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.
1. 9:9 Entered Jerusalem on a donkey as a King. Matthew 21:5
2. 11:12. Sold for 30 pieces of silver. Matthew 26:15
3. 11:13. Money thrown in the temple/purchased potters field. Matthew 27:7
e. Daniel 530 BC.
7:13-14 Called the Son of Man. John 12:34
These are just a few of the prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus.
There are over 61 major prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah. Peter Stoner in his book “Science Speaks” calculates the odds of any one person fulfilling just 8 of those 61 prophecies. The odds are 10 to the 17th power. (Silver dollars Texas 2 feet deep.)
a. The odds of a person fulfilling 48 of the 61 are 10 to the 157th power.
b. Jesus fulfilled all 61 major and all of the others minor ones also.
c. The rays from the light of the Scriptures would burn up an impostor. Jesus could stand up to the test of Scriptures, even the Pharisees knew this. (John 3:1-5)
B. Jesus provided the perfect sacrifice for satisfaction of the Law.
The Law required perfect obedience, (James 2:10), and Jesus was sinless. He was without sin (John 8:46, Hebrews 7:26, 1 Peter 2:21-ff, 2 Cor 5:21) are just a few of the NT passages that affirm this.
Romans 7:12 says that the Law is holy, Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The Law required that a person live without breaking the law, and Jesus is the only person that did this!
Assume that a ship is anchored at port with an anchor that has 613 links in its chain, representing the 613 commands in the Mosaic Law. If only one link breaks, the ship will be set adrift, so the 612 links that did hold count for nothing if just one is broken.
HEBREWS 7:26-27 For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
C. Jesus fulfilled the Laws purpose at the cross, and established a new covenant.
READ HEBREWS 8:7-13 (Some of this is a quote of Jeremiah 31:31)
Since Jesus fulfilled the Law we are no longer under the Law. This does not mean that what is written in the Old Testament is invalid. Before a state became a state, it was a territory. The territory would be under territorial laws. Those laws would say that it is a crime to steal, murder and so forth. When the territory became a state, the state laws said the same thing.
When you murdered someone in a territory that became a state, you were tried under state law not the territorial laws.
Since Jesus fulfilled the Law, we are going to be judged against the New Testament not the Old.
D. Christ removed the curse of the Law for us. READ GALATIANS 3:10-13
Christ has the authority to set the "righteousness" standards for the Kingdom of Heaven! Who are we to make our own?
The curse of the Law was that if was futile to try to get to heaven by being perfect. Jesus way of salvation includes grace which makes up the difference when we fall short.
III. Jesus Perfect harmony with the Law
A. Jesus established the Law.
ROM 3:31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
B. Jesus is the goal of the Law.
ROM 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
GALATIANS 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
C. God’s righteousness is shown to us.
ROM 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
D. That to which the Law pointed, kingdom citizens can do!
ROM 8:3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
E. The Law and the prophets pointed to Messiah, and the righteousness that He would bring in!
IV. JESUS’ EXPECTATIONS OF HIS FOLLOWERS IN REFERENCE TO THE LAW; Verse 19-20
The Pharisees were good at telling others what to do, but were not too good at doing what they taught. Jesus says that the one who teaches and does what they teach is a step up on the Pharisees. In other words, walk the talk.
Jesus was looking for true holiness, not an outward righteousness the religious leaders showed.
Because the “greater righteousness” is patterned after God’s own character (cf. 5:45), not legal niceties, its practice can truly extend to every aspect of one’s life. The Pharisaic model of legal observance only results in a superficial righteousness oriented toward human recognition (cf. 6:1-4), thus leading to hypocritical pride (23:10).
The new righteousness is greater that that of the Old Covenant.
The Law finds its authority and meaning in Jesus.
Jesus understood that the law was not the means to salvation, but God’s law reflects God’s heart.
The religious leaders were worried about he letter of the Law instead of the spirit of the Law. This is why they had so many rules to follow.
When we become concerned with following the letter of the law instead the spirit of the law, we become a people who do less than God wants us to do. Some do less because they claim that they are not under Law but under grace.
CONCLUSION
The Law of Moses does not save us.
Christ has the right to set the standards for the Kingdom, not only because He is God, but also since He was the fulfillment of the Law. Since the Law of Moses has been fulfilled, our salvation is based on our acceptance or rejection of Jesus.
The old excuse that “I am a good person” will not cut it in heaven because none of us are good enough. None of us can reach the standard of goodness needed to save ourselves.
Jesus is the one who sets the standard of what s right and wrong. When we decide that we are going to make up our own standard of right and wrong, then their becomes no standard. Jesus has the right and the authority to tell us what He expects from us.
Let us not just keep the letter of the law, but let us give ourselves totally to the one who died for us and rose on the third day, the one who is seated at the right hand of God.
