The sermon you are about to hear was recorded at Grace Baptist Church, Cape Coral, Florida. For additional sermons and more information, visit our website at truegraceofgod.org. Matthew chapter 5. As Jorge said already this morning, we'll be continuing in our study in the Gospel of Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount. And we'll be looking specifically at Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 20. It's page 810 in the Bibles that are provided for you there in those CPACs. If you don't have a Bible at home, and you would like a Bible, feel free to take one of those Bibles there in those seat backs. I think chapter 5, verses 17 through 20 is the passage that we'll be looking at this morning. The accusation of legalism is thrown around quite a lot in evangelical Christian circles, isn't it? If the preacher preaches to his congregation that they must actually do something that the congregation finds distasteful, the preacher is a legalist. If a church insists on doing something that God commands in His Word, which is unpopular in our culture today, they are condemned as a legalistic church by other churches. If you seek to live a rigorous life of obedience to God's commands, your Christians might suspect you to be some sort of legalist, even if you don't call them to do the same things that you do. Or if you have a high regard for God's commands and God's law, you will most certainly be called a legalist by some Christians. But the proliferation of accusations of legalism suggests not that there's a problem with legalism in the evangelical church, but rather I think that there is a problem with antinomianism in the evangelical church. What is antinomianism? Antinomianism is basically just that idea that we are against law, anti-law. Namas being the word for law, antinomian. Legalism is certainly a problem. It can be a damnable problem. And so we ought to do all that we can to avoid it. But the spirit of the age today in our culture has pushed the church closer and closer to the error of antinomianism than perhaps the church has ever been. And so as we continue through our study of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus shows us the appropriate way to view God's law, God's commands. And Jesus helps us to chart a course between the Scylla and Charybdis, the two extremes of legalism and antinomianism. So follow along with me as I read Matthew chapter five, verses 17 through 20. Jesus says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 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. 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. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." This is perhaps one of the most important texts in all of the scriptures. Here in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives something of a defense against the accusation of the Jewish leaders, which he often receives. That he's come to do away with the traditions. That he's come to do away with the old scriptures. He's come to do away with the law of Moses and to set up some sort of new tradition, some sort of new law. Jesus wants to disabuse anyone of these notions. He says that on the contrary, He establishes God's law. He establishes the Old Testament Scriptures. He establishes them by fulfilling them in their true intent. And so what we see here at the heart of this text is that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and the Old Testament commandments. Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and the Old Testament commandments. And I want to look at this text in three different parts, and we'll follow this along in the different verses here. First, we see that Christ fulfills the law. That's in verse 17. This will be a bit of a roadmap for us as we go through this text. Christ fulfills the law. Second, Christians must obey the law. That's verses 18 and 19. And third, God demands perfect obedience to the law. That's verse 20. Christ fulfills the law. Christians must obey the law. God demands perfect obedience to the law. Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking right now. I use the word law a lot of times. And some of you are nervous that maybe he actually is a legalist. We need to properly understand God's law. We need to properly understand what legalism is. And so I want to take this text in these three different sections, and then Lord willing, in a couple weeks, we'll come back to this text and try to unpack even more of what's contained here. But we see here in the first verse, verse 17, Christ fulfills the law. It says, don't think that I've come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. the law and the prophets. This was a common way in the first century to refer to the scriptures, the law and the prophets. Jesus is referring to the Old Testament. Of course, they don't have the New Testament yet at this point. The New Testament wouldn't come along for several more decades in its entirety. But Jesus is saying he didn't come to abolish the Old Testament or do away with it or change it or to destroy it. That's what that word means there. He came to fulfill it. This statement has deep, multifaceted meaning, as we can see from the rest of Scripture. But what does it mean for Christ to fulfill the law in the prophets? Jesus is saying here that he both fulfills the Old Testament scriptures and he fulfills the law of God, the commandments of God. So I want to take each of these in turn. What does it mean that Christ fulfills the Old Testament scriptures? Well, he brings them to their completion. Everything that is talked about in the Old Testament scriptures, the law and the prophets, Jesus himself, as the divine son of God, come to earth, brings those Old Testament scriptures to their completion. Because He is what they are all about. He is what they are speaking of. He is the goal to which they are all aimed. He is their terminus. We see this in the book of Hebrews. In the very first two verses, the author says, long ago at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, God has spoken to us by his son. It is interesting, isn't it, that the author of Hebrews, 2,000 years ago, called the days that he was living in these last days. Did you catch that? All the days from Christ's incarnation until his second coming are these last days. But God has spoken in the Old Testament through signs and through wonders and through dreams and prophetic utterances and miracles and visions through the prophets in many different ways. But the author of Hebrews says, but now, Finally, God has spoken to us in His Son, and His Son is the full revelation of God. All previous revelation pointing to this full and final revelation in Christ. This is why the Gospel of Matthew, as we have already seen multiple times, probably about a half a dozen times, is filled with this phrase. You read it over and over and over again. Quote, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. Right? Jesus, along with Joseph and Mary, flee to Egypt. And what does Matthew say? Well, he fled to Egypt to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. And he references the Old Testament. Jesus and his family return to Israel, and they move to the north in Galilee. And Matthew says, well, this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet. And he says this multiple times in order to show that when the prophets prophesied, what they were prophesying was Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment. This is what we see in the end of the Gospel of Luke. In chapter 24 and verse 27, when he's on the road to Emmaus with his disciples after his resurrection, verse 27 says, and beginning with Moses, that is the law, and the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Jesus, the perfect son of God, the inerrant interpreter of the Old Testament, interprets to his disciples all the things from Moses all the way through the prophets, the things concerning himself. He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. How do the Old Testament scriptures speak of Christ? How does Christ fulfill these scriptures? We see it all throughout the scriptures. Jesus is that seed of the woman in Genesis 3.15 who will come and slay the dragon, that great ancient serpent of old. And we actually see him doing that in the book of Revelation, don't we? Jesus is the descendant of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed in Genesis 12. Jesus is the future prophet like Moses who would come that's prophesied in Deuteronomy 18. Jesus is the future son of David that we read about in 2 Samuel 7. Jesus is the son of man ascending to the ancient of days in heaven that we read about in Daniel 7. Jesus is that mountain in Micah 3 and 4 that is leveled and laid bare, but then is raised up to be the greatest mountain in all the earth. And all of the nations go streaming to that mountain to hear the law of God proclaimed. That's Jesus. And it's actually fulfilled here in the sermon on the mount where Christ proclaims the law of God. He is the Son of God in Psalm 2. The one who will rule all the nations of the earth in might and in wrath. Kiss ye the Son, lest ye be angry and you perish in the way. That's Christ. He's the suffering servant of Isaiah who will be pierced for our iniquities. Who will carry our sorrows. Who will be smitten and stricken by God for our sakes in Isaiah 53. He is the Son of the Virgin in Isaiah 9. He is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the one from Psalm 16 whose body would not see corruption, would not see decay, but instead would be raised from the dead, defeating death. He is the true Melchizedek. He is the true Israel. He is the true Davidic king. He is the greater Adam. He is the true ark. He's the true temple, he's the true kinsman, redeemer. Do you not see how you see Jesus all throughout the Old Testament? Because Jesus says he's the fulfillment of all the law and all the prophets. We could go on and on and on about how Christ fulfills all that the law and the prophets spoke of. Brothers and sisters, the Old Testament is not boring. It's not that the Old Testament has no meaning for you. Sometimes it can be more difficult to see how it connects to you. But when we understand the words of Jesus here, that I haven't come to abolish the law or the prophets, I've come to fulfill them. And when we see Christ in every page of the Old Testament, because he actually is in every page of the Old Testament, the Old Testament, how could it ever be boring? False teachers like Andy Stanley claim that we need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. And he's saying that we need to do exactly that which Christ said we ought not do, abolish the law and prophets. Christ didn't come to abolish the Old Testament, but to fulfill it. There's no New Testament without the Old Testament. There's no Messiah, there's no Christ without the scriptures that would first prophesy his coming in the Old Testament. Christian, never allow yourself to get bored of the Old Testament. Christ is there. You read about the Lord of glory on every page, from Genesis to Malachi. Don't deny yourself the rich visions of your Savior that are found in the Old Testament. Read them. He's the fulfillment of what you read there. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, the coming of salvation, He will accomplish all these things. But here, He's something more. In verse 17, he's alluding to the entirety of the Old Testament. He fulfills the entirety of the Old Testament and the prophecies that are contained therein. It's clear from this passage and what he's going to continue to preach in the Sermon on the Mount that his emphasis is on the law of God. He didn't come to abolish the law. He didn't come to abolish the commandments. He came to fulfill those commandments. He came to fulfill that law. This is clear because in the immediate context, he speaks of the commandments being perpetual and the necessity to obey the commandments. It says, 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. And then he'll go on through the rest of the sermon here, the Sermon on the Mount, to expound upon the moral law of God, the moral law and its true meaning, and the law and God's commands and their true intent. So what does it mean then for Jesus to fulfill the law, the commands of God, particularly the commands of God that are found in the Old Testament? Well, in order to understand this, I'm gonna offer you something of a concise primer on the doctrine of God's law as it's found in the scriptures. When the scriptures speak of God's law, typically it's referring to God's commands, the thou shalt and the thou shalt nots of the Old Testament. But it would be a mistake for us to think of all of God's law in the Old Testament as being just singular and without distinction. God has commands, and there's different commands, but they're all really the same type of command. Now, there are different kinds of commands. There are different ways that we should categorize the law of God as it is given to us in the Old Testament. The Reformers, and many before them, divided the laws of the Old Testament into three different types, three different categories. If you're taking notes, this may be helpful. The first category is the ceremonial law. The second is the civil law. The third is the moral law. I'll explain each of these briefly. The ceremonial law, these are those laws which are given to ancient Israel concerning the worship of God. How is Israel to worship God as a people? We find these primarily in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, when Yahweh teaches Israel about the priesthood. Who can be a priest? How should priests serve? What are the rituals for cleansing a priest before he goes into the tabernacle? We find laws about sacrifices. What can you sacrifice? What can you not sacrifice? What sins should you offer different sacrifices for? How ought you to sacrifice your bulls and your goats? We find laws about the tabernacle. We find food laws. Don't eat bacon. We find laws about ceremonial cleanness. How can I come into the camp after I've been sick or I've touched a dead corpse? Most of you have read these laws in the Old Testament and you wonder, what is going on? These are the ceremonial laws of the Mosaic Covenant. Then there are the civil laws. This is a different type of law. The civil or the judicial laws were the laws given to the nation of Israel as an entity, as a commonwealth, as a geopolitical reality. These civil laws, like any legal code, are based in morality, but they have to do with the particulars of how a nation ought to be governed. So, for instance, you'll find laws for punishment of murderers, or laws concerning inheritance, or laws concerning liability that you might have for someone losing life or limb due to your mistakes. Deuteronomy 22.8 is a good example of one of these civil laws which governs the nation. It says, when you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it. In the Middle East in these days, it was common that people would spend time on the roof of their house. You can imagine, someone could mistakenly fall off the roof and die. And so therefore, it was a law. If you had a house, you had to build a parapet around it so people would not fall off and die. This is one of the civil laws governing the nation. since God's people are no longer a particular national institution, these laws no longer apply in the way that they did for the Commonwealth of Israel. But then finally, there's the moral law. The moral law. This is the law of God, which is the immutable, unchangeable standard of right and wrong. We use language all the time of, I should do this, I shouldn't do that, that's wrong, that's right, this is good, that's wicked. When we do things like that, when we say that, when we think that, we are referencing the moral law of God. That is that standard of what is right and wrong for all people at all time in any situation. It's the unchangeable moral law of God. And it's binding upon all people. This moral law is summarized for us in the Ten Commandments. Remember, Jorge read from Deuteronomy 5. It's also found in Exodus 20. This is a summary of the moral law of God. It's further summarized, condensed even further by our Lord, and we'll see later in Matthew 22, the two great commandments, to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. This moral law is the standard for all people. It existed before the Ten Commandments. It existed for those Gentile nations who never had the moral law or never had the scriptures. And even in the Old Testament, we see the Ten Commandments are treated differently from the laws concerning sacrifice and priesthood, and if your bull gores someone to death, then you've got to pay this fine. Those are commands from God for Israel, but the moral law, it's set apart. Do you remember when you read in Exodus 20? That's when we read about the very first time Scripture is ever written down. And who writes it? God. God himself writes down the very first scripture. And how does he do it? With his finger on tablets of stone. The Ten Commandments. And he gives them to Moses. And these Ten Commandments are kept in the Ark of the Covenant. They're different. They're different from the other commandments. They're higher. This is a law known by all men. Paul says in Romans 2 verses 14 and 15, he says, quote, even though they don't have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. Have you ever thought about why basically all cultures throughout the world believe that murder is wrong, theft is frowned upon, adultery is not a good thing? Why is that the case for cultures that have nothing to do with each other? It's because of what Paul says here in Romans 2. All men, Gentiles, who've never had the scriptures, they never had the law themselves, they did have the law written on their hearts. They knew. Because God has created this world and imbued this world with his very moral law. And he has created human individuals with his moral law embedded in us, that we know what's right. We know what's wrong. And when we do what's wrong, our conscience condemns us. It accuses us. And when we do what's right, our conscience excuses us, as Paul says in Romans 2. This moral law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments, it's a rule of life. It's so basic that had God never even spoken the scriptures, it would still be the rule of what is right and what is wrong for all people. Whenever you think of someone's actions as wicked, you're determining that they don't conform to the law of God, whether you acknowledge that or not. Whenever you think that your own actions are righteous, unbeknownst to you, you're determining that you're living in accordance with God's moral law. And the reason moral law transcends history, transcends people, it's the great standard for what is right and wrong is because it flows from the very character of God himself. It's not like there's this law of what's right and wrong, good and evil, and it's separate from God, as if God had to conform himself to it. And it's not as though God just arbitrarily determined, yeah, murder's gonna be wrong. That's a good law. No, it flows from who he is in his nature by necessity. The law, do not murder, is wrong because God is life. and death is contrary to who he is. And the one who unjustifiably brings death to those made in his image is guilty of breaking the law. The law to honor the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, to worship and to rest is not a law merely because God said it 4,000 years ago to an ancient tribe of Israelites in Sinai. No, it's right because in God there is perfect rest. His creatures were made to find their rest in Him. God is the one who is supremely to be worshiped, and all of God's creatures are to honor and to worship Him. So God has imbued into creation a Sabbath principle. He has made one day in seven a Sabbath to the Lord. And we could say this about all 10 commandments. They flow from the very righteous character of God. So then the question remains, How does Christ fulfill the law? This threefold division is helpful for us in an understanding, when we read through the Old Testament, what's binding on me and what's not? What is Christ fulfilled and what is Christ not fulfilled? Christ has fulfilled all the law, ceremonial, civil, and moral, but in different ways. First, Jesus fulfills the ceremonial laws. Jesus, in his own body, is that perfect sacrifice that is demanded in Exodus, in Leviticus. The sacrifice of bulls and goats is no longer necessary because Christ is the fulfillment of that ceremonial law. The author of Hebrews says in chapter 9, verses 13 and 14, if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of flesh, how much more would the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? It's the sacrifice of Christ which truly cleanses us from our sins. which truly placates the wrath of God. It's not the sacrifice of a spotless lamb. It's not the sacrifice of a spotless bull. It's the sacrifice of a spotless God-man, which cleanses us from our sins, which brings us to God. the old sacrificial laws of the Mosaic Covenant, they were foreshadowing what would come. They were a hazy picture of what was to come. They pointed forward to the reality, the substance, who is Jesus Christ. In this way, Jesus fulfills the ceremonial laws. We could say the same thing about the priesthood. Christ fulfills the priesthood in those ceremonial laws. he being the fulfillment of the ceremonial laws, is our great high priest. What did the priest do? The priest was there to mediate between God and man. He was there to make atonement on behalf of the people, to cleanse them of their sins, to bring them from defiled to clean to holy through the work of his ministry. And that's what Christ does for us. In Hebrews chapter seven, the author makes the point that the old Levitical priests, they were insufficient to make atonement for the people. But rather, what they did is they pointed forward to a better priest to come. They pointed forward to one who would actually fulfill their ministry, but in a true way, in a substantial way. Christ is our Great High Priest. He is the one who stands between us and God as the God-man. He is our mediator. He intercedes for us daily before God. He has entered in behind the veil into the heavenly holy of holies, and there He represents us, and there, by the Spirit, we are with Him, and we are before the presence of God. Even now, brother and sister, you are before the heavenly presence of the Father through Jesus Christ, because He is our Great High Priest. He's the fulfillment of the ceremonial law. Christ is the fulfillment of the priesthood. Christ also fulfills the civil law. Those judicial laws which govern the nation of Israel. Paul says in Ephesians 2.14 He, that is Christ, himself, is our peace, who made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility." What's he talking about? He's talking about Jew and Gentile being different people, being separated, the Jews being governed by the ceremonial law, but then also the civil law, which marks them out as a nation. Things like circumcision. makes them different from the Gentiles. But Jesus comes along, according to Paul, and he breaks down that wall of hostility, dividing the two people, and he brings Jew and Gentile together into one holy spiritual nation. The kingdom of God in Christ is now no longer a geopolitical entity comprised of a particular Semitic group of people, but now it's a spiritual, universal, pan-ethnic people who have been granted faith by the Spirit of God. They've been redeemed by the obedience and the sufferings of Christ. And now both Jew and Gentile are brought together in the true kingdom of God, which the kingdom of Israel pointed to. This people, you and me, the church, is now governed directly by Christ. Christ our King, by His Spirit, not governed by particular judicial laws that we find in the Old Testament. In this way, the civil law finds its fulfillment in Christ. And this third category of law, this moral law. When Jesus says that He fulfills the moral law, He means something different entirely. In fulfilling the moral law, Christ obeys the moral law perfectly. He keeps every single one of the Ten Commandments and doesn't err in any way in deed, in thought, in word, in desire. In his living and in his dying, he was morally perfect in every way. Again, going to Hebrews chapter four, verse 15. It says, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. Again, he's the fulfillment of the priesthood. But one who, in every respect, has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Faces all the same temptations we do. yet never gives in to the sin, never sins. Sin and righteousness, there are two opposites which are both determined by God's moral law. We look at 1 John 3, for instance, in which the Apostle John says that sin is lawlessness. When you break the law of God, that's sin. When we talk about sin, by definition, it's breaking God's law. It's lawlessness, according to John. Righteousness is nothing other than obeying God's law. Therefore, when the Bible tells us that Jesus was sinless, it's telling us that he perfectly obeyed his law and fulfilled all that was required of him by God's law. Perfectly honored his father and mother. Never had a murderous thought or intention. Never looked lustfully at a woman. Always honored the Sabbath day, kept it holy, worshiped his father. never had any other gods before God his Father in any way. A righteousness, brothers and sisters, that you and I in and of ourselves could never obtain. An obedience that is impossible for us. Christ could. Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, the fulfillment of all the prophecy of the Old Testament. The whole of God's revelation in the Old Testament is fulfilled in Christ. But he's also the fulfillment of the ceremonial, the civil, and the moral law. This is why Isaiah, in chapter 42, prophesies, the Lord, that is Christ, the Lord was pleased for righteousness' sake to magnify his law and to make it glorious. Christ didn't abolish the law, but he magnified it. He made it glorious. Brothers and sisters, next time you're reading through Leviticus and you're struggling, man, this is the seventh different kind of sacrifice. There's the burnt offerings, and there's the cereal offerings, and there's this offerings, and sometimes a pigeon, sometimes a goat. It's so easy to get lost. But remember, everything that you read there is pointing to Christ. He is the fulfillment of all of it. And you're always gaining a greater, more full perspective on who your Savior is and what he has done for us, his people. Christ is the fulfillment of the law. But in verses 18 and 19, we see the Christians must obey the law. Christians must obey the law. This is where we perhaps start to get a little controversial. Particularly as Americans. We like our freedom. We like our independence. I enjoyed the fireworks. Obey? Obey anything but myself? That's tyranny. If you remember nothing else, obedience to the law of God is freedom. Obedience to the law of God is freedom. Sin is slavery. Christians must obey God's law. This isn't legalism, this is Christianity, and this is what Jesus teaches us. For truly I say to you, in verse 18, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 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. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." He's so emphatic here that we are called, we are required to be obedient to the law in its smallest detail and we are to teach others to do the same. Christ did not abolish the moral law. He did abolish the ceremonial law. Colossians 2.14. Paul says, he, that is Christ, canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. That's an important phrase. With its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. And then he goes on to say in verses 16 through 17, Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to festival or new moon or Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ." What's he talking about here? These new moons and these food laws and these drink laws and these special Sabbath days and these festivals, these are all old ceremonial laws that were taught in the Old Testament. These, he canceled. These illegal demands Christ canceled on the cross because he was the fulfillment of them is what Paul is saying here in Colossians 2. Christians are not obligated to keep the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament. You're not obligated to sacrifice a goat every time you sin because there's one sacrifice and one sacrifice only that can cleanse you from your sins and that's the sacrifice of Christ and he offers it once and it's all that's needed. These ceremonial laws pointed to Christ. They find their fulfillment in him, and they are canceled. Interestingly, the principles are still there, though, but they're still there in Christ. There is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. It's still a law that is in effect today, but the blood has been shed. He didn't cancel. He didn't abolish the moral law. He did abolish the civil law. Christians are not obligated to keep the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. Paul again in Ephesians 2. says that he, Christ himself, is our peace who has made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two. What's he saying here? Those laws of commandments expressed in ordinances which he abolished are those ceremonial or those civil laws which separate Israel from all the other Gentiles. But Christ has come and done away with those things, and he's brought the two together, making peace. He's abolished those civil laws, so the Christians are not obligated to keep those civil laws of the Old Testament. They, too, are fulfilled in Christ. But Christ did not abolish the moral law. The Ten Commandments are still binding upon the believer. In fulfilling the moral law, Christ did not abolish it. This is specifically what he's referring to in verse 7. I've not come to abolish the law. I've come to fulfill it. Christians are obligated to continue to keep the moral law. Unfortunately, many Christians today think that any positive mention of the law is legalism. We spend a lot of time reading the Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy 5. That'd make a lot of people squirm. Any demand placed on the Christian to follow God's law is counted as legalism. After all, Paul, Romans 6, you're not under law, you're under grace. Paul does not mean there that we're not obligated to keep the law. There are some who think that any attempt to do the will of God by following his commandments is out of place for the Christian. It implies a rejection of the gospel. This is antinomianism. This is anti-law. And sometimes an antinomian will say that the law was merely for those under the old covenant. But now that we're under the new covenant, we're under grace and we have no obligation to obey the law. The law has completely been abrogated. Others may simply say that God's not so demanding and he's not so ungracious to oblige us to keep his law. He wants us to be free from any obligation to obedience since Christ was obedient for us. Still others will say that salvation cannot be obtained through obedience to the law, which is absolutely true. But because salvation can't be obtained through obedience to the law, the law is worthless. It's not good for anything. Brothers and sisters, I hope that you don't think this way. I plead with you to not think this way. Because this way of thinking leads to lawlessness and misery, even in the life of the believer. how I love your law, meditate upon it day and night. God's people know the goodness of God's law. And we see here in the text that the law is perpetual. It continues, it's ongoing, it doesn't end. Matthew 5.18, 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. It will last so long as heaven and earth will last is what he's saying. An iota, a dot, it's the smallest letter in the smallest part of a letter in the alphabet. Jesus is saying none of it will pass away, not even the least of it is gonna pass away. In fact, in a figure of speech, Jesus says that not even the spelling of the law is gonna change until heaven and earth pass away, until all is completed. He couldn't be more emphatic. He says, truly, amen is what he's saying. This is true. He uses a double negative, which for him in the Greek means truly, truly, by no means, Will the law pass away? What is the all that needs to be accomplished before the law might be changed? It's the all that will finally be accomplished at the end of all things, when heaven and earth pass away, when Christ will have saved all his elect from every corner of the earth, and when the glory of God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea. That's what he is talking about here. Obedience to the law is not legalism. It is required, and it is good. Verse 19, 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. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Even the relaxation of one, that's the word that's used, the loosening of even the least of the commandments is not acceptable according to Christ's words here. Those who relax it, they let it slide, oh, it's not that big of a deal, nobody got hurt, nobody knows, nobody found out, it's okay. The least in the kingdom, the least in the kingdom are those who believe and live that way. And just because we are saved by faith rather than works does not imply that the law is worthless. Paul says in Romans 3, do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means, on the contrary, we uphold the law. We're saved, we're justified by faith alone, not by works. But even with that faith, we uphold the law. He says in chapter seven of Romans, verse 12, the law is holy, the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God's laws are good? Do you believe that they're good for you? Do you believe that they will result in your blessedness? So Psalm 1 tells us. It's good because the way that God designed us to live in this world is according to his law. Do you think that disobedience to God's law is no big deal, brother, sister? Certainly the godless and the pagan do. But unfortunately, so many Christians do as well. Obedience to God's law is not something that's left as an option, it is a demand. We are not to relax even the least of his commands. Do you think that your lustful thoughts are not an issue? Jesus has saved me, he's forgiven me. It doesn't matter if I have some lustful thoughts. What about your prideful self-pity? You're envious backbiting. You're grumbling. It's not a big deal. I'm not under law, I'm under grace. And they're pretty small sins anyway. Are you relaxing even the least of God's law? It is a big deal. It's not the way that Jesus wants you to live. It's not a happy way to live. J.C. Ryle says this, let us beware of supposing that the gospel has lowered the standard of personal holiness and that the Christian is not intended to be as strict and particular about his daily life as the Jew. The Christian who is content with a low standard of personal holiness has got much to learn. You think that your sin is no big deal. Jesus thought it was serious. Jesus thought it was deadly serious. Jesus died for that relaxing of the law. It's just the least of the law. He had to die so that you would be forgiven of that relaxing of the least of his laws. It's a big deal. Your sin is deadly serious. And that's what we see here in this final verse. Verse 20, God's demands of perfect obedience to his law. Jesus says, I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. This can be one of the most terrifying statements in scripture. You will not enter heaven unless you are more obedient to the law than the scribes and the Pharisees are. Now we know the Pharisees. They're the bad guys. They're whitewashed supplicants. They're hypocrites. Well, they're Pharisees, right? They're legalists. So at first, when reading this, it may seem like kind of a doable task. Well, I just have to not be the bad guy. I just have to not be the hypocrite. Then my righteousness will exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, and I'm in heaven. I hope you don't think that. I hope that's not what you're thinking. I hope you've not lowered the standard to that level. We need to realize that the Pharisees were actually pretty good at keeping the law, comparatively speaking. They memorized it. They went to extra lengths to make sure they kept all of it. They created laws around the laws so that they wouldn't break the law, which would then lead them to break the real law. They were really serious about obedience to the law of God. The Pharisees actually were the most righteous people around. But even they, And their great heights of morality were not righteous enough for God. Because while they kept the letter of the law, they had no idea about the spirit of law, which Jesus is about to teach us. While they were external observers of the law, internally they were a mess of sinful desires and sinful motivations. While most people didn't keep the external or the internal dimensions of the law, at least the Pharisees kept the external dimensions of the law. But Jesus says it's not enough. You have to be more righteous than the most righteous people you know. Who is the most righteous, godly, holy person you know? You have to be more holy, more righteous, more obedient to God's law than that person to make it into heaven. That's the standard. And that's why this is one of the most terrifying verses in all of scripture. Because who can do that? Who can be that obedient? Who can be that righteous? Who can be that holy? If the Pharisees couldn't do it, I can't do it. And that's the point. That's the point Jesus is making to us. You can't. The law is righteous and holy and good, and it is maintained from the day God created the earth until the earth passes away, and we are called to be obedient to it. No one enters into heaven by their obedience to the law of God, because we can't. No one can be perfectly obedient. No one can be perfectly righteous. No one can be perfectly just. That ship has sailed. Galatians 3.10, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them. We're cursed because we don't obey perfectly. You will not enter heaven unless you have perfect righteousness. God is not gonna just understand your flaws and mistakes and say, well, they didn't mean it. He's not going to take your good deeds into account and then weigh them in the scales and see if they outweigh your bad deeds. One bad deed is enough to keep you out of the kingdom of heaven. He demands perfect righteousness, which is really bad news for every single one of us. Until we realize that that which God demands from us, He gives to us in Christ. And this is why it's so important to understand that Christ is the fulfillment of the law. While we, in every way, have failed to meet God's standard that He sets forth in His moral law, Christ, in every way, has met the standard. Christ, in every way, is righteous. Christ, in every way, has fulfilled the law of God. If you want a righteousness that will open the gates of heaven, that you might enter into the kingdom of heaven, there is only one place to find it. And that's in the one who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. That's in Jesus Christ. And that righteousness is offered to us. Paul says in Galatians 4, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Why is he born under the law? Because he has to obey the law for all of us who are not obedient to it. And His perfect righteousness, His perfect obedience, is given as a gift to anyone who trusts in Him. Paul again, Romans 3, 21. Now the righteousness of God, that perfect obedience to God's law, has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. That is, you can't obey the law in order to gain that righteousness. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe. For there's no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified, that is, declared righteous. by his grace as a gift to the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. This is what Martin Luther called an alien righteousness. We can't be righteous ourselves, but there can be an external alien righteousness that belongs to Christ that he gives to us by faith, not by obedience, by trusting, not by trying. That is, our righteousness given to us can truly and really exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Because it's not ours, it's Christ's. Do you want to enter into the kingdom of heaven? Do you want to be counted righteous in God's sight? Do you want to be justified? Do you want to live forever? Trust in the one who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. He promises you that if you don't trust in yourself, you don't trust in others, but you trust in him, he will give you that righteousness. You will be forgiven. You will enter into heaven. Life and righteousness is only found in Christ. So trust him. Trust him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you've been kind to us and giving us your law, showing us the way to live a blessed life in this world. We have spit upon your law, we've dishonored it, we've disobeyed it, we've thought nothing of your righteousness, and we continue to do this. Yet we know that we have been made righteous. You see us as righteous. You accept us as righteous in your son Jesus Christ. You have given us his righteous robes and you have taken from us our filthy rags of sin. I pray that you would help us, your people, to live in this reality, to seek to be obedient to your law, not as a way of salvation, not as a way of justification, but as a way to please you, to love you, to show our gratitude towards you, and to be blessed by you. Be with us now, your people. In Christ's name, amen.