The section of Scripture that we’re looking at today comes from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught:
The Beatitudes
Salt and Light
The fulfillment of the law
Murder, adultery and divorce
Taking oaths, an eye for an eye and loving your enemies
Giving to the needy, prayer and fasting
Treasure in Heaven
Do not worry
Judging others
Ask, seek and knock
The Narrow and Wide gates
True and false prophets
True and false disciples
The wise and foolish builders
And, then we come to His fulfillment of the law!
Wow, that’s some sermon and what a range of topics!
Two weeks ago we talked about the great declaration from God the Father through Peter that Jesus is, “the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” and as such He is the foundation of the church.
Last week we started taking a look at various aspects of why Jesus came to earth; specifically where Jesus makes the declaration Himself about why He came to earth and last week’s declaration was:
John 10:10b
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
And, today we’ll be looking at another reason Jesus came to earth.
To fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
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.”
Jumping back to Matthew 5:17 Jesus says,
“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.”
The people at the time of Jesus had been saturated with the law.
The 10 commandments: (List them on white board as people in the congregation shout them out. Have them memorized in case someone challenges you … you should know them anyway.)
The Jewish scholars have found 613 laws in the Torah, both do’s and don’ts
For example:
Do not profane the name of the Lord. (Leviticus 22:32)
Do not do prohibited labor on the eighth day of the Festival of Succoth. (Leviticus 23:36)
Do not take the mother bird from her young. (Deuteronomy 22:6)
Do prepare the anointing oil. (Exodus 30:31)
Do slaughter the second Paschal lamb. (Exodus 12:6)
Do not to allow a non-Jew to work him (a Jewish servant or slave) oppressively. (Leviticus 25:53)
Appoint a priest to speak with the soldiers during the war. (Deuteronomy 20:2)
There are numerous volumes written on and about the Jewish OT law.
Let’s just take the fourth commandment and come up with a few regulations governing how to keep that commandment: write them on the white board.
OK. So we can see how these rules were intended to help us protect the Sabbath.
These extra rules are like a fence. If you have a favorite bush or a vegetable garden and you want to keep the rabbits and woodchucks and deer out of it you might build a fence around it, right?
In the same way, these extra rules by the Jews were intended to protect the Sabbath but they had an unintended consequence. The "invented" rules became the focus instead of the Law of God and His intentions and plans for obedience.
There was and is a better way to protect the Sabbath and Jesus showed us how.
So, how did Jesus fulfill the law?
First of all, He kept the Law. Not some of it but all of it. Even though He was tempted to break the law He never did.
Hebrews 4:15 says,
“We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have One who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet He did not sin.”
Aren’t you glad for that?
Here’s how temptation goes in some of our lives. Now, let’s assume that eating candy is a sin. We know that eating candy is not necessarily a sin but for the purpose of the illustration …
I will take a drive, but won’t go near the grocery store.
I will drive by the grocery store, but will not go in.
I will go in the grocery store, but will not walk down the aisle where the candy is on sale.
I will look at the candy, but not pick it up.
I will pick it up, but not buy it.
I will buy it, but not open it.
Open it, but not smell it.
Smell it, but not taste it.
Taste it, but not eat it.
Eat, eat, eat, eat, eat!
That’s how temptation works in many of our lives and that’s just with one sin.
Here’s the thing … Jesus didn’t just know the 10 commandments. He knew every one of them in the Bible. All Scripture is God-breathed! He inspired every one of them.
He was fully God so obeying them was easy for Him, right? Not, so right. He was also fully human, just like you and me and yet He was without sin. Jesus TOTALLY fulfilled the law in that sense.
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So, Jesus fulfilled the law AND Jesus also fulfilled the Prophets. Look a these Scriptures:
Matthew 2:13-15 says about the infancy of Jesus,
“An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’
“So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my Son.’”
Matthew 8:16-17 says,
“When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to [Jesus], and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.
“This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.’”
Luke 4:16-21
“(Jesus) went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was His custom.
“He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
“Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”
Other prophecies that were fulfilled:
That He would live in Capernaum of Galilee - Matt 4:13-15
That He would teach using parables - Matt 13:35
That He would enter Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey
That He would die on a cross - Matt 26
There are many estimates about how many prophecies regarding Jesus there are in the OT but if you took only eight of them, all of which are totally beyond the control of a mortal man, such as
(1) born into the tribe of Judah,
(2) born in to the family of Jesse,
(3) born in Bethlehem,
(4) protected in the land of Egypt until the death of Herod,
(5) raised in Nazareth,
(6) that He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver
(7) that He would be buried in a rich man’s grave
(8) that He would be raised from the dead
The odds are just 8 of these prophecies - cover the state of Texas 2 feet deep with silver dollars. Randomly place one specially marked in there. Send in a blind man to wade into that pile, anywhere he wants to go and pick up the one that is marked.
In this way Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus never said that He would fulfill all of the prophecies. There are some left to be fulfilled at the return of Jesus Christ, and, He WILL return.
So, we see that Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law with His perfect obedience.
And, we also see that He has fulfilled all of the prophecies concerning His first advent.
Now we see His fulfillment of the sacrificial law.
The sacrifice was sometimes for the individual and sometimes for the nation. Sometimes the sacrifice was ceremonial and other times it was punishment by taking the life of
Leviticus 5:1, 6-10
“If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.”
“As a penalty for the sin they have committed, they must bring to the LORD a female lamb or goat from the flock as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for them for their sin.
“Anyone who cannot afford a lamb is to bring two doves or two young pigeons to the LORD as a penalty for their sin - one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
“They are to bring them to the priest, who shall first offer the one for the sin offering. He is to wring its head from its neck, not dividing it completely,
“and is to splash some of the blood of the sin offering against the side of the altar; the rest of the blood must be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
“The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the prescribed way and make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.”
This was to be done for many different sins.
Other sins were so serious that the life of the offender was required.
Numbers 35:16
“If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death.”
There’s a pretty lengthy list of offenses requiring the death penalty.
The entire 16th chapter of Leviticus is dedicated to the process of the annual Day of Atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel which is to be done every year!
But, Jesus was a special sacrifice - Hebrews 7:27
“Unlike the other high priests, [Jesus] does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.”
So, we see that Jesus put an end to the old system of temporary sacrifices which needed to be repeated whenever sin was committed by becoming the perfect and eternal sacrifice Himself.
Taking our punishment in our place so that we might have access to the Father through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus has fulfilled the sacrificial laws of the Old Covenant completely.
Illustration:
Suppose someone with the authority to do so came up to you and made a declaration that you would no longer need to pay taxes. Not income taxes, not property taxes, not sales taxes, not Social Security taxes, no taxes at all because they had made a provision to pay your taxes forever!
You might say, “OK, thanks!” or you might get a little more excited about it than that!
Well, someone paying your taxes is about as exciting as finding a toy in your Cracker Jacks compared to the immeasurable riches of the forgiveness of your sins and an eternal relationship with the Creator of the Universe starting right now!
Jesus has paid the price for my sins and your sins if we will accept the gift of forgiveness! Glory to God forever! PTL!!!
Jesus will return to fulfill the remainder of the Old Testament prophecies regarding him.
Do you remember earlier when Jesus read about from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah? There was a part of the quotation that He left off and it wasn’t by accident.
What He read was this:
Isaiah 61:1-2a
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted,
“To proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the LORD.
That is where He stopped and this is the phrase He would have read next …
“And the day of vengeance of our God.”
That will be fulfilled when Jesus returns in His glory with His angels to judge the living and the dead.
That, my friends, is where we are living right now, between when Jesus proclaimed “the favorable year of the LORD” and when He returns to proclaim “the day of vengeance of our God.”
As awful as “the day of vengeance of our God” sounds we do not need to fear!
Jesus has fulfilled the law when we could not!
Jesus has paid the penalty for our rebellion against Him and His law!
Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has made the way of salvation for us if we will only believe.
The Lord has lavished on us His great grace and mercy. All we have to do is come to him with humble hearts, asking forgiveness of our sins and turning to Him for salvation.
“The day of vengeance of our God” holds fear only for those who have rejected the grace of our Lord and Savior.
Many think that there is salvation for humanity apart from knowing, trusting and serving Jesus. They are wrong. Apart from the One True God and His plan of salvation we would soon destroy ourselves.
We are living in the time between the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the first advent of Christ and the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning His return.
The law has not been abolished! A person can choose to live under the law by trusting in his own works and good deeds and will fail miserably under the tyranny of legalism.
OR …
That same person can come to Jesus and live in the grace of God which brings salvation and freedom.
What a choice!!!
Prayer
Benediction Scripture
1Timothy 1:17
“Now to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever! Amen!”
