until heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot, not one tittle, shall in any wise pass from the law until all shall be fulfilled!”

The “jot” is the Greek word (iota) and it referred to the smallest letter in the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic languages.

I’m sure you have all heard the phrase… “not one iota.”

And the word “tittle” speaks of the smallest part of a letter…literally the brush stroke of a letter.

So not only is Jesus saying here that not even the smallest letter would pass from the law but not even the smallest part of the smallest letter shall pass from the law until all shall be fulfilled!

Not the smallest detail would be left out of the law until was utterly and completely fulfilled.

So what is Jesus talking about?

It’s not a what but a who!

He’s talking about Himself.

He is the culmination of the law and the prophets, Amen!

He was the subject matter spoken about from Genesis to Malachi!

He was the fulfilling of the law and the prophets.

He was the prophesied one who came to take away the sins of the world!

He come to fulfill the law and the prophets and that’s exactly what He did!

He...

1 Peter 2:22–24 KJV 1900

22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: 23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: 24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

He was/is/and forever shall be The Satisfaction of the Law!

Now, look with me if you will at The Severity of the Law that He talks about next.

The Severity of the Law — (Vs. 19)

Some today might say the law is outdated and doesn’t apply but that’s not what Jesus said here is it?

Actually He says right the opposite!

He says they are still as valid today as they’ve ever been.

But preacher we’re not under the law we’re under grace!

You are correct but doesn’t it stand to reason that since we’re under grace, since we’ve received something we did not deserve, we should want to praise Him, worship Him, follow Him, serve Him and grow more like Him even more?

How do you think you become more like God?

By following His commands!

You walk as He walked.

You talk as He talked.

You serve as He served.

You love as He loved.

You forgive as He forgave.

You suffer as He suffered.

As He gave His life a ransom for many, we too are called to pick up our cross daily and follow Him!

We are to be a spitting image of the one who gave His life for us.

We are to live for Him because He died for us and the only way to live for Him is to follow His lead!

He said in...

John 14:15 KJV 1900

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21 KJV 1900

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

John 15:10 KJV 1900

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

These people nowadays who say, “live your best life, do whatever you want to do, just believe in Jesus and it will all be alright, don’t worry about the law it don’t apply to you anymore”, those people are foolish in their thinking and will one day answer for their misgiving of information!

Jesus said but whosoever shall teach the commandments and do them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven!

Part of the title of today’s message is “called to higher standard” and no matter where you look, every time Jesus was questioned about His beliefs in God’s laws, instead of diminishing or downgrading them, He extended their meaning; He took them a step further!

God gave Moses ten commandments on Mount Sinai and then when asked by a lawyer one day which was most important, Jesus said, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind: this is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself! On these two hang all the law and the prophets!”

Essentially He was saying to this law conscious fellow… “you have 613 laws that you burden men down with when in reality, they all, every single one, boil down to these two! And if you will put into practice these two, you will in fact find yourself following all 613!”

The law was a serious matter to Jesus and it ought to be to us today for the mishandling, and misleading of it leads to severe consequences!

We see The Satisfaction of the Law and The Severity of the Law, now let’s look at The Surpassing of the Law.

The Surpassing of the Law — (Vs. 20)

It was a proverb among the Jews that ‘If but two men were to enter Heaven, the one would be a scribe and the other a Pharisee.’

But Jesus says here if you plan on making it into Heaven then your righteousness needs to exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees!

I’m sure to the crowd that Jesus was speaking to, this would have been a breath taking moment.

No doubt, there were many Scribes and Pharisees in attendance in their robes of white and their head dresses and their phylacteries.

Standing there in all of their piety judging every word that fell from the lips of our Lord as if they had some kind of authority over Him.

Undoubtedly as these words fell from His lips the Scribes and Pharisees gasped for air because there’s no way a person in their eyes could be more religious than they!

In their eyes, they were the cream of the crop! They were separated from the filth of common man! They followed the law in the most pious of ways so how could He say this of them!

At the same time, everyone else in the crowd who wasn’t a Scribe or Pharisee also gasped, for in their eyes, there was no way their righteousness could exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees!

They thought these men were so holy and righteous because of their strict following of the law and their righteous acts in public showing.

But, what Jesus is trying to get His listeners to ascertain is the baseline of what the great prophet Isaiah had said oh so many years before...

Isaiah 64:6 KJV 1900

6 But we are all as an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; And we all do fade as a leaf; And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Even the most pious among them, their righteousness was as filthy rags in the eyes of a Holy God because they were missing the bigger picture!

Matthew 23:25–28 KJV 1900

25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Now I want to make something very clear here really quick…it wasn’t the following of the law by the Scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was condemning them for but rather it was their belief that salvation came by the following of the law.

They had the righteous acts down pat but as we learned a little bit ago, by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified!

They were more worried about the outer man than the inner man but God doesn’t judge a man as a man judges a man, He sees what’s on the inside and these Scribes and Pharisees in the eyes of the world had it going on but on the inside they were spiritually dead!

They were missing the bigger picture and the bigger picture is this…the just shall live by faith!

Faith in who? Jesus!

Why?

Because the Bible says in...

James 2:10 KJV 1900

10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Listen to me this morning friend, the only way to surpass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees is to take care of what’s on the inside first!

To put all your trust in a man named Jesus, the only man to ever live a perfect life, to put your trust and faith in Him and accept Him as your Lord and Savior and when we do that, when we put our hand in the hand of the man who calmed the waters, when we put our hand in the hand of the man who stilled the seas, then the Spirit of God comes in and resides inside of us and does a work on the inside, and dear friend when the Spirit of God does a work on the inside, the outside will take care of itself!

The only way to Surpass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees is to put your absolute trust in this man named Jesus this morning.

As we come to a close this morning I want to share with you something that Adrian Roger said about this specific set of scripture that hopefully will help bring this message home for you. He said...

Jesus fulfilled the law for us, that grace might fulfill it in us. Let me tell you the difference between the law and the gospel. When you think of the law, you think of the Ten Commandments, because that summarizes the law.

The law says, “Do this, and you will live.” The gospel says, “Live, and you will do.”

The law says, “Pay me what you owe.” The gospel says, “I forgive all.”

The law says, “You shall love the Lord with all of your being” (Deuteronomy 6:5). The gospel says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son” (1 John 4:10).

The law says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Galatians 3:10). If you are going to try to be saved by keeping the law, and you break one little point, there’s a curse upon you. Listen to it again. The law says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” But the gospel says—and I thank God for this—“Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered” (Romans 4:7).

The law says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But the gospel says, “The gift of God is eternal life” (Romans 6:23).

The law says, “Do.” The gospel says, “Done.” Jesus fulfilled it. He died upon the cross.

The law says, “Run,” but it gives us no legs. The gospel says, “Fly,” and it gives us wings.

The gospel, dear friend, is good news.

Well, you say, “Does that mean, pastor, it doesn’t matter how I live, that the Ten Commandments are obsolete?” No, they’re absolute. And every day of my life I want to live by God’s blessed commandments.

But the Bible says, “The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:4). You can’t do that without Jesus Christ in you. That’s what it’s all about. — Adrian Rogers