09. The Word, The Law, & The Believer Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

We’ve come to a transition in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Remember that Jesus is preaching this sermon to the multitudes of people on the hillside near the Sea of Galilee. He is introducing the Jewish people to the Kingdom of Heaven. All their life they’ve lived as citizens of Israel. Doing all they can to be good, practicing Hebrews. And in his introduction of the sermon, what we call the Beatitudes, Jesus brings a series of paradoxes on what it means to be happy or blessed. These paradoxes climb a ladder that begins with the realization of our spiritual poverty, followed by our repentance, which leads to meekness and increasing hunger for the things of God. All the while we are being transformed in our rebirth in the renewing of our mind until we find ourselves so different from the world that the world begins to persecute us. Our distinction from the world acts as influential change agents to the world as Jesus compares us to the Salt and Light of the World.

In an interview on October 15, 2013, Billy Graham said, “There are two basic needs that all people have: the need for hope and the need for salvation. It should not be surprising if people believe easily in a God who makes no demands, but this is not the God of the Bible. Satan has cleverly misled people by whispering that they can believe in Jesus Christ without being changed, but this is the Devil’s lie. To those who say you can have Christ without giving anything up, Satan is deceiving you.” That’s pretty strong language. Dr. Graham said that before his conversion he thought he was a Christian. But his life changed on November 1, 1934, when he repented and turned his life over to God. Listen to the comment that he then makes in the interview. “If there is no change in a person's life, he or she must question whether or not they possess the salvation that the gospel proclaims. Many who go to church have not had a life-changing transformation in Christ.”

(Credit: Sermon Central: Billy Graham's Warning Against an Epidemic of 'Easy Believism'”, Christianity Today, OCTOBER 15, 2013)

Now Jesus is shifting his focus from who we are as citizens of God’s Kingdom to how we should live. He does this through an important transition that takes place in verses 17-20. He is making it perfectly clear that anything he is establishing and presenting is not in replacement of Scripture or to devalue its authority. It is quite the opposite. He is reinforcing it.

The question before us is what was Jesus’ view of Scripture? This is an important issue for us today as it was when Jesus delivered this sermon. There are many liberal pastors and scholars who have dismissed the authority of Scripture, particularly the Old Testament. Even more, there are many who teach the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament are irrelevant to the Gospel and abolished by Jesus. This is not only categorically and biblically false, but it is also tragic, leading to a false Gospel, false converts, and an apostate Church.

Let us listen and examine Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:17-20

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, 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. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17–20)

I. Christ and Scripture

There is quite a bit to unpack in these 3 verses. I’m going to do my best to bring to light some important points. The first of which is the Doctrine of Scripture. This is a vital topic for us today because we live in a day when society says there is no absolute moral truth. In a recent survey, the Wall Street Journal found that the values of patriotism, religious faith, and family have dramatically shifted downward in the United States. “Some 38% of respondents said patriotism was very important to them, and 39% said religion was very important. That was down sharply from when the Journal first asked the question in 1998 when 70% deemed patriotism to be very important, and 62% said so of religion.”

This is a direct correlation to the departure from understanding truth. We live in a time that has rejected exclusivity. Jesus and the Bible make exclusive claims that demand you accept or reject their claims. “…when Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes unto the Father but by me,” it is a reasonable statement.  The question is, “Is it true?”  It is a most reasonable statement because truth by definition is exclusive.  The moment you affirm something you exclude anything that challenges that.” (Zacharias). That is exactly what Jesus is saying here in his sermon.