What Christ’s Fulfillment Means For You - Matthew 5:17-18 Series

Matthew 5:17 "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. 18 I tell you the truth, 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. 19 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same 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. 20 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.

Review

It is early – the sun is just coming up, and you are still in bed. But you have been awakened by the noise of people in the street. You get up and look outside and see crowds of people – all headed down the road out of town. You are promptly informed what is going on. That guy from Nazareth – the miracle-worker, is just outside of town. You grab a few things and head out the door, curious, but with no idea that you are about to witness firsthand, with your own ears, what would become the most famous sermon ever preached.

For thousands of years the people of Israel waited for the promised King. And now the King has arrived, and He is setting up His kingdom, and this address He is giving up there on the hill is all about life in His new kingdom. And one of the most important questions about life in the kingdom is – what is the role of the Law? Where does the law fit, in this kingdom? But before telling us about the relationship between the Law and the kingdom, Jesus wants us to understand the relationship between the Law and the King. And that relationship is not one of abolition, but of fulfillment.

Introduction: The New Covenant

Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but nor did He come to leave it untouched. The arrival of Jesus into the world changed everything. There is a reason we call the first part of the Bible the Old Testament and the other part the New Testament. The word “testament” means “covenant.” So Old Testament and New Testament is just another way of saying Old Covenant and New Covenant. And that language comes right out of the Bible.

Jeremiah 31:31 "The time is coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new testament (covenant) with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant (testament) I made with their forefathers

So the Old Covenant promises that someday there will be a New Covenant (Testament). And the fact that one is old and the other is new implies that they will not be exactly the same – there will be some differences. The Covenant is the arrangement God has with His people, and so Jeremiah is saying, “After the Messiah arrives, there will be a different arrangement between God and His people.” Does that mean absolutely everything will be different? Will every part of the old Covenant be thrown out? Will there be no more law?

Jeremiah 31:33 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

The Law will not be canceled – just the opposite. It will be written on our hearts! So in the New Covenant, after the Messiah comes, some things will be very different and some things will remain the same.

So which parts of the Old Testament are applicable for us today? All of them. Nothing in the Bible was written to you, but everything in the Bible was written for you. There is no epistle to the church in Thornton – no book of Coloradans, however…

Romans 15:4 whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

Every passage in the Bible teaches something you need to know. So all the Bible is still in force, and all of it was fulfilled by Jesus, but not all of it was fulfilled in the same way.

We found last week that He fulfilled the shadow-type laws in such a way that makes them no longer binding on us today. The principles taught by those laws are still binding today, but the laws themselves do not regulate our behavior today. That is the outcome of the way Jesus fulfilled the shadow laws. The weightier matters of the Law, however, Jesus fulfilled in a different way. He fulfilled those laws in a way that makes them continue to be binding on us today.