“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Each year in Pamplona, Spain, during the week-long festival held for the patron saint of that town, there is the running of the bulls. By now I’m sure all of us have seen news coverage of this wild race since the media loves to cover anything that is dazzling and spectacular.
And what could be more potentially disastrous than a bunch of geniuses running through narrow streets with no avenue of escape, barely ahead of a herd of confused, angry bulls with horns and hooves?
In fact there is really no reason for the media to make that trip every year for new footage. It always looks exactly the same from the vantage point of our sofas and breakfast bars. A large number of guys dressed primarily in white, with maybe an occasional red sash around the waist, frantically trying to avoid an equally large number of bulls, some of them falling and getting up as fast as they can, some trying to scamper over adobe walls, some disappearing under the rushing wave of bovine flesh.
Now I do not intend to try and apply some detailed analogy to base my whole sermon on with this. I just wanted to refresh that vision in your own minds as we begin to look at these verses of study today because as we go I want to paint another picture in your minds that also came to me in my study, which resulted then in my remembrance of those scenes from Pamplona.
THE SCENE
Let’s get the scene in our heads. This won’t be a difficult task, since I would presume that just about all of us already have had this scene in our heads since we began this study. That is, except maybe for those folks whose brains don’t work in pictures. I can’t imagine that because my brain works in pictures. When I’m hearing a story being told I always get a picture of it in my mind.
But we’ve seen the movies, haven’t we? And even here, at the end of chapter four and in the beginning of chapter five we get some help.
“…great multitudes followed Him from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan.”
That pretty much covers all of Israel and the regions directly east of Israel and north east of Israel.
So we’re actually talking about a much larger crowd than is displayed in most of the movies. If they made one today they could hire fifty extras, film them sitting in a group on the grass, then copy-paste, copy-paste until it looks like thousands.
But back in the days they did not have that capability and had to pay extras, they’d hire about a hundred people at minimum wage, scatter them out so it would look like more, then film them at angles that would suggest to the viewer that there were still a lot of people out of camera shot.
But we’re talking about thousands of people. It was the time of Jesus’ popularity. Johnston Cheney called it “A Year of Favor”, which preceded the period of confrontation and subsequent rejection.
Now there would have been some Pharisees and Scribes there. They probably got as close as they could so they could listen carefully to every word.
That was a good thing. It was their duty to be there, as those whose duty it was to protect the faith and weed out the heretics.
So is the picture fresh in your mind? A hillside in the country, thousands of men, women and children sitting, standing, climbing nearby trees for a better view. Jesus, sitting down looking down hill at this vast assembly, His disciples sitting around Him and next to Him, religious leaders and lawyers on the front row.
Today they’d have laptops. They’d be wearing their best three-piece suits and smiling and watching very intently to interpret every subtle movement of body language, alert to any little nuance that may cloak a double-meaning, making sure that guy up there tows the line with his words and his message. Because after all, the most important thing is that he, like they, concentrate on being the best Southern Baptist he can be.
And these guys were there to make sure Jesus was going to be careful not to minimize the keeping of the Law, or disrespect the most recent faith statement or say anything to trivialize the prophets or let anyone off from going to the temple with their offerings and their sacrifices.
So there they are and there He is, and there is the multitude gathered, all hanging on every word.
And so far it hasn’t been too bad, has it? I mean, even the Pharisees and the Scribes were probably nodding their approval at the beatitudes, because understanding them on a purely human level I’m sure they were all convinced that He was describing none other than these noble and high people right there in front of Him.
They were probably wondering when He’d get around to just pointing them out and saying, ‘…like these guys…’.
And when He said ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness’, oh, my! Were they persecuted? Well of course! Weren’t the pagan Romans soiling the very streets of Jerusalem with their ungodly feet?
And when He likened the one who is persecuted for righteousness to the prophets before them, their chests must have puffed out like a cockatoo trying to attract a mate.
Yes, yes, that is very true. We are like the prophets who went before us. Declaring the word of the Lord faithfully; and look how we suffer for it!
Then He said something about salt and light that they didn’t quite hear because they were day-dreaming about the heavenly rewards He had just promised; but if anyone was salt and light in the world certainly He must have been talking about them; after all why change topics in the middle of His discourse?
Now do you have the picture in your head? Because Jesus is about to introduce point ‘B’ and it’s going to get difficult.
THE ASSURANCE
Right out of the blue, as though responding to something that had been said about Him, Jesus declares that He is not there to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.
“What? What was that? I was thinking about how cool it would be to get caught up in a whirlwind into heaven and I think I missed something. What did He say about the Law and the Prophets?”
I wonder if He had changed his gaze and looked directly into their faces as He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish”.
Well, ok then. We wondered where He stood on this issue and now He says He’s cool with the Law and the Prophets. But there’s more to it than that.
In their ears, to their minds, He was assuming a position of authority that they never would have dreamed He would have the audacity to claim.
He wasn’t a Levite so He couldn’t be a priest. He wasn’t a Pharisee and certainly not a High Priest. And even those of those venerated posts would not have the authority to abolish the Law and the Prophets.
So what was this itinerant preacher saying when He said He didn’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets? As though He could?
But wait, what was that last part? He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets?
Hey. Remember what happened in Nazareth when He read from Isaiah and told them that the prophecy had been thus fulfilled in their hearing? His own hometown folk tried to throw Him off a cliff!
It’s amazing to me that there wasn’t an uproar right here at this juncture of His sermon.
But let’s get off the Pharisees now. We don’t want to get into re-writing history or writing history that hasn’t been recorded. Just be aware that if indeed these people were on the scene, and they almost certainly were, this is the point in Jesus’ discourse where they would have begun to part ways with Him. Or rather, it is where He parted ways with them very definitively.
For whatever reason He introduced the thought at this point though, He does, and His statement is the beginning of a theme that will run through the rest of chapter 5 concerning the place of the Law in the life of the believer, the deviation from the spirit of the Law by the wooden legalist and the complacent liberalist, and a final challenge that probably shook them up and quite frankly, should shake up the man or woman wandering the hallways of the church of the 21st century.
Let’s zoom in and take a look.
THE DECLARATION
As I said, for Jesus to say that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets was practically an overt claim to Messiahship. Only the coming and the completion of the work of the Messiah would fulfill the Law and the Prophets. And take note of the significance of His wording; “I came”.
So if there were any rumblings beginning in the crowd at this point it wasn’t recorded for us. But it may be that the things He went on to say were so astounding to them that they felt constrained to be silent and hear it all.
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Christians, if you ever find yourself in a discussion with other Christians about the place of the Old Testament in our teaching and in our lives as believers, this is a very good place for you to turn.
Heaven and earth have not yet passed away. When they do, the smallest letter and tiniest pen stroke of the Old Testament will have been accomplished. Until then, God’s Law and the utterances of the Prophets stand.
Jesus declared it to be.
There is something else inherent in this declaration that we must not overlook.
By saying what He said here in verse 18, Jesus has declared also that the Scriptures are divinely inspired and perfect. If the smallest letter and the most insignificant punctuation are important enough to Him that He would decree that every last one will be fulfilled, then He has placed His own signature on the Scriptures and said “I wrote these”.
He is the one who gave the written word through men of old, and that written word was about Him. Remember the things He said later to the Pharisees (Jn 5:39), “...it is these that bear testimony of Me...” and again on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:27), “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures”.
So He inspired them to write about Himself, then He came and fulfilled the things that had been written, and then after His resurrection and ascension He inspired those who knew Him to explain what He had done. He is the perfect Teacher, isn’t he?
So now, in the New Testament, we have the words of the prophets made more sure, and in fact I want to read those verses from 2 Peter to you at this point:
“So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:19-21
Dare we neglect the Old Testament as New Testament believers? No, we do not. Dare we diminish the importance of the Old Testament to our very lives as Christians? No, we do not.
The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to tell his readers, that’s us, that we would do well to pay attention to the prophetic word, and then assure us that none of it is open to our own interpretation. Loved ones, that is a solemn charge!
When men and women play fast and loose with the prophecies of the Old Testament, attempting to come up with some new and positive sounding ‘truth’ that will sell books and pack churches, and when others trivialize the Laws of God and teach that there are parts that just don’t apply any more because we live in this advanced and enlightened age, they are messing around with the very Word of God who stood in human flesh and beginning with the authoritative ‘Truly I say to you”, declared it to be perfect and significant and applicable to every age, every person, until Heaven and earth pass away! Do you think there will be a reckoning?
I assure you, there will!
“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
THE CHARGE
I want to read to you a section from Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on verse 20 so you will have a clear picture in your mind of who these people are that Jesus mentions here.
“We must remember that the scribes and Pharisees were in many senses the most outstanding people of the nation. The scribes were men who spent their time in teaching and expounding the law; they were the great authorities on the law of God. They gave their whole life to the study and illustration of it. They, more than anyone else, therefore, could claim to be concerned about it. They were the men who made copies of it, exercising great care as they did so. Their whole life was lived with the law, and everyone looked up to them for that reason.
“The Pharisees were the men who were quite outstanding and famous for their sanctity, so-called . The very word ‘Pharisee’ means ‘separatist’. They were people who set themselves apart, and they did so because they had formed a code of the ceremonial acts connected with the law which was more rigid than the law of Moses itself. They had drawn up rules and regulations for life and conduct which in their stringency went far beyond anything we find demanded in the Old Testament Scriptures.” Studies in the Sermon on the Mount Lloyd-Jones, 1971, Eerdman
And these are the people who, according to Jesus, must be exceeded in righteousness by anyone aspiring to the Kingdom of Heaven.
And this is why I got this mental movie going from Pamplona, hence the title of this sermon.
These are the bulls. In fact, referred to prophetically in Psalm 22 as the ‘strong bulls of Bashan’, who would later encircle His cross and mock Him as He hung dying.
And anyone striving to stay ahead of them in the fleshly exercise of piety and religious devotion is going to get trampled.
Well then, has Jesus just doomed everyone to a Godless eternity by setting a standard that cannot be reached?
“No, (says someone) because we’re not under the Law, but under grace and now we only need to love”.
Nope, sorry, that doesn’t cut it. Any hippy could say that and not by any means be referring to anything spiritual at all.
There needs to be a very clear understanding of what Jesus is saying here because misunderstanding of His teaching will inevitably lead either to crushing legalism or pathetic license.
Remember what we’ve said all along. This sermon is progressive and one point follows another.
With that in mind, we just glance briefly at what follows through the rest of this chapter and we find Jesus denouncing the teaching of the religious leaders and then correcting those teachings as the One who has absolute authority to do so.
It stands to reason, therefore, that if He is going on to refute their teachings, then trying to exceed their righteousness by following their teaching would be ludicrous. Futile.
However going backwards from verse 20 we are reminded that He has declared His stamp of absolute approval on the Law and the Prophets after admonishing His followers to manifest light that glorifies God through their good works.
And He has given this admonition on the heels of describing the one who is truly a follower of His.
They are poor in spirit, humble, repentant, ravenously desirous of righteousness in and through their lives, merciful, peaceable, holy.
The Scribes and Pharisees were living proof that no one could make himself those things with any degree of human effort.
Jesus said that our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, or we would not get into heaven. The clear message then is that the Scribes and Pharisees weren’t going to get in themselves.
Jesus even told them that clearly in Matthew 23:13.
So stop running with the bulls, Christian, if that is what you have been doing.
The message coming through loud and clear from Jesus is, ‘you can’t do what I’m telling you to do’. And if we understand that, if we get that message, then our natural response would be to ask, ‘Then what must we do? What can we do? We’re undone! Ruined! Lost!’
Yes. That is the proper response. Because Jesus has the answer to those questions. Jesus is the answer to those questions.
Only the perfect keeping of the Law can attain to righteousness, and since He is the One who came to fulfill it, and who kept it perfectly, then the way to Heaven is by being in Him.
There was a Pharisee who was one of these we’ve been talking about, but he came to understand that all his acts of righteousness were as filthy rags in the sight of a Holy God. His spiritual eyes were opened and he knew that there is no one righteous, not even one. He finally understood and believed that the kind of righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees is only found through faith in Christ.
“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil 3:8-11
So you see, if you are a believer in Christ, verse 20 of Matthew 5 presents no threat to you. It does not represent a drudgery to you. It is not to you a challenge to reach the unreachable star.
Because if you are in Christ, then you have gained Heaven on the merit of the One whose righteousness far exceeded that of the Scribes and Pharisees, because in the days of His flesh He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness perfectly and satisfied holiness eternally for you.
If you are in Him you will know, because if you are in Him your heart’s desire will be that His Law be upheld and fulfilled and that your life is one of righteousness and holiness.
I read you a large portion from Lloyd-Jones about the Scribes and Pharisees, so I’ll end with reading his comments at the end of that chapter.
“Do you know God? Do you love God? Can you say honestly that the biggest and the first thing in your life is to glorify Him and that you so want to do this that you do not care what it may cost you in any sense? Do you feel that this must come first, not that you may be better than somebody else, but that you may honor and glorify and love that God who, though you have sinned against Him grievously, has sent His only begotten Son to the cross on Calvary’s hill to die for you, that you might be forgiven and that He might restore you unto Himself? Let every Man examine himself”. IBID
Are you still running with the bulls? Or are you resting in the Lamb?
