[00:00:06] You're listening to Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell, Bringing Theology to Life We are continuing Life of Messiah series. We are still working our way through the Sermon on the Mount, that great teaching, that great sermon that Jesus gave us. Let's just briefly recap because it's been a while since we were in it and then we'll move on into this next section. So let's turn to Matthew chapter 5. We'll start off by reading chapter 3. We'll just read straight through the Beatitudes again as we move forward
[00:00:35] because the context is so important as we move into this next section of study. So Matthew chapter 5 verse 3, it says, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
[00:01:06] Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in heaven is great. For in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So we see here this is the beginning. Remember we've been through this just briefly.
[00:01:34] Jesus here completely subverts all of the expectations of the world in many ways. He shows what he gives as the true characteristics of a life lived as a disciple of Jesus. And he focuses primarily on the internal heart motivation. And that is all in the context of his dispute with the Pharisees who are focusing strictly on the external obedience element. He says that those who have been born again remember poor in spirit broken by sin hungering and thirsting for righteousness.
[00:02:04] Those who know the mercy they have received and give that mercy to others. Those who have a pure heart a clean heart an undivided heart that is wholly devoted to the Lord. That was his characteristics. And then he moved on in the next section and he talked about the impact that people living like that would have on the world. Remember you are the salt of the earth. I.e. you are the ones that preserve the corruption lessen the impact of sin in the world. And you are also the ones Christianity following the Lord will bring season to your life.
[00:02:34] We spoke about salt a lot if you remember in that part. He then went on to say you are the light of the world. And we spoke about what that meant. Light of the world was a term that was reserved for the august rabbis and for the temple and for the word. And Jesus remember here not only applies all those things to himself but here he applies all those things to his disciples. This would have been a shocking statement to all of them at the time.
[00:02:58] He's giving us that purpose that one of our roles in this earth is to expose the darkness in the world and to shine the light of Messiah into the world. That is one of the purposes God had in saving us so that we would shine. Remember he said it would be ridiculous if you lit a candle and then put it under a basket so no one could see it. That takes away the whole point of lighting it. The same the analogy is that he saved us for a purpose to make us shine.
[00:03:24] It would be ridiculous if he saved us and then we hid our Christianity from the world so that we did not shine. No, he says our purpose is to shine and maybe more so now as we see the darkness encroaching around us. Remember he said let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your father who is in heaven. So that's all that we did last time and now we're going to pick it up in verse 17 and we move into this next section.
[00:03:51] And this is really if you think about what Jesus has said here this radical nature of his teaching it was very different to the message the Pharisees were giving the law that the Pharisees were telling people their way of righteousness. If you remember we spoke about it. They built up all these extra commandments around the Torah these burdens that were being put on the people these regulations building a fence.
[00:04:13] If you remember that term we the Jewish people today call this the oral law for the Talmud and these things like that codify that that is what the debate is about here. However, they did consider their extra regulations to be the same as the actual law of God and that is a lot of the issue that Jesus is getting at here. He's basically saying that you have to have the proper law and you have to have a corresponding heart change rather than just externally trying to keep it.
[00:04:42] So let's look at verse 17 and 18. He says, Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. So Jesus here corrects any wrong thinking.
[00:05:06] Any people at this point who may be thinking that Jesus is coming along and giving this completely new teaching that he's doing away with all of their history in the previous revelation of the Torah that has gone before them. And Jesus is actually saying quite the opposite. He is saying, I am the fulfillment of everything that has gone before. And he is the one who lives in the perfect perfection of that law. He upheld that law perfectly in his life during the time he's giving this sermon. He is keeping the law perfectly.
[00:05:36] That is one of the things Jesus came to do. However, this is again, you see the point of contention. He was not concerned with keeping the rabbinic laws, the oral laws. He did not keep those and that's why they often charged him with being someone who didn't follow the law. And you need to understand this because law, in English we just have that word law and it's applied to many different things and it can be quite confusing. You've got to get your head into the Jewish mindset. I'll explain a little bit more as we go through. But when the rabbis said law,
[00:06:06] they're talking about the word of God and all of their regulations on top of that and they use it like that. When Jesus says law, he's just referring to the word of God, not any of those extra things. So he keeps the law, but he does not keep the rabbinical things. However, when the disciples and Jesus were telling people, you don't have to keep the rabbinic laws, but at this stage anyway, you had to keep the law. And then later when the apostles go out through the world, people would often, the Jewish people would often charge them with not keeping the law. Let me give you a few examples. Acts chapter 6.
[00:06:36] This is when Stephen, who would become the first martyr of the church, was brought before the council of a synagogue. It says in Acts chapter 6 verse 11, Then they secretly induced men to say, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, i.e. the law, and against God. Verse 13, They put forward false witnesses who said, This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place
[00:07:04] and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us. And I'll remind you again, they believed that the oral law they taught, that was also handed down from Moses. It clearly wasn't, and it was a much later addition, but that is what they taught. So when they're bringing a charge against the apostles, that they're talking against Moses, that is ultimately what they're talking about. The apostle Paul also had this charge brought against him. Acts chapter 18 verse 12,
[00:07:43] Of course, that's not what he was doing. What the point again there is, he was not obeying the rabbinical laws that they added to it, and that is their main point. The issue was this oral law that the rabbis has added that they conflated with the Bible. So, Jesus here in this sermon is speaking purely of the word of God, the Old Testament law. He uses this, I'm going to use this actually, as a little opportunity to just explain some of these things about the Bible. Look what Jesus says in verse 17. He calls, he says, the law,
[00:08:12] he's come to fulfill the law, not abolish, the law or the prophets. He makes these two distinctions there, the law and the prophets. These are the different divisions of the Old Testament. He gives two of them here, and there are a few different ways that you'll see the Old Testament categorized that are worth knowing. Has anyone ever heard the word Tanakh? Tanakh. So, it's a way that the Jewish people refer to the Old Testament today, and that is in an acronym. So, it's three parts put together, and this is the threefold division of the Old Testament,
[00:08:41] as we call it. The Tanakh, the T, in that word stands for the Torah. That's the law. That's the first five books. And then the N, as Tanakh, the N, the middle letter, stands for Nevi'im, which is the prophets. And then the K, the final letter of Tanakh, is Ketuvim, which is the writings. So, that's the law, the prophets, and the writings make up the whole Old Testament. And that's still the divisions that they use today when they refer to the Old Testament.
[00:09:10] But we do see Jesus also doing that, and we see it in the Bible. Often it was just the two of them, the law and the prophets, and the writings were put into that too. John 1.45, you see an example of this. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth. The law and the prophets. However, you do sometimes see the threefold division in the Bible too. Luke chapter 24, verse 44. He said to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things
[00:09:40] which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Psalms being the writings there. So you see, Jesus even used that threefold division. So he's saying, he came not to abolish all of these things but to fulfill them. The law, quite simply, the word Torah there, it means teaching or instruction in the broadest sense. It's not always referring to the Mosaic Code, the 613 commandments. And this is where it can get confusing
[00:10:10] if you're just reading your Bible and you're reading the word law the whole time. Sometimes when they say law, they're referring to the whole Old Testament because it just means teaching and instruction. Sometimes when the word law is used, it is referring to the specific Mosaic Covenant and the law associated with that, the Mosaic Law. And you have to be aware of that as you read and that will become important as we go through this little section here. I'll try and highlight it as we go through. So narrowly, the term law was used of the law of Moses.
[00:10:40] The law of Moses that contained 613 commandments. That was the code given to Israel at Mount Sinai if you remember the Ten Commandments, the two tablets being the foundation of that. Jesus says he is the one to fulfill the law of Moses. This means he is the substance to which the law pointed. He is the one that also lived in perfect obedience to the law according to the letter but also the spirit and intent of the law. The law was given to Israel.
[00:11:09] It served as a purpose, a guide to a wayward people in the midst of a pagan people all around them. It showed them how to live, to worship God and structured the people of Israel how that they could have forgiveness in many ways. Yet, as you know the story of Israel, many people failed to grasp its true meaning which was to point people towards faith in God so that they would live by faith. And the true meaning of the law is a big theme of the book of Romans.
[00:11:39] Let me read you Romans 10.4. He says, Brethren, this is the Apostle Paul, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them, that's Israel, is their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It's really summed up
[00:12:08] basically the whole debate that we're seeing play out with the Pharisees there. They were told that they could earn their righteousness by keeping the oral law and Jesus here is saying no, the actual purpose of the true law was to make you have faith in the Messiah, in the coming Messiah, in the Lord and through him you would receive the righteousness of faith and that is the only righteousness that will get you through. It wasn't that the law failed necessarily, it was that men failed. Men are sinners and we are broken and thus the commandments condemn us and point us to the need for a saviour,
[00:12:37] a way to have forgiveness. You may be aware when you read the Old Testament, huge amounts of the chapters that you find are taken up with very intricate details of offering sacrifices and all these kind of things that sound very strange to us that we don't really know. If you just think of all of that, the whole point of that was because this is what you do when you break the law, you need to offer sacrifice, you need to ask for forgiveness and of course we know now all of those things pointing towards the one final sacrifice that will be made
[00:13:07] by Jesus Christ in fulfilment of the law. So it was the sacrificial system that one day would end and give way to the Messiah who would institute a new law. This is the point to understand. A new covenant and a new law. We call it the law of Messiah. The Bible tells us this is when the law of God will be written internally on the hearts of people by the Spirit of God. Galatians chapter 3 talks about this. Verse 22, he says, but the scripture
[00:13:36] has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came we were kept in custody under the law being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. Jesus came and he kept the law perfectly and the law today is a guide. It can still be used to point us to our need
[00:14:06] for salvation. It can be used to show us our own sin that we may have faith in God and be forgiven. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament is no longer in effect. That ended when Christ instituted the new covenant and the only sacrificial system so to speak today is the cross of Jesus Christ the once and for all sacrifice and that is what remains. But we must understand this. With his death he inaugurated the new covenant didn't he? That means a new law had to come into place
[00:14:35] for us to live by the law of Messiah. Galatians 6.2 mentions this. Bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. Hebrews 7.12 highlights this. When the priesthood is changed of necessity there takes place a change of law also. We no longer have a Levitical priesthood. That was the Mosaic law. We now have the priesthood of all believers don't we? After the order of Melchizedek. That is the new law for the new covenant that we have there. And this is important.
[00:15:05] I know that can be hard to get your head around but this is important. It's not just related to these old issues. It comes up actually more than you know. I've had a few questions related to this just in the last few weeks. Let me lay it out for you. It comes up in what is often known as the shellfish argument. The shellfish argument has many many different variations that it takes but it goes a little something like this. A Christian let's say for example would object to a certain sexual behaviour or a certain Christian ethic
[00:15:34] and he'd object on biblical grounds and he'd maybe quote a verse from Leviticus from the Mosaic law that outlines and prohibits certain forms of behaviour. That is quite often how the argument is presented in the church and if you all know what I'm talking about and then a sceptic or someone who objects to Christians saying that or maybe a progressive Christian who agrees with those things choose, pick whoever you want there would then respond to that Christian by saying something like ah, you know
[00:16:03] but you don't eat shellfish you eat pork you don't care about wearing two types of different fabrics you don't care about leaving the corners of your field unreaped you don't care about doing all these other things and what they're basically doing is they're going back to the book of Leviticus and they're looking at all these different laws that are given there these ones that are quite strange to us in many ways and they're basically saying you're being inconsistent because if you read the book of Leviticus you get all those laws the ones that most of us don't even know about anymore and then you get the laws
[00:16:32] about sexual ethics too and what they're saying is basically like you Christian why are you just picking the law on sexual ethic and making a massive thing about that when you don't care about all those other laws and I've heard that from some of the top atheists today you see that all the time on social media these are arguments that are often brought against Christians and unfortunately what usually happens is that the Christian then goes oh right yeah I've never actually thought that through why am I just picking that one and ignoring all those
[00:17:02] other ones and they don't quite know how to answer and then people assume that we haven't got an answer for that and we're just being bigoted and you've still seen those arguments play out ad nauseum in the culture but this is where you see we have to understand the nature of law codes and the responsibilities that Christians have to understand this issue you see under the Mosaic law code which was given to the Jewish people all of those things were restricted the shellfish the pork and all the different types of clothing and also all the sexual prohibitions now
[00:17:32] like I said with the death of Messiah the Mosaic law ceased to function like that and we moved into a new law the law of Messiah okay so that's the different law there that you have so actually it's improper to make an argument based on Levitical law for things today now it doesn't mean the problem why this gets confusing is because we do agree with a lot of we find in the Old Testament law you have to trace this argument through with me a little bit you see with the nature of things like sexual ethics
[00:18:02] we find them actually in the Bible before the Mosaic law was even given remember God ordained marriage and man female relationships right back in the book of Genesis so there was one of the first things so we actually find them before the Mosaic law then we find them in the Mosaic law and then we also find those things repeated in the New Testament which means they're part of the law of Messiah and that is because these things are based on the eternal moral nature of God so they transcend and go through all of the laws whereas the things like shellfish pork
[00:18:32] and all those different other laws that people use in those examples they were just given for the Mosaic law to Israel at that specific time they're not repeated in the New Testament and that means they're not part of the new law so therefore it's totally consistent for us to continue to hold those ethics as part of the new law but not worry about things like eating pork and planting seeds they're from a different law system to which Gentiles were not part of anyway that has ceased since to operate with the death of Messiah so that's how you play that argument
[00:19:01] through in your head so when you get those questions you can understand if someone's asking you why aren't you obeying the law of Moses it's because the law of Moses has finished in that respect well then why are you still obeying that well because that particular thing was in the law of Moses but it was also before the law of Moses and it's also after the law of Moses because it's based on the character of God so that's the actual way that you answer and have to understand even if you don't answer that's how you understand those because I see so many Christians getting tripped up by those sorts of what we call the shellfish argument there and not understanding
[00:19:31] it all just comes from not understanding the different laws and the different covenants that we are a part of everyone with me yeah yeah so that's again you'll probably see that in the culture that simply put that's why we ignore some and we continue to hold on to others if they are repeated in the New Testament law so verse 17 do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets I did not come to abolish but to fulfill so how does he fulfill the prophets so we've done the law how does he fulfill the prophets and this again we could spend a lot
[00:20:00] of time on this let me read you Hebrews 10 verse 5 to 7 it says therefore when he comes into the world he says sacrifice and offering you have not desired but a body you have prepared for me in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure and then I said behold I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me to do your will oh God and then remember also again Luke chapter 24
[00:20:30] Jesus when he appears to those two disciples on the Emmaus road what does he say in verse 27 he says then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures all of the scriptures are pointing towards him the ceremonies the customs the laws the prophecies he is really the center and the fulfillment of all these things he is the purpose and end of the law but he is also the one fulfilling all of the prophecies of the prophets just think about it
[00:21:00] in his first coming he's here now on the sermon on the mount giving this sermon on the mount he's already fulfilled hundreds of prophecies or many prophecies many of the hundreds that he will fulfill at this time and if you actually read the gospels with that in mind particularly the gospel of Matthew because we're dealing with the sermon on the mount in Matthew chapter 5 he does this in every chapter leading up to this the author highlights a fulfillment of prophecy remember in Matthew chapter 1 the virgin birth story
[00:21:28] the author makes pains to mention that this was done to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah Isaiah 7 14 in chapter 2 of Matthew it says that Christ was born in Bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy of Micah 5 2 in chapter 3 it says that John the Baptist would be the one to prepare the way of the Lord in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 40 verse 3 and then in chapter 4 it says that Jesus moved to Capernaum in the Galilee of the Gentiles to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 and 2
[00:21:59] you see every single chapter Matthew highlights the fact that Jesus is fulfilling prophecy and then in this great sermon Jesus says I am the one who's going to fulfill the prophets so it makes sense Matthew's almost like he's anticipating that thing and he's laying the theme of fulfillment he wants people to understand this the law and the prophets point to him prophetically so how on earth could anyone think that he came to abolish them you see the scriptures are wonderful like this they take these themes and they grow them and progress them and you sometimes we do miss them we shouldn't miss them
[00:22:29] but we do miss them but they are there for all to see let's look at verse 18 now back in Matthew 5 he says for truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever keeps and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven so yes it says in here in the NASB anyway
[00:22:57] truly I say to you the NIV would read I tell you the truth the word in Hebrew here is actually amen we usually say that at the end don't we amen amen I agree I agree it is true it is true Jesus here says it at the beginning the point being he says this he says this quite a lot it's often in the King James it'll read verily verily that's the more translation that people know what he's basically saying is truthfully truthfully I'm about to really say something that is true and very important make sure you listen so Jesus often introduces
[00:23:26] some of his statements with that so he's saying here about this text truly truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished we get a very good glimpse of Jesus' view of scripture here this is basically a way of saying that the word of God is going to outlive the earth he says this many times actually throughout his ministry Matthew 24 verse 35 heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away
[00:23:56] 1 Peter 1 24 for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers the flower falls off but the word of the Lord endures forever Psalm 119 verse 89 forever oh Lord your word is settled in heaven you see the word of God is held out as the absolute bedrock of truth and Jesus here holds it out as the inspired true word of God that's why he begins with verily verily truly truly I say to you
[00:24:26] this is a great statement of what Christians call the doctrine of inspiration if you haven't heard that doctrine that is what we refer to the fact that the scriptures are God breathed they are a product of God 2 Timothy 3 16 is where we we get this word from which says all scripture is inspired by God profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate equipped
[00:24:54] for every good work it's a very important verse for us as believers look at it equipping the saints that we may be adequate the idea there is that you may be complete for all of the ministry that God has called you to do it comes from a commitment to the true eternal word of God it trains us in righteousness this is very very important and he goes on and he says not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law Matthew this is until all
[00:25:24] is accomplished and again if you're reading a King James it'll say the jot and tittle and the idea is it's trying to reference if you've ever seen a Hebrew script at all you know that they have some very very small letters and some of their letters look absolutely identical except for just a tiny little inflection or uplift of the pen at the end these are the things the jot and the tittle we would maybe say in our language the dotting of the I and the crossing of the T that's kind of the same understanding that we have there
[00:25:53] so this is very important because not only is he saying that the word of God is true and eternal because it's based on God he's applying that standard even to the very letters the words and the letters this is what theologians refer to as verbal plenary inspiration I'm giving you these terms in case any of you look into this stuff yourself verbal means all the words plenary meaning the fullness everything there the inspiration of the Bible applies even to the letters of scripture this is the view of Jesus
[00:26:22] now why am I emphasizing this quite simply you don't have to be in the church for too long to realize that there are many believers who do not believe that in the church today many hold a very low view of scripture many would argue that it only contains the ideas of God in the languages of men they would say that it has been corrupted and changed through over the years many people feel a liberty to be able to pick and choose the various parts of the Bible that are going to be authoritative
[00:26:52] and are not going to be authoritative we see this particularly in the history presented in the Bible many people will reject the history in Genesis they'll add man's ideas to it they'll come up with novel ways to downplay the meaning of passages that they don't like whether it's a moral instruction or something like that the point I am making really is that a believer someone who is living with the characteristics outlined in the first of the section of this sermon the Beatitudes as we call it will acknowledge the same truth
[00:27:22] about the word of God as Jesus did it's as simple as that in my opinion basically that should be our standard not what some liberal theologian says not a different view of inspiration there's many of them many many many of them it's tiresome to read all of them the best standard that you have here is what did Jesus believe we don't go with what our church believes you don't go just because that's what I believe you must be convinced in your own mind what Jesus'
[00:27:51] view of scripture was and most significantly I think in our times I would say it doesn't matter what you think is true also about inspiration many people like to we live in an age where it's kind of expected that you're allowed to pick and decide for yourself what is true and there is maybe a subjective element you know like my favourite colour is this that may be true for you in that respect but this is not that sort of a thing Jesus here is talking about the objective nature
[00:28:20] of the inspiration of the word of God and it is all true whether you believe it or not scripture doesn't really care about that and Jesus here has put the standard down the measuring rod is what did Jesus think about scripture that should be exactly what we think about scripture let me go through give you a few examples of things Jesus did believe about scripture number one Jesus said that his word is truth he's just said it here he also says it in John 17 17 he believed that all the prophecies
[00:28:50] concerning him would be fulfilled that is very important because many of these prophecies remain unfulfilled to this day he also believed that scripture could not be broken in John 10 35 he also believed that it was eternal and indestructible he also believed that the Old Testament recorded historical facts he clearly believed in the existence of Adam and Eve he clearly believed in the existence of Abel he clearly believed
[00:29:19] in the existence of Noah and the event of a global flood he clearly believed in Abraham he references the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah he references Moses and the serpent in the wilderness and he speaks about Jonah he clearly believed in the history of the Old Testament he believed that the books written were written by the men that bear their name he speaks of Moses writing the Pentateuch in Mark chapter 7 he calls Isaiah the author of that book in John 12
[00:29:49] he believed in Matthew 24 15 that Daniel wrote the book of Daniel and I'm listing these ones because these are ones like I said remember those people who feel the liberty to change what God says most critical scholars theologians as you call them they don't believe Isaiah wrote all of Isaiah they don't believe that Daniel wrote the book of Daniel and they come up with different theories and different letters of different people and all these different critical theories that we call them Jesus does away with all of them he believed that the Old Testament was spoken by God even though it was
[00:30:19] written by man we've talked about that inspiration he believed that scripture was more powerful in many ways than his miracles Luke 16 29 the scriptures were his authority in overthrowing temptation from Satan in Matthew 4 the scriptures were the arbiter in disputes from Luke 16 29 he quoted scripture as the basis for his own teaching Matthew 7 12 he warned against adding or subtracting from the scripture and his words he said will be the basis for the future
[00:30:48] judgment of man on the last day and he also rebuked people for being ignorant of his word as Christians we must have the same view of scripture that Jesus had let me read you a quote by one scholar he says Jesus held scripture in the highest possible esteem he knew his bible intimately loved it deeply he often spoke with the language of scripture he easily alluded to scripture and in his moments of greatest trial and weakness like being tempted from the devil or being killed on a cross
[00:31:18] he quoted scripture his mission was to fulfill scripture and his teaching always upheld scripture he never disrespected never disregarded never disagreed with a single text letter or anything of scripture he affirmed every bit of law prophecy narrative and poetry he shuddered to think of anyone anywhere violating ignoring or rejecting scripture he believed in the inspiration of scripture down to the sentences to the phrases to the words to the smallest letter to the tiniest mark on those letters he accepted the chronology the miracles
[00:31:48] the authorial ascriptions as giving straightforward facts of history he believed in keeping the spirit of the law without ever minimizing the letter of the law he affirmed the human authorship of scripture while at the same time bearing witness to the ultimate divine authorship of scriptures he treated the bible as a necessary word a sufficient word a clear word and the final word it was never acceptable in his mind to contradict scripture or to put yourself above scripture he believed the bible was all true
[00:32:17] all edifying all important all about him he believed absolutely the bible was from god and was absolutely free from error what scripture says god says what god said was recorded in falby in scripture jesus submitted his will to the scriptures committed his brain to the study of scriptures humbled his heart to obey the scriptures in summary it is impossible to revere the scriptures more deeply or affirm them more completely than jesus did the lord jesus god's son and our savior believed his bible was the word of god down to the tiniest speck and that nothing in all those specks
[00:32:47] and in all those books in the bible could ever be broken and i would say that is the view that we all need to have too of the scripture not because any other reason except that is clearly believed and we seek to follow jesus don't we as believers verse 19 whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever keeps and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven
[00:33:17] for i say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven so with the logic of what jesus has just said his view of the word of god in verse 18 he now moves on what he's basically saying is if you take what i'm saying seriously that the word is true even down to the very tiniest minuscule detail of a letter then you won't separate the law into small commandments or big commandments
[00:33:47] they did do this in judaism and there's a truth to it as in jesus calls the weightier things of the law and the less obviously there are certain things that are dealing with much more serious issues but his point is all of it is the word of god and therefore man has no authority to circumvent to change to get rid of even those things that he may consider small in the law of god they were all important inspiration extends to all of them not just the ones that he may want to be important the word annuls whoever then annuls
[00:34:16] that means to set aside jesus here is saying basically you do not have the authority to dismiss the law or the word of god and you do not definitely have the authority to teach others to do the same people who do that will be considered least in the kingdom of god this reminds me very much remember james's warning in james chapter 3 where he says to the teachers don't everyone want to be a teacher you're going to be judged much more strictly because you're teaching others you see the emphasis here on teaching others if you have come up with a view
[00:34:45] that means you can disagree or do away with many of the principles in the bible and then you start a church or an organization you start teaching others that same thing the lord puts a grave responsibility on you for doing that and also on the other side of that coin whoever keeps and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven and that really is just the essence of the great commission actually there Matthew 28 19 go and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father the son and the
[00:35:15] holy spirit teaching them to observe all that i command you all all of it and lo i am with you always even to the end of the age for i say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven so now he really hammers home his point and it's important we get this because some people even today when i'm speaking and i'm saying we need to obey the commandments of god that makes some people uncomfortable because they start thinking well but
[00:35:45] we're not we're not saved that's not how we get saved and if you're thinking like that yes that's exactly the point that jesus has been making to these pharisees the whole time but it doesn't mean that we have no law doesn't mean that we have no commandments and instruction and teaching we need them they're the the law is holy just and good the mosaic law had over 613 if you count through the new testament you'll find over a thousand commandments as part of the law of messiah of things we should be doing and should not be doing they're given for our flourishing basically they're given so that we may walk in obedience with god so that we have a better
[00:36:15] relationship with him so that we may be salt and light to the world we love the commandments of god that should be our attitude here but he hammers his home point this home to the pharisees now because remember they were teaching their own system of righteousness that people had to obey their oral commandments they were putting it on par with the word of god and that was their righteousness and this the people did think they were righteous in many ways they appeared they spent their whole life dedicated their whole lives to all these oral commandments they stood up in the marketplaces and
[00:36:44] did the big prayers they were always the ones doing all the religious stuff and people thought that they were very righteous diligent in keeping these commandments they appeared righteous anyway but as jesus has just explained they were actually teaching people to circumvent the true word of god that was his point with the previous verse mark 7 he speaks about this he was saying to them mark 7 verse 9 you are experts at setting aside the commandment of god in order to keep your tradition but think how
[00:37:14] much that must have stung because they considered themselves experts in keeping the law and being righteous and jesus comes along and says no no you are experts you're an expert in teaching people to circumvent the true law of god he goes on verse 13 of mark 7 he says thus invalidating the word of god by your tradition which you have handed down and you do many things such as that so you see by making people keep their law they were making people actually stumble over the word of god
[00:37:43] if you rely on righteousness derived from the pharisees that they were teaching you will not be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven because it cannot save you you will not enter the kingdom of heaven it's not a righteousness that will save you it's not the righteousness you need it's man made you cannot earn your salvation through keeping those commands the pharisaical commands you need the righteousness that comes through faith remember this was the point of the law to point people to their need for a savior to live in faith the one who
[00:38:13] kept the law perfectly the apostle paul lived this this was his life he was the pharisee of pharisees remember he understood all of them but he got radically saved and he understood this and in the book of philippians chapter three he actually basically writes a commentary on these like four verses that we've just read from the sermon on the mount i'm going to read them to you all from verses four to eleven of philippians chapter three and as you read these i want you to have all of this debate that we've just gone through in matthew five in your mind and you'll see paul is basically giving
[00:38:43] us a way better commentary than anything i've just said basically on these verses so he says although i myself might have confidence in the flesh if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh i far more circumcise the eighth day the nation of israel of the tribe of benjamin a hebrew of hebrews as to the law a pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to the righteousness which is in the law found blameless but whatever things were gained to me those things i have counted as lost for the
[00:39:12] sake of christ more than that i count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things count them but rubbish so that i may gain christ and may be found in him this is important bit not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law but that which is through faith in christ the righteousness which comes from god on the basis of faith that i may know him and the power
[00:39:42] of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that i maintain may attain to the resurrection from the dead and isn't that just a wonderful description of really everything that he's just talking about here so as we move into this next section of the sermon on the mount you're going to see jesus really dig in on some of these issues but for now i wanted us from this section to really take away jesus's view of scripture and of course the context of the debate that he's
[00:40:12] having but i'll take away from this is really i would say make sure that you do have faith in christ as the one true sacrifice as the only one who can give you that righteousness that will make sure that you do enter the kingdom of heaven because any good works that you think you may have any law keeping any religious works they will not save you only christ amen amen amen god bless you all please come up if you need prayer if not let's fellowship
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