1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Hello and welcome today to Trinity Sermons. Today we're going to be listening to the second sermon in the series Playing with Fire, where we will be learning about how Jesus challenged the perceptions of the sacred scriptures. I hope that you enjoy the message and find it impactful to you today. 2 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:29,000 A reading from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, beginning at verse 17. 3 00:00:50,000 --> 00:01:03,000 You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, you shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. 4 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:15,000 Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, Raka, is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, you fool, will be in danger of the fire of hell. 5 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:25,000 You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 6 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:36,000 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 7 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:48,000 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 8 00:01:48,000 --> 00:02:02,000 You have heard that it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 9 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:13,000 And if anyone wants to see you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 10 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:19,000 Give to the one who asks you and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. 11 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:31,000 You have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your father in heaven. 12 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:42,000 He causes his son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. This is the word of the Lord. 13 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000 I'm going to start by telling you just a couple stories from antiquity. 14 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:58,000 In the year AD 50, there was a Roman soldier by the name of Apostumus who broke into the temple and stole some copies of the Jewish Torah scrolls. 15 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:03,000 Now, for those of you who don't know the Torah, the word Torah means law or teaching. 16 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And the Torah scrolls were the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or what we would call the Old Testament. 17 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,000 So that was Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and? 18 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:19,000 There's a mumbling of Deuteronomy. You're correct. Right. 19 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 Now, what he did after he stole these scrolls is he took them out into public and he burned them. 20 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Now, this created an incredible outcry, nearly caused a revolution to take place in the city. 21 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:37,000 And in the end, the Roman magistrate, the only thing he could do was grab Apostumus and chop off his head. 22 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,000 That was the only thing that could appease the crowd to execute him. 23 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:47,000 Another story about 100 years after that, when Hadrian was emperor, 24 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:54,000 it was forbidden for anyone to read the Torah in public or to teach it. That was forbidden. 25 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:59,000 And yet there was a Jewish teacher by the name of Hanna Nias who said, I'm going to do it anyways. 26 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:05,000 And so he convened public gatherings where he read and taught the Torah to the people. 27 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Well, he was arrested. And as punishment, what they did is they took one of the Torah scrolls 28 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:17,000 and they wrapped it around his body and they set him ablaze. They burned him to death. 29 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:27,000 And it is said that as he died, he called out that I can see the words of the Torah ascending into heaven. 30 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:34,000 So let's just get this straight. One man burns the scriptures and loses his head. 31 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:38,000 Another man teaches the scriptures and is burned at the stake. 32 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Now, how precious and contentious must those scriptures be that you would kill someone who desecrates them 33 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:53,000 or you would be willing to die in order to defend them? If you mess with someone's sacred writings, 34 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:59,000 their sacred documents, you are playing with fire. 35 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,000 Now, that is the name of our teaching series this winter, Playing With Fire. 36 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:09,000 And what we're getting at through the series is we're looking at how Jesus would say things and do things 37 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:16,000 and he would poke and he would prod and he gained all these enemies for himself because he challenged 38 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:21,000 Israel's sacred symbols, some of the things they cherished most dearly. 39 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Jesus played with fire. He was a total pyromaniac. 40 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,000 If you don't believe me, check out some of these fiery quotes from some scholars I dug up this week. 41 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Jesus was inflammatory to the religious and political authorities because his teachings exposed their hypocrisy. 42 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:47,000 Or this one. Jesus brought a fiery passion for love, justice, and mercy that ignited hearts and challenged societal norms. 43 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:53,000 NT Wright, one of my favorites. Jesus approached his ministry with a fiery zeal, 44 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:58,000 confronting the oppressive powers and passionately advocating for a new kingdom of God. 45 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Benjamin Shaw said Jesus' ministry was like a fire that could not be quenched. 46 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:09,000 Gary Habermas said Jesus' teachings were not meant to be tamed or controlled, 47 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:17,000 but to ignite a spiritual revolution. Inflammatory, fiery, burning, igniting unquenchable fire. 48 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:22,000 Is it just me or is it getting hot in here? It's getting hot in here. 49 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:26,000 It's like that song by Billy Joel. We didn't start the fire. 50 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,000 You guys know that one, right? I wrote a new version of it. Ready? Here it is. 51 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Jesus started the fire. Yes, the things he said. People wanted him dead. 52 00:06:36,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yes. No. But the truth is, Jesus played. Thank you, Amanda. I appreciate that. 53 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:49,000 Jesus did things, got him into a lot of trouble, and ultimately led to his crucifixion. 54 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:54,000 Because when you play with fire like this, you get burned. 55 00:06:54,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Last week, for example, we got started and I looked at how Jesus challenged one of the most sacred possessions of Israel, 56 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:06,000 and that was the Holy Land. Right? And I actually, I was a little nervous about preaching about that one last week 57 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:11,000 because it's such a hot topic both then and now. But we were just getting started. 58 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:15,000 That was week one. That was just kindling the fire. Now this week we are fanning the flames, 59 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:20,000 and we are going to be looking at how Jesus played with fire in another way, 60 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:25,000 this time by challenging another one of Israel's most sacred symbols, 61 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:31,000 and that was this. The hot docks themselves, as I like to call them, 62 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Israel's scriptures, the Torah, or the Pentateuch, whatever you want to call it. 63 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:43,000 Now, you can actually tell a lot about how people care and what they think about their scriptures 64 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:49,000 by just looking at how they treat them. So for example, I know some people who own Bibles 65 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,000 and only store their Bible on the very, very top shelf of their house, the very top. 66 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:58,000 And why is that? They do that because they say, this book is so special and sacred, 67 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:05,000 it deserves to be elevated above everything else in this house. Or I know some people who will never put a Bible on the ground. 68 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,000 They'll never set it on the ground because they say that is to demean the Bible. 69 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:13,000 The Bible is sacred and holy, deserves to be lifted up, not put down. 70 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:21,000 I also know some people who will not stack any other book on top of a Bible because they would say that the Bible 71 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:29,000 is more holy, more precious, and superior to every other book, every other document that is out there. 72 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:33,000 And so they would never stack something on top of it. You know what? Here's another thing to think about. 73 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:39,000 In typical Anglican churches, we are not a typical Anglican church, in typical Anglican churches, 74 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:43,000 this is what they do every Sunday. When it comes time to read the scripture, 75 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:51,000 the priest will go to the altar and take the sacred book from the altar and lift it up over his head. 76 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:59,000 And then the organist will fire up a rousing tune. Organist, fire it up. There it is. 77 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:05,000 The rousing tune. And they will carry the scriptures down into the congregation, into the midst of the people, 78 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:10,000 with it held high above their heads. And when they finally get to the middle, they will say, 79 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:14,000 okay, and then they'll pull the scriptures down and they'll open it up. 80 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:20,000 No, and they'll say, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Saint Matthew, 81 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,000 and everybody will respond, glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ. 82 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:29,000 Then they open up the scriptures and they would read from the gospels and proclaim these words. 83 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,000 And afterwards they would close it up again and they would lift it up high and they would say, 84 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,000 the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Saint Matthew or whatever. 85 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,000 And everybody would say, praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. 86 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:50,000 And then they would turn and the organ would fire up again and they would walk back up to the sacred place 87 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:57,000 and they would place the holy book back where it belonged. Thank you. Thank you. 88 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:01,000 How about a round of applause for our organists? 89 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:08,000 I bet you didn't know Trinity had an organ or an organist, but now as you can see, we do. 90 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:14,000 That kind of respect that is shown for God's word just gives you a little bit of a taste 91 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:20,000 of what the Jewish people of Jesus' day felt about their sacred and special Torah. 92 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:26,000 For good reason, they felt this book deserved to be elevated above all other books. 93 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,000 I'm going to share with you three reasons why this deserved to be elevated. 94 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:37,000 The first was this was God's word spoken through, spoken by the prophets. 95 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,000 What could be higher than that when you think about it? 96 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:47,000 And when I say God's word, Isaiah says that God is high and exalted 97 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,000 and that God lives in a high and holy habitation. 98 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,000 God is high and these are God's words, so they need to be lifted high. 99 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:00,000 When I say they are spoken by God, God's words, of course, God didn't audibly speak them 100 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:06,000 or write them with his own pen, but he had these people, these prophets who he spoke through. 101 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:14,000 People like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Jonah and or yeah, there was so many prophets in your Bibles. 102 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:20,000 You can look through them all and they spoke God's words to the people. 103 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,000 And that's why you will find all throughout the Bible, you'll find this phrase, 104 00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:27,000 the prophet would speak something to the people and then they would say, thus says the Lord, 105 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,000 because they're not speaking their own words here. 106 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:32,000 Otherwise they wouldn't say this, but they're speaking God's words. 107 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:37,000 So they say this is what the Lord says. Thus saith the Lord, 108 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:43,000 because these are God's words spoken through the prophets. 109 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:48,000 Second reason why this book was elevated, these scriptures were so high elevated, 110 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:53,000 was because this was also God's law given through Moses. 111 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:58,000 The Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, 112 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:04,000 were specially given to Israel in a very dramatic and unforgettable event 113 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:07,000 that just formed the foundation of who these people were. 114 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,000 You probably know the story, but Israel was wandering in the wilderness 115 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:14,000 and they came to Mount Sinai and the people of Israel camped out 116 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:18,000 about the bottom of Mount Sinai and Moses went up the mountain. 117 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:24,000 And he was up the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, we are told. 118 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,000 And while he was up, a cloud surrounded him on the mountain. 119 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:35,000 And there he received the laws of God, the Torah on stone tablets. 120 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:42,000 And by the way, that made Moses the first person to download something from the cloud onto a tablet. 121 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:50,000 Then Moses came down the mountain with these tablets, with the commandments with him. 122 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:54,000 And these sealed the covenant between God and his people. 123 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,000 You just cannot overstate how foundational this was to Jewish identity. 124 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:04,000 And ever since then, Moses has been seen as the greatest of all the prophets of Judaism. 125 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:09,000 And that's why these words are elevated, because not only were they God's words spoken through the prophets, 126 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:14,000 they were God's laws given through Moses. 127 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Now there was a third reason. 128 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:22,000 The third reason why these words are elevated and lifted high is because they are God's direction. 129 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:30,000 They were God's instruction to be taught by the scribes and the Pharisees and the other teachers of the law. 130 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:35,000 You see, there were these religious scholars and their job was to read the law 131 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:41,000 and actually make copies of it and to interpret it and then to teach it to the people. 132 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:50,000 You know, even Jesus said that the teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. 133 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,000 They're the ones who are supposed to take the words spoken through the prophets, 134 00:13:53,000 --> 00:14:02,000 who take the law given by Moses and translate it into a way that people knew how to live their lives according to God's way. 135 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:09,000 So just to summarize, do we now know why these texts, these documents were so elevated? 136 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:12,000 These words were God's words spoken to the prophets. 137 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:19,000 They were God's laws given through Moses and they were God's direction for life as given and explained through the scribes. 138 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:23,000 And this document held Israel together. 139 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,000 It gave them an identity. It showed them how to live their lives in a way that was different than the nations around them. 140 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Can you see why they treasured them so dearly and defended them so passionately? 141 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:43,000 You mess with these words, you are playing with fire. 142 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,000 And that's where Jesus comes in. 143 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:51,000 Now, it should be said, it's important to note that Jesus was not a book burner. 144 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:57,000 Jesus valued, respected and honored the Torah and the writings of the prophets. 145 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:02,000 He read them regularly. He memorized them. Jesus knew his Bible inside and out. 146 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,000 He recited them. He used them to teach other people. 147 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:14,000 But what really started the wildfire of controversy around him is that Jesus believed that, yes, scripture deserved a high and holy place. 148 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:20,000 But, he said, there's actually something that is even higher than scripture. 149 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:25,000 There's something that goes even on top of scripture as far as importance and value. 150 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:29,000 And people would say, no, no, no, Jesus, listen, remember, this goes on the top shelf. 151 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,000 Nothing goes above it. You don't stack anything on top of this. 152 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000 This is the supreme thing. But Jesus is actually no. 153 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:42,000 No, there is one person actually who can speak for God better than the prophets. 154 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:47,000 And there's one person who can give the laws better than Moses. 155 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:48,000 This is hot stuff. 156 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:56,000 There's one person who can teach God's ways even better than the scribes and the teachers of the law. 157 00:15:56,000 --> 00:16:00,000 And that one person is drum roll. 158 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:09,000 Me. Jesus says, I actually am and belong above these scriptures. 159 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,000 Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do. 160 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,000 You hear it. You hear it. You hear the fire starting to burn. 161 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:20,000 You hear the explosions going up. What is Jesus saying? 162 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:27,000 What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying that he was above the prophets. 163 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:31,000 Right. The prophets of old, of course, they were close to God. 164 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,000 And they definitely had authority from God to speak God's words. 165 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:40,000 But Jesus says, I've got an even closer connection to God than the prophets ever had. 166 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:46,000 And the words that I speak have a greater authority than any authority they would have. 167 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:52,000 Wait a second, Jesus. You've got a closer relationship to God than the great prophet Isaiah. 168 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:58,000 Yes. You've got more authority to speak than the great prophet Jeremiah, who we hold so dear. 169 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,000 Yes. These are fighting words, folks. These are fighting words. 170 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:04,000 When Jesus was born, though, check this out. 171 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,000 When Jesus was born, there was it was said that they will call him Emmanuel, 172 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000 which means God with us. 173 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:18,000 Now, prophets were assumed to be close to God, but nobody ever said that a prophet was an embodiment of God, 174 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:24,000 that a prophet was actually God's presence with the people in flesh and blood. 175 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:28,000 That is way higher. That is something completely different. 176 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:33,000 Or when Jesus was baptized, as he came up out of the water, a voice from heaven said, 177 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:40,000 This is my son whom I love. With him, I'm well pleased. 178 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:45,000 Now, every prophet had a moment when they were commissioned to go and do their work, 179 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:53,000 but no prophet ever was commissioned with a voice from heaven that declared them to be the son of God. 180 00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:56,000 This is higher. This is holier. This is something completely different. 181 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:03,000 One time during this moment on another mountaintop, which was called the transfiguration. 182 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:10,000 You can look that one up. But Jesus was actually revealed to be with two of the great prophets of old, 183 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:14,000 Moses and Elijah. And his disciples got to see this, and it was like mind blowing. 184 00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000 But then another voice from heaven came and that said, 185 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:23,000 This is my son whom I love. With him, I'm well pleased. Listen to him. 186 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,000 To which the disciples could have gone, God, there's like three of them. 187 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,000 Which one are we supposed to listen to? Is it Moses you're talking about? Listen to him. 188 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:34,000 No. Is it Elijah? Is this the one you love and you're telling us to listen to? 189 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:41,000 No, it's Jesus. Jesus is higher. Jesus is holier. 190 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000 And just in case, you know, you want extra proof, go through your New Testament and read it 191 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:53,000 and see how many times Jesus said, thus saith the Lord after he taught something. 192 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:56,000 I'll tell you the answer right now. He never said it. He never said, 193 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:02,000 This is what the Lord says because Jesus didn't speak for God. 194 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Jesus spoke as God. Jesus is saying, yes, the scriptures are filled with the words of the prophets, 195 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,000 but I'm not a prophet. I'm the son of God. I am God with you. 196 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:19,000 I am a VIP with a backstage pass, the likes of which you've never seen before. 197 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:27,000 So my words are higher. My words are holier than, brace yourself, than the words in this book. 198 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:31,000 So now can you see why the religious authorities wanted him dead? 199 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:35,000 He was playing with fire. Who does he think he is? 200 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,000 I can hear the fire crackling right now. 201 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:43,000 But the fire that started with that actually just continues to roar 202 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:48,000 when Jesus actually then goes ahead and sets himself above Moses. 203 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:56,000 Moses, yes, he gave the law on Mount Sinai, but Jesus is greater and higher than Moses. 204 00:19:56,000 --> 00:20:02,000 Now you might say, Rob, I read my Bible. I don't see Jesus ever claiming to be greater or higher than Moses, 205 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:08,000 but it's there. It's there for all to see. You just have to read really carefully. 206 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:14,000 Matthew's gospel, especially Matthew goes to great lengths to show you that Jesus is the new Moses 207 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:17,000 and he's the better Moses. What do I mean? 208 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,000 First of all, there's all those similarities. You guys ever notice this? 209 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,000 Moses was born without shelter. Jesus was born without shelter. 210 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:31,000 Oh, Moses was laid in a straw basket. Jesus was laid in a straw manger. 211 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:35,000 When Moses was born, Pharaoh orders the killing of all the boys under two. 212 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000 When Jesus is born, Herod orders the killing of all boys under two. 213 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:44,000 Moses fled for his life. Jesus fled for his life. Moses came back. Jesus came back. 214 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,000 Moses spends 40 years in the wilderness. Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness. 215 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000 Moses passes through the waters of the Red Sea. 216 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:57,000 Jesus passes through the waters of baptism in the Jordan River. 217 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:02,000 Moses was sent to redeem his people from bondage in Egypt. 218 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:07,000 Jesus is sent to redeem his people from bondage to sin and death itself. 219 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:16,000 These are all pointers that are there to show us that Jesus is the new and better Moses. 220 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:19,000 Let me give you another argument for that. 221 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:22,000 So you remember that Moses, of course, went up the mountain. 222 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:27,000 I already told you this story. Well, guess what? Jesus says, I too go up a mountain. 223 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:31,000 Read Matthew chapter five. He goes up the mount, up this mount, right? 224 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,000 And when Moses got to the top of that mountain, what did he did? 225 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:37,000 He received the law from God so he could teach it to the people. 226 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,000 What does Jesus do in his most famous sermon, perhaps the most famous sermon ever preached, 227 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,000 the Sermon on the Mountain, the Sermon on the Mount? 228 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:48,000 He teaches the people the new laws of God. 229 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:53,000 And then just to make sure we all get what Matthew is trying to say, 230 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:58,000 of course, Moses came down from Mount Sinai. Jesus came down from the Mount. 231 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,000 It seems kind of obvious, but these are not accidental illusions that Matthew is inserting in here. 232 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:08,000 He's telling us something about who Jesus is. 233 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:15,000 He's showing us that, as Scott McKnight says, that Jesus is teaching the new law 234 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000 as the new Moses for a new people of God. 235 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,000 This is incendiary, everybody. 236 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:24,000 You know, you can hear Billy Joel singing in the background. 237 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,000 And just in case, you need more proof. This is like really interesting. 238 00:22:29,000 --> 00:22:35,000 If you look at how Matthew organizes his gospel, there's 28 chapters in the gospel, according to Matthew, 239 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:41,000 but he lumps all Jesus's teaching into five distinct chunks. 240 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:45,000 Why would he do that? You now know why he would do that. 241 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Because how many books of the Torah were there? Right? 242 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:54,000 And so this is Matthew's way of saying Jesus is the new Moses. 243 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:00,000 He is the better Moses teaching and fulfilling the law in a brand new way. 244 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:04,000 And so, yes, Jesus is above the prophets. He is the true voice of God. 245 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,000 And Jesus is above Moses. He is the true giver of the law. 246 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:13,000 You can feel the fire spreading. You can feel people's blood beginning to boil here. 247 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:19,000 But Jesus just takes a bucket of gas and he throws it on that fire when he goes the third step 248 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:26,000 and says that he also is above the scribes and the teachers of the law. 249 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:33,000 Remember, the Torah was to be taught to the people so they knew how to live. 250 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,000 And the scribes and the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, this group of people, 251 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:41,000 it was their job to study hard for a long time to get good at understanding what this meant 252 00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:48,000 and then to be able to explain it to the people so they knew how to live their lives in accordance with this law. 253 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,000 It took years and years and years to become a scribe. 254 00:23:52,000 --> 00:24:00,000 But then Jesus comes on the scene and he just starts lobbing hand grenades at the scribes and Pharisees left, right, and center. 255 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:08,000 He says stuff like, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you blind guides, you blind fools, 256 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,000 you nitpickers, you dirty cups, you whitewash tombs. 257 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,000 He tells the scribes and the Pharisees, yeah, you're teaching the law, but you're not even trying to live the law. 258 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:22,000 You're not living it out. And yeah, you're teaching the law, but you're so focused on the details of it 259 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:26,000 that everyone is just so confused by it and they're burdened by what you're teaching them. 260 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:33,000 And therefore, in typical Jesus style, he comes along and says, tell you what, let me teach what the law is really about. 261 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,000 I am a better teacher. He puts himself above these teachers. 262 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,000 And that's when he starts going around saying things like this. 263 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:48,000 You have heard, you guys have heard, it said, you shall not murder. But let me tell you now what that really, really means. 264 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:54,000 You have heard, it said, and someone tried to explain to you what it meant about not committing adultery, 265 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,000 but not me now explain to you what it really means. 266 00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:02,000 Or you have heard that you're supposed to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you, love your enemies. 267 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:07,000 Pray for those who persecute you. I'm a better teacher. 268 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:14,000 You have heard, you have heard, you have heard, you have heard. I tell you, I tell you, I tell you, I tell you, I'm a better teacher. 269 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:20,000 Let me show you how to live according to the spirit of the law and not just the letter of the law. 270 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,000 And the people loved it. The people scooped it up. They ate it up with a spoon. 271 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:32,000 Somebody was finally teaching them the law, finally teaching them how to live out the Torah, finally teaching them how to live out the prophets. 272 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:44,000 They were amazed at his teaching and get this, because he spoke as one having authority and get this, not like their teachers of the law and the scribes. 273 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,000 This did not land well, as you might imagine. 274 00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:56,000 Now you can probably see why the chief priests and the scribes wanted Jesus dead and they were seeking how they might put him to death. 275 00:25:56,000 --> 00:26:05,000 He's playing with fire, putting himself above the prophets, above Moses, above the scribes. 276 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:16,000 This way, you could even go a step further and say what Jesus was doing was actually putting himself above the law altogether. 277 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:22,000 And I think what's going on here is Jesus knew something about the law that nobody else knew. 278 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:26,000 He knew that it was actually impossible to follow. 279 00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:29,000 It was impossible to keep these laws and commandments. 280 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:37,000 As Paul would later say, the law of Moses was actually unable to save anybody because of the weakness of our sinful nature. 281 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,000 It's too hard. It's too demanding. 282 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:44,000 And the more that people try to follow these teachings, the more they realize how much they failed. 283 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:58,000 And so the effect of the law was not to make people feel better about themselves and feel great about how they're living God's way, it made them feel miserable and made them feel like they were never living up to the righteous requirements of this law. 284 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,000 But, but what if there was one person? 285 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:05,000 What if there was one person who could actually live this out perfectly? 286 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:13,000 What if that person actually could live these words not just for themselves, but live them for everybody altogether? 287 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:18,000 So that's what happened. God did what the law could not do. 288 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:23,000 He sent his own son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. 289 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:32,000 And in that body, God ended sins control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins. 290 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:33,000 This is so important. 291 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:45,000 He did this so that the requirements of the law would be fully satisfied by us. No, not by us, for us. 292 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:51,000 Or as Tim Keller said many times in his life, Jesus Christ lived the life we should have lived. 293 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,000 And he died the death we should have died. 294 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,000 Jesus was above the prophets. 295 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:59,000 He was above Moses. He was above the teachers of the lie. 296 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:03,000 He was above the law itself. 297 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,000 So wrapping up, what does this all mean for us? 298 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:11,000 If Jesus is the new Moses, if he's the new giver of the law, if he's the new interpreter, 299 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:15,000 if he's the new teacher of the new people of God, what's our response? 300 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,000 What should our posture be? 301 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:19,000 It's simple, actually. 302 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:24,000 If he's the new teacher, we need to be his students. 303 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Listen, when the prophets spoke, the people listened. 304 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:29,000 When Moses spoke, the people listened. 305 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,000 When the teachers of the law and the scribes spoke, the people listened. 306 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000 Even when Jesus went up on the mount and gave the sermon on the mount, 307 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,000 the people sat down and listened to what he said. 308 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:45,000 So we need to do the same, to read the words of Jesus as his student, 309 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,000 to sit at his feet and receive what he had to say. 310 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:49,000 And so to do that, you know what you're going to have to do. 311 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:52,000 You're going to have to go home and you're going to have to reach way up onto that shelf 312 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:56,000 where you put that Bible, pull it down, blow it off, 313 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:00,000 and you're going to have to open it up and you're actually going to have to read it. 314 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,000 Yes, when it's up on some shelf, it won't get damaged, 315 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,000 but you won't get transformed if it stays up there. 316 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:12,000 And yes, if it's behind some nice piece of glass, it looks beautiful, but it's not useful. 317 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:21,000 You can revere the Bible all you want, but it's only useful if you take it down and open it up. 318 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,000 And when we open it up, man, you're going to read all these laws 319 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:27,000 and you're going to read the words of the prophets. 320 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:29,000 And some of it will be confusing. 321 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,000 Some will be inspiring, but some of it will be confusing. 322 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,000 But now we know. 323 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,000 Now we know the secret to understanding even the hardest passages of the Bible, 324 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,000 and that is to read them through the lens of Jesus, 325 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,000 to listen to what Jesus had to say about all these things, 326 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,000 because Jesus is above the prophets. 327 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Jesus is above Moses. 328 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:58,000 He's above the scribes, and He's above the law itself. 329 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,000 So thanks be to God. Amen. 330 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:04,000 Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope that you found the sermon one 331 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,000 that you will carry with you all week long. 332 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,000 And if you enjoyed the show today, please take a minute to rate and review our podcast 333 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,000 so that we can continue to spread the good news with others. 334 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:18,000 Please come back again next week, and thanks again for listening. 335 00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:22,000 Today's sermon was taken from the January 14, 2023 service 336 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:49,000 at Trinity Church, Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.