FULLFILL THE LAW

Prepared for Las Vegas Presbyterian Church, Senior Pastor Paul Chong
English Ministry Worship Service
Face-to-Face Live Worship
1PM Pacific Standard Time

35-45 Minute Sermon without Translation

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the eternal God who came in the flesh. The only one who obeyed the LAW as given by Moses in spirit and truth. Through whom, the promise to Abraham, that he would be a blessing to all nations, came to fulfillment.

Greetings to Senior Pastor Paul Chong who has given his live to the service of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Even though tough times and suffering, the spirit of the LORD gave him joy and strength to persevere. May God bless His life, family and ministry with joy, peace and love.

Greetings to you all, Las Vegas Presbyterian Church, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The triune God. As we have gathered today, may this worship be pleasing and glorify the Lord our God.

God’s message for today comes from Matthew 5:17-20. I will read it for you now.

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

 ¹⁸ 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.

 ¹⁹ 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.

 ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Lets join together in solemn prayer, asking the Father to illuminate our minds by the Holy Spirit, that we would understand clearly and believe. Also, let’s pray that God would anoint this vessel for the preaching of the word.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We join together in praise of your Holy name. We come before you as cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, but still struggling in the flesh. We ask for your sanctification as we are filled with the knowledge of your word. As we worship you today, please illuminate our minds to see the greatness of who you are. Also, we ask for your anointing upon this vessel for the preaching of your word. We thank that your son, Jesus Christ, is here with us now.

In the precious name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.

Let us begin with Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.”

The Pharisees and scribes were leaders and teachers of Judaism. They had the outer appearance of holiness by doing the law, but their hearts were void of one very crucial evidence. They didn’t love the Father. They carried on the traditions for their own honor and pride.

Jesus was direct as He spoke of them in Matthew 3:7, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Already, there was tension between the Messiah and the leaders of Israel who denied him. Later in verse 8 Jesus said to them, “And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” Don’t think your connection to Abraham and the traditions will deem you as righteous. Remember, righteousness doesn’t come from the law, for no one is righteous under the law. Jesus doesn’t relent in his attack of hypocrisy, Matthew 3:10, He said, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.” When the Pharisees and Sadducees heard, this they thought Jesus was going to axe away Abraham and the prophets, but actually He was talking about the godless, heartless, traditional religion that Judaism had become.

As we understand this backstory, lets go back to Matthew 5:17-20. Let’s begin with verse 17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.”

The Greek word for Abolish is, “Kataluo” which means, “to put down, loosen, destroy, demolish or dismantle.” Jesus Christ came with an axe to cut at the root of the trees, but this didn’t mean that Jesus Christ came to put down the LAW. Jesus Christ came to cut down the bad tree which had sprouted in Jerusalem. The tree which took the LAW and made it the pinnacle of righteousness, meanwhile putting down the promises of the Messiah, who would be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus Christ came to teach us that righteousness cannot be had apart from faith in Him. He was the only way to righteousness.

Jesus Christ didn’t come to loosen the laws that we may be free to sin.
Jesus Christ didn’t come to demolish the law that we no longer need to follow it.

Actually, Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law & The Prophets.

How did Jesus fulfill the Law & the Prophets?

Let’s touch upon the how He fulfilled the law.

The book of Leviticus establishes the law and offerings.

Leviticus 7:37, “This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai.”

Of these offerings, Jesus Christ was the sin offering.

The phrase “Sin Offering” comes out 49 times in the book of Leviticus. Depending on who sinned and the severity of the sin, the life on an animal had to be taken away. It’s flesh and blood offered by fire to the Lord as a sign of repentance. They would sacrifice bulls, goats, lambs, two turtle doves or pigeons. The blood would be on the fingers of the priests who offered them to the Lord.

Jesus Christ fulfilled the law in two ways. The first, though Jesus Christ was tempted, He was found to be free of iniquity and any kind of deception. Jesus Christ was pure as He was the imprint of the Father, the word become flesh. He carried out LAW as set forth by the Father, given to Moses. He followed it to the “T” as we would say it. He fulfilled every moral law.

Jesus Christ also fulfilled the law by offering himself as the final offering for sin offering, which would be incomparable to the bulls, goats, lambs and birds that were offered through the ages.

We see the first archetype of sin offering when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even though God had told them that they would die. Instead of striking them dead on the spot, in the nakedness of their sin, God put to death an animal that they would live a little longer. In Genesis 3:21, “And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” This act of grace and first sacrifice of sin showed, that that it was temporal in nature for sacrifices would be made again and again, until God would provide for himself the final sacrifice, His own son, Jesus Christ.

We see a foreshadow of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, in Genesis 22.

When God called out to Abraham and said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” When I read this, I envision my own son, Austin Isaiah and I wonder, could I do the same? My heart hurts, literally, as imagine this happening to me. We read the account in suspense and disbelief, can someone who loves their only son really have the ability to place him on the altar for sacrifice?

As we know, as Abraham took his son and walked up to the place where he would build an altar, Isaac the young boy notices something different about this trek to the altar, “My Father,” Isaac said to His Father. Abraham answered, “Here I am, my son.” My heart is already breaking. Isaac then asks, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering.”

Then, as I read the next phrase, I realized that this is a prophetic word, which at the time Abraham was speaking about his situation, but actually it was pointing to the Son of God, who would be the true sacrifice.

Abraham answers, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burn offering, my son.”

Don’t look over this too quickly and consider it as just part of the story. Actually, this is a prophecy. It was prophetic stating that God the Father would provide for himself the lamb, the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world.

The reason why I take this as a prophetic word is because Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb.” A lamb is a young sheep. On that day, God didn’t provide a lamb. He provided a RAM.

Genesis 22:13, “And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his thorns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.”

A RAM isn’t a lamb. A RAM is a full grown sheep. This is a revelation of God.

The Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide.” Notice that the name of the place isn’t, “the Lord provided.” The name is, “The LORD will provide.”

Although Isaac was a young and innocent boy, his sacrifice on the altar wouldn’t be enough to do what God really wanted to do, which is to be a final offering of sin and the door of eternal life. The only one who can do this is the lamb whom God will provide for himself.

As John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him, he declared in John 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!” BEHOLD, THE LAMB THAT GOD HAS PROVIDED FOR HIMSELF! BEHOLD, THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY, THE LORD WILL PROVIDE.

Jesus Christ came to fulfill not only the moral law, but to bear upon himself the recompense of disobedience.

As we move on in the passage, I would like to convey the seriousness of understanding it correctly. Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, provided by the Father, makes a statement that we must understand rightly. For if we understand incorrectly, we will find ourselves in a tug of war between the temptations of the world and our inner man which has been cleansed by the precious blood of the son of God. If we do, in fact, understand correctly, it will give us guidance for our lives.

In verse 18 it says, “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.”

The son of God said he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill them. He then tells us that “Not an iota, not a dot”, will pass from the Law, until all is accomplished. Iotas and dots are vowels in the Hebrew language. They weren’t even necessary, because the original Hebrew text was written without vowels. They were added later for ease of reading. Jesus said that not even these vowels will be removed from the law. Which means, we are still to study them and meditate on them as King David had done.

They will not pass, until the heaven and earth pass away.
They will not pass, until all is accomplished.

This is because, the LAW was established as a result of the fall.
We need the LAW, because we are sinful.

There are other things that will pass along with the law when the heavens and earth pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:8, “As for prophecies, they will pass away, as for tongues; they will cease, as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.”

Even the good things that we have see in the bible, prophecies, tongues, prayer, knowledge, they are results of a corrupt world.

If Adam and Eve didn’t sin and corrupt mankind, all the generations after them would have been like them. We would have had the heart of perfect obedience without the need for a bible. We wouldn’t need the LAW, because our hearts would be so pure, we wouldn’t even have the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. We would only know good. We would have been able to speak to God and hear His voice.

There would have been no need for intermediaries.
There would have been no need for prophets, priests and kings.
There would have been no need for apostles, pastors, teachers and evangelists.

But, we all know, because we all have experienced corruption in our own lives. We have been separated from God and our hearts are born with sin. Therefore, we need all these intermediaries, of which Christ was the greatest.

Jesus makes it clear, that the LAW will not pass away until the day of the LORD.

2 Peter 3:10 described that day, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

The day of the LORD is when the works that are done on it will be exposed. The works are either obedience of the law or disobedience of the law. The day of the LORD is when all things are accomplished.

Here is where the confusion happens, the confusion happens when we believe that LAW has been abolished after the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If we were to quickly read this passage, we may have the impression that the accomplishment of Jesus Christ on the cross was that the dot and iota would pass away. The law would no longer be in effect.

We read verses such as John 19:30, “When Jesus had received the sour win, he said, “It is finished,”

When Jesus Christ said, “It is finished.” Jesus

Christ accomplished the work of salvation apart from the law, but all isn’t accomplished. The heavens and earth didn’t pass away yet. The day of the Lord is not ye there. Yes, Jesus Christ accomplished the work of freeing us from the law of righteousness, but again, the heaven and earth has not passed away.

This means that, not an iota, not a dot, has passed from the moral LAW.

To further confuse us, we take this verse and take it out of context, Romans 6:14, “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law, but under grace.”

See brother Don, we are not under the law, but under grace!

Here is another verse brother Don, Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

We take this verse to mean, this the end of the law. This is the abolishing of the law. But, if you actually read it carefully, it doesn’t say that it is the end of the law.

Actually it says, “It is the end of the law, specifically, FOR RIGHTEOUNESS.”

When we understand this text correctly, it means, “We are no longer made righteous under the law, but we are made righteous by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the power of the law to condemn and punish is now powerless to those who believe in Jesus Christ, because our righteousness is by faith. Our righteousness is the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Since we have received righteousness by grace, does this mean that the law is abolished? Does it mean that we can loosen the law for our own fleshly desires?

Lets look one more time into the book of Romans 3:31, “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? NOT AT ALL! Rather, we UPHOLD the LAW!”

Before the Messiah came, the LAW was heavy and hard to follow. It only took one sin to throw away decades of perfect obedience. The yoke of the LAW was heavy and would break the neck of all who was joined to it. Jesus Christ says, my yoke is light. We no longer bear the weight of punishment from the law, but rather, because we are free from punishment, we can follow the law with joy.

What once was a crushing weight, became light that we may UPHOLD it.
What once was a crushing weight, became light that we may UPHOLD it.

Jesus Christ warns leaders, ministers, teachers who dismantle and loosen the LAW, because of the righteousness by faith.

In verse 19, “Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teachers 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.” (COMMANDS of GOD)

Jesus Christ makes it clear, that there will be those in heaven who had faith in the gospel, but disobeyed the law, perhaps by misunderstanding or by wishful thinking, relaxes the commandments of God and teachers other to do the same. Jesus said, “they will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” Salvation isn’t based upon works of the law, they will still enter into the kingdom of heaven, because of their faith. Yes, you heard it right, they will still enter into the kingdom of heaven, but what will they be called? They will be called the least in the kingdom of God.

On the contrary, those in heaven who had faith in the gospel and used their freedom, their light weight to uphold the LAW, they use their freedom from the wrath of God as an opportunity to practice the law and to UPHOLD it. They too will enter into the kingdom of God, but they will be different. They will be called “GREAT in the KINGDOM OF GOD!”

The works of everyone will be exposed. The works of unbelievers will be exposed and they will be cast into the fire. The works of believers will be exposed as well. They will enter into the kingdom of heaven by faith in Jesus Christ, but based upon their works, some will be called least and others will be called great in the kingdom of God!

In the EYES of Jesus Christ, the Judge, to have faith, but live a mediocre Christian life, is better than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, who without faith did the LAW.

This point is driven by our last verse, verse 20, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

This doesn’t mean, that salvation is attained by doing MORE good works than the Pharisees. In fact, the Pharisees were very good at the outward appearance of good. It means that with all the works that they have done, without faith in the messiah, Jesus Christ, all their good works are like dirty rags. It means, that righteousness can never be establish through the LAW and tradition. Righteousness can only be established in a person life by having faith in Jesus Christ. Only by believing in the promised Messiah, can there be forgiveness of sins, imputation of righteousness and the life everlasting. A Christian who barely makes it into heaven by faith, their righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, because that Christians’ righteousness is the righteousness of Christ.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us remember that Christ didn’t come to abolish the Law. He didn’t come to loosen the Law. He didn’t come to dismantle the Law. He came to fulfill them. Not only in his own life, but in the life of his followers. You and I, our salvation is by faith alone, but when we enter into the kingdom, we will be great or the least depending on our works. May we live this life for the glory of God, awaiting the greatness that awaits those of us who obey the LAW and teaches others to do the same. May this word give clarity to your heart, mind and soul. May this word give you the desire to utilize the freedom you have received in Christ Jesus to UPHOLD the LAW, instead of LOOSENING IT.

Blessings to you Las Vegas Presbyterian Church!

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for the knowledge that you have given us through your prophets and apostles, but especially from your son, Jesus Christ. Please help us to remember the rightly divided truth to up hold the law and continually turn away from sin. We pray that our church, Las Vegas Presbyterian Church, would know Jesus deeply and be one the great churches at the day of the Lord. Thank you for your Love and Grace abounding up us. Thank you that the LAW no longer condemns us, but rather is now a source of life.

In the precious name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray, AMEN