Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5. This is a continuation of the
sermon that the Lord Jesus Christ preached upon the mount. And even as I was just saying
that, I was thinking, This is truly the Prince of Preachers.
You know, they ascribe that to Charles Spurgeon. No. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Prince of Preachers. And He preached this message.
And as we contemplate this message that He preached, may the Lord
give us understanding. May we hear A heart made ready
to hear. The first 30 years of our Lord's
earthly life appeared, according to the scriptures, to attract
very little attention from the religious crowd. But when His
public ministry began, and He began preaching, this all changed. And this morning, let's listen to his preaching. He says in
verse 17, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the
prophets. I am not come to destroy but
to fulfill. Now you know often when we hear
In the Scriptures, we'll hear concerning the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets. Therefore, Matthew 7.12, the
Lord speaking, said, All things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them. This is the Law and
the prophets. But our Lord did not use in this
place that exact terminology. What He said was, think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. The law of the Old Testament,
set forth in the Old Testament, What it did was it set forth
the declaration of God's demand for righteousness and holiness. The law set forth God's requirement
for acceptance before Him and therefore the law not was good,
The law is good. Right now. The law of God. Now the law of God that is good. As I've said before, I know sometimes
we hear the law. And we kind of have a law. Well, I'm going to tell you something.
The law of God is right, and it's good, and it's holy. But God's law was never given
to be that which men could obey for acceptance with God. Not
that they were not required to do it, they were required to
do it. But he that hath the bountiful eye knew He knew Genesis 6-5. Every thought. Every imagination. He knew that before he created
man. But it did not change the requirement
of God's law. And therefore, The Apostle Paul
says, Romans 3.20, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. Well, what was the purpose
of the law? The law is right. The law is
good. The law is holy. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. What did the law do? It set forth that which is required. Don't speak of the law as if
it's something that's bad. No, the problem is us, not the
law. We're the problem, not God's
law. We're the problem, not God's
word. The law was given to give men not only the knowledge of
that which God demanded for righteousness, but to show the depth of man's
depravity. I'm telling you, the Lord said,
think not that I've come to destroy the law. He said, I didn't come
to destroy, put away the law or the prophets. I've come to
fulfill it, to obey it. What the Old Testament prophets
did, when they prophesied, when the Lord The law was given in
the Old Testament. He said, I come to fulfill that. And what about the prophets?
What did they do? Well, they were saying that one
would come that would be the fulfiller. There's one coming
who shall be God's obedient servant. One who would please God in all
points of the law. One that would satisfy every
demand for righteousness. God's people love God's law. They'll admit they can't keep
it. But they are also thankful for
Him who did. Obeyed it. Listen to how God's
word concerning the prophets gloriously set forth the Lord.
Isaiah 53. We've read this many, many times.
Bear's reading again, Isaiah 53 verses 1-4. Who hath believed our doctrine? Who's believed
our message? Who's believed the gospel? Who
hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? To whom is Christ of whom the
gospel sets forth, the power of God? To whom is the arm of
the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him
as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness when we shall see Him There's no beauty that
we should desire Him. He's despised and rejected men,
a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid as it
were our faces from Him. He was despised. We esteemed
Him not. But let me tell you what He did.
Surely, surely, He hath borne our griefs. Surely, He hath carried our sorrows. What happened to him at Calvary? Who? You say, well he died. Who killed him? The Romans? The Jews? Yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God. and afflicted, wounded for our
transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. The Lord said in Matthew 5, He
said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I didn't come to destroy
what the prophets For proclaiming, I came to fulfill it. I came to make it known. The Lord settled an issue concerning
why he came. He came with the express purpose
to meet all the law's demand by rendering perfect obedience
on behalf of his chosen people. And He did so in every point. He obeyed in every point. Every
jot, every tittle. He came to fulfill all the prophecies
of the prophets. He came to finish the work of
God. To answer. When the Spirit of God moved
upon Abraham, when Isaac asked Him, said, here's the wood and
here's the fire, Where's the Lamb? He said, I came to fulfill. I'll show you where the Lamb
is. He's the Lamb. And then the Lord, back in Matthew
5, set forth the extent and the exactness of the Law's demand. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot, one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law till all be fulfilled. Let me tell you, if you ever
get a chance, just get your Strong's Concordance and just look at
some of the words written in Hebrew. Just look at them. Some of them,
when you first look at them, they are just kind of little,
you know, they are written in Hebrew. But some of them, I just
have just like a little, just over one of them, just like a
little apostrophe or something like that, just a little dot
or something like that. And what, it just changed the
tense of the word. It just, I mean, you look at
the words, this word and then this word, they look almost identical,
except this one had just a little bitty thing right there. He said heaven and earth is not
going to pass away until every one of those jots and tittles
are going to be fulfilled. Every demand, everything it meant,
everything it implied, everything it set forth, it's going to be
fulfilled. He's going to obey God. That's
the one that the Father said, I'm well pleased with Him. He
fulfilled everything I said, everything I intend the meaning
of all that law set forth. He is the faithful and true witness. The law has not been put away.
Now you listen. You listen. The law has not been
put away as to God's demand for righteousness. It's still required
today. But we still can't keep it. Even
today. He said, until the sky and the
earth pass away, not one of those smallest letters, not one hook
identifying some character of the law until I've set forth
and answered all of its demand. And here's the marvel and the
mercy that He has fulfilled what God demands on the behalf of
His people. Now there's the good news. There's
the good news. I'm telling you. Somebody might say, have you
ever kept the law? In the Lord I have. Have you ever obeyed
God? In the Lord I have. Well, how
about outside of the Lord? I haven't. Outside of Christ,
every thought, every imagination of my heart is evil continually. That's all it is. That's why
the Lord had to bring in an everlasting righteousness. Psalm 119, 142,
Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is
the truth. Now, in our next verse, let's
behold how strict the law is to man. He set forth the strictness
of it, but how about the strictness of it for acceptance before God? Verse 19, 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. Now, I'm going to tell you something.
I'm going to just give you a little quick hint before I start saying
what verse 19 says for it. Verse 20 explains why the Lord
said verse 19. He is refuting what the Pharisees
were doing. Because when we get to verse
20, you'll understand why I'm telling you right now. He's making
a statement and what he's doing is, he's instructing the masses. Now he's preaching to some people.
And he's standing on the mountain. It's a sermon on the mountain.
And he's instructing some people. But not only is he instructing
these people concerning something, but he's rebuking the Pharisees
that we're going to look at in verse 20 in just a second. He's
rebuking them who believed and taught. that the law could be
divided into lesser and greater sins, and that omitting the lesser
law was not as great an offense as omitting a greater law. There's still a group that believes
that today, that there's lesser and greater sins, venial and
mortal. If you don't know what a venial
sin is, I'll tell you what it is. A venial sin is a sin That's
just not that bad. It's just not a bad sin. A mortal sin is a bad one. A
bad one. And I can give you the example.
I've given you this before. I got when I was in catechism. Here's a venial sin. Just getting a little drunk.
That was what they taught. Isn't that right Mark? You know
what a mortal sin? Getting very drunk. That's a
mortal sin. Just a little drunk is just not
that bad. And here's one thing I always
thought as a kid. I just imagined a circle and inside the circle
was a venial sin. And if you die with a venial
sin upon you, they teach, you just go to purgatory and you
got to have it burn off before you go. If you die with a mortal
sin on your soul, you're going straight to hell. Well, here's
what would perplex me. If there's the venial sin and
in here's the venial sin, where's the line? I mean, at what point
all of a sudden you go from having to go to purgatory to go to hell?
I couldn't. This is what the Pharisees taught,
and I'll show you that in just a minute. The Lord said in Matthew
23, 23, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and you've omitted
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, faith. These ought to have been done
and not leave the other undone. You blind guides which strain
at a gnat, and you swallow a camel. You
make a big deal out of nothing and you omit these weightier
matters. You brag and you promote those
things that you outwardly do. Well, I tithe some herbs. That's
what he was telling them. You tithe this anise and mint
and cumin. You got some herbs in your hand.
Well, look what I did. He said, that's what you do,
and you omit the weightier matters. I thought, okay, what did he
mean when he said the weightier matters? Here's what it is. The weightier matters of the
law, and that was the term that the Lord used. You omit the weightier
matters. This is just the definition. The grievous burden of the law. the real burden of the law, the
real burden of obedience. Here's the burden of obedience.
I mean, Carl, I can give some herbs, but here's the weightier
matter of the law. Doing justly, loving mercy, and
walking humbly before God. The Lord said that's the weightier
matters of the law. That's the burden. That's the
burden. That's the crust of obedience. What they thought was actually
least. The Lord said, that's the way
to your matter. You omit that. They majored on
outward activities of works. That's what they did. And he said, you tithe to be
seen of men. That's what you're doing it for.
That's why you're doing it. You're doing what you're doing
to be seen of men. That's all you're doing. And
he said, you omit the weight of justice, the attribute of
Him that is just. You omit mercy, the true need
of every hell-deserving sinner of Him who is merciful. And you omit faith. You omit
faith in Christ. That's what he's saying. The
gift of God, which is the evidence of God's gift to men. So obviously
our Lord is teaching those that would be said to try to keep
the law. He says, if you're found to break
one of these least commandments, what the Pharisees considered
to be the lesser commandments, If you break those and that guilt
be found upon you, you teach men to do that, rebel against
God's clear revelation. And he said, you shall be called
the least in the kingdom of heaven. That's what he said. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
shall teach men to be so, he's going to be called the least
in the kingdom of heaven. John Calvin said this concerning
that phrase, shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. I want you to remember something
now. Whenever the Lord used the phrase, the Kingdom of Heaven,
He did not mean all believers. He meant everybody that claimed
to be a believer amongst the true believers. That is the Kingdom
of Heaven. Within the Kingdom of Heaven,
there's always tares. They're always there. They're
there. He gave the illustration. The
Kingdom of Heaven is like a big net. Throw it out. Pull it in. What did he do? He took the bad
fish and threw them away and kept the good ones. That's the
kingdom of heaven. Five wise, five foolish virgins.
It's an illustration of how things are. He said, but he that teaches
men, who does and teaches men, that there's lesser and greater
and it's not so bad. He said, that man That woman
is going to be called the least. And here's what John Calvin said
on the least. Will be rejected as the lowest and most useless
of men in the world. Here's what John Gill said concerning
the least in the kingdom of heaven. Cast out as a worthless man. So that's the heart of what the
Lord was saying. He said, whosoever should teach
men this lesser and greater and it's not so bad. He said, you
teach me and do that. And he said, and you break, and
you break what you even call the lesser. You're trying to
establish a righteousness, he said, on your own doing. And
it's lesser and greater, you omit the greater and you hang
on. You're hanging on to the lesser, what you think is lesser.
Oh, we give herbs. We give herbs. He said, I'll
tell you this, what you consider the lesser, if you don't obey
it perfectly, You're going to be called that which is cast out. You're
going to 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. Though every believer will be
the first to admit himself to be one that is constantly incapable. of fulfilling and obeying. We
all admit we come short of the glory of God. Everyone that knows
the Lord and knows it in himself, O wretched man that I am, he
knows this, that there is within him, there's a new man, he knows
he believes God. He knows he loves the Lord. He
knows that he has faith in Christ. And there's a heart and a desire
toward Him who has fulfilled all that Almighty God has set
forth. So the Lord said in verse 20,
in conclusion, He said, now concerning these Pharisees that are teaching
this greater and lesser, you know, it's not so bad. He said,
I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees." Those that
try to hang on to what they've done. Those that try to brag
on what they do and they don't do. He said, except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. That is, you shall
not truly come into Many claim to, but he said, except your
righteousness exceed. Here the Lord exposes the hypocrisy
of those that say one thing and do another. That's what they're
doing. They teach and live according to the false thinking that there
are degrees of some of the law that they can keep, and then
they just omit the rest of it. That's what he's saying. He said,
you take the parts you want and you think that you've obeyed.
And then you just throw out. But except your righteousness
exceed all that any man can do or think, you won't be found in glory.
The only righteousness that shall be accepted of God is God's righteousness. The only obedience that shall
stand is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again,
as being found in him, every believer's righteousness
exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. It
does, because they are a possessor of the righteousness of Christ.
robed in his righteousness. And by the grace of God, that's
the only righteousness that God will accept. May the Lord bless
this word to our hearts for Christ's sake.