GIVING SPIRITUAL ALLEGIANCE

Matthew 5:17-20

Looking at these verses it seems to become quite clear that the life of grace is one of a changed life. When one meets Christ Jesus by grace, is saved and delivered from sins judgment, death, and bondage it is not; I say again, “IS NOT” a license to sin. It is a call to live unto Christ. To live like Jesus.

Jesus is God’s measure of righteousness. He is the only one who has measured up to the requirements of the law and prophets of God. There was no sin found in Him. He did always those things that pleased His Father. He always knew the Father’s will and walked in it. God’s measure of Righteousness is far, far greater than our own.

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 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. 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. 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” Matthew 5:17-20 (KJV).

There is one thing that is abundantly clear in reading the seventeenth verse. That is, that Jesus had A DEFINITE SPIRITUAL ALLEGIANCE to the Word of God, ie., “…the law, or the prophets” (v. 17). The allegiance of King Jesus was to the Father. That is shown in His desire to fulfill the law. Nothing Jesus said or did robbed the “Law or the prophets” of their power. He came to fulfill what Adam should have done, and that was to glorify the Father. The Father was glorified in the Son’s death on the cross. Dying there He fulfilled the demands of the Law. The law said, “You must die”. Jesus was our Substitute for sins death.

Jesus’s allegiance to the law is given to the One who spoke it into being. The Word of God will not fail, nor will Jesus fail to uphold and fulfill it glorifying the Father. It is set to be fulfilled. It cannot fail to be fulfilled. Even, the tiniest of details of the word will not fail. The word “Jot” used by Jesus here in the text is speaking of the smallest Hebrew letter, called the Yodh, and even if you do not know Hebrew and have a Bible you can find an illustration of this letter in the 119th Psalm. It is the tenth letter, and it is the tenth division of eight verses in 73 – 80 of Psalm 119. This letter looks very similar to our apostrophe which we use in English for stating possession of something. In Hebrew it is a letter, and an important one. Even this little letter will not “Pass from the law”. The other tiny thing Jesus mentions is the “tittle”, which is the tiny extension on the end of a Hebrew letter. It would be similar to the tail of the ‘y’ hanging on the word ‘tiny’. Not even the tiniest thing will fail to be fulfilled. All the prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled; will be fulfilled. Any of the most minute things left to fulfill will be brought to pass.

Why would we dare teach others to break the law of God? Is there an element of popularity in it? I find it awkward to try and say that because Jesus fulfilled the law, that we are no longer required to obey the law. The fact that Jesus fulfilled it, and we being in Him means, that, we now are enabled to obey it. We desire to obey Jesus our Savior. We desire to do that which is pleasing to Him and will honor and glorify Him.

Allegiance is shown in keeping and teaching them as Jesus gave them, and not in explaining them away. The commandments concerning the special Sabbaths and days which were pictures, shadows, types of the One who has come, are no longer necessary, because Jesus has come, and there is no more need of the type when you have the real thing (SEE Colossians 2:15-17). It is heresy to add binding, and constrictive amendments to the law that we have. The “Law and the Prophets” [Scriptures] are given as a means of showing us who we are in the economy of God and who God is as well; and especially so. By the “Law and the Prophets” we learn about salvation; we also learn about our need for dependence upon God and not self-righteousness.

The teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are more descriptive of the Ten Commandments. The Commandments; at least on outward appearance; seem to deal with the outward appearance. The Sermon deals with the whole message of the Commandments even to the very thoughts of the heart. If someone tells you, “I live by the Sermon on the Mount” they probably do not realize what they are saying. The Sermon, by Jesus, has more qualifying factors than does the Ten Commandments. The Sermon calls for a change of heart – the inner man; leading to a righteousness that far exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, and moves from the inner man to the outer man; thus, changing the whole.

The scribes and Pharisees were men who prided themselves in their piety; which was only outward. Look at what Jesus said to them; “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepuchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27.