FULFILLING THE LAW
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Why would the Lord Christ destroy that which he had set up? Moses was his servant. Hebrews 3:4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
And the Lord was the One who set forth Moses to bring his law to the people. Exodus 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. And it was the eternal Son of God who provided that which is called the finger of God for the writing of the law. (Exodus 31:18). Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
And the reason that the law was not to be destroyed, but rather fulfilled, is that it expresses the character of God. God’s holiness, put down in writing, is seen in the giving of the law. Then He came in his own physical person to show us what it was like for him, not just to state that holiness, but to actually live it out in example before us. THAT is the gospel!
For Luke clearly states that his former writing – the gospel of Luke – is nothing more than what Jesus did and said! Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. For the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed! (Rom. 1:17). And that righteousness is provided for the believers only by the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That righteousness of God would never have been provided except the Lord Jesus fulfill it both in his living and in his dying! Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
And that is also exactly how the gospel is to be carried out, throughout the ages. The apostles were only commissioned to teach others as they were obeying what the Lord had commanded them! For that is the only way the gospel ministry was assured of His being with them throughout the ages! Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. But those legalists who seek to occupy Moses’ seat, and only maintain a form of godliness while denying the power of God, say, and do not. (Matt. 23:3) These are those who continue the Whore’s religion! (Rev. 17:1,15) Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
And this hybrid religion of saying, but not doing, produces the same nature in the pews that is in the pulpits! Matthew 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Therefore we see that there is not one thing wrong with God’s law! The problem is not with the law, but in how man interprets it! Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
This is obvious in the preaching of the Lord Jesus, as recorded in Matthew chapter five. For there we find, some six times he begins a topic of his teaching with the words, Ye have heard, followed by the phrase, But I say. And there is not found in this glorious message a single critical remark regarding Moses! But it was all pointing to how the Jewish leaders had misinterpreted him and God’s law!
For since they did not see Jesus as God manifest in the flesh, due to a lack of a spiritual perception, and since the law is just a manifestation of His character as God, they did not see the law as spiritual! Therefore, like so many pulpiteers today, the law was only in their mouth and never in their hearts! Matthew 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
Therefore the Apostle Paul wrote this concerning them. Romans 2:21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? 24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. 25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
And the difference between those with only a legal manifestation are seen as decidedly different from the Lord. For someone has well said that these came to found a school, but he a kingdom. They sought to set up a system of religion, but he brought a fellowship with God. They demanded of their people. But he bestowed enablement upon his! They demanded that their converts come to first know their rules, setting it forth that this would bring them to know God! But the Lord caused rank sinners to first know God in sovereign regenerating grace, and then, with the life from this new birth, they would learn all about God! He made what the Pharisees said was last (coming to know God), to be first, and what they held as first (learning religion’s truths), to be last!
For knowing God IS eternal life. And fellowship with that God, as revealed by the Spirit, brings with it an understanding of things spiritual and eternal! John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. 1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
But let us set forth, from the very mouth of The Word of God Himself, that which gives the true issue of the crime which legalism commits in it’s denial of the spirituality of the law. Matthew 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. (It would be of farther benefit to your soul, dear Reader, to read Matthew 12:1-8, in order to understand the context in which this was set.) For they would rather keep souls bound under their rules (which are their misinterpretations of the law), than have the disciples eat when they were hungry! Sadly many today would side with the Pharisees against the disciples for pulling and eating corn on the Sabbath day, yet Christ proclaimed them to be “guiltless.” Amazing, isn’t it?!?
And remember that Satan himself is at the bottom of all this. For just what did he do in order to set forth the temptation of the Lord Christ? He quoted the scriptures, but misapplied them! And that is exactly what these hireling preachers of our day are still doing. And the only thing our Lord did to combat Satan’s tactic was to properly quote the scriptures that did apply to each situation. How in the world can their be so many varied religions, that oppose one another, all claiming the same bible as their source of instruction, except by the misinterpretation and wrongful application of the scriptures as Satan did?
Hireling preachers depend solely upon ruling souls with guilt and pity. But ‘conviction,’ and not ‘condemnation’ is the working of the Holy Spirit! You must remember these verses for use when the angel of light (Satan), comes to you to destroy God’s peace from your heart. 1 John 3:20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The major portion of religion, by far, in our day is nothing more than the binding of the consciences by the legalistic application of the law! This gang would not know how to live in the liberty which Christ provided at Calvary! Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
They will always interpret Christ’s glorious liberty as liberalism! But that is due to the fact that they stand on the foundation of legalism! If one is living in the Spirit and in the will of God, one in legalism will call him a liberal. Thereby suggesting that he has cast off the yoke of Christ and feels that he has a license to sin! But that same believer will be called a legalist by those who are truly liberal, those who hold the truth in unrighteousness. (Rom. 1:18). To these he dare not mention holiness, or sanctification, lest he be smeared as a legalist! But in all this these actually reveal themselves! For those walking in the light of the spiritual word of God will know that those who call him legal are but liberals. And those who call him liberal, are but legalists! But those who have fellowship with the Son and with the Father will call him ‘brother!’
The true believer is taught how to walk in the liberty provided him by the sovereign work of the Lord Christ as Calvary. He has been set at liberty by Christ overcoming the strong man (Mark 3:27), that has kept him in bondage. Therefore he learns not to misuse that privilege, neither to deny that it is provided him with the Spirit’s new birth! 1 Peter 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
For this is the benefit of the covenant of inner grace that has replaced the former covenant of outward law. Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Regenerating grace, causing old things to pass away and making all things new, provides the true believer with the law written on his heart, causing him to walk in the light in fellowship with God. – It cannot be otherwise! For those who walk in darkness, which they still love because their deeds are still evil (John 3:19), no matter what they profess with memorized religious articles, have no fellowship with God, nor his true church.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
And these who have that anointing – that “unction” of the Holy Spirit – are taught within because they do know God, and not as religion forces their rules in order to know God. 1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
Pastor Gene Breed, March 28, 2014