Jesus on the Law
PART 1: THE LAW FULFILLED ¥ MATTHEW 5:17-20

Baxter T. Exum (#1603)
Four Lakes Church of Christ
Madison, Wisconsin
July 11, 2021

It is good to see all of you here this morning! As usual, I hope all of us have the elements for the LordÕs Supper, either from home or from the table in the entryway, as John/Aaron will be leading us in the prayers for the Supper right after our study this morning, and then Michael/John will be leading us in our songs before we dismiss today.

Here at the beginning, weÕd like to invite you to obey the gospel if you havenÕt done so already. The gospel is the good news about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He died for our sins, and we are saved by his blood as we are baptized into his death (according to Romans 6). We hear and understand the gospel, we turn away from sin, we confess Jesus as being the Son of God, and then we make the actual appeal to God for a good conscience through the act of baptism (according to 1 Peter 3:21). If we can help you with this in any way, if thereÕs something we can clarify, we hope you will get in touch.

By way of encouragement, we have several examples of baptisms that have taken place this week. The first two come to us from the Faith Village congregation in Wichita Falls, Texas. They posted online a few days ago and said, ÒThe angels are celebrating two souls being added to the Kingdom. Grateful for Steven and Jaci being baptized this evening. Special thanks to the Owens family and McCoy family for studying with them. After leaving Sheppard AFB, they will return to Arizona and be at Luke AFB. We pray GodÕs blessings on them.Ó We obviously rejoice with these two as they begin their Christian lives together.

The next one also comes from the Faith Village congregation, this one from this past Thursday, as they say that ÒHunter Sims was baptized by Zachary Waugh at QMCC last night.Ó It looks like this might be a reference to Quartz Mountain Christian Camp, a youth camp in Oklahoma. But they say that, ÒHunter has been studying with his sister Taylor and his brother-in-law Zachary.Ó IÕm guessing we have Hunter in the middle with his sister, Taylor, on the right, and his brother-in-law, Zachary, on the left. So, good news from Oklahoma via Texas this week.

And the last one today comes from Brandon Edwards, a friend and the grandson of one of my favorite professors at Freed-Hardeman. Brandon (on the right) lives in Nashville right now and has just finished up a masterÕs degree from Harvard. This week, Brandon has been speaking at a series of lectures at a church in Washington State. One of the sponsoring congregations is the church in Puyallup, a church we visited a couple of years ago, a great congregation (just south of the Seattle airport), and the preacher at that time was Mark Jamieson, also a friend of mine, someone I met at Polishing the Pulpit a few years ago. Anyway, this is BrandonÕs post from a few days ago. He says, ÒWhat a story! Earlier this year, in March, Aaron Gallagher (who works with the Gospel Broadcasting Network) asked if anyone new of a church or preacher in Puyallup, Washington - I happened to know Mark Jamieson was in the area so I tagged him on Facebook - I had been to the area two years ago and was happy to connect them. Aaron knew a guy who wanted to be baptized - and this is him! Tyler Rex is now a member of the church here - what an incredible thing to meet Tyler, my brother in Christ! God is incredible and social media can be a wonderful thing.Ó Facebook has actually caused something good to happen! We are thankful for TylerÕs decision to obey the gospel. And we share all of this by way of encouragement. What these four people have done over the past few weeks, you can do this morning. Pull me aside after worship, and I would love to get together to study the word of God together.

In our Sunday morning class, we have been looking at the book of Hebrews, and as we have discussed, it seems that the major theme of Hebrews is, ÒJesus is Better.Ó He is better than the angels, better than Moses, he provides a better rest, he is the architect of a better covenant, he is a better priest, and so on. And in any discussion of Hebrews, we might obviously start to ask: If Jesus is so much better, then why do we pay attention to the Old Testament at all? Some of you know that I love UW SWAP. UW SWAP is a surplus program operated by the University of Wisconsin, and before the pandemic they held weekly sales out of their warehouse down in Verona. They would sell old desks, and lab supplies, and athletic equipment Ð anything the UW or state government had that they needed to get rid of, they would sell on a weekly basis. Half of this church building is furnished with items from SWAP Ð the pews in the back room from the Dane County Courthouse (you can still see the handcuff marks on those pews), the whiteboards in our classrooms downstairs, tables, a number of chairs (including the comfortable chairs in the back, from the Kohl Center), the bulletin board in back, the countertop in the A/V room, the bookcases in the A/V room, and so on. On my weekly trips down to SWAP, I will occasionally come across various pre-inked rubber stampers. TheyÕre usually a quarter apiece, and IÕve actually been collecting these through the years. Some are marked ÒCOPY,Ó others are marked ÒDRAFT,Ó or ÒAIR MAIL,Ó or ÒATTENTION,Ó or ÒPRIORITY.Ó You never know when you might need to stamp something ÒPRIORITYÓ! I found one that says ÒAPPROVED,Ó so, if anyone ever needs my approval for something, I am ready to go! Well, on one of my trips down there, I found a stamp marked ÒOBSOLETE.Ó And I immediately thought of the book of Hebrews and our relationship with what is usually referred to as the ÒOld Testament.Ó The word ÒobsoleteÓ refers to something that is no longer practiced or used, out of date, gone out of use, going back to a Latin word referring to something that is Ògrown old,Ó or Òworn out.Ó And truly, this is how many people view the Old Testament. Many would love to take this stamp and stamp it on everything from Genesis to Malachi.

Years ago, I told you about a friend of mine who preaches in another state. He called for advice, asking what he should do about a member of his congregation who was saying that my friend really shouldnÕt be wasting his time or the churchÕs time preaching anything from the Old Testament. The man said, in fact, that it would be fine with him if we just ripped the Old Testament out of our Bibles and threw it away. And my friend wanted to know: How would you handle this situation? I said, ÒYou probably shouldnÕt take my advice, but I would probably launch a 13-week series of sermons from the book of Leviticus!Ó Again, that might not be wise, but we also need to value and respect the ÒBibleÓ that Jesus grew up with, the ÒBibleÓ Jesus lived by.

And there is a balance. ItÕs a challenge sometimes. Personally, when you read your Bible, do you read more of the Old or more of the New? Personally, I read more of the New. And yet, the Old makes up probably 75% of the Bible. We canÕt ignore it, but there is so much more of it, and we know we should probably pay more attention to the New. ItÕs a challenge for preachers. When it comes to preaching, 75% of the material I need to cover comes from a source seen by many as being Òobsolete.Ó And we do have some challenging passages scattered throughout the New. We think of what Paul said in Romans 10:4, when he said that, ÒChrist is the end of the law.Ó We think of Hebrews 8:13. The author makes the point that when Jesus mentions, ÒA new covenant,Ó ÒHe has made the first obsolete.Ó And then he says, ÒBut whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.Ó These are some challenging passages. What, then, should be our attitude toward the ÒOld TestamentÓ? Is it truly ÒobsoleteÓ in every way? Should we rip it out of our Bibles?

As we answer this question, perhaps the best way to go about it is to think about how Jesus viewed the ÒOld Testament.Ó And this is what I would like for us to do for the next several weeks as we study a series of verses in what is usually referred to as being the ÒSermon on the MountÓ in Matthew 5. So, I hope you will meet me today in Matthew 5. This is a passage I have never preached on before. In context, the Lord is on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, he is surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of people. He gives the Beatitudes, he talks about salt and light, he talks about putting your light on a lampstand (not under a basket), and then he continues with Matthew 5:17-20, the word of the Living God. Jesus says,

17 ÒDo not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 ÒFor I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

As we look this passage, and as we ask ourselves how Jesus viewed the Law, IÕd like to make four observationsÉ

I. Éstarting with verse 17, where we find that Jesus came not to DELETE, but to COMPLETE the Law.

He came, not to ÒabolishÓ the Law and the Prophets, but he came to Òfulfill.Ó And thinking about it this week: If Jesus had wanted to make the Law and the Prophets completely disappear, he could have done that! Poof! Jesus could have ÒdisappearedÓ everything from Genesis to Malachi. But, he did not. Instead, Jesus came to ÒfulfillÓ all of that, and now we have it to study and appreciate. The Law and the Prophets are still inspired. They came from God.

Why, then, do we not offer sacrifices today? Why is it still not a sin to wear clothing made out of two different kinds of thread? Why is it no longer an actual sin to trim my beard? We need to realize that the Law was always meant to be temporary; it was always meant to be fulfilled. It had a purpose, and its purpose was Jesus. The Law pointed to the coming of Jesus. We might think of the Law as some of those rules we had for our kids as they were growing up. When we set bedtimes and gave them an allowance and had them take out the trash every Monday night, those ÒrulesÓ were never intended to be permanent, but they were intended to teach and to bring them to a place where they could hopefully launch out on their own.

Jesus, then, came, not to erase all of that, not to make the Law and the Prophets disappear, not to violate it in some way, but he came to ÒfulfillÓ it. He came to finish it, just as an artist might finish a painting. And this is what we find, in Jesus. The tabernacle (and then the  temple), pointed to Jesus. Outside, they had the basin of water for purification; Jesus introduces himself as the Òliving water.Ó Then they had the altar; Jesus is introduced in John as Òthe Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the worldÓ (John 1:29). Inside the tabernacle, they had the lampstand on the left; Jesus described himself as Òthe light of the world.Ó On the right, they had the Table of Showbread; Jesus describes himself as Òthe bread of life.Ó Then, behind the next curtain, they had the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat; Jesus is described as the ÒGreat High PriestÓ who makes intercession for his people, and on and on. The Law is a ÒshadowÓ of what was coming (Hebrews 10:1-4).

And because of this, Jesus constantly uses the Law and the Prophets to show who he is. In his first public appearance, he reads from the prophet Isaiah and says, ÒToday, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearingÓ (Luke 4:21). In John 5:39, he speaks to the religious leaders of the day and says, ÒYou search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.Ó He uses what happened to Jonah to describe his own death, burial and resurrection (Matthew 12:40), and so on. So, Jesus came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it. Jesus is the Law and the Prophets in the flesh. He is the ÒWord.Ó

II. This leads us to verse 18, where we find that the Law and the Prophets (as Scripture) are HERE TO STAY: ALL SCRIPTURE IS PERMANENT.

ÒFor truly I say to you,Ó Jesus says, Òuntil heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.Ó The ÒtrulyÓ (in verse 18) is the word ÒAMEN.Ó This is a true statement, Jesus says. Heaven and earth passing away is something these people could hardly imagine, and until that happens, Ònot the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law.Ó The Òsmallest letterÓ is how we translate the word Òiota.Ó Maybe youÕve heard somebody say, ÒI donÕt trust that man, not one IOTA.Ó The iota was the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet, and like our letter ÒI,Ó the iota was the smallest of the letters, consisting of one very small stroke. The equivalent in Hebrew is very similar. Some of our English translations even show us the actual Hebrew letters in Psalm 119. As some of you might know, Psalm 119 is arranged as an acrostic, arranged around the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each section starts with a successive letter. And some of our translations actually use those letters as headings. **PPT** You might want to look this up in your own copy of the scriptures to see if they do this, but I found one of mine that did. And as you can see, this letter (in Hebrew) is tiny! To me, it almost looks like an apostrophe. It is a tiny letter.

So we have the Òsmallest letter,Ó but Jesus also refers to the Òstroke.Ó In Greek, this word is defined as Òlittle horn,Ó and it refers to a tiny mark that distinguishes one letter from another. We have letters like this in English, donÕt we? We might think of the capital letter ÒQ.Ó What separates a ÒQÓ from an ÒOÓ? ItÕs that tiny little tail. Some of you who teach reading IÕm sure know the technical names for all of these little pieces (we have some highly educated educators with us this morning). But the reference here is to a tiny mark. And going back to Psalm 119, we can see this in Hebrew with two Hebrew letters that are almost identical, except for one tiny little ÒtailÓ (like the difference between Q and O in English). I can hardly tell the difference here, but do you see it? It is tiny (not even a letter on its own), but it is important. One tiny mark can completely change the meaning of a sentence; in this case, itÕs the difference between a ÒBÓ and a ÒK.Ó Is that important? In English, itÕs the difference between ÒbiteÓ and Òkite,Ó the difference between ÒbinÓ and Òkin,Ó the difference between ÒbeepÓ and Òkeep.Ó Yes, one small ÒstrokeÓ can be incredibly important.

So, Jesus is saying: As Scripture, as the word of God, even the smallest letters and marks in the Law are permanent. The Law itself is here to stay. All of it. And Peter affirms this later (in 1 Peter 1:23-25) as he quotes from Isaiah 40. He says that we have been ÒÉborn again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ÔALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, 25 BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.Õ And this is the word which was preached to you.Ó The word of God is permanent, even down to the tiniest letters and smallest of marks.

III. As we come to verse 19, and as we continue looking for JesusÕ attitude toward the Law, we have the reminder that God has promised A BLESSING ON THOSE WHO KEEP AND TEACH HIS COMMANDMENTS.

And it seems to me as if Jesus is aiming this very specifically at the Pharisees (we will get to them in verse 20). As we know, the Pharisees were really good at dismissing some commands while emphasizing others and even adding quite a few ÒbonusÓ commands along the way. Jesus, though, has some strong words for those who would ÒannulÓ or ÒrelaxÓ certain commandments (either in their own lives or in teaching these commandments to others): They will be called ÒleastÓ in the kingdom of heaven. We might think of the Pharisees (in Matthew 15:1-9), who concocted those rules about Òkorban,Ó and thus ignored the actual commandment that they were to honor their parents. That kind of thing is what will get you called ÒleastÓ in the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, those who keep and teach the commandments will be called ÒgreatÓ in the kingdom of heaven.
Does this mean that all commandments in the Old and the New are equally binding on us today? No, but instead, we need to let the Bible interpret the Bible. Even in this passage, we need to remember that Jesus is living under the Law of Moses at this time. Not only that, but (as we will see over the next several weeks) there is a huge difference between what people THOUGHT the Law said as opposed to what God actually intended. Again, in the next few verses, Jesus will go on to clarify, ÒYou have heard that it was said, but I say unto you,Ó and so on.

The big thought in verse 19, though, seems to come in the form of this blessing on those who faithfully obey and teach GodÕs Law. Just last week, for example, we studied Psalm 62, didnÕt we? Yes, itÕs in what we might commonly refer to as being the ÒOld Testament,Ó but we took some lessons from that Psalm, understanding that it is the word of God. We taught it, and in a sense, I hope we ÒkeptÓ it. We learned that people will disappoint, but God is our rock. And we applied it by using that passage to encourage each other to wait in silence for God alone and we are to pour out our hearts before him. Right? We learned that from the Psalms last week, and hopefully we are obeying it. That passage is scripture, and it has value for us. And that seems to be what Jesus is saying here.

Someone has said, ÒIf we belittle scripture, we will ourselves become little in the kingdom.Ó But what about those passages about the temple, and all of those sacrifices and regulations? I believe we need to look at those (as we just noted a few minutes ago) as being fulfilled in Jesus. And so, with Jesus as our sacrifice, with Jesus as our great High Priest, we actually honor those regulations. Those regulations help us appreciate what we have today. And in that sense, even those commands have lasting significance.

Not only that, but over and over again, we have teaching under the New Covenant that is heavily anchored to the Old. We think of PaulÕs command to not accept an accusation against an elder, unless we have multiple witnesses. That goes back to Deuteronomy 17 and 19. In the same passage, he actually quotes from Deuteronomy 25:4 to prove that the elders of a congregation have a right to be paid. He makes the same argument concerning preachers in 1 Corinthians 9. We think of the meeting in Jerusalem in Acts 15 when the church, and the apostles, and the elders take some principles from the Law of Moses, and they apply those principles to the crisis they were facing at the time. Many times, the Old is clarified and repeated in the New, and in this sense we ÒkeepÓ and ÒteachÓ the commandments. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:8, ÒBut we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully.Ó ThatÕs the key: The Law must be applied lawfully (as we did here, last week, I believe).

IV. As we come to the end of this little paragraph, we find that SCRIPTURE MUST BE ALLOWED TO TRULY SHAPE OUR HEARTS AND MINDS.

As Jesus says (in verse 20), ÒForÉunless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.Ó A few things here: First of all, we learn here that not all righteousness is pleasing to God. The Lord admits here that the Pharisees do have some level of righteousness, because he says that our righteousness needs to ÒsurpassÓ theirs. To most people back then, this probably seemed impossible. The Pharisees were seen as being super-duper righteous. They were righteous beyond righteous. The problem was: Their righteousness was primarily external. They did quite a bit to be noticed by others: long robes and even longer prayers. Unfortunately, they were hypocrites. In fact, in Matthew 23:27, Jesus compares them to whitewashed tombs: Looking great on the outside, but on the inside full of dead menÕs bones. Our righteousness, then, must go beyond being merely external. Our righteousness must ÒsurpassÓ theirs.

When I think of meeting a standard, I think of how we sometimes refer to Òraising the barÓ or Òlowering the bar.Ó ThereÕs not a lot out there on this, but IÕm assuming this might go back to events like the high jump. To me, that was one of the worst parts of P.E. in middle and high school. They have this bar with a huge mat behind it in the middle of the track, we walk up to it, and I think to myself, ÒThere is no possible way.Ó The bar is chest high, and they want me to run up to it kind of sideways, almost backwards, and flop over it? This cannot happen. And yet, we do some research, and the world record high jump was made by Javier Sotomayor, in Spain, back in July 1993 (thatÕs 28 years ago, the year we got married). His jump was 8-feet, ? inch. I measured this morning, and the ceiling in here is half an inch short of 8 feet. Javier, if he were here with us today, could jump higher than this ceiling. Of course, he is 53 years old now, so maybe not. But he remains the only human who has ever cleared 8 feet in the high jump. Well, when it comes to righteousness, this is the way most people back then looked at the Pharisees. They had a saying back then, ÒIf only two people get into heaven, one would be a scribe, and the other would be a Pharisee.Ó In the eyes of most people, the Pharisees were doing the impossible. They were the superstars. But, instead of lowering the bar, we find in this passage that Jesus raises it! In fact, Jesus basically says: You can do better than that! In fact, you MUST do better than that, ÒÉunless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.Ó Thankfully, the Lord goes on to explain, and this what we hope to study over the next several weeks, as he takes what people have HEARD about the Law, and he reveals what it really MEANS and what the Lord truly expects of us.

So, I hope you can be with us over the next few weeks, but I think we will learn that the word of God needs to change us from the inside out. ItÕs not just the externals that matter, but our hearts need to be right. And thatÕs what Jesus seems to be saying here. Our righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees. He doesnÕt lower the bar, but he raises it.

Conclusion:

This morning we have looked at JesusÕ opinion of the Law. If we believe in Jesus, then we also believe what he taught about the Law, and weÕve learned this morning that,

* He came not to DELETE it, but to COMPLETE it.
* He lets us know in this passage that the Law (as Scripture) is HERE TO STAY, in a sense.
* He reminds us that the Law must be FAITHFULLY KEPT AND TAUGHT, properly applied, we might say.
* And finally, scripture needs to CHANGE US from the inside, even to the point where our righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Hopefully we can come back next week as we start looking at a series of examples, some contrast between what people were told about the Law and what God actually intended. So, letÕs not toss it out as being completely obsolete, but letÕs study with the goal of handling it accurately, as we should.

Before we partake of the LordÕs Supper, letÕs go to God in prayer:

Our Father in Heaven,

You are the God of all Scripture, and we know that this book weÕve assembled to study is from you. Thank you, Father, for speaking to us through the written word. We are thankful for how it has been preserved through the years. We are thankful that it has been translated into languages all of us here today can understand. We pray we would appreciate this tremendous blessing, and we pray for wisdom and courage as we share it with others.

Thank you for Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. We pray that as we follow his perfect example, we will become more and more like you every day. This is our hope and our prayer. We come to you today in JesusÕ name, AMEN.

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