Matthew 5:17-20 | Finding Righteousness

Sunday Morning | September 6, 2026 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

In “Finding Righteousness,” Pastor John continued the Sermon on the Mount series by explaining how Jesus set the record straight about His teaching and the Old Testament Law. Jesus affirmed that the Old Testament is authoritative, has a greater purpose than His hearers fully understood, and is meant to be followed—but not in the way it had been taught by the scribes and Pharisees. While the Law reveals God’s standard, Jesus came to fulfill it and point people toward something greater. For Christians today, the Old Testament Law reminds us of our need for God when our hearts are hard, points us to Christ, is fulfilled as God writes His truth on our hearts rather than leaving us under the Law, and must ultimately be understood through the lens of Jesus. Jesus did not come simply to give us a new set of rules; He came to transform our hearts and produce a righteousness that goes deeper than outward religious behavior.

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Well, it's great to gather as we continue to study the Sermon on the Mount. That's the series we're in right now. The Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew chapter five. If you want to be turning there, I think that's on page 769 in the church Bibles, if you don't have a Bible, we have those out in the lobby. We'd love to put one in your hands. And this week, as I read and studied this week's passage, I thought of those old Western movies. You've maybe seen some of those old Westerns. It almost doesn't matter which one pick about any one of them. There's often this scene in the movie where the outlaws have been coming to town. They've been really in charge. In fact, the sheriff is maybe just a puppet sheriff. They tell him what to do. Maybe he's getting a kickback on their outlaw activities. And there comes a moment where those outlaws show up in town, and a guy walks out and he has on fresh boots and a new star, and he says, just so you know, guys, there's a new sheriff in town. And they're all like, yeah, whatever. We're going to have control. And he said, no, no, no. Things are about to change. There's a new sheriff, there's a new regime. You see that in about all these movies, when Jesus shows up to deliver the Sermon on the Mount, in essence, he is saying, there's a new sheriff in town. There is a new way of doing things. You thought one group of people were in charge of the way we relate to God. But I'm telling you, there is a new way now and all the Sermon on the Mount is him unpacking. Now, what is this new kingdom? What is this new regime? What does it look like today? He's going to drive to the heart of that very specifically in Matthew chapter five. So if you've turned there, go ahead and stand. I'm going to read those couple of verses that we're going to study today in Matthew chapter five verse 17 through 20. Just stand as I read those, just as a sign of reverence for God's Word.

Matthew 5: 1:54

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. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one iota. Not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes 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 does them and teaches them, they will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. God, thank you for your word that gives us life, that guides us, that gives us hope, that tells us what it means to live in your kingdom, under your blessing, under your rule. Would you give us ears to hear today? We love you, Jesus. Amen. You can be seated. So here we have Jesus sharing with them what this new reign looks like. This new kingdom, the new realm, the new sheriff in town, the new way of relating to God. But first he has to start with setting straight the record on a few things, because he has been accused of something in particular. If you look back at verse 17, he says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or prophets. Now if you start that way. Hey, don't think this about me. Don't think this wrong way to think about my teaching. That means that someone has already accused him of that. But Jesus comes to set the record straight. In fact, the first point in your outline is that Jesus believed many would have said that Jesus wants to throw out the Old Testament, that he doesn't believe what has been written, that he's not trying to follow the scriptures. But he came to say, no, no, no. I do believe the Old Testament is authoritative, its authority if it has authority for your life. Some would have said that Jesus was trying to do something completely different, trying to cast that aside, I think we've seen that in our own culture and some of the more recent years. We need to throw away the old way of doing things. One of the phrases we heard that was repeated by many was, we need to defund the police. That was all the rage for a season. Certain political leaders, even those who were personally protected by the police, would proclaim, we need to defund the police. We gotta get rid of them. We it's not working the way we should, so we just gotta get rid of it. Got to be done with it. Cast it aside. Gotta find some new way. We don't know what the new way is, but we gotta be rid of that. That was all the rage. We can't be under these old rules and ways of controlling people. And of course, the police system isn't perfect. Policemen would say that as well. But do you just throw it all a side? Some even view the spiritual realm of this world. The spiritual laws, spiritual situation, spiritual organizations, some would have a similar view of that. You might often hear this. I heard an interview with a guy this week, a well-known guy, and he said, you know, I think and you'll hear this. People say it this way all the time. I think Jesus, he's great, like Jesus, but like the church and all the rules and laws that have established like that's a big that's where all the problem is. That's what's calling all the causing all the guilt and shame for people. We need to get rid of all that. Like you'll hear that from people. That's often a sentiment. Jesus is great, but the church, the rules, the laws. We gotta get rid of all that. Jesus was being accused of this? Oh, because of what he's teaching, he clearly doesn't respect the Old Testament, doesn't believe in the laws that were handed down from Moses, doesn't think we should follow that. But he says, no, that's not the case. I didn't come to abolish. I didn't come to destroy or annul or cast it aside. Instead, he says this. He uses this word. If you look back in verse 17, I didn't come to abolish the law or the prophets, which is really just a way of saying the Old Testament. It's a shorthand for saying all the Old Testament. I didn't come to abolish those. I didn't come to destroy them or throw them away or dismantle them. I came to fulfill them. That's an interesting choice of word. That word can mean fill up. Finish off complete. He didn't choose some words you might expect him to say. I'm not going to abolish it. I'm here to to keep it. That's what you think would be the natural thing. You would say. I'm here to reinforce it. I'm here to build upon it. But he doesn't say any of that. He says I'm here to fulfill it. That's a powerful word, because it's a word that has been showing up already in the book of Matthew. And it's probably one of the major themes of the book of Matthew. Over and over again. We looked at this when I kicked off the series. The very first verse of Matthew doesn't use the word fulfill, but it's making the point. Jesus came for a reason because he says Jesus is the Son of Adam or a son of Abraham, son of David. The very first verse is saying, there's more to Jesus than you think. He is completing what was promised long ago. And then later in chapter one, they quote the author of Matthew quotes from Isaiah and says, he will be Emmanuel, God with us. This is to fulfill what was written by the prophet Isaiah. You see that word fulfill. You see the word fulfill over and over again. And each time it's saying, here's more information about who Jesus is and everything you read in the Old Testament. Everything was pointed to him. He is bringing it all to completion. In fact, that other word he used here, he says, I'm here not to abolish but to fulfill. And he also uses this other word in verse 18 he says, truly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until all is accomplished. Jesus says, I'm a fan of the Old Testament. I believe it is an authority. In fact, Jesus quotes often from the Old Testament just the chapter before this Matthew chapter four. We have the moment where he's tempted in the wilderness and Satan comes to him to tempt him, and three times Satan tempts him, and three times Jesus responds by quoting the Old Testament back to Satan. And what does Satan do? In response to that? He leaves. Now here's a powerful strategy for you, by the way. When you are faced with temptation, when you were faced with attacks from the evil one, here is a powerful strategy. Quote Scripture. It's pretty straightforward. Jesus quoted scripture and Satan had to flee. How many times are you faced with temptation trials? And we don't go there. We don't lean on the power and authority of Scripture. Some would say, well, I've tried that. It hasn't worked for me. Have you really tried it? Have you really? In fact, let me just ask you take time right now in your mind and think through what is a main struggle, a main area of temptation, a main area of attack in your life that is, you consistently shows up in a main area of struggle. What is it? Think in your mind right now? Try to pinpoint that. I'll give you three that I hear all the time. These are the three most common. It would be anger, lust and anxiety. That's going to be 75% of the conversation. This is an area of struggle for me. I'll hear it over and over again. Anger, lust, anxiety. There are others for sure, but those are ones that come up all the time. I feel an attack in this area. Whatever it is for you, have you really set down and taking time to memorize three verses specifically related to that area in your life? Whatever area you've brought to mind, is there a verse right now you could quote if you felt an attack coming? Could you quote it even just one verse right now directly to counter attack that man? If the answer is no, you haven't really tried it. Take time. This week, all you got to do is a Google search, or you can flip to the back of your Bible. If you've had in concordance, you can look up the word that relates to the area you've been struggling. Pick one verse, put it on a no card, but read it back to yourself, recorded on the phone. Have it play back. Get it in front of you, memorize it, know it, and when that attack comes, be ready to quote it. Satan has to flee. I promise you that attack cannot endure when you invoke God's Word against it. So don't stay passive on this. You don't have to stay a slave to sin. You don't have to. If you know Christ, you're no longer a slave to sin. And so we don't have to keep acting like it. Let's follow the strategy that Jesus himself used. We got power in God's word. His name is power. His word is power. Let's take advantage of it. So God's Word is Jesus proclaimed it as authoritative. He saw it as an authority in his life. He's not abolishing it. What else? Look at number two. How else did he view it? He view it as an authority, but also he knew the law has a greater purpose than his audience realized than the people he was talking to realize. Then the Pharisees and scribes realized, yes, the Old Testament is an authority. I believe it's true. I believe it can depend on it, but it's got a greater purpose than they realized at the time. And he's going to speak to this specifically. I did not come to abolish. I came to fulfill, to keep it, but also it will be accomplished, he says, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until it's all accomplished. There will be a moment when the whole story of the Old Testament that it's all been pointing forward to will be ended, will be accomplished, will be fulfilled. There will be a moment when heaven and earth pass away. The new heavens and the new earth will come. But he says, even in the midst of this, every, every word in the midst of that matters, it all matters. Because he uses this phrase not in iota, not a dot will pass away that word iota. It refers to the smallest of Greek letters. It's similar to our letter, the letter for I, and then the word dot. Really, one way to translate is hook or horn. I'm going to take a risk here and bring up some Hebrew on the screen. If you could put up that image. These are two different Hebrew words. And of course, the New Testament wasn't written in Hebrew, but the audience would have known Hebrew. They would have been familiar with what these words iota dot. If you have King James jot or tittle, the word tittle, the word dot would be hook or horn. And it's speaking to just the smallest differences in a language. In writing. These are two Hebrew words up here. This is spirit and this is glory covered. But the interesting thing about Hebrew is they all those little dots you see on their. Those are the vowels. Hebrew was originally written just all consonants, no vowels. And you know, that sounds crazy. But if you took any paragraph of English and you took out all the vowels, you could still read it. You could piece it together. There might be a couple of places where you go. It could be this word or that word, but you could still do it if you were a native speaker. But here's what I want you to see. I took out the vowels in this part just so we could focus on those main letters, because one thing you'll notice is many of them are written in a very similar fashion. They take they have just a few simple strokes that make up and build all their letters in the alphabet. And there are very subtle nuances. And these hooks are horns here, just this even small little, very little indentation is just a slight difference between this letter R and this letter D, or here we have the letter C and the letter B, just this tiny little hook right there. Just that tiny little mark is all that differentiates these two letters. And Jesus is saying the slightest mark of God's Word matters. I'm not here to get rid of any of it, because it's all pointing forward to a day where it's all going to be accomplished. And Jesus has begun that when he shows up, Proverbs 30 verse five says, every word of God proves true. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. You can trust God's Word. Jesus trusted God's Word. In fact, we'll see you in the next verse. The Old Testament is indeed meant to be followed at this point. Three in your outline, it is indeed meant to be followed. Jesus wants them to see you. You can trust God's Word when he talks about God's Word. He's talking about the Old Testament. You can depend on it. You can trust it. Here's what he has to say. The law is indeed meant to be followed. Look at verse 19. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever relaxes, that word relaxes, similar maybe to the word it's used. Also, speaking of someone who's loosening or untying their sandals, you get home from a long day of work. Your feet hurt, their swollen. You want to loosen those sandal straps or whatever you use instead. Shoe laces probably is what we use more likely, and you want to kick your feet up and relax. You want to get those off of you don't. You don't want them constraining you anymore. And he's saying whoever relaxes one of the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So the challenge is to be careful with God's Word. Then he says, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now here's the conundrum of that, because obviously there are many commands in the Old Testament that we don't follow exactly anymore. I'm going to get to that in a minute. The problem was, his audience thought that the Pharisees, who would have been some of the main teachers at the time, probably the best known teachers of the law, they really put themselves up as the super holy people, the most authoritative. We've got it all figured out, our version of what the laws mean, we've got that nailed. We've got it all figured out. There's a kid's storybook called the Jesus Storybook Bible. Does anybody have a copy of that at home? Read it to your kids. It's such a great book. If you don't have that, even for adults, I'd say you should read it because it's all about how the whole Bible, in fact, the subtitle of that Bible says every story whispers his name, Jesus's name. And so it's pointing. It's helping you see how the whole Bible weaves together. It's a great, great kid's Bible, but I love how they do some of the artwork. This is a picture how they depict the Pharisees in that Bible. Go ahead and put that image up of the of the Pharisees. Yeah, you see them kind of all perfectly put together in authority, kind of very stoic and still the law keepers. But also you see on their faces in this picture a look of amazement, because this is in the story where Jesus is feet are washed by the woman, and that's the look of shock. That's the look of disgust. How could he let her touch him? Us perfect, super holy, righteous people. We would never allow that. We see they were missing it. They were misunderstanding the law. In fact, they were teaching their own interpretation of the law as the law. Now, here's the challenge with that, because this is what helps us understand Jesus accusation here. Whoever in verse 19, whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. The call for us. And if you're a parent, you understand this. You understand this perfectly. You can't just say, do what I say, not what I do. I mean, you could say that all you want. It almost doesn't matter what you say in comparison to what you do, they will imitate you. So you could say that all day long. And the Pharisees thought, you know, do what we say you should do. But maybe we're not going to keep it ourselves as well. That doesn't work. Jesus says, if that's your strategy, you will be lost in the kingdom of heaven, which means you're not in. So it was meant to be followed. But here's the kicker, and here's what brings this together in terms of what Jesus is teaching. It was meant to be followed, but not the way they had been taught, not the way their audience had been taught. You know, the the scribes and Pharisees in your notes. I left a couple of blanks there, just mentioning who they are. If you're not familiar with those two categories of people, there were some other, like the Sadducees, that are mentioned in Scripture as well. Scribes and Pharisees is just shorthand for those who are keeping the law, who think they are keepers of the law. The scribe is more of like a job title, the title of a job. Like, for instance, you might say, I'm an engineer, or I'm a pastor or a fireman or whatever. That's more of a categorical job title, whereas Pharisee is more of like a religious political party title. We don't have the same political structure they had. They had this council that oversaw the religious laws of the land, which influenced the political realm as well. It's different where we've really separated those, but both together helped shape up. Here's how you be spiritual. Here's according to us, according to our definition. Here's how you be spiritual. Here's how you be righteous. Here's how you be in right standing with God. But the problem was they had not been teaching it. They hadn't been teaching it rightly. Look at verse 20. Here's what he says. I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. So the challenge here is the call. If you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, your righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Now the scribes and Pharisees had been setting up this really high standard of the law. Here's all the little things you have to do specifically to hang on to those. Okay? But the problem was they had missed it. Flip over to Matthew chapter 23. There's just a few chapters over from here, and I want you to see we've looked at this chapter already. They had equated their own laws with God's law. Matthew 23. In fact, in 23 he says these woes, and he calls them six times here he calls them hypocrites. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! He calls them over and over again, you blind. God's not the best way to win friends and influence people, right? Not a very polite word. If someone calls me a hypocrite, that's going to cut pretty deep. Woe to you. Look at verse 23. Here's what he says to them in regard to setting up your own laws as God's law. Wo do you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for you tithe mint and dill and cumin. They're very careful to take the smallest of herbs and spices, and to make sure to cut out one tenth of those and set those aside for God, something almost inconsequential and and irrelevant to most everyone's daily life. Who's going around what I really hope someone hands out some deal to me this week. I mean, my wife might feel that way. She loves some spices and cooking, but you see, it's almost inconsequential. And he says, woe to you. You make you take time to do that, but you have neglected the weight of your matters of the law, justice and mercy and faithfulness. So really, really good about these secondary issues. And yet you've you've neglected justice, mercy, faithfulness. They have said our way is the only way. They've put their own laws on par with God's laws. How many of you remember Herschel York? He came here and spoke last year. He was interim pastor when I was here in college, during my college years before Kevin Hamm came. And I remember when he shared, he said, I, I've always tried to be very careful with my boys. His boys still lived at home at the time back then. They're older now. They're out of the home. But he said, I've always tried to be very careful to separate Herschel's laws from God's laws. I want to make sure they know that my laws aren't the same as God's laws now. I hope they're connected. I hope they honor him and what I've said, he said. But for instance, he said, in my home, I ask that my boys, while they live in my home, while I'm supporting them, that they keep their hair short, he said. But I also make sure they know that doesn't mean that short hair get you into the kingdom of heaven. That doesn't mean that whatever rule or law that man sets up and look, a lot of, a lot of churches love to do this. Only this translation, whatever it is, only this style of dress, only this style of worship, this is the only way into the kingdom of heaven. They said man's laws and they equate them with God's laws. People do it, churches do it. It's almost hardwired in us. If I thought of it, it must be perfect. Woe to you! You've done really good job of setting up your own laws, but you've missed it. They had missed it. The reality is, Jesus was teaching something entirely different to them. Okay, if I have to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, what hope do I have? Well, the reality is it's a completely different game we're talking about. We're not talking about the game they're playing. They're playing the wrong one. And so here's how I'm going to take just a brief minute here. We're going to go through these four pretty fast. But I think most Christians walk around wondering okay what do I do with the Old Testament. There's a lot there. I don't know how to apply it all to my life. What part should I keep? What part shouldn't? How do I you're saying that Jesus honored it and valued it and said we should keep it? What does that mean for me? I'm going to give you four quick points, quick ways to understand this new realm. The new sheriff is in town. There's a new way of doing things. How do we understand the Old Testament in light of Christ? So look at these four real quick in your notes. First four ways Christians view the law. The law was needed because hearts are hard. Galatians 319 speaks to this. I've put that reference in your note. You can look. You can look it up. In fact, all of Galatians three gives some amazing insight into the role of the law. But it says there the law came in because of transgression. The laws came in because of sin. Law is needed when hearts are heart, when hearts are pure and doing right things. Laws aren't needed at your home. Again, if you have kids in school, if you're if your daughter has all A's, you don't come home and go, okay, now listen here tonight you better start buckling down. I want to see you study three hours a night, every night, and you're not seeing your friends until all that's done, okay? No, you don't do that. You got all A's. She's got to figure it out. You don't lay down the law when everything's great. But when those a minus come home or whatever layer for you be whatever it is. When those bad grades come home, that's when you have to lay down some law. Hey, look, here's some change that has to come about. So law comes in because of sin, because of transgression, because we aren't naturally following God, naturally pursuing God. God made a covenant with Abraham. The nation wasn't following that. And so the law was brought in to direct, to constrain, to direct. But the law is not an end to itself. Look at number two. The purpose of the law was that it was pointing to something greater than itself. The law is not an end to itself. We don't obey the law just so we can be great law keepers. See, the whole point of the law was to point to something greater than itself. I've listed Galatians three. That should be verse 24 in your notes in there. It speaks specifically to the role of the law. It gives you the answer for what was the purpose of the law. And it says this. The law was meant to be a schoolmaster or a god, or, I think, probably the best word, a chaperon to lead us to Christ. That's the purpose of the law. It wasn't just so that we would know how to follow these laws perfectly. The point was that it would point us to something greater than itself, point us to Christ. Just like a chaperon is meant to take you somewhere. The goal isn't just to hang out with a chaperon. They're meant to take you on, to lead you to someplace else. And the whole purpose of the law was to bring us to Christ, to point us to Christ. That's why it's there. Now, here's the third thing that's really important. The law as a result now is written on our hearts, and we're no longer under the law. The Christian is no longer bound by the law. Christ has fulfilled the law. It is finished in him. It is fulfilled in him. I think probably, and this isn't a perfect example, but how many of you, when you want to know how to live as a citizen in the United States, how many of you go and search out and read and study the Articles of Confederation? I was expecting, I see a halfway up and over there for my history nerds, but if you took it to court. It wouldn't count because that has gone away. That was a starting one. But when the Constitution came in, it replaced the Articles of Confederation. A new regime was in. It went away. Still important, still significant, still laid the foundation. But there's a greater law that came in now when Jesus came in, he didn't just bring in new laws. Now, what he brought to us was his spirit. He says in John 14, I will put my spirit within you that is fulfilling the new covenant promises. Jeremiah 31 is equal 36. You should be familiar with those passages, passages that talk about how there's going to be a day where I'll take out your heart, a stone I'll put in a heart of flesh, I'll put my law within you. So it's not an external law outside. It'll be within you. The spirit will be within you to guide you. And so we're no under the law, no longer under the law. We've been set free. Romans 812. You've been set free from the law of sin and death. Therefore, there's no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Okay, so what does that mean? I'm set free from the law. I'm no longer under the law. The Spirit's within me to guide me. Okay, so what do I do with the Old Testament now? How do I understand it? Last point now we read the Old Testament laws and understand them through the lens of Christ. We understand them through the lens of Christ. And we're going to see, in fact, the next six sermons are going to be the next six examples he gives of what this means. What does it mean to be righteous in the kingdom of Christ? How do I understand? He'll say, six times you have heard that it was said, but I say to you, you've heard that it was said next week he's going to start with murder. It's a great place to start, because that's usually the place where most of us will at least say, I'm righteous because I haven't killed anyone. If you haven't, many people will start there. Surely I'm going to heaven. I haven't killed anyone. Well, he's going to attack that one right out of the gate. What does it mean? You've heard of this said. But I say to you. We gotta go deeper. We gotta go to the heart level. I love this quote I've put in your notes by Doug Mu. It'll be on the screen if you don't have a copy of the notes. Doug Mus, a biblical scholar. He says the Old Testament law is not to be abandoned. Indeed, it must continue to be taught, as we read here in Matthew 519, but it must be interpreted and implied in light of its fulfillment by Christ. It must always be viewed through the lens of Jesus's ministry and teaching. His fulfillment is what helps us understand how we apply the Old Testament law to our lives. When he died, he fulfilled all the sacrifices. None of us woke up this morning thinking, I need to offer a sacrifice at church today for my sin. No, because Jesus did it once and for all. He ended it. And then when he lived, when he raised from the dead, we found new life in him to live under his rule and reign forever. Not in a permanent place and a land, but under him. See, he he brought certain things to an end, and he's pointing forward to a day where they will be fully accomplished. Part of the challenge of all this is we all have a certain tendency within us, and I want you to think about it as I share this. Which way you lean, okay. Some of us lean towards. And all of this is our attempt to find our own righteousness, to save ourselves. Some of us lean towards. I'm going to do that by ignoring all those laws like I talked about at the beginning of the Bible. All these churches, all that stuff, man, that just ways you down for me to find joy and happiness and peace. I gotta get rid of all that. That can't be constrained by all of that. That's one approach. The other approach is the opposite. I will be the best law keeper in the history of the world. I will keep everyone perfectly, and I'll show you how righteous and perfect I am. Now think about yourself. Which way do you lean? Probably the one of the best known stories of Scripture sums this up in the story of the Prodigal Son. Remember that story. It actually should be called the story of the Two Sons, because both of them followed this. Exactly. The prodigal son said that. Dad, I don't want you telling me what to do anymore. You know, I want to find true joy and happiness in this world. I want to go my own way. I need your money to do it. Please let me have that. I don't completely want to reject you. Just. Just your rules. But. But give me your money so I can go find joy and happiness on my own. And it didn't work. He came to the end of himself, but the older brother was also seeking to save himself. Dad, don't you see? I have kept every law perfectly. I've always been here for you. I've never done anything wrong. I didn't go squander all your money like him. How dare you throw him a party? I've been the good one. Which way do you lean? The issue for both was that they were rejecting their father. They were trying to save themselves. At the end of the day, Jesus didn't bring new law. He came to transform hearts. That's what we all need. We need our heart transformed more than anything else. And this is the point of what Jesus is teaching. Don't think just because you kept a little law and you did it with the appearance of the Pharisees, and you look like you have it all together, that you're right with me. At the end of the day, it's about your heart. Do you know me? Do you love me? Do you follow him? Is what he's saying with all your heart? That's our prayer. That's our prayer. And that's why he came and died for you. So that you can know him and find full assurance of life in him. Let's pray. God, we thank you that we have an understanding of who you are because of all that was written in the Old Testament. We can't even fully understand the name Jesus apart from all that was written before them. And thank you that you came and you brought a new way of doing things. And you said, I put my spirit within you, and I want your heart. I want to know you. I want a relationship with you. Thank you for dying for our sins. Help us to follow you and trust you in all things. We love you, Jesus. Amen.