Not to Destroy but to Fulfill

Matthew chapter 5 is a very beautiful portion of Scripture. Many of you know the Sermon on the Mount, which continues into Matthew chapters 6 and 7. At this time in Israel, there was a new rabbi in Galilee, and there was something different about him. As he traveled through the towns around the Sea of Galilee, which is actually not much more than a lake, he spoke with great authority—authority like none that the people had ever seen before.

Not only did he speak with authority, but his actions backed up his words like no other rabbi or teacher they had ever heard. This rabbi, when he spoke about casting out demons or healing people, didn’t just talk about it; he actually did it. As a result, a great multitude of people began to follow him. Many followed for the miracles he performed or the feedings he provided, such as the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the multitudes, as recorded in the Gospels. However, there were others who followed because there was something about this man, something about this teacher that spoke to their hearts, drawing them to him.

In Matthew chapter 5, we read in verse 1, "In seeing this multitude, he went up onto a mountain, and when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.'"

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth shall pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.

Let's pray.

Father, as we look at these words of your Son, and as we realize that He actually spoke this, that you, Lord, spoke this, what an awesome thing it is to be able to read your Word, the words in red before us tonight, Lord. That color, that red, reminds me of your blood that was shed. Lord, it's amazing to me that even in the smallest thing of printing your words in red, it declares you and what you came for.

But Lord, as we read these things, as we read this sermon, as we look into these things, I pray that you would open our hearts. There were many during the time that you walked the earth who put their trust and hope in what they could do or how they could live in their own righteousness. There are those today in this nation, in this world, who, Father, continue to put their hope in how they live and what they say or what they do.

But God, I pray that you would redirect our hope so that it would be upon you and nothing else. As we take time to look into this portion of Scripture tonight, I pray that you would open it unto us, Lord, that we would see what you want to speak to us. Jesus, as you said,

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. God, we have ears, and I desire to hear what You, by Your Spirit, would speak to us tonight. We live in a dark age, and we need to know what Your will is, Lord, so that we can walk circumspectly. I ask that by Your Spirit, You would shed light upon this Scripture here before us. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

This man, Jesus, spoke to the multitudes and saw the multitudes. In another portion of Scripture, it is said that in seeing the multitudes, He was moved with compassion. Jesus, as He sees this group of people following Him, is moved with compassion. He goes up upon a hill, sits down, and begins to speak to them in this incredible sermon.

There were those who followed Jesus, desiring that He would be the Messiah. They believed that He might be the one foretold by the prophets, who would rid them of the bondage and oppression they were under in Rome, under this horrible, wicked nation and its king, Nero. They hoped and believed that maybe He was the one.

Others followed Him, wondering what it was about this man. As Nicodemus said in John chapter 3, "We know that You are a teacher sent from God." Nicodemus was one of the leaders in Israel, one of the leaders of the Jewish church. They sensed there was something special about Him; He spoke with authority.

When He sat down and began to teach them, it was not like He opened a book and began to read. During this time in the synagogues in Israel, they would read a portion of Scripture from the Talmud every week. The men would come in on the Sabbath, be seated, and someone would stand up to read from the law. Yet this man, Jesus, did not read from a book. He would stand before them or sit down, as we see here, and begin to speak to them and declare the word.

He was not saying to them, "You’ve read it here." Instead, He said, "I say to you." As He continued in this chapter, He would say, "You have heard that it has been said of old, 'You shall not murder,' but I say unto you." You see, Jesus spoke with such great authority.

He stood there, sat in front of these people, and he would say, "The prophets, the law, it says this, but this is what I'm declaring to you." He wasn't changing the law; he was fulfilling it. You see, Jesus is like the top of the pyramid. The law is that whole foundation being built up, but without that top, it's not a pyramid. He's like the cornerstone of the building, and throughout the Scriptures, he's referred to as the cornerstone. Without that cornerstone, it can't tie everything together. The whole building is built around it. Without Jesus, the law is really nothing but a set of do's and don'ts.

There were a lot of people during the time of Christ who walked around tired of the do's and the don'ts. They had heard the Pharisees and the scribes relate the law to them over and over again, and all it ever was was "don't do this" and "do this." They got tired of it. As many people today, they don't like just the do's and the don'ts. You tell someone, "Don't do this," and what's the first thing they think? "Well, I want to do that." Someone tells you, "Don't touch that," and what's the first thing that goes through your mind? "Oh, you're holding me back. You don't want me to have what you have, that power to push the button."

There were a lot of teachers during that time saying the do's and the don'ts. The rabbis would stand before them, but this Jesus would stand up and declare things that made them sit back and wonder, "Who is this man?" Some knew, and some thought they knew. He spoke to them and said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? He was speaking to a group of people who truly were at that point in their lives where they were poor in spirit. Remember, Jesus made company with the publicans and the sinners. He didn't hang around with those who thought themselves to be righteous. He wasn't traveling with the Pharisees and the scribes, although they followed him to hear what he had to say and to try to catch him in sin. He traveled and made his company with men and women who knew they were sinners. They understood that they had not lived a life that was in line with the law. They knew that without help from someone, somewhere, they hadn't fulfilled it and weren't going to. They were at that place where their spirit was just broken, and they knew it. Many of you have been in that place before as well, where your spirit was just...

You were at the end of yourself, where you realized that you cannot get what you've been searching for. You've been searching for fulfillment, for something, but you can't find it. You came to that place where you were broken. Jesus says, "Blessed are those who are poor in spirit." Blessed are those who come to that point where they realize that there is nothing they can do to attain perfection. There is nothing that they can do to get to God.

God has created every single one of us with a knowledge of Him. In the book of Romans, Paul writes in chapter 1 that God has instilled in every single human being ever created a knowledge of God. There are those who want to reject it; although they do not want to know God, they try to suppress that knowledge. But all of us, in the deepest core of our being, know that there is a God. When we really take the time to look at our lives, we realize that we cannot get to Him.

When you finally come to that place where you're able to confess it and you're poor in spirit, Jesus says that is a blessed experience. What does it mean to be blessed? The word literally means, "Oh, how happy!" Oh, how happy is the person who is poor in spirit, who has come to that place where they realize that there is absolutely nothing they can do to get to God. The world might think, how is that a happy position to be in?

He continues, saying, "For theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You see, before you can come to that place where you lay hold of the kingdom of heaven, the life eternal that God spoke of, that Jesus spoke of, you have to come to that place where you experience the poorness of your spirit. You must realize that you, in and of yourself, cannot get to God.

Jesus would come, and the very first words out of His mouth would be, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Right there in verse 17 of chapter 4 of Matthew, He says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It's at your very reach; it's right before you. The life eternal that you so desire is right in front of you. Yet, you can't lay hold of it and you can't grab a hold of it until you're poor in spirit, until you've come to that place where you realize that you cannot do it.

He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." They can lay hold of it; they can apprehend it. He goes on to say, "Blessed are they that mourn." You see, when you come to that point of being poor in spirit...

When you're stretched thin and you realize that there's absolutely nothing you can do to get to God, you begin to mourn over your sin. Jesus says that's a good thing. When you and I come to that place, as David did in Psalm chapter 51, that great psalm of brokenness, we finally realize, "Lord, I am the man." I've committed adultery. I've murdered. I've hated. I've dishonored You. I've dishonored my parents. David was broken, and he mourned over it.

When we come to that place where we're poor in spirit and begin to mourn over our sin, it's a blessed place to be. Oh, how happy are those who come to that point! For they, Jesus says, shall be comforted. We know from John chapter 16 that Jesus said, "I'm going to go, but I'm going to send you another Comforter." When you're in that place of mourning over your sin, where you're mourning for what you've done, that is where the Comforter meets you—the Paracletus, the Holy Spirit.

Moving on from there, Jesus says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." There's a progression here: those who are poor in spirit, then they begin to mourn over their sin, and then they come to that place where they are meek. Meekness is a state of true brokenness, where you realize that you are absolutely nothing. You begin to look at this flesh as Paul did in Romans chapter 7 and say, "In me is no good thing."

You can break the word "meek" down into two parts: "me" and "ick." When you come to that point where you say, "Me? There's nothing. It's disgusting," Jesus says that's a blessed place to be. Oh, how happy are those who are meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

From that place of meekness, you begin to see that you are a wretched sinner. You agree with Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 9, that the heart of man is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it? You say, "I'm absolutely nothing, and I'm broken," and you become meek. At that point in time, blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's when you begin on your knees to say, "Lord, I want You. I can't do it in and of myself. I have no righteousness of my own." As Isaiah said, "Our righteousness is as filthy rags." You come to that place where you're poor in spirit and you mourn.

Over it, and you're meek. You begin to hunger. Lord, please fill me with Your righteousness. You're thirsting after it like you've been in the desert for a long period of time without water. You begin to cry out, "Lord, I need You. I need You to fill me." He says, "Oh, how happy are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness." Why? For they shall be filled. What a great promise!

Jesus was speaking to a group of people who were in this very place where they were poor in spirit, and they were mourning over it. They knew that they weren't like the Pharisees, and they knew that they weren't like the scribes who would walk down the middle of the street, blowing their trumpets. Someone would say, "Hey, look at the Pharisees! Pharisee Jim!" If your name's Jim, I'm not pointing you out. But look at Pharisee so-and-so! He's giving to the poor. They would reach into their bag and say, "Here, there you go."

They looked upon these Pharisees and thought, "Man, that guy is so righteous. So good, so pure is that man. He follows the law." The scribes were the ones who wrote the law, word for word. These men were amazing. They would write down the law. They didn't have photocopiers, no Xerox, and there was no Kinkos. These scribes would write the law, knowing it so well, forwards and backwards. They could tell you what this passage meant and what that passage meant, and they could probably quote it for you.

The people Jesus was ministering to knew that they weren't like the Pharisees, the scribes, and the Sadducees. They understood that they couldn't attain that level of righteousness. They were broken, hungering, and thirsting after something, but they didn't quite know what it was. Something about this man, this rabbi, Jesus, who stood before them, was beginning to quench that thirst. They looked upon Him and began to follow Him. This man has what I want.

After you've gone through that place where you're poor in spirit, where you mourn over it, where you're meek, and where you hunger and thirst after righteousness, He begins to fill you. The fruit of that is, "Blessed are those that are merciful." The fruit of that life is a life filled with mercy—not rendering unto someone what they deserve. When they deserve punishment, when they deserve judgment...

The police officer looks upon your tear-filled eyes and says, "I'll let you go this time. You deserve the ticket." But he gives you mercy. He extends that hand of mercy and says, "Blessed, oh how happy are those who are merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." How many of you want to obtain mercy from the Lord? I do. If you're not raising your hand, you may not know exactly what that means. But we want to obtain mercy from the Lord. He says here, "Blessed are those who are merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

And blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. In Exodus chapter 34, Moses, the lawgiver, said, "Lord, I want to see You. Lord, let me see Your glory." There was something about this man, Moses; he was a man who was pure in heart. The Lord said, "I'll show you a bit of My glory, a bit of the afterglow. I can't show you My full presence because in your flesh you would die. But I'll pass by and I'll put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll cover you. As I pass by, you can see My afterglow, My glory."

Moses had the opportunity to see God because he was pure in heart. Some of you in this room have seen the Lord. Maybe not physically right in front of you, but you've seen God in your life do incredible things. That's because you've gone through these experiences. You've been poor in spirit. You've mourned over it. You've become meek. You've hungered and thirsted after righteousness. God has begun to fill you with mercy.

At that point in time, when you're pure in heart, the Lord says, "I just want to show you a bit of My glory." It's those people whom God begins to work even more in their hearts. As we see in verse 9, He says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." Notice what identifies a child of God. There are two things that I can remember in Scripture that identify a child of God. One is right here, and the other is in the book of 1 John, I believe. They will know that you are believers, that you're Christians, by what? By your love. Then they will know that we're children of God when they see that.

We're peacemakers. We are those who stand up for peace. Now, that doesn't mean that you go and strap yourself to a building in Iraq and say, "Well, I'm a peacemaker, and I don't want them to blow this up." No, because even in the Old Testament, we see that the Lord would go and destroy; He would utterly annihilate those who were wicked. He would remove the wickedness, just like the Lord wants to do in my heart and in yours.

The peace that God desires us to embody, those who go out and take it into the rest of the world, is the peace that He gives, not the peace of the world. The world is looking for a false peace. Pardon me. The world is looking for something that really isn't peace at all. They're looking for everybody to just kind of say, "Okay, I know in my heart that what you're doing is not right, but I'm not going to say anything about it because I don't want to cause a fight." They think that that's peace. That's not peace at all. That actually is wickedness. To turn your eye when you see people doing things that are unjust is one of the primary causes for Israel's downfall when they were sold into the hands of the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar. They were turning their eyes, saying, "I'm not going to look at that. I don't agree with it. I know that you're not supposed to be doing that, but I don't want to start a fight, so I won't say anything."

No, the peace that God wants us to be peacemakers of is His peace. We bring the good news of God into their homes so they can have peace with God. They can turn away from their wickedness and be restored to a right relationship with the Lord. He says, "Oh, how happy are those who are peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." It's great evidence that you're a follower and a child of God when people see that you're taking His peaceful gospel to others.

He continues on there in verse 10, saying, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You know, when you live a life like this—when you live a life that is poor in spirit, a life where you mourn over your sin, and you've become meek, looking at yourself and saying, "I'm nothing"—when you hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the Lord fills you, pouring into you mercy and giving you a new pure heart, making you a peacemaker, that is the person who will be persecuted. That is the person whom the rest of the world will look upon and say, "I don't like you." They don't even really know why they don't like you; they just don't like you.

Just stay away from me, you bunch of wicked Christians. Isn't it interesting that so many people in the world think that Christians are the bad guys? Why is that? Because we bring a message that says you're wicked, and you need to realize it. Before you can have the life that you're seeking after, you need to come to that place where you're poor in spirit and broken. People who are proud don't like that, and so they'll persecute you.

Jesus says, "Blessed are you. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." He also says, "Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." Now, if you're doing foolish things, as Peter says, and people revile you and persecute you, that's because you're being a fool. But if you're being a fool for Christ, if you're so sold out to Him that you've given your life to Him completely, the rest of the world may say, "I don't like you," because you're like salt on a wound or a bright light in a world that loves darkness. Remember, the Bible tells us in John chapter 1 that men love darkness.

When you're being persecuted because of His sake, that's a good thing. Jesus says, "Blessed are you." Oh, how happy should you be when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my name's sake! If they're saying a whole bunch of evil about you and it's true because you're a fool, you're not blessed. But if they're saying all manner of evil about you falsely because you follow Christ, blessed are you. He says, "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."

He says, "Blessed are you. Rejoice. Be glad when they persecute you because they did the very same thing to the prophets who came before you." Jesus knew that they were going to do the very same thing to Him. Why do they do this? Why does the world do this to us? Because He goes on to say, "You are the salt of the earth."

As I mentioned a minute ago, when you have a wound and you get salt in it, it's painful. The world is wounded, and people in this world are wounded because of sin. When you and I are around them and we have the saltiness of Christ upon us, it burns. That's why they revile us. That's why they persecute us. He says, "You are the salt of the earth."

If the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. It's a sad thing, and we need to make sure we note this and understand it. The salt can lose its savor. You have probably seen in your own life the times that you have lost your savor for the Lord.

People in the world have no problem hanging around you. If people in the world, who are vile, wicked sinners that have turned away from God and want nothing to do with Him, have no problem being in your company, then there's a problem. You've lost your savor. How do we lose our savor?

I did a study at one point in time on salt. They used to go and take the salt from the southern part of Israel, near the Dead Sea, and mound it up in big piles. The salt that was on the bottom, closest to the earth, was the salt that lost its savor. That was the salt they would take and throw on the streets to kill the weeds. That which was closest to the world lost its savor.

If you allow yourself to be in close company with those things that are in the world, as 1 Corinthians says, bad company will corrupt good morals. It will cause you to lose your savor. Maybe tonight you realize that you've lost something of that edge in your Christian and spiritual walk in life. It's very likely because you've been spending too much time too closely to the world, too closely to the earth.

Jesus told us through Paul to set our minds on things above, not on the things of the earth. When we set our minds on all the things around us and worry ourselves to death about everything going on in the world, we start to focus on the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. As Rick was praying before the service, he mentioned that we don't have to focus on the stock market and all these things. But if that's where your focus is, if you're always focused on your mutual fund, then you're not going to be focused on the Master.

Jesus would tell us that you cannot serve two masters, for you'll love one and hate the other. If you've been serving two masters and holding on to the things of the world, then you've lost your savor. But you can get right. All it takes is one step as you turn yourself back to the Lord and say, "Lord, I need You." Know for sure that then the...

Persecution will begin again. Because as your saltiness comes back into your life and you begin to be a burning influence upon those friends you've been hanging out with in the world, all of a sudden they're going to say, "I don't want to hang around with you anymore. I don't like you. You're no fun anymore."

If you wonder why some of your friends no longer want to hang around with you, it's a good thing. That is, your friends who don't know the Lord. Jesus says not only are you the salt of the earth, but you're also the light of the world. A city that's set upon a hill cannot be hidden. Like this little community over here in San Marcos, that Emerald Heights, you can't hide it. We can't hide it. God can with a cloud maybe, but you can't hide that.

The Lord calls for us to be cities set on a hill that shine the light of Him. We don't have any light in and of ourselves. If you think that the light shining from you is something you manufactured, you're wrong. You're just like the moon. The moon has no light of itself; it only reflects the light of the sun. You and I need to reflect the light of the Son. Jesus is the light, and we're to shine that light to the world, just like the moon.

The moon reflects the light of the sun and shines it upon the earth in the darkest hour of night. But what happens when the world gets in the way? When the world gets in the way between the light of the sun and the light of the moon, you have an eclipse. If you allow the earth, the things of the earth, to get in the way, it will cut off that light of God shining on and through your life.

Once again, if you allow the earth to stand in the way, it will cut you off from what God wants you to do. But you know what? There's a flip side to that coin because we can become prideful and arrogant. The moon is a lot smaller than the earth, and it's quite...

A bit smaller than the sun, that little small thing can cut off the light of the sun, and we call that a solar eclipse. You see, if you become proud and arrogant and puffed up, and you allow your life to get in the way of Christ and people seeing Him, then you will eclipse the light that's supposed to shine upon the earth.

We have a great encouragement to not let the sun or the earth get in front of us to cut off that light. We also have another exhortation to not allow ourselves to get in the way of Jesus. It is a temptation for every single one of us. Why? Because we're very prideful. If you don't think you are, then you're wrong. I have a very hard time admitting I'm a prideful person, but I know I am. Deep down in my heart, I know. I can very easily stand in the way of what God wants to do through my life, and so can you.

God wants to shine His glory upon the earth. But if you allow the earth to get in the way, then it will cut it off. If you allow yourself to get in the way of His light, it will cut it off as well. The world won't see it, and it will wander in its darkness. It's a very sad place to be.

Why do we shine the light? So that they can see our good works and glorify not us, but glorify our Father in heaven, as Jesus says. Jesus was ministering to this group of people, speaking all of these things to them and saying, "You are the light of the world. You're the salt."

To become the salt of the earth and the light of the world, you have to go through all those other things: being poor in spirit, mourning over it, being meek, and then hungering and thirsting after His righteousness. You must become merciful through His power, pure in heart by His strength, and a peacemaker, even being persecuted.

He goes on to say something very interesting in verse 17, and this is where I want to focus tonight in these next few verses. Jesus knew the audience to which He was speaking. He knew that this group of people were sinners, just like us. He knew that they were broken. They were at the right place, ripe for the picking. Yet, there was a hurdle that stood before them—something that stood before them as Jews that they just could not step over, and that was the law.

They were so envious of those like the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the scribes who followed the law, or at least appeared to. In their hearts, they may have been hoping that maybe He was going to start something new and get rid of this old law, this crusty do's and don'ts. Yet, He says to them, "I have not come to destroy it, but to fulfill it. I've come to perfect it. I've come to finish it. I'm not here to destroy it. I'm not here to get rid of the prophecies. I've come to fulfill the prophecies and to fulfill all the law. To complete it."

He continues, "For verily I say unto you, or surely I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, the smallest marks of the law, shall in no wise pass from the law till all is fulfilled." The jot was the smallest character, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and the tittle was almost like an apostrophe or just a little line. He emphasizes that not even the smallest bit of the law shall pass away. Jesus says, "I've come to fulfill it, and it's going to be fulfilled. We're not getting rid of it."

Throughout His ministry, Jesus never once went against the law. The Pharisees thought He did because they were following their tradition, not the law. When we get too focused on our religion, we may think that people who are serving the Lord aren't really serving Him. That's exactly what the Pharisees were doing. They were so focused on their religious tradition that they thought, "This man is wicked. He heals people on the Sabbath. How dare He do something good like that and work on the Sabbath?"

Jesus would ask them, "Is it lawful for someone to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil?" How do you answer that? They didn't know what to say; they were baffled by this man. But He fulfilled the law. He kept the law—every aspect of it. In fact, if Jesus didn't keep the law, then He could not be our Lord. He would not be the perfect, unblemished Lamb to take away our sin. We know that He kept the whole law.

He says in verse 19, "Whosoever shall break one of the least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." He emphasizes that if you break these commandments and teach others to do the same, they will follow you.

In breaking even the least commandments, you will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven. However, Jesus says that if you do keep them and teach others to do so, you shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Notice that He does not say if you keep these, then you will be saved, or if you don't keep these, then you will be saved. He states that whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so shall be least in the Kingdom of Heaven. It doesn't say you won't be in the Kingdom of Heaven; it says you will be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

I was talking with Matt before the service, and we discussed how that person will have their capacity for worship minimized when they are in Heaven. They will be there, but they will be least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus was not preaching that you have to keep the law to be saved, and neither am I. However, there are blessings in obedience. I encourage you to get a book by Andrew Murray titled "Blessings of Obedience," which we have in our bookstore.

You know what? I've tried to read it several times, but I can't seem to get through the whole book because it always convicts me deeply. I haven't read the end of it yet because I usually get to about chapter three or four and think, I can't read this anymore. I'll come back to it later. I recognize that I am just as wicked as everyone else. Don't ever for one second think that Pastor Pat, myself, Matt, or any of the other pastors at this church are perfect. We're not. We're all just a bunch of sinners, just like you.

I think you may have heard it before; John Corson has said many times that he has just been in this hospital a little bit longer. He knows the ways around, and that's the only reason the Lord has allowed these men to stand up here and teach from week to week. We may have been with the Lord for a little bit longer, but it's not because we are special, spiritual, or better than the rest of you. In fact, I would be willing to bet, just like Paul the Apostle said, that I am the chiefest of all sinners. I was talking with Pastor Tony this last week, and he claimed to be the chiefest of all sinners, but I had to disagree with him. No, I am.

We are all wicked. So, I am not saying to keep the law so that you can be saved. I am saying to keep the law or seek to follow the Lord in it because that is what Jesus did. We want to be Christ-like. I want to be Christ-like. I want to stand before Him on that day.

I want to be a bride that is without blemish. There are blessings in following Him, and there are curses in not. Read the last several chapters of the book of Deuteronomy, and you'll see that there are blessings in following the Lord, and there is a curse if you don't. However, if you do a little bit better in the law than the person sitting next to you, it doesn't make you any better at all. If you think that, you're very much worse.

Remember when Jesus spoke of the tax collector, the sinner who was in the synagogue? He was beating upon his breast and saying, "Lord, forgive me, I'm a sinner." The Pharisee, on the other hand, was sitting there saying, "Lord, thank God I'm not like him." Jesus asked, who was the one who was worse off? It was the self-centered, prideful one who said, "I'm not like that guy."

Paul the Apostle said in the book of 1 Corinthians that those who judge themselves by themselves are not wise. Those who look at someone else and say, "Well, I'm not as good as that guy, but I'm better than him," are not wise. It's foolish to think that way.

I was talking with a group during our Bible study on Thursday nights at the coffee shop. This last Thursday night, I discussed how Paul, in Philippians chapter 3, says that we press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Our goal is Jesus. He's at the end of the race, and we are racing towards Him. I'm not in a race against Matt or Dave; I'm in a race running towards the Lord.

If I have that perspective, if I see that I'm running towards God, then when I see someone fall along the wayside, I'll be more apt to come alongside them and say, "Let's go," as Galatians chapter 6 says. We should restore such a one in gentleness and meekness, considering ourselves, lest we also be tempted.

However, if I'm racing against other people, when I see Dave fall down next to me, I might just say, "See you later," and keep running. Our focus is so important. If we're not inclined to be loving and come alongside others to restore them when they fall, we might just think, "Well, at least it wasn't me." I might see where you tripped and decide to stay away from that hole. But if our focus is upon the Lord, then we can run with endurance.

The race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. Hebrews chapter 12 says He is the author and the finisher of our faith. We come alongside the weak brother and say, "Let's go. Let's run together."

Jesus teaches that if you break these commandments and teach men to do so, you will be least in the kingdom of heaven. However, if you do them and teach them, you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven. When the people heard this, they probably thought, "Oh, well, it's confirmed. There's no hope. I can't do it."

Except your righteousness exceeds that of these Pharisees—these individuals who appear to keep the law perfectly—there is no hope. The scribes know the law, and the publicans and sinners who sat there likely felt their hearts sink when they heard Jesus say this. Jesus stated that He had not come to destroy the law. Your righteousness needs to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, or else you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was an external righteousness. It was fabricated and manufactured, merely a facade. Jesus described them as whitewashed tombs; they looked great on the outside but were full of dead men's bones. People would look at the Pharisees and think, "Gosh, that guy's got it all going on. I can't do that."

Paul the Apostle, in Philippians chapter 3, reflected on his old life as a Pharisee, stating, "According to the law, I was blameless. I kept the law. I did everything that was in it." The publicans and sinners who listened likely thought, "Oh, this just puts the last nail in the coffin for me. I guess I can't get into the kingdom of heaven."

However, what Jesus was saying is that your righteousness needs to be something inward and not outward. It must be something that God puts in us, not something we try to manufacture. In the book of Jeremiah, if you turn there to chapter 31, you will see that the scribes and the Pharisees, those who thought they knew the law so well, skipped over much of what God had to say in the Old Testament.

Thought themselves to be so perfect, and yet they missed portions of Scripture like this. Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 31 states, "Behold, the days come," says the Lord, "that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them out of the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband unto them," says the Lord.

"But this shall be the covenant that I will make," verse 33 continues, "with the house of Israel. After those days," says the Lord, "I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. They shall teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them," says the Lord. "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

You see, the scribes and the Pharisees, these individuals who thought themselves to be so righteous by the law, skipped this portion of Scripture where God said, "I'm going to make a new covenant, and I'm going to put my law, I'm going to put my righteousness in them and upon them." It's not going to be something that they have to try and make happen in their lives; it's something I'm going to implant in them. They will no longer have to go around and tell their neighbors and friends, "Hey, know the Lord, keep following Him," because I'm going to put it in their hearts. From the least of them to the greatest of them, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Jesus told these people, "Your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees." They think they're going to heaven, but they're not. It's just something that's on the outside. It looks really nice, but when I look down inside of them, I see that they're just wicked men with dead men's bones inside.

Just like when Mike and Pam Roselle were here, and he makes that big vase. You look at it and think, "Oh, wow, that's pretty. I'd like to have that in my house." But then he starts to talk about what he sees down into the middle of it, and I see all the gook and the junk that's inside of it. We can make ourselves look really nice on the outside, and everybody can point their fingers and say, "That guy is just a wonderful Christian. He does what he's supposed to; he doesn't cut people off in traffic, and he doesn't get angry," and all these things.

But you don't see him every single day, and you don't see him when he's alone in his room. But God does, and He sees down into that heart.

And he sees that the person is just a wicked person, full of dead men's bones. Until they come to the place where they're broken, realize it, mourn over it, and hunger and thirst after the Lord, they can't have the righteousness which is of God—a righteousness which is by faith. Hopefully, every single one of you in this room has laid hold of that.

That's what we remember when we come to the table. We remember the body that was broken and the blood that was spilled so that we could lay hold of that life. It is a good thing to be broken in the presence of the Lord and to partake, remembering that He was broken and His blood was poured out. We remember that our righteousness is as filthy rags, but He has implanted His righteousness into me. I stand before Him only because of who He is and not because of who I am.

At that point in time, when you receive the implanted righteousness of the Lord, you begin to be able to live the life which God has called us to. The rest of those chapters in Matthew, chapters 5, 6, and 7, go on to say that the Pharisees thought the law was just an external thing. They thought, "Well, I'm not supposed to murder people. I'm not supposed to kill people." He said, "You have heard that it has been said of old, 'Thou shalt not murder.' But I say to you, if you hate someone without cause, you've murdered them in your heart."

If you just read that, you'd think there's absolutely no way that you can follow the Lord. But when He implants in us His righteousness, then we can. He said, "You have heard that it has been said of old, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' But I say unto you, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart."

Every single one of us in this house of worship tonight is guilty. We stand before God, and we're guilty. Apart from what He's done in us, we'd go to hell. But because of what He's done in us, we can stand before Him, worship Him, and praise Him. We want to remember that tonight.

I've gone a lot longer than I thought I would, but obviously, the Lord had something to speak to us tonight. Let's have the worship team come back up, and we're going to spend time in worship. We may go a little bit over tonight, and I hope you don't mind. I'll go tell the children's ministry people that we might go over a little bit. I'm sorry, but we're going to spend time in worship together.

We’re going to have some of the pastors up here to pray for you. In fact, Matt, why don’t you come up? Matt will be available to pray for people, and Rick and Kirsten, if you’re in here as well. If you need prayer tonight, Dave will be up here as well.

As you come up to partake, take of the bread and take of the cup. You can go back to your seat or kneel down in the aisles, wherever you feel comfortable, and begin to pray and remember what God has done to make it possible for us to pray for you. This is how we can worship Him. If you’re unable to get out of your seat, just raise your hand, and Mike or one of the ushers will bring you the elements to where you’re sitting.

We’re going to spend time in worship because we’ve been allowed to enter the throne room of grace. Praise the Lord! We will remember and thank Him for what He did to make that possible. So, we’re going to pray, and then we’ll worship. As the Lord impresses upon your heart, come forward and partake. If you need prayer, the men will be up here to pray for you.

Let’s pray now. Father, I thank You so much that You have opened up the door for us to come in. As the writer of Hebrews said, let us boldly come before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace in our time of need. Tonight, Lord, I’m sure that there are many here who need more of Your mercy poured out.

As the book of Ecclesiastes tells us, Your mercies are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness! We thank You that Your mercy is new. Lord, we come before You tonight, thanking You for the grace that You’ve given us so that we can stand in Your presence and worship You.

Let’s worship the Lord.