Living In The Kingdom Part 6 Series

Living In The Kingdom 6

Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20; Hebrews 10:12; Galatians 3:24-25

This morning we are continuing our study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and today we are going to be focusing on Matthew 5:17-20. When I initially wrote this message, there was too much information to be covered in one message because I was led to also address the authority from which Jesus gave this sermon. So this is part A focusing on Matthew 5:17-20 and next week I will complete this message with part B discussing why Jesus had the authority to say everything that He said in this one sermon.

Matthew 5:17-20 says, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18For 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. 19Whoever 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 keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For 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)

Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. Jesus had already spoken of the ideal character of His disciples (the Beatitudes), and of their need of allowing that character to appear (because of their being salt and light in the world.) In these verses Jesus now transitions to speak of the position the accepted religion of the day (the Law) should have in their lives from that day forward. Remember, before Christ’s death and resurrection, the Law was what gave the people who abided by it access to eternal life. After telling them what their attitudes should be as His disciples, it possibly appeared to some that Jesus was so opposed to the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees that He came to destroy the Law. But, Jesus makes it clear that He had not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. He does not say that He has come to continue it, but to fulfill it. Jesus was saying that He would complete its purpose.

There are two words I want to look at briefly: the first is “destroy” and the second is “fulfill”. The word “destroy” means “to loose, or unloose what was before bound or fastened.” By using this word, Jesus was letting the people know “I didn’t come to release you from your moral obligations to the Law of Moses. That is not why I came. No, I came to fulfill your moral obligations to this Law so that you would be able to live with Me under a new Law – a Law with better promises.” And we see what this new Law is in Romans 8:2. Paul writes, “For the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and of death.” When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, verse 4 says “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Since Jesus fulfilled the Law and He now lives in us, we have also fulfilled the righteousness of the Law! The word “fulfill” means “to make full; to bring to a full end, accomplish, complete.” All of the requirements of the Law, including its commandments, sacrifices and offerings, Jesus fulfilled – Jesus put an end to them by His death and resurrection. Hebrews 10:12 says “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice (His crucifixion) for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” When Hebrews says Jesus sat down, it means that He fulfilled, completed, and accomplished everything the Law of Moses demanded. By fulfilling the Law, Jesus did what we could not do. He kept the Law for us! Praise God!

And we see another aspect of this in Galatians 3:24-25 which says “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” In Roman families, a trusted slave, a tutor, had charge of the children and to keep them from harm while taking them to school. The Law was such a tutor; a guide to lead the people until Christ came. When Jesus arrived on the scene, for all practical purposes, the Law ceased to function because He brought with Him salvation through faith as opposed to salvation through the works of the Law, which was a shadow of the real salvation. And this is what we see in Hebrews 10:1-2. It reads, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?” When Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law, the first visible sign of His fulfilling that promise was no more offering of sacrifices because He was the final sacrifice!