Matthew 5:17-20
The Righteousness of the King
Read…
Matt.
Matt. 5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt. 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt.
Pray
Intro
√ The righteousness of the King
In our study two weeks ago we learned how the manifestation of the beatitudes in our life should influence the world around us through our...
Salty lives
Shiny lives
Because when people in the world observe the attitude of the King in our lives they will be influenced to want what we have…
…a relationship with the King.
In our text this morning we find that Jesus’ sermon begins to deal with the relationship between the Law and true righteousness.
Kind of a “bad news/good news” approach!
The Bad News is that Jesus says He isn’t going to destroy the requirements of the Law…
…the Good News is that He tells us that He is going to fulfill it!
Ap. Good news & Bad news
From the very beginning of the Christian faith believers have struggled with the relationship between the Law and Righteousness.
Do we have to keep the Law to be righteous?
Do we have to keep the Law to please the Lord?
The answer to these questions will either free you to live an abundant life of joy and peace…
…or place you under a weight that will crush you!
My encouragement to you is to live your Christian faith by the whole counsel of God’s Word!
If you take verses out of context you can reach some very disturbing conclusions!
All sorts of fringe groups in the world today that would love to place you under the burden of their spin on the question of Law and righteousness.
So, we’ll work our way carefully through Jesus’ sermon keeping in mind that the context of this sermon is…
…true righteousness (by faith) vs. false righteousness (by works).
The Bad News (vs. 17-20)
Matt.
Matt. 5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Matt. 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matt.
√ The Bad News
Jesus begins this next section by clarifying His purpose as it related to the Law…
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.”
He then goes on to say that all of the requirements of the Law must be fulfilled…
…in its minutest detail!
To the smallest matter
To the greatest degree
Worse, He tells us that unless we meet all the requirements
of the Law that we can’t enter the
Sounds like bad news to me!
How bad, let’s look.
1) The smallest letter
Jesus tells us that every word of the Law must be fulfilled, down to the smallest letter…
Matt. 5:18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
Jot and tittle are the English equivalents of the Hebrew…
Yod – smallest Hebrew letter
Stroke – smallest stroke in a Hebrew letter
Think of the jot as the dot over the letter i, and the tittle as the line that makes a capital “R” an “R” instead of a “P”.
Jesus’ point is that letters make up words, and even the smallest change or mistake can change the meaning of a word.
Very important when we’re talking about God’s Words!
Ex. The “sinners Bible” ~ 1631 KJV
“Thou shalt commit adultery” ~ Deut. 5:18
Leaving out the word “not” cost the printer a hefty fine!
Therefore, every word that God has spoken is important and we aren’t at liberty to disregard any part of the Word…
…even to the smallest letter or stroke of a pen!
2) The smallest matter
Next the Lord tells us that every law within the Scripture must be fulfilled even to the smallest matter.
Matt. 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
When our thoughts turn to the Law, most of us think of the Ten Commandments.
But, those are only 10 of the 613 laws that God gave to the Jewish people!
Jesus says we’ve got to keep them all, the Big Ten and…
…even the little ones that we might think are insignificant if we hope to earn our own righteousness!
Ex. Mismatched wardrobes!
Lev. 19:19 “You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.
I can understand not breeding different kinds of livestock…
“The Great Jackalope”
…but what could possibly be wrong with sowing wheat and barley together, or wearing a cotton shirt with a wool sweater!
Ap. Principle of separation from the world
The Jewish people were to be an example of God’s perfect righteousness to the world in every detail of their lives!
But, most realized that it just wasn’t very practical to keep these commandments.
So, they made exceptions for themselves and tried to keep the Big Laws, but turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to the “least of these commandments” as it suited their needs.
Ap. Don’t fall prey to the Christian legalist
The next time someone tells you that as a Christian you have to keep the Law…
…ask them how their keeping Leviticus 19:19!
3) The greatest degree
Finally, Jesus tells us that if we hope to gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven that our righteousness has to…
…be greater than that of the Pharisees!
Matt. 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
If you didn’t know it already this is very Bad News!
The Pharisees were men who had dedicated their lives to learning the Law in its minutest detail…
…and then doing it!
Ex. Talmud & Traditions
The Pharisees weren’t satisfied with just keeping the 613 laws in the Old Testament…
…they developed an entire system of additional rules and regulations on how to keep those 613 laws!
“Sabbath elevators” to keep one from breaking the “no work” law. (Ex. 31:15)
No cheese burgers to prevent one from “eating a calf boiled in its mother’s milk.” (Ex. 34:26)
The point is that even though the Pharisees had missed the mark in their legalistic adherence to the letter of the Law…
…none the less, when it came to keeping the righteous requirements of the Law the Pharisees were tops!
Ex. Saul of Tarsus
Phil. 3:4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
Phil. 3:5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
Phil. 3:6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
“Blameless”!!!
That is, everyone sitting on that hillside listening to Jesus teach knew men like Saul/Paul who kept every one of those 613 laws, plus the traditions of the elders right down to…
…tithing of their spices!
And, Jesus said…
“…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”
We might as well just go home! Not one of us can stand with the likes of a Saul!
That’s bad news for anyone who hopes to go to heaven!
Some of you might by thinking…
“Didn’t you say there was some good news?”
Yep, let’s look!
The Good News (vs. 17)
Matt. 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
√ The Good News
As we work our way through the rest of chapter 5 we’ll find that Jesus is laying down an airtight case to prove that no one can enter the kingdom of heaven…
…by keeping the Law.
Not even the Pharisees!
Why? Because the righteous requirements of the Law apply to more than just the external acts of obedience…
…one must also have a perfect heart!
Ex. Matthew 5:21-48
Jesus begins each point by saying…
“You’ve heard that it is written, but I say…”
…and then goes on to tell us that God measures our keeping of the Law by what’s going on in our heart!
You might be thinking…
“I thought you said this was going to be good news!?”
Stay with me!
√ Fulfill the Law
Note that while Jesus said he wouldn’t destroy the Law…
…He did say that He would fulfill the Law!
The legal obligation of God’s Law can’t be destroyed by ignoring it, burning it, or even by trying to keep it.
But, the legal obligation can be fulfilled and thus make the contract (covenant) between God and Man null and void!
Ex. Financial obligation
Tearing up the bill, or ignoring it, doesn’t make it go away, you’re still under the burden of a financial commitment.
The only way out is to fulfill the obligation by paying the debt.
Once the debt is paid then you’re no longer under any obligation to the lender.
Ap. Spiritual obligation
The Jewish people couldn’t fulfill their obligation to the Law…
Either by the legalism of the Pharisees or by destroying the requirements of the Law.
But, Jesus could free them (and us) from the obligations of the Law by fulfilling every single law of God…
To the smallest letter
In the smallest matter
To the greatest degree
…through external obedience and inward purity!
Ex. Jesus is our spiritual co-signer!
Jesus promised that He would fulfill the obligations of the Law that we can never hope to perform…
…and thereby free us from the requirements of it!
√ The Law points us to the King
So, what is the purpose of the Law?
That is, if a person can’t become righteous by following the Law to perfection as the Pharisees had (externally)…
…then why did God give it in the first place?
Paul, the ex-Pharisee tells us why in his letter to the Galatians…
Gal. 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
Gal. 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Gal. 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
Gal. 3:24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal. 3:25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
That is, God gave the Law not as a means of fixing unrighteous people…
…rather, He gave the Law to show us that we cannot make ourselves righteous!
Ex. A mirror
Can show us the blemish on our face, but it can’t fix it! The mirror reveals that have a problem and points us to our need for a doctor.
The Law is like that mirror, it shows us just how unrighteous we are and then…
…points us to the King, the Messiah, who came to do what we could not do – fulfill the Law!
So, the only way that any of us can exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees is to come under the wing of Jesus’ fulfillment of the Law!
When we trust Jesus’ work on the Cross He imputes His perfect righteousness to us…
…that doesn’t mean we longer sin, it just means that from a legal standpoint we have no more obligation to the Law!
The Law doesn’t have any hold on us because all of its requirements have been fulfilled by our King!
Ap. No righteousness apart from Jesus!
There are some Christians who still think they’re under some obligation to the Law so they…
Follow the Jewish diet
Keep the Jewish Sabbath
Dress per the Jewish custom
But, to do so is to rob oneself of the freedom that we have when we walk in God’s Grace.
Ex. One strike you’re out!
James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
His point is that if a person is looking for freedom from sin, guilt and shame and an entrance into the kingdom of God…
…it won’t be found in trying to keep the Law because to fail in just one area is to become guilty of the whole thing!
Our only hope is in the King of Righteousness…
…Jesus Christ Who alone fulfilled every requirement of the Law for us!
As Paul, the expert in the Law explains it…
Rom. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Rom. 3:21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom. 3:24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Rom. 3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
Close
√ Law and righteousness
This section of the King’s sermon tells us that the righteousness that the Pharisees offered could not gain entrance into the Kingdom of God!
Rather, our only hope to be truly righteous is by trusting in Him to fulfill the obligations of the Law.
Ap. Your Christian experience
We began our study by asking what the relationship between the Law and Grace is.
The answer…
The Law points us to our need for a righteous King.
Grace bestows the righteousness of the king upon any who would trust in Him.