Bringing God's Law to Life, Pt.2
Notes
Transcript
Intro; This morning we saw where Jesus came to fulfill the Law and not to destroy it. The Law [Word of God] is the foundation of the believer’s character and function, the standard of righteousness and of truth. It is the reflection of God’s nature.
Law: The law referred to four different writings to the Jews.
1. It referred to the Ten Commandments.
2. It referred to the first five books of the Bible, that is the Pentateuch.
3. It referred to the law and the prophets, the entire Old Testament.
4. It referred to the oral or the Scribal Law.
Jesus came to fulfill the first three and to condemn the fourth. That’s what I want us to look at tonight in part two of “Bringing God’s Law to Life”
Text; Mt. 5:19-20
Matthew 5:19–20 (NKJV)
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.
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.
1. Breaking or Teaching the Law; 19
1. Breaking or Teaching the Law; 19
Jesus now states two different outcomes of how one deals with the Law, the Word of God. Verse 19 deals with the believer.
We have a choice as christians as to how we will be judged by God one day. We will be least or great in the kingdom of heaven based upon how we live our life here on earth!
Remember what I said this morning about the moral law, “People who love Jesus, love His law, they learn it and they live it!”
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
The Word of God is a mirror that reflects the image looking into it. But too often when we look into the mirror we don’t really see all that is there.
[Ills.] A woman was getting dressed and looks in the mirror four times before she leaves the house. On the way out the door her husband stops her and tells her that her slip is showing, she only has on one earring, her zipper is not up all the way on her dress, and she has on two different colored shoes. She is so used to going through the motions she didn’t recognize the flaws.
A christian who looks into God’s Word and does not apply the truth is like someone who immediately forgets what he has just seen in the mirror - except the consequences are much worse. The Word reflects our defects/flaws and for us not to correct them would be like the lady who was not properly dressed before leaving the house.
A person teaches by what he does. Others see and observe and learn from what he does. If a person repeatedly breaks a law, no matter how small a law, he teaches that the law is not important—not worthy enough to be kept.
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
2. Righteousness exceeds the Scribes & Pharisees; 20
2. Righteousness exceeds the Scribes & Pharisees; 20
The second outcome of dealing with the Law [Word of God] deals with one’s salvation;
Jesus now makes a comparison between the righteousness of the Law [Word of God] and that of the religious leaders [Scribes/Pharisees]
Righteousness- what is right and pleasing to God; the quality of being righteous or just due to a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ. [Salvation]
Salvation does not come by keeping a list of laws, salvation comes through faith in Christ alone. At that point, the law of God is written on our hearts. Not to be a list to follow to be right with God, but a new nature that is our desire to live out in Christ because of His love for us.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart.”
David says the Law is more than an external list, its an inward obedience!
Unfortunately the scribes and Pharisees got it all wrong and were leading God’s people down the path of destruction in the name of religion by trying to keep a list of do’s and don’ts. Matter of fact the religious leaders even made it harder by adding to the Law and Prophets.
13 Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
During the Exile and especially during the intertestamental period, the traditions were greatly multiplied and covered almost every conceivable activity a person could be involved in.
The rabbis looked through Scripture to find various commands and regulations, and to those they would add supplemental requirements. To the command not to work on the Sabbath they added the idea that carrying a burden was a form of work. They then faced the question of determining exactly what constituted a burden. They decided that a burden is food equal to the weight of a fig, enough wine for mixing in a goblet, milk enough for one swallow, honey enough to put on a wound, oil enough to anoint a small member of the body, water enough to moisten eyesalve, paper enough to write a customs house notice, ink enough to write two letters of the alphabet, reed enough to make a pen, and so on and on. To carry anything more than those prescribed amounts on the Sabbath was to break the law.
Since it was not possible to anticipate or provide for every contingency, much time was spent arguing about such things as whether a tailor committed a sin if he went out on the Sabbath with a needle stuck in his robe, or whether moving a lamp from one place in a room to another was permissible. Some strict interpreters believed that even wearing an artificial leg or using a crutch on the Sabbath constituted work and argued about whether or not a parent could lift a child on the Sabbath. They decided that to heal was work, but made exceptions for grave situations. But only enough treatment to keep the patient from getting worse was allowed; he could not be fully treated until after the Sabbath.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 254). Moody Press.
Jesus was saying that if this is all the righteousness you have you are bound for hell!
Matthew 23:13–15 (NKJV)
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Barna Report 2015: 88% of all Catholics and a vast majority of Methodists and Presbyterians believe if people are generally good and do good things for others in this life, that they can earn a place in Heaven when they die. Among Baptists, the figure was 27%.
This was the same attitude of the religious Jew during the time of Christ. People believed that good living and good works combined to guarantee salvation. Sadly, that misconception concerning salvation and righteousness hasn’t changed!
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”
Close;
Bringing God’s Law to Life is not about checking things off a religious list that makes you feel better.
Bringing God’s Law to Life is loving Jesus because He first loved us!
Loving His Law [God’s Word] because it is life!
It’s learning His Law [God’s Word] because it guides our life!
It’s living His Law [God’s Word] because it gives Him glory!