Fulfilling The Law
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Matthew 5:9-12
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets who were before you in the same way.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse(s) is(are):
John 15:5-8
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.
“If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
“If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”
Today we will be reading from Matthew 5:17-20
Last week we took a look at the seventh and final Beatitude found in Matthew 5:9 and we heard the testimonies of some who were willing to lay down their very lives for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today we will be looking at Jesus and His connection with the Old Testament Law of Moses and the writings of the Prophets.
As you look into your Bibles you may notice that we seem to be skipping over Jesus’ teaching on “Salt and Light”, but rest assured, we will return to that important teaching at a later date.
But, for today we want to look at Jesus and His fulfillment of the Law.
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Matthew 5:17-20
(Prayer for help)
Matthew 5:17a
“Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets …”
In Jesus’ day there were giants in the land. Not giants as we read about in the days of Noah. Not giants like Goliath, but, there were giants.
The giants were the Law and the Prophets. The first five books of the Old Testament were considered to be the law; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. And, although there is a great deal of history in these books, they are where the Law of God was laid down through Moses.
And the Prophets were all of the books in the Old Testament following the Song of Solomon; starting with Isaiah.
These were the giants in the land. The Scribes, known as the teachers of the Law, the Rabbis, the Priests, the Saducees and the Pharisees all claimed to be followers of the Law and the Prophets.
So, here comes Jesus saying, blessed are you if you are poor in spirit, if you are mournful, if you are meek, if you are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, if you are merciful, if you are pure in heart, if you are persecuted for being righteous, THEN you are blessed!
On the other hand all of the Jewish leaders said that you just might be blessed if you were able to keep the law well enough.
Now remember, Jesus is saying all of these things about having a humble attitude in front of those teachers who were proud of their arrogance! And, in front of them He says, “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets …” and they are thinking, “Who does He think He is? He’d better not try to abolish the Law and the Prophets!”
But then Jesus goes on and says something even more astounding to them when He says, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them!”
What?????!!!!!!!
Jesus is going to be the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets?
Who does He think He is, the Messiah?
So, let’s skip past what the Jewish leaders thought about Jesus and go on to the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus Himself stated that the greatest commandment was to,
Matthew 22:37-40
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And, the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.”
But the Jewish leaders took a different approach. Instead of seeing that loving the Lord was the way to obedience, they saw self-driven, self-motivated obedience to the law as the way to God.
Let’s take the Ten Commandments as an example.
The Ten Commandments in actuality had become their god.
Let me explain this. We know the Ten Commandments or at least we should. In short, they are:
You shall have no other God beside Me
You shall not make any idols
You shall not take the name of Yahweh in vain
Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy
Honor your Father and Mother
Do not murder
Do not commit adultery
Do not steal
Do not lie
Do not covet
Now the Jews had, in practice, taken the law and stood it on its head. They had turned it upside down and looked it as a ladder to get TO God.
If you learned not to covet you got closer to God.
If you stopped lying you got closer to God.
If you stopped stealing you got closer to God.
If you stopped committing adultery you got closer to God.
If you stopped murdering you got closer to God.
If you honored your Father and Mother you got closer to God.
If you kept all of the Sabbath laws you got closer to God.
If you did not misuse the name of Yahweh the Lord God of Israel you got closer to God.
If you got rid of your idols you got closer to God.
If you had no other God but Yahweh you got closer to God.
They saw the law as a ladder that could be used to get TO God.
When in actuality it was Loving God that should cause you to be obedient to the Law of God.
As Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God … and love your neighbor … all the Law … hangs on these two commandments.”
Was Jesus just making this up or was He reminding His listeners about the foundation of the Law in the Old Testament?
Deuteronomy 6:5 - “Love the LORD your God …”
Deuteronomy 11:1 - “Love the LORD your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always.
Deuteronomy 11:13 - “…faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today - to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul …”
Deuteronomy 11:22 - “…carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow - to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him and to hold fast to Him …”
Deuteronomy 19:9 - “…love the LORD your God and … walk always in obedience to Him …”
Deuteronomy 30:20 - “…love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him … for the LORD is your life …”
Joshua 22:5 - “… love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to keep His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul …”
Joshua 23:11 - “… be very careful to love the LORD your God …”
If you do not obey the command to “love the LORD your God” all other attempts at pleasing God through obedience are not only vain but sinful! In essence, it is God telling you to come to Him in one way and you saying, “NO! I want to do it this way!”
So, you can see that Jesus fulfilled the Law by setting it right side up with “love the LORD your God” as both the overarching motivation to obey the Law and the natural desire to obey the Law as well.
As Joseph in Egypt said when he was tempted to commit adultery with Potiphar’s wife, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
Joseph’s motivation for refusing to sin was the thought that such a thing would displease the God he so loved!
“Love the LORD your God” sets everything right-side-up and obedience to the Law becomes a natural outflow of the blessed love relationship between the Lord and you as His child.
OK. That is just one example of how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law. What would be another way?
Jesus fulfilled the Law of the sacrifice for sin. If you go to Leviticus chapter 4 and read through the beginning of chapter 7 you can read about the sin offerings; the sacrifices that were required for the sins of individuals and for the sins of the nation.
One of the best texts that talks about this incredible fulfillment is found in Hebrews 10:1-18 NIV
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming - not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
“Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings You were not pleased.’
“Then I (Jesus) said, ‘Here I am - it is written about Me in the scroll - I have come to do Your will, My God.’
“First He said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor were You pleased with them’ - though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then He said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do Your will.’
“He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
“Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool. For by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
“The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First He says: ‘This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.’
“Then he adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.’
“And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.”
Why will sacrifice for sin no longer be necessary? Because the sacrifice of the Perfect, Sinless, Son of God has been made and the Law regarding the sacrifice for sin has been totally fulfilled!
Praise the name of the Lord forever and ever!!!
Why did God the Father send the God the Son as a sacrifice for your sin and mine? He did it because He is a relationship God.
God wants a relationship with you and that relationship MUST be love based!
John 14:23-24
“Jesus said, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our home with him.
“He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me.”
Can you see how loving God precedes obedience to Jesus’ teaching and a lack of love results in disobeying Jesus’ teaching?
Are you still trying to claw your way to heaven by doing good works that are only empowered by human efforts?
You can’t do it. It is impossible.
It has never happened and it never will.
Oh, the devil wants you to think you can do it. He wants you to think that if you do enough “good” things that eventually the scales will tip in your favor and the Lord will just HAVE to let you into Heaven but that’s not the way it works.
“We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds.” - Martin Luther
So, what is the gateway to this love driven life? It is, as Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again!”
“No outward practices will stand in the place of the new birth. Nothing under heaven will stand in its place.” - John Wesley
You MUST be born again.
The Scriptures do not suggest this, they DECLARE it to be true!
Ephesians 2:8-10
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Titus 3:3-5
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
Imagine a man who has his arms tied behind his back and has lead weights on his ankles and who has been thrown into the ocean and for a moment his head is above the water. And at that very moment a rescuer who is like no other rescuer comes along and says, “I can save you if you place your faith and trust and your very life in my hands.”
Can you imagine that doomed man saying, “That’s OK. I can do it on my own.”?
That’s what this life is. In view of eternity this life is only a moment and in that moment we have been bound by slavery to sin. We have no hope of saving ourselves. Only the Rescuer, Jesus can save us. Only He has the power over sin. Only He has eternal life.
If you are trying to save yourself by your works, give up.
Recognize that you are bound in sin and sinking fast.
Confess your sin to Jesus and yield your life to Him.
Start that love relationship with Him and be born again into a new life that is beyond anything you could imagine.
Final thoughts and prayer
