Full Obedience in God’s Commands

A Sermon on Matthew 5:17-48 by Pastor Shafer Parker

Watch the sermon here.

Matthew 5:17-20

“17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Outline

1. The glory of God’s law (5:17-20) (Scripture)

   • God’s law is first glorified in Christ, in word and deed (v.17).

   • God’s law is the foundation for all God’s promises (v.18).

   • God’s law is the basis for all God’s blessings (v.19).

   • God’s law is the perennial challenge for all mankind (v.20).

2. The impossibility of perfect obedience to God’s law. The real issue is that we replace God with ourselves, deciding that we can be the judge of what is right and wrong from our position at the centre of the universe.

   1. Anger, proof that we are never satisfied to make God our defender (v.21-26).

   2. Lust, what happens when we forget to let God satisfy our desires (v.27-30).

   3. Divorce, the awful fruit of anger and lust combined in one heart (v.31-32).

   4. Oaths, the rotten fruit from the manipulation tree (v.33-37).

   5. Retaliation, evidence that we think we have to love ourselves because nobody else does (v.38-42).

   6. Love for your enemies, the distinguishing mark of the true God, and the hardest aspect of God’s character to imitate or fake (v.43-48).

3. The greater glory of the New Birth (greater because without the new birth the law only condemns us)

   • The Law and the Prophets presents God’s view of Himself and the world He created.

   • Everyone in the world has a worldview.

   • The Bible presents God’s worldview, and no other worldview is fully in touch with reality.

   • We cannot really see God’s world from God’s point of view unless we are born again.

   • When we are born again, the impossible begins to be possible. We are enabled to obey from the heart.

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