How Not To Obey The Law

How NOT to Obey The Law

Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:

Matthew 5:9-12

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”

And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):

Romans 10:9-10 (NLT)

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

“For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

Today we will be reading from Matthew 5:17-48

Over the past two weeks we have taken a look at Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law and Jesus’ fulfillment of the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament.

And, it was amazing to see how Jesus fulfilled the Law and the prophets.

The Law given through Moses was not difficult; Love the Lord your God and obey His commandments. One of the very last verses in the Old Testament is Malachi 4:4 when Yahweh, the LORD God of Israel says, “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel.”

What was the law the Lord gave to Moses at Horeb for all Israel?

It was the Ten Commandment found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

Following that Moses gave some general commands on how to treat other Israelites and how to settle civil crimes.

These included laws that governed: the building of stone altars for the Lord, the treatment of Israelite servants, recompense for personal injuries, the protection of personal property, social responsibility, laws of justice and mercy, Sabbath laws and the observance of the three annual festivals.

All of these are contained in just four chapters and the laws regarding the Sabbath are contained in only five verses, Exodus 20:8-11 and Exodus 23:12.

The problem was that the Law had become god and God largely took a back seat to the law.

Let’s read about this in Matthew 5:17-48

(Prayer for help)

One more time, Matthew 5:17-20

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Now, before we take a look at what the ancient Jews considered to be the “least of these commands” we need to realize that whether a command is considered “least” or “greatest” disobedience of that command is sin. So, we might very well be looking at the smallest sin or the largest sin.

You know, a funny thing happens when you start talking about “the least of these commands”. What happens? People start looking for the least command and that’s exactly what the Pharisees did. And what did they find?

Least commandment (according to the Pharisees) was this:

Deuteronomy 22:6-7

“If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.”

And, of course, they also had to determine what the greatest commandment was. What do you think it was?

Well, it wasn’t the one Jesus was thinking of.

It was this …

The Greatest commandment (according to the Pharisees):

Deuteronomy 5:16

“Honor your father and your mother, as (Yahweh) the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land (Yahweh) the LORD your God is giving you.”

The amazing thing about the choice of this verse is that it promised long life and they even misinterpreted the long life as being the afterlife.