How Did Christ Fulfill the Law of Moses?

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Okay, if you would, please turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. In Matthew chapter 5, we're continuing to go through the Sermon on the Mount, and we come to a very, very important statement.

In fact, I think it's one of the most important things that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says in verse 17, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

So we'll read this whole section in a moment. But a lot of people today, I've noticed they sort of think the Old Testament is irrelevant, or that Jesus somehow came to do away with it, or that Jesus came to kind of loosen things up to where now we're free.

Unlike the Israelites who, you know, they had to obey the commandments, but Christians, we are just free. And is that true? Did Jesus really come to do away with the law? Well, the old covenant came to an end and it was replaced by the new covenant.

I think we all get that. But here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is very careful to point out he is not nullifying God's law. If anything, as far as the commandments go, Jesus is intensifying the law.

He's intensifying the commandments since he goes from a surface level understanding of them, going deeper to where sin begins, which is in the human heart. So Jesus did not come to destroy the law. The Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as the New Testament is.

So Jesus didn't come to destroy it, to do away with it. Another thing, Jesus, this might surprise somebody, but Jesus did not come to correct Moses. Because there are Christians today who think this. They read the Sermon on the Mount, they think that's what Jesus is doing.

They think that, well, Moses said this, or the Old Testament says this, but I'm telling you something different. That Jesus came to correct Moses, or to set the record straight. That's totally not what's going on at all.

So let's just start out by looking at the first three words of Matthew 5 .17. What does Jesus say? He says, do not think. Do not think. What does that tell you? That He knew there were some people thinking this.

There are still people today who think this. Jesus knew some people would think that. That the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, all that's in there, it's now sort of irrelevant. And when people quote the Old Testament, they say, well, that doesn't count anymore.

That's the Old Testament. So Jesus, what is He doing with His disciples? He is teaching them the truth. He's teaching them the correct understanding of the law. He's teaching them the correct way to interpret the Old Testament scriptures and the commandments.

So His disciples had to get this right in order to be teachers in the church. And we, as God's people, we want to get it right.

Amen.

Let's look at this. Matthew 5, starting at verse 17, Jesus said, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Okay, let's start with that last statement, because this last statement has troubled many people, Jesus says to His disciples.

And by extension to all Christians, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you're not going to heaven. That's one way you could look at it. And people think, well, the scribes and the Pharisees, they killed Jesus, so that's not too hard for us to exceed their righteousness.

Well, that may be true. But do you realize the scribes and Pharisees were deeply committed to their religion? They were deeply religious, deeply committed. In fact, they were probably the most religious people around.

Jesus Himself in Matthew 23 acknowledges that they prayed long prayers. They tithed. They were evangelistic and supported missions because Jesus said about them they were willing to cross land and sea to make just one convert.

So, even Jesus seemed to recognize that the scribes and the Pharisees, at least on the outside, they were some of the most committed people, most devout people you would ever meet. So, you can see why some people have found this troubling where Jesus says, unless you're more righteous than they are, you will by no means enter the kingdom.

You know, it almost sounds like what? It almost sounds like an impossible standard, an impossible standard. And you know, that's what Jesus, remember in our first sermon on the Sermon on the Mount? That's partially what Jesus is doing.

He is laying down an impossible standard. Jesus is teaching on the deeper implications of the Mosaic Law to show everybody that, hey, you can't keep it. You think you're a good person. You think you're obeying the commandments.

Jesus is saying, no, you're not.

You're not.

It is an impossible standard. So, once somebody realizes that, that I'm a sinner, I'm in trouble, now what? Then Jesus, he's laying the groundwork for then moving from the bad news to the good news offered through him, the grace of God offered through the gospel.

So, Jesus was sent, one reason Jesus was sent, he was sent to keep the standard for you. You know, we talk a lot about the death of Christ. But you realize that Jesus didn't just die for you, Jesus lived for you as well.

So, you can't keep the standard. You can't have that level of righteousness. That's true. But Jesus did. And he's willing to give you that righteousness. And how does he do that? By grace through faith.

So, how can your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees? It's only possible if you have the righteousness of God, which is by faith. So, you want that righteousness? Believe in Jesus. Bottom line.

And that's something, of course, the scribes and Pharisees were unwilling to do. Okay, let's go back to the opening statement now that hopefully settled that issue. But this comment that Jesus makes is such an important statement.

I did not come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill. You ever wondered what does that even mean? Okay, Jesus came to fulfill.

Great.

What does that mean? Well, hopefully by the time you leave you'll know what it means. We're going to talk about how Jesus came to fulfill the law. And by the way, when he talks about the law and the prophets, that's just a shorthand of saying the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures.

Right, because Moses represents the law. And it was Elijah representing the prophets. But remember when the two of them showed up on the Mount of Transfiguration. So, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus together sort of represent all of God's revelation given to man.

But law and the prophets means the Old Testament Scriptures. That's one way you can view it. So, Jesus, he did not come to destroy the Old Testament Scriptures.

Amen?

Now, attending this church for any length of time, I think you probably know that. But there's a lot of people in churches today who don't know that. They really think that the Old Testament is irrelevant.

That it doesn't count. As one famous pastor said, he said that Christians should unhitch from the Old Testament. And I think Jesus would have something to say about that. So, how did Jesus fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures?

If you take notes, write this down. Number one, he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures by fulfilling the prophecies given in the Old Testament Scriptures. We all know about the prophecies. Jesus came as the fulfillment, right?

Okay, so that's one way he kept or fulfilled the Scriptures. Number two, he fulfilled the moral law by keeping it perfectly. So, we have all sinned and have come short of the glory of God. But Jesus fulfilled the law by obeying it perfectly.

We have the perfect standard that we can't live up to. Jesus fulfilled it. He lived up to it. Now, that's number two. Number three, Jesus fulfilled all of the ceremonial or religious law by being the Lamb of God.

Like, if you go back to the law, the first five books of Moses, it talks about the Passover Lamb, right? And the Jews were to observe the Passover. They had all these sacrifices that they were to offer in the law.

Jesus was the fulfillment.

Why?

Because he is the Lamb of God. So, all of the sacrifices didn't really take away sin, but Jesus was the fulfillment of the sacrifice. They pointed to him, his death takes away sin. Okay, so that's the third way that Jesus fulfills the law and the prophets.

And then number four, Jesus kept the civil or judicial law by being the personification of God's perfect justice. If you want to see a man who is just and everything he said was just, look to Jesus. Okay, so this is why he says, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.

I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Now, how many of you like reading the Old Testament more than the New Testament? How many of you like reading the New Testament more than the Old Testament? Okay, see, I didn't see any hands on the first go around.

A lot of hands on the second. I would agree that the New Testament is easier to understand. I think that's true. And it's shorter, so it's easier to read. Because the Old Testament is two-thirds of the Bible and the New Testament is like one-third.

So, I get it why people would be, and you say it's more relevant to us. The New Testament Scriptures would be more relevant to New Testament Christians.

I get all of that.

But here's the thing, the Old Testament is still really, really, really important. Remember, it's just as much the Word of God as the New Testament is. There's not different levels of the Word of God that this is.

This is more the Word of God than this. Well, it's either the Word of God or it's not. So, here's the thing we need to realize. Everything that Jesus did and said, everything was perfectly in line with what Moses said in the Scriptures.

So, Jesus and Moses are not opposites. Jesus fulfilled what Moses wrote about. They were on the same page, you could say. So, Jesus was the one of whom Moses and the prophets spoke. So, that's why the idea that Christianity is something totally different or detached is so bizarre.

Years ago, we had a person come and that wanted support from this church. And he came and he was telling me about how he viewed Christianity as completely different. Like the Old Covenant was, this is a new religion.

Christianity was completely separate from the commandments. So, his attitude was the Ten Commandments, it's like, don't even worry about that. Christianity and the teachings of Jesus is completely radically new.

And within a year, it came out that he was violating the Ten Commandments and multiple commandments. So, where he was really disqualified from ministry. I think that's part of why people want to do away with it.

They don't like the commandments because they're breaking the commandments. So, this strange interpretation is, there's an ulterior motive, I think, for many people. Now, obviously the Old Testament, not everything applies to us.

It's for us, but it doesn't apply to us. Not everything. The Apostle Paul says what was written in the Old Testament is for our edification. It's written as an example, but not everything applies. So, just a basic example, the Passover lamb, right?

The Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb on the Passover. Do we do that? No, we don't have to offer those sacrifices.

Why?

Because Christ fulfilled that. So, yeah, there are some things, some commandments in the Old Testament that are not applicable. That's true, but everything in the Old Testament is still true. It's just about understanding it correctly.

So, Jesus, did he come to destroy the law? No, he came to fulfill it. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.