WEBVTT 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:25.519 Good morning. 00:00:27.120 --> 00:00:32.560 I so appreciate the worship and singing that we've had this morning. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:42.960 Because there is nothing better for God's people than to be reminded of the holiness of their God. 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:49.119 That's been the theme of Scripture from page one. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:59.920 God is unique, God is separate, God is unlike anything else, and only He can speak to the darkness and chaos and say, Let there be light. 00:01:01.520 --> 00:01:06.000 He's the only one that can bring form to something that is formless. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.519 Cause something to exist that did not exist before. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:20.640 And into that new formed world, he places a man and a woman and he tells them, Be holy as I am holy. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:24.480 And they couldn't. 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:26.239 And didn't. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:32.159 So they ate of a fruit that God told them not to eat of. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:43.359 From then on, Scripture is an account of people seeking to be what God wants them to be. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:54.959 Trying desperately in some way or another to appease God, to be made right with God, to be brought back into relationship with Him. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:03.439 And all throughout the beginning pages of Scripture, from Genesis to Malachi, we see failure after failure after failure. 00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.239 Oh, there are some bright spots in there, of course. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:14.719 But again and again and again we see people failing in their pursuit of being made right with God. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:34.879 And then when we turn to the pages of the New Testament in Matthew chapter 1, we see an interruption where God says to Mary, you're going to bear a son, and you're going to call his name Jesus. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:40.240 Because he will save his people from their sins. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:51.120 We've been working our way through the Gospel of Matthew, and in the last few weeks we've been in Matthew chapter 5 looking at the Beatitudes. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:03:00.400 Where Jesus, the promised one, the Savior, begins to outline this is what it looks like to be made right with God. 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:10.479 Last couple of weeks we've looked at the end of his introduction, where he begins to apply the truths of the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:15.840 And we're going to continue there this morning, but our text for today is somewhat difficult. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:22.400 It's somewhat difficult because it addresses a multitude of different kinds of subjects. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.680 So it is difficult to determine where do you go with a passage of scripture like this? 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:31.919 We could spend weeks here. 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:33.759 Might just do that. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.439 I haven't decided yet. 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:42.319 So I want to approach this a little bit differently this morning. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:52.639 So if you're visiting with us, we're so glad that you're here because you get to hear from the pages of Scripture and see from God's own word how to be made right with God. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:58.319 But we're going to approach it a little bit differently than I normally preach on Sunday mornings. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:05.439 So let's look first at Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 17. 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:09.680 Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 17. 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:16.399 The scripture says, this is the Lord Jesus speaking at the end of his introduction to his sermon. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:22.160 Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:23.600 I haven't. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:28.160 I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:43.279 For truly I say to you that until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:53.279 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. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.439 But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:13.600 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:17.279 Pretty astounding statement. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:23.360 Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:25.279 So that's that's the bottom line. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:32.240 As we look at this passage this morning, that is the basis upon which everything else rests. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.560 We must have exceeding righteousness. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:50.079 Your rightness, if you will, before the Holy God must exceed that of the righteous scribes and the righteous Pharisees. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:06:00.240 Now, if you can, I want you to sort of compartmentalize what we've just read. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:03.759 Set it aside in a side compartment. 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:05.920 We're going to work our way back to it. 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.240 We're going to go somewhere else for a moment. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:13.120 And I want you to look with me at what the Apostle Paul said about himself. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.680 And we're going to look at this from the book of Philippians. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:18.959 The book of Philippians and chapter 3. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:29.839 An amazingly powerful passage of Scripture about the man that many consider to be the greatest Christian that has ever walked the face of the earth. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:33.439 This is his autobiography. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:36.560 He's telling the story about his own life. 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:40.959 He tells us from his own lips, his own pen, what happened to him. 00:06:41.040 --> 00:06:46.079 So this is Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 4. 00:06:46.240 --> 00:06:54.560 So he's making an argument here, kind of comparing himself to other people that are claiming to be righteous. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:11.519 And in Philippians chapter 3, the middle of verse 4, we read If anyone thinks that he has reason for confidence in the flesh, that is in his body, what he does in this life and this body, he says, I have more. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:16.399 He says, I can make a case for my own personal righteousness by what I do. 00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:27.680 He says, Here it is, I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:32.720 In other words, he says, you can't question my genealogy. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:34.879 You can't question where I come from. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:35.600 I'm there. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:37.600 I've arrived simply because of who I am. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:41.759 And he says, as to the law of God, a Pharisee. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:45.360 Remember Matthew 5, 20? 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.519 Your righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:55.920 He says, as to the law, the words of God in the Old Testament, he says, as to that, I'm a Pharisee. 00:07:56.240 --> 00:08:00.639 As to zeal, I was a persecutor of the church. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.519 As to the righteousness that the law demanded, that's blameless. 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.240 He says, that's my pedigree. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:14.319 I could stand before God and all of those things would be absolutely true. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:15.360 100%. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:26.079 Then he says, but whatever gain I had, I counted it as loss for the sake of Christ. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:28.639 Wow, there's a change there, isn't there? 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:45.840 Indeed, he says, I count everything in my life, my history, my genealogy, my education, my upbringing, everything about my life I count as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:55.039 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as trash, as rubbish, so that I may gain Christ. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.039 Now listen to what he says next in verse 9. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.960 And be found in him, in Christ. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:13.120 Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, comes from who I am and what I'm doing in my obedience to God. 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:14.960 No. 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:19.759 But that which comes through faith in Christ. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:25.360 The righteousness from God that depends on faith. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.679 So from a typical Jewish perspective, Paul had it made. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:34.320 In the religious view of the time, he was spotless. 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:44.480 There was no outward, overt sin that anybody could see and point to and say, uh-uh, Paul, you haven't, you're not perfect yet. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:46.639 You haven't dealt with that issue yet. 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:54.320 But then, in his own words, an exchange took place. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:10:04.240 He exchanged the righteousness that he had through this outward following of the law of Moses, the Torah, the Old Testament. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:11.360 He exchanged that for a righteousness that came through faith from Christ. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:23.039 He chucked what had been a lifetime of effort and achievement to gain Christ. 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:26.399 And to be found in him. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:28.879 To have a righteousness that comes by faith. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:30.240 It's pretty astounding. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:41.600 It's a complete reversal of direction that came through the arresting grace of Christ on that road that he was traveling to the city of Damascus to arrest Christians. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:48.159 God just sort of stopped him in his tracks and said, Paul, you need to know something. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:50.879 You need to know that I exist and who I am. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.399 You need to know my grace. 00:10:54.720 --> 00:11:08.639 But on a practical level, how could Paul so suddenly just ditch his conviction in and his approach to that Old Testament law? 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:12.480 I find that difficult to process through. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:17.039 A lifetime of work and effort and achievement just tossed out the window for something else. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.200 How could he let go of it like that? 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:29.360 Well, there are several passages that provide some answers to that question, but I think the clearest place to find those answers is in the book of Romans. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:34.559 And so we find in Romans chapter 3, this is written by the Apostle Paul. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:42.480 So we again get to see his processing, his thoughts about this whole issue of this exchange that he made. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:58.159 In Romans chapter 3, we begin reading in verse 20, where he writes, We know that by works of the law, no human being will be justified in God's sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:10.240 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, they refer to it, they speak of it. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:17.679 That is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. 00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:29.519 So in verse 20, we see that obedience to God's laws, to God's rules in the Old Testament only brings knowledge of sin, not righteousness. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:33.279 It doesn't bring justification, a right standing before God. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:43.039 No, and in verse 21, he in fact makes it very clear: God's righteousness comes apart from that kind of obedience. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:48.720 It comes in verse 22 through faith in Jesus for all who believe. 00:12:49.600 --> 00:13:03.679 So on that Damascus road, when God shone down, the Lord Jesus Christ blinded him with a bright light and stopped the whole caravan in its tracks, and God arrested the Apostle Paul with his grace and his mercy. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:11.919 The Apostle Paul came to understand the Old Testament scriptures better than he ever had before. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:15.360 His education had never prepared him for something like that. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:32.960 As the fog cleared, he began to understand that obedience to the law of God shows us our sin, but it doesn't give us the right kind of rightness to be accepted by God. 00:13:34.320 --> 00:13:36.320 God's too holy for that. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.360 So we look over then at Romans chapter 7. 00:13:42.639 --> 00:13:50.639 Beginning in verse 7, we read, What then shall we say? 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:52.799 That the law is sin? 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.519 If it shows me my sin, is the law sin? 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:57.200 Absolutely not. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:02.320 Some of your Bibles, if you have an old King James, will say, God forbid that. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:13.759 Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known what sin is, for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:23.679 But sin, seizing an opportunity through God's commandment, produced inside of me all kinds of covetousness. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.080 For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:35.279 Was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:45.440 Aaron Robinson was telling us a little bit ago in our morning breakfast time about people in France really being agnostic or atheist. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:46.879 And thank you, thank you, Aaron. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:48.480 I appreciate that so much. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:56.639 That you have to develop a knowledge of God first, because without a knowledge of God, there's no knowledge of sin. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:00.399 That's kind of what the Apostle Paul's saying here. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:10.399 He says, when I became aware of what God said of who he was and what he expects and what he demands, I became aware of how sinful I was. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:19.759 He says, I once was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, when I began to understand this, sin came alive and I died. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.759 The very commandment. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:27.600 Whoops. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.279 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:38.480 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.639 And through it, it killed me. 00:15:42.320 --> 00:15:43.519 It's powerful. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:47.759 The Apostle Paul had spent his life learning that law. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:50.559 Inside and out, frontwards and backwards. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:56.320 He says it's it's good, but in its goodness, what it did is it showed me how sinful I am. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:16:00.720 It showed me how much I can't keep God's laws. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:07.919 The rest of this chapter in Romans 7 is Paul's expression of frustration with sin in his life. 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:11.360 It's one that we all can relate to to some extent or another. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:19.519 He says, I want to obey God, I want to please him, I want to honor him, I want to be holy like he is holy, but I can't. 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.960 Because I live in a sinful body that just keeps fighting against that. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:28.000 Therefore, he says, I need, I need something else. 00:16:28.159 --> 00:16:32.240 I need something outside of me because I can't do it. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:41.840 Therefore, he says in verse 1 of chapter 8, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:42.639 Why? 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:49.919 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.480 Been set free in Christ. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:00.000 For what God has done, for God has done what the law could not do. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:03.440 How did God do that? 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:05.119 Jesus. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:11.839 By sending his own son in our likeness. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:18.640 And for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:27.920 So that, in order that the righteous requirement, what God expects, what God demands in the law might be fulfilled in you. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:30.720 The person who can't do it. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.720 God says, I want to fulfill the law in you, the person who can't do it. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:36.000 How does that happen? 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:39.039 Through Jesus, by the means of the Spirit. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.920 Do you see that this is the exact same thing as what Paul was saying in Philippians 3? 00:17:45.200 --> 00:17:47.039 Because I had it made. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:54.880 That was all trash. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.279 I needed Jesus. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.400 I needed his righteousness. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:05.119 He needed the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:11.279 And it's through that faith in Jesus that Paul could then actually fulfill the law. 00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:13.839 Because Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:15.039 He did not sin. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:21.680 And that perfect obedience was applied to Paul by faith in Jesus. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:30.720 For that reason, Paul exchanged the law for faith in Christ. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:35.200 Now that helps us understand another passage of Scripture. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:44.480 Galatians chapter 3, beginning in verse 19, where we're told that the law was added because of transgressions, because of sin. 00:18:45.759 --> 00:18:52.319 Until the offspring should come, and when he refers to the offspring, he's referring to Jesus in previous verses. 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.960 Until Jesus should come to whom this promise had been made. 00:18:57.839 --> 00:19:01.599 Till that happened, the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:08.799 So that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.680 Now, therefore, before faith came, we were held captive under the law. 00:19:15.599 --> 00:19:19.519 God's demands sat there and we were trying to obey them. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:24.000 Imprisoned there until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:36.000 Paul says, so that the law is kind of our tutor, our guardian, sticks with us until Christ comes in order that we might be justified, not by what we do, but by faith. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:44.880 God established a covenant with Israel based on obedience to his rules and laws, but that changed when Jesus came. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:53.440 Because Jesus would fulfill all the law and release those imprisoned under sin who believed in him. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.480 That's what Jesus has been teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:05.680 Now that's a very long introduction to our text in Matthew 5. 00:20:07.839 --> 00:20:09.039 Bear with me. 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:12.079 It's going to all make sense, I trust, in the end. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:14.480 Matthew chapter 5. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:22.559 We know that Jesus was mocked and chided for his views on certain biblical issues. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.799 Just a little bit later in the book of Matthew, that we'll get to in a while. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:33.440 Jesus was criticized harshly for healing a man on the Sabbath. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.599 The Pharisees said to Jesus, That is not biblical. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.000 You are not following the law. 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:43.680 You're lowering God's standards. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:48.000 Later, Jesus' disciples would pick grain and eat it on the Sabbath. 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:52.400 Another act that the Pharisees said was contrary to the law of God. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.799 So they were looking at Jesus and saying, You're not a lawkeeper. 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.200 You don't keep God's rules. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:02.160 How could you be God's son if you don't keep God's rules? 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:03.759 That doesn't make sense. 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.960 So he was mocked and chided for not holding to the standard teaching of the time. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:14.640 The scribes and the Pharisees were the standard bearers. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:21.119 The Pharisees would be the talking heads on all the news channels. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:27.279 While the scribes would be the ones providing all the supporting documentation and background. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:35.680 Everyone looked to the Pharisees as the epitome of holiness, as the standard of what God expected in his people. 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:36.960 You want to know what God expects? 00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:38.480 Follow Pharisees. 00:21:38.720 --> 00:21:40.240 Look to them, learn from them. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:41.920 You'll be good then. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:51.200 The Pharisees were looked to as the most righteous and holy people of the time because more than anyone else, they labored to be right with God. 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:54.240 They wanted desperately to be right with God. 00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:57.680 Then along comes Jesus. 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.759 His popularity. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:07.920 Soars such that crowds are constantly surrounding him in the thousands upon thousands. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:21.920 And one day Jesus is preaching on a hillside, and in his preaching, he lays out the standards for God's kingdom, standards that say nothing about following God's law, that say nothing about imitating the standards of the Pharisees. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:28.960 It's as if the Pharisees were filling the primetime news networks and streaming Facebook live speeches on how to be right with God. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:36.240 And suddenly they're overtaken in popularity by this up-and-coming grassroots guy who never mentions obeying the law ever. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:45.599 So they begin to accuse Jesus of lowering the standards, of even discarding the whole Old Testament. 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:49.200 That guy's ignorant. 00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.160 He's destroying the law, doesn't he know that? 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.759 He just wants to get rid of God's requirements. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:05.359 Now, whether that was an actual interjection as Jesus preached, or whether it was something Jesus knew they were thinking, we don't know. 00:23:05.599 --> 00:23:10.160 But it's the kind of thing that generates a statement in verse 17. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:15.759 Don't you ever think that I've come to do away with that. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.920 Don't let that even begin to enter your thinking. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:30.240 Jesus looks at the Pharisees and the scribes, I imagine, in my own mind, and he says to them, It's not that I think too poorly of God's word. 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:34.720 It's that you don't think highly enough of God's word. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.119 The Pharisees are confused, Jesus says. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:47.039 They thought and acted in what they believed were, in our modern terms, conservative biblical ways. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:55.759 But in reality, Jesus says they're only touching the surface of what God expected in terms of righteousness. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:24:05.680 The religious leaders that everyone thought were righteous and holy weren't righteous enough. 00:24:07.920 --> 00:24:11.519 And you can include our beloved apostle Paul in that group. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:18.480 Before he met Jesus on the Damascus Road, he said, I was a Pharisee. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:23.839 Let's look more carefully at what's happening here. 00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:27.440 Let's do that by asking three questions. 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:28.960 Who is Jesus? 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:31.680 What is Jesus' view of the Old Testament? 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:33.359 And how should we view the Bible? 00:24:33.519 --> 00:24:34.240 Let's start. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:36.559 Let's start with who is Jesus? 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:40.240 Who is Jesus? 00:24:41.440 --> 00:24:44.640 Now, some of you may already be answering me in your head. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:46.480 Come on, we're in church. 00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:48.160 You think I'm dumb? 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:50.400 No, I don't think you're dumb. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:55.680 But it's a serious question and it demands a serious answer. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.680 You know, some of you may not know the answer. 00:24:59.920 --> 00:25:05.279 I'm not going to assume that every single one of you here this morning knows the answer to that question. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:12.000 You might be thinking, oh, oh, oh yeah, he's that guy that got killed for thinking that he was God. 00:25:13.680 --> 00:25:16.720 Some of you might be thinking, oh, he's a really good guy. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:18.400 He was a good teacher, I think. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:20.640 At least that's what I've heard from time to time. 00:25:20.880 --> 00:25:24.640 Those of you who've been in church for a while may think, well, he's God in the flesh. 00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:26.400 He's the Savior. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:30.559 But those aren't the kinds of answers that we're looking for. 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:38.960 You'll notice in verse 17, Jesus' words, I have come, and then I have not come. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:43.039 He's making a statement about himself. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:49.039 He's wanting us to understand and to think about who he is. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:57.359 So when we ask who is Jesus, we need to think in terms of what Matthew has already told us about Jesus. 00:25:58.079 --> 00:25:58.960 So let's do that. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:01.920 Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:07.200 The book of the genealogy of Jesus, Messiah, the son of David. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:13.680 From the very first line, what we're told about Jesus is he is a man with royal lineage. 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:23.839 All you need to understand about royal lineage is think about the Queen of England and her son and her grandsons, and you begin to grasp a little bit of the importance of royal lineage. 00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.720 That's the very first thing said about Jesus. 00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:27.759 Actually, it's the second thing. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:29.519 First is he's Messiah. 00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:34.720 We look down at verse 17, it's repeated. 00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:37.680 All the generations from Abraham to David. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:43.119 We are to know that this person is born in the royal line of Israel. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:48.720 Then in verse 23, we are told that he was conceived in fulfillment of prophecy. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:56.400 Verse 21, he's named by means of his purpose. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:01.359 That is, you will name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:07.200 Verse 23, he fulfills the prophecy of Emmanuel. 00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:14.799 Chapter 2, verse 5, he fulfills prophecy of being born in Bethlehem. 00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:20.960 Chapter 2, verse 15, he fulfills another prophecy about coming out of Egypt. 00:27:21.279 --> 00:27:24.400 Chapter 2, verse 17, there's another prophecy fulfilled. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.279 Chapter 2, verse 23, another prophecy fulfilled. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:31.440 Chapter 4, verse 14, another prophecy revealed. 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:38.720 In these first four or so chapters of Matthew, this person is called a ruler. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:40.319 He's called a shepherd. 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:43.519 He's called beloved son. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:45.359 He's called Son of God. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.400 He's called Emmanuel, God with us. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:59.759 Chapter 4, verse 15, Jesus is being baptized by John the Baptist, and he says, Let's do this because it's important for us to fulfill all righteousness. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:08.000 This is important as part of the process of God bringing true righteousness. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.920 Chapter 4, verse 17, Jesus begins to proclaim a message: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:28.400 Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, God's king, proclaiming that the kingdom is present because the king has come. 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:34.400 And so at the end of chapter 4, we begin to see what the king does. 00:28:34.640 --> 00:28:43.680 He preaches, he teaches, he heals, and he then leads into, in chapter 5, the standards of his kingdom. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.799 All fulfilling, by the way, Isaiah 61, 1 through 3. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:51.440 So who is this Jesus? 00:28:52.640 --> 00:28:57.519 Who is this Jesus that says, I have come and I have not come? 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:06.640 He's the promised, expected, and realized fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:16.559 If you are uncertain of who Jesus is, you need to know that this whole book is about him. 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:19.839 It's who he is. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:23.279 And he didn't come to do away with the law of Moses. 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:26.960 It was never his intention to destroy the Old Testament or to render it useless. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:28.640 No, he says just the opposite. 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:37.759 I've come to bring all of it into fulfillment by providing a true righteousness that can't be obtained by simply following God's rules. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.319 That's what Matthew wants us to see. 00:29:40.799 --> 00:29:43.519 Jesus is the promised one. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:46.319 What does that then mean? 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:53.279 Well, it means, at least in part, that Jesus is found throughout the Old Testament. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:30:04.960 Luke chapter 24, verse 27, Jesus is walking along a roadside with some disciples after his crucifixion and after his resurrection, except they don't know yet that he's been resurrected. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:10.799 They're all despondent, thinking our Savior's gone, he's dead, he's in the tomb, we're never going to see him again. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:12.720 When he's walking right beside them. 00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:23.839 Luke tells us that beginning with Moses and the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:32.240 Moses and the prophets, or in Matthew chapter 5, the law and the prophets, is simply a Jewish way of referring to the entire Old Testament. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:38.400 So it's not referring to a portion of the Old Testament or to prophetic portions, but to the whole. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:43.680 The Old Testament points to Jesus. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:47.119 It was never intended to be an end in itself. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:53.839 It always pointed to someone greater, to a fullness intended to be realized in Jesus. 00:30:54.960 --> 00:31:06.480 So when God moved people to write those books in that first testament, God knew before the very first letter was penned that more was coming. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:16.880 He knew before the first penstroke was made that it was not the end, but that it would lead to Jesus. 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:23.200 Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament, the one to whom God pointed. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:29.599 So if you've never read the Old Testament, if you've looked at all those lists of genealogies and said, nah, I can't do that. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:36.000 If you've never read the Old Testament, then you will be missing something about your Lord. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:49.039 If you purposely avoid the Old Testament, sticking only to the New Testament, what you're in essence saying is, by implication at least, yeah, I don't want to know that much about my Lord. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:50.880 I love you, Jesus, but you know what? 00:31:50.960 --> 00:31:52.319 I don't need to know that. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:01.279 Jesus fulfills the Old Testament in so many ways. 00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:05.359 He came to live it perfectly so that he could be a perfect substitute. 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.519 He came to fulfill every prophecy. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:09.440 We've seen that again and again in Matthew. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.319 He came to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. 00:32:12.559 --> 00:32:19.440 He came to fulfill the ceremonial laws that pictured the law of Christ through these sacrifices upon sacrifices upon sacrifices. 00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:25.119 In coming weeks, we're going to see that he came as lawgiver who could correctly and properly interpret the law. 00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:26.400 Who is Jesus? 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:33.359 He is the one who came to fulfill the Old Testament by bringing in a proper righteousness. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:39.200 So our second question: What does Jesus think of the Old Testament? 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:44.400 That's the Bible that he's referring to, the law and the prophets. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.640 He fulfills it, yes. 00:32:47.599 --> 00:32:51.039 So if it's fulfilled, does that mean now that it's outdated? 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:54.400 That it no longer applies to us? 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:58.319 Can we dismiss the law or dismiss parts of it? 00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:00.960 What does Jesus say? 00:33:01.359 --> 00:33:11.440 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:13.920 That's a statement of fact. 00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:17.599 Jesus isn't expressing an opinion. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:23.519 He's making a dogmatic statement about the enduring nature of the Word of God. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:29.839 It wasn't that the Old Testament was old and outdated and pointless. 00:33:30.559 --> 00:33:34.480 It was misunderstood, misinterpreted, and sometimes disregarded. 00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:36.400 But Jesus sets that straight. 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:39.200 He says the Old Testament isn't going away. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:43.359 He didn't come to abolish it or to render it useless. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:49.599 It's God's word, it's living, it's eternal, it's settled, it's determined, and every bit of it will come to pass. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:52.079 Notice the time frame mentioned here. 00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:54.559 Twice Jesus says, until. 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.720 It's going to endure until. 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:06.720 Until heaven and earth pass away, and until all is accomplished. 00:34:07.039 --> 00:34:16.719 Jesus is using that phrasing to tell his listeners the law is going to be around until time as we know it is no more. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.559 Your Old Testament will continue to endure and be applicable to your life until time is no more. 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:30.559 When God completely fulfills everything he's intended to do. 00:34:31.199 --> 00:34:33.679 And we need to hear this clearly, friends. 00:34:34.480 --> 00:34:38.880 We live in a time when the Bible is attacked from all angles. 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:45.280 It's even attacked sometimes by those who ought to uphold it as the word of God. 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:52.400 Not every pulpit in America will tell you that the Old Testament is the living and active word of God. 00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:58.480 Some even mock it and at worst tell us to ignore it. 00:35:01.039 --> 00:35:08.880 But the Old Testament will continue to exist and have purpose until time comes for God to completely change things in this present universe. 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:12.800 It's at that time that all will be accomplished. 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:14.159 Those are the same times. 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:19.599 Some portions may be fulfilled prior to that time, but all of it will be fulfilled by that time. 00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:31.840 God's purpose and plan for all things, including everything He said in the first Testament, will be completely accomplished at the same time that God recreates everything that is. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:37.840 The Old Testament will remain as God's revealed and authoritative word until then. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:45.119 That means that you never have to question whether or not God has given the Old Testament for you to read, learn, and know. 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:52.719 God has purposely caused his word to endure for your benefit. 00:35:54.159 --> 00:35:56.400 And it will be around longer than you. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:01.199 Now notice the second portion of this illustration. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:07.280 He says, Not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 00:36:07.360 --> 00:36:13.199 If you're using an old King James, the King James popularized the translation, a jot or a tittle. 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.239 That may be familiar to some of you. 00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:21.360 A literal translation of what Jesus said would be, not an iota or a horn. 00:36:21.760 --> 00:36:23.360 Not an iota or a horn. 00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:25.840 So what's Jesus referring to there? 00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:30.480 What iodas and what horns can or cannot pass away? 00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:40.000 Well, those are both, both words are aspects of the alphabets that Jesus' hearers would be familiar with. 00:36:40.559 --> 00:36:45.440 The iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet. 00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:46.800 You can see it here. 00:36:46.880 --> 00:36:50.880 This is the word think, namidzo from verse 17. 00:36:51.039 --> 00:36:54.960 Do not think, and that circled little letter is an iota. 00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:57.920 It's the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet. 00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:06.880 The Jewish listener would understand exactly what Jesus is referring to. 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:10.320 Now the horn is a little bit different. 00:37:10.559 --> 00:37:13.920 The horn is basically a penstroke. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:15.840 It's sort of attached to a letter. 00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:21.840 It might be comparable to a modern seraph, if you're familiar with printing today. 00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:28.159 Now, most of Jesus' listeners might be listening in Aramaic or even perhaps Hebrew. 00:37:28.239 --> 00:37:42.559 So if we think about it in those terms, which many scholars think we should, the comparison to Hebrew would be the smallest letter in Hebrew is a yod, very similar to an apostrophe in English. 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:51.599 A horn would be that very tiny little pen stroke that distinguishes one kind of letter from another. 00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:59.599 Jesus is making a statement here that's deliberate hyperbole. 00:38:00.159 --> 00:38:07.840 It's an overstatement on purpose, designed to drive home the main point to his listeners. 00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:12.320 He's not speaking here about translation. 00:38:12.559 --> 00:38:19.760