So if you can turn with me to Matthew chapter 5, verse 17.
We're reading up to verse 32.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfil them.
For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
You have heard that it was said to those of old,
you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you that everyone who's angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.
Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council.
And whoever says, you fool, will be liable to the hell of fire.
So, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there,
remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your gift there before the altar and go.
First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift.
Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with him to court,
lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard
and you be put in prison.
Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you've paid the last penny.
You've heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
For it's better that you lose one of your members
than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
It was also said, whoever divorces his wife,
let him give her a certificate of divorce.
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife,
except on the grounds of sexual immorality,
makes her commit adultery.
And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Good morning.
I'm not sure if you know this or not,
but the Tour de France finished a couple of weeks ago.
I know we're all probably swept up in Olympic fever,
but a couple of weeks ago I was swept up in cycling fever.
It was won by a 22-year-old called Tadej Podjaka,
who also won it last year.
And it was a really good race.
It was very interesting, lots of different things going on.
But unfortunately, because the sport is cycling,
and Tadej Podjaka was very impressive,
now the whole cycling world is busy questioning
just how he could be that impressive.
No one can trust who he is.
And the reason that no one can trust who he is
is because of this guy,
the most famous cyclist ever.
If you don't recognise him,
his name is Lance Armstrong.
And in the 2000s,
he was not just the biggest name in cycling,
he was also one of the biggest names in world sport.
He overcame cancer
and went on to win a record seven Tour de France's in a row.
It's a story that seemed almost too good to be true.
And that's kind of the problem,
because it turns out it was too good to be true.
We know now that even though Lance Armstrong
said he was an incredible athlete
who triumphed against all odds,
he was actually taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs
to gain an unfair advantage over the other cyclists
he was riding against.
To him, the laws of cycling
were just there to be seen to be obeyed.
And he didn't care about things like sportsmanship
or an even playing field,
the things that those laws were put in place
to try and create.
He only saw the need to create a facade
of following them
so that he could have the image
of being a heroic athlete
that he wished to portray.
And the reason that I bring up Lance Armstrong today
is not just because I like cycling,
but because today we're talking about the law of God
and how the people at the time that Jesus was talking
had misinterpreted it,
had misunderstood it,
and improperly used it.
And before I get into the Sermon on the Mount this morning,
I want you to ask yourselves,
what does God's law mean to you?
How do you follow it?
And what place does it have in your life?
Do you think that it's just like a good guide
to living a moral life?
Do you think it's a list of rules
that doesn't have any application in your life?
Do you not think you need it
because you have Jesus?
What do you think God's opinion
on the law of God is today?
Because we're going to see today
in the Sermon on the Mount
that the law is not dead in God's kingdom,
but it has been misunderstood
and that Jesus is ultimately here to fulfill it.
And Jesus doesn't mess about.
So in the first line
in this part of the Sermon on the Mount,
he gets into it straight away.
He isn't here to get rid of the law.
He's here to fulfill it.
Verse 17,
the start of what we're looking at.
Do not think
that I have come to abolish the laws of the prophets.
I have not come to abolish them,
but to fulfill them.
Up to this point in the Sermon on the Mount,
it would have been very easy
for the people that were listening at the time
to get the wrong idea about it.
The one thing that the majority of those people
would have had in common
is the understanding that Israel
is the kingdom of God,
that God had chosen to be his people
and that God had chosen to live under his law.
Israel was meant to be the salt
and the light in the world
and they were meant to be the one
that was receiving God's blessings.
And all of a sudden,
in his first sermon,
and that's what we looked at
for the last two weeks,
Jesus is turning the understanding of that
on its head,
saying that those blessings
and those titles
could be extended to other people
just by the attitudes that they had.
And this would have been
pretty worrying, really,
for the people that were listening
because they had built their life
and the position in the community
following what they believed
was the law of God.
They may well have been sitting there
at this point
thinking that Jesus was doing away
with everything.
So Jesus,
he talks directly to them
about the law,
laying it out plainly.
He isn't here to abolish it.
The law is not gone.
But Jesus,
he's almost like a boxer at this point,
I think.
He kind of lulls his opponent
into a false sense of security.
And then the next second,
he slips something in
behind their defences.
He isn't,
the law isn't gone,
but he's come here to fulfill it.
I didn't come to abolish the law,
but to fulfill it.
That's a whole different kettle of fish
to what they would have been thinking
he was talking about.
What does that mean?
And the answer comes
when we ask the question,
what is this law
that Jesus is referring to?
Is it the Ten Commandments?
Like, that's the most obvious answer, right?
The list of ten rules
that God laid out
at Mount Sinai.
That would be probably
the most obvious answer.
Is it something else?
Is it the extended list of laws
that's laid out in Exodus,
Leviticus and Numbers?
But Jesus says in verse 18
that not one iota
of the law will pass away.
But later on in the New Testament,
in Acts chapter 10,
those old food laws are abolished.
So, you know,
I can have a bacon and egg roll
for breakfast.
And we don't have an altar here at church
for taking sacrifices.
So at least some part
of that ceremonial law
that's laid out in those parts
of the Bible has gone away today.
How does that not create
some sort of contradiction
with what Jesus is saying here?
When Jesus says
that he will fulfill the law
of the prophets,
he is referring to the entire
Old Testament,
from Genesis to Malachi,
not just one part of it.
In the Old Testament,
God lays out
not just those laws,
he lays out
what his kingdom
will look like
and how he will bring that about.
And Jesus is saying
that he is the one
that will do it.
He is the one
who lives
according to the laws
laid out in Exodus,
Leviticus and Numbers.
He fulfills the prophecy
spoken by the prophets.
And he fulfills
the sacrificial obligations
of the law
that lay out
how people who sin
can become right with God.
And that's the part
that the Jewish leaders
who were listening
didn't get right.
See, they would have been
nodding along
when Jesus was saying
he didn't come to abolish the law,
but ultimately
misunderstood it
because they didn't see
how it points
to Jesus.
They see the law
as a list of things to do,
a checklist
of what makes them Jewish,
but not as an expression
of who God is
and what God's perfect kingdom
will look like.
Now,
I should mention here
that Jesus doesn't say
all of this right here
and now in the Sermon on the Mount.
But I think it's important
for us reading today
to understand
that Jesus is emphasizing here
that the law is not dead
and he is not abolishing it.
When Jesus says
not one iota will change,
he means that God's character
and God's plan
will not change.
A show that I love watching
on YouTube
is Antiques Roadshow.
You may have heard of that.
I don't think I've ever actually
watched a full episode
of it on TV,
but I love watching the moment
where someone brings
a family heirloom
on the show
and finds out
that it's just
an incredible piece
of art or history.
To me,
it just seems like
such a wholesome moment.
Take a case.
This was in 2001.
This guy had this gold camera.
It looks pretty nice, right?
And he thought
that it might be
slightly valuable.
Well, turns out
it's a gold Lexica 2
Lexus camera.
It's one of four
ever made
worth hundreds
and thousands of pounds.
So he thought
he had something
that looked pretty nice
and may have had
a little bit of value.
What he had
was something
of infinitely
more value.
And I want to ask you now,
how do you value
the Old Testament?
How do you treat
the law of the prophets
and what it has to say?
I don't think
there's anyone here
at Grace
who dismisses
the Old Testament.
Right?
I don't think anyone
would say out loud
that it's not important.
But do you place
the same value on it
that you do
the New Testament?
In your own study
of the Bible,
do you ever skip
or skim over
the Old Testament?
Have you ever thought
that there's
an Old Testament God
and a New Testament God
and that somehow
he's different
between the two?
Have you ever looked
at some of the principles
and values
of the Old Testament
and thought
that you don't need
to worry about those anymore?
We're going to get
specifically to some
of those in a moment
but I think
that while I've been
wrestling with this
in my head
as part of preparing
for this sermon,
I've realised
that I need to know
my Old Testament better.
It's where God
lays out who he is,
it's where God
points us to Jesus
and it's a signpost
for what his kingdom
is going to look like.
Jesus here
isn't saying
that the law
just contains
some truth.
He's saying
that the law
is the truth.
If Jesus
was to abolish it,
it would be
a fundamental betrayal
of who he is
as God
and I don't want
to make
a similar mistake
to what the Jewish
leaders did
at the time
by not seeing
the law
in its fullness
and with its
full value.
And if like me,
that's already
something
that you sort of
weighed down
by a little bit
and buckle up
because we're
about to get
to some of
Jesus'
toughest words
on sin.
So the second
point that Jesus
is making
to the audience
is that they
don't take sin
seriously
because sin
comes from the
heart.
It's not just
your outside
actions.
What does it
mean that
someone's a good
person?
As I've said
a couple of times,
I watch a bit
of sport.
Lately,
I've been
watching a bit
of rugby
league as
well and
there's some
pretty rough
characters in
it to be
frank.
But you
constantly hear
the phrase,
oh, but he's
a good bloke.
What is that
standard?
What's the
good bloke
standard?
What do you
think the
average person
on the streets
thinks that a
Christian's
standard is?
What do they
think that we
think we should
be doing or
following?
What do
they think
God's
standard for
behaviour is?
When Jesus
was talking,
there was a
pretty clear
standard that
was set in
the community
and that was
the laws,
the Pharisees,
the law as
the Pharisees
saw, taught
and modelled
them.
But just like
they didn't
understand what
the law
pointed to,
they didn't
understand the
fundamental nature
of sin and
Jesus confronts
that attitude
directly in
verse 20.
For I tell
you, unless
your righteousness
exceeds that
of the scribes
and Pharisees,
you will never
enter the
kingdom of
heaven.
He's saying
here that to
enter the
kingdom of
heaven, you
actually need
to be more
righteous than
the scribes
and Pharisees.
And to the
scribes and
Pharisees listening
right now, that
would have been
like a complete
slap in the
face, right?
They dedicated
themselves to
following that
law and they
derived power and
standing in the
community from
that.
But what
they had
actually done
and what
Jesus is
going to
expose here
is that over
many years,
possibly over
generations,
without even
realising they
were doing it
maybe, they
cherry-picked
different parts
of the law.
They'd bent it
and interpreted it
to suit their
own needs.
Jesus is saying
here that the
law reveals God's
perfect standard
and he's calling
his people to
live in his
image and share
that perfect
standard.
And using three
examples, anger,
lust and divorce,
he shows how the
Pharisees have made
the law about
their outer actions
instead of the
orientation of
their heart.
And in the
process, they've
made it so they
don't take sin
seriously enough.
You can see it
in the first
example here,
verse 21 to 22,
anger.
You have heard
that it was said
to those of old,
you shall not
murder and
whomever murders
will be liable
to judgment.
But I say to
you that
everyone who
is angry with
his brother will
be liable for
judgment.
Whoever insults
his brother will
be liable to
the council and
whoever says
you fool will
be liable to
the hell of
fire.
It's pretty
clear here,
really.
You've been
told that the
outward action
is what condemns
you, but it's
the inner action,
the inner attitude
that Jesus
condemns, because
that's how someone
truly feels.
It's more or less
the same ideal in
verse 27 for
lust.
You have heard
that it was said
you shall not
commit adultery,
but I say to you
that everyone who
looks at a woman
with lustful intent
has already committed
adultery with her
in his heart.
The heart of the
law is not that
someone's cheated
on their wife or
committed an
improper sexual
act.
It's the lustful
intent that
creates those
acts and from
which those acts
come that Jesus
condemns.
And it's the same
again with divorce.
You've created
a tradition within
your interpretation
of the law, but
God's standard is
higher.
what's important
to God is not
what someone looks
like from the
outside.
It's where their
heart truly lies.
And there's two
very good reasons
for this to be the
case.
Firstly, very
practically, we're
guided, how we
act is guided by
our desires.
If we harbour
anger or lust
towards someone,
it will change the
way we act towards
them.
Sometimes in ways
that we might not
even be conscious
of.
Take anger.
So you might not
outright attack
someone or get in
a fight with them.
But the hatred in
your heart may see
us exclude them,
undermine them,
go behind their
back on things,
and over a long
period of time,
that anger, if not
dealt with, will
destroy that
relationship.
It will murder
that relationship.
Or lust.
lust.
It's lustful
thoughts that start
the slide into
further sin.
The kind of sin
that will affect
those around us,
maybe in small
ways.
Maybe it's making
someone feel very
uncomfortable to be
around you.
Maybe it's making
someone be really
self-conscious of
their bodies and how
they're feeling.
To actions that can
completely destroy
relationships, ruin
lives, and traumatise
people for years.
This is why the
heart is important
in God's kingdom.
Because the heart
affects how we
treat others.
Secondly, it's
also a matter of
justice for a God
who is perfectly
just.
If the standard is
what is in your
heart, then there's
no excuse and no
ability to hide or
obscure your actions.
In society, we know
that people will try
and get away with
things they should be
called to account
for.
And when that
doesn't happen, we
can't stand that
sense of injustice.
Just as an example,
like a week ago, I
went to a pub with
some colleagues from
work for lunch on a
Friday.
Of course, we all
had our masks on.
But at the pub, they
were handing people a
glass of water at the
door so people could
take off their masks
and claim they were
drinking the entire
time they were in
the pub.
So by the letter of
the law, that's okay
because you're allowed
to remove your mask
to drink.
But I think everyone
here in this
congregation would
agree that it
completely misses the
point and the reason
that that law is in
place.
And I know that
there's probably at
least a few people
here, by the murmurs
I just heard, they'll
probably email me
afterwards asking what
pub it is so they
could go and tell the
authorities about it.
It's that sense of
injustice that drives
the cycling world to
distrust every cyclist
that stands out from
the pack.
You shouldn't be able
to get out of God's
perfect law with a good
lawyer.
And Jesus uses the
three examples of hate,
lust and divorce to show
that society at the time
that claimed to be
following God's law had
moved away from the
intention for it.
And moving away from
the intention of the
law is moving away from
the character of God, the
heart of who God is.
And given that, I think
it's important to ask
ourselves the same
question.
What do you think our
society would say the
standard for those three
acts is?
With anger.
I think most people in
society would say that
anger can be justified if
you've been wronged.
I think anger is
something our society even
glorifies sometimes.
When our society sees
someone doing something
wrong, I don't think
people just say it's
okay for people to be
angry at them and hate
them.
I think people cheer them
on for it.
With lust, the standard
our society sets is that
everything's okay as long
as it's consensual.
Pornography, sexual
fantasy, sex before
marriage, having multiple
sexual partners, it's all
on the table.
And divorce.
We live in a society of
no-fault divorce.
And there's actually a
very good reason for
having an easy way out of
marriage, particularly in
abusive relationships.
But the point is that
God's perfect standard of
marriage just does not
fit with the society we've
created.
And you guys might be
sitting there a little
smugly at this point
because we don't do
these things, right?
Because, you know, we're
all good little Christian
boys and girls.
But what are the standards
that we set at our church
here?
Because I think that we
can be a lot like the
very people that Jesus was
talking to in the Sermon
on the Amount.
Not outwardly and
obviously living a life of
sin, but moulding God's
standards to suit our needs
and thinking that we can
get away with it.
For anger, do you let
yourself be bitter with
others that you know?
Do you vent about people
behind their backs?
You know, it might not
necessarily be a person.
It might be something at
the workplace, a career, a
situation in your life that
you feel stuck in.
Do you let resentment and
anger build up about that?
How do you deal with
conflict?
What do you do when
something doesn't go your
way?
Do you vent?
Do you blow your lid?
Do you harbour resentment
to authority and people in
power?
What about lust?
What person here today would
let their internet search
history unfiltered go up on
that screen?
What person here today would
volunteer their unadulterated
thoughts about other
men and women?
And as I said, Jesus isn't
specifically talking about
these sins because they're
any better or worse than
other sins.
He's just using them to make
a broader point about the
nature of sin.
They're just things that the
people listening at the time
would have instantly related
to.
What are the sins that you
tolerate in your heart that
you shouldn't?
What are your blind spots?
In what ways have you moved
God's standard so that you
feel acceptable?
Is it trying to gain popularity
and attention?
Is it how you spend your time
and money?
Is it your own pride?
Your feelings of your own sense
of accomplishment?
I don't know what your heart is
like.
That's something you know.
That's kind of the point here.
But by the way that Jesus goes
through sin after sin in his
sermon, not just this week but
he'll do it next week too, I feel
convicted.
I can just hear Jesus saying
that he doesn't want his
followers to just look like good
little Christian boys and girls
who seem to be following a list
of instructions but actually have
corrupt hearts.
Because for God to bring about his
radical kingdom, the kingdom that
he outlined at the start of this
sermon, it needs to start with
people's hearts being oriented
correctly.
And that brings me to my third
point.
Because while it's a good thing
that God's standard is perfection
because it means he is properly
truthful to what he says and it
means that he is perfectly just,
we can't completely reach that
standard no matter how much we try
to do so.
Which is why Jesus needs to
fulfill the law, not us.
And the key verse here once
again, verse 17 and 18.
Do not think that I have come to
abolish the laws of the prophets.
I have come to fulfill them.
For truly I say to you until
heaven and earth pass away, not an
iota, not a dot will pass from the
law until all is accomplished.
As I said before, Jesus doesn't
explicitly lay all this out in this
passage.
But the reason he is dwelling on the
law, the reason he is dwelling on the
standard is to show that that
standard is not going away.
And while we should be living like
we're trying to be in his kingdom,
no one truly does.
No one truly can.
We don't fulfill the law.
We need someone else to fulfill the
law for us.
And that someone, he says, is going to
be him.
As it says later in the Bible, in
Romans 3, 21 to 24.
But now the righteousness of God has
been manifest apart from the law,
although the law and the prophets bear
witness to it.
The righteousness of God through faith
in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction.
For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God and are justified by his
grace as a gift through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus.
Jesus is setting up the groundwork in the
Sermon on the Mount that even though we
can't be right with God by our own
actions, he lived the life we couldn't.
With a heart perfectly oriented towards
God and through Jesus' death on the
cross fulfilling the law, being the
perfect sacrifice for our sins, that
perfect life, that perfect heart becomes
our perfect heart, our perfect life.
We have access to the righteousness that
Jesus earned through trusting in him.
And that isn't a contradiction.
As it says, the law and the prophets bear
witness to this all.
They set up the salvation for all who
believe.
As Jesus even says at the start of the
Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the
poor in spirit, who don't rely on
themselves but look to God.
So what does Jesus want that to look
like for us?
What does trying to follow Jesus but
trusting him look like?
I think that even though we have the
righteousness through faith, that Jesus
is alluding to here in the Sermon on the
Mount, you can't read what he has here to
say and conclude that God's law, Jesus'
standard isn't important to how he wants
his people, the people in his kingdom, to
live.
While we trust in Jesus, we need to try and
orient our heart to the things he values,
the things he blesses at the start of the
Sermon on the Mount.
We need to orient our hearts away from the
things our society values.
From this sermon, two pretty clear ones are
anger and lust.
Ultimately, we need to have a heart of
love.
As 1 John 4 says, God is love and that is
where those blessings come from.
A God of love, a God of justice.
As Matt said last week, we're ambassadors
and God doesn't just put this high standard
in place because he wants to be harsh.
He puts it in place because he knows what
humans are like.
He knows that if people don't fix how they
feel in their heart, they'll never be able to
properly fix how they live outwardly.
And while we trust in Jesus, he says that by his
spirit, he is renewing our hearts.
He is helping us as we struggle to orient
ourselves towards what his kingdom will be.
However, when we fail, and we will, we can live
safe in the knowledge that Christ has fulfilled
that law for us.
We can be freed from that guilt and freed of the
ultimate judgment that is due to us by God at the
end of time because Jesus has paid that price for
us.
The law is not dead, but Jesus fulfills it.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your words many, many
years ago.
Thank you for how you are a God that loves us.
And thank you that you are a God of justice.
Lord, we thank you for the standard that you set and how
it creates a perfect kingdom.
And we ask for your forgiveness for the times when we
don't do that.
We don't follow that standard.
And Lord, we thank you that Jesus, your son, did and that
he does fulfill the law so that we can one day live with
you and be in a relationship with you.
Amen.