Will you kindly turn with me in the
scriptures to Matthew chapter 5 and our subject
this morning comes in that passage beginning with
verse 17 and continuing to verse 20 we
have already looked at the first half of
what our Lord is expounding here.
We have seen what the first two verses
in that passage have to say about the
scriptures in the estimation of Christ the King
of the kingdom and we come today to
consider what those scriptures, what role those scriptures
are to play in the lives of the
subjects of the kingdom and so we read
as the basis of our meditation this morning
verses 19 and 20.
Anyone who breaks one of the least of
these commandments and teaches others to do the
same will be called least in the kingdom
of heaven and whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom
of heaven.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness
surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law, you will certainly not enter
the kingdom of heaven.
With the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ
the rule and the power of heaven, of
the realm of God the rule of the
heavens, the power of the God that we
cannot see has become unleashed, released and exhibited
here upon earth.
Jesus taught and acted with the power of
God.
He tells us in one or two places
that he spoke as it were and he
acted as if he were the finger of
God and the prophets spoke of him as
the arm of the Lord revealed.
It's a very suggestive picture of the Lord
Jesus, the Messiah that was to come.
He is the outstretched arm of an almighty
God.
Now in his teaching, his authoritative teaching he
has been giving as we have seen primacy
of place to the promotion and the perfection
of character.
In expounding the manifesto of his kingdom, he
began there indicating that the whole of his
realm was built upon character, not upon policies
arrived at by democratic processes.
But his kingdom is different.
It is to be based on principles enunciated
in the name of the triune God.
He enunciated them with authority and he confirmed
that he had such authority by the power
he exhibited in other realms, in the healing
of the sick, in dealing with the elements
and mastering them in walking on the sea,
in turning water into wine, in calling forth
the dead from their graves and so forth.
He had power and he had authority and
with power and authority he enunciated this remarkable
manifesto of his kingdom indicating that only in
so far as we give heed to the
terms and the teaching of his beatitudes do
we become real subjects of his kingdom and
are able to become salt for the earth
and light for the world.
Character then is absolutely basic.
Moving in thought from that general delineation of
his subject's task as salt and light towards
a more detailed description of particular duties in
the rest of the Sermon on the Mount
our Lord paused for a moment and he
paused to do two things.
To assure his followers that he had not
come to destroy or abolish or abrogate the
Law and the Prophets, that is the Old
Testament.
He had come to fulfill.
We were dealing with that last Lord's Day.
Well that's alright.
That is his personal historical attitude to the
Old Testament Scriptures.
But he followed that, he followed that by
indicating how those Scriptures are to be related
to the subjects of his realm.
To the people of his kingdom.
Not only in the day in which he
lived but throughout the years until the consummation
of that kingdom.
His word that he came to fulfill and
did fulfill to the letter and to the
full his word must needs be fulfilled in
the lives of his subjects likewise.
If the law of God did not demean
him as he followed it and honored it,
neither will it demean us.
On the contrary it will mean that if
we follow the same holy word we shall
bring honor and glory to the Father whose
word it is.
So then we discover that the Scriptures are
to be authoritative for us as they were
for our Lord.
We cannot logically or morally claim to be
loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ who came
to fulfill the Scriptures if we ourselves take
an attitude that is liberal towards them and
suggest that they can be abolished or changed
or demythologized or brought up to date with
20th century thought.
To do so is to show that we
are out of alignment with the thought and
the attitude of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
To him the law and the prophets were
final.
They were the word of God.
Though he was the incarnate Son he was
made under that law and he found his
greatest fulfillment in honoring it.
So must his servants.
We come pardon me, we come therefore to
the role of the Scriptures in the life
of his empire and in the experience of
his subjects and there are two things that
are before us in these verses today.
First of all the Scriptures and one's status
in the kingdom verse 19 and then we
have something very important in verse 20 concerning
the Scriptures and one's access into the kingdom.
Two things are distinguished here.
Status within the kingdom, access into the kingdom
and in both cases the word of God
and our attitude to the word of God
is absolutely vital.
That's what Jesus said.
Now let's look at these in turn.
First of all the Scriptures and the rule
that determines one's status in the kingdom of
heaven.
Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will
be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
So you see Jesus places before his disciples
two alternatives.
Do you want to be called least in
the kingdom of heaven?
Do you want to be great in the
kingdom of heaven?
These are the two alternatives and they're the
same alternatives facing you and me this morning.
Whether we are to be demoted or promoted,
elevated or cast on one side.
It all depends, says Jesus, on this.
Whether you break one of the least of
these commandments and of course one of the
greatest and goes without saying the whole thrust
of the passage is that.
If you break one of the least of
these commandments and teach others to do the
same.
If you say that one of the least
of these commandments is unimportant, trivial, of human
origin and therefore not relevant to men on
earth at a given age or in a
given circumstance.
If you if you disobey and then teach
others you will be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven.
On the other hand, he says, if you
will obey these commandments of mine or these
commandments of the Old Testament the least of
them as well as the greatest of them
and teach others to do the same, you
will be called great in the kingdom of
heaven.
Your honor will be great.
You will not lose your reward.
You will please your father which is in
heaven.
And your status in the kingdom of heaven
will be among the great, not among the
least.
Now this calls for a word of explanation.
You will remember that the Apostle Paul says
very clearly in one place that the Christian
is not under the law.
And if I know my congregation at all
I believe there would be at least two
dozen people who would be asking now as
I have been saying what I have said.
All right, we are to obey the least
of the laws enshrined in the Decalogue, in
the commandments of the Old Testament.
We are to be keeping them diligently, carefully,
the least of them.
Are we still under the law?
Paul said we were not.
Now I want to distinguish between two things.
First of all I want us to look
at that statement of Paul's very briefly in
order to see what it means.
And I want to make two statements.
The first is as Paul says in one
sense Christian men and women subjects of the
kingdom of heaven are not under the law.
In the second place I want to say
subjects of the kingdom of heaven are under
law.
Now you can resolve the contradiction when we're
through.
But let me say what I believe scripture
says because I am only quoting two statements
of Paul's.
The one better known than the other but
both of them, Pauline, and both of them
as clear as crystal.
First of all the Christian or subject of
Christ's rule is not under the law.
Romans 6 14 puts that categorically where Paul
says sin shall not be your master because
you are not under law you are under
grace.
What does that mean?
I'm going to deal with it in this
context because I've been asked more than once
in recent times something about this principle and
so I'm going to spend a few moments
with it here.
The law has lost its power to condemn
to death any and every truly Christian person.
The law with all its thunder from Sinai
has lost its capacity and its power to
condemn to everlasting death any man, every man,
every woman everywhere who has come to faith
in Jesus Christ and is subject to him
and living under his rule.
Christ our Lord to whom we Christians are
joined by faith and hope and love and
by his spirit indwelling us coming from his
side.
Christ our Lord died our death upon the
cross long before we were born or had
committed one solitary deed of unrighteousness God foresaw
the whole of our wicked life and he
sent the Lamb of the heavenly pastures the
solitary Lamb of God he sent him forth
to bear away the sins of the world
and he prophesied through Isaiah the prophet and
said the prophet says concerning Jehovah he says
the Lord hath laid our sins upon him.
The Lamb of God, the Christ of God,
the Messiah of the scriptures, the promised deliverer
came forth and he came forth and God
laid our sins upon him and the Apostle
Peter now looking back at the event says
he bore our sins in his own body
to the tree all our sins were then
in the future of course none of them
had been committed but God as it were
parceled them together and he put them all
on our blessed Savior and sin bearer and
he died the death that was their due
and he finished with them on the cross
now that being the case a believer in
Christ a true believer one for whom Christ
died and rose again and to whom he
has given the Holy Spirit cannot again come
under the condemnation of the law and that's
what it means in Romans 6 where Paul
says you are not under the law it
cannot condemn you to death Christian that's the
context there you who have been baptized by
the Spirit into Christ you have been made
member of the body and you've been crucified
with him and you've died with him and
you're risen with him and you're ascended with
him and you are as Paul puts it
a man or a woman in Christ you
have died let me put it to you
very very bluntly like this the laws righteous
demand upon those in Christ has already been
met on Calvary's cross are you a Christian?
then listen you have been judged you have
been condemned you have been executed you say
that sounds terribly queer I'm sitting here this
morning well and hearty well yes but someone
else undertook it all in your name this
is the glory of the gospel your sins
were condemned in the person of the Lord
Jesus your sin bearer you were executed in
the person of your substitute substitute you died
on Calvary's cross payment for your sin God
will not twice demand once at your blessed
surety's hand and then again at your own
our God is not just is not unjust
our God is a just God and a
Savior so you see you are not under
the law you may sin as a Christian
but the law cannot send you to hell
the law cannot condemn you to eternal death
it has lost their power and the reason
is this when Christ died he died for
all your sins oh that's precious when you
sin you must seek repentance for every solitary
sin you commit as a Christian and learn
to confess it take it to the Savior
and ask him to let his precious atoning
blood cover that also and manifest your faith
and penitence to him but the law cannot
condemn you no Christian is under the law
and that is the sense in which the
Apostle Paul speaks of it now the other
side of the coin which we don't hear
as much about but which we need to
and which comes out here in the Sermon
on the Mount the Christian or subject of
Christ's rule and member of his body is
nevertheless under Christ's law now you say you're
terribly contradicting yourself and you really get into
trouble there well alright if you have your
New Testament with you you can turn up
to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 21
Paul is speaking in this context about willing
to become anything to all men in order
that by any means he might save some
I'm not going into the details we've no
time for that but here in verse 21
he is saying this and I'm quoting from
the NIV first to those not having the
law I became like one not having the
law now notice though I am not free
from God's law but I'm under Christ's law
so as to win those not having the
law now in order to get that straight
and clear let me read you J.B.
Phillips's translation same verse 1 Corinthians 921 to
those who had no law I myself became
like a man without law even though in
fact I cannot be a lawless man for
I am bound by the law of Christ
the Christian is not under law the law
cannot condemn you but you are under the
law and obligated to fulfill it why?
I will give other reasons before we come
to the end this morning but one reason
is this because of your relationship to Jesus
Christ and that is where I want to
focus that is what we have in our
text Jesus says so and he is your
Lord he died for you he's purchased the
right to be the ruler of your life
and he says I came to fulfill the
law you must see that you fulfill the
law likewise this is the rule for my
kingdom now you haven't got to be subject
of my kingdom you can stay outside you
can be in the kingdom of darkness you
can be in the kingdom of evil you
may prefer to go there and to live
there and to die there but subjects of
my kingdom this is the rule this is
the rule this is the manifesto I want
you to notice those two phrases again I
quote them from the NIV and from the
J.B. Phillips translation I am not free
from God's law but under Christ's law whether
it is the law that Christ made or
the law that Christ accepted that is the
law of the Old Testament to which is
reference here doesn't make any practical difference in
any case our Lord Jesus has laid it
down that as he observed the least law
so must we the least of these commandments
and then J.B. Phillips I cannot be
a lawless man for I am bound by
the law of Christ our union with Christ
which makes it impossible for the law to
condemn us to eternal death anymore also assures
that we are in such intimate life union
with him that we shall want to keep
the law and we are under his lordship
and kingship that we must keep the law
let us be clear therefore that our status
in the kingdom thus depends on whether we
disobey one of the least of these commandments
and teach men so or whether we obey
the greatest and the least and teach men
accordingly now I made some comment last Lord's
Day morning about about liberal people in our
theological colleges and other colleges and you can
see the reason why I did so because
you see there are people who are teaching
us that parts of the Old Testament simply
have nothing to say to us today just
like the second century heretic Martian who tried
to write a New Testament and get rid
of all its references to the Old Testament
from it what a document he had it
was very thin because there is so much
of the Old Testament in the New well
now we've changed our language and we talk
about our demythologizers and so forth oh brothers
and sisters we've got to take Jesus Christ
seriously you may be philosophically acceptable if you
take the critical approach to scripture and there
are some people who will smile at you
and you will be treated as if you
were among the intelligentsia our Lord Jesus says
if you disobey one of the least of
these and teach men so and if a
Jew returns up in one of our courts
one day and says that though the law
of God says murder is murder the jury
says it is not I tell you that
jury is on a collision course with a
lawgiver and the Son of God the law
abiding Son the last word is not said
about these things the law of God is
inviolate and one day he who holds the
world in his hands will cause us to
stand before him and we shall be answerable
for what we have done with his law
I am concerned this morning with a place
it holds in our lives as subjects of
the kingdom and here it is you either
move up or move down the least or
the great in the kingdom according to whether
you obey the law or disobey it and
influence others accordingly the scriptures and the rule
that determines status in the kingdom now the
second thing this morning is this the scriptures
and the righteousness that is required for access
into the kingdom of heaven excuse me verse
20 for I tell you that unless your
righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law you will certainly not
enter the kingdom of heaven now we are
here dealing brothers and sisters with a most
serious and important matter nothing less than the
matter of access into the kingdom of heaven
and thus our eternal salvation and well-being
and we are immediately shaken out of our
complacency when we hear that in order to
enter heaven's kingdom we must possess a righteousness
that excels that of the most excellent people
of our Lord's day the most law abiding
people of our Lord's day in referring to
the scribes and to the Pharisees our Lord
Jesus Christ was not referring to people who
were known breakers of the law but he
was referring to people who were known as
those who really spent their lives as they
thought in attempting to keep the law and
he tells his disciples now listen he says
there is no way into the kingdom of
heaven at the beginning no way into it
unless your righteousness is greater than that of
the teachers of the law and the Pharisees
now let me just give you some indication
of how religious and how given to righteousness
so-called the teachers of the law and
the Pharisees were in the Old Testament itself
we find very few rules and regulations even
in the Ten Commandments itself the Ten Commandments
themselves you don't find many rules and regulations
but you find general principles they the Jews
of our Lord's day and before his day
held that the law was divine they believed
that as we believe that and that in
it God had said his last word and
that therefore if this is God's last word
everything must be in it everything that man
needs to know we believe the same if
it is not explicit then it must be
implicit in the law this is what they
believe and so there arose among them a
people who became known according to the King
James as the scribes but in the NIV
and other translations as teachers of the law
now who were they well they were the
people who studied the principles of the law
the law of God in its purity and
they try to say how this should apply
to all the multifarious duties of life in
an individual's experience and they wrote tomes upon
tomes upon tomes upon tomes all perverting to
say how the first commandment applies to you
in certain circumstances and the circumstances varied that's
what made the tomes so multitudinous and the
scribes were therefore the exponents of the law
the Pharisees on the other hand were the
people who were more pledged than the scribes
to keep not only the law of God
but especially the interpretation of the law given
by the scribes or the teachers of the
law they were called the separated ones or
the holy ones there are those who tell
us that the Hebrew word for for them
was a word which is used of the
was used of the Puritans at a later
at a later time well whether that is
so or not this is what happened now
we can see the lengths to which this
went from the following facts for many generations
this scribal law this detailed application of the
principles of the law according to men this
this was this was just oral people memorized
it they had good memories in those days
and they taught their children to remember the
oral law and it was passed down from
generation to generation and we know how remarkable
it was kept now in due course in
the middle of the third century A.D.
a summary of it was made and codified
that summary is known as the Mishnah and
it contains 63 tractates on various subjects of
the law and in English makes a book
of almost 800 pages later Jewish scholarship visited
itself with making commentaries to explain the Mishnah
these commentaries are known as the Talmuds and
of the Jerusalem Talmud for example there are
12 volumes and of the Babylonian Talmud there
are over 60 volumes or 60 I'm not
quite sure now this will give you an
idea the religion of the Pharisees was a
religion of attempting to memorize and keep all
these minutiae and here is Jesus facing his
disciples and saying look unless your righteousness exceeds
that of the scribes and the Pharisees you
cannot even enter the kingdom of heaven oh
my dear friends Jesus did not treat entry
into his kingdom as a cheap thing this
is not cheap religion this is going to
cost of course in the final analysis he
procured our access by his own blood but
when we have received it there is a
discipline that is involved in obeying it that
confirms that we are genuine in receiving it
now let's address ourselves to the important subject
before us then with a determination to discover
how we can possess the quality of righteousness
that exceeds and excels that of the Pharisees
first of all why was the righteousness of
the Pharisees unacceptable I want to give you
a few reasons one it was almost exclusively
external now saying it like that we may
have a feeling that it doesn't really apply
to us but well hang on a moment
don't conclude too soon let me read to
you a few verses from the words of
our Lord he's addressing the Pharisees and the
scribes and he said words like this to
them on different occasions Luke 16 15 for
example he said to them you were the
ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of
men but God knows your hearts what is
highly valued among men is detestable in the
sight of God again woe to you scribes
teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites
you clean the outside of the cup and
the dish but inside they are full of
greed and self-indulgence blind Pharisees first clean
the inside of the cup and the dish
and then the outside also will be clean
and here's another one woe to you teachers
of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites you
are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on
the outside but on the inside are full
of dead men's bones and everything unclean in
the same way on the outside you appear
as people to people as righteous but on
the inside you are full of hypocrisy and
wickedness you notice you notice what all this
is about the religion of the Pharisee was
a matter matter of keeping all these minutiae
these petty laws that the scribes had initiated
and had brought into existence washing pots and
pans before meals all kinds of things which
were superficial which were on the outside of
a man which had to do with externals
how long you must pray your stance in
prayer and so forth all these things which
were largely external their entire religious life was
orientated you see towards man and in the
sermon of the mount Jesus will tell them
that some of you pray before men he
says and some of you when you give
your arms you make so much fuss about
it it's not really it's not really for
God that you're doing it you're calling attention
to people that you're going to give arms
you see it was all manward it was
external thus these people continued washing their hands
their cups their pots their pans almost if
not altogether oblivious to the infinitely greater importance
of clean hearts and pure motives but not
only was it predominantly external it was also
hypocritical you have heard that note coming through
in some of the passages I quoted from
Jesus already here are others for you woe
to you teachers of the law and Pharisees
you hypocrites you shut the kingdom of heaven
in men's faces imagine teachers of the law
doing that shutting the kingdom of heaven in
men's faces not helping them to get into
the kingdom but closing the door against them
by the things they were teaching you yourselves
do not enter nor will you let those
enter who are trying or this woe to
you teachers of the law and Pharisees you
hypocrites you travel over land and sea to
win a single convert and when he comes
and when he becomes one you make him
twice as much a son of hell as
you are that's Jesus not me oh you
make your converts but what is your convert
a child of hell not a child of
God you make him like yourselves and you
are like your father the devil that's what
Jesus said to them you see it's not
only it's not only Christ that makes converts
for Christ and for God Satan makes converts
Satan is evangelistic Pharisees are evangelistic there is
an evangelistic zeal that springs not from heaven
but from elsewhere so Jesus tells them in
Mark chapter 7 the same people Isaiah was
right he says when he prophesied about you
hypocrites as it is written these people honor
me with their lips but their hearts are
far from me they worship me in vain
their teachings are but rules taught by men
there's the heart of it you have let
go the commands of God and are holding
on to the traditions of men you see
the point the whole of their religion was
orientated manward not Godward it was only a
matter of going through the physical acts being
present at the right place at the right
time saying the right words using the right
shibboleth going through what men expected them according
to the tradition of the fathers do you
know anything of this my friend are you
a traditional worshipper our Lord brought out the
extreme contrast that we must learn to worship
the Father in spirit and in truth according
to the Holy Spirit energies within our souls
and according to the truth of the word
which tells us what God requires of us
you see we could bring a hundred thousand
things into our service here this morning and
most of the people who would come would
say it beautifies the service and many people
would say my the minister of knox has
really got it done it now this is
up to date this is modern but it
is not found in the word of God
it is not found in the law it
is not found in the scriptures it is
not found in the New Testament in vain
do you worship me teaching for doctrines the
traditions of men unless God requires it we
should abstain from it the law of God
must be determined not only what we believe
but especially what we do in worship for
worship is the most intimate act or attitude
of the soul in relation directly in relation
to God and if we don't accept what
he says about what is to determine our
worship then we might as well quit shop
now as well as being external and hypocritical
it was an adherence to an unacceptable of
course and unaccredited standard see what the scribes
and the Pharisees were doing they themselves have
made the law it was the scribes who
had codified the whole thing they had decided
we must do this we must behave like
that so when they came to obey they
were only obeying themselves in other words they
were worshipping themselves they were not obeying the
law of God they were not doing what
God had commanded they were doing what they
wanted and what they thought God wanted you
know it's very easy to get there very
very easy to get there especially in matters
of worship but also in matters of ethics
how many of us really believe that the
Bible is the word of God as far
as doctrine is concerned but when we relate
that doctrine to our worship we want to
go outside the word of God and we
want to bring in ideas of men which
are not found in scripture now I can't
do that, I can't do it I believe
that the word of God in its totality
relates to the whole of life, worship in
particular life in the outside world also they
worship me in vain, teaching the traditions of
the rules taught by men as a matter
of fact so much of it was but
the worship of self, now I could go
on there let me come to the next
question and this brings us toward a conclusion
we need a righteousness that surpasses that what
is it?
where are we to get it?
in what sense must our righteousness exceed the
righteousness of the teachers of the law and
the Pharisees?
well of course not in the sense of
obeying more rules and regulations that's obvious, that
is scarcely possible anyway our righteousness must exceed
that of the scribes and the Pharisees in
quality not in quantity now I have no
time to go into this subject in detail
this morning but I want to do two
things because I'm expounding the sermon on the
mount and therefore I want to take two
foci, the one coming before this text the
other coming after it and the fact that
I'm only referring to these two that must
not be taken as if I were thinking
for one moment that we are saying everything
that is important on this subject but the
first thing is this our righteousness must grow
out of the kind of character represented by
the beatitudes that's the first thing, our character
our living out on the street in the
home in the church anywhere must grow out
of the kind of character that is coming
into being as we obey the beatitudes of
the Savior these are the basic the fundamental
the determining laws of the realm these make
men into salt and into light and unless
our righteousness is more than just doing the
right things but the right things coming out
of a heart that is in process of
being changed out of a heart that is
being modeled after the divine out of a
spirit that is of God out of an
inwardness that is not what one existed in
the history of any of us unless our
righteous acts are proceeding from a good heart
that is poor in spirit, that mourns for
sin that is a peacemaker, that has mercy
on people, that is pure and so forth
and unless our righteousness is proceed out of
a pure heart, our righteousness cannot be much
greater than that of the Pharisees and the
scribes the first prerequisite is that the second
prerequisite is this and here I refer to
what is to come in the Sermon on
the Mount and we shall be coming to
it in due course our righteousness must also
go beyond mere obedience to the letter of
the law even the law of God.
Tell you what I mean you look forward,
you read chapter 5 and go into chapter
6 today and you will see it all
there I'll summarize it for you we must
go beyond abstaining from committing murder, we must
learn not to be angry with our brothers,
chapter 5 verses 21 and 22 we must
go beyond abstinence from adultery and we must
refrain from looking after a woman to lust
after her Matthew 5, 27 to 28 we
must go beyond simply keeping our oaths when
we've gone on oath well we'll keep our
oaths, we must go well beyond that says
Jesus that's not enough, we must get to
the point where every word of ours is
true and reliable verses 33 to 37, we
must not only refrain from demanding an eye
for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth, we must learn we must learn even
to turn the other cheek when people would
abuse us personally chapter 5 verses 38 to
42 we must not only love our neighbor
but we must also learn to love our
enemies, Matthew 5 verses 43 to 48, now
this is the righteousness which is greater than
that of the Pharisees and the teachers of
the law you see it's deep, it comes
from the inside and it is not only
deep, it is of a different quality, it
is born of God it is only possible
because God is at work in our souls
there is no other way we can do
this, I must say one other word how
on earth do we get a righteousness like
this you know your heart and I know
mine, how am I going to get righteousness
like this well my friends not not not
fundamentally by my own self-effort not the
labors of my hands can fulfill thy laws
demands could my zeal nor respite no, could
my tears forever flow all for sin cannot
atone, thou must serve and thou alone, I
cannot of myself produce a righteousness like this
it is the gift of God in Christ
by the Holy Spirit now this was the
exciting discovery of the tax collector in Jesus
parable involving a tax collector and the Pharisee
in Luke chapter 18 verses 10 to 14
you remember how that Pharisee was there bragging
about this that and the other he says
I'm not like other people are unjust adulterers
fornicators what not and neither am I like
this other man that's come up to pray
today and that other man, the tax collector
in the employ of Rome no one no
one thought very much of him but he
he was conscious of his sin and he
came to the temple and this is what
he said God he said be merciful to
me notice a sinner and then came the
remarkable statement of Jesus I tell you that
this man rather than the other went home
justified before God man alive what does it
mean?
it means this, this man got impeccable righteousness
the righteousness of God revealed in Christ worked
out in the life of Christ as man
even to his death and imparted as a
gift imputed to him as righteousness you and
I can only get this righteousness in the
first place as the gift of God through
Jesus Christ it's a gift a parcel to
be received and it is out of your
sense of need of it not of your
ability to cope without it but out of
your sense of need that you cry for
it God be merciful to me a sinner
but it doesn't end there having been received
as a gift that same righteousness coming from
God must then be worked out in life
but now you see it's something different I
have received it from God and the Holy
Spirit has come to indwell us and as
the Holy Spirit has come to indwell us
something different has come into life God has
come into our lives to enable us to
keep his own law and you remember from
the vantage point of the Old Testament this
was deemed by two of the prophets to
be the high watermark of new covenant New
Testament Christianity Jeremiah looking forward said oh there's
coming a day when God is going to
make a new covenant and this is this
will be characteristic of it God will say
and will do I will put my law
in their minds and write it on their
hearts what's he saying what he's saying is
this that the very law of which the
Old Testament writes and and tells us the
principle of it will be ingrained into your
soul man so that when you read the
book outside of you there will be something
inside of you that will say that's right
that's right there's something in here that tells
me that's how I ought to live that's
the way I ought to go the law
is written in our hearts that's New Testament
Christianity Ezekiel went further than Jeremiah and Ezekiel
said this I will give you a new
heart and put a new spirit in you
I will put my spirit in you now
notice this and move you to follow my
decrees and to be careful to keep my
laws brothers and sisters in Christ can you
look that in the face is this your
experience unless we know something of this we
need to question our experience what it means
to be a Christian is this that under
the terms of the new covenant which Jesus
ratified with his blood he writes his law
upon our hearts and by the Holy Spirit
indwelling us he woos us he draws us
he encourages us he enables us dare I
say he almost makes us to obey his
statutes to do his law and so we
come back to Romans chapter 8 Christ sent
his son and one of the reasons is
this in order that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit
or if you want another scripture of Paul
Paul says go and work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling and I'm telling
you to do this he says for this
one reason God is at work within you
both to will and to do of his
good pleasure the God who has changed you
and redeemed you has come to live in
you by the Spirit to enable you to
keep the law to make you uncomfortable when
you don't and to encourage you and lead
you forward here is the righteousness that exceeds
that of the scribes and the Pharisees it
is qualitatively different it is deeper it involves
the heart and the soul and the spirit
in the first place and it has behind
it the mighty power and enabling of the
Godhead so that Paul could say in all
these things the circumstances of life and death
we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us for the Christ who gave us
the law and lives within us is able
to fulfill his own purposes in us and
through us have you received the gift to
start on the road if you haven't do
it this morning you can never work this
up you can never pay for this you
don't get this by just coming to church
and sitting in the pew you just don't
get it that way you must come to
Christ you must come to God in Christ
and with a sinner's prayer God be merciful
to me a sinner you may have the
gift of righteousness imputed to you and the
Holy Spirit imparted to you and from there
on it is here to be wrought in
us and to be worked out by us
it'll be a struggle demanding all our energies
but our sufficiency is of God let us
pray father in heaven honor your word in
our lives we pray and let our lives
be an honor to you forgive our sins
forgive our love of the cheap and the
tawdry and the superficial oh dear Lord forgive
us that we have scarcely the marks of
the cross on our spirits breathe upon us
afresh and lead us in your way do
not give us up we pray until Christ
is formed in us we ask it in
his holy name Amen