God's Righteousness

People have different points of view about different things. And then they take facts or information and they falter those facts through their points of view. And they, at times, may reach incorrect conclusions. It's like seeing things through a set of glasses, you know? You come and see things in a slightly way which might not be exactly correct. And that is a problem of human nature. Now, one of the areas where people have taken something and I'm saying people in general out in the world, and that it was in a way mentioned that in sermon it, it's people generally out in the world or in other forms of religion, whether it's Christian or not. People look at God's laws and then look at what Christ said and has done and falter it through their own perspectives and reach the wrong conclusions. And so the question is, should Christians respect God's laws? Of course, yes. You didn't expect me to say anything else, did you? Of course, yes. And Jesus Christ said that plainly. But think about it, a lot of other religions, Christian or not, don't respect God's laws because they falter it through their own kind of facts, their own perspectives, their own views of things and they come to the wrong conclusions. Now, I've started a series of studies on the book of Matthew and I've spent a little bit of time already in the Sermon on the Mount. And the Sermon on the Mount, when you think about it, it's actually a discussion about righteousness. And Christ starts by explaining a little bit about the beautiful attitudes for the Beatitudes that should be in a Christian, should be characteristic of a Christian. And then he says that we, as Christians, therefore, we should be the salt of the earth. In other words, we should be a pleasant savor to God so that God will then preserve the earth from destruction. And we should be a light of the world by being an example of God's way of life as we heard in the sermon. But now we get onto something very important, which is in the next few verses, which is in Matthew 5 verses 17 through 20. And that's the section I'm going to be covering today, Matthew 5, 17 through 20. Now, a little bit of a joke here. At this progress, it will take a long time to finish the book of Matthew. But anyway, we'd rather go through it and get meat and value, rather than just kind of read over things. And in this section of Matthew 17 through 20, we get Jesus Christ's perspective, which in the end is God's perspective towards righteousness. Now, I'm going to read these verses 17 through 20 using the NIV version. Not because it's better, it just puts it in a slightly different way, maybe, of different words. But it says the same thing as the King James Version or whatever version you have. So I'm going to read it. That's it.

Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commandments and teaches them, teaches others accordingly, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

I think God's perspective and Christ's perspective is pretty clear if you don't filter it through some other preconceived ideas.

And I think I could finish the sermon, right? Yeah. But I don't think that's what you like.

I want to take a point which is a really striking proof point of God's perspective about his laws. Now, think about this.

There was a time just before Christ was betrayed, on the night that was betrayed.

And you know, you've read this. Then he went to pray and he said, in great perspiration and dread, let's call that, we'll read it from the Bible in a moment, using the words from the Bible, but in great anxiety, he said, Father, if there's another way, please let it be so, but not my will, your will.

Christ was confronting the most painful death, and he knew that, and the Father knew that.

Now, I think about it. But you are looking at you and one of your lovely children, and you know one of your lovely children is going to go through a difficult thing. Aren't you going to say, well, let's see how can I adjust the bit so that he or she does not go through that trial? So, he has an opportunity for God to say, well, let's make a little compromise with the law, so that Christ does not have to suffer that painful death.

Did God compromise with his law? No. That is a solid evidence evidence of God's position about his law. He is under the law.

Now, I know Paul talks about it, but you've got to read that in a different context. Okay. He is not under the penalty of the law, but he is under God is a law abiding citizen.

That's what I mean. And he will not change the law for his benefit.

In other words, he's not above the law. That's what I mean.

He's not above the law. He's a law abiding, quote unquote, God. Now, you and I know a lot of leaders in this world put themselves above the law. Well, this is fine for you guys, but for me, I don't have to do that.

God had made a law that said the wages of sin is death.

The crash sent note. But the plan was for Christ to pay for your sins and my sins. And the only way for him to pay for that is for him to die instead of us. I'm talking about really, in the end, save us not only just from physical death because we all physically die. That's what I mean. But it's saving us from the ultimate eternal death. Because he's resurrecting us. So, turn with me to Mark 14, verse 32 to 36, because this is the structure that I'm referring to, or one of the places where I'm referring to what happened there. Mark 14, 32 to 36.

Then he came to a place which was named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sitia, Guallapre. And he took Peter, James, and John with him. And he began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Deeply distressed. Because he knew the painful death was around the corner in the next few hours, and the suffering. And then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch. And he went a little further, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Eben, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. Again, if there was a time where it kind of could kind of be justified, quote unquote, to kind of compromise a bit of the law, this would be the case. But no, God does not compromise with his law.

Sin. Sin.

And I mean the breaking of God's law. Sin is so serious that require the death of Christ to pay that penalty.

That is the righteousness of God. Now, the word in English, righteousness, the Greek word is sometimes translated into English as righteousness, sometimes translated into English as practicing justice. Because the same root word, but English has got a root which is Gaelic, and it's got a root which is basic French. And so you end up with two words, but the Greek word is the same. So sometimes it translates righteousness, sometimes it translates practice justice. So when I say God's righteousness, I mean to make it very clear to all of us, God's standard of practicing what is lawful and right and just. That's what God's righteousness is. That's his standard of sticking to the law and practicing what is right and just.

It's amazing, because he doesn't compromise with that. And this is a critically important point for us to understand.

God does not compromise with sin. Does not compromise with sin.

And so as we heard in the sermon, when you have people say, Oh well, all you have to do is give your heart to the Lord. And you are saved. No wonder Christ said, depart from me, you will practice lawlessness. Because the Father would not even compromise for the sake of the life of his only beloved son. And that's what I mean when people have their own opinions, their own views, and then they falter facts with their own opinions to come to their own conclusions, which may be incorrect.

You see, brethren, the wall today does not want righteousness. Full stop.

If you have somebody that stands upstairs, if this is wrong and we're going to do this, the whole wall turns against you and says, How can you do that? You are in kind and loving and merciful and blah, blah, blah, blah. You know what I'm talking about. I don't have to mention it.

Look with me to Amos chapter 5 verse 7. Amos chapter 5 verse 7. Daniel Isaiah Joel Amos. Amos 5 verse 7.

You who turn justice to warm wood, and it was stupidness. If you say, well, somebody standing up for something that this is what it should be, justice, you turn that into a whole big thing that becomes so bitter.

I think it's so clear to us in today's climate. And lay righteousness to rest on the earth. It was you throw away practicing justice. You throw it away to the ground. People lie through their teeth. They are stubborn, as it says. They cut their nose to spite their face or whatever they do, but they just... So, they don't care. People don't want righteousness. In other words, they don't want to practice what is just. Look at verse 10. They hate the one who rebukes in the gate. They hate the person that stands out in a gate in a position of authority and says, this is wrong. They hate that person.

And they abhor the one who speaks uprightly. Now, I'm not saying that if a person speaks uprightly, that he's 100% righteous. We all sin. We all sin. What I'm saying is, the society today hates and abores righteousness. Look at verse 14 and 15. Seek good and not evil, that you may live. So, the Lord God of hosts will be with you as you have spoken. Hate, evil, love, good, establish justice. In other words, righteousness. In the gate, in the nation, in the positions of authority. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the revenant of Joseph.

It may be.

Brethren, that's the word.

Look at Romans chapter 3, verse 9 through 18. Romans chapter 3, verse 9 through 18.

What then? Are we better than that? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks. In other words, in today's terminology, Christian was a non-Christians. He's a light, so Gentiles, or whatever.

We've charged both. They all understand. There's an unrighteous, no one, nobody. There's an another that understands, there's another that sticks off to God. They all tend to start. They all become unprofitable. They all say things wrong. They all are quick to run, to evil. It just goes on. It says in verse 17, And the way of peace they do not have known, there's no fear of God before their eyes. Really, that's the world we're living today. Yes, you can say it's America. It's the world. It's all over the world. It's all everywhere. So, a little lighter in verse 20, the same chapter says, Therefore, by the deeds of the Lord, no flesh should be justified. Why? Because we all sin. And just because now you're a good boy in this one thing, what a good girl, doesn't pay the penalty for the past things that you've done wrong. It does not make it justified. It doesn't release you from the past. They don't.

For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Here it was, the law is only an indicator. This is right and this is wrong. That's all. The law is only an indicator. It's like only a traffic light, green or red. It doesn't justify you. It's just telling you, you can do this or you can't do this. That's it.

And we know the wages of sin is death. And therefore, God would not compromise with that. And therefore, Christ paid with his life. So the law is not done away. I mean, if God could change the law, why didn't he do it before Christ died? Why let him go through it? You know, come on, get real. Why didn't he do it before Christ died? Why also didn't Christ die? Now, here we have a dichotomy. And this is another point where people kind of go wrong. How can God forgive us? Is he compromising with sin now?

You see, because God is gracious, is God gracious, and forgives us freely. Is he compromising with sin? Is he saying, now, therefore, we can just go on and sin it? Because, you know, Christ forgives us then. And all will say, again, well, Christ forgives us then. Is that what it is? Look in verse 21, continue reading. But now, the righteousness of God. It was God's standard of practicing what is right and what is just.

Apart from the law, is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets. See, that's why Christ was referring to the law and prophets being fulfilled and will come into that in a moment. But continue, even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. You see, we all have sinned. But Christ's faith, Christ's faith that he had on the Father to resurrect him.

And there's more to that in a moment, which I'll mention to you. But he says, because of that, that demonstrates God's righteousness towards us. For we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Verse 24, being justified freely by His grace. All this grace then comes down, sir. This is the point of dichotomy sometimes. People say, well, you know, it's grace. Through the redemption that is in Christ. Whom God set forth as a propitiation, in other words, as a mercy seat, as a forgiveness for us by His blood. Through faith, because of the faith of Christ and of God, to demonstrate His righteousness.

That He doesn't compromise with sin. Because of in His forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed, previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justified of one who has faith in Jesus. Let me give you a simple example to make this a whole crystal clear. Now, as we're driving, and in fact I was thinking of using this very analogy, but as we're driving, I was told that last night, I think it was last night or the night before, one of our children had a swimming pool. And they had, and we've been telling them, oh, you've got to get a gait, you've got to get swimming pool gait, and whatever it is.

You know, they have some gait, but more gait, because they had some friends, and these friends had basically great difficulty in having a child. They finally had a child, probably the only child they will have unless God again intervenes. So, in a sense, it's a miracle way. And, I don't know, the age, maybe the child is two, three years old, or whatever. And for one split second, they went outside, and the child fell in the pool. Can you imagine?

What did the dad do? What did the dad do? He immediately jumped in and got that child out. In a sense, quote-unquote, he was a savior, right? I mean, he didn't save that child from eternal life, or from eternal death, but saved from this short-term potential danger. Now, what do you think that child is now going to do? Obviously, what the parents are going to do, that's a different story. Let's say the child now sees the child is going to be a lot more careful approaching the pool. Right? We hope so. But if the child is a little older, at least it will be a lot more careful.

Or at least it should be. Right? Because he or she would not want to fall again and endanger his life. I mean, we had a situation when we had a youth camp in South Africa, and some young man at the youth camp got thrown out of the boat. And even though he had a jacket, he was basically drowning, or whatever it was.

And then one of my sons knew how to swim. He jumped out and got him out, etc. But it's a lesson that when you fall into something, you save that person freely, by grace. Think about it. Freely, by grace. You save that person. But now you do it in the hope that that person is not going to do it again, or is going to be more careful, right? Now, take that to what God and Christ are doing for us. We are in this world.

We've messed it up. And we fell into the pool of this dirty world. And we're drowning. Yeah, we're going to die physically, you know, because of that. But now he's jumped into the pool, graciously, by his grace, and he's taken us out of the pool, and says, okay, guys, now get nice and clean. baptism, repentance, God's Holy Spirit, and now don't fall in the pool again, right? Does that explain God's grace and God's righteousness? He's not changing the law that says, well, I'm changing the law that if you fall in the pool, you'll never drown.

He's not changing that law. The law stays the same, but he is applying grace. You see, the grace of God is because of his faith, that because of what he's done, and because he's now giving us his Spirit, we will not go back to the same condition to fall again into those traps, let's call it that. So, yeah, it was the faith of Jesus that he did, that he relied on the Father to resurrect him. But it's also in their faith that once we receive God's Holy Spirit and we realize what we've been given, we will do our part that we don't want to repeat. So is God compromising with his law?

No! Does that show his righteousness? Yes! The suffering of Christ demonstrates his righteousness towards us. That's what Paul is describing in verse 21 through 24. He's doing it freely, but demonstrates God's righteousness towards us through his grace. But he's not compromising with sin. Here's another example. When Christ, just before he began his ministry, he went to join the Baptist to be baptized. Look at Matthew chapter 3. In verse 13 through 15, Jesus came from Galilee to John, John the Baptist, to Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, Christ, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?

And Jesus asked and said to him, Permitted to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Have you ever pondered why he said to fulfill all righteousness? You see, Jesus Christ's life, his death, his sacrifice, fulfills the law of sacrifices, and that's the justice of God, and fulfills all righteousness. He's our Passover, he's our Passover lamb. And that lamb has fulfilled that law, sacrificial law, and made it perfect by Christ's sacrifice. Look at it in Hebrews 10.

By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. It was that sacrifice of Christ as the Passover lamb is a once- that's it! It's perfect! It's once for all. Verse 11, And every priest stands ministering daily, and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

What they were doing, those sacrifices, day after day, morning sacrifices, evening sacrifices, weekly sacrifices, monthly sacrifices, whatever they were doing, said they can never take away sins, because they pointed to Christ. You see, they were part of the law that needed to be fulfilled by Christ, fulfilled to the top. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time, waiting till his eminence, or maybe his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

That one offering is enough to perfect us. But you and I are still in the process of overcoming till the end of being sanctified through the power of God's Holy Spirit. But that offering is once forever. It's enough. It's perfected. Look for this at verse 40, the same chapter, chapter 10, verse 4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. That's why we don't need to offer sacrifices.

No, we've got to sacrifice Christ. He's fulfilled that law. But God's spiritual laws, like, you know, you shall have no other gods, and those who are being amplified with additional spiritual meaning. Christ is our possible. There's no other sacrifice for sin but Christ. That has been fulfilled forever. We owe Him our life forever. And because of His sacrifice, now the Holy Spirit can be poured on us. And continue reading in Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 15 through 17. It says, But the Holy Spirit also witnessed us, for after He had said before, This is a covenant that I'll make with them. After those days, says the Lord, I'll put my laws into their hearts and in their minds.

I'll write them. How? With God's Holy Spirit. Then He adds, There's sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more. And wipe down. God. Clear conscience. God. This is the way for us to grow. Christ fulfilled that part of the law, the sacrificial law, and also fulfilled when it points to the Holy Spirit.

And so why, therefore, is His baptism to fulfill all righteousness? What does the baptism represent? The baptism represents death because of sin, represents resurrection because Jesus Christ died for us, and we can come back to life symbolically through the baptism representation, which shows God's justice because He does not compromise His sin, and shows God's grace towards us in faith that God would resurrect Him, and in faith that you and I, through the power of God's Holy Spirit, could one day become sons of God.

That's why He's doing it. And so His baptism is symbolic of this process, and therefore fulfills God's righteousness. But going back to Matthew 5, verse 17, is this, do not think that I've come to destroy the law. And yes, we've talked a little bit about the law, but it doesn't just say the law. Now, sometimes when He talks about the law, it refers to the whole of the Old Testament, but sometimes, like it says, the law and the prophets, it's also talking about the whole of the Old Testament, but not just the law, but the prophets.

So it did not just fall to the top, the law, but it fell to the top, prophecy. In what way? Because the bulk of prophecy is about two major events. One, Christ first coming, and two, He's second coming, and what will happen because of that. And so if we look at Christ's first coming, He fulfilled those prophecies about His first coming.

In the book of Matthew alone, it cites some twenty-one-fold prophecies regarding Christ's life and death. Eleven of them in the book of Matthew uses words like, fulfilling what was said by the prophet, da-da-da-da-da. And it just quickly glows through a few of them, starting Matthew chapter 1, verse 22 and 23. It says, So all this was done, and it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, Be all the virgin with child, and then it continues. Look at chapter 2, verse 14 and 15.

And when He arose, He took the young child and His mother by night, and departed from Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, Out of Egypt, I'll call my son. You see, there's a lot of prophecies that were fulfilled by Christ's life and death. Look at chapter 4, verse 12, Matthew 4, verse 12. And now, when Jesus heard that John had been put to prison, he departed to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Nephthali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah, the prophet, saying, The land of Zebulun and the land of Nephthali, and then it continues.

Look at Matthew 21. So, let's jump towards the end of his life. Matthew 21, verse 4 and 5. Matthew 21, verse 4 and 5. I'm just giving you a few examples with, He fulfilled the prophets. Matthew 21, verse 5.

Verse 4 and 5, verse 4 and 5. Now, this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, be all your king, He's coming to you, lowly and sitting on a donkey, a colt, a foal of a donkey.

Look at another example, Matthew 27, verse 35. Matthew 27, verse 35.

Matthew 7, verse 35. And they crucified him, and divided his garments, costing lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cost lots. See, he fulfilled many prophecies during his first coming.

In fact, within 24 hours, just before his death, there were 29 prophecies fulfilled, that he would be crucified, Psalm 22, 16, that none of his bones would be broken, Psalm 34, 20, that his clothes would be given by a lot, which we mentioned already, Psalm 22, 18. Not retaliate, you would not retaliate and pray for his killers, Isaiah 53, 7, and 12. That he will be abandoned by his disciples, Zechariah 13, verse 7. That he will be betrayed by a trusted friend, Psalm 41, verse 9. That the price of the betrayal will be 30 coins of silver, Zechariah 11, 12. That he would give him sour wine, you know, Srinigah, with gold to drink, Psalm 69, 21. That's just some examples. The Old Testament has some 300 prophecies pointing to Christ's first coming that were fulfilled. 300 promises.

In fact, Paul, part of a lot of his ministry was going around and showing from prophecy that Christ was the Messiah, for Foligno's prophecies. And brethren, we have a study guide, which goes into a lot of his prophecies very, very clearly. I do have a few extra copies of it at the back. Jesus Christ, the real story. If you haven't got it and you want to study Christ's life and see how he fulfilled his prophecies, take a note of that.

Now, that's his first coming. What about his second coming? Well, those are still to come, but it won't be fulfilled.

You can go into Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, where he talks about that stone coming and breaking down the feet and the toes of that statue. You can see in Daniel 7 what he says that the Son of Man, one like the Son of Man, came, and then these beasts, powers, etc., will be destroyed and will rule over the earth.

But look at some lovely and encouraging scriptures from Isaiah.

In Isaiah 2. Because it's good when we look at the future to look beyond the sad days that are going to come, and we're going to look beyond that and look at how the physical world will be in the wonderful world tomorrow. And look at Isaiah 2, starting in verse 1. The word that Isaiah, the son of Amos, saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now, it shall come pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house, mountain, kingdom, Lord's house, and it was the kingdom of God, shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it was above all other nations, and shall be exalted above the hills, and it was even the small little nations. And all nations shall flow to it. There is still future, brethren, and that will be fulfilled by Christ.

Many people shall come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His fast. What a lovely time it will be when people in society say, let's go there and learn, because we're going to practice it. Wow! That's what's happening today. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, that the law hasn't changed, and the word of the Lord. What's the word of the Lord? One is the Bible, but two, it's Christ Himself, right there. The word of the Lord will come out of Zion, out of that area, from Jerusalem, and will preach to people, will teach and educate. Look a little bit further near Isaiah 11. A lovely chapter, and we all probably know this chapter. A lovely chapter. Let's just take a few moments and read a few things in it. Isaiah 11, we'll start in verse 1 as well. They shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. In other words, that's pointing to Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

Think about it. Rest. Rest. What does the word rest mean? It means peace, calm, rest. Rest.

And that will spread to the world. Rest. People are not going to be angry and cross. They'll be rest. The Spirit of rest.

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding. The Spirit of counsel and might. The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Think about as the leader of the world.

He's going to speak. There's going to be wisdom. There's going to be might. There's going to be knowledge. There's just going to be that counsel that he will give that he sound advised.

The world will rest in peace. Lovely, lovely picture of the world tomorrow. He's the light. He's in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes.

Was he not going to judge you differently because you got blue eyes or brown eyes or brown hair or blonde or whatever? No. It will be fair to everybody. You'll not decide by the year of his years, Oh, I heard this! Oh, but you only heard of the story. No, no, you will decide correctly. With righteousness, he will judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rot of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. He will slay the wicked with the breath of his lips. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist.

Look at verse 6. The wolf shall dwell of the lamb and the leopard shall lie down of the young goat. The calf and the unalloyed shall be effecting together and the little child shall lead them. Now, you and I obviously think about this physically, which is correct.

But you know what? Think of it. A lot of people have minds of beasts, minds of lions, minds of wolves.

And that will be changed. Those minds will be changed.

It will be embraced by peace. So look at it from a spiritual point as well.

Look at verse 9. He says, They shall not hurt nor destroy my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge that covers, and as the waters covers the sea. So it will be beautiful. It will be beautiful. Look at verse 11. It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people that are left from Assyria and Egypt, and he mentions different areas. It was actually what we call the second Exodus. That hasn't happened yet.

Look at another interesting scripture, which is in Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36.

Ezekiel 36. Verse 24.

To 28. Ezekiel 36. Verse 24.

To 28.

For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I'll sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean. I'll clean cleanse you from all your fullfiness and from all your idols. I'll give you a new spirit, I mean a new heart, and put a new spirit within you. I'll take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk into my statues. And you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people, and I will be your God. It's basically saying that people will repent. There will be a change.

And then look at verse 31.

Then you will remember your evil wives and your deeds that were not good. And you will love, you will say, Yeah! What I used to be!

You will love yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.

So brethren, going back to Matthew chapter 5, we read that you will, for full, He says, yeah, in verse 18, For sure I say to you, Till ever and earth pass away, one shot or one tickle will by no means pass away from the law, But all is fulfilled. In other words, all this from the Old Testament will be fulfilled.

The law and the prophets, all will be fulfilled. Jesus is very clear how He views the law.

Jesus Christ and God's view of the law is one that He does not compromise with sin. He came to fulfill the law through His example, through His sacrifice. He fulfilled the secretational law. His life and death fulfilled God's undisputed commitment to justice. And as we saw, He fulfilled the prophecies of the first coming, and He will also fulfill those of the second coming. The question is, what should our view be towards God's law? And therefore He says that. Look at it in verse 19. Therefore, that's our view now. Verse 17 and 18, basically it was God's view. Now verse 19, it's what our view should be. He says, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches manself, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. It's not just talk about, it's not just do, but it's actually teaching as well. So, now we have, breath, a vital connection between the law of God and being in the kingdom of God. Think about it. There's a vital connection between God's law and being in the kingdom of God. Greatness in the kingdom of God is a function of doing and teaching God's commandments.

And this is only possible because of God's grace.

Now, in verse 20, it shows Christ's authority. You see, He spoke of authority. He didn't say, well, you know, I think that may be, well, my feeling is...

He said, for I say to you, that's authority. No doubly doubly. He spoke of authority. I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will, by no means, enter the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. I mean, that's speaking of authority. That's not dancing on the floor, then doubly doubly. Brethren, there's one interesting word, which is, in verse 19, translated in the New King James version as, breaks. It says, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments. The word in Greek is the word, luau, which is in Concordance 3089, which means loosen. Loosen. It's like relaxing it, making it a little bit more compromising. A little bit more, let's call it, user-friendly. I don't mean that making computers, user-friendly is bad, or just...relaxing God's law. You see, when Christ spoke, for instance, when he was tempted by Satan, he didn't say, well, it is said, or it is said of old, does that? No, he says, it is written. Three times he says, it is written.

But then, in verses 21 through verses 44, there's six times that he makes reference, it is said, or you have heard that it has been said of old. He didn't use the words, it is written. He didn't use the words, it is written, because they were relaxing God's law from their spiritual intent. They making the law less demanding, and therefore, extending permissions, or in other words, making the law more permissive, more liberal.

And that's the problem today. Yes, yes, they added external appearances, which were burdens, to kind of put some checks and balances or whatever it is, to appear very righteous, but they were relaxing the principles.

And those six points we'll cover in the next sermon about Matthew. But what we did see today, brethren, is that God's view of the law has never changed.

His standard of righteousness has never changed. Yes, he's shown as grace, like you show grace towards your child if your child would fall in a swimming pool. In the hope that it won't happen again, and that we all learn a lesson.

But that's not changing the law.

Our view towards God's law, we should understand that God does not relax it. And if we arise as Christians, we've got to be very careful not just to the physical letter of the law, but to the spiritual intent.

See, the problem that happens today, and I mentioned this in one of my previous sermons, is what's mentioned in Jude chapter 4. They use the grace of God to allow lawlessness.

You know, because, oh well, we need to be merciful and kind and gentle to these poor people, whatever, whatever, and they're now relaxing the law.

Sure, we need to show grace and gentleness, kindness, but we must not relax the law. That's what God is teaching us. The problem is, when we relax the law, the love of many will wax cold, because it says, iniquity will abound, Matthew 24, 22, and the love of many will wax cold. Reverend, thus we're going to see, briefly, love of many waxing cold. Why? Because people are going to get involved in all the emotional things, and I said this, so he said that, and then people get all hot up.

And then the love is not there. That's a danger we have. So, brethren, to be in the Kingdom of God, we cannot relax or loosen or break God's law, like the scrubs and kerosene. After all, God's Royal Law is love, uttering concern towards God and towards man and your neighbor. God's Law is the true law of liberty. And therefore, brethren, we all pray, may God's Kingdom with His Royal Law come soon.