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Review:

1. The law reveals the reality of God’s holy character and man’s unholy nature.
   
   
2. The law is not the solution but the starting point in seeking the redemptive work of God.
   
   
3. Today, we will discover that the Law stands complete and whole now and until sin has been eternally banished with Satan and his followers.

Context:  Jesus is being accused of not living or abiding by the Law—healing on the Sabbath, eating with sinners, and ceremonial washings.  Meanwhile, the Pharisees would fast repeatedly, give publicly, avoid unclean things and people.  Perceived by society as highly committed to the Law.

Who is truly more committed to the Law—Jesus or the Pharisees? 
Matthew 5:17-20

• Was Jesus truly violating the Law or was He merely not following the practices of the Law as prescribed by the religious leaders of the day?
  
  
• The religious leaders were boastful of their pursuit of the Law, yet the Law convicts and confronts our depraved nature.
  
  
• Their tendency was to highlight certain laws and to minimize others.

The Law has not and will not change one iota! (18)

• Smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet- yod or jot. It would look more like the dot of the lower case “i” to us.
  
  
• Least stroke of a pen- Hebrew (waw) or tittle. It is a portion of a letter.  A single stroke that can differentiate between one letter from another.  Example “P” from an “R” is only different by a single angled stroke. 
  
  
• The best understanding is not a letter or even a portion of letter will pass.
  
  
• Basically, Jesus says the Law as it is written stands and will continue to stand. (19)
  • John Calvin once said considering verse 18 “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one point of the law to fail.”

Greatness in the eyes of the Kingdom of Heaven is found in teaching and living out the whole of the Law. (19)

• Heaven celebrates those who revere and live out the holiness the Law teaches.
  
  
• Anyone who diminishes the Law, even in the slightest, is considered the least among mankind by the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Kingdom of Heaven will not include those who taught and lived by a diminished view of the Law.  (20)

• It is not of God to suggest one part of the Law is lesser to another. To do so is to suggest that one part of God’s holiness is lesser than another.
  • Example: “God loves you more than he hates divorce.”
  • Such a statement is elevating one attribute of God over another.
  • It also leads to a compartmentalizing of God.
  • Perhaps, the end justifies the means.

• Such a view of the Law creates certainty of your eternal residence that will not be with God.
  
  
• Disregarding or changing parts of the Law you begin to create your idea of god to be in your own image.

Take aways:

1. You cannot diminish the Law at any point without diminishing the character of God.
   
   
2. The Law points to that which is eternally true, so it stands complete always.
   
   
3. We need to resist current trends that interprets God’s holiness by the prevailing views of society.
   
   
4. God was, is, and always will be—I Am.