Transcript

All right. Good morning, church. Hope you're doing well. I'm so thankful you're here today. If you'll look under your seats, you get to celebrate with us.

Hopefully you like M&Ms. If not, that's what you got. So deal with it, eat it, don't eat it, whatever. But hey, guess what we've done as a church. Both of our campuses, at both of our locations, made a pledge together.

We exceeded $1.6 million together over the next three years, which is incredible. Absolutely amazing what God has done, not only through you, but, but through our Wilson campus as well. And we have already hit one milestone. Every time we hit 100k, we're going to celebrate together. So we're going to fill you.

You're going to get diabetes eventually. That's kind of our goal. And so Anyway, we've hit 100k together, so let's celebrate. Hopefully this is okay. Hopefully we mark this right.

That's pretty close. Good job. That's pretty close. Hey, give the Lord a hand. Hallelujah.

All right. Amazing stuff. Yeah, don't do that. Those have already had quite a few hands on them, so I wouldn't recommend that. Those are going to get gross over the next couple years together.

It's going to be exciting. By the time we're done, those might not even have color. We'll see what happens. But anyway, feel free to eat those M&Ms. You're going to need a little sugar in you.

As we dig into the Sermon on the Mount, one of the most intense, maybe the most intense, the most well known sermon in human history by the most well known preacher in human history. He's much more than just a preacher, however. He's our Savior and Lord. But here he's giving a sermon and people are trying to figure out just what this guy's about. Who is this amazing teacher in Jerusalem, in Nazareth, and here in the north of.

Of the Sea of Galilee as he gives the Sermon on the Mount. And this is in your Bibles, Matthew, chapter five through chapter seven and what we've already kind of discussed together. If you missed the first two weeks, I would encourage you to go back and listen to those because I do think they'll be encouraging and edifying to you. But we've already covered the Beatitudes, which is these blessed statements of Christ. You know, blessed are the peacemakers, poor in spirit, those who are persecuted.

That's a heavy list. And there he's talking about the idea of what the character of a kingdom citizen looks like. The character Is peacemaking poor in spirit and thriving and hungering and thirsting for righteousness. And then last week, we talked about this wonderful influence that God has now given us. He tells believers, in this moment, you are salt, you are light.

I have not only given you the gospel now, but I've given you influence over the world. Now, today we're going to deal with this kind of difficult passage where he describes what it means to be great in the kingdom of heaven. Now, I don't know if you've checked out on this at some point, you know, there's. I find that every little kid desires to be great at something. Like you ask a child, they're going to grow up to be the greatest.

Fill in the blank. Somewhere in adulthood, we make the decision. I'm not really going to be great at much. I don't know when that happens. But at some point, our dream dies, right?

And maybe there's some of that that's good, because some of it, you can't grow up to be the Red Power Ranger, which is what my son wanted to be. I'm going to be the greatest Power Ranger. That's not an option. All right, sorry. Some of you may have still been digging that, but at some point, we give up on being great at anything.

And that, I think, is actually not of God. And so the idea here is that Christ has described the manner in which we should be eternally great. Do you know this is okay? I know this is a little weird to say at church. Did you know it's okay to try and desire to be a great Christian?

That's a good desire. Now understand, you can't do it by your own power and strength, as you're going to see in this sermon today. But the desire, the aspiration to be great is in God's kingdom, should be there. Why? Because we're called to be like Christ.

And guess what? He was. He was great in the kingdom of God and is great in the kingdom of God. And so we're going to describe this upside down kind of way of being great. And so the way in which Christ defines it, and this is going to be kind of shocking today, is that he's going to deal both with the Old and the New Testaments.

And so John Stott, when writing on this, he says this paragraph that we're covering today is of great importance not only because of the definition of. Of Christian righteousness, but also for the light that it throws on the relation between New Testament and the Old Testament, between the gospel and the law in Other words, Jesus is going to reveal to us what he views about the Bible. He has a high view. Just so you know. That shouldn't be surprising since we consider Jesus the living word.

It would be kind of strange if he didn't back up the written word. He is the word of God and backs up the written word of God. I love what one professor writes on this, Russ Bush. He says what you think about Jesus will ultimately influence what you think about the Bible. Your theology of the living word and the written word go hand in hand.

So you think little of the Bible. I would argue, and Russ would argue you may think a little bit little of the true and authentic Jesus. You ought to think highly of both. Do you struggle sometimes with reading and understanding the word of God, especially the Old Testament? Do you look at it sometimes and go, well, I don't understand the balance between the law of Old and the grace of New.

Do we really have to obey the Old Testament laws that are in view there? What do we do with this? Doesn't Paul write to the Romans in chapter six that we're not under the law, but we're under grace? Yes, he does. He does say that in Romans 6.

But does that mean we no longer have any need of the Old Testament or its laws? Do they serve no purpose now? How should we view them? Well, I think we can start today with asking how did Jesus view them? And that'll be a very powerful question.

As we consider Jesus our king, we can look through the Bible through his eyes. Wouldn't you want to do that? Don't you want to see the Bible as God intends it, as Christ sees it? So we're going to be in Matthew 5, just a few verses 17 through 20, where Jesus called those who saw the Bible through his eyes great in the kingdom of heaven. We can be among these that see the Bible as Christ sees it.

I think the text will give us three clear marks of those whom Christ calls great in the kingdom. Let's read these handful of verses. Chapter 5, 1720. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

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. 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. And whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, this is going to sound shocking Church. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, I know you don't want to say Amen, but God bless the reading of His Word. Amen. This one is a little tricky, especially the way that it closes. Let's begin here, though. Let's begin where Christ began and the first mark.

I think of those who Christ considers great are those who affirm Christ's high view and fulfillment of Scripture. Affirm Christ's high view. If people ever say, boy, you really hold that Bible to a high standard, you ought to respond, well, Jesus did, and so I must. Christ held it to a high standard. He says here plainly in verse 17, I did not come to abolish anything back here in the Old Testament.

Rather I came to fulfill it. The word abolish here is to dissolve, to destroy, to demolish. He's saying, I didn't come to tear any of that down, rather to in some ways fulfill it and in future ways fulfill it. Now, he hasn't fulfilled everything that's there, but he has fulfilled some of it. And we're going to deal with a little bit of that today.

And then he goes to say, I didn't abolish anything. From what? The law or the prophets. By this, Jesus is pretty much bookending the Old Testament, the law, Genesis through Deuteronomy, the Torah, the Pentateuch. That's what he's talking about there.

And then he ends with the prophets, which is how the Old Testament is bookended. In another passage in Luke, and I think I'm reading it later. He also includes the Psalms. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying all of the Old Testament, the Tanakh, if you will.

That's what Christ has come not to abolish, but to fulfill. The word fulfill here in the Greek has to do with consummating, bringing it to realization that he is saying everything that is written there will be accomplished. It will come to pass. Some of it already has, some of it will. And then he uses one of these Jesus sayings.

I gotta admit, I never hear anybody say stuff like this. I don't know if it was common then, but Jesus loves a phrase like this. For truly, I say, maybe it's because the most of us are scared to say such a wild thing. And I can promise you right now it would have been weird to hear then too that the rabbis, the scribes, the Pharisees would have come. As I'm Coming to you with the Word and saying, this is what it says.

But Jesus comes saying, I say what? The people must have been baffled to hear a rabbi talk like this. One of the reason for that, we know, is because he's the living word. He's actually emphasizing the law, the Old Testament, and telling us how to apply it in a true way. And that's where we're going to be over the next few weeks, is dealing with some things that we thought just meant this.

And Christ deepens their meaning. And that's what he's up to. He says, in fact, I say to you, not even heaven and earth, all of creation, the universe, both this earth and the heavens, none of it will pass away until every iota, every dot. Now, iota, some of you are like, I don't think that's an English word. You'd be right.

It's interesting that the ESV just sticks with that. That's actually a Greek letter. Looks like the letter I. So just picture the letter I. It's one of the smallest letters.

It may be the smallest letter. I think that was his intent. And then he says, secondly, a dot. The King James is really funny on this. It says, not a jot or tittle.

That second one sounds weird. And I think that's why the ESV said, we're not going with tittle anymore. But these are two of the smallest characters in the Greek. Jesus is saying the smallest stuff. In fact, in the Hebrew, it's not iota, it's yod.

Yod looks just like a little bitty blip, kind of like a comma, almost in the sky. That kind of deal. And so not a yod, not an iota. What is Christ on about here? This is weird language.

He's saying, not even the smallest little mark is going to go away until all is accomplished. I'm not going to miss anything. That must have been amazing to hear. They didn't understand fully perhaps, that this is the savior of the world, the light of the world. And he is saying, I'm going to bring absolutely all of it to pass.

I'm not going to leave not one stone unturned. It's all going to be fulfilled. None of it will pass from. So he uses this almost parallel sentence structure all the way through, least to great. Here he says, pass away, to pass from.

He says, nothing will fully pass away until everything has been fulfilled and passed from Scripture. It says in verse 18, in fact, accomplished, completed, finished. What does this tell us about Jesus view of the Old Testament? I don't know what this does to you, how this impacts you, but I want you to understand something. Not only did Jesus affirm the Old Testament, he says, I'm going to bring it all to pass.

It's all going to happen. And I hold it in highest regard. First of all, because I wrote it and I'm in it. It's a story about me. This is a grand redemptive story about broken fall to resurrected Christ to creation anew.

It's creation to creation. I've heard it said before. It's like picture it like this wonderful ark from creation to creation, and that's what Christ is saying. So if you look at the Old Testament and say, hey, it has no purpose. We don't need to spend time there, we shouldn't preach there, I would encourage you to think differently because Christ does not appear to be teaching it that way.

In fact, some of the moral law, if not all of the moral law, still applies. Okay, we're going to dig in more on what that means. But Jesus has come to fulfill, to accomplish it all. Now, just for your own learning. Some of you may know this already, but when you're talking about the law, for instance, it's generally broken down in three parts.

The moral law, the ceremonial law, and then the civil law. And the moral law is almost this ongoing thing that Christ is going to speak more about. That's the idea of living righteously. That's primarily the Ten Commandments there in view and some other things. The ceremonial law is about the sacrificial system.

And then the civil stuff is about kind of how the nation of Israel operated in its day. Paul affirms all this stuff in Romans chapter 10. He says, Christ is the culmination of the law, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. So Christ is about it. That book I wrote, I'm going to fulfill it.

You ought to study it. It would be important for you to look into. Now, I want to just talk to you for a moment about some of the ways Christ talks to his disciples after the resurrection. We get these fascinating stories of Jesus, these really amazing moments. One is, two, in fact, are described in Luke chapter 24.

We get a story we call the Road to Emmaus. And then we get the upper room story right after that. You can look this up. In Luke 24, Jesus appears to some disciples, not the main ones that you know of. One of them is listed.

His name is Cleopas. I don't know how to pronounce that perfectly, but I can't Even say words right now. But anyway, he comes walking with one of these, probably One of the 70 that's described, not one of the 12. Now 11 after Judas. But he comes walking with some disciples.

And the Bible just kind of says, weirdly, they did not recognize him. Now, I don't know exactly why. Perhaps they just weren't expecting to see the Savior. Maybe there's something different about him. I imagine it's a bit of both.

And so he's walking with them. They're saying, hey. They're whining, they're crying about the Jesus. This guy's just been crucified. He's just died.

And they're upset about it. And he's saying, what are y'all talking about? What's going on? And they try to make fun of Jesus here. They're like, have you not.

Are you the only guy in Jerusalem who has not heard that Jesus died and we love him? And then he basically, Jesus starts kind of railing them, like, hey, you know, it was taught in the prophets that this would happen. This had to happen. And then they come and they break bread together. And then Jesus does one of his creepy moments, which Jesus does.

Sometimes he's breaking bread with him and they recognize him and he just goes poof. Which. That's how the Lord rolls. He likes to mess around like that. If you think God doesn't have a sense of humor, you're wrong.

If you have a sense of humor, just know it came from God. It started with him. I think heaven's going to be hilarious at times. I have no doubt, because listen to the smiles. Listen to how you feel, just laughing.

I think Christ here has a sense of humor. And in this very moment, it seems like he disappears from them. Then they come and they come, tell the upper room. They're like, hey, 11 disciples who stuck with Jesus. Guess what just happened.

We saw him on the road. It's not just that the women saw him, that the women found an empty tomb and that they saw an angel. And the angel said, hey, he's already risen. It's not just that story. We saw him, too.

And right as they're describing that, Jesus appears in there. Da, da, da. And the people are terrified, obviously. Obviously terrified. You can touch my hands and my feet.

It's this whole story. And then at the end of this, and I wanted to read this to you at the end of these miraculous moments where the resurrected Christ is reappearing, Paul says at one point, he reappears to 500 people. So those of you who have heard in your life. Hey, these disciples were hallucinating. I just want you to know something right away.

They've never recorded a group hallucination of more than two people. Never. So him appearing to 500 is impossible. So if Paul is right and a lot of people affirm this, then Jesus is in fact resurrected. So if you ever hear the hallucination theory, just go ahead and say, nah, not, not, not going to go down that road with you.

There's a lot of other theories out there, but that's not the point of today's sermon. So Jesus comes. Luke 24, verse 44. He said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed to his name, in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things. He's reaffirming. This is what the Scripture's been saying. I've come not to abolish it, but to fulfill it. He not only speaks it, he lives it.

And so, church, we ought to study not just the new, but the old. The Bible is his love letter to you. Every word, every jot and tittle, every iota and dot, every yod. It's all for you. Kingdom greatness begins with holding the Bible here.

Now, I've been harping on this one aspect of it. There's a more common aspect that I would like to just say to you. Christ holds the word of God above every other word. It's not just that we ought to be students of the whole Bible, old and new. It's not just that.

It's that even when we counsel others, we don't counsel them from psychology today first. We counsel them from the word of God first because we hold it in that highest. Now, guess what? People get things right all the time. You know, God created science.

He created the medical field. All of the way the body works, everything, all of that. God did all of that. It's all logical, reasonable. That's who God is.

He's a God of order. And so guess what? Psychologists and sociologists, they get a lot of things right as they study the world and its order and people and the way they've been ordered. But understand, God wrote this first. So, for instance, if you ever come to get my counsel?

I've studied a lot of other counselings, a lot of other things, especially in the Army. I studied a lot of different ways to approach people. I just want you to know I'm seeing those things through the lens of the Bible, and I believe this is the way that Christians are called to live. So some of you are in school right now. You're seeing a science book that's dealing with various theories of how things were.

I would encourage you that Christ holds this here. I would encourage you to see whatever book you're reading through the lens of Scripture first and then go, huh? That don't quite line up with what you're saying there. God, which is right. Well, if I believe in Christ and I follow him and his high view, then I'm going to say, well, there must be something mistaken here.

Let me make this all right. The Word says. The Word says it took God a couple days to make creation. Maybe it didn't take a couple billion. The Word of God says he made them male and female.

Maybe that's just the way things are. See what I'm saying? We study the world through the Word. The second way is this, and this is where I'm already heading. The second mark of those who are great in the kingdom are those who obey Christ's commandments and teach them to others.

Obey Christ's commandment. Now, he doesn't stop with simply understanding that Christ. Yeah, you came to fulfill it. Yes, I understand that. It's not just that, that you would obey it and then that you would teach it.

He's harsh on this. You got to understand something about Jesus. He is meek, he is gentle, he is loving. But he also comes down very strong on some topics. He says, when it comes to the Word of God, the whole Word of God, when you decide to relax on some and teach others to do the same, you're the least in the kingdom.

He's not saying you lose your salvation. He's careful not to say that here. He says, instead, you'll be considered least. Now, I don't know exactly what that means because I don't know if that's an eternal thing. Here's one thing I will say.

There have been heretics throughout Christian history. I don't know if you've heard the word heretic often, but it's those who are misinformed teach bad theology. And there have been many heretics throughout Christian history. Some of them, I believe, are true Christians. They're just really wrong about a couple of things.

And they teach them. So now those of you who are students of the Bible now, when you read about Marcion or antinomianism and these various heresies, you go, well, that guy was totally wrong about that. What a doofus. He's probably in heaven. I think Marcion's probably up there.

Marcion's one of the main guys that said, hey, he in fact reinterprets some of these scriptures because he just doesn't see any validity of the Old Testament anymore. That was part of, of his heresy. Do I think he's a true believer in heaven? I think probably so, because it seems his understanding of Christ is accurate. But we look at him and go, man, he was a real numbskull on this issue.

What does that mean? Well, he's kind of getting considered the least in the kingdom. I just want you to know your legacy might be a little tainted if you decide that, hey, I follow Christ, but I'm going to mess around with these commandments and I'm going to teach other people, hey, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you follow Christ once you've got your fire insurance. It doesn't matter how you live least in the kingdom.

And not just that you're teaching people to live the lowest form of life on this earth. I think one of the worst ways to live in this life is to know the Lord and not walk with him. I think that's probably the most shameful and guilty kind of feeling. You'd be better off not knowing him now. Not eternally, you're better off for sure.

But in this life you'd be better off if you could just live as you want. But to know what's right and decide to go the other way, that's misery. He writes here. He says anyone who relaxes one of these commandments and teaches others will be least relaxes is the idea of loosening one's hold. We have a tendency to do this church.

Don't look down on these people and don't feel bad if you know, man, there's just times where I'm not living holy for Christ. There's a big difference in struggling at times with various things that God has called you to and determining, alright, I just can't. I just can't do that thing. And I'm going to instruct other people to follow me in that broken course. That's a big difference.

It's understandable. Each and every one of us struggle with sin. Each and every one of us struggle to have to be in constant Repentance with the Lord. We say things we don't want to say. We think things we don't want to think.

Sometimes we do stuff we really wish we wouldn't. Paul says similarly, the very thing I want to do, I do. I don't want to do, I do. And the thing I do want to do, I don't do. He's an apostle.

He wrote a lot of the New Testament. That's not what Christ is speaking of here. He's talking about people who have kind of let go of the grip, say, yeah, I know Jesus said that, but, you know, in this modern culture, just do as you just do as you feel. I know the Bible said that, but I read this over here, and it seems more true. You just kind of release it, let go of the rope, the stronghold that you have that Christ seems to have, that the word of God, I got to have a firmer grip.

Y'all is up here. You know that we begin to loosen the hold and then teach others to do it. They'll be the least in the kingdom. Rather, he says, no, those who want to be great, those who want to know what it means to have a full and abundant life, which Christ has called us to get this. He didn't just call us to have eternity with him.

He has a new way of living right now that is better than anything else. Way better. Why? Because you were made for him. Your ultimate purpose in life is to know and enjoy and glorify God.

And when you walk that direction, you feel a joy and a peace and a purpose like you've never experienced in your life. So it is a lie when we tell people, hey, come to Christ and then do as you please in your life. You can do that, but you will be miserable when you come to Christ. At the same time, understand, he's not going to leave you as you were. Our mission statement here at this church is not come as you were, are and stay as you are.

I would never preach such a gospel. Come as you are and be forever changed by the love of Jesus. We want you to walk in the door looking as disheveled as you please, but we pray you leave different. And we will encourage and worship together and teach scripture in such a way that we pray you would be forever changed by Christ. He doesn't want to leave you as you were because he has a greater plan for you than you know for yourself.

And the way that things have been going is not his best for you. Obey Christ commands. He says in verse 19, those who do them and teach them will be great. Jesus equates loving him with obeying Him. Don't miss this church.

John 14:15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I don't know if I agree with you, Jonathan. I don't know how to parse this any differently for you. Do you love Jesus?

Do you obey his commandments? No. Then you don't love Jesus. It's just basic logic, like the most basic. If you ever took philosophy of logic.

If P, then Q. That's all we got here. There's nothing catastrophic going on. Do you love me? Keep my commandments?

Do you keep my commandments? You must Love me. John 15:10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. Guess what else?

The way in which I show community with the triune God, the way in which I showed as the Son of God love for the Father is that I abided. I kept the commandments even at the garden. When Christ is saying, if there's any way that this cup could pass from me, Lord, let it be so. But not my will, but yours be done. He says, not only is it true, but I modeled it.

I modeled it. Now this raises some questions. What are these distinctives I've mentioned to you, the moral, the ceremonial and the civil? I want you to understand something, Church. The moral law that God begins in the old and continues through the new.

Those things are perpetual. The moral law reveals God's character. It shows us how to both treat God and man. That law continues. It has not ceased.

The ceremonial law, though, which has to do with temple worship, the holy days, the sacrificial system, the civil laws as well. The effect of setting the Jews apart for God's as God's peculiar kind of people. You'll read some really interesting stuff there in Leviticus and those various law books. But Jesus has fulfilled in a lot of ways these categories of the law. The ceremonial.

We no longer have the same temple worship, same sacrificial system. Why? Because he is the Lamb. He is our sacrifice. He has forever been put in place from that thing we once had to do as God's people.

Now the moral law, it still applies. But guess what? The reason we obey it has changed. That's the shift for moral law. It no longer is obedience out of obligation, which was never what God really wanted from the Jews, but it was certainly how they were doing it.

Now we obey the moral law out of love for Christ. Notice What? He says, if you love me, you'll obey my commandments. He doesn't say, if you want to stay saved, you'll obey my commandments. That's not how this works, friends.

That's not grace.

I don't know how to break this down any better than to just share. Kind of an illustration, if you will, just from father to son or parent to child, that there's a huge difference as a parent, when your kids decide to do the right thing because they love you versus you having to constantly harp on them. There's a huge difference. And your kids will get this right sometimes, and other times they won't. But if you're showing them a consistent love and a consistency in the way that you operate the house, and they know that they're loved and respected.

But however they're held to a high standard, if they know these things in parallel at times, they will do the right thing out of love and not obligation. When it comes to our obedience to Christ, we are never called to do it out of obligation. It was never what Christ desired, even in the Old Testament. This is why he talks about certain people being like David, being a man after my own heart, because he desired community with God, not obedience, sheer obedience. Obedience should be inspired by love.

Jesus summarized, in fact all of the ten commandments, the moral law and the law of love, if you will, with the great commandment. This should sound familiar to you. Matthew 22, it says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And this is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

He has summarized the moral law in these ways. So, church, what are we to go on doing? Continuing to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love our neighbors as Christ would love them as ourselves. Now, I spent about 10 years, y'all, in the army serving my country. And I could tell you there's a big difference at least.

And you could see this in a lot of organizations, but I saw it, I think, the clearest in the army, where there's a big difference between those people who do things for the sake of a dollar and those people who do things for the sake of a cause. And so some of you have professions that are like this, that they're more of a calling than they are just a profession. Police, I think any first responders. If you're in there working on people in a hospital, I pray that you've been Called to do so if you're doing that, bitterly. I don't want to be the sick guy that day, all right?

I don't want to be the broken guy that day. I pray you're doing it because you feel a strong desire to be in there helping people. And I think the army is the same way. You can really tell the difference between those kids who came out of high school and they couldn't think of anything else to do, and somebody talked them into something, and now they're stuck here and they're miserable, and they want to bring everybody with them in misery. Boot camp stinks.

All of it stinks. I can't believe we got to do this this day. We got to go rock this and do this. But if you're. And this is going to sound real crazy, right?

I loved boot camp. I loved it. Some of you who are military people are like, you're on something. Something's wrong with you. But I joined because I believe God called me to be a military chaplain.

I felt that Jesus himself said, I think you can do something here, and I think you can help people here. And I did it out of love, not just for the Lord, but love of my country. And I wanted to do something for him and something for my brothers and sisters in uniform. There's a huge difference in what that will do to the way you live. Do you understand this?

When you start to do your work, because you love God and you love the work he's called you to, you do it without burden. All of a sudden, people come knocking on your office, wanting to bother you, and normally they bother you. But today you're like, this is my job, and I love the Lord. You're thinking, man, you're a psychopath. No, I pray you would experience this in your life.

That the way in which you obey Christ, the way in which you live your life, work home, with your spouse, with your kids, that you would do these things out of a sense of love for Christ? And then all of a sudden, you can understand peace like you've never understood peace. And a mission, like you've never understood it, such that you can endure things like boot camp. You can endure a terrible boss and say, well, God, I really believed I was where I was supposed to be here. Lord.

This person you've put me under, Lord, is just the worst. But I'm where I'm supposed to be, God, so what do you want me to do about this? You'll feel a sense of joy and peace, a righteousness that exceeds as we're going to deal with in a minute. The Pharisees and the scribes. Do you cherish the word of God?

Do you obey it in such a way that it's out of love, not just duty, not just obligation? No, I love God and so I love his Word. And then the third way, and this one's very important because all of this is impossible without relying on Christ's righteousness to enter the kingdom. When he ends this verse by saying, you have to have greater righteousness than the Pharisees and the scribes, each and every one of you should have gone, whoops. Because these are people that were very devoted.

Now they were a mess too. And we're going to get into that for a couple minutes. But here Christ is saying, you want to know what it means to be righteous? You want to know what it means to be great? It means loving me and following me and walking with me.

That means when Christ resurrected and sent his promised Holy Spirit. Our new role, our new job then, is simply abide in the Holy Spirit of God and say, God, not my will, but yours be done every single day. I wake up tomorrow and I say, I've got to do some stuff today. God, would you so be in front of me. Would you guide me?

I want to be your missionary. Wherever I'm going, not my will, but yours be done. Relying on Christ's righteousness. He says here in verse 20 that you have to have greater exceeding. The word exceeds.

Here is a think of a fixed number and be way above that one commentator writing on this. He says, jesus is not talking about beating the scribes and the Pharisees at their own game, but a different level or concept of righteousness altogether. Here's why this isn't terrible, terrible news to you today. The Pharisees and the Scribes were fake righteous. They were fake righteous.

They looked real righteous on the outside. You ever run into any Christians like that? You ever dealt with that? You're in this church right now. I got bad news for you.

There might be one or two in here. If it's you today, repent. Repent and say no. Christ demands a righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees and the scribes. If you are the type of person that says all the right things but does all the wrong things, you're Pharisees, you're scribes.

Oh, I'm going to look real good when I come to church. I'm even going to dress up. I might shower before I go. But then as soon as I go to the restaurant today, I'm going to be an absolute turd to the waiter and I'm not gonna tip because he was horrible. Wrong.

Wrong. Look, if you're gonna do that, after you've come here and sat under the word of God this morning, you wanna go out and eat Mexican food after this, you better tip well and you better be sweet. I don't care if they're terrible. I don't care if they're terrible. Guess what?

It seems like to me people were terrible to Jesus and He still loved them and, and he still died for them. You don't understand. You've now been given a higher standard. You've already been given a righteousness that so exceeds the Pharisees and the scribes. They didn't truly know God.

They knew of God. There's a big difference. I pray that you would know him in such a way that it would impact not just your lips, not just the some things that you do on a Sunday morning that you would come here and sing and then on Monday morning be the worst co worker.

That's Pharisaic. He says to those that they would never enter. Now that's harsh. That's harsh. Why is this?

How can this be true? Most of the Pharisees and the scribes, I'm pretty confident, did not enter the kingdom of God. We only have a few that we know of. Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea that seemed to have come to faith. They knew a lot about God, but they didn't know God.

Your kids, parents, your kids, they're in the back. They're learning about God. But we can't do all the steps to help them know God. We can help them know about Him Here on Sunday mornings in the Word and in singing, we can know a lot about God. I want you to know Him.

I want you to know him in a way that moves you, in a way that changes you. We are made righteous through faith in Jesus. Paul says to the Romans in chapter three, now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, and there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Everything Christ did, the law and the prophets bore witness to it.

They pointed to it. And. And what is that? That we are sinful. We're far from God, and yet Christ paid.

So now guess what church. Those of you who have come by faith, and it's all right, many of you have come by faith, saying, jesus is Lord and Savior of my life. He is. Propitiation means replacement, if you will. His blood for mine, his righteousness in my place.

If you've come saying, yes, I believe in the cross of Christ and he died for me and he rose from the grave, and I have faith in that, you've already received the righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees. You've already received it, now rely on it. This is why Christ so often says, abide in me and I abide in you. Rest in me. Do you love me?

I want you to hear it different. Now, as you think about relying in Christ, hear it different. Do you love me? Then keep my commandments. As he says to Peter, do you love me?

Then feed my sheep. What does he mean by that? Then be the gospel to people. Represent Christ well, do you love me? Represent me to your families, to your co workers, to that poor waiter that's about to receive half the city for lunch.

Do you understand this? You may have never thought about this before. I used to work in the food industry and I've heard this from other people. One of the worst times for a lot of waiters is Sunday lunch. They hate it.

It's busy. Sure, these are some rude people that show up and they don't tip well. Are you kidding me? People should long to be there at lunch on Sundays because the people of God are showing up with their love and their grace and their mercy. They ought to be like, please put me on.

Well, they ought to start there and then eventually say, well, I gotta go hang out at that church too. You gotta give me lunch off because I want to be with them. But that's not what they're saying. They're saying, if that's how they are, I will never go there. If that's what it means to follow Christ, I don't want any part of it.

You understand? You represent him. Jesus took our sin and he offers us our righteousness. As Second Corinthians says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This righteousness, it avoids the ditches that the Pharisees and the scribes found themselves.

I'm just going to teach you a little bit. As we come to a close right now, you can pop up this image for me. This is an Image where we were dealing with a lot when we studied the book of Galatians together many years ago. But this is kind of what Christ is on about here. I want you to know something about the Pharisees and the scribes.

They had somewhere around 248 regulations and 365 prohibitions to fence in and protect the law. Their righteousness, however, was only skin deep. It was outward, it was external. Verse 19 warns us about the danger of lawlessness. So verse 19 tells us, hey, if you hear the word of God and you don't obey it and you teach otherwise, that's the ditch of license that you would live lawlessly.

And then in verse 20 talks about the other ditch, which is legalism, where, yeah, the Pharisees and the scribe have hundreds and hundreds of Targums and various things that they know and they've studied.

But then they're awful to people and they don't show the love of God to others and they don't live it out and they steal and their hearts are a mess.

Christ has done something new in us. This is why he can say this in verse 20, that his righteousness is not skin deep. It goes to your heart. It's not just something you do outwardly, it's something that's shifting inwardly.

I would give you this encouragement, my friends, if when you struggle in sin, when you struggle with something you've been dealing with a long time, if it draws you to the Lord in repentance, your heart is with him.

Those times where you feel so stubborn and stonehearted that you don't even want to repent, those are the times where you go, God help me, what is up with me right now?

But most of us are not there. Most of us, truly, the spirit of God is in us and it's heart deep. And the moment I say something to you, I'm not perfect, if some of you are holding me to such a standard, you're going to be so disappointed. I make mistakes all the time. I think things I shouldn't, I don't do.

Like Paul, I don't do the things I want sometimes. And I do the very things I don't want sometimes times. But here's what I'm doing right? And it's really simple. When I make those mistakes, I say, lord, help me.

And I'm definitely not teaching you to follow me when I do these things. And that's what he's called us to here. A Christian's righteousness is no longer skin deep, it's to the heart it's internal. So kingdom greatness then is about true righteousness. And that righteousness does surpass the scribes and the Pharisees.

You don't have to be afraid, believer today, understand? The righteousness of Christ is so superior to that fake righteousness. It's so superior, you have nothing to fear. We must seek his righteousness. Though blessed are those, remember, who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

What does that mean then? Hunger and thirst for the Word of God. Hunger and thirst for community with Christ. Hunger and thirst that no one has to tell me to get in prayer. I want to.

I can't wait to see him. I can't wait to know him better. Those who Christ calls great will affirm his high view, will obey and teach his commands, and will rely on his righteousness. Let's continue now, church and worship together. Heavenly Father, we.

We ask at this moment that you would so move in our hearts that for some of the people in the room right now, they needed to take another step in affirming your high view of the Word. This word that you wrote to us, this high calling that there are some of us in the room who have kind of held it sort of low. Maybe there are certain words of this culture, certain books we've read, certain ideas, certain concepts that we've held at highest esteem. Even things. Perhaps we've held the words of our parents higher than the word of God.

Perhaps that some idea of success that we heard from teachers or some mentor or someone that we held in high regard, we've decided that that is superior to the word of God. God. We repent of that right now. We determine in this moment, Lord, and embolden us to do so, that we will be students of your Word first, that we will hold it in high regard, the highest. That we will see our world through your lens, that no longer will we be tossed to and fro, as Paul says, by every wind of doctrine.

That won't happen to us because we are so determined to follow after you and follow after your Word, God, encourage your people in this way, that the word of God would so speak, that there's some people in this room right now, Lord, that have never truly studied, have never had any sort of significant time of devotion with you and your Word. I pray that that would change this week as they take an initial step, perhaps to study your Word, that you would show up, that you would speak. God, I know you desire to be with us, to be in relationship with us. God. I recognize that someone may have come in today and they don't have a relationship with you at all.

So the word of God is foolishness to them. It just doesn't even make sense to study it. God. But today they're feeling a sense of calling towards you that God, they understand you died for them, that you sacrificed, that you showed your love and mercy for them. And that there's a better life in Christ Jesus.

God, I pray that you would move that heart right now to pray with me. A simple prayer. As Romans 10 says. If we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. If that's you today, my friend, pray with me.

Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sin. I believe, God, that you raised Jesus from the dead. And I believe, Lord Jesus, that you've called me to live in submission to you. That you are king, you are Lord. And that in.

In that I will find my true purpose, what it means to truly live. I believe that today, Lord, I ask now that you would guide my steps. That you would help me to be not only a student of your word, but know how to obey it. Inspired by love and not just obligation. Help me to rely on your righteousness.

Now, dear friend, if you prayed that with me, welcome to the family of God. And we can all pray right alongside you. Those same last words. Lord, help us to be students of your word, to obey it and teach it. That we would look different in society because of the grace you have poured out freely on our lives.

That we would be the greatest grocery shoppers, the greatest restaurateers. Because of love, the love of Christ, because of the mercy and grace you've poured out. God help us in this. That we would represent you well. That we would be continuing from last week's Salt and Light in our city we pray in Jesus name.

Amen.