Interpretation of the Law (Matthew 5:17-20)

Alrighty, well go ahead and open up your copy of God's Word if you've got it with you this morning to Matthew chapter 5 and we're going to be starting in verse 17 again. If you were with us last week you'll know that we started here and we were only able to get through verse 18 and so today we're going to be focusing on the last two verses, 19 and 20 of this section.

But let's read it as a whole together this morning, Matthew chapter 5 starting in verse 17. This is the reading of God's holy, inspired, perfect Word. Let us stop and go to Him in prayer once again and ask that He would illuminate our hearts and minds to this great truth.

Dear only Father, we come to You once again and we acknowledge our frailty. Lord, I acknowledge my frailty as being a mouthpiece here this morning proclaiming Your Word for all I have to offer and all I have to say that You have already said here in Your Word.

So I pray that I could be clear that You would guard my lips from error, guard the ears of the hearers from error. Lord, I pray that You would illuminate Your truth to our hearts and to our minds that we could see it and that we would be doers of the Word, not just hearers only.

In Christ's name, Amen. As I mentioned a moment ago, last week we looked at verses 17 and 18 where we see Jesus clarifying what He came to do. There was confusion as to what Jesus' purpose in His ministry was all about and it seemed as though He had come to do away with the laws of Moses.

But we saw that He essentially addressed it by telling them what He did not come to do. That He did not come to abolish the law or the prophets. And we talked about that. That encompasses the entirety of the Old Testament, doesn't it?

This is what Jesus is telling them. He tells them, I did not come to abolish that, but to fulfill it. And in this statement that Jesus is making, Jesus is expressing His high view of Scripture. A high view of Scripture and its essential immutable nature.

The fact that Scripture is the Word of God and if it is the Word of God, it does not change because God does not change. And now in these next two verses, 19 and 20 that we just read, Jesus then turns His attention back upon us.

Because if you notice, the Sermon on the Mount has started with us and the Beatitudes. He's talking about who we are and then telling us that we are salt and light in this world. And then He switches to Himself briefly to tell them what He did not come to do, but what He did come to do was to fulfill.

And now He switches His attention back upon us as His followers. And He says there in verse 19, He says,. And this is important. Remember, what is it? You guys are quiet this morning. What is it? Therefore, right?

When we read Scripture, we see therefore. Because of what Jesus just said in these two verses, that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them that whoever relaxes. Now, stop there for a moment.

This word that we get here in the original language in the Greek here that Jesus used is the same root word. It comes from the same root word as the word that Jesus has just used in verse 17 when we get our word abolished.

It comes from the same root word when Jesus says, I've not come to abolish, but here He says, whoever relaxes. I believe we must take note of this. It's important for us to notice this because I think there's a principle here.

The Greek word that's used in verse 17 for abolish is in the stronger form. It's actually a combination. It's a combo of two Greek words that Jesus put together here in the writing, but it's the stronger form which drives emphasis.

And what Jesus is doing when He says He uses that word is He's bringing certainty. He's bringing surety. So when He says, I did not come to abolish, He's saying I did not come to completely annihilate or to do away with fully at all, even in the slightest.

But when He uses the smaller form of this word in verse 19 here, when we get our translation relaxed, we can see that He is correlating and He is tying these two thoughts together. The fact of what He did not come to do, He's tying it to us now.

Since He has not come to abolish, then we are called to do the same. We can't relax. So what exactly are we called not to do? What are we called not to do? What Jesus is saying here is we're called not to ignore or make light of His word, even in the slightest.

We're going to see that as we continue to study what Jesus is saying here. If Christ has not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it, we are called to obey it. This is what Jesus is driving home here. And we spoke a little bit last week about this idea of hyper-grace.

This movement of people trying to get away from legalism and going over to hyper-grace. It's all about grace. You're not under the law anymore. The law has nothing to do with us anymore. We can just go on living the life as we live, and we're under grace.

Jesus has forgiven us. We can just live as we want to live. They seek to do away with God's precepts and commands, don't they? That's what they want to do away with. They want to do away with all of these imperatives, all of these things that we see in the Old and New Testament.

They want to set those aside and say, we're under grace. We don't have to obey anything any longer. We're in Jesus, and everything is fine. But Jesus knows man's propensity towards this hyper-grace, which is why He clarifies this in His Word.

I think this is one reason why this portion of Scripture and this Sermon on the Mount is here. And He says there in verse 19, He says,. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments.

We also see a correlation from verse 18 to this, what He's saying when He says one of the least. As a matter of fact, look back at verse 18. He says, For truly I say to you, Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, not a jot, not a tittle, not the slightest movement of the pen on the paper will pass from the law.

And so you can see the connection with what He's tying to us now in verse 19. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least, even the smallest jot, smallest tittle, the smallest emphasis, this is what He's talking about.

You see, religious leaders of that day, as Jesus is speaking, as Jesus is preaching this sermon there, the religious leaders would spend hours, they would get together and they would spend hours deliberating on which of the commandments that God has given to the nation of Israel there in the Old Testament, they would deliberate on which of these commandments was the least.

Can you imagine that? For hours, just talking through. Which one of the commandments that God has given us is the least? This seems crazy, right? Why would they do this? But if you think about it, this is what hyper-law, remember we talked about those two extremes last week, the hyper-grace side and the hyper-law, the legalism side.

This is what legalism leads us to, doesn't it? We always want to go to this point to where we're trying to find the loophole because the weight of a graceless law will always leave us seeking relief. We're always reaching for some flexibility, longing for it to not be so rigid and unforgiving.

And you got to understand these religious leaders believing that obedience and adherence to the law perfectly was achievable and that that was something that actually brought salvation. That these people that think this at the same time are trying to find loopholes because that's what it does.

This is what legalism does. It's no different than our legalistic tendencies today, is it? The legalistic tendencies in our own life. I've heard it said we're all recovering legalists. We all struggle with it.

We either want to go to the extreme of hyper-grace or we want to go to the extreme of the law. And this is where these religious leaders of this time were, in the hyper-law. But we have a propensity towards it.

I myself, I begin to see how rigid I am in one area of the law. I'll see something in myself and I'll get really haughty about it. I'll get real religious and I'm thinking, you know, so-and-so doesn't do this and obey this the way I do.

They must not be as good a Christian as I am. And I'm rigid on this law. This is one that I'm not going to bend on. But then I'm shown my inconsistency because there's another area of the law.

I'm just lax on.

Because I don't see it as important. I see it as a lesser. I see it as a least of these. And we all have this. And the reason is because legalism is utterly inconsistent. Our legalistic tendencies are completely and utterly inconsistent.

But you see, that's where God's law is different, isn't it? God's law is perfectly consistent. It's perfectly congruent. Everything about it is absolute. And God demands perfect consistency through perfect obedience to that law, doesn't He?

Perfect consistency through perfect obedience. But these religious leaders didn't understand. They thought it was all about the letter of the law, the obeying the specifics and trying to read between the lines.

And they completely ignored the spirit of the law. So if they could find a loophole, one small offense in Scripture, something small, then they could push that envelope just a bit more towards freedom, couldn't they?

If they can find, if they deliberate long enough, they can find the ones, those laws within the Old Testament that are the least and think, I can have a little bit of freedom here. Because legalism leaves you with that.

You long for some level of freedom. And that's why our legalistic tendencies are not consistent. Because we're always trying to find some type of freedom out from underneath the burden of the law. So I wanted to share one of the passages, one of the laws of God that we see in the Old Testament that was commonly referred to by these religious leaders as one of the least.

They would usually land on this one. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 22. As a matter of fact, turn there with me. Deuteronomy chapter 22. I want you to see this command from God. Deuteronomy 22 starting in verse 6.

And as I said, the religious leaders would typically land on one of these types of laws to say, well, this must be one of the least of the commandments of God. Deuteronomy chapter 22 starting in verse 6.

It says, If you come across a bird's nest in any tree or on the ground with young ones or eggs and the mother setting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you and that you may live long.

This really does seem like a fairly insignificant law, doesn't it? This seems small. This is why they would land here. Why would God care to detail this scenario of this mother bird with her eggs or her young in such great detail and then forbid it?

And then, are we really saying that if someone were to live perfectly but yet break that one law? Which, by the way, is impossible. But let's hypothetically say they live perfectly and they break just that law.

Are we really saying that the just judgment of breaking that law is eternal punishment? You can see where a legalistic mind starts to work. This has got to be one of the least of the laws. God obviously kind of overlooks this law.

Because these are the types of questions that we ask when we don't truly understand the character of God. When we don't truly understand who God is, we begin to ask these questions. And when we don't understand who God is, that's what ultimately leads us to this legalism of works righteousness, trying to be good, trying to obtain righteousness with God.

However, within this seemingly insignificant prohibition here in Deuteronomy 22, we see the very character within His law. In this small, least of the law, we see the very character of God. We see a Creator who cares greatly for His creation.

We see a loving God, a gracious God. We see the practical outworking of His command to be good stewards of what He has created and given to us. What did God tell Adam there in the garden? He says, tend it, care for it, subdue it, subdue the earth, take care of the earth.

This is God's heart. We see it practically working out in this small, little law. We see that God is the ultimate conservationist. I think we all cringe when we hear that word a little bit because the world has taken their perspective of conservationist to a godless extreme and to a point that God did not intend.

But there is some good in that because God is the ultimate conservationist. Why do I say that? Think about the law that God has given here. What did He tell us not to do? He told us when we come to a bird that has eggs or young that we can feed from those eggs or those young but to leave that bird.

And why?

Because He commands us to leave that bird for future food. Because that bird will go now and lay more eggs, won't he? Which will feed another. So when we break something like this, which seems like the least of these commands, when man breaks this command, this precept from God, we are essentially breaking the ninth commandment.

You see how it ties into the moral law? See how it all ties in? Anybody remember the ninth commandment? Thou shall not steal. It ties in here because when we deplete the resources out of selfishness, when we go and we say, I'm hungry now and I don't want to hunt for more, I'm going to take the eggs and I'm going to take the bird.

What are you doing? You are stealing from a future neighbor. You see now why we can't relax a jot or a tittle? We can't relax the least of these commandments. Legalism tells us, oh, this should be okay because the judgment of God surely is not going to come upon me for eternity.

All the other things that I obey, all the big commands that I obey, if I break this law, surely God's going to overlook that.

But He doesn't.

Because our question before, the hypothetical is, if I were to obey the law perfectly and then just break this one, am I really subject to eternal punishment?

Yes.

Because you have spat in the face of the Creator, a holy, perfect God who cannot, under any circumstances, allow even the smallest, the most seemingly insignificant sin within His presence. And you now are in desperate need of a Savior, even from that one small least of these.

So look back at our verse here, verse 19, the second part, because not only are we sinning against God by relaxing these commandments, but our actions are indoctrinating others around us. When we disobey the law of God, we are indoctrinating others to do the same.

And that next part in verse 19 says, and teaches others to do the same. If you relax the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same, this is obviously referencing those who are teachers.

There's obviously a reference here to those who are intentionally teaching others, such as I'm doing right here. Me and Pastor Jeremiah are under great responsibility. Just as James said over in chapter 3, not many of you should be teachers, right?

For you know that we who teach will be judged with a greater strictness. So, as I said, Pastor Jeremiah and I, we have a great responsibility. We'll be held accountable for what we say. I'm being held accountable for what I say this morning, that it must be true because I am teaching.

But I don't think that Jesus is speaking exclusively to teachers here in this sermon on the mount. He's speaking to a crowd of people, most of whom are not official teachers. And I think the reason He's speaking with this language is because everyone is teaching someone.

All of us are.

We're teaching someone through our lifestyle. We're teaching through the words that we speak. We're teaching people around us by what we deem most important. So are our lives being lived out according to God's Word?

Is this what Jesus is saying here? The least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same. Are we living our lives according to God's Word, according to God's laws? Do our words align with His words?

Does our speech align with the way He communicates? We all fall short, don't we? I've struggled with being angry and saying things that I should not be saying out of frustration and out of anger. And I watched it in my own children's lives.

I can see that anger coming out and that speech coming out. And I was under great conviction. And I've had to repent of those things over the years and change and have God renew that in my life. Because my words must align with His words.

Because I'm teaching not only my children, but my wife and those around me that I'm speaking words that are not His words. That are not honoring to Him. Are His words most important to us? Is this word the most important thing to us?

Do we value these words above all things? Because people are watching. People are looking at our lifestyle and what we value and where we put our hope and where we put our trust and what we love. It's okay to love other things.

But they have to be placed far, far below the words of our Creator and our Savior. They must be. I think oftentimes we pride ourselves in proclaiming these things to be true in our lives. My words align.

My values align. My love for the Word aligns. People can see it in me. But if we're honest, those questions that I just presented to us, they expose the deception in our own hearts at times, don't they?

Those types of questions expose that deception in our own hearts. One of those has exposed itself in my life the past couple of weeks. If you notice, I'm constantly trying to be transparent with you. Because I think that gives us hope when we're transparent with one another, right?

But I've had this exposed as I prepared for this lesson. Because I've seen in my own life the fact that I believe Scripture to be true, theoretically. And I believe passages like when Jesus says that I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And I believe that.

But my actions and the way I approached church and the way that I thought at times, the way that I felt at times, proved to be otherwise. But that idea of what Jesus was saying there, that He will build the church, became theoretical.

And I began to think in my own heart and life, I've got to play some part in this. I've got to do something. Because if I don't move, then the church isn't going to grow. We're not going to be able to reach people.

And I've had to confess this in my own heart. Because this is a part of where I myself have not truly aligned myself with God's Word. We all struggle with these things. I've seen countless parents over the years.

Countless. I can't even express to you how heartbreaking this is. I've seen it over and over again. These families that they confess to love and follow Christ. Man, they talk about it. They seem to live a godly life.

They talk about how they love and how they obey the Word of God. But then turn around and blatantly disobey Hebrews 10 .25. You know the passage where the writer of Hebrews says not to neglect to meet together?

The gathering of the saints as we're doing this morning. Do not neglect it. These families, they proclaim to love the Lord, but yet they completely and thoroughly throw that passage out. That command of God.

They set it aside just because their child is good at a sport and they have to be on the competitive team. And they have to travel weeks at a time and take their family out of the church. What is that parent teaching the child?

I've seen it over and over again. You know what I've seen? Those children do not grow up to be lovers of the Bride of Christ. Because their parents' actions have now shown them you don't value the Word of God at face value.

And this sport is more important than the gathering of the saints? It's catastrophic, isn't it? Just because you disobeyed the least of these laws, the least of these commands, and now you've taught others to do the same.

What a responsibility. I'm not saying that these parents are lost people.

That's not what I'm saying.

I've seen other families. They do the same thing during the summer. I was shocked when we moved here to Jonesboro. I didn't realize that half the city packs up on the weekends every weekend in the summer and heads to Lake Norfolk.

That was a shocker to me. But that's the culture that we live in here, right? I'm not saying you can't go on family vacations. Don't hear me. I'm not saying, hey, if you're here, you're here on Sundays every week.

No, no, no. You go on family vacations.

Those are necessary.

We do it. But if that's the habit of your life, and you're completely ignoring a passage like Hebrews 10 .25, you're teaching those around them that it's okay to relax His commandments. And where does that line get drawn?

When that neighbor sees that Christian relaxing that least of the commandments to gather with the saints, what does that tell that neighbor? That tells that neighbor, well, it's okay for me to break the commandment not to commit adultery.

It's okay for me to break the commandment to steal and to covet because they really have no value. They really hold no weight. That Christian doesn't live like it. They've broken the least of these. And again, mind you, none of these are unforgivable sins.

Every single one of us in here fail in different ways. Every single one of us. I confessed myself to one of the small ones. The question is, when we're confronted with it, that's the kicker. When we're confronted with it, when we're confronted with God's Word by another brother or sister, or just from sitting and reading God's Word, do we repent?

Do we have a deep desire to obey that command? Notice Jesus Himself doesn't condemn them to judgment. Look at what He does say here in the next part of verse 19. He says, they will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

And I know this may sound odd, and I don't know about you, but this statement by Jesus here, this is one of those statements in Scripture that gives me tremendous hope. This gives me great hope because unlike the law, rigid and unforgiving, Jesus is long-suffering and gracious.

Jesus is understanding. He knows our failures and our shortcomings, yet His love and acceptance of us never changes. It's never changing because in here, in this passage, we see that there are some levels of recognition and glory.

And look at the next part, He says, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Here's the beauty in this. The law leaves us looking for loopholes. This is the Pharisees looking for the least of the law because we went on from underneath that burden.

We look for loopholes, but grace, oh, grace frees us. Grace frees us. And when we see that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, just as what Jesus says that they will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, guess what that means?

If you're in Him, you're still going to be in heaven, doesn't it? That's why I find great comfort in this because there is therefore now no condemnation. I do not see the wrath of God upon me if I am in Christ just because I broke the law and taught others to do the same because knowing that it would be better to be the lowest servant in heaven than the ruler of this world.

Think about that for a second. The lowest servant in heaven called the least than the greatest of this world has to offer and that our position is secure and unwavering in Christ. This will lead us, this leads us as followers of Him out of an abundance of gratitude, out of an abundance of freedom that we are now set free.

All of this leads us to live according to His word. You see, we desire to obey the law of God now. We love the law of God. We once saw it as something to find a loophole in, something to avoid, something to run from, something to try and find any escape from the weight of the law but now we are freed from the law.

And what does it do? It makes us run to Christ and then it makes us want to obey His law because we love His law as King David said. The fact that I desire to obey His law leads me to desire to go before my Savior.

I know we've all had family members and friends that have gone on, right? They've gone to, they've met Christ. They've met Him and we've known some that man, they lived a life that was glorifying to God.

I can say that about my father. I know I talk about him a lot. Probably the biggest influence in my entire life. But my father got to stand before his Savior, the one that he loved, the one that had freed him.

And he got to stand there and he got to see his Savior, look at him and say, well done my good and faithful servant. That's what I long for. That's what Jesus says, that those who relax the least of these commandments and teach others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But those who do them and teach others to do the same, they will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. We're all there. But man, I want to see my Savior say, well done my good and faithful servant.

Don't you?

Out of that abundance it makes us want to desire, want to obey even the least of the laws of God. And when we obey the law of God and when we love the law of God, we love it because it's for our good.

We have to remember that. The law is not prohibition. The law is not God restraining something from us. The laws of God are good and perfect and holy and they are for our flourishing and for our betterment.

Every single, even the least of the one in Deuteronomy 22 that we just read, that is for our flourishing. It's for our betterment and it's for His glory ultimately. Now, lastly, briefly, verse 20. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

I believe we see two possible things here. And I'm on the fence with them both. I'm leaning one way, but I'm going to share the first one with you. In this passage here, Jesus is speaking of His imputed righteousness unto us.

That fits, doesn't it? Because after all, Christ's righteousness absolutely did exceed the scribes and Pharisees by far. And so, Jesus could be saying that here. That unless your righteousness exceeds the scribes and Pharisees, you will not see the kingdom.

But when we have the imputed righteousness that Christ has given to us, when He has laid that on us, then we will see the kingdom of heaven because our righteousness does exceed the scribes and the Pharisees.

The second way to look at it, and I tend to lean this way within context of what Jesus is saying, is very similar, but it's because of Jesus' imputed righteousness unto us, we now have the ability and freedom to obey the spirit of the law.

Without that, you will never see the kingdom of heaven. Because if you think about the scribes and the Pharisees, they wanted to follow the letter of the law, always trying to find the loopholes. And they could never fulfill it.

They could never live up to it because they didn't understand the spirit of the law. And we're going to see that over the next few weeks as we see Jesus explaining what that means. Hey, if you've looked at a woman with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart.

You've broken the law. So they've not lived up to the spirit of the law. We'll talk about that later. But they did not do that. But because Christ, He who knew no sin became sin for us, right? He took on my sin, and then He gave me His righteousness.

And when He gave me His righteousness, I now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, one that is within me, God Himself, that has now freed me from the bondage of sin and now leads me to a life that desires and longs to live in far greater obedience to the law than the Pharisees and scribes ever did.

Because now we understand the spirit of the law. I presented two options here for verse 20. But either way, either one of these interpretations, it should serve as a warning to us. Do we desire to obey the law of God?

If so, there will be with it a heart of repentance. And I must say, repentance is not just professing how sorry we are over and over again. We've all been there, haven't we?

We sin.

Oh, Lord, forgive me. Forgive me.

God, I keep failing. Forgive me. To just go right back at it again, knowing He's just going to forgive me again. It's back and forth. No, I'm talking about a heart of repentance. And what is repentance?

Repentance is an action. It's a turning away from something. It's turning away from sin and disobedience to God. But it's not just that. Don't leave it there. If we just leave repentance at turning away from something, then we're just going to be left wondering to just turn away right to another sin.

But we're turning away from something to something. What is it we're turning to? Christ, right? We're turning to Christ. That's what we're doing in repentance. Do you have a repentant heart that goes and runs to Christ for freedom, for the one that has set you free?

Now, I have to say this. Perfection cannot and will not be obtained this side of glory. Do not think that I'm teaching perfectionism here. There is absolutely no way any one of us in this room will carry out the laws of God perfectly in this life.

But the desire for perfection will be ever-growing. It will be ever-growing. Our hatred for sin and our love for righteousness will be growing in us.

It may be small.

Sometimes it may not even be visible. But if it's there, if we're in Christ, it will be there. So we must trust in the perfection of our Savior as we pursue this and obey His commands through the power of the Holy Spirit and teach others to do the same.

This is what Jesus is getting at here in this Sermon on the Mount. He is reaffirming the immutability of every jot and every tittle of Scripture.

Every single word.

It's perfect.

It's meant to be obeyed.

And we should seek to do so.

One of the ways that we teach others to do the same here at our church is through the Lord's Supper, isn't it? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11, 26, he said after speaking and reaffirming the Lord's Supper, he says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

That's what we're doing, right? This is precisely what we're doing when we come to this table is we're proclaiming His death until He comes. We are proclaiming the truth that our Savior came and lived the life that we could not, died the death that we deserved and rose from the dead.

And now we take part in Him. If we are in Him, we are a part of Him. The bread is His body. The wine is His blood that is shed on our behalf. And we proclaim that truth, but also we proclaim the coming, that He's coming back, and there is going to be a great feast.

It's not going to be a taste anymore, is it? It's not going to be just a small wafer and a cup with some wine in it. No, it's going to fill to the brim. It's going to be ever-flowing, and it's going to be perfect.

We look for that, don't we? While we're left in this broken world with an imperfect obedience, but an obedience nonetheless, we seek the one who was perfectly obedient, Christ, and we share in His righteousness.

Amen? Let's go to the Lord and pray for our time of the Lord's Supper as we worship. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we come to You once again, and we thank You for Your truth. I thank You for Your Word, for it is true, it is good, it is perfect.

Help us to love it. Help us to obey it. Help us to strive after obedience to You because of the great love that You have shown us through Your Son, Jesus Christ, and His righteousness given on our behalf.