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I turn in your Bibles to Matthew 
chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, as we continue 
our exposition of Matthew's gospel, we find ourselves in the Sermon 
on the Mount. We've already looked at the Beatitudes 
and how they describe what a Christian man and woman is in terms of 
attitudes and actions. Verses 13 to 16 describe what 
we are in this world. We are to be the light of the 
salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus is going 
to expound the law, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament law, specifically 
in verses 21 to 47. But prior to that, in verses 
17 to 20, he gives us some principles of interpretation, hermeneutics, 
if you will. You'll hear that word again as 
we move through the course of our study this morning. Hermeneutics 
is the science of interpretation. It is the rules of the principles 
that we use. to make heads or tails out of 
the biblical text. So, Jesus sets forth two general 
principles in verses seventeen and eighteen. He gives two specific 
warnings in verses nineteen to twenty. He gives six concrete 
examples in verses twenty-one to forty-seven, and then he makes 
a concluding statement in verse forty-eight, at least in this 
smaller section of the Sermon on the Mount. That's sort of 
an overview, the flow, we're going to look specifically this 
morning at the two specific warnings in verses nineteen and twenty. 
But I'll just pick up reading at verse one, so we can remind 
ourselves of what has gone on up to this point. And seeing 
the multitudes, he went up on a mountain, and when he was seated, 
his disciples came to him. Then he opened his mouth and 
taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs 
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, 
for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they 
shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger 
and thirst for 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 sons of God. Blessed are those who 
are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom 
of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile 
and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely 
for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets 
who were before you. You are the salt of the earth, 
but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It 
is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled 
underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. 
A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they 
light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, 
and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light 
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify 
your Father in heaven. Do not think that I came to destroy 
the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but 
to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, 
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by 
no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever, therefore, 
breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men 
so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever 
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom 
of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds 
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no 
means enter the kingdom of heaven. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
thank you for this portion of Holy Scripture. We pray now for 
the ministry of your Holy Spirit. We pray that he would guide us 
and direct us and lead us into a proper understanding of the 
Sermon on the Mount. We pray, Father, that we would 
learn the principles well and that we would interpret the Scripture 
properly. that, Father, that doctrine that we embrace would 
produce practical effects, practical results in our lives. Do forgive 
us again, Lord God, of all of our sins and transgression. And 
we ask in the name and for the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, remember last week, 
the two specific or two rather general principles of verses 
seventeen and eighteen. First, the Lord Jesus and the 
Old Testament. He says, Do not think that I 
came to destroy the law or the prophets. Don't even let it begin 
to be something in your head. Resist the temptation. Do not 
think that there is such a discontinuity with the coming of the Messiah, 
but rather there is a fundamental covenantal unity. Do not think 
that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. The entirety 
of the Old Testament scriptures is what he means here. He reasserts 
this and says, I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill Christ 
fulfills in his life. Christ fulfills the prophets. 
He came born of a woman, born under the law according to the 
prophets. He came and was born in Bethlehem, Ephrathah, according 
to Micah chapter 5 in verse 2. He would die the death of Calvary, 
according to Isaiah 53 in Psalm 22. He would be crucified on 
behalf of sinners. He would be that substitutionary, 
curse-bearing, atoning Savior, according to the prophets. But 
as well, he comes to fulfill the law in his life. He always 
does what the Father gave him to do. I mean, just that account 
we read in John four, it surely must surprise you. My meat, my 
food is to do the will of him who sent me. They had no clue 
what he was talking about. As I submit, we wouldn't either. You can't define our lives as 
being our food, doing the will of the father. We might tack 
God on. We might think about him a few 
times during the week. We might visit his house once 
in a while. But are we consumed with God 
most high? Are we like Jesus and John 2, 
who drove out the money changers, who sent the people that were 
destroying the very house of God out? The disciples understood 
that Psalm 69 applied to him. Zeal for your house has consumed 
me. Zeal for the house of God has 
eaten me up. So in his life, he fulfilled 
the law perfectly. We need the righteousness of 
Christ. He satisfies this in his active 
obedience, always doing the will of the father who sent him. But 
he also fulfills that law in his preaching. And in his teaching, 
we need to understand in verses 21 to 47, the antithesis or the 
contrast is not between Moses and Christ. It's between what 
the Pharisees twisted Moses to say and Christ. When he says, 
you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not. And then he gives a specific, 
concrete example. And then he says, but I say to 
you, he's not elevating the law. He's not purifying the law. The 
old covenant law always looked inwardly as well, and so he is 
clarifying. He is expounding. He is explaining 
and showing how the people have been brought into bondage by 
the false teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees. So, he makes 
this caution in verse 17. Do not even begin to think that 
I came to destroy the Old Testament. I did not come to destroy it, 
but to fulfill it. And then the second general principle 
is in verse 18. He says that the law of God has 
abiding validity. He speaks of its duration. Verse 
18. Assuredly, I say to you, till 
heaven and earth pass away, God. rather to do that, but to fulfill 
it. And so Christ here sets forth 
the abiding validity of God's law in its duration until the 
second coming. That doesn't mean after the second 
coming, we'll get to commit murder and rape and adultery and all 
those sorts of things. He is using a convention here 
to highlight that in this age, the law of God abides. And then 
he speaks of the extent. He speaks of jots and tittles. 
He says the least of these commandments in our passage this morning. 
God is concerned with the entirety of his Word. He doesn't approve 
of a smorgasbord approach to the Scripture. We're not supposed 
to pick and choose those things that we like and reject those 
things that we do not like. We have no prerogative, no option 
to agree with seven of the Ten Commandments. But we don't like 
those other three, because they're a bit pesky and they infiltrate 
our lives and our comfort and our happiness. No, we embrace 
the entirety of God's holy law. So those are the two general 
principles, the Lord Jesus and his relationship to the Old Testament 
and then the abiding validity of God's law. Let's look at the 
specific warnings. And there are two verses, 19 
and then verse 20, verse 19. demonstrates the error of antinomianism. Now, antinomianism simply means 
anti-law-ism. Antinomians reject the law of 
God. They say it has no abiding validity 
in our lives. It has no place in the Christian 
life. Remember last week, we summarized 
her in conclusion, said there are three uses of God's law. 
There is that that civil use where God uses his law to restrict 
and restrain us. There is that pedagogical or 
child tutor use where God uses his law to bring about the conviction 
of sin. So we'll see our need for Christ. 
Then there's that third use, the normative. The idea being 
that the law shows us our need for Jesus. Jesus saves us freely 
by his grace alone, through faith in him alone, and then he sends 
us back to the holy law, fills us with his spirit, so that we 
may have a pattern, or a standard, or a rule of life. So those uses 
of the law abide. They're consistent. They still 
continue with us to this day. Antinomians deny those uses. Antinomians say there is no place 
for God's moral law within the lives of his people. There are 
doctrinal antinomians. Again, I know this is a little 
bit more teaching than we're used to, but you need to understand 
what Jesus is doing. A doctrinal antinomianism has 
a system of interpretation that excludes the law of God. Doctrinal 
antinomians generally don't murder, they generally don't commit adultery, 
they don't generally engage in transgressions of the law of 
God. They're doctrinal. They don't 
see a place for God's moral law in the life of the believer. 
Thankfully, they are not consistent with their own teaching. Thankfully, 
they are still restrained and seek to live lives that are patterned 
after Jesus. Then there are practical antinomians. You know who the practical antinomians 
are? Every single one of us. Every single one of us. A practical antinomian breaks 
God's law. A practical antinomian does those 
things that God forbids, God rejects. The Westminster Shorter 
Catechism defines sin this way, it is any want of conformity 
unto the law of God, or it is a transgression of that law. In other words, we do what the 
law says not to do, or we don't do what the law calls us to do. 
So practical antinomianism is something that unfortunately 
we all engage in. To varying degrees, to be sure. Just so you get this idea that 
there is a specific violation that Christ condemns in verse 
19. It is antinomianism in its essence. He says, whoever therefore 
links us back to those general principles. If you understand 
the general principles, Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. Jesus 
asserts the continuing, abiding validity of God's law. Based 
on that assertion, based on those general principles, this implication 
necessarily follows. Whoever, therefore, he says, 
writes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men 
so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. You see, 
the implication follows. If the Jots and the Tiddles abide 
until Jesus returns, then whoever breaks or teaches to break the 
least of these commandments. Again, I think it's a convention 
to highlight the entirety of God's law is what's in view here. Notice the close connection between 
what we believe and how we live. This is what Christ says, whoever 
therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches 
men so. What we believe concerning God's 
commandments affect the way that we live. You see that in the 
book of Acts, in Acts 20, 28, Paul says, take heed to yourselves 
and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you 
overseers. He then highlights the importance 
of sound doctrine. It says, from among you, men 
will rise up seeking to call disciples after themselves. First 
Timothy 4, 16, Paul says to Timothy, take heed to yourself and to 
your doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing, 
you will save those who hear you. The doctrine that we believe, 
the way we approach these general principles, the way we look at 
these specific concrete examples, will help us in terms of our 
Christian life. We'll still transgress, we'll 
still engage in antinomianism, we'll still do those things that 
are sinful and polluted, but a proper understanding of God's 
law should affect the way that you and I live. Ezra 710 is a 
wonderful example of this principle played out. It says that Ezra 
set his heart to study the law of the Lord, to do it and then 
to teach those statutes in Israel. You see the pattern. Ezra studies 
the law, not simply so he could teach, but he studies the law 
so that he can do and then instruct Israel in the proper course that 
they are to follow. Jesus links doctrine and practice 
very intimately here in verse 19. And as we have seen, the 
stress in many ways falls upon the doctrine. In many ways it 
falls upon teaching. These are principles of biblical 
interpretation. The concrete examples will flesh 
this out. So he is highlighting this necessity, 
what James tells us later in James 3.1. Let not many of you 
become teachers. We shall receive a stricter judgment. The man who gains to preach and 
teach the Word of God better do so responsibly. He must have 
a good hermeneutic. He must have a good interpretative 
grid. He must understand doctrine. 
Lay hands on no man hastily, Paul says. And this is highlighted 
here. With reference to this statement 
of verse 19, R.T. Frantz says, literally teaches 
people thus, the sense is that the person not only refuses to 
accept the authority of the commandments, but also teaches others that 
they may be set aside or disregarded. It's just not that important. 
I was listening to a sermon recently by a Reformed Baptist on this 
very passage, and one of the ways he illustrated verse 19 
was with his own life and ministry. He said there was at one point 
in his life and ministry where he operated under a different 
hermeneutic, a different method of interpretation. And when he 
operated under that hermeneutic, he had no place for the fourth 
commandment. He taught men that the Sabbath was not an abiding 
law. You could do whatever you want. 
I don't think he said you could do whatever you want, but there 
was no moral law spoken at Sinai, which basically codified what 
God wrote on Adam's heart and which is upheld by the Savior 
here in Matthew 5. He said, I was leased in the 
kingdom of heaven because not only did I refuse it, but I taught 
others as well. That's what Jesus is getting 
at here. John Murray describes it this way. He said it is not, 
therefore, the mere breach of such a commandment. That's the 
practical antinomianism. I'm not justifying that, but 
we breach these commandments. We breach the commandments of 
God. You say you are without sin, you have called God a liar, 
according to John the Apostle in 1 John. If you say that you 
are without sin, you are calling God a liar. That's just the way it is. We 
are not Wesleyan in this church. We are not perfectionists in 
this church. We are not those who hold to 
a second work of grace, which brings us into this higher life 
sphere of sinlessness. On this side of Emmanuel's land, 
on this side of glory, we will sound more like the Apostle Paul. 
The good I wish to do, I don't do. The evil I don't want to 
do, I find myself doing. Which brings us to that statement 
of Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from 
this body of death? Thanks be to God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. We're all practical antinomians, 
brethren. And what Murray is highlighting, 
again, in the context of rules of interpretation with reference 
to God's law and clearing away the misinterpretation of the 
Pharisees, Murray says, it is not therefore the mere breach 
of such a commandment that establishes the criterion in this case, but 
the settled belief that it may or should be broken. That is 
to say the belief, the practice of that belief and the propagating 
of that belief and practice. You see, it's a hermeneutic, 
it's an interpretative approach that says that these commandments 
are not for us, that these things are not for us. These things 
are not written on our behalf. We reject that. Any hermeneutic 
that takes the Sermon on the Mount and says, Jesus distorted, 
twisted lesson, reduce the law of Moses is to be refused. It is to be rejected. That is 
a bad grid by which one focuses his life and attention. This 
violation includes, first, a refusal to submit to the authority of 
Scripture. See, we're not talking about the person who practically 
engages in sin and comes broken and contrite to God and says, 
God be merciful to me, please forgive me, wash me, purify me, 
cleanse me. We're not talking about the man 
or the woman or the boy or the girl who's a believer in Jesus 
that uses 1 John 1, 9 the way John purposes us to. We're not 
talking about the Psalm 130 believer who says, Out of the depths I 
have cried to thee, O Lord. Who says, Lord, if thou should 
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? That there is forgiveness 
with thee, that thou mayest be feared. We're not talking about 
that person. We're talking about somebody 
who refuses to submit to the authority of Scripture. That's 
what Christ is saying. In the grand scheme of the kingdom 
of heaven, those who break and those who teach to break the 
least of these commandments shall be called least in the kingdom 
of heaven. Secondly, it is a willingness to subject scripture to one's 
own arbitrary system of interpretation. The Bible is not our victim of 
torture. You know the old rack that you 
used to see? I mean, we didn't used to see 
it. You've probably seen it in a book or read about it somehow. 
You know, the guy's hands are tied to the top, his feet are 
tied at the bottom, and some mean-looking fellow's there with 
a handle, and he's cranking that thing. What's happening? The 
man's being stretched to the point of great pain and agony. We throw the Bible on that rack 
sometimes, don't we? We want what we want, and we'll 
throw it on there, and we'll start cranking. We'll start wrenching. It might even be in us to say, 
say it! Please, say it! This is an arbitrary means of 
interpretation. If you get from Matthew 5, 17 
to 18 that the Old Testament no longer has any life in the 
believer, you've missed Jesus' point. Remember, our confession 
of faith says it well. God made man in his own image. 
He made Adam in his own image. And he hardwired Adam with the 
law. Romans 2, 14 and 15 allude to 
this. The law was hardwired intimate 
creation. What Sinai did was codify or 
summarize it in that body of words, the Ten Commandments. 
It is Jeremiah the prophet who says that in the new covenant, 
God will write his law on their hearts. I think the idea is there 
in a special, peculiar way, where the Spirit is upon us as well, 
guiding and directing and empowering us to keep that holy law. But 
it's not a new law, it's not a brand new codification. The 
Jeremiah statement affirms the abiding validity of God's law. 
We come to Matthew 5, 17 and 18, Jesus upholds it. He doesn't 
get rid of it, and so he condemns those who engage in this approach 
to scriptural interpretation. It is a refusal to submit to 
the authority of scripture. Second, it's a willingness to 
subject scripture to one's own arbitrary system of interpretation. And three, it reflects a rebellious 
attitude toward God himself. It's bad enough that we're practical 
antinomians. It is wicked when we try to find 
doctrinal justification for that antinomianism. Right? You get that? It's bad enough 
that we breach the commandments, but if we seek out a system of 
interpretation which justifies an appeal to that sort of living, 
then we've really stepped over the boundaries. Christ will have 
nothing of that. This reflects a rebellious attitude 
toward God himself. It is crucial that we have a 
proper understanding of how to deal with God's holy law. May 
I suggest to you what is called covenant theology, also known 
as reform theology, codified in our confession of faith, likewise 
in the Westminster confession of faith, found in the Reformers, 
found in the Puritans. Men who understood this very 
application of God's law to the Christian in his or her life. Jesus says, if a man engages 
in this, if a man redefines, annuls, suspends, or other ways, 
destroys God's law, they are under the penalty that Christ 
describes here. They are leased in the kingdom 
of heaven. But notice Jesus extols the virtue 
at the end of verse 19. Whoever does and teaches them, 
he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. You do the 
law of God again, empowered by the spirit, not as a means of 
gaining and garnering our acceptance with God. The only acceptance 
we have is in and through the blood of Jesus Christ, his son. That is the only way we have 
acceptance with God. Get it out of your mind that 
Jesus is saying, if you just go out and do these ten things, 
you'll be saved. You won't do those ten things. 
You cannot do those ten things. The carnal mind is enmity against 
God. It cannot please God. It is not 
subject to the law of God. You must be born again by the 
power of the Holy Spirit. You must be regenerated. You 
must be given the twin graces of faith and repentance so that 
you may lay hold on Christ and turn from your sin. Brethren, 
what Jesus is extolling here is those men in the kingdom of 
heaven who understand the principles set forth, who teach accordingly 
and who, by the grace of God, strive by the power of the Holy 
Spirit to live consistently with that doctrine. So, he highlights 
the error of antinomianism in verse 19. Let's look at the second 
error in verse 20, legalism. I know that's a word that's bandied 
about a lot. We could probably spend an hour 
defining legalism at its base core meaning. Legalism teaches 
that we are justified by God because of works that we've accomplished. We are accepted with God based 
on our performance. We are accepted with God because 
we have kept the law. We have sought to do all things 
well. We see illustrations of this in the gospel of Luke. There 
was a man who sought to justify himself, so Jesus tells him the 
parable of the Good Samaritan. When Jesus says, go thou and 
do likewise, he's not suggesting to the man that he has it all 
in check. He is bringing the law to bear 
upon this man. Same with the rich young ruler. 
All these things I've kept from my youth. Jesus says, one thing 
you lack, go, sell everything you have and give to the poor. 
If the young man went and did that, that wasn't the point. The point was that Jesus was 
using the tenth commandment to show him his sin and the fact 
that he missed by a long shot. So legalism and its basic fundamental 
essence is an attempt to gain our favor with God by our own 
activities, by our own conduct. Now, legalism in a broader category, 
in sanctification, is adding things or taking away things. 
Again, as we see fit, putting our specific preferences on the 
torture rack and yelling at God's Word to say it, to say it, to 
say it. There is a sense, again, where 
I think all of these things are present in all of our hearts. 
Isn't it odd? On the one hand, we're antinomians, 
and on the other hand, we're legalists all at the same time. 
We're usually antinomians with reference to our own practice. 
legalist with reference to the practice of others. Let's just 
cut through the cut and chase, right? But this is what Jesus 
is saying in verse 20. For I say to you that unless 
your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes 
and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 
I want to make four observations on this statement. First, the 
Lord Jesus, as we have said, will correct misinterpretation 
of the Mosaic Law, verses 21 to 47. That's the focus in this 
portion of the Sermon on the Mount. You have heard that it 
was said, but I say to you again, the law never, ever allowed a 
man to hate his brother in his heart. Long as you can cut his 
throat, you fulfill the law. No, the old covenant law said 
you're not to hate your brother in your heart. Same thing with 
adultery. The book of Proverbs, Solomon 
cautions his sons about taking the look. So it's not as if the 
old covenant just represented this external focus and the new 
covenant has the internal focus. No, the law of God always spoke 
to the heart of man. Secondly, the Lord Jesus does 
not say in verse 20, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness 
of the Old Testament law. This is imperative. See, some 
people teach what Jesus does in 21 to 47 is he elevates the 
law. He makes the law better. Now 
he's clearing away the muck that had surrounded it based on godless 
men who twisted, distorted, and turned it to their own desires. 
Ernest Kevin says, Christ does not say, except your righteousness 
exceed that of the law of Moses, but that of the scribes and Pharisees, 
implying plainly that his intent is to expose their formal and 
hypocritical ways and to show at the same time that they never 
understood the substance and excellence of the law. You're 
going to tell me that King David of Israel didn't know the inner 
nature of the law. Do you want to actually suggest 
that the author of Psalm 19 and the Psalm 119 didn't realize 
that the law penetrated to the heart? Really? The scribes and the Pharisees 
missed it. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus recognized 
something that many people miss. The scribes and the Pharisees, 
for all their supposed commitment to the law of God, actually despise 
the law of God. It's kind of a crazy thing. You 
got antinomians over here. They say we don't want the law 
of God. What's their enemy? The law of God. You got legalists 
over here who say we want law, but not God's. Antinomians and 
legalists have a lot in common. They both hate God's law. That's 
kind of an interesting thing, isn't it? Kind of an interesting 
juxtaposition. If the Old Testament law is viewed, 
as some suppose, as lacking the inward dimension, the inward 
spirituality, the inward nature, and that Christ is here elevating 
it, then Christ is indicting and condemning these scribes 
and Pharisees unjustly. I mean, if they were really the 
law keepers and the law-abiding men that they paraded themselves 
to be, this statement is quite unfair, isn't it? If they were 
acting based on Mosaic law as it was given, then they were 
in fact meant to be emulated. But Jesus says righteousness 
is imperative in the kingdom, and unless yours exceeds the 
scribes and the Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom 
of heaven. That's an interesting juxtaposition 
as well. The antinomian is called least 
in the kingdom of heaven. The legalist is excluded from 
the kingdom of heaven. I think two books of the Bible 
illustrate this for us, Corinthians and Galatians. Corinth was filled 
with antinomianism, lawlessness. Paul reproves them. Paul rebukes 
them. Antinomianism is not biblical. You must submit to the law of 
God by the power of the Holy Spirit and walk in holiness. 
Flee sexual immorality. Don't eat things offered up to 
idols. Engage in those things that God calls you to. But he 
doesn't get to the point that he does with the Galatians. I 
marvel that you are turning from him who called you in the grace 
of God to another gospel, which is not another Galatians, where 
Paul comes out fighting mad and engages in that sort of a rhetorical 
overkill to show them that they're dancing with fire. The Lord Jesus 
saw that these men for all or withstanding all of their apparent 
submission to the law, actually didn't like the law. They hated 
the law. They engaged in external compliance 
and failed to realize the internal dimension of God's law, which 
was present in the Old Testament. What's Solomon's paramount warning 
or paramount concern for his children? My son, keep your own 
heart proud of it. bring the issues of life, not 
just comply externally to those codes out there. Keep your heart. Oh, how I love by law. It is 
my meditation day and night. This almost says they engaged 
in outward show instead of inward purity. They added to the law, 
didn't they? They constructed this whole system 
of Sabbath observance. What were the wars that Jesus 
fought with the Pharisees more times than not in the gospel 
accounts? The Sabbath. Right? Your disciples, they're eating 
grain or they're collecting grain on the Sabbath. You don't understand 
the Sabbath command. God's not calling you to starve 
to death on the Sabbath command. Jesus sets forth principles or 
works of mercy, works of necessity. You see, they put up all these 
hedges and parameters to protect the law. Brethren, God knows 
how to protect his law. He does not need our contribution. He does not need us building 
fences. He does not need us adding to 
his work. The same scriptures that says 
do not take from his word a la antinomianism forbids us to add 
to his word a la legalism. Matthew 6, 2, 5, 16. Do not be 
like the hypocrites. They just think that when they 
go through the external rigmarole, they are seen and they have their 
reward. Matthew chapter 15. What do the 
Pharisees do? They're disciples. They eat with 
unwashed hands. Jesus highlights a particular 
commandment that they violated in their own tradition. Commandments 
are very clear. Honor your father and your mother, 
right? Fifth Commandment, everybody 
tracking there? What did the Pharisees and the scribes do? Oh, that money we were going 
to give to Mom and Pop, we're going to give it to the temple. 
And once we give that money to the temple, Mom and Pop, we're 
so spiritual, and we're so holy, and we're so godly, we can't 
take it from the temple and give it to you. Just think for a moment. Monies 
that went into the coffers of the temple ultimately filtered 
back down to them. This wasn't an act of righteousness 
and piety. We love the temple. Jesus says 
you have invalidated the law of God by your own foolish traditions. You honor your parents. You give 
them that money. You sustain them. You support 
them. And he ends that section with that great declaration. 
Do you realize it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles 
you? Have you all figured that out yet? It's not what goes in 
the mouth that defiles you. I'm not talking about botulism. 
I'm not talking about eating old tuna. I'm not talking about 
eating something that is affected or infected with some contagion. 
Obviously, those defile you. You shouldn't eat bad meat. That's 
not the point. Jesus says to these men here 
and understand not what goes into the mouth, defiles a man, 
but what comes out of the mouth. This defiles a man. Then his 
disciples came and said to him, Do you know that the Pharisees 
were offended when they heard this saying? But he answered 
and said, Every plant which my heavenly father has not planted 
will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind 
leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, 
both will fall into a ditch. They didn't love God's law. They 
love their interpretation. They love their addition. They 
love power. They love prestige. They love 
control. They love to put text on the 
rack and cry out, say it, and then go to the people and bind 
their consciences. In another place, Jesus says 
they load things upon you that they themselves will never be 
able to live. That's not God's law. Back to 
the Sabbath, what does he say? Did God make the Sabbath so that 
you could only take 15 steps on that particular day? God made 
the Sabbath so all you would do is sit there? No, God made 
the Sabbath for the man. It's a gift. It's a blessing. 
It's a benefit. Yes, you worship. Yes, you rest. 
Yes, you serve. Yes, you give. Engage in acts 
of charity. They weren't lovers of God's 
law. They despised it. And legalists 
today despise it. When we add to the word, what 
is our claim? God doesn't know how to protect 
himself. It seems so harmless, it seems 
so, you know, pious, but do not add to his word, lest he rebuke 
you. That's what the scripture says. 
Matthew 23, woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites, you 
try to make innocent comment. That's good! You should tithe 
mint, anise, and cumin. But you've neglected the weightier 
matters of the law, justice, mercy, faith. You see, Jesus 
says there's weightier matters of the law. What's the implication? The lesser matters of the law 
are tithing mint, anise, and cumin. You don't do those least 
and neglect the great. You seek by the grace of God 
to do all that he calls you. They were not lovers of the law. 
We are here, or we are wrong to think that antinomians hate 
the law and legalists love the law. Legalists may love their 
own rendition, but they hate the law of God. J. Bresson Machen 
recognized this fact as well. He said, with reference to the 
need for preaching of the law in his day, which was the 1920s, 
Nature, in some respects, was a prophet. The things that that 
man wrote have such bearing on our generation. He said a new 
and more powerful proclamation of that law is perhaps the most 
pressing need of the hour. He says men would have little 
difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson 
of the law. And now notice what he says. 
So it always is. A low view of the law always 
brings legalism in religion. It's not a high view. It's not 
an esteem. It's not a mindset like David 
that brings legalism. It's a low view of the law. A 
high view of law makes a man a seeker after grace. Pray God 
that the high view may again prevail. That is from his book, 
What is Faith, pages 141 and 142. The fourth principle that 
we need to discover, we need to recognize rather, in Matthew 
520, is that the Lord Jesus sets forth the standard of kingdom 
righteousness. It is the law of God. Unless 
your righteousness exceeds the scribes and the Pharisees, you 
will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Your righteousness 
must be God-defined. It must be law-defined. It must 
be biblically defined. I think this gets very practical 
in our own lives and in our own attitudes towards others. Have 
they violated God's law toward me? Have I violated God's law 
in this particular activity? It is the abiding law of God, 
correctly interpreted and applied, that is the standard for righteousness 
in the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus ultimately is 
our righteousness. Justified by faith alone, believer 
in Christ alone is justified freely by grace. It is imputed 
righteousness. The New Covenant believer who 
has the imputed righteousness of Christ has the Spirit of God 
in his mind, in his heart, the law written there internalized, 
and that is the standard by which we are to walk. G.K. Chesterton 
said it well. He said, If men will not be ruled 
by the Ten Commandments, they will be ruled by ten thousand 
commandments. What's he into me? It's the law 
of God that brings liberty. It's the law of God that brings 
blessing. It's the law of God that brings Notice, Jesus pronounces this 
judgment, Matthew chapter five. It must have tingled some ears 
in the crowd. As far as they were concerned, 
the scribes and the Pharisees were the standard bearers of 
righteousness. Christ says, unless your righteousness 
exceeds theirs, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. You wonder why the scribes and 
the Pharisees hated Jesus? You wonder why they despised 
Jesus? He excluded them from the kingdom. 
He said, your righteousness is not a righteousness, your righteousness 
is hypocrisy, it's externalism, it's legalism, it's self-righteousness. He cut him off at the knees. 
And I think the idea here is very, very much like what we 
find in Galatians 221. I do not set aside the grace 
of God for if righteousness comes through the law, because ultimately 
that's what happens, right? Describe to these Pharisees think 
their acceptance with God comes through their performance. That's what they thought. But 
if righteousness comes through the law and Christ died in vain. We need to understand Galatians 
2.21. We need to understand Luther's comment on Galatians 2.21. For 
whoever seeks righteousness apart from faith in Christ, whether 
it be through works or satisfactions or afflictions or the law of 
God is nullifying the grace of God and despising the death of 
Christ, even though he may speak otherwise with his mouth. That's an accurate depiction 
of what we find there in Galatians 2.21. Well, brethren, in conclusion, 
we need to take heed to the warning against antinomianism. We need 
to take heed to the warning against antinomianism. We must guard 
against the tendency in our own sinful hearts to take away from 
the Word of God. It's just that simple. Whoever, 
therefore, breaks and teaches others to break. The least of 
these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Please realize that tendency 
is there. It doesn't do any of us any good for us to leave today 
and say, well, I'm not an antinomian, I'm not a legalist. I've got 
covenant theology nailed and I sail right through that golden 
mean. I think we all got it. If you're 
an exception to the rule, please forgive me. I don't mean to indict 
you or impugn evil on you. I'd say a good deal of us have 
both these twin sins residing in our hearts. We must adopt 
Christ's principles of biblical interpretation. We must learn 
sound doctrine, and we must conduct ourselves in accordance with 
the law of God by the power of the Spirit of God. We must realize 
that Christ did not come to abolish He did not come to destroy, he 
did not come to invalidate, he did not come to get rid of the 
law, but he came in his life to fulfill, he came in his doctrine 
to establish and confirm. He came to interpret it properly, 
take it away from those men who had thrown Moses on the rack 
and were trying to make him say the things that they had held 
to. Antinomianism is alive and well. Thankfully, by God's grace, 
if we are in this church, we hold to the confession of faith, 
at least doctrinally, we shouldn't be antinomians. You shouldn't 
be a doctrinal antinomian here. If you are and you're a member, 
you're not agreeing with our confession of faith. That's bad. 
It's that practical element. We need the Spirit. We need enablement. We need help. We need Christ. We need the Lord. He's saying, 
John 15, apart from me you can do nothing. You can't live in 
light of God's holy law apart from Jesus. Jesus, fill me with 
your spirit. Jesus, fill me with your Holy 
Spirit so that I won't want to do these things, that I'll resist 
the temptations, that I'll watch and pray like I'm supposed to. 
When we engage in sin, when we break those commandments, what 
do we do? We go back to Jesus. Lord, forgive me. Have mercy 
on me. Wash me. Cleanse me. Purify me. 
Empower me and enable me. So I love your law. Make me like 
David. And we see in the life of David 
a man who loved the law, a man who plunged headlong into sin, 
a man whom God restored, and one who celebrated the gracious 
character of God and his law. We need to secondly take heed 
to the warning against legalism. We must go out against the tendency 
in our own hearts to add to the word of God, to add to it, to 
put up hedges, to put up parameters, to say things that God hasn't 
said. We must realize that our preferences 
in particular matters do not necessarily imply that we are 
obeying the law of God. We all have preferences. We need 
to make sure our preferences are elevated to the Eleventh 
Commandment, and we have everybody else having to fulfill those 
things. Charles Hodge spoke to this well in his systematic theology 
with reference to this hope in the bosom, he calls it. Kind 
of an interesting thing. Some Christians carry a cross 
in the pocket. Some carry a pope in the bosom. 
He says it is a common saying that every man has a pope in 
his own bosom. That is, the disposition to lord 
it over God's heritage is almost universal. Men wish to have their 
own opinions on moral questions made into laws to bind the consciences 
of their brethren. Need to guard against that. Greg 
Bonson said it this way. I think he nails this. He said, 
if a man is to be truly law-abiding, he must keep the law as delivered 
by God and in the way specified by God. A smorgasbord approach 
to the law is abusive. It leads to externalism, self-righteousness, 
and autonomy. Twisting what the law says is 
a satanic pretension and slanderous to God's revelation. It's a powerful 
statement, but that's what Jesus is saying. He's condemning antinomianism. He's condemning legalism. He's 
saying leave God's law alone. It works fine. It doesn't need 
to be tweaked. It doesn't need to be modified. 
It doesn't need to be sort of gone through your massage parlor 
so that it's fit and ready for the 21st century. These laws 
reflect who God is. They are unchanging. They are 
perpetual. They are God's will for his creatures 
to study those laws. Thirdly, this brings us to the 
necessity of a biblical hermeneutic. We need to understand the principles 
come first in 17 and 18. So you get doctrine in the church. 
You need doctrine so that your practice can reflect that doctrine. Let's just love Jesus. Well, 
we have to define who Jesus is. We have to know how we can love 
him, or why we should love him, or the standard by which we love 
him. You see, doctrine, principles 
precede practice and application. Spurgeon said it this way, introducing 
this sermon on Matthew 5, 18, on May 21st, 1882. He said it has been said that 
he understands the two covenants is a theologian, and this is 
no doubt true. I may also say that the man who 
knows the relative positions of the law and of the gospel 
has the keys of the situation in the matter of doctrine to 
form a mingle mangle of law and gospel. An interesting turn of 
phrase. My word didn't redline must be 
a real word. For sure, Microsoft Word is going 
to put a red line under mingle mangle. He says to form a mingle mangle 
of law and gospel is to teach that which neither is law or 
gospel, but the opposite of both. May the Spirit of God be our 
teacher and the Word of God be our lesson book, and then we 
shall not err. Let me just read that again. 
To form a mingle mangle of law and gospel is to teach that which 
is neither law nor gospel, but the opposite of both. Isn't this 
the error of Rome? Saying that we're justified by 
faith plus words, faith plus law. Paul will have none of that 
doctrine. And then finally, we need to 
consider what Jesus says here in verse 20. You may not have 
got hermeneutics, you may not understand all the references 
to covenant theology, but please listen to this statement. You 
need a righteousness. You see, the kingdom of heaven 
is about righteousness. And the righteousness that you 
need is perfect. It's perpetual. It's pure. It's holy, it's spotless, it's 
glorious, and it avails with God. That righteousness is not 
to be found in your own resources. It is not to be found in your 
own moral reform. It is not to be found in you 
leaving this place, being able to cut a swath between law and 
gospel and understand them perfectly. But you need Christ. The Prophet 
Jeremiah foretold his coming, and he describes him in this 
blessed way, the Lord our righteousness. Paul says he has become to us 
wisdom from God, that is, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 
that whosoever glories, let him glory in the Lord. We need the 
righteousness of Jesus Christ to enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. But one place that is found is 
in Jesus Christ. You need to believe the gospel. 
You need to repent from your sin. You need to cast yourself 
upon the mercy of God, most high in Christ Jesus. And he will 
save you. Beautiful. I can't do it. I can't give you the righteousness. 
Hey, come over to my house. I'll teach you how to be righteous, 
not Go over to so-and-so's house, they'll teach you how to be righteous. 
Not! There's one place where righteousness 
is found, and it's in Christ. And as believers, as those who, 
by God's grace, have come to know Him, we have the Spirit, 
we have the law. By His grace, let us walk, therefore. That's what our Lord Jesus wants 
us to consider in the Sermon on the Mount. Well, let us pray. 
Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for its 
sufficiency and its clarity in our lives. And we pray the Spirit 
would take these things and make them real and practical. We thank 
you, Lord God Almighty, that Christ spoke to these issues 
and that he's taught us that he is indeed the prophet to his 
church. And we pray now that you would just continue to watch 
over us and forgive us when we sin. Father, forgive us and cleanse 
us and help us to have that present power of the Holy Spirit that 
we may go and do those things pleasing in your sight. And for 
any at all here that do not have a righteousness, we pray that 
they would believe the gospel, that they would believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and repent from their sins and know the 
joy of being found in Him. And we ask these blessings for 
Jesus' sake. Amen.