THE SERMON - A Righteousness That Exceeds That Of The Pharisees
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Summary
In this episode, Pastor Ken continues our series on the Gospel According to Matthew 5:17-20, and looks at how to be great in the kingdom of heaven. In order to become great in heaven, you must be a perfect Christian, and that requires a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.
Transcript
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My text for today is a text from Pat Buchanan's book, The Unnecessary War.
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Contrary to popular belief, we try to teach the Bible.
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We're going to be looking at chapter 5, verses 17 through 20.
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Would you join me in standing for the reading of God's word?
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Again, this is the gospel according to Matthew.
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
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at which point I would appreciate if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
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One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 20.
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Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
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I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
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For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
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not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
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Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments
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and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
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But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
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For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
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I've taken our text and broken it up into three sections.
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We'll deal with verse 17 first, where we see that Jesus loves the law.
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Jesus doesn't merely tolerate the law but really in his heart of hearts he loves the gospel and
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loves grace no Jesus loves the gospel he loves grace and not merely tolerates but loves and
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fulfills and upholds the law he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it the second
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portion will be verses 18 and 19 of our text where we'll see Jesus formula for lack of a better
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term for how to be great in the kingdom of heaven. How to be great in the kingdom of heaven. As a
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spoiler alert, I'll say this in short, you will never achieve greatness in the kingdom of heaven
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by being an antinomian, by being one who juxtaposes grace over and against righteousness
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we'll see that what is required in order to enter the kingdom of heaven,
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not only to be great, but to even receive entrance into the kingdom of heaven at all,
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is a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees.
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That righteousness, the easiest way to exegete verse 20, the final verse of our text today,
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although I don't think it's anything less than that,
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i do believe that jesus is getting at more i do believe that in verse 20 of our text jesus is not
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merely referencing a positional righteousness that comes by justification that is an alien
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righteousness a righteousness of another namely jesus christ a righteousness that is alien to
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ourselves it's not our own it's the righteousness of christ not infused but rather imputed to us
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by faith and not by works so that no man can boast. That righteousness in order to inherit the
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kingdom of heaven is vital. Absolutely necessary. No one will be in heaven apart from it. You must
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be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. It must be a spotless righteousness, a perfect
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righteousness, a divine righteousness that even exceeds not merely the righteousness of the
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Pharisees but the righteousness as I've said many times of angels and cherubim and seraphim
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the righteousness of the second member of the divine trinity himself God's very own righteousness
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not earned but imputed received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone you will not
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inherit the kingdom of God apart from that righteousness and not but and your progressive
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righteousness, your sanctification, in that category, theological category as well, I believe
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that Jesus mandates and fully expects that his disciples would be superior to the Pharisees
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in the category of progressive, not positional, certainly that, but also progressive righteousness.
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Not only justification, but also sanctification as well.
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That followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, who have in fact truly been justified,
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will be sanctified, and in that sanctification process,
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their progressive righteousness, obedience, outward obedience to the law of God,
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which is fueled by faith and grace, that even that righteousness,
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That outward obedience will actually be superior to the outward obedience of the Pharisees,
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What was the number one insult leveled by Jesus Christ Himself towards the Pharisees?
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He does not say of the Pharisees, again and again, that you are legalists.
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that's how the modern evangelical church which is pathetic and antinomian and wants to to simply
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live whatever life we want thinking that grace will cover it all that's what we want to say
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we want to say today the modern evangelical church that the problem that jesus had with
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the pharisees is that he saw them as legalist that's not what the bible teaches what the bible
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instead teaches is that Jesus saw them as hypocrites. Woe, you hypocrites. Not legalists
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who are holding too tightly to obedience to the law, but rather hypocrites that teach with their
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mouths the importance of obedience to the law, but in their very own lives don't actually obey
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themselves. Jesus' problem with the Pharisees is not that they raise the bar too high when it comes
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to righteousness. His problem with the Pharisees is that they themselves were whitewashed tombs.
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That they themselves were like cups that were cleansed on the outside, but a petri dish on the
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inside. That they were a walking contradiction. That they rightly taught. Jesus even says this
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verbatim. Do as they teach, but not as they do. For they are legalists. No. Hypocrites. Hypocrites.
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In other words, the righteousness of the Pharisees, according to Jesus himself,
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even not merely were they lacking positional righteousness because they did not have faith in Jesus
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and were not disciples of Jesus, not only were they lacking in positional righteousness, justification,
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but they also were lacking in progressive righteousness, sanctification.
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They were not inwardly righteous from the heart.
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And they were not outwardly righteous with their hands and feet.
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They merely had righteousness that came from their lips.
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They tipped the hat, as it were, to righteousness.
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But they did not have righteousness of the heart.
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nor did they have righteousness with their hands and feet
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in terms of progressive righteousness, sanctification.
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And the Christian, if he is in fact to be a Christian
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and not merely to be great in the kingdom of heaven
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both the positional and progressive righteousness of the Pharisees.
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And if you think that that's a controversial view,
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the first time I heard it was from R.C. Sproul. However, I have discovered that R.C. Sproul can
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say many things and Joel Webin cannot. So it will still be a problem to be sure. But with you,
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I am hopeful of better things. You who belong to this church and love the word of God. So let's
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begin. Verse 17. Let's read it once more so that it's fresh in our minds. The point here, big idea
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being that Jesus loves the law, not merely the gospel, but the law. He does not come to abolish
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the law, but yet rather to fulfill it. Matthew 5, 17 says, do not think that I have come to abolish
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the law or the prophets. I have come, not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Utilizing the
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late great Puritan Matthew Henry on this particular verse, he commentates as follows. The rule which
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Christ came to establish exactly agreed with the scriptures of the Old Testament, here called the
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law and the prophets. Jesus protests against the thought of canceling and weakening the Old
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Testament. Jesus is not a fan of unhitching from the Old Testament. Let not, now here's the thing,
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by Jesus saying this, I've not come to abolish the law, but rather fulfill it. He is guarding,
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he's setting up a hedge against two pitfalls on either side of the path, two ditches, that it's
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possible for us as New Testament disciples of Christ to fall into ourselves. Here's the two
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hedges on either side of the road. Here it is. On one hand, he protests against the thought of
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canceling and weakening the Old Testament. In other words, let not the pious Jews, those who do care
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about holiness and care about obedience to the law, let not the pious Jews who have an affection
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for the law and the prophets fear that I have come to destroy them. So he's putting those
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in that camp as he's preaching, he's putting them at ease saying for those of you who care
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greatly about the law of God and all that is written in the prophets of the law, do not think
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that I have come to eradicate and abolish and replace it. I haven't. I love Moses. Moses was
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sent by me. I love Abraham. Abraham was sent by me. Before Abraham was, I am, says Jesus. And he
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looked forward prophetically in a messianic sense of that prophecy and promise. He looked forward
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to my day and he rejoiced. Abraham rejoiced in me and I rejoice in Abraham and in Moses and in all
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the law and the prophets and those things which have been inscripturated by the very Spirit of
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God, both inspired by the Spirit and also preserved. I have not come to eradicate any of
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that. So for those of you who care greatly about the law of God and obedience to Him, put your mind
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and hearts at ease, for I have come only to confirm and uphold and fulfill, not to abolish.
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That's one hedge. Now, on the other hand, likewise, let not the profane Jews who have
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a disaffection to the law and the prophets and are weary of that yoke hope that I have come to
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destroy them. Let not carnal libertines imagine that the Messiah is come to discharge them from
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the obligation of divine precepts, and yet to secure to them divine promises. That's a good
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line. Let me read that one more time. Don't let the carnal among you, don't let, not the
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legalist, but on this hand, the antinomians, which means those who are against law, who want to live
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lawlessly, those who want to live according to their own lustful passions, the lustful desires
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of the flesh, let them not get too excited. For I am not here to abolish the law, but to fulfill it
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and uphold it. I'm not here to give you a get out of jail free card. Instead, I am here once more
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and yet somehow secure to them divine promises.
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his commands, and also with them offer to you promises as well. I've come for both to make
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the happy and yet to give them leave to live as a wish, to make them happy and yet to give them
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leave to live as a wish. He's saying, I'm not coming for that. I'm not coming to give you
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promises without any commands. I'm not coming to make you happy and yet allow you to live as you
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wish. So on the one hand, here's a hedge for those of you who are very concerned with the laws of God.
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I have not come to abolish them. And for those of you who are hoping that I have come to abolish
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them so that you can be happy with the promises and yet free from the precepts and live as you
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wish. I have not come to do that either. That's the first thing that Jesus is getting at in verse
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17 of our text he did not come to abolish but to fulfill the law now in terms of his fulfillment
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jesus fulfills all of the law but it is i think helpful for us with perhaps some doctrinal
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clarification to speak of different categories of the law of god and and the differences in how he
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fulfilled each of them there are some distinctions every single iota of the law of god was fulfilled
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by christ but not all of it was fulfilled in the same sense what i mean by that is the simplest
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way i could explain and there are some problems with this grid but i think that in general it's
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mostly helpful and mostly true so i present it to you today that the law can be broken down not just
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into its three uses, as we often address in the liturgy
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of our Lord's Day worship service. The three uses being the first, that the
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law of God functions as a mirror, that it reflects to us the very holiness of
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God, and by way of consequence, in staring into the law of God and seeing God's
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holiness, it causes us to see our lack thereof, and therefore
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our sinfulness, and therefore it shows us the great chasm that exists between
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a thrice holy God and sinful man, and therefore our need for a Savior
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And as a shield, what it does is it restrains wickedness.
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It does not restrain, apart from actual salvation,
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The law of God is powerless to restrain wickedness
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In other words, you can have an unregenerate murderer who all of a sudden, if there's a law that says, if you murder, you will die.
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He's going to be highly incentivized to stop murdering.
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And he may never be a Christian, may never believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And in the final analysis, when he breathes his last breath, he spends eternity under the wrath of God in hell.
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And yet, for that temporal window, that moment of his life on earth,
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there were many outward wicked things that he was tempted and even eagerly desirous to do.
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Because he was outwardly restrained by the law of God.
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And the law of God restrains people in two ways.
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One would be, well, it would be spoken of in Romans chapter 1, and particularly Romans chapter 2.
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That the law of God, even for the unregenerate man,
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that I still, despite perhaps my better judgment,
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that Ezekiel says that one of the marks of the New Covenant
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is that the law of God would be written on the hearts of men.
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It doesn't only say that because if that's all that was said,
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there would be a problem because that's not really new.
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That's not really distinct from the unregenerate,
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from those who are outside of the New Covenant,
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He says, you stand condemned and without an excuse, as he previously said in Romans chapter 1.
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You're without an apologia, without an argument, without a defense.
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Because you know, you know that you're a sinner.
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Ignorance, first and foremost, is not an excuse to be disobedient to the law.
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But furthermore, if you claim ignorance, you're only heaping up further condemnation
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because now you've committed another sin, namely the sin of lying.
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because you're not ignorant. Your own, Paul says, Romans chapter 2, own conscience. Your own
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conscience is testifying against you. You know, what he's saying essentially is this, is that you
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have a moral compass written on the fabric of your own soul. As a human being made in the image of
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God, even apart from saving grace, even as an unregenerate non-Christian man, your own moral
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compass testifies against you. Not only have you failed to live up to God's standard, you can't
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even live up to your standard. The law of God has been written on the hearts of every man on the
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basis not only of Christian faith, but on the very basis of mankind being made in the image of God,
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even apart from Christian faith. So Ezekiel 36 goes further. Ezekiel 36, speaking of the new
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covenant, it is superior to what Paul writes of natural law, even for the unregenerate man in
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Romans chapter 2. What Ezekiel 36, speaking of the new covenant, says is not only will the law of God
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be written on your hearts but I think by way of implication we can exegete from that that the law
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of God written on the hearts of every man even before he was saved will now be illuminated and
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intensified for the Christian because the very spirit of God now dwells within you calling your
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attention to that law written on your heart and then furthermore Ezekiel 36 says and I will cause
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you to walk in my ways and I will place the fear of myself the fear of the Lord within you
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these are two additional benefits spoken of of the new covenant that are lacking
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intentionally absent in romans 2 when speaking of natural law for the unregenerate man for the
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unregenerate man you do have the second use of god's law functioning as a shield at the individual
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level the heart level that the law of god is written on his heart in his conscience so that
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even a non-christian has a sense of guilt again another sprawlism i don't know why i'm thinking
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of Sproul today. But he had a lot of good things. Disagree on some points, but he had a lot of good
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things. One of them was this. When he would give examples of doing personal evangelism, he said
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that oftentimes there were individuals that he'd be sharing the gospel with who were particularly
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hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And eventually they'd go back and forth arguing over
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situational ethics and arguing over doctrine and arguing over scripture and arguing over this and
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that and the other. And eventually, if it wasn't really progressing and getting anywhere, it wasn't
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very productive, he would eventually land the plane on a single question. The question being this,
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what do you do with your guilt? Now notice, intentionally by design, the question was not,
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do you have guilt? But rather, the question was assuming, knowing with confidence that the person,
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as all people do, wrestles with guilt. He rather, instead of asking, do you have guilt? He simply
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asked, what do you do with your guilt? And for the non-Christian, there is no sufficient answer.
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The honest answer for the non-Christian is, I attempt to assuage my conscience at some degree
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or another by balancing the scales of doing some good things to counteract all the bad things I
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know I've done. But at the end of the day, my head hits the pillow and I lie awake at night. And
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before drifting off to sleep, I struggle still knowing that I'm a sinner, still knowing that
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At some level, I'm a monster and that I'm not just ignorant, but there's real malice and there's real sinister and wicked intent that I'm a bad person.
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But the true answer is, what do I do with my guilt?
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I've been lying in the puddle, the sea of my own guilt constantly in perpetuity without any solution, without any hope.
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at all because only the gospel has the power to defeat guilt no fear and death no guilt in life
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only the gospel of Jesus Christ is able to deal with that problem the gospel of Jesus Christ the
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son of God enduring and drinking in himself the full cup of the white hot wrath of God so that
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not one drop of God's wrath remains for those who are in Christ Jesus the blood of the lamb over the
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mantle, that the angel of death and the wrath of God should pass from you and your house, only Christ
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can accomplish that. It is the only solution, the only answer to the guilt of man. But what Sproul
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is referencing is back to the second use of the law of God. There is an individual inward use,
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even for the unregenerate Christian. The fear of God has not been placed within them.
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The law of God has not yet been intensified and illuminated on their hearts
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as the Spirit of God, now dwelling within the new creation,
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uses and works in conjunction with the law of God written on the heart
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And the promise of God causing us to walk in His precepts, that's not there.
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But even for the non-Christian, the law of God written on their hearts in a natural sense,
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a conscience, a sense of guilt, some inner sense of ethics is still there.
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And Paul argues in Romans 2, that's precisely what condemns them.
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That's precisely what renders them excuseless, what renders them guilty before God.
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And so the second use as a shield of the law of God,
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first use, mirror, drives us to Christ, shows us our need.
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There is a shielding, restraining effect of the law of God
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insofar as the law of God is actually legislated
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and upheld and enforced by natural governments,
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So insofar as a nation adopts the law of God, legislates and enforces it righteously,
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It doesn't restrain evil at the level of intent and motive and desire.
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But it does restrain outward deeds of evil done by the populace within that nation.
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There is no fear of God before the eyes of the wicked.
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So there's a restraining effect, shield, at a national level,
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but also restraining effect at the conscience level, individual level.
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That's the second use of the law of God as shield.
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Mirror, shows us our need for Christ, drives us to Christ.
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shield restraining evil not at the level of the heart but outwardly and then lastly compass and
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this is what david says when he says i delight in your law it is a lamp unto my feet and a light
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unto my path that the law of god shows this is a the third use is is in reference to the christian
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for those who have been born again the first use has kicked in showed us our sin showed us god's
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holiness showed us our need for a savior and by grace the holy spirit drew us to christ and we
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We were caused to become regenerated by the spirit, caused to become a new creation and gifted the gifts, granted the gifts, not conjured by the work of man, but the gifts of faith and repentance to turn to Christ faith and turn from sin repentance.
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And now as a new creation, as a Christian, because the first use of the law of God worked.
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This is exclusively for the Christian that the law of God speaks to the Christian and says, here is the path to obedience to God.
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And it is not the path that leads us to salvation.
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The third use of the law for the Christian is
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eventually you will merit the favor and love of God
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First John 4, 19, we love because he first loved us.
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And because we now love and have been caused to become new creations,
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the first question that is asked by those who truly love Christ
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And Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey me.
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Not to earn salvation, but as a response of gratitude
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for the free salvation we already received by grace through faith in Christ.
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The three categories of the law of God are as follows.
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this has been held historically within the Reformed tradition
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I don't think that we need to reinvent the wheel and get cute.
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I personally, for those, most of you won't even know what this is.
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I would say, good, let's just, let's keep it that way.
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I'm glad you don't know what it is, but I am not a federal visionist.
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I think just the good old, good old categories of, you know, covenant of works and, you know,
00:29:24.060
and covenant of grace, I think that works just fine.
00:29:27.340
well covenant works technically is a covenant of life you know or it's a creational covenant and
00:29:32.100
if Adam was you know he would technically still be operating by faith and and you know and by grace
00:29:36.780
and I get it but you just muddy the waters it's doctrinally confusing I don't think it's
00:29:41.900
particularly helpful so uh if you're in Adam you're spiritually dead you're going to hell unless
00:29:46.140
you unless by grace you're born again and now in Christ as a new covenant you know federal head
00:29:50.680
a new covenant head so covenant of works that's a reformed tradition always has been covenant of
00:29:55.740
grace. And then within that, the Reformed tradition holds to three different categories of the law of
00:30:00.880
God. You have the moral law, you have the civil code, civil law, and ceremonial. Now Jesus, in his
00:30:07.120
fulfillment of the law, back to verse 17, first verse of our text, his fulfillment is total. It's
00:30:12.820
in total. A total fulfillment of all the law of God, all three of these categories, moral, civil,
00:30:18.620
and ceremonial. But there is a distinction in the way in which he fulfills the law in each of these
00:30:24.260
three categories and certainly distinction in in regards to what that means for you and me
00:30:29.220
okay jesus fulfillment of the ceremonial law his fulfillment so let's start there some
00:30:37.220
ceremonial law this is the priestly animal sacrificial system uh that belonged to judaism
00:30:43.600
in israel at that time and at that time as you guys know i've said it before it's it's it's it
00:30:50.300
bears saying again and i won't spend much time on it but uh even at that time this is after 400 years
00:30:56.220
of as um as the scripture says elsewhere in the old testament that the sky had turned to brass or
00:31:02.460
some translations say bronze and the word of the lord was few meaning that leading up to the scene
00:31:08.360
when jesus comes um in in his incarnation uh you have that's that's on the heels of 400 years
00:31:44.340
that's why he's constantly juxtaposing look at his preaching style look at his argumentation his
00:31:49.460
rhetoric again and again what he's constantly doing is he's doing this he said you have heard
00:31:53.340
it was said but i tell you you have heard it was said but i tell you now here's the mistake that i
00:31:58.780
think a lot of modern evangelicals make and even within the reformed tradition we read that in the
00:32:03.900
sermon on the mount where that's where we currently are in this series through the gospel according
00:32:08.060
to matthew we read that and we think that jesus is juxtaposing moses against himself christ
00:32:15.360
he's not when he says you have heard it said he's not saying moses said and moses was wrong i tell
00:32:23.720
you but i tell you something different no when he says you have heard it was said he's saying you
00:32:29.440
have heard your rabbis your rabbinical teachers exegeting and teaching Moses with the twist
00:32:38.500
they have so neutered and perverted and twisted Moses that it's no longer Moses so Jesus isn't
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saying you've heard it was said Moses said but I say no he's saying you've heard your modern day
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Judaizers teach something that in the name of Moses but it's not actually Moses and so my point
00:32:59.880
is this that's 400 years of the skies being turned to bronze where the word of the Lord is is rare
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and Judaism at that time was all already severely perverted
00:33:09.220
and I think that it's safe to say without any of this being anti-semitic or anything like that
00:33:18.620
It's safe to say, if that's where we were after 400 years, from Malachi to Jesus,
00:33:25.320
where do you think Judaism is now 2,000 years later?
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it is morally obligated you must hate any ideology or any false religion that hates christ
00:33:56.260
of course you must of course and so jesus comes on the scene things are already well off track
00:34:04.340
but he comes into this system it's already perverted that was the point it's already
00:34:08.920
perverted but there is something that god actually did institute right it's perverted
00:34:14.120
But underneath all the perversion, all the twistings and all the trims and trappings that don't belong there and the traditions of men, there is an actual real religion that at that time, under that covenant, that covenantal period, was instituted by God himself.
00:34:30.540
and in this priestly temple sacrificial system in israel the purity of it that god actually
00:34:38.280
instituted that ceremonial piece which would deal the ceremonial law meaning uh washings there were
00:34:45.200
certain washing rituals with hands and these kinds of things um animal sacrifices um other
00:34:52.220
ceremonial laws, things dealing with cleansing, okay, certain food rituals and dietary restrictions,
00:35:01.580
no shellfish, no pork, these kinds of, these would all be what we would consider to be ceremonial.
00:35:07.820
And so Jesus fulfilled all the law. That's verse 17. Not some, all of the law and the prophets.
00:35:14.720
Not just the moral law of God, which we'll get to in a moment, and that's the most significant,
00:35:18.560
but also the civil laws and the ceremonial laws.
00:35:27.560
and certainly a distinction of the ramifications,
00:35:31.840
the results of his fulfillment of all three categories of the law
00:35:44.360
with such finality, with such beauty and such perfection
00:35:48.440
that for us to engage in an attempt to uphold any of the ceremonial laws today
00:35:54.440
would actually undermine the sufficiency of His fulfillment.
00:36:00.300
Meaning that if you and I on the Lord's Day were bringing in animals for sacrifice,
00:36:05.700
it would actually undercut the perfect, final, finished, sufficient work of Christ.
00:36:12.160
he fulfilled the ceremonial laws so perfectly that for us to continue to continue an observance
00:36:20.320
of the ceremonial laws, what that looks like, the righteous observance of the ceremonial laws for
00:36:26.080
the New Testament Christian today, what that looks like is not performing any of those things.
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Because we're saying every time we don't do an animal sacrifice, every time we don't go through
00:36:37.760
washing rituals that you can wash your hands for sanitary purposes but not as a religious thing
00:36:43.320
every time we don't wash our hands and and we don't undergo certain food uh sacrifice like that
00:36:49.380
that's why not only is it permissible to eat certain things that were not permissible for
00:36:56.360
Israel under the old covenant but I eat those things now in faith in fact there are times I
00:37:02.060
will go out of my way, especially during Lent. It's a great time. So whenever it's Lent, when that
00:37:07.920
rolls around those 40 days, I'm going to, every bit of shellfish and every bit of pork, I don't
00:37:13.860
even really like pork. Beef is way better for you. Eat beef. But I have to make an exception because
00:37:19.580
I want to honor the Lord. For 40 days during Lent, we're eating pork, we're eating crab, we're eating
00:37:24.620
shrimp, all these things. And they're not particularly healthy because there actually is an
00:37:28.700
endearing, you know, like with the civil code, there's the general equity. I think there is even
00:37:33.200
a general equity of sorts of the ceremonial law of God. If you eat nothing but shrimp, you'll
00:37:38.900
probably shave off like 10 years of your life. So it's not a great thing to do from a, again,
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from a scientific perspective, a health perspective, but you get my point, right? I'm a
00:37:47.280
Protestant. We protest, right? So I'm going to protest Rome and I'm going to say, you know,
00:37:51.620
hey, it's Lent. Everybody's giving something up. I'm going to add some things on. I'm going to be
00:37:55.260
eaten all the things that we're not supposed to eat, because now we are, because Christ is
00:38:00.180
sufficient. Christ is perfect. Christ fulfilled the ceremonial law of God. So what does it look
00:38:04.780
like for the New Testament Christian in regards to the ceremonial laws and Christ's fulfillment
00:38:09.020
of them? It means that we can engage those things, embrace those things, and receive them with
00:38:13.620
gladness and joy in faith. It is not what goes into a man's mouth that defiles him, but rather
00:38:19.040
what comes out of it. That's what Jesus said. And thus, the parenthetical statement right there in
00:38:23.000
the gospel narrative says, and thus he declared all foods clean. Okay? Now notice that is actually
00:38:28.700
the opposite of the way he fulfilled the moral law. Take that same logic and apply it to the
00:38:36.880
moral law. The moral law of God being most succinctly a summary law, a summary in the
00:38:41.900
Decalogue. Exodus chapter 20, the Ten Commandments. In regards to the moral law, if we said, you know
00:38:46.920
what? Christ has so sufficiently fulfilled the moral law of God that the best way that we can
00:38:51.900
honor his fulfillment of these moral commandments is by breaking every single one of them that we
00:38:57.080
possibly can. That would be a problem. That's a conflation, theologically. That's not
00:39:04.760
the way that he... He did fulfill the moral law of God perfectly. It's not like he fulfilled
00:39:09.600
the ceremonial laws more perfectly or in a superior fashion, and then he kind of fulfilled
00:39:14.640
the... No, he perfectly fulfilled all the law, moral, civil, ceremony, all of it. And yet,
00:39:19.880
the way that we appreciate and show gratitude and love and faith and trust in Jesus with his
00:39:27.560
perfect fulfillment of the moral laws is by seeking to obey those moral laws in faith by
00:39:33.260
grace and knowing when we fail that we've been covered. And the way that we appreciate his
00:39:38.880
fulfillment of the ceremonial laws is when Lent rolls around, we order lobster if we can afford
00:39:44.660
it and we get out of, you know, Kamala and Biden's economy. So that's, that's the difference. Do you
00:39:50.200
understand that Jesus, I'll use it with the sacrificial thing. So forget the dietary
00:39:55.060
restrictions for a moment. I think the better example that'll be clear in your minds is this.
00:40:00.880
Think of the animal sacrifices, right? Bulls, rams, goats, lambs, doves, grain, all these different
00:40:10.140
sacrifices that had to be made. Jesus is the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the
00:40:15.720
sins of the world. When Jesus died, that sacrifice was so perfect. It's not, because this is what
00:40:22.300
we'll say, even confessionally, it'll say the word abrogated, that the ceremonial laws have not only
00:40:28.160
been fulfilled, right? God fulfilled, Jesus fulfilled the moral laws, but he fulfilled and
00:40:32.960
abrogated the ceremonial laws. I get the language. I think it's good. It's fine. But technically,
00:40:38.940
the ceremonial laws of god rush dune even says this they're not actually in the technical sense
00:40:44.680
abrogated meaning that they've gone away they just they evaporate into the ether why and here's
00:40:50.820
the reason why it matters okay because we love confessions but we love the bible more and what
00:40:55.920
the bible says in our in our text today uh verse 18 now moving forward a little bit he says for
00:41:01.560
truly i say to you until heaven and earth pass away has that happened has heaven and earth passed
00:41:06.020
away? No. So until that happens, which has not happened yet, until heaven and earth pass away,
00:41:10.820
not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law, not just moral, but the whole law of God, which
00:41:17.240
include the ceremonial laws, not a single dot or iota will pass away until all is accomplished.
00:41:23.520
So technically, in the technical theological sense, the ceremonial laws of God have not been
00:41:27.920
abrogated, but they have been fulfilled just like the moral law. They have been fulfilled by Christ,
00:41:33.600
but fulfilled with such finality that they never need to be done again.
00:41:38.780
All the ritual washings, Christ has washed you no longer with water, but by his blood.
00:41:44.180
And when it comes to his blood and that washing, it is so sufficient,
00:41:48.320
so efficacious that you never need to take a bath again.
00:41:53.480
Didn't Jesus literally exactly say that to Peter?
00:41:55.840
He says, well, then if this is the case, I have no part in you
00:41:58.880
unless I allow you to wash my feet, then wash my head and body also.
00:42:12.820
he knew that the sacrifice was once and for all for the saints
00:42:21.980
because he was put forward in the providence of God
00:42:31.120
And that sacrifice was already counted as righteousness for Peter by faith.
00:42:39.060
Why? Because the ceremonial laws no longer are there because they disappeared.
00:42:43.200
No, not one dot, not one iota, not one dotted I, not one cross T will disappear.
00:42:51.100
You have to wash again and again and again and again if it's water.
00:42:54.880
But once it becomes blood, then you never have to wash again.
00:42:58.280
Not because the law disappeared, but because the obedience of Christ to that particular law is a obedience that is so efficacious that it's a one-time obedience and never needs to be obeyed again.
00:43:08.960
That's the ceremonial law, fulfilled in that sense.
00:43:12.420
The moral law of God, we don't have to obey His law in order to supplement the righteousness of Christ.
00:43:18.620
Likewise, in that category as well, perfectly sufficient.
00:43:21.540
and yet what we do is we seek to obey the moral commandments of christ as a sign of our faith
00:43:29.020
our trust and our gratitude for what jesus has done for us we're not doing it in order to inherit
00:43:34.940
salvation we're not doing it to make up for the partial obedience of christ no his active obedience
00:43:40.840
and his passive obedience are perfect and full and sufficient and done what does he say on the cross
00:43:46.400
it is started. No, it is finished. It's finished. It's enough. It's enough.
00:43:55.700
And yet we seek to obey in gratitude, not in desperation to earn, but in gratitude for what
00:44:02.060
Christ has already earned. So his fulfillment is total over every kind of law, all three categories
00:44:10.060
of the law of God, but our response to that fulfillment does differ. In regards to the
00:44:16.160
ceremonial law, his perfect fulfillment of those laws means that we can embrace in faith certain
00:44:23.660
things that old covenant Israel could not. And his fulfillment of the moral law, the Decalogue,
00:44:30.020
the Ten Commandments, and all their expressions as they find their general equity in the civil law
00:44:34.220
as well throughout the Old Testament, his perfect fulfillment of the moral law, our response to
00:44:39.900
that is that we seek to be moral and that we don't put the Lord God to the test. And we don't
00:44:45.200
view his grace and sacrifice as a license for sin. But we know in the final analysis that we are
00:44:51.880
justified by his obedience and not our own. Okay, that's verse 17. That's mostly verse 18. And we're
00:44:59.960
going to skip and go now to verse 19. We're going to go to verse 20. But notice what Jesus says in
00:45:06.240
terms of greatness. The last thing I'll add on this middle portion, verses 18 and 19. In terms
00:45:10.820
of greatness, he says this. It is both the doing and the teaching. And again, he's indicting the
00:45:16.640
Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes and the rulers, religious rulers of his day. He's
00:45:22.220
saying you teach, but you do not do. Remember, his indictment against them is not that you're
00:45:27.520
legalist, that you hold the law too tightly. You care too much about holiness. That's your problem.
00:46:05.800
Juxtapose, in contrast to the religious rulers of his day,
1.00
00:46:09.220
those Judaizers who perverted the law of God.
1.00
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What does Jesus say to be great in the kingdom?
1.00
00:46:14.800
You can't just teach it, but you have to do it.
00:46:18.740
It is both the teaching of the law of God and doing, obeying the law of God.
00:46:23.340
That is what makes someone great in the kingdom of heaven.
00:46:27.800
I already covered it in the intro a little bit.
00:46:29.800
I'll give a little bit more of a fine point detail on it. We'll be done. Verse 20. Let's
00:46:34.040
read it once more so it's fresh in our minds. Matthew 5 20. For I tell you, unless your
00:46:38.560
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of
00:46:42.580
heaven. I've written in your notes the following. Jesus is not merely addressing the need for a
00:46:47.840
superior positional righteousness. Justification. He is also speaking to the need for a superior
00:47:23.340
neither inwardly nor outwardly. They possess a willingness. I'm sorry, they are hypocrites.
00:47:31.220
The problem with the Pharisees is not merely a failure to obey from the heart, but rather
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they possess a willingness to twist the scriptures so that even their outward obedience falls utterly
00:47:42.180
short of what God commands. Therefore, you must have both. You must be justified inwardly by faith.
00:47:49.940
That way you have an inward, positional righteousness, justification,
00:47:55.460
and also sanctified outwardly by holding faithfully to the Scriptures
00:48:03.000
and seeking to actually obey them, outwardly obey them in your actions,
00:48:07.960
your word, your deeds, your speech, and to do all this by grace.
00:48:14.740
In order not to be great, to be great in the kingdom of heaven,
00:48:18.160
You must obey the law and properly instruct, lovingly instruct others to obey the law as well.
00:48:31.040
And you can do this whether you're a pastor or not.
00:48:33.060
But simply as a Christian, as a father, as a mother with your children.
00:48:36.700
And as you seek to disciple others even outside of your home.
00:48:43.700
And as we do so, by the grace of God, faithfully,
00:48:47.100
that's the way to achieve greatness, according to Jesus, in the kingdom of heaven.
00:48:52.320
But before greatness, the first question is merely entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
00:48:58.260
An entrance into the kingdom of heaven, not merely to be great, but simply to enter.
00:49:03.700
To enter the kingdom of heaven requires not just teaching the law to others while obeying,
00:49:09.480
But it requires a superior righteousness to the righteousness of the Pharisees.
00:49:16.060
And of course, first and foremost, this is speaking of the inward righteousness of the heart
00:49:20.600
that is received by grace alone, through faith alone, through Christ alone,
00:49:27.640
and the perfect work of Jesus Christ imputed to you by faith.
00:49:32.220
But secondly, it's not just being declared righteous in a moment,
00:49:35.660
but made righteous over a lifetime by the Spirit
00:49:43.760
from a heart that has been transformed by grace.
00:50:10.380
the Pharisees were not legalists, but hypocrites.
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Not only were they lacking the righteousness of justification
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that comes through faith by denying Christ and rejecting Him,
00:50:20.120
but they were also, therefore, lacking the progressive righteousness of sanctification
00:50:27.760
They taught the law, but they did not obey the law themselves.
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They'll have the righteousness imputed from Christ by faith.
00:50:37.260
But they'll also, because they've been justified,
00:50:42.860
And they'll have the outward progressive righteousness