Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
and he says, Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law. till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom
of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Ye have heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you
that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall
be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his
brother Raka shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever
shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore, if thou bring thy
gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar,
and go thy way. First be reconciled to thy brother,
and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly,
awhile thou art in the way with him. lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee,
thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the
uttermost farthing. Ye have heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say
unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And
if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from
thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into
hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it
from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into
hell. It hath been said, Whosoever
shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.
But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving
for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery,
and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced, commiteth adultery. Again ye have heard that it hath
been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself,
but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths. But I say unto you,
swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne,
nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem,
for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear
by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be
yea, yea, nay, nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of
evil. Ye have heard that it hath been
said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say
unto you, that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if
any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat,
let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been
said, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven, For he maketh his son to rise
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust. But if ye love them which love
you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the
same? And if ye salute your brethren
only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the publicans so?
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
began his ministry, was always emphatic. He always spoke with
a certainty. He began his ministry as he meant
it to continue. And he spoke always with authority. In Mark chapter one and verse
22, the Lord went into the synagogue and it was early in his ministry,
one of the first occasions that we hear of him going into the
synagogue. And we're told that he stood
up there and he began to teach. He began to preach. And those
who heard him, It is recorded that they were astonished at
his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and
not as the scribes. There was something about the
way the Lord Jesus Christ approached the ministry, something about
the way he spoke, something about the presence that he had. I can
imagine every eye being upon him as he rose to speak. I can imagine how when he opened
the scriptures, there was silence in that auditorium. How it was
that when he closed the book and turned and began to expound
those things, the people were in awe at the things that he
was saying. They marveled at his doctrine.
And he spoke as one who had authority. Here in Matthew chapter five,
we encounter the Lord also. And this is called the Sermon
on the Mount. It extends over several chapters.
We've had different things that we've thought about already at
the beginning of chapter five. And here towards the end of chapter
five, he is speaking about the law. And the Lord Jesus Christ
is about to say some extraordinary things. He's about to say some
things that really will stagger the people that are listening
to him. John, you'll remember, called
the Lord Jesus Christ the Word. The Word was one of those names
which our Saviour took to Himself. And He's called the Word because
He came to speak about God the Father. He came to speak and
to reveal the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we
emphasise that the gospel is a declared message. There are
lots of people like to do their gospel in sketches and in little
plays and in all manner of forms. But the Gospel is a declared
message. That's what the Apostle Paul
did, that's what the Lord Jesus Christ taught the disciples to
do, and that's what the Lord himself did. He came to reveal
God's purpose. He came to establish the gospel
as a unique message, neither to be detracted from or added
to, but to be declared with faithfulness to every generation from the
time of the fulfilment of the revelation by the Lord Jesus
Christ until he comes back again the second time to gather his
church to himself. He came to tell the truth. And indeed that in itself was
another name that he took. All the prophets of the Old Testament,
as they contributed that revelation, that insight, that God had given
them to give to the people of their generation, were building
one upon another. Until the time came when the
fullness of the revelation was to be given by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'm sure you're all well
aware and familiar with the opening verses of the book of Hebrews,
where we are told that God, who at sundry times, in different
times, in other times, and in divers manners, in various ways,
spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days The days in which we live, the last days, spoken unto
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom
also he made the world. Hebrews is a pretty amazing book.
I'm not actually sure who wrote the book of Hebrews. There are
different ideas and the apostle Paul, I think, probably comes
out as the leading suggestion as to the author of the book
of Hebrews. In a sense, it doesn't matter indeed. Not only does
it not matter, it's right that we don't know who it is because
had we needed to know, we would have known. whoever it was that
wrote the book of Hebrews, what a way to start the book. What
a way to introduce what he was about to say by declaring that
this message that had been sent by God through the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ was the fulfilment of every revelation
that had ever taken place. It was the completion of God's
purpose for men. And that the Lord Jesus Christ,
who spoke these things, was he whom was appointed heir of all
things. Think about that. He was appointed
heir of everything. The Lord Jesus Christ was appointed
to inherit everything. Doesn't it say somewhere that
we're joint heirs with him? Think about that. He was appointed
heir of all things, also by whom also he made the worlds. That's an incredible sentence. Here is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have been spoken to by the Lord Jesus Christ, who is heir
of everything and who made everything. You know, you can't get bigger
than that. That's from eternity forever,
everything, to eternity forever, everything, and it's Christ. It's all Him. Well might He have
spoken with authority. Well might He be listened to
when He comes and speaks to men and women. and woe betide us
if we don't give him a hearing. How can we go about not hearing
the words that this man has spoken? God has spoken by his Son. This authority that the Lord
Jesus Christ had was evident in his own ministry in the way
in which he declared himself. We hear John speaking often of
the Lord saying, verily, verily. It seems as if John and then
subsequently Paul and others recognized that the Lord Jesus
Christ, when he spoke these words, was saying, this is the truth. Hear what I have to say. I'm
telling you something serious and important and significant. And that's what we discover in
this introduction that we have in Matthew chapter five. He says in verse 18, verily I
say unto you, this is the truth. I want you to hear what I am
saying. I am bringing this with all the
authority that I possess. I am bringing this as the very
word of God himself to you. You know, there are plenty of
people who demand our attention, who grab for our ear. It might be your boss at work.
He'll stand up at a meeting and he'll say, now listen to me,
this is the way it's going to be. Or it might be some politician
who says, vote for me and I'll tell you what I will do for you. Or it might be our spouse who's
saying, do this and do that and get on with the next thing. All
the world seems to be a great cacophony of shouting and yelling
and demands upon us, but there's one voice that excels them all,
one message that we must hear, and we should go out of our way
for this pearl of greatest price, and we should seek to hear the
word of the Lord whenever we have the opportunity to do so. That word verily is the same
as the word Amen. They both mean the same thing. It means certain, sure, faithful,
true. When we hear these words, we
are to think of them as being a declaration of what is absolutely
certain, faithful, true, and sure. The very enemies of the
Lord Jesus Christ could say, never man spoke like this man,
and they were right. All he declared, he spoke with
authority. He stated the truth. He proved
himself to be faithful. And in fact, he is so intricately
identified that he calls himself, it's one of his names in Revelation,
the faithful and true. He took that name to himself. And Amen is another name that
we discover in the book of Revelation that he takes to himself. These
things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God. So what are these extraordinary
things that this authoritative word is about to declare in the
presence of these people? What are these truths that are
faithful and sure and certain that he was about to minister
in this sermon? Well, it's just the small matter
of murder. and adultery and fornication
and divorce and personal honesty and integrity, vengeance, relationships,
a host of moral issues that the Lord Jesus Christ was about to
speak upon. Now these matters would be familiar
to all of those people there on that hillside as they were
listening to them, as they are familiar to you and me. They're
part of this world. They're part of our lives. They're
part of the issues and the problems and the sadnesses and the corruption
which exists in this world and in our lives. Of course, the Lord Jesus Christ
was not the first to have addressed these subjects. The context,
of course, is that he's speaking to a group of Jews who are very
familiar with Moses' Ten Commandments. And these are the very things
that the Lord is about to speak upon. The Jewish religion was
always talking about the heritage that they had, the traditions
that they had, and the law that was the foundation of their whole
religious system. The priests spoke about these
things all the time. The scribes spoke about them.
The Pharisees, the psalmist. The prophets, the Old Testament
scriptures addressed these issues. What would Jesus have to say
that was any different from anyone else? What would this new teacher,
this rather mysterious teacher, This enigmatic preacher, this
one who had suddenly arrived in the scene from nowhere, who,
as far as anyone can tell, has no training or no formal education,
no CV to show for all the classes that he attended with the Pharisees
or the priests. What would he have to add? What
would he be able to contribute to the matter of these great
moral issues? Turn with me just over back to
Matthew chapter 4. I want to read a couple of verses
from the end of chapter 4. Look at verse 23. And Jesus went about all Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease among the people. And his fame went throughout
all Syria and they brought unto him all sick people that were
taken with divers diseases and torments and those which were
possessed with devils and those which were lunatic and those
that had the palsy and he healed them. And there followed him
great multitudes of people from Galilee and from Decapolis, that
means ten cities, so that's probably quite a lot, and from Jerusalem
and from Judea and from beyond Jordan. He healed everybody that
was brought to him and great multitudes from the whole of
the country were enthralled about this man and what he was saying
and what he was doing. Now clearly these people were
impressionable. These people were eager, anxious
to hear what this man was saying. So when the Lord Jesus Christ
went up onto the hillside with his disciples and the people
sat round about, it may well have been a very significant
crowd of people. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
about to speak to them upon a subject that they were all intimately
aware of as far as their own personal lives were concerned,
these great moral issues, and also these issues that had been
part of their religion all of their life. Everyone spoke about
these things. The law, the Ten Commandments,
Moses, the prophets, the scribes, the Pharisees, everybody had
something to say upon these matters. And Jesus knew the hearts of
these people. And he knew that they were impressionable.
And he knew what they were thinking. He knew that as soon as he mentioned
the law, as soon as he mentioned murder, as soon as he mentioned
adultery, they would jump to conclusions. They would all have
in their head the ideas that they had had taught to them from
their own experience, from the experience of those around about
them, and they would immediately form their own impressions as
to what he was saying and what he meant. Invariably, they would
adopt party lines. They would be ready to bring
forward their arguments to oppose what he said or to argue with
their neighbour depending upon what line he took on a particular
issue or upon a particular subject. Everything had been debated to
the nth degree. Everything was out there. What could he possibly say that
was new? And immediately all of these
people would have been forming their opinions. But you see, the Lord Jesus Christ
wasn't here to validate one sect or another. He wasn't here to
talk about this way of approach or that way. He wasn't here to
debate these matters. No, this was altogether different. This was altogether new. He was
speaking as one who had authority. And he wanted these people to
shut up and listen. He wanted them to hear what he
had to say without them jumping to their preconceived notions
or ideas. Do you know how hard that is
to achieve and accomplish? You know that everyone who comes
in the door of this church is filled up to here with their
preconceptions and assumptions. Everyone who hears a gospel message,
everyone who is given a gospel tract, everyone who hears a word
of testimony and witness, they come with a whole lifetime full
of parental guidance, Sunday school teaching, books that they've
read, allegations that have been made against these things, criticisms
that have been set forth, the whole evolutionary system, the
politics of the world, the view that they have of life, death,
and what it's all about. How is anyone ever going to make
sense of the confusion, the noise, that there is in this world around
about these great thoughts. What makes one person's opinion
any better than another? What makes your ideas more than
mine? The point is that here was one
who had authority. Here is one who is the Amen. Here is one who says, verily
I say unto you, that this is true, this is certain, this is
absolute, and this is final. The Lord was about to declare
a message to these people that was altogether different from
anything that they'd ever heard. And he was going to teach how
the most ardent advocates of the law, the most vocal promoters
of legal observance, The law's supporters had vastly underestimated
the meaning and the weight of God's holy law. He was going
to show them that the law was spiritual and not physical. He was going to show that it
was never going to be attainable. that you could satisfy that law. He was going to tell them that
the law was not designed to make men holy, which is exactly what
they all thought it was, but rather it was a measure or a
quantification of their guilt. And so before the Lord begins
to deal with these matters. He tells them not to jump to
conclusions, not to assume what he's saying, but rather to come
and to hear, to listen. He had come to uphold the law. He had come to satisfy the law. He had come to honor the law,
not to bring it down, but to lift it up and show it in all
its glory, majesty, and splendor. In 5, verse 17, Matthew 5, 17,
he says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. And the whole
of the rest of the chapter has to be understood in the context
of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ has come to fulfil the
law. and he did fulfil the law. That's how we are to understand
the rest of this passage. So what are these extraordinary
things that he was about to minister upon in this sermon? Well, he
says, let's think about the law. The law says, do not kill. So let me ask a question. If
you desist from murdering someone, have you fulfilled the law? Now that's what the Jews thought.
They thought if they didn't murder someone, they had fulfilled the
law. And that's what the legalist
thinks today. That's the natural man's view
of these things. If he has never murdered someone,
he believes he has fulfilled the command which says, thou
shalt not kill. These are letter keepers. These are legalists. Remember
the Apostle Paul? He said that of his life as a
Pharisee, that touching the righteousness which was of the law, he was
blameless. That's a pretty amazing statement. That as touching the righteousness
of the law, he was blameless. Let me refer you to another occasion
in the Apostle Paul's life. This had to do with a man called
Stephen. And Stephen, in Acts 7, verse
58, was cast out of the city and stoned. And the witnesses
laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. Oh, Saul. Saul, Saul, you didn't
pick up the stone. You didn't throw it, but you
were guilty of Stephen's murder. You were guilty of his death.
You orchestrated that. You vocally supported it. You hated that man because he
had made you to look like a fool and he had made all your religion
look foolish in front of your friends. and you detested him
for it. And the only way that you could
blot out that man's grating voice that spoke against you and all
your ideas was to have him slain. So you held the coats. You held
the coats while these ones took up stones, dragged them from
the city and killed him and murdered him. You see, Paul understood
what Saul did not, that the law was spiritual, and he understood
the culpability that fell to him. He said that he was the
chief of sinners. once these things were properly
grasped. The law is much deeper than simply
pressing a trigger on a gun. The bar is much higher than we
can ever imagine. Look at what we're told. He says
there, the Lord says, verse Oh, there we are. Right down
to verse 26. Verily I say unto you, thou shalt
by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the utmost farthing. The Lord has been telling these
people in the context of this murder, thou shalt not kill.
He has been telling them that the bar of the law is much higher
than they have ever thought. That when he says to them that
the law is spiritual, they have got to completely change their
mindset to understand what is involved. Does anybody know what
a farthing is? It's not a far thing, right? quarter of a cent, a quarter
of a penny. You probably don't even have
a coin that is that small and meaningless. We used to have
farthings and it's a fourth thing of a penny. It's absolutely everything. It's everything. And what the
Lord is saying here is that you are going to be held accountable
for absolutely everything. A hard word. speaking maliciously
against another person, doing something that causes somebody
to be grieved at you, it is going to cost you everything. The whole
of the way in which you deal with one another is taken into
account by the law. Don't think it's just whether
or not you threw a stone or pressed a trigger and somebody died.
It's absolutely everything about the way you deal with the people
around about you. Okay, so much for murder. What about adultery? Well, We could all get a dictionary
definition for what adultery is, you know. The Lord says,
I say unto you, when the Lord speaks on these matters, that's
what's telling us the truth. And don't imagine that God uses
your definition of what adultery is. The Lord says, whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with
her already in his heart. That takes it way beyond the
guiltiness that we imagine when we think about what adultery
means. That takes it to an extent beyond
It takes it to our thought life. It takes it to our eyes. We used
to sing a chorus when we were at Sunday school. Watch your
eyes, watch your eyes, what you see. Watch your eyes, watch your
eyes, what you see. There's a father up above looking
down in tender love. Watch your eyes, watch your eyes,
what you see. You see? In our hearts, we've
already committed these sins. Don't think that if you don't
get physically intense with someone from the other sex, you haven't
committed adultery. Don't limit your narrow views
to this. It's much deeper than that, much
more significant. Legalists, they work out how
far they can go before they're technically guilty. And the Lord says, pluck your
eye out, chop your hand off, rather than going down that line. What is he saying there? Is the
Lord asking us to pluck our eyes out? I had... I won't call him
a friend. I had an associate years ago
and every time a newspaper or a magazine came into the house,
he had his wife go through it with a pair of scissors and cut
out all the pages where there were scantily clad women on the
pages of the magazine because he didn't want to look in case
he had to pluck his eye out. Look, The point that the Lord
Jesus Christ is making here is take away your preconceptions
about what the law demands of you. It's way beyond, way beyond
what you think the law demands of you. God's holy law will so
exercise itself in your heart, in your soul, upon your spirit,
such that it's not the technical commitment of a certain sin but
it's what the passions are about, what the heart is all about and
we're already guilty. Every single one of us is already
guilty. What about the divorce? The book
of Malachi says, the Lord hateth putting away. That's the principle. That's the principle for the
Lord's people. He hates putting away. You put your wife away, you cause
her. and her future husband to commit
adultery. And you have twice the guilt
upon your own head for the things that they do. Again, what's the
point? The point is, don't think that
you can follow a certain course of action, that you can take
certain steps and you've got everything sorted out, therefore
the law looks at you and finds you righteous. The law looks
at you and says, yes, he did the right thing. He gave her
a bill of divorcement. You're guilty about what she
does and what he does. You've poured down coals of judgment
on your head because of the... What is the Lord saying? He's
saying that the law is much grander and greater than ever we imagined. What about bearing false witness? The law said, perform unto the
Lord thine oaths. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
saying, don't be so presumptuous. What are you saying here? That
I'm going to swear by the temple? I'm going to swear by heaven?
I'm going to swear by God? I don't think we've mentioned this
before, the little phrase, God blind me if I don't do such and
such. You ever heard somebody saying
God blind me if I don't do what I say I'm going to do? No? What about the phrase blimey?
You ever heard that said before? Blimey? Yeah, we say cor blimey. It's just a corruption of God
blind me. That's all it is. And what a
person is saying when he says these things is thoughtlessly
calling down wrath from heaven. Again, we have to say that the
legalist will get to the point where he'll say that we're not
going to swear at all. The Lord Jesus Christ has said
here, don't swear. That used to be what the Quakers
did back in England or back in the United Kingdom. They wouldn't
be They wouldn't take an oath for the king or for the queen
or they wouldn't take an oath to join the military or they
wouldn't take an oath and therefore be able to serve in a court of
law in any capacity and they ended up being put in prison
for their religious views. But that's not the point. The
point is that you can't be faithful and true to the things that you
even think are within your power. You're powerless to do these
things. You say, I'll definitely be there. All right, right. I'll definitely
do that. I promise you I'll do that. You
have my word, I swear on the Bible. You don't have the ability
to make one hair of your head black or white, and it's your
hair and it's on your head. The Lord is telling people that
it's way beyond anything that you can possibly do. You have
no power to do anything except what is allowed for you to do,
what the providences of God's purpose will do. And the point
is that the Lord is making, we're so weak and we're so impotent,
we can't even fulfil the things that we want to fulfil. He's
teaching us surely humility in the context of these things.
What about law? The law says vengeance is appropriate. that you can take revenge, an
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That's fair. That's just. That's
what the law would expect. That's what's equitable. It's
reasonable. The world seeks justice. The
Lord Jesus Christ says, look at verse 39. Whosoever, no, I'm sorry, that's
39. I say unto you that ye resist
not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also. If any man will sue thee at the
law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
Whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him too. Give to him that asketh thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away. That's too much. That's too much. You can't. How could you do that? How could anybody do that? The point is you can't. You can't
do it. And that's what the Lord is telling
us. He's not telling us how we should act. He's showing us such
an extreme here that he's forcing us to realize we can't do this.
You know, we have a phrase, we call it Neo-Nomianism. Okay,
and it means new law. And people say that the old law
has been fulfilled and now Christ has given us new laws and we
have to fulfill these and this is what the law... Do you think
the Lord Jesus Christ is asking us to pluck our eyes out? Do
you think he's asking us to chop our hands off when we see something
that we think is Going to inspire lust in our heart? Of course
not. Nor is the Lord saying that we
are to give everything away if somebody comes and asks us for
it. What he's saying is it's an impossibility. Understand what the law is really
doing. Understand the nature of the
law, the depth of the law, the impossibility of the law. That
you've no power to do anything in these matters. The law says
thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, it's much more demanding than that. Love your enemies. Bless them
that curse you. Do good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. Now, says the Lord, go and do
it. Go and do it. Well, what are we going to find
when we go and do that? We're going to find that we can't.
And that's the whole message of what the Lord is saying here.
Much more than the old law, much more than those things that the
legalists would say. This new law is much more severe
than the old. Don't tell me that the Lord satisfied
the old law and now we've got an easier law, a new law, a better
law, a law of love that we are going to fulfil. Don't tell me
that. That law is much more aggressive,
much more demanding. Trying to fulfil the old law
was hard enough. Fulfil the new letter? That's
an impossibility. And that's the point. It is impossible. Look at verse 48. Look at how
the Lord finished this section of his sermon. That's the key. That should tell us. It says,
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect. If you want to satisfy the law,
You have got to be as perfect as the law maker. You've got
to be as perfect as God. We can't dilute this. This is
what is standing there. This is what the Lord says. But
he wants us to remember that key that I mentioned right at
the beginning. that the Lord Jesus Christ said,
nothing is going to pass away from the law, not a jot or a
tittle. And I'm not just talking about the bare Ten Commandments
of Moses, I'm talking about the spiritual reality of the law
and all of this extent to which it goes. It's not going to pass
away, but I have fulfilled it. I have fulfilled it. That's the
message of Matthew chapter 5, that the Lord Jesus Christ has
fulfilled the law. Every single one of those that
we think is absolutely impossible, when we think about the spiritual
dimensions of it, actually was achieved by the Lord Jesus Christ,
even to the very point where he says, be ye perfect as your
Father that is in heaven is perfect. Now you may be an adulterer in
act or not, but you're one in your heart. And you may be a
murderer in act or not, but you're one in your mind. And you may
be a liar and a hypocrite in act or not, but your heart is
deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know
it? Legalists try to distinguish
between the act and the intention, but the law doesn't. And your
flesh condemns you every time. And the fact that it offends
you is proof that it's true. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
this law. This holy one is pure and spotless
and without blemish. Not against Moses' law, not the
moral law, so-called, but the high bar of perfection. The Lord Jesus Christ is holy. He never sinned in thought, in
word, or in deed. He is the Holy One of God. He is called the Holy One and
just. He is called the Holy Child.
He is called that Holy Thing. He is holy, he is harmless, he
is undefiled. The angels cry out before him,
holy, holy, holy is the Lamb. And when he says in Matthew chapter
five, in verse 17, think not that I am come to destroy the
law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy, but
to fulfil. And he did. And he did. Thereby, he proved himself a
worthy sacrifice for his people. He proved himself to be that
lamb that had to be examined by the head of the house to make
sure that it didn't have any spots or blemish. Did the Lord
Jesus Christ have any spots or blemish? Not against Moses' Ten
Commandments. Forget Moses' Ten Commandments.
Against the law that he said authoritatively, I say unto you,
be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. Against
that perfection, Christ was perfect and pure and holy. And that made
him a suitable sacrifice for his people. Hebrews 9 verse 14
says, How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Romans 10, 4 says, Friends, do
you see that we can't live lives that are going to recommend us
in any way to God? The law condemns us. The law
has to be taken away. It has to be ended. There has
to be a conclusion brought to that law which is going to last. The Lord says, not a jot or a
tittle shall be taken from it. He didn't come to destroy it.
He came to fulfil it and He did. And therefore we look to Him,
and we look to that shed blood, and we look to the sacrifice
that He made, we look to His intercession, we look to the
fact that He placed Himself before His Father's wrath as the worthy
Lamb, and thereby took all our sin. and carried it away, leaving
us with that perfection, that holiness, that righteousness
which is of God. It's an amazing condition we
find ourselves in. What we could never do, be perfect
as God is perfect, He is and He has bestowed upon us. Those who have Christ have the
righteousness of God. Paul says to the Galatians, knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified. We're at an end now this evening,
but what I just want to remind you of is this. the world and
religion and the people outside, whatever they may do, whatever
their traditions and their ways of serving and satisfying their
own Christian or religious activities as they'll find a code, they'll
find a law, they'll find a set of obligations that you have
to fulfil. Don't go there. We have a righteousness
which is God's own righteousness. God looks at us and he sees Christ. The law looks at us and it is
perfectly satisfied because Jesus Christ has fulfilled it to its
nth degree. That is a glorious place to be.
That is a blessed thing to understand and to trust upon. That's what
it means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it
is to have the faith of Christ as our own personal possession.
May the Lord bless these thoughts to us this evening. Amen.