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Well, good morning.

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If you have your Bibles, Matthew chapter five is what we're going to be.

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Y'all look good in your camo.

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I like how we can just throw something out there and y'all just get on board.

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So in honor of a wild game, we're wearing camo this week.

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Next week we're going to be wearing leather.

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So wear your favorite leather pants.

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Favorite cowhide, deer skin, whatever it is, just that's the plan.

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Just kidding, please don't show up in leather pants.

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Please don't show up in leather pants.

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We are now in week three of our series of going through the Sermon on the Mount.

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We know and we learned from verse one that Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds

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that were following him and he wanted to take some time and spend some time with his disciples.

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Because there could have been some confusion on their part as to what it meant to be his

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follower.

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They could have thought that Jesus came, only came to heal people and to draw a large crowd

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because that's what they had seen him doing.

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There was probably still some thoughts in their heads that Jesus came to overthrow the government

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and establish his own kingdom here on this earth.

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From what we know so far in the ministry of Jesus, this is the first time that he actually

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sat down and he gave his disciples some hard teaching.

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Throughout the sermon, Jesus is going to teach against what they believe to be true.

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He's going to begin to open their eyes as to why he came to this earth.

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If you read this sermon correctly and you put yourself in the position of those who

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are hearing it, I believe that this was going to be extremely offensive to them because

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this goes against their way of thinking.

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It's going against their way of living and that's where we are.

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So this morning we are going to look at the first of some of the hard truths that Jesus

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preaches in this sermon.

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This is the first time he's really presenting a difficult idea to his disciples and so that's

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where we're going to be this morning.

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I'm going to invite Elevet up here this morning.

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She's going to read from chapter 5 verses 17 through 20.

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If you are able, we'd invite you to stand as we honor the Lord's word together.

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Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

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I've not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

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For truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away and not an idota, not a dot will

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pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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Therefore, whoever relaxes in one of these least commandments and teaches others to do

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the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

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For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds of the scribes and Pharisees, you will

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never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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Amen.

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I pray, Father, we thank you for Elevet again.

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Just thank you for her willingness to read your word, her boldness to read your word

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in this place.

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And I pray that you bless her for it.

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God, as we look at your law, as we look at the words of Jesus, I pray that those seep

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into our hearts.

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I pray you'll speak to us.

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We ask all these things.

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In your name, amen.

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Thanks, Elevet.

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Now, before we dive into this passage, we need to understand a couple things.

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We need to understand what Jesus was referring to, because this is one of those topics where

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skeptics will say is the reason that they can't believe the Bible to be true.

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This is one of the supposed contradictions that people look for in the Word of God.

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Jesus says in verse 17, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

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I've not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

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And I'm convinced that Christ stated this specifically for all of those well-intentioned

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people who are forever saying, I'm not under the law.

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I'm under grace.

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And somehow, there are those who have gotten this idea in their heads that Christ stamped

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the Old Testament with a big red stamp and red letters that say, null and void.

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And we have drawn the faulty conclusion that the Old Testament no longer matters, that

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the Old Testament no longer applies, and that the Old Testament is just a collection of

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historical books.

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Well, except for the Ten Commandments.

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Most of us would let those stand, at least the two big ones, like murder and adultery.

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And yet Christ plainly said, I have not come to abolish the law.

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I've come to fulfill it.

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And so can these words really be coming out of the mouth of Christ?

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Because Paul says in Romans chapter 10 that Christ is the end of the law.

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And so this is where skeptics start believing that there's contradictions in the Bible.

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I mean, after all, Christ was executed for breaking the law.

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He didn't follow the prescribed hand washings.

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He healed on the Sabbath.

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He picked grain on the Sabbath.

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And yet here he speaks about the law with as much reverence as any scribe or Pharisee.

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So here's what we need to know.

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When Jesus is speaking about the law, he's referring to the entire Old Testament.

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Now the Jews often break down the Old Testament into three different sections.

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The first is the first five books of the Bible.

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They call that the law.

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And we have the prophets, which consist of both the major prophets and minor prophets.

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And then there are books that they call the writings, which include the historical writings

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and the books of wisdom.

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The first thing we need to understand when Jesus says it in come to abolish the law,

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but fulfill the laws, we need to understand that word fulfill.

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It's a word that means to fill up.

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It's a word that means to make complete.

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So in other words, Jesus came to this earth to make the Old Testament law, to make the

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prophets complete.

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Without Jesus, the law could not be complete.

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Let's see why that is.

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So first of all, let's briefly look at the idea that Jesus came to fulfill the prophets.

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The life, death and resurrection of Jesus literally fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament.

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From his virgin birth to his resurrection were prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled

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exactly and completely by Jesus.

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Now, now that one seems pretty obvious, but how did Jesus fulfill the law?

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And how does this relate to Paul's assertion that we have been released from the law?

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That's a little bit more, more difficult of a question to answer.

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Some Bible scholars have suggested that the law can be divided into three different classifications.

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We have the moral law, which is the principles of right and wrong in the conduct of life.

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That's like, think of the Ten Commandments.

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Then we have the ceremonial law, which is instructions for worship, including the design

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of the tabernacle and instructions for sacrifices.

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And then you have the civil law or the social law that's rules that govern the social, political,

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economic life for the nation of Israel.

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Rules about their diet and sanitation, farming and dead and things like that.

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And so I think it's quite helpful to use those classifications in order to understand what

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Jesus was talking about when he said, I came to fulfill the law.

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I think it's also helpful for us in understanding how the Old Testament law applies to us today.

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However, we need to be careful not to take this too far, since it does not appear that

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the Bible makes a clear distinction between these classifications.

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We don't want to elevate them.

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In fact, some, and maybe even much of the Old Testament, could fit into two or three categories.

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But clearly we see how Jesus fulfilled the moral law.

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He came to this earth.

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He lived a sinless life.

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He observed all of the commandments perfectly, the requirements that were given in the law

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to be justified before God had never been able to be accomplished until Jesus walked

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on the earth.

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He fulfilled the moral law.

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He also fulfilled the ceremonial law.

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All of the ceremonial law, all the instructions on worship, all the instructions on sacrifice

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were designed to point to Jesus Christ.

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His death and resurrection put an end to the need for further sacrifice, because Jesus

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took all of our sin upon him when he died on the cross.

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All the blood that was spilled was finally no longer necessary for the people's sins

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to be forgiven.

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Jesus also fulfilled the social law.

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Now, originally, the social law was given to the people of Israel when they lived in

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the theocracy.

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The people were governed by God, and he passed down the rules to live through Moses.

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When Jesus fulfilled the social law, he replaced it with a new way of life that is appropriate

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for the new life he is given to us as believers.

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But rather than the letter of the law, he gives us the Holy Spirit that we might live

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according to the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law.

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It is a law that makes provisions for the inner man.

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Then Jesus moves on to verse 18.

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He says, for truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot

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will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

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Now there are those who have said that this sounds so unlike Christ that he could not have

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possibly said it.

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There's a growing movement out there that implied that maybe Matthew invented the saying

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himself and attributed it to Christ.

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Well in order to properly understand what Christ said, it would help if we knew what

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Christ was saying.

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First what was or what is the law.

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We've already said that the law that Christ was referring to was the Old Testament.

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That's what Christ said wouldn't pass away.

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But there's also in Jewish thought there's a fourth meaning of the law, which was the

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oral law and the scribal law.

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We have to understand this in order to understand that there's not contradictions in the Bible.

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The oral and the scribal law is the law that Christ and Paul both attacked.

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In the Old Testament, there's very few rules and regulations, but of many great principles.

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But to the rabbis, that's not enough.

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They would say that if it wasn't there explicitly, then it must be there implicitly.

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And so out of the law, the rabbis said it must be possible to deduce a rule for everything.

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For example, a great Old Testament principle in God's law is remember the Sabbath and keep

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it holy.

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It's not a detailed commandment, and so the religious teachers ask, okay, remember the

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Sabbath and keep it holy.

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How do we keep the Sabbath holy?

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Well, by not working.

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Okay, but what is work?

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Okay, let's define that.

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Okay, work is to carry a burden.

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Okay, now we've got to define a burden.

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What's a burden?

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And this is how they define it.

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Less than a burden is food equal to a dried fig, enough wine to fill a goblet, milk enough

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for one swallow, honey enough to put on a wound, and enough oil to anoint a small member.

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So if you carry or use more than any of those things, you are in violation of the Jewish

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law.

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So to a Pharisee or a scribe, the Jewish law consisted of not just the Old Testament,

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but also the Mishnah and the Talmud.

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Now the scribe law or the Mishnah is 800 pages long.

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That's a lot of rules.

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The Talmud is 72 volumes.

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That is not the law that Jesus was referring to.

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When Jesus says that not one dot will be removed from the law, he was not referring to Jewish

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commentary and Jewish traditions.

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Now put yourself in the disciples position.

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Imagine how offensive that could have been.

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This idea was to a practicing Jew.

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Even to this day, there is a dedication to the Jewish law outside the Old Testament.

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If you were to ever go to Israel and you were to spend a week there, on Saturday, many Jews

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will stay at a hotel on Friday so that they don't have to do any work, so that they can

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honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.

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Now it's okay for other Jews to serve them, and it's okay for other Jews to break the

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Sabbath, but for them, they're going to go to hotel and be served.

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You don't want to take a certain elevator on the Sabbath, which they call Shabbat.

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They have a Shabbat elevator.

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So imagine staying in a 20, 30-story hotel room, and you go in the Shabbat elevator because

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it would be work to push the button stops at every single floor.

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You don't want to get on that elevator.

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So what happens is you get on your own elevator, and the Jews will come, sneak in there, and

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ask you to push the button for them so they don't have to do every floor.

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You should see their face when you tell them, no, I'm not going to do that.

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Now that might seem ridiculous, and we laugh about it, and that can't be any fun to live

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their life that way, but what about us?

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What about us today?

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How many people leave churches because they stop doing what they believe should be law?

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The church I was growing up at, growing up, had some serious issues with stuff like this.

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It's a true story, we had just remodeled our sanctuary, took about a year, year and a half

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to remodel this thing.

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We remodeled it, and part of that remodel was a lift, was installing a lift that would

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raise the piano from the ground floor up to the stage if needed.

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One Sunday morning our worship leader decided to lift the piano and roll it into the center

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of the stage.

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He would have thought that he burned the Bible in the middle of a worship service.

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It was so offensive to people that they left the church because the piano has been there

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for 30 years.

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You don't touch the piano.

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Did he violate any scripture by bringing it onto the stage?

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Did he become less reverent as he led us in worship of the Lord?

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No, no.

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But the piano is supposed to be on the left side of the stage and they couldn't get over

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it.

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The Ten Commandments are a summation of the law in the Old Testament.

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Those Ten can be summed up by saying that they are commanded us to respect and show

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reverence to God and are supposed to respect and show reverence to our fellow man.

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The Greek word used here means to level up to the top, to finish something.

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Christ did not come to destroy the law.

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That's what he said.

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God had been speaking to his people for 4,000 years.

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He wasn't about to say, oops, I've changed my mind now.

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That's not what's going on.

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And that's why Christ said this in verse 19, therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least

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of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the

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kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom

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of heaven.

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Christ wants us to know that he's not changing the rules in the middle of the game.

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Now the first thing that we need to recognize is that the law is necessary.

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We have to understand that.

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And the second thing is that the Christian is not exempt from the law simply because

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he's a Christian.

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Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, he says, everything is permissible for me,

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not everything is beneficial.

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Everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.

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We have the power to do all things because Christ has the power to forgive all things,

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but we need to be careful not to let that mindset in.

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Now, keeping the law applies to the laws of the land as well as to the laws of God.

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And if you don't agree with them, then you have every right to break them.

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The society has every right to punish you for it.

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In a word, we talked about this last week, A, the Christian preserves the world order

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against decay by keeping the laws of the land.

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If the laws are unjust, he may break them, but that doesn't mean that he is freed from

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paying the price for breaking them.

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However, just being legal is not enough.

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The motive under the scribes and Pharisees lived was just simply to satisfy the law.

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Everything they did was aimed at following the law.

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Theoretically, a person could say, I have done all that is required by the law.

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The difference though is the Christian, our motive is not the law, our motive should be

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love.

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We seek to satisfy God, not so that we have fulfilled the law, but because we love God.

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We obey the law because we love God.

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For the religious leaders of Christ's day, the scribes and the Pharisees, their aim was

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to satisfy the law of God.

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The Christians' aim is to show his gratitude for the love of God.

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Christ set before the Christian.

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He set before you and me, not the law of God, but the love of God.

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The truth is when you love God, then you don't do what you want.

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You'll do what he wants.

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When we see the love of God that he sets before us, we seek to answer that love with a reciprocal

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love.

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That's why Jesus said in John 14 and 15, if you love me, you will obey what I command.

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If you love me, you will obey what I command.

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If you what?

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If you respect me as a great teacher, no?

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If you acknowledge me as God, no?

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Jesus said you'll obey me if you love me.

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Respect and fear will only take you so far.

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It'll be love that takes you the rest of the truth.

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Now I want us to notice this little verse because if you want to be considered least

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in the kingdom of God, you will make sure that you don't take these things seriously,

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and you'll make sure that you lead others to do the same.

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Jesus summarizes the law by saying that the greatest commandment is to love God.

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The second one is like it, to love people.

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The ceremonial law, the civic law, the first five books can be summarized by those two

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saints according to Jesus, love God and love people, that they all have to do with how we

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approach God and how we approach others.

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Do your actions and your words show that you love God and you love others.

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Now as you know I have four children which has proven to be a pretty heavy responsibility.

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Not only are we responsible for keeping them alive by feeding them and getting them to

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the doctor when necessary, there's all these other things that are part of being a parent.

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We have to get them to where they need to be.

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We need to make sure that we're at their activity so that they know they're loved and we're

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there to support them.

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My life is consumed by my children.

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Now most days I wouldn't have it any other way, but as parents you know some days you

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just need to take a nap, right?

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But on top of all that responsibility of just getting them through life and getting them

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out of my house, on top of all of that responsibility I have this command from God to train our children

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in the way they should go.

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I am to be diligent in teaching them the commands of God.

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I am to train them in the ways of God and I'm to do all of that in a way that does not discourage

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them, that doesn't lead them to becoming discouraged.

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That has proven to be a lot more difficult than making sure they get to practice on time.

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It's my responsibility to teach my children that it is better to be considered great in

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the kingdom of God than it is to be considered great on a stage or a field.

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Now I want my kids to do great at whatever they do, but not at the expense of their soul.

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So we have taught them and we continuously teach them that worship of the Lord takes priority

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over everything else that we do.

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Worship of the Lord takes priority over everything else that we do.

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Now on some days that's not the most popular decision, but I am to be diligent in talking

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them through it.

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I am to be diligent in standing firm in what I know is best for them according to the scriptures.

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I'm also to walk them through times when they're not loving others well.

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The other day one of my kids got in some trouble at school.

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One major but nonetheless spent some time in the principal's office.

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Now I would blame Sina for that, but I think the only time she was ever in the principal's

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office was when she was getting an award for being kind to everybody.

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So it's probably on me.

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I've accepted that.

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Well my kids' response to getting in trouble was to send an email to the teacher and the

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principal explaining the situation from their point of view.

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I'm all for that.

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I'm all for it.

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However, I wanted to read the email before it got sent.

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And as I read it, I could tell from the first two sentences a couple things.

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Number one, need to spend some more time in the English class.

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Number two, it wasn't loving.

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It was defensive.

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It was accusatory.

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So we had to talk about how best to show love while at the same time standing up for yourself.

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I want to be diligent in teaching those things to my children.

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We are to love God and love others.

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And if we don't, we might be considered great in our circles.

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We might be considered great in business, but you won't be considered great in His kingdom.

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Do you have an attitude that wants to reflect the love that you have for God and the love

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that you have for others?

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Does your behavior reflect that you love God and you love others?

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Do your priorities show the world that you love God and you love others?

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In verse 20, Christ states something that's pretty scary because it's here that He tells

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His followers, for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

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Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

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That's a pretty heavy phrase.

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After all, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were committed to obeying every

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aspect of the law, no matter how minute.

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I doubt very, very much if there are very many Christians who in practice come even

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close to the righteousness of these men.

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However, I trust that our motive, our righteousness will outshine that of even the Pharisees.

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You see, again, we have to go beyond the law and not just meet it, but fulfill it to cram

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it full of the love of God.

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I hope that we can see beyond the law.

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I hope that we can see people and I hope that we can see beyond our own righteousness to

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our reason for trying to be righteous, and that is our love for Christ.

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Jesus tells us a story in Luke 18.

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He says this in verse 9.

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He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and

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treated others with contempt.

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Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

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The Pharisee standing by himself prayed this, God, I thank you that I am not like other

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men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

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I fast twice a week.

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I give tithes of all that I get.

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But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat

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his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

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I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

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For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

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Which church would you rather be a part of?

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A church filled with people who look down on others because they feel morally superior,

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or a church full of people who come in understanding that they are sinners in need of mercy.

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I've been in, I've been a part of churches where people come and they open up about their

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sin and they're not welcome.

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They're talked about, they're looked down on, they're criticized because of how they're

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acting, they're criticized because of the mistakes of their past.

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And I know some people who have experienced that type of hurt that never want to walk

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inside a church again, I'm sure you do too.

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One of the biggest oxymorons there is, is an arrogant Christian.

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Maybe you're better than me.

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And you're nailing the rules, and you're nailing the law, and you never struggle to keep the

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commands of God.

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You never have a bad thought.

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You handle all of your anger righteously.

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You never once look at somebody else's stuff and say, man, it'd be nice to have that.

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I'm for sure not there.

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I wrestle with my flesh every single day.

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And so I know, I have no shot at being more righteously outwardly than any of the Pharisees.

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I am unable to fulfill the law I rely on the one who did.

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The law's purpose is to reveal the brokenness of the world because of sin.

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It's like an x-ray.

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It reveals where all of the fractures are.

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So I can take just the 10 commandments and realize that I am broken because I have worshiped

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other things before God.

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I can take the 10 commandments and realize I'm broken because I have not been the best

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throughout my life and honoring my parents.

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I realize I am broken because I've looked at some things that aren't mine and wished

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I had them.

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And so because I see the brokenness that the law has revealed in my life, I can sit here

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and beat my chest unworthy and ask God for mercy because I'm a sinner.

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I can point to the one who not only fulfilled the law but paid the punishment that I deserve.

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Do you want to go home justified today?

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Jesus says, humble yourself before him.

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Confess that you are a sinner.

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Thank him for fulfilling the law that you are unable to.

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Call upon his name to save you.

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Call upon his name to forgive you.

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If you want to leave here unchanged and just another notch on your spiritual journey, if

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you want to leave here unchanged, then do not look in the mirror and make sure that you

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look around this room and dwell on all the things that others have done wrong to you.

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If you want to leave here unchanged, make sure you do that.

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The law is a heavy burden that you and I can't carry.

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That's why Jesus had to come fulfill it.

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This isn't one of those fun kumbaya types of texts.

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And so we have to do something with it.

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And so here in just a minute I'm going to pray and we're going to invite the worship

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team to come lead us in worship and we can finish out this service real easy and just

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sing the song and act spiritual and then walk out of here unchanged or we can sit here and

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beat our chests and call ourselves the sinners that we are and ask God for mercy.

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Those who do that are the ones who are justified.

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Maybe you are more or less superior than I am, most of you probably are.

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That's why I'm so grateful that he fulfilled the law that I couldn't do.

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So I'm going to pray for us.

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I'm going to ask the worship team to come lead us in worship and we're just going to

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see how the Lord moves in our hearts today.

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Father, thank you for your word.

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Thank you for fulfilling it.

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Thank you for completing it.

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God, I pray the cornerstone will be known as a group of people that cry out for mercy.

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That see our need for a savior that obey you because we love you.

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Not because it gets us salvation, not because it earns us any sort of favor, but we obey

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you because we love you.

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So Father, I pray that you will move in this place.

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I pray that your spirit will fill it.

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I pray that you will convict us.

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I pray that you will break any spirit of rebellion.

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I pray that you will humble us.

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So we give you this time.

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Ask you to move.

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Your name is pray.

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Thank you.