YOUTH GROUP: Fulfilling The Law

The Word Search

Fulfilling the Law

Matthew 5:17-20

Announcements:

• Speed the Light offering reminder. State the goal and the why.
• School calendar signup for lunches/sound/Sunday morning
• Sermon notes

 

Intro:

Unsatisfying video:

 

Welcome back to our series the Word Search where we search the very words of Jesus for the deep and applicable truth that we need to base our lives upon! Every word Jesus shares is important for us to understand.

Now, that was not a very fulfilling video was it? The moment that got me the most was the spoon falling into the soup! That’s the worst and it makes me want to throw the entire bowl of soup in the trash.

Thankfully, when we read the bible we do not get left with this unfulfilled feeling. The bible is constantly tying up loose ends that we read about earlier and that is nearly always fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ!

Our message tonight is going to be on this very thing. Fulfilling The Law. Christ was, is, and will be the fulfillment of Scripture, so tonight as we continue our journey through Matthew 5 and the sermon on the mount, let’s read about what Jesus says regarding the fulfillment of the Law in verses 17-20.

 

Message:

Matthew 5:17-20 17 “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. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

TEACHINGS IN VERSES

1. Christ is the of the Law and Prophets (past present and future)

Matthew 5:17 “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.“

I want to preface this all by saying that Jesus is the of the Law. He fulfilled the Law in its entirety. Jesus is continuing to be the fulfillment of the Prophets, which we be completed with the New Heavens and the New Earth. (We will get to that later in the series)

 

Now, so background for you guys. It was a common belief among the Pharisees and Sadducees and the priests that Jesus was saying the Law didn’t matter, and that people were to disregard it completely.

This is not the case at all guys. Jesus is making a major emphasis here to prove that those claims are false. He was not saying the Law was worthless, He was in fact saying that He had come to fulfill it perfectly. He was saying that it was in fact so important that He came to live it out to the very letter. Let’s look to the scriptures to see how Jesus has done, is doing, and will do this. It is a continuing process.

 

Prophecies that he fulfilled during his time on earth. His perfect and sinless life according to not the Pharisees.

351 OT prophecies chart.

The Jews and the Teachers of the Law commonly referred the the Law as The Law and Prophets. So in order for Jesus to fulfill the Law, he had to be the fulfillment of these prophecies. Jesus not only fulfilled these prophecies but he also followed the Laws that God gave, not the laws that the Pharisees laid out.

A couple weeks ago we talked about how the Pharisees were initially well intentioned about putting rules around the law of God to be guidelines so that people don’t break any of God’s laws but it ended up just being oppressive to the everyday person.

 

Jesus did not the Pharisees rules and laws, but He obeyed all the laws that gave throughout the Old Testament and did so perfectly.

 

:

Jesus is currently fulfilling the Law and prophets through: The gift of salvation, forgiveness of sin, along with grace and mercy to all who call on His name.

Jesus not only fulfilled the law but because of his death and resurrection, is now the one who advocates for us on behalf of the law. Jesus is our high priest! He gets us back into right relationship with God. All we have to do is call on His name, repent of our sins and He will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins. 1 John 1:9 tells us that.

So presently, Christ is fulfilling the Law and Prophets so we are to follow Christ’s commands as our high priest and mediator to God.

 

:

The Law has been fulfilled perfectly by Jesus, is being fulfilled currently because Jesus is our high priest and will be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus returns and the New Heavens and the New Earth are brought into being. That is after everything else is said and done. That will be after the rapture, it will be after the end times, it is the very last thing that happens after Christ returns.

Past, Prest, and Future fulfillment.

 

2. A view of Scripture

Matthew 5:18 ”For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Again, Jesus is sharing that he has not come to do away with the Law, but that he has come to fulfill it. Jesus in verse 18 is telling us just how important the law is! Not a single part of the law will disappear, not even a single stroke the of the pen will change, until everything has been accomplished. Jesus has an astronomically high view of Scripture.

A high view of Scripture places the Word of God as the number one authority over everything. It is the Law and we conform to God. A low view of scripture says we can pick and choose and change the meaning of the scriptures so that it conforms to us and therefore we are God. We need to have a high view of Scripture in our lives.

Now because Jesus fulfilled the Law, there are some things that Christ did away with that the Christian no longer is bound by.

 

We are not by the Law

Romans 6:14 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

There are 613 laws given in the Old Testament and because of Jesus we are free of a great many of those. Mostly the ceremonial laws. Things having to do with cleanliness and defiling, sacrifices and offerings. Jesus is the one who cleansed us from our sins and He made it to where we do not need to go to someone in order to communicate with God. We can pray and He hears us.

Jesus was our , he paid the price for our sin and we do not need to make incense and offer it to the Lord.

 

is not Permission

Romans 6:15 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!

We are free from the Law, but we do not have permission to continue to sin. Jesus definitely had instances where he had mercy on people and told them to “go and sin no more.” Sin is not condoned simply because we are no longer under the law.

I actually want to raise the idea that the Law is not simply an oppressive law, but that it is an intrinsic law, because it is written on our hearts!

Hebrews 8:8-12

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’  because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”[c] 13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

The Law is not gone, it may be obsolete in some ways but in many ways we are to still honor it. Jesus tells us to honor our father and mother, worship God only, love our neighbor as ourselves. The Ten Commandments are all things we need to follow. The laws on how we should deal with one another in grace and with wisdom are all still applicable.

We are set free from the binding nature of the Law but we are all born with it written on our hearts, and the law no longer condemns us but makes us aware of our sin and desperate need for Christ. Who has fulfilled the law perfectly and has saved us from the effects of sin which is revealed through the law? No one but Jesus

It is still super important, so let us also have a view of Scripture like Jesus.

 

3. Obedience and Rewards

Matthew 15:19 ”Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.“

This is a major Theological Teaching that I need us to all understand as Christians. There are a lot of people that are confused by this, and it can be something that Christians argue about, so if you can all give me your full attention for this, I think it would be beneficial to learn.

 

Saved by , not by

Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

We have been saved by grace through faith. It is the gift of God. We are not saved by works so that no one can boast. It is impossible for all of us to be saved by our works. We have all fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of our sin is death Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 tell us that.

This passage in Ephesians implies that people who could earn their way to heaven would be so bound by their own pride that it would likely cause them to stumble and sin, by boasting arrogantly in themselves.

We needed someone who could perfectly fulfill the law and take our place! Jesus came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it! Again, praise God for that! But does that mean what we do now is meaningless? Do we even need to obey? Do we even need to do good works since Christ fulfilled the law? .

 

Our obedience is what Christ is asking us for. Our Obedience to everything God has told us, is now no longer how we are saved, but it is how we are .

 

Rewards For Our Works

Matthew 6

V1. “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

v.4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

V.6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

V.18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What you do behind the scenes. What you do when no one is looking. What you do for the glory of God and not for your own personal recognition or praise, is what God loves and will reward. The Pharisees were known to have long and elaborate prayers to show off how righteous they were. Don’t be like them. There were many religious elites who would publicly declare they’re fasting in order to show how righteous they were. Don’t be like them. Don’t give like the many of the wealthy so that people can see your generosity. Pray without ceasing and pray fervently, passionately when you are home. Fast in order to grow closer to God not to show off. Give generously without drawing attention to yourselves.

Doing these things will store up rewards for you in heaven. I would love to dive into what these rewards are tonight, but I do not have the time. We will get deeper into the topic later in the series. But know that the rewards you store up in heaven are eternal. They will never fade. They will never stop being amazing. Where a toy you got as a kid for being good, slowly became less and less interesting until you ended up giving it away, these rewards are of the greatest value and will never lose their significance.

These rewards are given to the and , not the self righteous.

 

4. Righteous vs

Matthew 5:20 ”For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

There was a common proverb back during the times of Jesus and it went something like this. “If only two people get to heaven, one will be a scribe and the other, a Pharisee.” The common people looked to the scribes and Pharisees as the beacons for righteousness but in many ways they were not righteous at all.

Look at what Jesus says to them in Matthew 23:27-28

27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

They were hypocrites! They were self righteous instead of righteous. They looked the part but never let it change them!

 

The Difference

As we close tonight I want you to know the difference between the righteous and the self righteous.

The righteous people rely on Christ’s to be enough for salvation, where the self-righteous believe their good life and charity work is enough to get them to heaven.

The righteous ones to Christ and resist the temptation to sin, and if they do fall to sin, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off, repent, and continue to pursue the Lord. The Self righteous person sees no issue with their sin, and continues to sin, possibly even celebrating or advocating that their sin is fine.

The righteous person holds a view of scripture and submits themselves to God, allowing their desires, thoughts, and actions to be conformed to Scripture. Whereas, the self righteous person tries to use scripture as a way to justify their own desires, thoughts, and actions, while resisting God.

The righteous person does everything to the of God, and often does so quietly without much fanfare. Where the self righteous person does everything for themselves, so their name can be glorified and they can hold all the fame and attention.

 

Which will you choose?

 

ALTAR CALL

 

Will you make the decision tonight to live righteously?