17 “Think
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfil.
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.
19 Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall
teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great
in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For
I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter
into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20)
To
realize the full implication of these words, we must look at the
context of this powerful statement ...Who was Jesus speaking with?
Jesus was chastising the Pharisees in His sermon on the mount, for
putting undue bondage on the people they controlled, but wouldn't
follow what God said themselves.
In Matthew’s day, right
after Jesus’ death and His resurrection, men were trying to water
down righteousness and the biblical walk of faith unto holiness. A
very sharp and critical name was applied to these heretics of the
true faith in God. They were called antinomics
, which
means “no law”. They
taught grace
without responsibility and holiness without righteousness.
It
is one of the present day church’s pitfall of weekend Laodecian
“Christians’ and I use that term loosely when applied to these
self proclaimed Christians, “in name only.” Our Lord and
Savior’s own words forever destroy the notion that a Christian can
willfully disobey and ignore the Laws and Commandments of Almighty
God. Does that mean the “ law keeping” is required for salvation?
No, but what were the words that Jesus spoke of........
13 And
whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son.
14 If
ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If
ye love me, keep my commandments.”(John 14:13-15)
We
must realize that Jesus was the Word, even before He was born to a
woman here on earth. Jesus is the God of the Old Testament, the One
who gave standards to live by all down through Biblical history. The
Old Testament is the revelation of that Word. The basic Ten
Commandments and the clear principles of His laws and are just as
real in the New Testament, as it was in the Old Testament. Notice
when Jesus spoke that verse again in Matthew 5:17, “Think not
that I am come to destroy the law (the first five books of the Torah)
or the prophets (the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament) I
am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (or complete them).
The Son of God came not to destroy His revelation He gave to us in
the Old Testament, but to supply the finishing touches, to flesh out
and fully explain what it was Jehovah-Jireh had given to Godly men to
write down. Many people think they must follow the literal
interpretation of the “law” but Jesus was focusing on the
spiritual application of a “born again” believer in relation to
keeping His commands for righteous living.
When you throw out
the Law of God, you basically have defiled the Holy of Holys and the
tapestry that was torn from top to bottom at Jesus’ death, and was
removed so that we might enter right into the throne room of God,
spiritually. Holiness is non-existent in any redemptive plan if you
destroy the commandments of God. But stopping there....can you keep
the law perfectly?? No, none of us can. It is why Jesus came to give
Himself as a ransom for many, because mankind can't keep the law
perfectly...But, we are to endeavor to try and become transformed
into the image of ABBA Father's Son Jesus Christ...
28 “And
we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover
whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called,
them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also
glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30)
Jesus
proclaims in Luke 21:33, that the whole Word of God (from
Genesis to Revelation) will never pass away. He said, “heaven and
earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
Before
I fully understood the implication of these verses, I was reading in
Matthew, these scripture verses and they seemed to jump out at me, to
be highlighted, to be italicized, or whatever made me stop and think
to myself. “what did I just read?”…I had read it many, many
times and it never became real to me, until that day. Maybe it wasn’t
my time, but God’s time, that He revealed this simple truth to me.
Matthew
5:18 “ 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.”
A
jot and a tittle are the smallest scripts in the Hebrew language
which is the dotting of an “I” and the crossing of a “T”. If
they will not pass away, even being the smallest part of the written
language, God is saying that nothing, nothing of His Word will pass
away. Every one of us will be judged according to what
scripture says, and you can do what you will with God’s Law, but
they stand unmoved. God said, “I am the same today, yesterday,
and forever. I change not.” No wonder Paul wrote in Hebrews
10:31. “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.”
Make
no mistake about trying to follow God's commandments. Law keeping
will not save you. But many people, from the Pharisees of Jesus day,
until our so-called “Modern Churches” of religiousity, whether
you be Catholic or Protestant is not found in keeping some sort of
obedience to your church. It's not about religion, it is about
relationship. Do you love Jesus? Then you press on trying to do as He
ask of you. Will you do it perfectly? Again, NO....even if you fail
in one point of the law then you have broken them all. That is why we
need a Savior found in Jesus Christ...but even as Paul said, we press
on to a higher calling in Christ Jesus.....
13 “Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto
those things which are before,
14 I
press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus.
15 Let
us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any
thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let
us mind the same thing.” (Phillipians 3:14:16)
Even
the Apostle Paul admitted that he could not attain the level of
righteousness that Jesus had on earth, but he was determined in his
spirit to keep pressing on being obedient to the One who saved him
and promised him new life in eternity....It is a lifelong process
that we will NEVER attain in this life, until Jesus changes us into
what He is....spiritual of flesh and bones unable to sin
forevermore.
EXCEPT YOUR
RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEED THOSE OF THE PHARISEES.
We
all know who the Pharisees were in Jesus day and how He chided them,
rebuked them for the self-righteous application of the law, (to
everyone else) but not to themselves. Oh, they knew the law,
backwards and forwards, but they didn’t internalize it’s
message.
In our day, Jesus has laid the very foundation of how
we are suppose to live our lives, by reading these verses. Grace is
free, but some Christian’s make it cheap. Jesus did not come to
cast off His Word, but to provide the grace to change a man’s
heart. He did not come to only cover our sins, which He did, but to
ultimately destroy sin, at it’s root.
Last
week I covered that we are supposed to be salt and light to a dying
world, but many so called “Christians” have lost their saltiness
and as Jesus said, it is good for nothing but to be cast out and
trampled under men's feet....That is what Jesus railed at the
Pharisees for and called them “white washed tombs”.....
27 “Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto
whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even
so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are
full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the
tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,”
(Matthew 23:27-29)
The
Old Testament standards are the very standards, that Jesus and the
early church lived by, preached by and lived by. They gave us the New
Testament for a completed interpretation of the Old Testament.
The
apostle Paul wrote in Hebrews 10:16-18 …..
“This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them;
17 And
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin."
He
will not remember their sin or lawbreaking anymore. The Laws of our
God and Savior cannot be separated from the whole Word of God.
I
have a dear brother, (and I call him brother, as that is what he is)
tell me at work before I retired from my local hospital, that we
have been released from the law, because of the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ. What he failed to realize and I hope I made it more
clear to him, that we have been released from the penalty, our death
sentence of transgressing that Law. He pointed out that we don’t
keep the law, with all it’s laws of sacrifice, and that I had to
agree with him. Yes, Jesus freed us from having to sacrifice an
animal to cover our sins daily, as Jesus became our perfect
sacrifice. Jesus also removed the commandments or traditions of men
that had become equal to the Laws of God and His commandments, in the
Pharisee system of Judaism, called the Talmud. Jesus actually
purified the whole of the Old Testament Law, by fulfilling the
law of sacrifice and breaking that yoke of ceremonial sacrifice that
could not, in itself, remove sin. It was to remind them and us, of
the need for a Savior. We the saints of the New Covenant have entered
into a new relationship with Almighty God, through His Son’s
sacrifice. Paul wrote in Hebrews
20 “by
the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain,
that is to say, His flesh.
21 And
having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with
pure water."(Hebrews 10:20-22)
Now
we can come straight to the Father, through His Son.
Does that
make us “loose” from the Ten Commandments and free to live as we
please? NO, IT DOES NOT!! These verses are not present day “modern
Protestant” theology in a lot of churches, but it is true
Christianity and very Biblical. The heart and soul of a true called
out child of God is a picture in purity. The commandments of God
become our delight and we rejoice in the peace of a pure heart. Our
righteousness according to God’s Word, is as filthy rags, but God
expects us to press on to the example set by His Son, Jesus Christ.
Even though we do them imperfectly, we follow them in obedience to
the Words of our God, and our Savior, for His blessings, and as
a guide on how to live our life, as He lived His life. Worldly and a
sinful generation love religion without holiness, but it will be
wholly inadequate when we face the awesome judgment bar. I fully warn
those who think going to church every Sunday or Wednesday night,
giving tithes to your church, helping the poor, or anything that
looks religious even down to “pew warming” looks righteous on the
outside, but are you living it according to what the Bible teaches
the other 6 days of the week?....are you living like the devil and
only on Sunday, do you put on church clothes and try and appear like
you are following God?
Paul writes again in 1
Corinthians 3:10-15
“According
to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder,
I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let
every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every
man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work
abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a
reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
If
you’re not living according to the plan laid out by God and
following His footsteps, the blessings and the rewards that a
Christian should one day receive by following His way of life
found in His law and His commandments, will be diminished or
non-existent, but as it is written in v. 15, all that will stand is
he himself and Christ in his heart…as though by fire. Everything
else will be burned up. And if there is no payment for sin via the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ and His resurrection, then He will lose
even his life. Where is the cutoff? Better to follow God’s ways
closely than to follow from afar off and be found lacking on that day
or woefully deceived and be found a modern day Pharisee.
Paul
wrote in Hebrews 10:28-31
“He
that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses:
29 Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For
we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will
recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his
people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God."
Notice
that in v. 29 is using sanctified in the past tense. If a person,
through willful and with forethought, decides he wants to turn
against God, and I just don’t and can’t envision any true
Christian doing so, if he wants to turn 180 degrees in the other
direction, after the sanctification process begins, God will allow
Him to do that, but with many episodes and trips behind the
proverbial “woodshed”. God will not loose what is His, but
for disobedience will bring much chastisement in every increasing
degrees, until God gets your attention, or keep being inflicted with
righteous “whupping” to the even the point of death.
EXCEPT
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEED THOSE OF THE PHARISEES.
James,
the earthly brother of Jesus, wrote an incredible book that is said
to be the first book of the New Testament written and it ties the
commandments of the Old Testament to the NEW Testament church. James
1:21-27
“Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity
of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which
is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For
if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass:
24For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he
was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but
a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If
any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue,
but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world.”
That is our goal and should be what
drives us “Keep yourself unspotted from this world”.
James
went on to say, that faith by itself, if it’s does not have good
deeds, or fruit, called works by James, then that faith is
dead. I told my friend at work, that the keeping of the law by
following the commandments of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is
complimentary to a Christian walk of faith…it’s like two sides of
a weighing scale…if on one side, you have works only, they cannot
save you, so your scale hits bottom. If on the other hand, you have
good works, being a good, upright moral person and have no faith in
Jesus Christ, then your works are for nothing….you must have
both, to have a balance in your life and reap the blessings and the
reward from the Father. By doing so, you are not easily deceived by
the enemy in this end of days.
17 "Even so faith, if
it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man
may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without
thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou
believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also
believe, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain
man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our
father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect?"( James 2:17-22)
We
have a whole generation of church goers, church leaders, and pastors
that have been schooled to believe and practice the doctrines of
lawlessness. People who have the moniker of “Christian” about
them, but hold onto a sense of cheap grace. They teach and
believe grace
without responsibility and holiness without righteousness. It
is true that if a human being calls upon the name of the Lord, “thou
shalt be saved”. But that is the beginning of your call to
salvation, not it’s end. We are called to fruit worthy of
repentance. It’s a lifelong process. (If you love Jesus, keep His
commandments in your everyday life)
Some people, not all, live
outside the whole of scripture and boldly state they are Christian,
but get highly offended when you point out certain scriptures that
don’t fit their concept of being a follower of Jesus Christ.
Understand one thing, my reader, even the devil believes the
Word of God, but he is certainly not a saint. He takes pleasure
in perverting it, and we should not discard from living with the
whole counsel of the Word of God, not just the parts we like.
THE
LAW IS OUR SCHOOL MASTER
One
of the apostle Paul’s great lessons is found in Romans chapter
seven. Conviction of sin always precedes conversion and accepting
Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. It is impossible to repent of
sin, without a sense of guilt, a conviction of sin arising out of
transgressing God’s Law and upon Holy Spirit conviction from God,
the Holy Spirit draws a person close, and knocks upon the door of his
heart, asking entrance into that person’s life. Roman’s
7....
7 “What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet.
8 But
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For
I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died.
10 And
the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto
death.” (Romans 7:7-9)
If
you read the whole chapter, Paul laments about what he wants to do,
that he does not...what he is not suppose to do, that is what he
does....it is called being mortal and living in sinful
flesh....sounds ominous based on what I have stated in this message
so far, until you get to the end of the chapter...who can deliver us
from our tendency to sin???
23 “But
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members.
24 O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death?
25 I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
(Romans 7:23-25)
SIN,
WHEN IDENTIFIED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, CREATES A SENSE OF GUILT, THE
FOREBODING OF ONE’S CONDITION, WITHOUT GOD.
I
emphasize this point, because without the Holy Spirit drawing us, and
bringing to the forefront of our knowledge the transgression of His
Law, can we feel convicted of the way we are living. I’ve seen
people sweat, shake, and look like they are near a physical death,
when the Holy Spirit is dealing with them. They have such a
foreboding of their lost condition, their knowledge of being without
God and the implication of a life devoid of God and His Salvation.
What a person does with that calling could be a matter of life and
death to that person, eternally, as we are not promised even
tomorrow, just today.
Paul continues on in Romans 7:
12 Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
13 Was
then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that
it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 For
we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under
sin.”(Romans 7:12-14)
The
apostle says that the law is holy and spiritual. Why? Not because God
is magnifying sin, but that He is magnifying His grace to forgive and
to cleanse. He reveals His law of holiness, through His Son that we
might see our nature of sin.
EXCEPT
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL EXCEED THOSE OF THE PHARISEES!
That
continued statement sounds harsh and unfair until we discover what
Jesus came in our world to accomplish. If he were telling dark
sinners that they must lift themselves up to live more “righteously”
than the Pharisees by works ONLY, then he would have been a
taskmaster, and not a Savior. But, His death was already sealed in
the plan of God and Jesus Christ knew well the glory of His
suffering. He came to break the powers of sin and to create a brand
new family called the church, His future Bride at His coming in the
rapture.
Jesus came, lived, died and rose again, that he might
destroy the “works of the devil”. John wrote in 1st
John 3:8
“He
that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the works of the devil.”
John used the
word “manifested” as he was speaking beyond the physical birth of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. God has sent His Son into
the world by a series of prophesies and miraculous events which made
His life and death a divine occasion. The life and death of Jesus
Christ was triumph over every limitation and calamity of this human
life. He came out of eternity, gave up His glory, to enter into our
little, limited world to bring an end to Satan’s schemes and plans.
The result was the redemption of the highest level possible to the
human family. We were redeemed, transformed into new creatures,
filled with His Holy Spirit, to live and walk in newness of life far
beyond what the Pharisees practiced in their concept of religion.
Someday we will be translated into a newness of life complete for all
eternity.
CONCLUSION
The
apostle Paul could not have echoed the idea of Jesus Christ and what
He means to each and everyone of us by a second letter to the church
of Corinth.,
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a
new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new.
18 And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation;" (2nd Corinthians 5:17-18)
We
are all new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have been given a deposit
of redemption into a heavenly Family of God. We walk no more by the
world’s bondage. We have been forgiven of our past transgressions
against His Holy Law, and now we walk in obedience to His way of life
by following His Commandments, His judgments, His Law of Liberty by
faith, not by site, as evidenced by our good deeds and works to help
others. Unless our faith, and our righteousness
:EXCEEDS
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE PHARISEES, WE WILL NOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF
GOD
Understand
the implications. Grace is a free gift of mercy. It produces a new
creature, one prone to good works and living as Jesus did, without
sin as humanly possible. Living a righteous life following Jesus
produces good fruit, good works, NOT the other way around. No matter
of works can save you, but it is the evidence that you believed and
accepted His gift of grace and are a changed person, dead to the
lusts of this world.
Dead to this world, and raised to newness of
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let each of us live like it, as
Jesus is coming soon...Be ready.
16 “For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.
17 For
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved.
18 He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God.
19 And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
(John 3:16-19)
8 “But
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
10 For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
11 For
the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same
Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
(Romans 10:8-13)
Recalling
what I have said and Jesus told us...
“if
you love Me, keep my commandments”....if you love Him, then as best
a mortal can, repent of your sins, and anytime you mess up...(and you
will in this life) come to Him in repentance, and He will raise you
up and give you strength to overcome that temptation. But live like
Jesus could come today, (as He could) and be ready working for the
Kingdom of God. Because each of us, (I know I want to hear)...
for
Jesus to say “well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into
the joy of thy Lord”...So come Lord Jesus.
This
is pastor Mike Taylor praying for your being ready to meet our
Savior, by accepting His free gift of salvation and living it the
best you can.. If you need counseling, prayer, or just a listening
ear, email me at pastormiketaylor@yahoo.com,
God
bless you, till we meet at Jesus Feet.
