A New Authority - A New Standard

Take your Bible, turn with me to Matthew chapter 5. But we are starting back in our series through the Sermon on the Mount. We have called it the "Extraordinary Christian Life." That's the title of the series. That does not imply that there's like this average Christian life, and then there's this super ordinary Christian life. There's only one. And the Christian life is the extraordinary life. Now we have progressed quite a bit through chapter 5, and we're starting in this fourth section, verse 21 this morning. But I'm going to go back because this third section, verses 17 to 20, it's connected with verses 21 through the end of the chapter.

So I'm going to read verses 17 to 20, and then I'm going to read the first two verses of this next section, verse 21 and 22. Jesus says to the crowds there on the mountain side, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away 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 Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven." Verse 21, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder,' and whoever murders will be liable of judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the fire of hell." Let's pray. Lord, again, I thank you that we can come and worship as we do.

Lord, we do know that you're Lord of all. You're Lord of all governments. You're Lord of all peoples. You're Lord over natural disasters and even diseases. And we do pray that you would protect us from this awful disease. Lord, it's not that big of a deal for some who are strong and healthy, but it seems that the weak and the old and the vulnerable can really become a victim. And I pray, God, for protection. But, Lord, I pray that we can put those types of worries out of our mind. And, Lord, I know we have lots of other worries that can creep in on us.

Worries at home, worries at work, maybe health struggles, whatever that may be, I pray that we'll just put it outside of our mind, outside of the door, figuratively, and that we would be here together to worship you and be under your word. And, Lord, we thank you for this time. We've had to go through this sermon. This sermon, the greatest sermon ever preached. And I pray, God, that as we get into these verses, as we start this next section, I pray that you'll teach us. I pray we'll see Bible knowledge we've never seen. But, Lord, I pray that you'll apply it to us. Help us to see how relevant it is today for us.

And, Lord, I pray that this will prepare us for what we're going to learn, starting in verse 21, as we break down each of these illustrations, each of these lessons. So help us, Lord, as we submit to the authority of your word. And, Lord, help us to see when we're submitting to the authority of your word, we're submitting to you. So help us to do that as best as we know how, with your help. And we ask it in the name of Christ. Amen. All we have is Christ. We have no security in our health, in our relationships, in our wealth, in our abilities. And He is our righteousness before the Father. Let's sing this together.

I once was lost in darkest night If thought I knew the way The sin that promised joy and life Had led me to the grave I had no hope that you would hold A level to your will If you had not loved me first I would refuse you still But as I ran, my hellbound race Indifferent to the cause You looked at me, my helpless hate And led me to the cause I beheld God's love this day You suffered in my place You bore the wrath And He served for me Now all I know is peace Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life Now Lord I would be yours alone And it's all my sin The strength to follow your command Could never come, come Oh Father, use my ransom life In any way you choose Father, use my ransom life In any way you choose Let my song, let my song Forever be my only boast Is you Let's stand together as we sing this chorus Hallelujah And all I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life Let's sing this together, just our voices He is all we have Hallelujah All I have is Christ Hallelujah Jesus is my life May be seated, let's pray together Father God we love You, we come before You now in this time Lord we are humbled by the truth that all we have is You We are humbled by this righteousness we could never attain We could never earn, we could never improve And that which You have purchased us through the costly blood of Jesus Christ Even our own sanctification That which You purchased in the Spirit we cannot perfect in the flesh Cause us to understand how great this righteousness is Help us to understand the beauty and the sufficiency of Christ In His righteousness, in Jesus name we pray, Amen I will call your attention to one part of the service we adjusted We did not pass the offering plate like we did last week We do that for maybe some sanitary reasons The more we touch, the more dangerous it becomes Think about that, we just wanted to be careful with that But what we will do at the end, part of worship is giving our tithes and offerings We know that, the Lord has taught us We will have a couple, we will have a young man at the front and then someone at the back Because we want you to be able to worship and give as we all want to give So I want to call your attention to that change and the purpose behind that change We will take your Bible and turn back with me to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5, I think many of us are very familiar with that place We have been in Matthew chapter 5 for quite a few weeks together Now we will quickly glance back into some of the passages that we have studied I think I mentioned earlier in our scripture reading That we have covered the first three sections of the Sermon on the Mount And then we are going to look ahead at the next section In the fourth section, the section before us is verses 21 to 48 Now I have had a habit as I have been going through this series in the Sermon on the Mount I have been giving a message to really introduce each new section Each time I have come to this new section, I call it a message that looks ahead We are peeking ahead into the upcoming portion of scripture That is going to be my approach this morning This will introduce the verses, this will set up the verses And this will set us up for the specifics that we are going to study in verse 21 on down to verse 48 Now let me give you a little warning here, I want you to listen close Do not underestimate or discount the importance of the message it will have this morning What we are learning this morning is extremely important And really there are two reasons that have jumped out to me personally as I have studied all week First of all, what we are learning this morning It will enable us to understand better what Jesus is doing Jesus has a purpose in everything in these verses, verses 21 to 48 And as we go through the verses, what we look at this morning will equip us for each step of the way And then also what we examine this morning is very, very relevant for today The error of the Jews in that day dogs us today And it has throughout church history and you are going to see the application here is extremely powerful Very relevant Now we must remember the primary purpose of the Sermon on the Mount It has been a little while since we have been in the Sermon on the Mount So you might need to have a little reminder here Jesus was aiming at the very heart of a man He was targeting first and foremost what a man or a woman was like on the inside Now we know that he did deal with some behavior But first and foremost he is aiming at the heart of a man In the first section of the Sermon, that is what we have called as the Beatitudes Jesus was explaining that a truly blessed life comes from a work of God on the inside of the man Those who are poor in spirit like a humble beggar Those who truly mourn over their sin Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness They are the ones who possess true spiritual joy They possess a true spiritual happiness And they possess the kingdom They live life in the kingdom and possess the kingdom Then in verses 13-16 we saw that blessed life enables us to live as Christ would want us to live in the world Those who possess the kingdom Living as we see in verses 2-12 They are the salt of the earth They are the light of the world They live with the flavor of Christ in all of the world They take the medicine of the gospel to all of the world And also they shine the light of Christ and the light of the gospel to a dark and lost world They are a beacon of hope for the lost world to see Now this leads us to the third and the fourth sections of the Sermon The third section of verses 17-20 We read those earlier And then this fourth section in verses 21-48 And we see that these are closely connected In verses 17-20 Jesus takes aim He takes careful aim at the Old Testament Scriptures Jesus explains how he relates to the Old Testament Scriptures And then how man is to relate to the Old Testament Scriptures He explains that he has not come to alter the Old Testament Scriptures in any way He has definitely not come to do away with the Scriptures On the contrary, he has come to fulfill them completely In every way And then he explains that man is accountable to everything within the Old Testament Scriptures We learn that man can keep the Old Testament Scriptures only, only, only in Christ Man can only keep the righteous standards of God's law in Christ and by his grace Now for me, this leads me to a question It might help you, it's helped me as I've been studying all week What is taking place in this next section?

The fourth section starting in verse 21 What's going on here? Well this fourth section starts in verse 21 And it goes all the way to the end of the chapter of verse 48 I believe I've said that Here in this section, Jesus is expounding on what he taught earlier In verse 20, 17 to 20, in verse 20 In verse 20, Jesus said that man must have an entirely different righteousness Than that of the religious leaders That would have been the scribes and Pharisees You see, theirs was external Theirs was this religious performance Theirs was all about rules and regulations And Jesus was saying that man must possess an entirely new righteousness A righteousness which comes from a work on the inside of a man A righteousness that comes from a work of Christ within a man Christ giving a man a new, making him a new creation And a righteousness which enables him to keep the Old Testament law in every way Only by grace because Christ kept it first Now think about the scene with me I've done this quite a few times along the way I just have this imagination and I'm imagining this scene Now verse 1 tells us that there's a great crowd I've thought about how many It was definitely in the hundreds, possibly in the thousands But mostly within the crowd we had the Jews And there are some Gentiles scattered in Maybe on the fringes, maybe in the back But we know that the disciples were there I've imagined them being right there on the front row I don't remember who said it But one scholar said that this sermon was like their ordination service I like that Because this was the beginning of their earthly ministry with Jesus as well But remember what's happening Jesus is destroying everything the Jews had in their external religion He was contradicting everything the Jewish leaders had taught them And he was blazing a seeming new way right before their eyes But Jesus was not done Right here Jesus takes what he taught in verse 17 to 20 And he begins to explain it Starting in verse 21 Simply verses 21 to 48 They're just an illustration They're an explanation of what he had taught in verse 17 to 20 Now a question How do you think the Jews reacted to what Jesus was doing?

I mean do you think he stirred things up? Listen folks, I don't think we have a clue as to how he stirred things up Because right after this the Jewish leaders were ready to stone him He obliterated everything that they had their whole lives and their whole religion built on Now at this point I want to show you my approach Some specifics with the message this morning For the first time since verses 2 to 12 We have Jesus repeating himself Nine times in verses 2 to 12 Jesus made what was called or is called the "blessed statements" He also repeated this term "theirs is the kingdom of heaven" Because we know this phrase was attached to each of the beatitudes We learned that Now look with me in verses 21 to 48 And notice how Jesus repeats himself Look at verse 21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old" And then look at verse 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother" Then look on down to verse 27 "You have heard that it was said" And then look at verse 28 "But I say to you" Look at verse 31 "It is also said" Again referencing what he had said previously But then notice in verse 32 "But I say to you" Verse 33 "Again you have heard that it was said" And then notice what you see in verse 34 "But I say to you" Verse 38 "You have heard that it was said" Verse 39 "But I say to you" And then the last time Verse 33, 43, 44 "You have heard that it was said, but I say to you" Now we need to see that these statements These repeated phrases They are connected with illustrative lessons here We see them listed out We probably have a little title over each portion or each lesson But we have these six illustrative lessons But before we can get into the specific lessons We must ask two questions What is Jesus doing and why?

What is Jesus doing with these repetitive statements? And why is he doing it? And like I said earlier There is some very powerful application for us today So we are going to answer these questions What and why? By understanding that Jesus is doing two things First, Jesus is establishing a new authority And then second, Jesus is establishing a new standard Well that tells you how we are going to approach the message I think everyone here knows that I encourage you to take notes I encourage you to write down the title of the message The outline of the message And in many ways I say that if you need my notes You are welcome to them I think that the title of the message and the major truths Are very easy for you to write down It is kind of repetitive It all really comes together So we are going to be looking at what I am calling a new authority And then we are going to look at what I am calling a new standard So let's start off with what I am calling the body of the message Number one, Jesus is establishing here a new authority Jesus is establishing a new authority Now at this point I really don't think that any of us realize what Jesus is facing here Really and truly Jesus had run head first into a very big authority crisis Now this is no overstatement for me to say But most if not all of the people have been taught What they have been taught from the Old Testament It really was not in the Old Testament Scriptures Now if you think about what I have just said you might be shocked Notice what I said Most if not all of what they have been taught about the Old Testament Was not in the Old Testament Now to understand this crisis We have to go back into their past We have to go all the way back to the days of the Babylonian exile Now during the Babylonian captivity Most of the Jews lost contact with their native language That would have been their Hebrew language Scholars tell us that while in Babylonian exile The Jews learned to speak Aramaic Which is similar to their native language of Hebrew Scholars tell us that there were parts of the Old Testament even written in Aramaic Parts of Ezra, part Jeremiah and Daniel And if you know Daniel and Jeremiah and Ezra's connection to the exile That will explain it for you But the rest of the Old Testament it was written in their native language which was Hebrew Now what does this mean?

What does it have to do with us? Most all of the Jews could not read the Old Testament Scriptures During the exile and after the exile We see biblical evidence of this We see biblical evidence of this disconnect In the story of their return from Babylonian captivity Specifically in Nehemiah 8 When the law of Moses was read out loud The reading had to be translated for the people to understand They couldn't hear it They couldn't understand it And that same problem continued after they rebuilt the nation During their worship services in the synagogues The Old Testament was read in Hebrew But scholars tell us that the people could not understand what was read Simply they had to trust their teachers to explain what these Scriptures said They had to blindly trust their teachers and their leaders And this same disconnect between the Jewish people And their ability to read and understand the Scriptures lasted right up to Jesus' day But really and truly by Jesus' day things had gotten worse By the time of Jesus the teachers of the law were not explaining the actual Scriptures anymore They were instead teaching from materials that had been written by God These rabbinic teachings and traditions were supposed to explain the Old Testament But they didn't Simply by the time of Jesus the people had very little understanding and knowledge of the actual Scriptures Truthfully they were drowning Literally drowning in the writings of men that were supposed to explain the Scriptures And this went on for generations, generations Now with that said Go back with me to what Jesus was saying Verse 21 "You have heard that it was said" Verse 27 "You have heard that it was said" Verse 31 "It was also said" What is he saying?

He's referencing what men have taught in their traditions You have heard what men have taught But there's another side to this big authority crisis because it's big As Jesus began to preach and teach It forced the Jews into a whole new authority And we see this in several places in the Scriptures, the New Testament I'll show you just two At the end of the sermon, this sermon, the Sermon on the Mount If we turn over to chapter 7 Notice how the Jews reacted at the end of chapter 7 Verses 28 and 29 "And when Jesus had finished saying these things The crowds were astonished at his teaching For he was teaching them as one who had authority, not as the scribes" Another place we see this in the Gospels At the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry He was teaching in one of the synagogues Mark chapter 1, verses 21 and 22 "And they, he and the disciples went to Capernaum And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue And he was teaching" Verse 22 "And they were astonished at his teaching For he taught them as one who had authority, not like the scribes" Now for us, it's difficult to understand just how much of a shock Jesus' teaching was to the Jews I don't think we'll ever understand the gravity of it Jesus was teaching and preaching with an authority that no man had dared to assume In the minds of the Jews, the Old Testament law was of God and from God It was holy Truthfully, we cannot exaggerate the reverence the Jews had for the Old Testament law But Jesus comes along and here in this section of the sermon He quotes the Old Testament in verse 21, 27, 33, 38 and 43 He then has the audacity to conflict their explanation of the Old Testament law And then he gives an explanation of his own And we must see that Jesus does two things Two things that blasted the Jews First, he contradicted their explanation of the Old Testament scripture And second, he gives his explanation of the Old Testament scripture As if he was God or something like that, but wasn't he?

Yes, he was And listen, no one had ever done this They had never heard anything or anyone like this before The prominent Jewish teachers, they use certain phrases in their teaching "Thus saith the Lord was one, there is a teaching was one" And listen, no rabbi, no teacher would ever claim any personal authority He would not even add his own personal opinion to what he read in the scripture, but not Jesus He simply said, "But I say, but I say, but I say" After he quoted the Old Testament scripture Jesus was assuming a divine authority As God could explain the very word of God that he had inspired me in the right And as these Jews saw and felt that authority, it produced a great, great conflict Now I know I've given us a lot, but in summary, notice what we have An authority crisis, an authority confrontation Jesus subverts the authority of the traditions He subverts the authority of the rabbinical writings And their high and mighty teachers He asserts a new authority in two ways First, he exalts the authority of the scriptures above and beyond What all these men have been saying for generations And then second, he exalts his authority above and beyond any teacher So to the Jews, Jesus was giving them a new authority A new authority Now in application, we must see that this problem is very prevalent today But to help us see how prevalent this problem is I want to go back to the Jews for just a minute, okay?

And this will help us see the application Now think about it In Jesus' day, the Jews had the Old Testament scrolls before them In their synagogue worship services They had the Old Testament scribes or scrolls They were even read aloud each time they gathered to worship One scholar I read said it this week I was looking at their resource this week Said that during Jesus' time when they would meet in the synagogue Someone would walk around, all around the worship service With the scrolls, the Old Testament scriptures They had had the Old Testament scriptures at their disposal for generations But they did not know the Word of God These Jews would fight to the death over the traditions of men And what some long-forgotten rabbi taught But they didn't know the Word of God We see this today We see this today This goes on in Baptist churches today Let me give you one example This has really been real in my life and my ministry for years One example You take the modern day invitation Now I'm not being critical of anybody who uses an invitation Or someone who does not use an invitation We've chosen not to give an invitation Because we push back from so much decisionism and emotionalism You know there's so much that goes on in the life of the church But take just that modern day invention Because if you study church history the invitation is a modern day invention But you take that invitation out of a Baptist worship service And people will accuse you of being a cult leader And they'll accuse you of being some theological wacko And listen, it's not found in the Bible It's just not there Now again, I'm not saying you're wrong if you do it But it's not there And let me give you an explanation Listen, we choose not to do it because we want to trust the Spirit of God To convict and draw and work in people's lives In the gospel message and the word taught That is the invitation I'm just showing you That is one thing in the life of the church That if you alter or take out people will fight you tooth and claw And it's not in the Bible I want to be careful with our time But I'll give you another example The sinner's prayer The sinner's prayer Thousands and thousands of people have come to true faith in Christ Through the sinner's prayer, sure But it's not found in the Bible And if you say we're not going to use the sinner's prayer Oh, you'll be called a cult leader in a theological wacko I know from experience And listen, I have learned to trust the Spirit Oh, when the Spirit of God brings a lost sinner to that place of faith and trust in Christ They'll cry out That thief on the cross, he cried out I've never seen a lost sinner get to the place Where the Spirit of God is enabling them to trust and repent And express faith in Christ I've never seen them hunger for words If God's done that work in them, they don't even have to say a word Because regeneration is the work of the heart But what am I showing you?

What must we learn here? We must know the Word of God And we must adhere to the Word of God Above and beyond the traditions and teachings of men And listen, they wanted to stone Jesus because of this So what do we see? We have this new authority Now let's move on I want us to see that Jesus is establishing a new standard Jesus is giving and establishing this new standard Now as jarring as this authority crisis was There was something else that was equally jolting Here in verses 21 to 48 Jesus was running head first into this watered down, man-excusing standard Which came from men Now let me show you what's happening here In verses 21 to 26 we see one example of man standard The Jewish teachers taught that if one did not actually murder a man Then they kept the commandment See, it's the sixth commandment One of the ten commandments But what does Jesus do?

He comes along and he chunks that man-excusing, watered down standard And he exalted a new standard Jesus says if you've hated someone in your heart, then you're guilty Look at verse 22 with me What does he say? "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable for judgment" They're guilty And listen folks This obliterated the accepted teachers of the day This contradicted the respected writings that they had passed down for generations This is why the scribes and the Pharisees hated Jesus He was ruining their religion So this was completely new to the Jews Jesus was teaching that their faults, the meditations of their heart and minds Were just as important or more important than their actions Jesus knew that it was the meditations of the heart and the mind that produced the actions So it was not enough not to commit sin Not to commit a particular sin externally What mattered was the heart What mattered was that a man could not wish to commit that sin And listen, by their standard they were good By their standard they were good Their standard watered down the original intent of the Old Testament Scriptures Their standard came from man and it was man excusing Their standard produced boatloads of pride and arrogance which was the greatest sin of all We see this in one parable Jesus taught, Luke chapter 18 We know this parable, the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector You tell me if you don't see their man-made standard in pride Listen to what Jesus says And he also told this parable, Jesus Notice, "To some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous And treated others with contempt" verse 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus God I thank you that I am not like other men Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector See by Jesus' standard he really was an extortioner and an adulterer and a tax collector You see, in that parable we easily see their man-made standard Which never dealt with the heart and it produced nothing more than pride and self-sufficiency But listen Christ and his new standard showed that no man, no man, no man is good His standard exalted the Old Testament law and its original intent His standard came from God and was man-accusing His standard brought man before God without excuse His standard destroyed pride and it destroyed religious self-sufficiency And again, I keep saying it, the Jewish leaders hated Jesus for this Now in summary, notice what we see here As we start in verse 21, we'll see Jesus systematically, purposefully He is obliterating their man-made standard He is exalting the original intent and purpose of the law The Old Testament law was meant to show God's standard And his standard demands inner righteousness, perfect righteousness The Old Testament law was meant to reveal man's great need The Old Testament law was meant to bring man before God Condemned and humble and in need of God Now in application, we must see that we have this problem today It's very, very common, more than you know Again, I'm going to go back to the Jews, the religious leaders This will help us understand this application See, their critical mistake in that day, their critical mistake here Was that they had totally redefined God's Word They had missed the original intent of the Scriptures They had assigned new meaning to God's Word God didn't like it Now let me show you how it happens in our day, I'll give you two First in our culture, first in our culture Culture is constantly trying to redefine what God's Word said See, abortion is not murder, it's just a woman's right Homosexuality is not sexual perversion, it's just an alternative lifestyle But hold on a minute, you never hear me scolding the world for sin You never hear me doing that I don't scold the world for sin, I'm just showing you how this happens Listen, that's like getting mad at a dog if he barks The world is going to sin And if I'm not careful, or if we're not careful, if we only preach on what the world does It lets us off the hook And we must see that this goes on in the life of the church today Yes, in the life of the church Listen, one that's going on that is big today We have prominent Southern Baptist leaders Advocating this practice of what's called spontaneous baptism A lot of you don't even know about it Because I really don't talk about convention news much And listen, I don't get into convention issues Because we're busy about doing the work of the church But listen, this one needs to be mentioned Even the president of the Southern Baptist Convention And North American Mission Board leaders are pushing what's called spontaneous baptism Now let me just show you what they're talking about They're calling people to just fill the Baptistry up And just call people to come on down and get baptized immediately No counsel, no profession of faith I heard one Baptist leader say If they're in your church, in a part of your church They're supposed to be baptized, professing believers anyway What do we see?

They're redefining what baptism is They're redefining what baptism is supposed to symbolize It's all about numbers, it's all about hype Now to be honest with you, we can't fall into that trap for two reasons Number one, we're going to adhere to what God's Word says And number two, at this facility we don't have a Baptistry, not yet But let me explain something to you Years from now, years from now, unless Jesus comes back There will be pastors doing that Because that has been illustrated for them And they will be contradicting the standard of God's Word And they might not even know it, and they're holding the very Word of God So this is what we must learn here The standard can never be defined, redefined The standard must always be God's standard If we redefine what God's Word said, we might as well go home Because Jesus will take the lampstand Now let me talk to you folks Let me talk to you church people Let me talk to my people, and I say that loosely Because if you're born again in a member of this church You're God's people, you're our people Listen, we must adhere to the authority of God's Word And how Christ interprets God's Word And we must adhere to the standard of God's Word We must know God's Word, we must study God's Word You know, I think about the Marines in Acts What did they do?

They studied God's Word to see if this apostolic ministry was real We must all know God's Word We don't just hold it in our hands and bring it to church And say we believe it Now as I move away from what I call the body of the message I want to step back and I want you to notice what we've learned Notice what happens here Notice the scene Jesus barges in right here with a crowd The backdrop is Judaism and the Jews and the entire Jewish religious system He barges right in and immediately he establishes a new authority and a new standard And I think we see it I think that helps us see what Jesus is doing and why What he is doing and why And understanding all of that we have studied this morning Will enable us to step off into the specifics We have six illustrations, six examples that are before us And in verses 21 to 48 we're going to look at these examples And we're going to see how Jesus systematically dismantles the error of their way And it will all apply to us Now as I close I want to give us some practical guiding principles I ran across these principles early on in the week in some John MacArthur material that I ran across But you know as I kept studying it must be good because all of the material I looked at seemed to reflect some of the same principles and some of the same teaching Now I know I'm going to put it in my own words but I always want to give credit where credit is due But I want to give us five principles here that will help us as we begin to look at these lessons Look at these illustrations in the weeks to come First, first, the spirit of the law The spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law The Old Testament law was not given to be robotic It was not given to be this mechanical set of rules The law was not meant to be a set of rules simply to manage outward living The Old Testament law was given to reveal the type of moral character that God requires of a man So first, the spirit of the law is more important than the letter of the law And then second, the Old Testament law is both positive and negative The Old Testament law is both positive and negative The Old Testament law is meant to prevent inner sin and outward sin for sure But it is also meant to promote inner righteousness You get that?

Inner righteousness and outward righteousness Positive and negative So the Old Testament law is positive and negative And then third, the Old Testament law is not an end in itself Oh, this is an aramini, mate The Old Testament law is not an end in itself First, the purpose of the Old Testament law is to purify the lives of God's people But greater than that, the supreme purpose of the law is to glorify God So the Old Testament law is not an end in itself And then fourth, the Old Testament law is meant to show us that God alone can judge man Let me repeat that The Old Testament law is meant to show us that God alone can judge a man Only God knows the human heart Let me repeat that Only God knows the heart, only God knows the mind Only God knows the meditations of the heart and mind Only God sees the intentions, the motivations of the heart and the mind So only God can judge a man So fourth, the Old Testament law is meant to show us that only God can judge a man And then fifth, the Old Testament law is the standard Let me repeat that The standard that man must live up to I need to say that again The Old Testament law is the standard that man must live up to The Old Testament law is the perfect divine standard set by man Simply, this is God's standard for man And it must not be altered, tampered down, lowered down, watered down, changed in any way So fifth, the Old Testament law is the standard that man must live up to And I personally believe if we meditate on these practical guiding principles Some of these we'll need some time now Some of us will need to meditate on these And let the meaning really come to the surface and start to form in our mind And if we meditate on these guiding principles That will help us as we get into these six illustrations These illustrations and examples that are laid out in verses 21 to 48 And as I close, this is the prayer that is on my heart May God help us listen to submit to His authority and His standard Listen to that, folks May God help us submit no matter what to His authority and His standard No matter the price, no matter the isolation, no matter the repentance No matter what others may say May God help us to submit to His authority and His standard Why?

What's the supreme purpose of the law? So that God can get glory in our lives Let's pray and let's commit what we've studied this morning And then we're going to sing a song of worship to not close out the message So that we can allow the message to soak deeper in our hearts and minds And we'll take it with us throughout this week