Christ's mission was not to abolish the Old Testament law and prophets but to fulfill them, as stated in Matthew 5:17. Jesus' public ministry, distinct from the scribes and Pharisees, emphasized moral principles over ceremonial traditions. He fulfilled the law through his doctrine by restoring its true meaning, through his holy person by perfect obedience, and through his people by imparting faith and love for God's law. Ultimately, Christ's fulfillment of the law, including its penalties, offers salvation to believers and judgment to the unsaved, urging listeners to accept his offer of rest and abundant life.
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We're in the Gospel by Matthew chapter five. That's a great hymn number five hundred four. I especially enjoy that stanza that says five precious wounds he bears received on Calvary. They are effectual prayer they ever plead for me. And then he adds, they cry to God, let not that ransomed sinner die. And ah, that's glorious truth. And that ransomed sinner will never die, for he's been ransomed by the blood of Christ, and God will eventually call him and bring him home safe to glory.
What a portion we have in the Word. Now we're in Matthew chapter five. We're beginning a new section in the Sermon on the Mount today. We begin at verse seventeen. Think not, our Lord Jesus is speaking to his own and also to the multitude who is gathered there on the Mount, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jotter, one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 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. Now may the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let us again look to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, We thank you for the privilege of opening thy word, and we ask you to open our hearts. We thank you for everyone that you have saved and have gifted with that special gift that they alone possess and which you seek to use in the body of Christ among thy people.
We thank you for the care of thy people, and we thank you that one day the body will be complete, and that it will be transported to glory, to be in thy presence forever. We thank you for everyone who is by knowing that you have called to eternal glory. And we thank you for the glorious prospect that he who shall come will come and will not tarry. For your program is running on time. You do all things according to the counsel of your own will and according to thine eternal purpose. which you purposed in Christ Jesus. And we can rest upon this, for your purpose is only good, you have no other design.
So therefore, with grateful hearts, we come into your presence and become filled with thanksgivings because of who thou art and what thou hast done in the person of thy dear son. Make it easy for us to minister the word and to hear And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. As our brother announced this morning, I'm planning to be in Chicago this week for the founder's reconference at Moody Bible Institute. And next Lord's Day morning, our brother David Lyons will be ministering the Word of God. He always has a good word.
And next Sunday night, the missionary, our brother Merle Die. Now Merle and I have ministered together at various places. He had been a missionary for twenty-some years. He and his wife were missionaries in the land of Ethiopia. And he'll be ministering next Sunday night. We've had him here a number of times. He represents SIAM at the Sudan Interior Mission. And they treated me so nicely when I was in Africa. When I think of Mr. and Mrs. Wickstrom, who took care of the mission compound there in Yaba outside of Ladakhs in Nigeria, they couldn't have done anything more for me than they did.
And Alton Thompson, who was with me, could say the same thing. And I thank God for Sudan Interior Mission, and I thank God for those who represent it. Well, Merle said the last time he was here, he said, Phil, I like to expound the word just like you do. And the only time you ever have me is when it's a missionary enterprise. So I told the brethren that. He said, well, let's have him. So Merle will be with us next Sunday night. Pray for these things. The text that is before us this morning is verse seventeen of Matthew five. Think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. We need to meditate on this verse.
for a number of reasons. Christ's first advent was a startling manifestation to Israel. The first thirty years of his life were lived in private, and they seemed to attract little attention. The word of God is silent, except for one incident that took place when he was twelve years of age. But when our Lord presented himself publicly to the nation of Israel as their Messiah, they were compelled to take notice of him. His meekness and his lowliness at once distinguished him from those who sought the praise of men. He was altogether different. His call to repentance, Mark one and fifteen, which was the opening of his public ministry, made people wonder what his real character and the design of his mission was.
They wondered about him. Was his purpose to overthrow the existing order of things? That was a good question on their mind. What was his attitude toward the Scriptures in particular and to the law of Moses? What was his attitude toward them? Well, Christ's preaching was so different from that of the scribes and the Pharisees. When you come to the close of the Sermon on the Mount, it is written of him that he taught as one having authority and not as a scribe. His ministry must have been outstanding. And his preaching was so different from the scribes and the Pharisees, from the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Now their ministry was supposed to be on the Old Testament scriptures, but usually it wasn't. It was rather on what the rabbis said about the Old Testament scriptures. And it's far better to know what the scriptures say than what somebody says about the scriptures. What do the scriptures teach? And if you talk to any Orthodox Jew today, he knows far more about the Talmudic writings than he does about the Torah. The Torah is the book of the law. The Talmudic writings are the writings of the rabbis. And a lot of the things that the Jewish people do, they do because of what the rabbis have to say as they thought to interpret what God said to the people.
And therefore, when our Lord's teaching was so different, And when he talked with authority and not as a scribe, can you imagine what the people thought? What is his intention? Is he here to subvert the authority of God's word and substitute his own in its place? What does our Lord mean? But you see, Christ despised the tradition of the elders. He said, they hung on to the tradition of elders and they made the word of God of no account. That's what he said about them. And they could have thought when they saw him despise the tradition of the elders, is he undermining all the whole system of piety that we know?
Well, you see, our Lord placed far more emphasis on moral principles than he did upon ceremonial institutions. And you and I should too. Moral principles should mean far more to us than ceremonial institutions. Now, in this passage that is before us, our Lord Jesus assures them that instead of being antagonistic to the Old Testament scriptures, he came to fulfill them. And we're going to have to say a lot about that word fulfilled this morning, because that to me is the key to that verse. I'm not come to destroy the law of the prophets.
Rather, I'm come to fulfill. You see, therefore, from verse seventeen to the end of this fifth chapter, Christ deals with that most important subject of the moral law of God in relation to his people. So the first thing that we notice from this text, think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. We want to notice his relation to the Old Testament Scripture. And this is one of the most precious things that you and I have. The Old Testament Scripture is I pity people who haven't read through the Old Testament.
I remember when Pam Petty was in high school, she came to me and she said to me, how do you think I should read my Bible? I said, I think you should read your Bible beginning at the book of Genesis and ending at the book of Revelation. Now that seems simple, doesn't it? I said, I think you need to read it through. You need to read it through at least once in your life. At least once. And that way, by reading it through once, you know where the parts fit. And you know, Pam came to me about a year later. And she said, I've read it through. And she said, I got far more out of it, reading it straight through than any other way I've ever read.
And I don't know if you get excited when you see people that you tell things like that, and you follow them to another city, and you find that they're going on for God, and they're useful in an assembly, and then you follow them to another city, and they're still useful where they are. My. I have no greater joy, John said, than to hear that my children walking through. What a privilege. So what is our Lord's attitude toward the Old Testament scriptures? His attitude is one, that he summarized the scriptures in himself. He said, I'm not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
Now the Old Testament scriptures were summarized under the title, the law, and the prophet look over at Matthew seven and verse fourteen Matthew seven and verse fourteen excuse me I meant verse twelve where our Lord and this is the what we call the golden rule now we quote the golden rule in a different way but here it's found in the Bible therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you Do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophet.
So this expression, the law and the prophet, is a way of summarizing the Old Testament scripture. Turn to one other passage, Luke chapter sixteen and verse sixteen. In Luke sixteen and verse sixteen we read this. The law and the prophets were until John. Now who was John here? John the Baptist. And John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ. He is the one who introduced the Messiah to Israel. So you'll notice the law and the prophets. The law begins with the book of Genesis and the prophets end with Malachi. Therefore you have the summary of the whole of the Old Testament scriptures.
Now what was our Lord's attitude towards the Old Testament scriptures? What he's simply saying is this. My mission is not to repudiate the authority of Holy Scripture. Rather, it is to establish it and to enforce it. Think not, he says, that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. Our Lord venerated the Old Testament scriptures and he was regulated by them in all his actions. This morning in the Sunday school hour, we were dealing with the importance of spending time each day with the word of God and in prayer.
And the basis for the Sunday school lesson, it was based upon the verse there in Matthew four, where our Lord spoke to Satan. And he said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And this was a quotation from Deuteronomy chapter eight and verse two. And our Lord had every right to eat for he was hungry. The scripture says he was. For the more he hadn't eaten for forty days. Most of us are very hungry if we haven't eaten for forty hours. But he hadn't eaten for forty days.
And the subtlety of Satan's temptation was this. You're the son of God, aren't you? Didn't you create everything? Can't you make anything you want? Imprive in that statement by Satan command these stones that they be made bread? Didn't you feed the nation of Israel with manna? You gave them bread in the wilderness for forty years? And you're going hungry? What are you going hungry for? the subtlety of the temptation. And you can get an insight into Satan's method if you study the temptation of our Lord. But our Lord said it is written, man shall not live by bread alone.
He venerated the Old Testament scriptures. As God, he wrote them. As man, he practiced them. We need to learn that. And God expects us to practice them. He said, think not that I'm come to destroy the law and the prophets. Furthermore, when you come to the nineteenth verse that we read this morning, the final verse that we read in our scripture reading, he said, Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so. And we do more teaching by our actions than we do by our lips. In other words, the word of God should not only be in our lips on a Sunday morning, it is easy to be a Christian here in this building.
We're talking about the Lord, we're singing the high praises of our God, and we're listening to beautiful music. Tomorrow is different on the job, and it's there that we must live what we learned today. We must take the scriptures for what they really are. But now I want to take up the expression, the law or the prophet. And emphasis is on the word or. Usually it is and, the Lord or the law and the prophet. But our Lord did not say that here. He said, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophet.
I'm being checked on by the Greek students. I like that. I like that. You see, this is the importance of the Scriptures. It is the law or the prophet. And why does he say that? You see, they're not here associated in such a way as to comprise a unity. They're not associated that way. It is law or. Christ was here referring to the prophet, not so much as the commentators on the law. He wasn't looking at the prophets in that way, but he's looking at the prophets as the people, the men who fore-announced his person, his mission, his kingdom.
And that's really what the prophets did. The prophets fore-announced his person. Oh, you take passages like Isaiah fifty-three. Isaiah fifty-five. Isaiah thirty-five, Isaiah twelve, Isaiah eleven, and especially Isaiah chapter six. For our Lord said himself of Isaiah chapter six, these things speak Isaiah when he saw my glory, and he wrote of these. They announced these persons. They announced his mission. They announced his kingdom. Now Christ's obvious design. in the way in which he spoke to the people here was to intimate that the Old Testament in all its parts, in all its elements, that which is ethical and that which is predicted, it spoke of himself and it was accomplished in himself.
Oh, what a precious thing, the Word of God. It is interesting to note. There is no further reference to the prophet in the whole Sermon on the Mount, other than that verse we read from chapter seven and verse twelve, which is not a definite reference to the prophets. But it says on this hangs all the law and the prophets. But there's no further reference to the prophet in the Sermon on the Mount. The reference is now to the law of God. Now what is meant by the term law. We took up what is meant by the term prophet, what is meant by the term law. And it has reference to the whole of the law, which is threefold.
There's a ceremonial law which governs the rules and regulations of their approach and worship to God. The ceremonial law. And some of the ceremonies in the ceremonial law took at least two weeks to accomplish. Aren't you glad you're not under the law? Think for a moment of what our Lord did when he was here on earth. At the close of the sermon on the mount, Matthew chapter eight, as our Lord comes down from the mount, there's a leper meeting. And the leper says, Lord, if I wilt, you can make me clean. The Lord says, I will. And then he said, now go show yourself to the priest.
And that he accomplished that which is written according to the law of Moses. Now what did that mean? Now, when I read the scriptures, I like to imagine. I hope you do. Can you imagine him coming to the, going up to the temple and finding a priest? And he says, I'm a leper, but I've just been cleansed by Jesus of Nazareth, and he told me to come and offer that which is commanded in the law of Moses. And if the priest was anything like most people are today, he had to say, well, what did he command in the law of Moses? And when you read the two chapters, Leviticus chapter thirteen and Leviticus chapter fourteen, it was a ceremony that took about two weeks to fulfill.
And then the priest did this, you see. He had to go through this. And about two weeks later, you remember, there were ten lepers came to the Lord. And just about the time he got finished with that ceremony, he said, you better get ready. There are ten more coming. You see, there's a lot of humor in the Bible as well. There are ten more coming. Now, why did our Lord do that? What was the purpose? The purpose was to draw attention to him. And when I come to the close of the sixth chapter of the Acts, you know what I read in the last verse?
And a great company of the priest believed. Why? There is no ceremony, and we don't read throughout the whole of the Old Testament of all the lepers that we read about. that a priest ever performed the law of the leper's cleansing, as outlined in Leviticus thirteen and fourteen. You don't read it. That they ever had to do it. And there's no portion in the whole of the Bible that so depicts the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ.
Like the law of the lepers cleansing in the Old Testament. The ceremonial law. That was part of the law. But then more, there was also the judicial part of the law. That which regulated the nation of Israel as a commonwealth. And then finally there was a moral law, the Ten Commandments. And usually when we think of the law, we think of the Ten Commandments. But Christ principally spoke. about the moral law. But Christ, when he used the expression here, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophet. He was including the type and the shadows of the law which were fulfilled in his person and in his work on the cross.
When he died on behalf of his people, as we read in Galatians three, verse thirteen, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made a curse for us, as it is written, cursed, is everyone who hangeth on a tree. And the Word of God declares that the law was a shadow of good things to come. But you never have a shadow unless you have the reality. The law is a shadow to have the reality. In other words, if you're hungry at twelve o'clock today, the shadow of a meal will never satisfy you. You want the real thing.
You follow what I'm saying? And the shadow of the law. The law with all its types and shadows as beautiful as they are. They never satisfied. They can never take away sin. It took the reality. And in due time Christ came. And that's what he's really saying to the people. Think not that I'm come to destroy the law of the prophets. I'm not come to destroy. I've come. to fulfill. Now what is meant by that term fulfill? To me that's the key word in this whole passage. What is meant by the term fulfill? Well first of all it was not the purpose of Christ to annul the law.
Oh no the term doesn't mean that. In other words our Lord came with the express design and purpose of meeting all the holy demands of the law, and to offer to God exactly what the law requires. And he did. In his perfect life below, he offered to the holy law of God exactly what it requires. Now, upon what? It was all the law and the prophets hanged. do unto others as you would have them do unto you that is how our Lord lived in every detail of his life that is interesting and this shows how far short we come You see, Christ entered this world with the object of bringing in perfect righteousness, which
would be imputed to all these believing people. For the righteousness that you and I have imputed to us is an earned righteousness, a righteousness that our Lord earned by his obedience when he lived here on earth as a man. As God he wrote the law, as man he practiced the law. That's why when we use the term as Andrew used it in John chapter one, he says, we have found the Messiah. For the Messiah, if you study the Old Testament scriptures, would fulfill five things.
Number one, he would be both God and he would be man. He would be God and man. More than that, he would be a suffering servant as well as a glorious king. Our word was that. And finally, number five, he would be the one who brings salvation to the Gentiles. And he did that. He's the light that lightens the Gentiles and he's the glory of God's people, Israel. Now, what does that word fulfill need? That word, fulfill then, means to perform what they, the law, and the prophets required, to substantiate them, to make good what they demanded, to make good what they announced.
I am not come to destroy. I am come to fulfill. Now, four things. How did he fulfill? Four ways. First, Christ. fulfilled the law by his doctrine. The teaching of Christ, he restored the law to its proper place and meaning. He didn't give it the twist that the elders and the traditions of the Father gave it. He gave it, this is what it means. When he talked about the tenth commandment, thou shalt not covet. He said what it meant. He told what coveting is.
If any man looketh on a woman and lusteth after her, he has committed adultery already in his heart. That's what the tenth commandment means. It deals with the inner nature of the law of God. So you see, Christ fulfilled the law by his teaching, his doctrine. Second, he fulfilled the law in his holy person. He performed perfect and perpetual obedience to the precepts of the law. What the law of God said, he did. He could say when he came into the world, as we read in Hebrews ten and verse six, when he cometh into the world, he saith sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not but abideth thou prepared me.
Thy law is within my heart. You see on the cross, then he suffered the penalty of the law, being made sin for his people. Then he endured the death that the penalty of the law demanded, and Christ had to redeem us from his curse being made a curse. Hurrah. Galatians three in verse thirteen. But then there's a third way in which he fulfilled the law. He fulfilled the law in his people, you and me. For he imparted faith to our heart so that we would lay hold upon him who fulfilled it it is he who gives faith to believe as we sing in that second stanza I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart nor how believing in his word brought peace within my heart but I know whom I have believed you see he gave and he imparted faith to his people so that we can lay hold of him who fulfilled the law for us.
And then he imparted not only faith to believe, but a love for the law of God in our heart, so that now by the Holy Spirit indwelling the people of God, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Romans chapter eight, verses three and four. Christ fulfilled the law in his doctrines, in his persons, in his people now get this in the reprobate as well for Christ will execute the curse of the law upon them and you're here this morning you're either one of God's own or you're reprobate if you're reprobate your law You don't have to do anything to be lost, for you're lost already.
And the curse of the law will be fulfilled in you. It will be fulfilled in Christ for his people on the cross and how we feel. So I ask you today, don't you want to be one of his people if you're here without him? For his curse will be fulfilled. And I read in Matthew twenty-five that he shall say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, Prepared for the devil and his angels. That's reprobation, friends. As much as we sing about salvation and the joy of it, there is such a thing as reprobation.
And the lost are going to be turned into the lake of fire. And there's only one who can Only one means of escape, and it's through the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. I cry out to you this morning, examine the word of God. Our Lord says, think not, but I'm come to destroy. Oh, no. Neither the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy. I've come to fulfill. And all will be fulfilled for the word that I have spoken. that goes forth out of my mouth, he says, it shall not return unto me void.
It shall accomplish that unto which I have sent it. It shall prosper in the things that I please. And God's word will be fulfilled. You cannot escape the word of God. And the word of God comes to you this morning as a gracious invitation. The Lord Jesus says to you, come unto me. All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. the word of God is that one means whereby you can come to know Christ and receiving him have life and have it abundantly. It will be fulfilled. And today it can be fulfilled in you.
Open the heart's door and trust him. He says, come. To the woman of Samaria, he said, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you'd ask him, and he'd give you a living water. And I'll tell you, if you're here without Christ, you'll never get so much for simply saying thank you. Lord, give me that living water. Thank you, Lord. you provided it you came not to destroy it you came to fulfill and i want it fulfilled in my life i want your joy your peace and your satisfaction all may it be so in your life for his name's sake let's sing him number four hundred twenty eight in closing four hundred twenty eight and we'll sing the first and third stanzas more about jesus Would I know more of his grace to others show?
I think I have the right number. Yes. But notice that third stanza. We'll sing the first and third. More about Jesus in his word. Holding communion with my Lord. Hearing his voice in every line. Making each faithful saying mine. That's what our Lord did. And now his righteousness is to be fulfilled in those. who are his own. May it please God to make it so. Now we pray to our God and Father. As we sing together, you'll take the word and bless it to every heart for Jesus' sake.