One Jot or One Tittle of the Law

Introduction: Christ's Affirmation of the Law's Authority

0:04 Now, we turn again this morning to the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, as we resume our studies in this sermon of all sermons, as recorded in the Scriptures, the Sermon on the Mount, as it's commonly been called, this sermon which is the longest recorded sermon, public sermon, of our Lord Jesus Christ in all of the Gospels, Matthew chapter 5. We have come in our study to verses 17 through 20, which are a pivotal section in this portion of the Word of God. The previous section has laid out the characteristics of a true Christian in what we commonly call the Beatitudes. We have seen the reaction of the world to a true Christian. It will revile him and persecute him, because that true Christian who is light and who is soft. The world exposes the sham and the emptiness and the blackness of the heart and life of those who know not Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

1:17 Then our Lord is going to give a detailed explanation of the true implication of God's holy law, beginning with verse 21. He's going to take the law of God, which has been glossed over with a lot of tradition and ritual. By the scribes and Pharisees, and he's going to pull off all of those layers of tradition and ritual and misinterpretation, and he's going to hold before men the holy law of God in all of its pristine beauty and searching power. Now, before he does that, he wants to assure them that everything he says is in perfect keeping, in perfect harmony with the Old Testament law. For when our Lord is called, he is called. When our Lord is called, he is called. When our Lord is called, he is called.

2:05 When our Lord is done stripping off the misinterpretation of the scribes and Pharisees, when our Lord is done straightening out their false interpretations, it's going to be so radical that it's almost going to appear that he's teaching something new. And so our Lord assures them in verse 17, think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one job or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.

2:47 We studied in detail verse 17 last week and tried to define the basic terms used by our Lord Jesus. When he said, think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, he was referring to the whole Old Testament revelation. The law standing for the five books of Moses, the prophets including all else in the Old Testament scriptures. When he said, I came not to destroy, he was saying, I have not come to annul, to abrogate, to set aside anything that's been revealed in the law or in the prophets.

3:25 I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. Now we come today in our study to verse 18, which gives to us the law. It gives to us the reason why Jesus Christ could not destroy the law or the prophets. Verse 18.

The Authoritative Voice of Christ and the Permanence of Scripture

3:45 For, here's my reason, Christ is saying, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one job or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all things be fulfilled or accomplished. Now what we must notice at the very outset. Is that whatever Christ says, he is saying as the authoritative voice of God. Notice this phrase, for verily I say unto you.

4:18 As you read through the gospels, you will find again and again this phrase occurring, where Jesus says, verily, verily I say unto you. Literally, amen, amen I say unto you. In other words, it's spoken for emphasis. Christ reminds us.

4:36 But as he now speaks, he speaks not as a man amongst men. He speaks not as a teacher amongst teachers, not as a philosopher amongst philosophers, but he speaks as the God-man, the unique messenger and representative of Jehovah God, standing in the midst of his creatures saying, what I speak, I speak with all the authority of the mighty God. He speaks as incarnate truth, for he said, I am the way, the truth. He speaks as unchanging God.

5:17 He speaks as God's final message, for the writer to Hebrew says, God who spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in the end of these days spoken unto us by his Son. Now what does he say? He says, as he speaks. Fully.

5:36 He is conscious of his position as the God-man, as the authoritative messenger of Jehovah. What does he say? He says, till heaven and earth pass away, in other words, till the end of the age, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law till all things be fulfilled. The jot is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

6:05 The yod. The yod. The tittle is the smallest curve of a letter. Jesus is saying, the smallest letter or the smallest curve of a letter shall in no wise be changed or shall in no wise pass away until every last word uttered by God shall be accomplished.

6:29 Now studying for this, I came across some interesting quotes from some of the Jewish who showed how true this could be. And there were some quotes. I'll share just one with you. In Leviticus 22, 32, we are told, Neither shall ye profane my holy name.

6:50 If one little mark was changed in one of the letters of that sentence, neither shall ye profane my holy name. If one little mark, a little tittle was changed, that verse would read this way, Neither shall ye praise my holy name. So just the change of a tittle would completely reverse the whole meaning from neither shall ye profane my name to neither shall ye praise my name. So that our Lord in this passage is stating using a form of expression that was common amongst the people of His day that there is a binding authority to the Word of God even to the very words which God Himself has given to us in the Holy Scriptures.

7:44 So this is why Christ said in verse 17, Don't think I've come to destroy the law of the prophets. He said, I cannot. For even the Son of God Himself was subject to the Word of God. And the Word of God was of such authority and permanent validity in the eyes of Christ that even He, He made no attempt to set it aside but subjected Himself, His teaching and His ministry to the precepts of God's holy law and of the prophets.

8:22 Our Lord Jesus is in this passage putting what we could call His imprimatur upon the Old Testament and saying, Do you want to know what the Old Testament Scriptures are? Do you have any question as to their trustworthiness? Do you want to know Do you have any doubts as to their accuracy? Then I stand among you as the Son of God and I say unto you, Heaven and earth may pass away but this Word shall never pass away till all things be accomplished.

Principle 1: The Absolute Authority and Infallibility of the Old Testament Scriptures

8:54 And as we consider these verses, the 17th and 18th together, I trust that we'll get hold of three basic principles and that's what I want to give you this morning which our Lord Jesus enunciates in these statements found before us. First of all, our Lord tells us and puts His seal of approval upon the absolute authority and infallibility of the Old Testament Scriptures.

9:24 Well, you say, what's so exciting about that? I don't see too much to get worked over, worked up about that. May I say that you as a Christian will be very unstable and if you're not a Christian, it's doubtful that you will become one. Until you feel the tremendous weight of this statement of Christ that the Old Testament Scriptures are a source of absolute and infallible authority concerning the truth and mind of God.

9:57 Jesus Christ Himself puts His seal of approval upon those Scriptures. Not, of course, as we have them in our translation. What you hold in your hands is a translation from the Hebrew text. But as Peter says in 1 Peter, 2 Peter 1, 21, holy men of God's faith as they were carried along or moved by the Holy Ghost.

10:22 And when Moses wrote, and when Isaiah wrote, and when Jeremiah wrote, they were so guided by the Spirit of God that their very words, Jesus says, down to the smallest letter, down to the smallest curve of a letter cannot pass away. Until all things be accomplished. And as you read through the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, you notice the high view that He had of the Scriptures. Let's consider several of these things this morning.

10:55 And I have two reasons for doing this, at least two. One of my reasons is, and I trust you young people listen carefully to me. Most of you are going to public schools where the authority of the Word of God is smeared at. You believe in the Genesis account of Christ.

11:11 You believe in the creation that God created. Not a little amoebic cell somewhere that developed into an ape and into a man, but you believe that God made a man named Adam and a woman named Eve. You believe this. But in your textbooks, it's taught as fact that things just evolved to what they now are.

11:33 The fact that God could have prepared a great fish, and it could have swallowed a man named Jonah, and that He could have lived inside it for three days, is smeared at. In your schools and in your textbooks. And so I have a particular purpose for the young people of the church this morning that you'll see today that when you believe what the Bible teaches about Adam and Eve and Jonah and Noah, you're standing with the Son of God in karmic wisdom Himself. And He said, I believe these very things.

12:06 Young people, you never need to be embarrassed by standing with the eternal Son of God and saying, I believe the Bible just as He believed it. That's my first purpose. That God would undergird some of our precious young people whose faith in the Scriptures is going to be sorely tried in the days ahead. Then my second purpose is, and may I include under the first, any adults who may have some questions about the authority of the Scripture.

12:34 Anyone who claims to be wiser than Jesus knows nothing of humility. I don't care if he's a scholar, a preacher, or even called a saint. Anybody, anybody who says that the Scriptures are not what Jesus said they were, he's accusing the Son of God of being deceived.

12:51 And I have respect for no man who accuses my lovely Lord of being deceived and being ignorant. So if I find that Jesus believed the Old Testament Scriptures as they were given, then I stand with Him and say what's good enough for my Lord is good enough for me. Reason number one. My second reason is this.

Pastoral Reasons for Affirming Scriptural Authority

13:11 If Jesus puts His stamp of approval upon the Old Testament and says, all things shall be accomplished, He means not only the promises that were fulfilled in Himself. Isaiah said, the suffering servant is going to come and bleed and die, and He came, He bled, and He died. But that Old Testament says that all sinners who die in a state of indifference to God's message, all people who die in a state of rebellion to God's Word shall be consumed by the wrath of God. And the Lord Jesus, who is saying that word is going to be fulfilled.

13:49 And my second purpose is that somehow as you see the authority of the Scriptures, those of you who are yet unrepentant, you may recognize that God's pronouncement of judgment upon wicked, unrepentant men is going to come to pass, for the Son of God Himself said that it will come to pass. Now what was our Lord's view of the Scripture? May we look together at just a few passages. In John 10.35, Jesus made this statement. John 10.35 If He called them gods unto whom the Word of God came,

Christ's View of Old Testament Historical Accounts

14:30 and the Scripture cannot be broken. Here our Lord is giving what we call a parenthetical phrase. It's a little phrase that He sticks on as a little aside in what He's saying in the main line of His thinking. And He's in a controversy with the Jews of His day.

14:49 And He's discussing with them a point of question that has a reference in the Old Testament. And as He discusses it, He says now, in your Scriptures it says, and then He quotes, I said ye are all gods, and the Scripture cannot be broken. Then He moves on with His argument. But it's this little parenthetical phrase that we want to get hold of.

15:14 The Scriptures cannot be broken. Who said that? The Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus had such a view of the Word of God that He categorically stated they cannot be broken.

15:31 Then it's no mystery when I begin to read through the Scriptures and find that the Lord Jesus did believe that God created not a half a man or an amoeba, but a man and a woman in the Garden of Eden. For I read in Matthew 19, beginning with verse 4, Jesus is speaking, and He answered and said, Have ye not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female? And said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh? So then they are no more two, but one flesh.

16:10 What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.

16:16 The Lord Jesus is discussing the matter of marriage and divorce. And we're going to come to that later in the Sermon on the Mount. Awfully shoddy views about marriage and divorce in our day. And our Lord Jesus has some very clear answers.

16:32 And our Lord Jesus, as He's about to answer the people who came to Him, saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause? He does not give an answer based upon His own opinion. But He goes right back to the first chapter of Genesis. And He says, The answer is already written.

16:50 In the Word of God. Don't look for an answer from me that's going to negate what God has already said. He says, Have you never read that in the beginning God made them male and female and joined them together? Our Lord is basing His whole answer upon the historical fact that somewhere at some time in a garden of Eden, God created a man named Adam and a woman named Eve, and He brought them together as husband and wife.

17:22 So the Lord Jesus didn't believe in evolution. And if He didn't believe in it, I know it.

17:30 Is that accused of being ignorant? When it says that in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? When it says that He created all things and all things were made by Him and for Him? Young people, don't be embarrassed when you believe Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and Genesis 3.

17:52 Your Lord believed it. Stand with Him. In an unflinching faith.

18:00 Then our Lord actually believed that there was a man named Jonah.

18:06 And He actually believed that that man was in the belly of a sea monster for three days and nights. That's the literal translation of the Greek word. Not the belly of a whale, but the belly of a sea monster. And we find our Lord making reference to this in Matthew chapter 12 and in verse 40.

18:23 Matthew 12 and verse 40. They come to the Lord Jesus. And they say, listen now, if only you do some sign, we'd believe on it. Why don't you cause some sign to break forth out of the heavens?

18:40 And if there's something so supernatural that we can see and tangibly appreciate, we'll believe on you. I don't know what they wanted. He'd been healing the sick and raising the dead and making the lame to walk. I've always been amazed what they want for a sign.

18:56 And they said, give us a sign from heaven, we'll believe. And the Lord Jesus said, no. An evil and adulterous Jesus in every generation seeketh after a sign. And he said, there's only going to be one sign given to this generation.

19:08 Here it is. Verse 39 and 40. The sign of Jonah the prophet, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Do you get the weight of this?

19:31 They come and say, oh, where's your sign? He says, there's only one sign going to be given. And he says, that sign is illustrated by a fact of Old Testament history. Fact number one, there was a prophet named Jonah.

19:45 Fact number two, that man was in the belly of a sea creature that God prepared for three days and nights. And that man, Jonah, was cast out of the belly of that sea monster and so the Son of Man, his sign will be his glorious resurrection. Our Lord believed in the account of Jonah and the whale. So when people kind of snicker at me and think I'm old hat because I believe it, I lift up my head with unembarrassed confidence and say I stand with my Lord.

20:19 I believe what he believes.

Christ's View of Old Testament Authorship and Inspiration

20:22 Then our Lord Jesus actually believed in a flood where he says in Matthew 24, as in the days of Noah, so shall also the days of the coming of the Son of Man be for as in the days that were before the flood. They were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. So shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Our Lord believed that Moses wrote the five books that we call the Pentateuch and that he wrote them by the inspiration of God.

20:56 Turn to Mark chapter 7 if you will please.

21:01 Mark chapter 7.

21:08 Jesus is speaking and he says in verse 8, Ye leave the commandment of God. Notice now he's talking about a commandment that is a commandment of God and he holds fast the tradition of men. And he said unto them, Full well do you reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your tradition. Well, what was the commandment of God?

21:34 Verse 10 tells us, For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother and he that speaketh evil of father and mother let him die the dead. Do you get this? Jesus is saying to these people, Look, you're setting aside the very commandment of the living God that you might keep your own silly traditions.

21:58 And then he turns and says, That commandment is the word of Moses but Moses' word is God's word. So when I say I believe that God the Holy Spirit so directed Moses that what he wrote were the very words of God, I'm merely saying what my Lord said when he called the commandment of Moses the commandment of God.

22:24 See it? Our Lord does the same thing with the words of David. For we read in Mark 12, 36 where Jesus said, David spake by the Holy Spirit, saying, and then he gives us a quotation from the words of David, but he said they're not David's words, they're the words of God, the Holy Ghost. You say, what's the importance of all this, Pastor?

22:50 Do you know what the importance is? To accept a view of the Old Testament which is less than the view of Christ is to bring into question the integrity of Jesus Christ. It's to bring into question the honesty of Christ. Some people say, well, he was just accommodating himself to the ignorance of his day.

23:14 No good man accommodates himself under any kind of authority. Under any circumstances if it means giving the semblance of dishonesty. So this is bringing into question the character of my Lord, and if it brings into question his character, it brings into question his sinlessness, and if it brings into question his sinlessness, it brings into question his deity, and if I have a Savior who's not God and who's not sinless, I have no Savior.

23:44 This has tremendous implications. I have no respect for these people who profess to believe in Christ and respect Him and believe in Him and trust Him who take a lesser view than he had of the Old Testament Scriptures. For if Jesus Christ was in ignorance, if Jesus Christ deceived people by calling these things facts, then he's not true. And if he's not true, he's not sinless.

24:12 If he's not sinless, I have no Savior.

24:16 Young people, I plead with you this morning, never forget, these words of Jesus. Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle will pass, till all be fulfilled. There is an absolute authority and infallibility in the Old Testament Scriptures, and our Lord Jesus Christ affirmed and confirmed that authority by His words and by His ministry.

24:47 Whatever the law said, Jesus affirmed it. Whatever the prophets, spoke, Jesus affirmed it. And I say to you this morning, if you have a low view of the Old Testament, the issue with you is your view of Christ. That's the issue.

25:04 Is He God? Is He incarnate wisdom? Is He incarnate truth? Then I must learn of Him as He said, come unto me and learn of me.

25:16 And I come to Him and say, Lord Jesus, I want to know, can I believe that there was a creation of a man and a woman, not a half man and a half woman? Can I truly believe there was a great fish prepared? Can I truly believe that the sun stood still? That's speaking poetically, but that God did somehow arrest the normal processes that are in operation in our universe, that the day was lengthened for Joshua when he fought the battle at Agilon.

25:45 Can I really believe that? Can I believe that God actually did part the Red Sea and causes people to pass over on dry ground? I come to the Lord Jesus and I say, Lord Jesus, you told me to learn of thee. Can I believe this?

26:00 And I go to the words of my Lord and I find Him putting His stamp of approval upon these points one by one and I say, thank you, Lord. I learn of thee that the Old Testament is an accurate, infallible record of the dealings of God with men and there I stand. May God help you, precious young people. Any of you in college going through these same problems and there are problems.

26:27 There are lots of things I can't explain. There are certain things I can't reconcile.

Principle 2: The Essential Unity Between Old and New Testaments

26:33 But I'm not going to cast off my Lord's view of the Scripture simply because there are a few bugs over my eyes that obscure me from having the perfect vision of all that is said. Now we must hurry on. There's a second basic principle which our Lord enunciates in these two verses. Not only does He tell us that there's an absolute and infallible authority in the Old Testament Scriptures, but He tells us in these two verses that there is an essential unity between the Old and the New Testament.

27:07 There is an essential unity. Now will you follow closely?

27:13 Jesus said, I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, that's the Old Testament, but to fulfill them. So all that He does is a fulfillment of the Old Testament.

27:28 John 1.17 says, The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now follow me. Don't lose me.

27:41 Don't let me lose you. Grace and truth came by Christ. Law came by Moses. Therefore Christ and Moses stand back to back.

27:53 No, no. For Jesus said, I didn't come to destroy Moses, I came to fulfill Him. So if grace came by Christ and Christ came fulfilling the law, there must be grace in Moses and there must be law in Christ. See it?

28:13 For Jesus did not come to destroy Moses, He came to fulfill Him. He did not come to destroy the prophets, He came to fulfill. And in His life and ministry He brought grace into its full view. But grace, grace which never threw out law in its proper function, grace which did not turn its back upon the Old Testament, and so our Lord in saying, I came not to destroy but to fulfill, is telling us that there is an essential unity between the Old and the New Testaments.

28:52 If one God is the author of both, if one Savior is the theme, if one God is the author of both, if one God is the author of both, if one salvation is the subject, then it's only natural to know and to experience that there is an essential unity. For the Old Testament knew but one God, and the New Testament knows but one. The Old Testament knew but one Savior, and the New Testament knows but one. The Old Testament knew of one salvation, the New Testament knows of only one.

29:25 And so because its author is one, its theme is one, its Savior, its salvation is one, we find a blessed and glorious unity in the two Testaments that God has given to us. I'm sure many of you have heard the saying that's a translation, at least an attempt to translate out of the Latin, one of the sayings of St. Augustine, that the New Testament is in the Old concealed and the Old is in the New revealed. And no one has ever improved upon that statement.

30:02 Any theology book, any book on the inspiration of the Scriptures, anything that touches this subject will have that statement. The New is in the Old concealed. The Old is in the New revealed. When I pick up my Old Testament and I read about those lands that were offered as sacrifices, I see concealed in all this typology of the offerings, in the washings and the sacrifices, I see concealed the picture of the Lamb of God who one day will come and take away the sin of the world.

30:41 So the New Testament is there, concealed in the Law, in its types, in its foreshadowings of Christ. When I read in the Prophets concerning the One who will come and who will be led as a lamb before her shearers and be cut off out of the land of the living, I see a faint and ever sharpening outline of the coming One. The New is in the Old concealed. And then when I turn to the New Testament, I find this little phrase occurring again and again, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.

31:19 And then we have the Old revealed and unfolded in all of its true meaning. That's the whole book of Hebrews. The writer to the Hebrews taking the Old Testament and showing its true meaning. Unfolding like a beautiful flower in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

31:37 And I wonder tonight, this morning, as God's people, if we appreciate this. This book, written over a period of 1500 years, by about 40 different authors, and blessed unity and harmony. This is what sets it completely apart from the...

31:58 We'll just take the writings of Joseph Smith. Here a man who in one generation wrote three books that are the main basis of the teaching of the Mormon Church. And within those books there are blatant, glaring contradictions that anyone can discover. One man writing over a period of a few years and yet full of contradictions.

32:18 Forty men writing over a period of 1500 years and blessed and beautiful harmony. Beloved, this is a sacred book we hold in our hands. It's got no magical power. If it sits there on your bed stand, it'll never make you holy.

32:33 It'll never lead you to salvation. There's no, there's no magical power. But when that book is taken down from the shelf and off the nightstand and out of the bookcase and opened and its pages read with a hungry heart, Jesus said, if any man willed to do my will, he shall know. And I tell you I thrill as my life literally is centered around this book in a way that even yours can't be.

33:00 Those of you that must put in your eight hours to put bread on your table, as I've been privileged to be relieved of those things to give my life to this book. And as it studied hours during the day, the longer I go on with God, the more I praise him for this marvelous heritage that is given. For there is this blessed and essential unity between old and New Testament. The Old Testament reveals the character of God as a holy God.

33:30 The New Testament reveals him as the same God. For Hebrews says he is a consuming fire. And the Old Testament reveals the character of God as a holy God. The New Testament reveals him as the same God.

33:36 For Hebrews says he is a consuming fire. The Old Testament reveals him as the same God. The Old Testament reveals him as a God of judgment. The New Testament reveals him as a God of judgment.

33:40 The Old Testament reveals him as a God of tender mercy who takes his wayward, stumbling, rebellious people Israel and guides them and guards them like a loving father and a nursing mother. And the New Testament reveals him as the same tender God of his people. And so these Testaments are essentially one, and they're a revelation of the character of God. They're essentially one in their revelation of the nature of man.

34:11 What does the Old Testament reveal us about man? It reveals to us that man is a sinful, selfish rebel against God.

34:22 The first son born of the union of Adam and Eve becomes a murderer. What a revelation of humanity. The prophet says the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I turn to the New Testament. What do I find?

34:39 I find Jesus saying, For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed adultery, fornication, murder, theft. What do I find? I find that the picture of man in the Old Testament and the picture of man in the New is the same. That he's a fallen, depraved, wayward creature who needs the intervention of Almighty God if he's ever to be rescued.

35:03 And I find the two Testaments are one. Not only in their revelation of the character of God, the nature of man, but they're one in their revelation of the salvation of God. In the Old Testament, long before the law was given and the tabernacle and the temple were set up, God somehow revealed to man that the only way he could approach him was on the basis of sacrifice. And there the first man and woman and their first children are found early in the book of Genesis offering sacrifice.

35:36 God revealing that he must be approached by sacrifice. And I turn to the New Testament and I read that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. God can be approached only by sacrifice. And the Bible tells me now that Christ, by the offering of himself, hath put away sin forever.

35:59 Hallelujah.

Principle 3: The Basic Harmony Between God's Law and God's Grace

36:02 An essential unity between the Old and the New Testament. And then the third principle. The third principle enunciated by our Lord is that there is also a basic harmony between God's law and God's grace.

36:19 Grace came by Christ and yet Christ came fulfilling the law. And we read in Romans 3.21, Do we make void the law of God through faith? Paul says, Nay, we establish the law.

36:33 Now it's true that when Jesus Christ is received as Savior and Lord, we are no longer under the condemnation of a broken law. For the Bible says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. We are no longer under the law in the sense of a slavish bondage that I must do in order to earn something.

36:59 God never gave the law for that purpose. But because I am released from the curse of a broken law, because I am released from the law as a covenant of works, does not mean that Jesus Christ ever came to release men from the standard of God's holy law. For I read in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans that 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, enforced sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Do you know why Jesus Christ could never set aside, the moral law, the Ten Commandments?

37:42 Because in Romans 7.12 we read this, The law is holy and just and good and spiritual.

37:54 Can Jesus Christ, to His tongue, to do the will of God, set aside what is spiritual, holy, just and good? Of course not. So whatever Jesus does to take us out from under the curse of the law, to take us out from under bondage, to the law, He must do in such a way that He never destroys the holy standard of the law, for it's a spiritual standard. It's holy, it's just, and it's good.

38:25 And so what does He do? By His infinite grace, showing us our lostness and leading us to the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, He renews us by His Spirit and gives us the heart to obey that holy law, not in vain, a slavish sense of fear, but like the psalmist who said, I delight to do Thy will, O my God, yea, Thy law is within mine.

38:56 And I trust that as a church, we will never forget these words of Christ that we've quoted this morning, and His getting through to us this principle that there is harmony between law and grace. Most places I go, I could just cry, I could cry out from the depths of my heart in agony that people talk as though Moses and Christ are enemies and law and grace are at opposite poles in the purpose of God. No, dear ones, the God of law is the God of grace. He's one God with one purpose to do us sinners good if we'll repent and believe and to destroy us if we refuse to repent and to believe. And I trust we'll ever remember this, in our evangelism.

The Law's Role in Effective Evangelism

39:49 All effective evangelism learns how to wield the law of God. For Paul says in Galatians 3, the law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. I was talking with someone several days ago who was brought up in a liberal church, never heard the gospel as far as this individual can remember, but this person said this to me, and I'll never forget it as long as I live, as far as I know, I don't think I can. This person said, I knew I was lost, and the reason I knew I was lost was this.

40:21 The first commandment, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. I knew I hadn't done that. The second commandment, love thy neighbors thyself. I knew I hadn't done that.

40:32 I knew I was hopelessly lost. How did she know she was lost? The law was the schoolmaster revealing to her her lostness that when someone in five minutes' time told her, I'm going to tell you about Jesus, the heart was prepared and received. You know what the trouble with some of you dear people here this morning is?

40:57 Now here I go, getting into trouble. But it's for your good. You know why some of you have no hunger for the word of God? No real love for Jesus Christ?

41:08 It's because you've never seen yourself desperately, hopelessly, lost. The whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, if not the wrath of that broken heart, that broken law, burns toward you this morning. And a holy God says, this do and thou shalt live, fail to do and thou shalt die. Have you loved your neighbor with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength?

41:41 Have you been concerned for his interest as much and more than for your own? Of course not. That holy law condemns you. And dear one, the wrath of Almighty God hangs over the head of all lawbreakers.

41:59 But you have no real love for Christ? No love for the word? Why? Because Christ is not to you the pearl of great price.

42:07 Because the law hasn't done its work. If you have any concern for your soul, I plead with you, go home today, get on your knees, and open up to Exodus 20. And you say, Oh God in heaven, show me if I'm a lawbreaker. And you start reading down those commandments and let the Spirit of God reveal to you.

42:30 Where you've fallen short, you read the words of God which says, If they fail to keep this law, they shall be cursed with a curse. You'll begin to cry out for Jesus. You'll begin to cry to God for mercy. And if God is pleased to open your eyes and give you mercy, you're going to be able to say with Paul, For to me to live is Christ.

42:56 The shallow measure of our devotion to Jesus Christ in our evangelical circles, is greatly due to our little appreciation of Him. And our little appreciation of Him is rooted in the fact that our evangelism has been void of the law of God which has shown us our desperate need. If you're walking down the street with a scratch on your finger and I give you a band-aid, you'll be indebted to me. But not the same way as if you're drowning in the Passaic River and about to get down for the third time and I take you out.

43:31 In both cases you'll feel gratitude and indebtedness. But there's certainly no comparison in the degree of that gratitude and in the degree of that indebtedness. The problem with most of us, we feel, Well, I got a few scratches with sin and I needed a little help and Jesus came along and put a band-aid on. Thank you, Jesus.

43:53 Oh, when I see that the billows of sin had sucked me down and I was about to be sucked into the pit of hell and He reached out an arm and took hold of me and rescued me, I sing amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. Now, which is true of you?

44:19 Have you got band-aid religion or drowning religion? What have you got? Which kind? There's an essential harmony between law and grace.

The Law's Role in Conversion and Sanctification

44:31 Let's remember it in our evangelism that the law of God will trouble men and the grace of God will comfort them. Let's remember it in our concept of conversion that there is a place for the law in judging whether or not I'm truly saved. For my Bible says that before I'm saved, Romans 8, 7, my heart is enmity against God and is not subject to His law and it cannot be. All the law of God does to me in my unregenerate state is provoke me to more rebellion.

45:05 I see that holy standard and I say I don't want to be told that I have to love Him. I want to love myself. I don't want to be told that I've got to love my neighbor as myself. I want to do what I want to do.

45:17 I want to think of me. And so the human heart is not subject to that law and it cannot be. But God says in Ezekiel 36 in the New Covenant, I will take out the heart of stone and I will give them a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within them.

45:34 I will write my laws upon their hearts and cause them to keep my statutes so that now, as I quoted earlier, we can say with this psalmist, I delight to do thy will. Why? Thy law is within my heart and I delight to obey my God. Just read down through the Ten Commandments this afternoon on your knees and say, Lord, do I delight to have no other gods before me?

46:04 Do I count it my greatest joy to have a heart free from divided affections? Do I count it my greatest joy to keep thy day holy? Or do I count it a burden? Is it a burden to me to keep myself away from the TV on Sunday?

46:23 Is it a burden to keep the day holy? Or is it a delight? Is it a delight to ask God to give me a pure mind and a pure heart that I be free from everything that Christ calls adultery? Is it a delight to be kept free from everything that he calls murder, hate and bitterness and all the rest?

46:45 Just read down through the Ten Commandments and ask yourself, do I delight to do the law of God?