Men, you notice all the songs are connected with the word blood. Well, that's an important factor to remember as we are studying the Sermon on Mount because it's at the cross where we get the power to live the Sermon on the Mount. And so all of those hymns we've sung tonight have relationship and a reminder to us of the blood of Jesus Christ. Rather than long introduction, it needs to be laying the foundation of our text tonight and for the remainder of chapter 5. There are two scriptural injunctions that have wrestled my heart all through my Christian walk. One has been the fruit of the Spirit founding Galatians 5. That's what we read tonight and the others the Sermon on the Mount. I wish to tell you that I have reached full spiritual perfection but as the song writer says, I'm pressing on the upward way. And so with that in mind, I want you to take your Bibles and your hearts and turn with me to Matthew's Gospel chapter 5 verses 17 through 20. We have a long introduction and three simple points. Number one is what is the law, number two, Christ in the law, and point number three, the Christian in the law. Have you ever considered how out of place Jesus was with the scribes and the Pharisees of his day? As Roy Jones pointed out in his book, Jesus himself was most unusual. He did not belong to the order of the scribes and Pharisees. He did not train in their school or seminary. He was not a doctor of the law. He did not dress in their Pharisee roads. The fact was he stood before them as a teacher with one having authority. In fact, he criticized the teachings of this recognized and authorized body of teachers. His teaching was radical to the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. He befriended sinners, tax collectors, public hymns. He emphasized an extraordinary doctrine of grace. It was the very opposite of the scribes and Pharisees. But tonight we must give the Pharisees the credit due to which they are entitled. They made their conduct. They made long prayers. They gave arms and they helped the needy. They tied on everything. They were exact in their religious duties and accurates in their conformity to them. Phariseism has become synonymous with holiness in Jesus' day and the holiness in the Pharisee became another term for self-satisfaction. In fact, they held that if only two people went to heaven, one would be a scribe and the other a Pharisee. Now, you know, there's something quite praiseworthy in their devotion to duty. Yet, our Lord says to us that our goodness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. It must be all of their goodness, was, and more. Our Lord says, you shall know wise, enter into the kingdom of heaven if you don't have exceeding righteousness. Describe in the Pharisees had immense influence. They wanted distinction among their people of their intellectual achievement. They had stressed the importance of education. They had encouraged Jewish parents to raise their children to get an education. They appreciated the importance of scholarship and they worked in developing national leadership in the nation of Israel. Their love of learning was one of their outstanding traits. They studied the law not simply to pass seminary tests or to become experts in teaching it. They studied the law because it was the repository of the will of God and because it held the secret as they thought of his purposes concerning them. They came to regard the law with a superstitious respect. They calculated that the law contained 248 commandments and 365 provisions. Obedience to the law was their master passion, setting up codes of tradition connected with the law. For more rigid than the law of Moses, in fact, they went beyond the demands of the Old Testament. And as we know, and as we will see, the breach between Jesus and themselves gradually widened into a deep chasm. Their severe regard for exactness and a love for the letter of the law had no place in the Savior's thinking. If you go to Luke chapter 16 and see the example of the Pharisee and the public, and you listen to what the Pharisee says about himself, he said that he fasted twice a week, but folks that was wrong. The Old Testament asked for fasting one day a year, never demanding fasting for two days a week. The Pharisees had elaborated their system to the point where their people were to fast two times a week. Their religion was altogether entirely external. It was formal, instead of being a religion of the heart. They gave themselves superior errors, and carried themselves as men worthy of special recognition because of their righteousness. And you know, and I know, that the most scorching attacks Jesus ever uttered was spoken against them. Religious ceremony, external trappings, touted nothing without the responding heart reality. Now so far in his sermon, the sermon on the Mount, chapter 5, our Lord tells his disciples what a Christian is. Pastor Kevin unfolded that to us in verses 3 through 12, and last Sunday night Pastor Nathan unfolded to us the function of the Christian. You are salt, you are light. Now up to this point, he says nothing about the law, about keeping it, nothing about the traditions, interpretations and observing them. He says nothing about the reverence for the scribes and the Pharisees. Did this mean that Jesus had no regard for the law? Well, he's about to deal with this. Let's look at our text now in Matthew chapter 5 and verses 7, teen through 20. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you until heaven and earth pass away, not in Iota and not adopt, 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 the 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 the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Suddenly for the first time, Jesus is brought into focus. Doing the Beatitudes, he spoke in the third person, blessed are those, blessed are they. When he talked about the salt in the light, he referred to the second person, you are the light, you are the salt, and now he speaks in the first person of himself, I am come. He wants his hearers to understand his view regarding the Word of God and the existing teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. In verses 17 through 20, he unfolds his radical views of kingdom righteousness. And they can be summed up in two thoughts. He declares that his teaching is number one in harmony with the Old Testament. And number two, it is in this harmony with the scribes and Pharisees. And he takes the remainder of chapter 5 to 1 pack the false teachings, the traditions of the scribes and Pharisees. That's why we've had to have a long introduction so you get something to think about regarding the scribes and the Pharisees. So our Lord brings to our attention now the law. What is the law? Do not think that I've come to abolish the law and the prophets. I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. What is meant by the law and the prophet? Prophets. He's referring to the entire Old Testament. The law, the first five books of the Old Testament, you have the moral law consisting of the Ten Commandments, you have the judicial law regarding the nation of Israel, you have the ceremonial laws regarding offerings and sacrifice regarding their worship. That's the law. Now the prophets, they took the law and they interpreted and applied it. They were both fortillers and fourth tillers. They were able to predict and unveil or reveal rather what was coming down the road. And at the same time when they spoke they always prefaced their words thus sayeth the Lord. But here before us tonight our Lord is referring particularly to the law as the specific commandments God has given to His people to govern their lives. And He says do not think that I've come to abolish the Old Testament. Do not think that I have come to do away with the law or the prophets. He says this. I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. The word fulfill here means to carry out in the sense of given full obedience to. So our Lord is saying to the multitude as He says to us tonight, I've not come to counsel out the law to remove its authority. I've come to complete and fill out the law and reveal the full depths of its meaning as it was intended to do. And you know what? He did just that. He fulfilled it. He fulfilled it number one historically. He by becoming man which he fulfilled all the types and all the prophecies of the Old Testament. Well the prediction of his birth and Micah he fulfilled the crucifixion he fulfilled. Even his death on the cross he fulfilled every one of the 33 prophecies in the Old Testament. Yes he fulfilled it historically but he also fulfilled it vicariously. In his perfect life when earth he satisfied the demands of the law with perfect obedience. Aren't you glad of that tonight because his righteousness infuded to you and to me when we were glorious saved. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. He kept all the law never failing in one point but he also satisfied it sacrificially. So in his death he exhausted the sanctions of the law in his own blood and pay the penalty of our preach of it. The great hymn writer wrote by bleeding wounds he bears received on Calvary. They poor effectual prayers they strongly plead for me forgive them oh forgive they cry forgive them oh forgive they cry nor let that ransom sinner died. Oh Jesus fulfilled the law vicariously shedding his own blood and paying our penalty but he also fulfills the law in you and me what the means of the Holy Spirit. In Ezekiel chapter 11 verse 19 and 20 the prophet Ezekiel writing the words of the Lord I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them. I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. They will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Kent Hughes said that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures in that he brought the great doctrines of the Old Testament to fruition by his teaching and his person quoting old Bishop Ryle who said the Old Testament is the gospel in the bud. The New Testament is the gospel in full flavor. The Old Testament is the gospel in the blade. The New Testament is the gospel in full ear is regard for the laws such not to abolish it but to fulfill it. And in verse 18 he says, for truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not an eye owed and not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. It's as if Jesus was saying here I believe in the authority of the Old Testament scripture. I believe in the preservation and the inspiration. It is eternal. It is absolute. Our Lord is teaching here to us in those words that he accepts the Old Testament as the immutable word of God, the unchangeable word of God. Now his view, his attitude here is a matter of grave importance to you and I tonight, you and me. If you took a light view of scripture, then so may we. If he thought lightly of the Old Testament we had very right to think lightly of it as well. And to put question marks has a lot of unbelieving modernists who fill the pulpit of our country. They questioned the word of God. Jesus never questioned it.
If he treated them with full and reverent acceptance, then so much we. And that's what the Lord wanted to instil to the people that day on the multitude of the multitude on the mountain that day that he wasn't there to abolish the law that he approved it. He sanctioned it with his recognition of it. And then he takes us now to the second part of our text in verses 19 and 20, having told us of his attitude of the law. He now puts forth the attitude of the people of God. And our attitude to the law is an indicator of our attitude of God. He says therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called a lease 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 the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Now, folks, there are two extremes of God's law. Whenever you bring up the topic of God's law and its relevance, you can easily fall into one or two extremes, a legalism or anti-nominalism. You say, what? Well, let's look at legalism. Legalism is not a biblical word. It's derived from the implications of Scripture. Legalism is not the presence of law. It's not the imposition of law on someone else. Legalism is the wrong attitude towards the code of law which a person lives by. Oftentimes, legalism, the motive is to exhaust self and gain merit rather than to glorify God because of what he has done. You see, the Pharisees fell into that category. They had the wrong attitude. And it wasn't about fulfilling, obeying the laws to glorify God. They fulfilled the laws and their traditions to impress everybody, to have everyone look at them as extra special righteous saints. Let me illustrate it like this. No, we have a lot of athletes in the church. We have a lot of them on the pastoral staff. And you see them running, coming and going. You know, and doing all sorts of running like eight miles. I think one of our pastors can run from Pineville to RTS, nonstop. I can do that too in a car.
We have several pastors, senior pastor and other pastors that get out there and they run. And it's an encouragement to me. I do two miles on the treadmill each day and I feel like I've reached a zenith in my life. But when I look at our other pastors, man, they really just blow your white watch in them. Well, you know, most athletes are glad to keep the laws that are over them concerning the sport they are in. Rich it as their rules may be. They do it for the sheer love of the game. Now there's a few of them who conform to the rules just to strut their stuff and show off their skills. You know, the right attitude is the love of the game. You willingly get out there and you practice day after day and you eat certain kind of foods and you take certain kind of vitamins and you drink all sorts of protein shakes. So you can do your best when it comes for the race. Because you love it. Remember watching that movie about the great runner, Eric Lindell remember what he said. He says, I run for the glory of God. He loved it. He practiced. He subjugated himself to the laws of running. It wasn't a strut of stuff, but just to get the satisfaction of out there running. That's the right attitude, the love of the game. The wrong attitude is a show off attitude. You know that they get out there and they want everyone to know that they're the greatest runners around since Mercury. You know, that's the wrong attitude. Both attitudes relate to the same code of rules and produces conformity. The difference is in attitude. The public in and the Pharisee. You remember the Pharisee? Oh, I thank you Lord that I'm not like this sinner. He was strutting his stuff and everybody that heard him acknowledged, wow, what a holy man he is. And then that public him couldn't even lift his eyes up to God before he saw the wretchedness of his condition and he saw the holiness of God. And the words could come out Lord the merciful to me of sinner. You see the difference between the Pharisee and the sinner. You see legalism brings out Phariseeism, a conformity externally for the satisfaction of self, not for the glory of God. Remember what Paul said to us, he says brothers and sisters, whatever you eat or drink, whatever you do, do what? To the glory of God. And so our Lord is saying here, 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 regard in the kingdom of heaven. You know as Christians we're to do certain things. We are to keep the word of God. We are to keep the positive commands and the negative commands. We are to exercise spiritual sense in applying the biblical principles in debatable areas
where to follow the rules legislated in family and church groups. There are certain things expected of the pastoral staff of Christ covenant church that may not be expected of you. We have a standard and a testimony that we need to set forth and we need to guard ourselves, lest our good be evil spoken of.
We are to follow the rules legislated in family and church groups. Giving obedience to glorified God is not being a legalist. Get that straight young people. Doing what is right, giving obedience to glorify God is not being a legalist. If one doesn't want to obey or doesn't understand but obeys to glorify God, that also is not legalism. We need to have the right motive behind our keeping the word of God. That's legalism. The other extreme is anti-nomenism. That's a very cultured word to say, isn't it? Anti-nomenism. It's so long you get your tongue tied and saying it. Simply means that they do not believe that a Christian is required to keep God's law. They get as close as possible to the breaking of the moral law without doing so. It's not how close can I get to Jesus. It's how close I can get to the world and still smell like a Christian. That's the attitude of people who live like that. You only think of themselves. They don't set aside their rights for others. They have no regards for their testimony or even for weaker brothers and sisters. There's no concern for the glory of God in their actions.
You know, as a Christian, there is a need for us to be considerate of others. Considerate of others where they are in their walk of life and are effected in the words that we have in our actions towards them. Regarding this extreme anti-nomenism, we need to have the right attitude towards the law. There are certain things that we need to grasp tonight. One of them is this that Christians are free in Christ. The believer is free in Christ. Our Lord says in John chapter 8 and verse 36, if the sun sets you free, you are in free indeed. We are free in Christ. We are set free from the guilt, the penalty, and the dominion of sin. Paul tells us that in Romans 6, 18, haven't been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. When we came to Christ and he washed our sins away and he gave us his righteousness and we became a child of God. He set us free from the dominion of sin. It no longer is our master Jesus is. He's our Lord and Savior. Being free in Christ is the new capacity to fill what God wants in our lives by the power of His spirit. Being free in Christ is being able to be like Christ, to have the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, gentleness, faith, meatness, and self-control. Being free in Christ is being able to fulfill those things our Lord gave us in the first part of the Beatitudes verses 3 through 12. But also regarding our attitude towards the law, not only are we to understand the function of the law and to love the law but where to walk in it. The law is a mirror of that reflex, God's holiness, and our sinfulness. Now I've been reading both in Genesis and Exodus in my Old Testament readings in the morning and I've been reading right now in Genesis in the light of Joseph but a wonderful example of a man who has a heart for God. I believe he's probably the closest Old Testament type of Christ I've come across. And then also been reading in the book of Exodus in chapter 3 about Moses. Moses was out in the desert in the land of Median and his father-in-law was Jethro and Jethro helped Moses later one in the leadership of Israel but when God called him in chapter 3 he kind of backed down from doing what God wanted him to do. And it comes off at first as humility but it's really a false humility. What was lacking in his life was that of confidence and he had this doubt of what God said. And as I was reading both Joseph and the life of Joseph and looking at Moses I saw a picture of myself in different ways in Moses and I had to confess that to the Lord. You see that's a part of the Old Testament doing its work as the Word of God, setting us an example but also convicting us of our sins and also reflecting to us the image of Christ and our need of him the law is a schoolmaster that drives us to Christ. Law restraints sin in your life, in my life and in the fact law restraints in a greater sense sin and society. That's the function of the law. It's a schoolmaster. It's a restraint. And here's something else about the law that Antinomias failed to exhibit as well. So legalists they fail to love the law of God. We must remember that we are children of God and love is the keeping of the law. What did Jesus tell us in John 15? He says, if you love me, keep my commandments, a love, a love for Christ, love is the keeping of the law and nothing else. Our Lord tells us here in verse 20 that it is exceeding righteousness from the heart, not external righteousness of the flesh that makes up kingdom righteousness. Well there's four closing thoughts. The first thing on Lord's shows is here in summary is that our attitude towards the law is very important. Psalm 119 is a good way to get the right focus on having the right attitude towards the law. Read Psalm 119 this week where with all shall a young man climbs his way by taking heed there to according to thy word. With my whole heart have I shalt thee, O let me not wonder from thy commandment. Yes, it shows us our attitude towards the law is important. Our Lord tells us he didn't do a way with it. He has fulfilled it and he wants us to live in light of it. Our Lord did not come to make it easier for us or less stringent in the demands of the law. He didn't do a way with us, do a way with it, rather he came to enable us to keep the law because he fulfilled the law. He can give us a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. He fulfilled the law by leading a perfect righteous life. He fulfilled it by the demands against us by dying for us. He enabled us to keep the law. There's no reason for us not to with the grace and the feeling of the Spirit of God. And for us to keep the law let's go home with these four thoughts. Number one, we must be clear in our minds as to what the law is. Number two, we must be clear as to the demands it makes upon us. We must have the right motive. Not just keeping the letter of the law as the Pharisees did so well, but the Spirit of the law. We must not avoid the demands of the law by rationalizing them away. Oh, the Pharisees were so good than that. And so our Lord tells us that our faith where rather our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. And in the coming weeks you'll see how our Lord goes further with that and unfolding the traditions of what they preached and what they taught and what they expected others to live up to. And Jesus counteracts that, but I tell you, and we need to listen to him. Let's pray. And Father, we thank You tonight reminding us here in the message that Your Son gave to the multitude on the mount that day. But what a Christian is and what his function is and his relationship to the law. We want to thank You for Your Son and that He has fulfilled the demands of the law and that it is His righteousness and feuded to us that we are here tonight as Your children. Nothing that we have as a songwriter says simply to thy cross I cling. And Lord, we thank You tonight that You have given us Your law to live in this day. Now Lord, we pray that the Spirit of God who indulges us will direct our steps in giving us understanding and giving us the desire and the power to live out your word in our lives. Oh Lord, protect us from being Pharisees. None of us like to think that we're hypocrites. But Lord, may we examine our hearts and show us if there are ways and if there's areas in our lives that smacks of hypocrisy that needs to be confessed to You and forsaken. And by Your grace, we pray to Your Lord that You will deliver us and show us that and fill our hearts with love for You and for Your word. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.