Word of Salvation – Vol. 18 No.39 - October 1972

The Grace Of A Fulfilled Law

Sermon by Rev. P. J. Berghouse on Mat.5:17 & Rom.6:14b

Scripture Readings: Mat.5:17-21; Rom.6:12-23

Psalter Hymnal: 235:5,8,10; 1:1,2,3 (Law); 219:2,3,4 (Confession)
                        249 (Offering); 380:1,2,3 (Sermon); 231 (Doxology)

Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Jesus said, "THINK NOT that I came to destroy...”  These words were spoken in the "Sermon on the Mount".  At the beginning of His Ministry Jesus gave, as it were, an outline of His work, and He used the occasion to rectify some of the misunderstandings the people had about the Messiah.  Apparently they had figured out that when the Messiah would come, He would do away with ‘the Law and the Prophets'.  They expected that somehow everything would change completely.  In their reasoning they MAY have started with some statements as they found them in the Old Testament prophecies BUT they had added on to these statements so much of their OWN thoughts and fancies, that THEY TOOK it FOR GRANTED that the Messiah would ‘destroy' the law.

One gets the feeling that we are on familiar ground!  Are WE inclined to think, that since Jesus came into our heart we need no longer take notice of the law as we find it in the Old Testament?  Do WE, in one way or another, THINK that Jesus came to nullify the Ten Commandments?  We live in a time in which more and more people begin to feel that the ONLY LAW they want to obey is the law which hey set for themselves.  No-one, and nothing is allowed to tell the individual what may, and what may NOT be done!  When you dare to point these people to the Commandments, you are soon told that these are "archaic" and "outdated".  "These Commandments are not allowed to dictate to us, in our enlightened times, how we should live!  Surely, THAT would be a most unreasonable thing to expect!”  This attitude is SO often taken for granted in the world around us, that many Christians have not been able to escape this influence altogether.

Of course we too, like the people in Jesus' days, point to some passages in the Bible.  For instance Romans 6:14 where it says: "you are NOT under the law, but under grace".  STARTING with such a passage we add OUR own thoughts and fancies, and soon we THINK that since Christ has 'FULFILLED the Law – WE are not bound to it any longer!  If one asks: "To what then ARE we bound?  How must we live?" many would answer: "WE must live by the LAW OF LOVE".  This sounds very good indeed!

But the unbeliever also talks about "Love".  A love which CONDONES many things, as long as you do not HURT anyone!  So we must further ask: "What KIND of love do you mean?  Is it love-for-ones-self?  Is it love for mankind?"  OR is it Love for the God who MADE and SAVED us?  Of course we agree with the latter!  The Bible tells us that we must love God above all, and our neighbour as ourself.  This however raises the question: "HOW do we show that Love?"  Some people are inclined to answer THIS question by saying that we must SHOW our Love through our "Spontaneous response to God's Grace".  Just like a boy and a girl can respond so spontaneously to each other when they are in love!  Yet, can you imagine a boy saying: "Dear, I love you so much, but do not bother me with all kind of things that YOU like".  Or, imagine a girl saying: "I love you with all my heart, but I am never going to take an interest in YOUR hobbies."  Somehow this sort of relationship does not appeal to us!  When we love a person, we SHOW this by seeking to do the things that person likes!  So much so, that invariably you can find yourself in the odd situation wherein both partners are ARGUING about what they are going to do -; each one emphatically saying: "No dear, we are doing what YOU want!!!  THAT is real love!

But HOW then can we turn around and say to GOD: "Father in Heaven, I love you, but I am not interested in the things YOU like – in the things You want me to do."  It all sounds very much as if our thinking and reasoning have become derailed somewhere along the line..., for: HOW can we 'respond spontaneously to God's Grace' WITHOUT knowing the way in which HE wants us to respond?  HOW can we show our Love to God without having HIS LAW as a Guide?  Jesus said: "Think NOT that I am come to destroy" – that is: "Do NOT jump to that conclusion too quickly!"  "Hold your horses for a moment, for EVEN THOUGH you may have started with a Bible passage you are in danger of allowing your own thoughts and fancies to gallop away with you."  In ANOTHER passage it is written: "If you love Me you will keep My Commandments."  And again; "Not everyone that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that does the WILL of my Father which is in heaven."  Over against the false self- assurance of human thinking – Jesus puts the "verily" of verse 18.  It is as if Jesus says: "Rather than going by the UNCERTAINTY of your own reasoning – you should acknowledge the TRUTH as I reveal it to you".  The TRUTH is that Jesus did NOT come to destroy THE LAW, OR the prophets!

When we talk about "the Law" in the Old Testament we must realise that there were THREE different kinds of law: FIRST: There was the CIVIL law, which regulated the affairs of Israel as a NATION.  And because Israel was particularly GOD's nation these civil laws were not, and are not necessarily binding on other nations.  SECONDLY; there were the CEREMONIAL laws, which regulated the ceremonies in the Temple.  And because these sacrifices, etc., all pointed forward to THE sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ these Ceremonial laws have become obsolete since Jesus Himself has come.  As Hebrews puts it: 'The shadows' of the Old Testament made way for the real things in Jesus.  FINALLY, there was the Moral law, which regulated the ATTITUDES of the people towards God and towards their fellow-men.  A concise statement of THIS law is found in the Ten Commandments and it is even further condensed in the "Summary of the Law”: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, etc.  and your neighbour as yourself."

Jesus, in our text, is talking about THIS MORAL law, when He says: "I came not to DESTROY but to fulfil".  Let us see what Jesus teaches us about the duration of the Law in vs.17,18,19.

IN VERSE 17 we read the word DESTROY.  This is a translation of a word that literally means "to undo or to make loose in a very thorough way", i.e. to dissolve or demolish.  Jesus says He did not come to do THAT...!

IN VERSE 18 we are told that heaven and earth – that is everything in creation – shall come to an end.  But not the SLIGHTEST commandment – that is not the smallest aspect of God's Will – shall 'pass away'.  Or, to use a more literal translation: 'be undone'.  THEREFORE: God's Will is everlasting!!!

THEN IN VERSE 19: "Whosoever therefore shall break (again 'undo' is used) one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach others to do so "shall be guilty....!"  In other words: God's Will is NOT to be tampered with!!  Jesus emphasises the Truth that the moral law, including ALL 10 Commandments, is valid for ALL people of ALL ages.

Something which does not stand out so clearly in our text, but which we do well to remind ourselves of, is the fact that in the Bible, the Law is always seen as 'COMING FROM GOD'.  Even among the old heathen Greeks there was a strong awareness that their laws found their origin with their gods.  Plato for instance, would say that the law can only be overthrown by an attack on religion.  History shows us that when people turn from their God, they start to tamper with their laws!  So that it may be said that our present lawlessness is a direct RESULT of people forsaking God.  Consequently there is only ONE remedy for today’s situation; and that is to recognise anew that GOD is Lawgiver!!  OUR laws must find their origin in God's Will...!!!  Even the slightest deviation from His Holy Will means that we stand guilty before His judgement seat.  Jesus said: "Think NOT that I came to destroy the law" for then your thinking is NOT in accordance with the Truth as I reveal it unto you.  Here someone may well be inclined to ask: But what about Romans 6:14?  Doesn't Paul clearly state there that "we are NOT under the Law but under Grace"?  Does this not mean that we ARE FREE from the law?  Obviously there cannot be a conflict between Matthew 5 and Romans 6.  The Bible is too much a Unity, to allow such a thing.  Paul NEVER contradicts the teaching of our Lord.

The answer to this seeming paradox is found in the last words of Matthew 5:17: "I came not to destroy – BUT TO FULFILL".  As believers, we may add the words "FOR ME": – for Christ our Mediator came to fulfil the law on OUR behalf.  Somewhere else Jesus says that the purpose of His coming was: "to do THY Will O God".  THE PEOPLE THOUGHT that the Messiah would DESTROY the law, but Jesus corrects their mistaken idea by saying that what He really came to do, was to KEEP the law and by DOING that He fulfilled it!  He performed the whole Will of God perfectly.  And He did this WITHOUT DESTROYING the law as such!  Likewise, Jesus DID NOT do away with the law by fulfilling it!  He made it far more VALUABLE instead!  So that what the believer, what you and I have today, is a FULFILLED LAW.  THAT is the 'Grace' of which Paul speaks in Rom.6:14!  Grace is God's free Gift to undeserving sinners.  Indeed – in Jesus Christ, God gives (as a free GIFT) to us perpetual lawbreakers - NOT the condemnation we deserve, BUT a law that IS already FULLY KEPT!  And if the law is kept for those who believe in Jesus Christ, there can be no more punishment for them.

In order to grasp the extent of the Grace of a Fulfilled Law, let us look at it from one other aspect.

At Creation, while still in Paradise, God made a COVENANT with man.  God had created Adam and Eve in His own image so that He COULD make a Covenant with them, (The Covenant of Works) and they COULD keep it!  That Covenant had a CONDITION, that man was to be obedient.  IF this condition was met, the Lord PROMISED to give them Eternal Life.  IF they were disobedient, the PUNISHMENT would be Eternal Death.  That means they would be cut off from God, as the Source of all good.

We all know what happened...!!  Man chose to be DIS-obedient.  And so, the condition was NOT met.  The Promise was forfeited.  Punishment was the ONLY prospect!  From that moment on, it was God's good right to leave the WHOLE human race in a self-chosen misery of HELL.  It was His right, but not His pleasure!  Therefore HE provided a Mediator; His own Son Jesus Christ, in order the HE would fulfil the condition of the COVENANT.  THUS we now have the "Covenant of Grace'.  BASICALLY it was the same Covenant: The SAME Condition, Promise, and Punishment.  But NOW Jesus Christ is added!  HE fulfilled the condition by being 'Obedient even unto death'.  By doing that HE earned the Promise of Eternal Life and did away with the punishment!

Does THIS then set us FREE from the Law??  As to the Covenant condition – YES.  As to it still being God's everlasting Will – NO.  Henceforth, man's relation to God is no longer determined by the law; BUT by his RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST AS MEDIATOR Who did two things for us:
 (a) He paid for our transgressions of the Law;
 (b) He 'fulfilled' the Law perfectly.
So, by faith in this Mediator Jesus Christ, we are NOT under the Law as a Condition, BUT under Grace, as a Gift.  "Therefore", says Paul in vs.14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you."  That is: Seeing how God bestows His Grace upon you, YOU must NOT allow SIN to rule your life!  This is also emphasised in the verses 12 and 13.  "LET NOT sin reign" – and – “PRESENT yourself unto God as instruments of righteousness".  In other words: Paul fully agrees with those who say that we must respond spontaneously to God's Grace.  BUT... he also emphasises that it is a spontaneity that seeks to DO GOD'S WILL!  With the Psalmist the believer sings: "Oh how I love Thy Law!  It is my meditation ALL THE DAY." (Ps.119:97)  Thus the fulfilled Law becomes indeed A GUIDE by which we live to show our Love for God!  For those who are rescued from condemnation, there is more to life than saying: "Jesus died for my sins".  There is a NEW life to live!!!  Now that Jesus has fulfilled the law, we are placed in a NEW RELATIONSHIP with God.  THEREFORE we develop a new ATTITUDE...!!

First and foremost towards the GOD who made AND rescued us!  And secondly (but no less), towards the CREATION He entrusted to us.  And particularly, towards the PEOPLE He put next to us!  There will be a new attitude: between husband and wife, between parents and children.  Because God has been so Gracious to us, WE will deal graciously with our neighbours.  Our relationship with the employer or our employee will reflect our GRATITUDE to Christ!  Those who rule over us are seen in the light of the Kingship of Christ.

Indeed – the Amazing Grace by which our Lord Jesus granted us a FULFILLED LAW, will ever spur us on to KEEP THAT LAW to the very best of our ability by the Power of the Holy Spirit, and thereby to 'present ourselves as instruments in the Hands of God – to be used for His good purposes', so that the Wondrous Works of our Mediator may be crowned with the glory of our obedience to Him.

Amen.