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.
How could they be so wrong? This law was given just before they were to enter into the Promised Land and over and over and over the Lord is recorded as saying if you worship Me alone and obey My commands you will live long in the land I Am giving you, but, if you worship idols and disobey My commands I will remove you from this land!
And, so, for them to interpret “a long life” as being the afterlife they would have to totally ignore huge volumes of their own Bible.
This is so plainly spelled out in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 where it says,
“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love (Yahweh) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love (Yahweh) the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
And, you know, this sophomoric obsession with the least of the laws and the greatest of the laws didn’t stop with the Jews of Jesus’ day. You can still find it today but with a twist.
Instead of the least and greatest laws the attention turned to the question, “what is the greatest sin”?
In the early fifth century a catholic monk came up with a list described as “eight evils to resist.” Two centuries later a pope refined the list to “seven deadly sins.” After that there were endless debates; were these really THE seven deadliest sins? And then there were debates about which of the deadly sins was the most deadly and which was the least deadly, deadly sin.
And there were debates about the order in which the seven deadly sins should be listed!
It boggles the mind trying to imagine how many years of time were spent amongst the Jewish teachers, researching and debating the least and the greatest laws.
It also boggles the mind trying to imagine how many years of time were spent amongst the Christian community attempting to define what the seven or eight deadly sins were and in what order they should be listed.
And all of that time COULD have been spent proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation through faith in Jesus.
Here is what Jesus taught about the Law. Love God and love others with the same selfless love that was demonstrated by Jesus in His life here on earth and on the cross of Calvary.
And, here is what Jesus said about sin in John 8:34
“Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.’”
Which sin? The little ones or just the big ones!
And we all know from our memory verse, Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death …” Which sins, the little ones or just the big ones? Isn’t is funny that Jesus and the apostle Paul did not differentiate between little sins and “deadly” sins. They are ALL DEADLY!
And, sin is bad. Whether you think it is a small sin or a large sin, it is bad. Sin is rebellion. Sin is idolatry. Sin is self worship. Sin is death.
By the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within you (if you are a born again Christian) STOP SINNING!
Now, as you can tell, we have gotten WAAAAY off track from the Scripture we are looking at today. What was that Scripture?
One more time, Matthew 5:17-19
“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.”
Jesus is saying:
- The entire law will continue until the heavens and the earth disappear and until all is accomplished
- Don’t set aside any of these commands no matter how small you might think they are
- Practice and teach the commands of the Law
What happens when you try to embellish the law? Disaster!
What happens when you try to add to the Word of God? Disaster!
What happens when you try to remove or ignore parts of the Word of God you don’t like? Disaster!
The Lord God gave us the text of the Holy Bible through His prophets and the apostles.
He gave us what we needed; He didn’t give us too much or too little.
He didn’t make it confusing; He made it plain.
You cannot add anything to God’s Word and expect it to be an improvement! If you try you will only muddy the waters and make things confusing.
You cannot take anything away from God’s Word without causing harm to those who read or hear it.
God’s Word is perfect the way it is.
And then when Jesus came He boiled it down and made is simple for us!
Matthew 22:37-40
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Romans 13:8, 10
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.”
“Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Galatians 5:14
“For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
James 2:8
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”
That seems easy right?
Loving others is the fulfillment of the law?
Yes, it SEEMS easy but it all rest on the foundation of Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
In order to Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength you need to Know Jesus as your Savior!
Trying to fulfill the law without having a relationship with Yahweh the Lord God of Israel was what brought the Pharisees to the spiritual condition that was offensive to Jesus.
Here is one thing Jesus said to the Pharisees about their passion for the Law while having no passion for Yahweh.
Matthew 23:25-27
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”
“Woe to you, teachers of the law (scribes) and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”
Think of Christianity in this way. Suppose Christians were thought were like soup bowls in a restaurant. In one restaurant the soup bowls were never washed. They were just taken back to the kitchen, refilled and given to another customer.
In the second restaurant only the outside of the bowl would be washed between customers but all off the food waste from the previous customers was left inside the bowl.
In the third restaurant the bowl would be washed on the inside but the outside would be all grimy from all of the hands that had handled it.
And in the fourth restaurant the bowl would be washed inside and out before being brought to the next customer.
Which restaurant would you want to go to?
Now imagine that history has ended and you are going to stand before Jesus as your judge.
If your life is like the first bowl that is filthy on the inside and outside do you want to appear before the Judge who will pass down the sentence to be carried out through eternity?
If your life is like the second bowl where the outside appears clean, where it appears to be righteous and holy but the inside is still filled with filthiness; would you be excited to appear before the Judge who will pass down the sentence regarding your eternal destiny?
What if your life is like the third bowl where it is filthy on the outside but clean on the inside? Well, that would depend on how long you had been saved? Were you saved shortly before you died? Were you still an immature Christian? Were you still unaware that many of your actions and habits were not pleasing to the Lord? If so, you probably would be excited about standing before Jesus your Savior, the One Who died for you while you were still a sinner and the One who had compassion on you.
Finally, what if your life is like the fourth bowl, spiritually clean on the inside AND the outside through the power of the Holy Spirit living within you. Can you imagine holding up your life before the Lord and saying, “I am unworthy Lord but You have made me clean inside and out and I offer the life You have made back to You!”
That is what the Lord is looking for; not just clean on the outside but clean inside as well!
When Jesus said in Matthew 5:20
“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.” THAT is what He was talking about!
The Pharisees looked clean on the outside but were filthy on the inside.
Jesus came to live a sinless life and then to give that life for our salvation. And after that He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to guide us and direct our paths. With His forgiveness and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit we can accomplish His goal for us. Otherwise, we will only repeat the failures of the Pharisees.
Final thoughts and prayer.
