A Messiah Who Fulfills
Text: Matt. 5:17-20
Introduction
1. Illustration: Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright states in his book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, "I find myself aware that in reading the Hebrew Scriptures I am handling something that gives me a closer link with Jesus than any archaeological artifact could do...Above all, this is where he found the shape of his own identity and the goal of his own mission. In short, the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you come to the heart of Jesus...For it saddens me that so many Christians in these days love Jesus, but know so little about who he thought he was and what he had come to do" (Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, ix).
2. If someone were to ask you, "What is the Bible all about?" the answer is very simple. It is all about Jesus! From beginning to end; from cover to cover; both Old and New Testaments are all about Jesus.
a. All Scripture points to Jesus.
b. Because it points to Jesus, it must be obeyed.
c. Because it must be obeyed, it is authoritative.
3. Read Matt. 5:17-20
Proposition: Since the Bible is all about Jesus, we must read it, know it, and strive to obey it.
Transition: Above all, we must understand that...
I. All Scripture Points To Jesus (17)
A. Came to Accomplish
1. Jesus wants to make clear his purpose in coming to earth. He says, “Don’t misunderstand why I have come..."
a. The expression "do not misunderstand," suggests that Jesus is attempting to dispel a suspicion that he is attempting to set aside God’s former revelation with his announcement of the arrival of the kingdom of God. Such an attempt would be the ultimate mark of a heretic.
b. So Jesus makes clear at the beginning of his teaching ministry that the arrival of the kingdom does not do away with God’s prior revelation through the Law and the Prophets (Wilkins, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Matthew, 227).
c. It simply wouldn’t make sense for Jesus to do away with the Old Testament scriptures because they are all about him anyway.
2. He says, "I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets..."
a. The expression "the Law and the Prophets" is a way of referring to the entire Hebrew Scriptures (Wilkins, 228).
b. It includes the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses), the Historical books (such as 1-2 Samuel), the Poetic Books (like Psalms and Proverbs), and all the Prophets (from Isaiah to Malachi).
c. He says that he did not come to abolish them. The word abolish means "to cause to cease to exist - ’to cause to come to an end, to cause to become nothing, to put an end to (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
d. Jesus coming and the arrival of the Kingdom does not negate the Old Testament.
3. On the contrary, Jesus says, "No, I came to accomplish their purpose."
a. Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Old Testament, but he came to accomplish the purpose for which they are written.
b. He came to make them complete and fulfilled.
c. He came to be the one that the Old Testament talked about.
d. He came to be the fulfillment of the promises of God.
e. 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT)
For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.
f. Jesus does not contradict the law and the prophets, but neither does he merely reaffirm them. He fulfills them or brings them to their divinely intended goal because they point to him (Turner, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew-Mark, 85).
B. Jesus and the Old Testament
1. Illustration: Again, I want to refer to Christopher Wright’s book Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament. He asks the question, why does Matthew start his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus? Why didn’t he go straight to the wonderful story of the Magi? He says it’s "because, says Matthew, you won’t understand that story - the one I am about to tell you - unless you see it in the light of a much longer story which goes back for many centuries but leads up to the Jesus you want to know about (Wright, 1).
2. We need to understand that the Bible does not begin with Matthew.
a. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
b. The Bible talks about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation.
c. If we ignore the Old Testament, and only study the New Testament, we are leaving out two thirds of God’s revelation.
d. If we want to know the Jesus of the New Testament, then we need to come to grips with Jesus in the Old Testament.
3. We need to understand that Jesus came to bring the Old Testament promises to completion.
a. When the Old Testament talks about the seed of the woman crushing the serpents head, it is talking about Jesus.
b. When the Old Testament talks about all nations on earth being blessed through Abram, it is talking about Jesus.
c. When the Old Testament talks about "But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all," it was talking about Jesus.
4. We need to understand that the Old Testament sets the stage for Jesus to come.
a. It tells us about His people.
b. It tells us about His culture.
c. It tells us about family.
d. It tells us about His mission.
Transition: Because all Scripture is about Jesus...
II. All Scripture Must Be Obeyed (18-19)
A. Not Even the Smallest Detail
1. Jesus indicates that not only has He not come to abolish the OT scriptures, but also that no one will abolish them until the end of time.
2. He says, "I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved."
a. The phrases "until heaven and earth disappear" and "until its purpose is achieved" refer to the end of the present world and the beginning of the eschaton (Turner, 85).
b. Lk. 21:33 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.
c. Since Jesus time, people have been trying to do away with the Word of God, but it has always endured and persevered.
3. Jesus goes so far as to say, "not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved."
a. The NLT’s "smallest detail" translates a phrase that refers to the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet y
(yod) (Turner, 85).
b. Jesus affirms that even the most trivial parts of the law, implying that its weightier matters are absolutely certain to be accomplished (Turner, 85).
c. The Word shall not be altered because of the whims of an evil society.
d. Everyone may be doing it, but the Bible still calls it sin.
4. As a result, Jesus says, "So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven."
a. The word that Jesus is using here means "the failure to conform to a law or regulation, with a possible implication of regarding it as invalid" (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
b. What Jesus is saying here goes far beyond whether we obey the commandments, rather He is talking about dismissing them as if they don’t matter.
c. He is talking about undermining the authority of the commandments.
d. He says that anyone who does this will be considered least in the Kingdom.
5. However, He says, "anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."
a. Obedience to the word is a sign of a true disciple.
b. Furthermore, a true disciple not only obeys the word, but also teaches others to do likewise.
c. Teaching is a major focus for Jesus disciples, and would be the main focus of the apostles after the ascension of Jesus in Acts 1.
d. Acts 6:2-4 (NLT)
So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program. And so, brothers, select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the word.”
e. They were to teach others to obey the word.
B. Do What It Says
1. Illustration: Finney noted this about obedience and sacrifice, “Revival is nothing more or less than a new obedience to God!”
2. Obedience to the word is essential.
a. James 1:22-24 (NLT)
But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
b. You can’t just read the word, and treat it as nice literature.
c. You can not study the word and think it is just another textbook.
d. You must obey the word because it is like no other book ever written; it is God’s word.
3. Obeying all of the word in non-negotiable.
a. Remember that "all Scripture" is breathed out by God.
b. You cannot pick and choose what you want to obey.
c. It is either all God’s word or none of it is.
d. You cannot focus only on the promises and ignore the warnings.
Transition: Because all Scripture is to be obeyed...
III. All Scripture Is Authoritative (20)
A. Unless Your Righteousness Is Better
1. If we truly believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God, then we must move beyond the letter of the law and come to grips with the spirit of the law.
2. This is the problem that Jesus had with the religious leaders of his time. They "religiously" followed the regulations of the law, but when it came to seeing the big picture, they missed it.
3. That’s why Jesus said to his disciples, “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees..."
a. Those who follow Christ must move beyond literal observance of rules, know matter how good or scriptural they may seem, to a new level of what it means to please God, one that goes beyond the surface level of rules and regulations, to a more radical one of knowing and doing the will of God (France, 190).
b. Jesus problem with the Pharisees was not that they did not know the law, or that they were not attempting to keep the law.
c. His problem with them was that they did not recognize Him as the final fulfillment of the law.
d. Their problem was not they were not religious, but that they did not have relationship.
e. Zechariah 4:6 (NLT)
Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4. What Jesus says next is very important. He says unless your righteousness is better than the Pharisees "you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!"
a. Jesus is not talking about beating the Pharisees at their own game, but about a different level or concept of righteousness altogether (France, 189)
b. It’s not about following a list of regulations and rituals. It’s about what you are like on the inside, not what you look like on the outside.
c. It’s about recognizing the authority of the word because of the living word.
B. Final Authority
1. Illustration: A ship’s captain looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send this message: “Alter your course 10 degrees south.” A prompt message came in return, “Alter your course 10 degrees north.” Captain angered that his command had been ignored sent a second message, “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a captain!” A message came back in return, “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am seaman 3rd class Jones!” The captain sent a third message knowing the fear it would evoke, “Alter your course 10 degrees south – I am a battleship!” Then the reply came, “Alter your course 10 degrees north – I am a lighthouse!” An authentic biblical community submits to the authority of Jesus.
2. The Bible is authoritative because it is God’s word.
a. 2 Peter 1:20-21 (NLT)
Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.
b. It is not man’s words.
c. It is not a book of stories and myths.
d. It is God’s revelation of Himself.
3. The Bible is authoritative because it is about the living Word.
a. John 1:1 (NLT)
In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
b. Since the Bible is all about Jesus, it carries the authority of the unique Son of God.
c. Since the Bible is all about Jesus, we can trust what it says.
d. Since the Bible is all about Jesus, we can count on its promises.
Transition: "This is what God says..." enough said!
Conclusion
1. We must understand that:
a. All Scripture points to Jesus
b. All Scripture must be obeyed
c. All Scripture is authoritative
2. Based on all of these things, what place does the Bible have in your life?
3. Whey you read your Bible how much time do you spend in the OT?
4. When you read your Bible do you do what it says?
