When the Lord began his public
ministry, it's recorded in Matthew chapter 3 that when he came upon
the scene, he came to John the Baptist. And read that whole
chapter sometime. John was out there preaching,
and many of the religious elite out of their curiosity and knowing
that multitudes were going out to hear John the Baptist preach.
And of course we know what John's message was. It was Christ crucified
and risen from the dead. It was the gospel of righteousness
fulfilled by Christ as the promised Messiah. But many of them went
out to him and preached because they knew that multitudes were
going out to hear him. They were curious. And John was
pretty plain with them. If you read it in Matthew chapter
three, you know, he's the one, he called them vipers. He said,
you know what a viper is, don't you? That's a poisonous snake.
And that's what John called them. And the reason is, is because
they were leading the people in a way of death. Their doctrine
was poison. What it was, it was a doctrine
of salvation by works. And so John just plainly told
him, you know, he didn't pull any punches. Well, here he's
out there baptizing and Christ comes on the scene. Jesus of
Nazareth comes on the scene and he approaches John and he says,
baptize me, John. Remember John said, I'm not worthy
to baptize, recognized him as being the Messiah. He said, I'm
not worthy to baptize you. And remember what he said there
in Matthew chapter three, it's recorded in verse 15. And Christ
said, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. It's the first thing he said
in his public ministry. And what he's saying there is
that's his mission. He came to fulfill all righteousness. He is the righteousness of God. He is the Lord our righteousness.
He's the one who satisfied justice. Judgment and justice are satisfied. Righteousness and peace come
together in Christ. Now, how was he going to accomplish
that? Well, he illustrated that in his baptism. His baptism,
he's not saying there that him being baptized in water was the
fulfillment of righteousness. That's not what that means. His
baptism in water was a symbol. It was an illustration. You could
even say it was a prophecy. of what he was going to go through
to fulfill all righteousness, which was his death, his burial,
and his resurrection. And that's what we do when we
are baptized in confessing Christ in believer's baptism. That's
why we immerse, because we're identifying with Christ in his
death, his burial, and his resurrection. And it's a confession. So that's
what he was doing there. So his baptism pictured his death,
burial, and resurrection. And that means the accomplishment
of righteousness whereby God justifies his people and from
which Christ gives his people spiritual life from the dead. Now here in Matthew chapter 5,
look at what he says in verse 17. He says, Think not that I
am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfill." Now, what was he going to fulfill?
Well, he's going to fulfill the law and the prophets. Now, the
law and the prophets is a phrase that's used to describe the whole
word of God in the Old Testament. Moses and the law. the profits
you can go all the way back to you know you you know somebody
said well the office of a profit you know the office of a profit
uh... sometimes is symbolized in the
jewish community by one man named elijah he's the school the profits
you know when john the baptist us uh... spoke of being the fulfillment
or people spoke of him as being the fulfillment of a prophecy
in malachi talking about elijah coming back People have misread
that to show, well, does that mean Elijah's gonna rise from
the dead? No, that's not what that's talking about. It's talking
about John the Baptist, who is the last of the Old Testament
prophets and the message of the school of the prophets, which
was Christ and salvation by God's grace in him through his righteousness,
and that's what John preached. So, Elijah represented the prophets. You remember, I've got this reference
somewhere in the lesson here, where in the book of Luke, and
I can't find it right now, but that's okay, it's in your lessons,
you read through your lesson. You remember the story of the
Mount of Transfiguration in the book of Luke? I think it's somewhere
in Luke 9, but it's in the lesson. That's where, what was it? Yeah,
Luke 9, 28 through 31. That's where Christ took three
of his disciples, or two or three of his disciples, and he showed
them that vision where he transformed. You know, his countenance changed,
white and glistering, you know, the glory of his person. And
it says there appeared Moses and Elijah. Moses is the law,
Elijah is the prophet. And it says there that they spoke
of his decease, which he would accomplish in jerusalem and i
pointed out and uh... in that passage that were deceased
is the greek word for exodus in other words his death was
going to be leading out of bondage because he was going to satisfy
judge he was awful feel all righteousness and so the long the profits the
summation of the long the profits is christ crucified and risen
from the dead righteousness fulfilled That's what that means. So he
says, I didn't come to destroy that, I came to fulfill it. To
fulfill all righteousness. And that's what he did. And every,
I've got several scriptures there listed where it shows how the
subject of Moses, the law, and the prophets is Christ. Now,
understand that he came into the world and he began to preach
the truth of the law as a convicting standard. In other words, why
was the law given? The law was given to show you
your sins, to show me my sins and my depravity and the impossibility
of righteousness, salvation, justification, holiness, blessing
by my works. That's why the law was given.
Well, now that was just the opposite of what the Pharisees taught.
The Pharisees taught that sinners could be saved by their law-keeping. They could be saved by circumcision. They could be saved by entering
into, if you were a Gentile, you'd have to be proselytized
into the Jewish community. In other words, it had to do
with man, man's works, man's will, and not the grace of God. That's what they taught. And
so they perverted the law. They perverted the prophets.
Christ said back up in Matthew chapter 5 that they persecuted,
or Matthew chapter 5 and verse 12, that they persecuted the
very prophets they claimed to stand upon, that they claimed
to agree with. They persecuted, not these personally,
but men like them who taught salvation by works. So here comes
Jesus of Nazareth. whom they all looked down on
as an unschooled carpenter. And he says, what they're teaching
you is evil. I mean, listen, that's the whole
issue. He didn't just come along and
say, now, what they're teaching you is in error. No, he said
it's idolatry. You know, he told them, he says,
you don't even know God. You know, I hear people today
talking about Christians and Jews together in a religious way now is what
I'm saying. And I preached on this for an
upcoming TV program about Israel and about Jews and all that.
And somebody asked me, said, well, should we support Israel
today? Well, number one, Israel is an
ally of the United States. Number two, it's the only democracy
in the Mideast that I know of. And number three, they seem to
be intent on a just cause politically, worldly speaking. So yes, we
should support them, but not religiously. We don't have any
religious fellowship with unbelieving Jews, just like we don't have
any religious fellowship with unbelieving Muslims. But now
we support Israel because they seem to be intent on peace in
the world. As far as we can see, they're
just trying to survive over there. So yes, we should support, but
not religiously. And I hear these people talking
about Christians and Jews together say, well, we worship the same
God. Do you know that Christ, who
according to the flesh was a Jew, disagreed with that? Look at John chapter 16, for
example. This is just an example. And
this is one of the many examples. And look at verse two of John
16. Now it says in verse two, he's
telling his disciples, he said in John 16 to they shall put
you out of the what? The synagogues. Now what was
a synagogue? That was the Jewish worship gathering. where they stood up and they
read the prophets. We have an example in Luke chapter
4 of Christ going to his hometown synagogue and they stood up and
they read Isaiah. So they're reading the prophets.
Well, he said to his disciples, preachers of the gospel who worship
the true and living God through Christ, he said, they're going
to throw you out of their synagogues. Why? Because you go in and say,
well, we're all worshiping the same God. No, he says, yea, the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God's service, and these things will they do unto you because
they have not known the Father, nor me. We're not worshiping the same
God. And here's what we have to understand. Any sinner, any
sinner, who seeks salvation, righteousness, blessing from
God, eternal life, any benefit of grace based on anything but
the righteousness that Christ fulfilled, Christ alone fulfilled,
His righteousness imputed. Any sinner who approaches God
on any other ground is not worshiping the same God that we worship. Now, that's hard to take. But
that's exactly what Jesus Christ taught. He told him that he had
come to fulfill all righteousness, and man, sinful fallen man, be
he Jew or Gentile, cannot do that. God's righteous, we're
not. He told the Pharisees, he says,
you appear righteous in the sight of men, but you're a hypocrite. Somebody says, next time in a
couple weeks, barring any weather problems that keeps us from going,
we're gonna be up in Kentucky and then we're gonna be on vacation.
But when I come back, I'm gonna do one message on verse 20. Look
down at verse 20. He says, for I say unto you that
except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Now what's he saying about the
scribes and Pharisees? That they have not entered the kingdom
of heaven. They're showing you a way that will not enter the
kingdom of... Christ is the entrance into the
kingdom of heaven. His righteousness, His blood,
the grace of God, that's the entrance. Any other way, you're
barred. Your way is barred. But I've
heard people look at that verse and say, well, you've got to
have a righteousness that exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees.
And basically their message goes something like this. We just
have to be better people than the Pharisees. better people
than the scribes. Is that what that's saying? Well,
look at your context. Look at verse 17 again. Think not that I'm come to destroy
the law of the prophets. I'm come not to destroy, but
to fulfill. Now, who comes to fulfill the
law? To fulfill all righteousness? Christ did. Now, doesn't it make
sense in the context that that's the righteousness that exceeds
that he's talking about there? And first of all, how do you
propose, for example, that you can be a better person than the
scribes and the Pharisees? How do you propose to do that?
You gonna keep the law better than they did? Are you gonna
be more sincere than they are? Which one? Who's the one who
made it to the level of sincerity that got him into heaven? Do
you know who it is? No. The only way you can do that
is group them all into one bunch and say, well, they were all
just dishonest people who said one thing and meant another.
And they weren't. Were there some like that? Sure there were.
Are there people who call themselves Christian who are like that?
Yes. Are there ones who are more sincere and dedicated than others? Yes. Do they know the gospel? Is Christ their righteousness,
you say? No matter how sincere they are.
And you remember Paul said in Romans chapter 10, he said, I
bear them record, they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish one of their own. So
the righteousness that exceeds there is the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's the title of that lesson
when I get to it. But look back here now. What happens here is
the Pharisees taught that the law was given as a way for them
to attain righteousness by their law keeping. But that was a lie. Christ taught that the only way
of righteousness was in himself based upon his work his obedience
unto death as the surety and the substitute of his people.
So what did, and he told them that the Pharisees were lying
to him. Read Matthew 23, I've got that referenced in your lesson,
where he talks about how they're whited sepulchers and how they
appeared righteous, but they were full of dead men's bones,
all of that. So what did the Pharisees do?
Well, they accused him of being a lawbreaker. They said, you're
teaching people to break the law. So look at it again. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law. Came to fulfill it. And he says in verse 18, 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.
Now what's he saying there? He's saying it's impossible for
him not to fulfill his mission. It's going to happen. He said
the earth, till heaven and earth pass away. You see, there is
no possibility of Christ failing to fulfill his mission. And I
love that. How about you? No possibility. And that is not only for him
personally to fulfill all righteousness, but remember, he didn't do it
as a private person. He didn't do it as an individual.
He did it as a representative, as a surety, as a substitute
for his people. And so he could say in John chapter
6, all that the Father giveth me shall what? Shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. This is the will of
him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Now what
is all that based on? What is the assurance of that? He fulfilled all righteousness. And he fulfilled it to the T. That phrase jot and tittle, you
know, scholars kind of argue a little bit over that. They
get tripped up over the smallest thing. Somebody said the jot
is the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I've studied
the Hebrew alphabet. I've never seen jot there. But
anyway, some say that tittle is the smallest punctuation mark
in the Hebrew language. Well, I've got news for you.
In the original manuscripts, there are no punctuation marks.
But here's what he's saying. I think it's a phrase that goes
something like, our modern day, you gotta dot every I and cross
every T. We say that, don't we? That's
what he means. He says, there's not one of the
smallest points of the law that will go unfulfilled by him. Now, in our case, you remember
what James said in the book of James, chapter one, I think it
is, he said, to offend in one point is to be guilty of all. Now, what a statement. Now, the
Pharisees were kind of like the modern day Catholics in one sense. The Catholics teach a heresy
about cardinal sins, venial sins, mortal sins. You ever heard those
terms? In other words, there are some sins that are cardinal.
You ever heard the seven deadly sins? Those are sins that bring
condemnation. And then there are venial and
there are, you know, there's lies and then there's white lies.
That kind of thing. Well, when it comes, and let
me say this, when it comes to our relationship with each other,
dealing with each other, there are some sins that are worse
than others. Now, if you get angry with me, I'd just as soon
as stay right there in your head. I'd rather it stay right there.
It's a sin, but I'd rather not that anger be expressed in violence
or killing. But both are sin. And you want
to know something? In God's sight, both deserve
damnation. And that's what Christ is going
to teach when he starts in verse 21 of Matthew 5. You've heard
it said by them of old, it's a sin to kill. Well, he said,
I'm telling you how far that goes. It's a sin to be angry
enough to kill. In other words, it reaches the
heart, reaches the spirit, reaches the thoughts. Where does that
leave us? We're sinners. God don't give
me what I deserve. God don't give me what I've earned.
All right? That's what it is. So when the
scripture shows us the reality of the law, we realize one jot
or one tittle. When it comes to a relationship
with God, when it comes to salvation, all sin deserves death. All of
it. And the only thing that can wipe
the slate clean and bring about life is righteousness. And that righteousness is perfection. The perfection of the law. Galatians
3.10. When it says, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. So where's our hope? Not in ourselves, not in our
law keeping, it's in Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Now,
the Pharisees, having put sin in degrees there, so
to the point of saying, well, you can do this sin and that's
damnable, but this other sin, that's not. It's lighter and
you can get away with it. And all you have to do is bring
a gift or something like that. You're going to see that over
in the next section. You know, he talked about, you
know, well, it's kind of like going to a confession. Have you
ever heard of people in the Catholic religion who actually had the
attitude that they could go out and act any way they want to
act during the week as long as they go to that priest and confess
and as long as they go to mass? Well, see, that's false religion. That's Pharisaism. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood. What is the blood? It's Christ
fulfilling all righteousness. Every jot and tittle. The smallest
point of the law. So you see what's going on here. Now look at verse 19. This is
a verse that kind of trips up a lot of people because they
argue about, well, are there degrees of position or degrees
of blessing in heaven? That's not what's being taught
here. Look at him, 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. And all of a sudden,
you know, you have all these preachers say, well, now he's
saved, but he's the least. My friend, no one who teaches
to break the law is a saved person. That's not what he's teaching
at all. All right, go on, he says, but whosoever shall do
and teach them, that is, the perfection of the law, the same
shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now, let me
ask you this question. If I were to teach you, all right,
if I were to stand up here and teach you that you can be saved
you can be declared righteous by God by your best efforts to
keep the law. What am I teaching you? I'm teaching you that it's okay
to break the law. Because listen to me, any teaching
of the law that does not leave me and you without any hope of
salvation, based on our works, and drive us to Christ for the
perfection that God requires in righteousness, any teaching
of the law that doesn't do that is breaking the law. And what's happening here is
this. You know, the Pharisees, they boasted that they were the
greatest in the kingdom. And remember here, the kingdom
of God, the kingdom of heaven here even, is not going up there,
okay? It's not geography at all. The
kingdom of heaven is his church, his rule and his reign here on
this earth, and what he's showing here in this verse 19 is a judgment
that is made from the viewpoint of the kingdom of heaven wherein
righteousness dwells. Here's these Pharisees. They
say they're the greatest. I'll tell you what they are.
They're the least. They're even nothing. People look upon them. And you
have to understand this. The people to whom he's preaching
here, they looked upon these Pharisees as the cream of the
crop. These are the kind of guys that
just like when the disciples saw the rich young man, they
said, well, if he's not saved, who can be? These people aren't
saved. You say, they're lost, they're
unbelievers. They think they're the greatest
and you look upon them as the greatest. They're the least.
Meaning, comparatively, contrasting them rather, this is the judgment
from the viewpoint of the Kingdom of Heaven. To get into the Kingdom
of Heaven, you've got to be righteous. You've got to be perfect. You
can't do that on your own. You can't do that with anybody's
help. The only way you can do that is to look to Christ as
your perfection, your righteousness, who fulfilled all righteousness.
And anything else is nothing. So what judgment do we make from
the viewpoint of the kingdom of heaven? Well, if you don't
have Christ, it's sin. Turn to John 16, and we'll close
with this. And that's exactly what the Holy
Spirit convinces God's people of. Look at John 16. And look at verse 8. Now this is the viewpoint, the
judgment that comes from the standard and the viewpoint of
the kingdom of heaven. It says in verse 8, when he has
come, that's the Holy Spirit, he will reprove, he will convict,
convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Look at verse 9, of sin because
they believe not on me. Now what does that mean? That
means this, if you don't have Christ, if you're not washed
in his blood and have his righteousness imputed, Everything you are and
everything you do in the sight of God is sin. I don't care how
it appears to men. You can appear righteous unto
men, but it's sin. And that's what that verse 19
is teaching. You're not the greatest in the
kingdom, you're the least. You have a claim you're in the
kingdom, you're not even saved. You're nothing. And when you
teach the law, you remember Paul wrote about that? He said the
law is good if a man use it lawfully. When you teach the law, you're
using it unlawfully because you're not pointing sinners to Christ
for righteousness. You're pointing sinners to themselves
and their works and their efforts, with or without the help of God.
Remember what the Pharisee said in Luke 18 when he stood up and
boasted of his own righteousness? He said, I thank God that I'm
not like other men. He was giving the credit to God.
Here's the problem. God doesn't want credit for that.
Because it doesn't glorify him. The only thing that's going to
glorify him is what he said at Christ's baptism. When Christ
pictured his death, burial, and resurrection to fulfill all righteousness,
he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear
ye him. Follow him. Believe in him. All
right.