Matthew chapter 5, for our study
this morning. Now we saw last time that the
Lord Jesus Christ said 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 the very fact that God sent
His Son to fulfill His law declares two things to us. First, it declares
to us the absolute inability of any sinner to fulfill the
law by our own obedience. And the second thing it declares,
it declares how absolutely necessary it is for the law of God to be
fulfilled by each sinner who shall enter into His glorious
presence. The law's got to be fulfilled
perfectly by me and by you. Perfectly. The magnifying and
honoring of God's law and the word of the prophets is of such
utmost importance that the Lord Jesus Christ said, till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law till all be fulfilled. Now, we pick up here in verse
19, Matthew 5, 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, 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." Now, the first word I want us to look at this morning
is this word break. This word break. Whosoever therefore
shall break one. The word means to loosen or to
lessen in importance. Whosoever unlooses or unties
himself or another from even one of God's commandments, whosoever
shall teach men to loose themselves, unbind themselves from one of
these least commandments shall have no place in the kingdom
of Christ, but he'll be esteemed by those in the kingdom of heaven
as the least of all." Now, God requires perfect obedience to
every word He commands without any distinctions, divisions,
or lessening of any part of His law. Perfect, righteous obedience
in every part is what the thrice holy God requires. Now, the second
thing I want you to see here is the scribes and the Pharisees. Let's talk about them just a
moment. The scribes were those who interpreted the law of God. The Pharisees were the strictest
followers of the law of God. Both imagined that a sinner can
actually keep the law and make himself accepted of God. Now, in order to teach this,
in order to teach that righteousness comes by the law, The Pharisees
and the scribes had to unloose themselves and others from certain
commandments required by God's law. They had to make it so the
law seemed as though a sinner has the ability to keep it. The Pharisees and scribes made
the whole law of God void by simply dividing the law of God
into greater and lesser law. that which is important and that
which is not so important. They only regarded the letter
of the law. In other words, when the law
says do not commit murder, they only regarded murder as if somebody
actually killed someone. The law speaks more than that.
The law speaks of the heart, of anger in the heart. and it
makes us guilty of murder by our thoughts. That's where the
law goes to. It speaks of hard obedience and
it condemns the hidden man of the heart. Because this is what
the law says, as many as are of the works of the law. Anybody
who's trying to come to God trusting in any regard to his obedience
to the law, that person is under the curse For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." Brother Henry Mahan used
to give this illustration and you may have heard it before.
The man said, I can jump over a barn. And you think, well,
you can jump over a barn? Yeah, if you let me build the
barn. I'll just build it high enough to where I can jump over
it. And that's what the scribes and the Pharisees were doing.
They were making the law of God out to be something that they
could actually keep and actually obey. But they broke the law
themselves and they taught others. And by this manner of teaching
others, they were teaching others to break the law by lessening
and omitting certain commandments. And that's what everybody does
who thinks that they're obeying the law or who teaches others
this self-righteous, self-sanctifying obedience to the law wherein
they call sinners to trust in something they've done in the
law, to look to their obedience to the law, to look to how well
they've performed. The only way you can do that
is to lessen God's law. Let nobody imagine. Let no one
imagine. Not before Christ came, not after
Christ came. Let no one imagine that the gospel
lowers either the law of God or the holiness of His saints.
It doesn't. There's not a law that used to
be in effect and now some new law that's in effect. The law
is the law. If you commit murder, you've committed murder. The
Ten Commandments are just as true right now as they were before
Christ came. There's no lessening of the law.
Look at the next thing it says here. 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, 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,
you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Now I
want to talk to you about doing and teaching. Doing and teaching. Whosoever shall do and teach,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now
is the Lord implying in this verse that the believer can keep
the law as God regards keeping the law? Those who are born of the Spirit
of God perfectly establish the law through faith in Christ.
I said that I have to perfectly obey it and you have to perfectly
obey it. The way we perfectly establish
the law of God is through faith in Christ who perfectly, righteously
established the law in every jot and tittle. Completely, thoroughly
fulfilled the law in precept and penalty. Now, not only this,
but only the believer Only the person who's born of the Spirit
of God, taught of the Lord, in the heart, truly understands
how holy, how just, and how good the law of God really is. Only
the believer understands this. I hadn't known sin. I wouldn't
have known what sin is if the commandment hadn't come by the
grace of God into my heart, teaching me that Covetousness is a heart
matter. Teaching me that murder is a
heart matter. Adultery is a heart matter. Idolatry
is a heart matter. Otherwise, I would compare myself
with someone else and think, I do better than they do. I would
go about my law obedience and think, I've done a pretty good
job at this. But when the commandment came, my sin became alive to
me. And I beheld, I'm not righteous. I have no righteousness. I can
do no righteousness. I need a representative and a
substitute. I need Christ Jesus the Lord.
That's what we learn. But the believer, as he delights
in the law of God, He delights in the heart, in the new man
which God created, where we understand the law, where we behold the
truth of the law in spirit and in truth. Therein, we delight
in the law of God. I delight in the law of God.
A new heart is given. There's a new nature. There's
a new desire. There's new principles. There's a new newness of life,
the scripture calls it. God's true ambassadors, His teachers,
are the only ones who truly teach others the necessity of a perfect
obedience. The perfect obedience that required
God's own Son to live and to die as our representative and
our substitute. Now, I want you now to look with
me at something, a few scriptures. Turn with me to Romans 10. Romans
10. Hold your place in Matthew 5
and turn with me to Romans 10. I'm going to walk through several
scriptures with you for the rest of this lesson, and I want you
to follow along with me. Now, the Lord said, Whosoever
shall do and teach. If I could divide Romans 10 into
two headings, I would divide it into this, doing and teaching. doing and teaching. Look at the
last verse of Romans 10. To Israel he saith, all day long
I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient people. They didn't do the law. And a
gainsaying people. They didn't teach it either.
They taught how a man can get gain without Christ Jesus the
Lord. That's gainsaying. Now turn with
me back to Romans 10, and let's read down through these first
three verses. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. Paul is talking of his
own kinsmen according to the flesh, that is, national Israelites. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. They're very excited, very energetic
for God, but not according to knowledge. The key of knowledge
is gone. Nobody's taught them the truth
of the gospel. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Now verse 3 mentions two kinds of righteousness. It mentions
man's own righteousness and it mentions God's righteousness. What's my own righteousness?
Let me read this to you. Some of you can turn there with
me, Philippians 3. Now Paul knew what it was to be in the church
of Israel. Let's say it that way. He knew
what it was to be in that congregation in Israel. He knew what they
taught. He had been just like them. A Pharisee, a Pharisee. Strict as he could be. But now
when the Lord had given him this newness of life in the Spirit,
this is what he said. Verse 9. He says, well let's
read verse 8, I count all things lost for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. There's the knowledge they
were ignorant of because there is the righteousness of God revealed.
For whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count them
but dung that I may win Christ. Now listen to this, and be found
in Him not having mine own righteousness. There it is. That word, mine
own righteousness, what is that? He tells us, which is of the
law. But, he says, I want that righteousness
which is through the faith of Christ. The righteousness which
is of God by faith. Alright, back there in Romans
10. Romans 10.3. Now we just saw the righteousness
of the law. It's not that Paul did not walk
honorably before God. It's not that he didn't beseech
the brethren to abstain from fleshly lusts, to walk in love
as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. It's not that at all.
It's that he didn't want any of his obedience. to the law
of God to be that wherein He stood before God. He didn't want
to be judged by God based on His obedience. He wanted it to
be all on Christ's obedience. Now look with me here in Romans
10.3. Now, here's the righteousness of God. It spoke of our own righteousness. Now it speaks the righteousness
of God. What's the righteousness of God? It says here in verse
3, they being ignorant of God's righteousness. They were going
about to establish their own righteousness, which is of the
law. Paul said, I don't want anything to do with that. Because
they didn't submit themselves unto the righteousness of God.
What's the righteousness of God? Still hold your place to Romans
10, but look back at Matthew 5, verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. There's the righteous obedience
I want to stand in. There's the perfect obedience
I must stand in. The righteous obedience of my
Lord, the Son of God. That's the righteousness I want
to stand in. Alright, look at verse 4. How am I going to stand
in that righteousness? Romans 10, verse 4. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now,
he's going to explain that to us. Listen. Moses, this is the
law. This is the righteousness of
the law. Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the
law. Here it is. This is the righteousness which
is of the law. It has much more to do with just
being justified from my past sins. Listen to it, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. And he's
got to continue in all things written in the law, in thought,
word, and deed. But the righteousness which is
of faith, this is that righteousness of God. This is that righteousness
of Christ. Here's what it says. It says,
it speaks on this wise. Now look down at verse 8, so
you won't get confused here. But what saith it? The word is
nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of
faith which we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness." You mean simply by believing.
I can perfectly establish the righteousness of the law in perfection? That's exactly what it says.
A man believeth unto righteousness. Now, look at the next verse here. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. This righteousness, this perfect
righteousness is salvation. It is salvation. It is that which
assures me that I shall be saved. It assures me I have been, I
am being saved, and I shall be saved. No charge will be laid
against me because in the perfect obedience of my Savior, I'm righteous. In the justification He accomplished
by His death, I'm justified in all regards. I have been made
the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, my representative and
my substitute. Now, look at the second half
of this chapter in Romans 10.14. It says that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then he says,
how then shall they call on Him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in Him of whom they've not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they
preach except they be sent? Now, he said that faith comes
by hearing. And we saw that a man believeth
unto righteousness. This righteousness comes through
faith. And this faith comes through
hearing the gospel preached. Our Lord Jesus Christ said the
man who does the law and teaches others. This man should be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. How do we do the law in perfect
righteousness? By trusting Christ. How do we
teach others to do the law in perfect righteousness? Teaching
them to trust Christ. Now, stay with me. So what do
we teach men? What do we teach men? I told
you a place there in Romans 10. Go back to Matthew 5. Verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. We preach Christ the end of the
law for righteousness. Now, look at Romans 1. Verse 16 and 17. Paul said, I am ready to preach the gospel
to you that are in Rome also, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God. unto salvation. Faith cometh by what? Hearing.
What comes through faith? The righteousness of God is imputed
to us through faith. Faith cometh by hearing. It's
the power of God unto salvation, unto righteousness, to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in this gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. Now look with me Romans 3 Romans
3 Verse 20, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. What did Matthew 5, 17, what
did the Lord say? I didn't come to destroy the
law, I came to fulfill it. It's witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith
of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said. I don't
want the righteousness of my own, which is by my obedience,
which is by my doing the law. I want the righteousness of God,
which is by faith, by the faith of Christ Jesus, the righteous
servant of God. That's the obedience I want.
That's the righteousness I want to stand in. So then, It comes upon all them that believe,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and
were justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus." Now look down at verse 31, that same
chapter. Just as the Pharisees thought
that the Lord Jesus Christ was saying He was against the law
and against the prophets, just as the prophets of old were accused
of the same thing, Just as Christ our Savior was accused of the
same thing, the Apostle Paul was accused of the same thing.
And those in our day who preach Christ are accused of the same
thing, being against the law. Look what Paul says, verse 31.
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Our Lord said, Not
one jot or tittle of this law is going unfulfilled. It's got
to be established in perfect righteousness, in precept and
in penalty. Do we make it void? Those who
teach that there is some obedience, and it's not teaching the law. It's not teaching obedience.
That's not the problem. Everyone should be obedient.
The apostles are very clear in that we don't walk in the manner
we used to walk. We walk in love. We walk in the
fruit of the Spirit with love and mercy and long-suffering.
Against the such, there is no law. And we know what God's law
says. We know what it says in our hearts.
We know that this law says that the law is much more than just
a letter. It's a spirit. The law is spiritual. It speaks to the heart. The only
way we know this is by God-given faith. Trusting Christ, we fully,
perfectly, more than any other lawmonger, more than any other
legalist, more than any other scribe or Pharisee, we don't
make void the law, we establish the law. Establish the law perfectly. The moral law is confirmed and
established through faith in Christ. And furthermore, the
perfect righteousness of the law is imputed to the believer. It's charged to the believer's
account. And not only this, but by the
new birth, we are sanctified. We are given this nature wherein
we delight in the keeping of the law. We keep it imperfectly
ourselves. But we know the law hasn't come
down any. The law is exactly what the law
was. The law's been established. It's
holy. And the law's been established in holiness by our Savior. But
now we walk after our Savior. And grace restrains us in the
heart. Love keeps us in the heart. It's
our motivation. It's our restraint. It's our
constraint. It's that which moves us and
motivates us and causes us to go after an obedient life. And so we try to walk outwardly
to manifest the light we have of the law in our hearts. Our
failures cause us to continually stay on Christ. And that's what
our Lord is going to teach here in this Sermon on the Mount.
It's what it comes down to when He thoroughly expounds the very
heart nature of His law. It causes a believer to say in
his heart, I want to do that. I want to do that. And it causes
him to try his best as he goes through his life to keep it.
But it also causes him continually to fall at the feet of Christ
and say, Lord, I thank You. I want to be found in Your righteousness.
Not having mine own righteousness, but Your righteousness. This we do. And this we teach. Christ is the righteousness which
excels. And He's the only righteousness
in which we trust. The only one. Any other, you
have to bring the law down to your level. And God won't allow
that. God won't have that. We've got
to come to God in the holy, righteous obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll pick that up further
as we go.