Jesus On The Law

INTRODUCTION

If you have read your Old Testament, have you ever wondered how it fits in to our faith? Have you ever wondered why we do not observe the feasts and ceremonies that were celebrated in the Old Testament?

How does the Old Testament fit in for the Christian? Are we still under the Ten Commandments? How do we know which laws we are bound to and which ones we are not? Are we to just ignore the Old Testament? Should we read it?

Have you noticed that as a Church we call ourselves a New Testament church? Have you wondered why we pattern our practice after that of the early New Testament church?

Today we are going to continue to look at the Sermon on the Mount. In our test today, Jesus is going to explain the relationship of the Old Testament Law to the Gospel (New Testament).

SERMON

I. Jesus’ attitude toward the Law

Because of some of the action of Jesus, He wanted the people to know what His intention for the Law was. Jesus wanted the people to know that His job was not to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.

A. Jesus sanctioned the OT

 LUKE 24:44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

1. The Law, first 5 book. The prophets, books that prophets wrote.

2. Jesus put His stamp of approval on the Old Testament cannon.

3. He respected and followed the Law. When Jesus healed a leper in Matthew 8:1-4, when Jesus healed the leper, He told the man to go show himself to the priest to be declared clean and then offer the appropriate sacrifice according to the Law on Moses.

B. The Law of Moses was temporary V 18

1. In this passage He states that it will only last until it is fulfilled.

 Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 Galatians 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.

 Paul tells us that we live by faith in Christ, the Old Testament no longer binds us.

 Going back to the healing, we are no long bound to making a sacrifice to God when we are healed as prescribed in the Old Testament Law. We can just praise God. We do not have to slay an animal to cover our sins, Christians can just confess them.

 Jesus anticipated the ending of the Old Covenant and an ushering in of the New Covenant. This was stated in Jeremiah 31:31which says, "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

C. Jesus had a high view of preservation of the text. Jot Tittle, letter, and stroke. V 18-19

 The religious leaders of the day were good at putting weight or varying degrees of importance to the Law. The ones that dealt with actions were seen as more important to follow than the ones that dealt with attitudes.

 Jesus says that the person who would refuse to follow the Law or teach others to do the same will have no place in the Kingdom of God.

 Those who are obedient to the old law will be led to the new convenient and will be great in the Kingdom of God.

II. Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law.

A. Jesus placed Himself in the center of Messianic prophecy.

 READ LUKE 24:25-27 ROAD TO EMMAUS.

 Here are just a few of the prophecies in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled.

a. David writing in about 1000 BC.

1. Psalms 16:10 Resurrected. Luke 24:6, 31, 34; Acts 2:31.

2. Psalms 22:7-8. The Words of the Mockers. Matthew 27:31, 39-44

3. 22:16. Hands and feet pierced. Luke 23:33, John 19:18, 20:25

4. 22:18. Cast lots for garments. Matthew 27:35. John 19:23-24

5. 41:9. Betrayed by a friend. Matthew 10:4

6. 69:21 Vinegar for thirst. Matthew 27;34

b. Isaiah in 730 BC.

1. 9:1-2 Ministry in Galilee Matthew 4:12-13 16-17

2. 53:5-6 Wounded and spit on. Matthew 26:63

3. 53:9 Buried in a rich mans tomb. Matthew 27:38

c. Micah 710 BC.

1. 5:2 Birth in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1

d. Zechariah in 490 BC.