God gives us a new Heart

God gives us a new heart (Some notes/study)

 

A1 Objectives

B1 Describe the role of the laws Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount.

B2 Recognize that God requires obedience from the heart.

 

A2 Scriptures

B1 Matthew 5:17-30

B2 Matthew 5:43-48

B3 James 2:8-11

 

A3 Notes

B1 Jesus and the Law and Prophets

C1 Matthew 5:17-30

D1 Fulfill ("Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17, EMTV)

E1 Means to obey every single law perfectly. All 613 commandments required by God.

E2 As a checklist needs to be completed so also the Law.

E3 To graduate from college one must fulfill all the requirements. Once they are fulfilled, the student graduates and does not have to do any of those requirements again.

E4 The Greek words means to fill to the very top, execute (an office), finish (a task), etc.

E5 But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him. (Matthew 3:15, EMTV).

F1 Jesus needed to be baptized, not because He needed to repent and confess His sins, for He had never sinned.

F2 He needed to be baptized because that was a requirement of God's Law.

E6 Therefore do not let anyone judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or of a new moon or of Sabbaths, (Colossians 2:16, EMTV).

F1 Christians do not have to fulfill the Law, because the Lord Jesus has fulfilled it.

F2 Now we have a new covenant, a new set of rules.

D2 Abolish

E1 Means to do away with. Treat them as if they had never existed.

E2 Jesus fulfilled all obligations to the Law, thus since all were fulfilled, completed, and obeyed, they could be done away with and replaced by another set of rules.

E3 The Greek word means to disintegrate, demolish. Think of a sand castle at the sea shore.

E4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. (Romans 10:4, EMTV). For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God. (Romans 10:4, GNB92)

E5 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul the covenant previously confirmed to Christ by God, so that it make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it is no longer of promise; but God has given it to Abraham by promise. Why then the law? It was added on account of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom it had been promised; and it was commanded through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now the mediator is not for one person, but God is one. Therefore, is the law against the promises of God? By no means! For if a law had been given which was able to give life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, having been hemmed in for the faith which was to be revealed. Therefore the law has become our guardian, leading us to Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:17-24, EMTV)

D3 Jot and Tittle

E1 Jot

F1 In English it would be the smallest letter, which is i.

F2 In Hebrew it is the smallest letter, which is yod. Yod is similar to a , (comma) or ' (apostrophe).

E2 Tittle

F1 In English it is the dot above the lower case I (i) and J (j).

F2 In Hebrew it is a small mark to distinguish similar looking letters.

D4 The Law is the Old Testament commandments.

D5 The Prophets are the other writings of the Old Testament. In one sense all the writers of the Old Testament were prophets.

D6 This also confirms that the Law and the Prophets were God's word and absolutely authoritative.

D7 The regular people believed that the scribes and Pharisees were the ultimate followers of the Law.

E1 If someone had to exceed this, it would be impossible. (That is the point of the law).

E2 Nevertheless, the scribes and Pharisees did NOT fulfill the underlying principle of the law, for their hearts were not right before God.

D8 Jesus clarifies some of the finer points of the Law.

E1 It is not just deeds that God looks at but thoughts, desires, words, and deeds.

E2 One who murders is guilty. One who hates and wishes to murder is a murderer at heart and will receive that same punishment.

E3 Anger without a cause is important. Most translations do not have it, so making the Lord Jesus a vile, sinning hypocrite. "God hates injustice and will judge it. Less than 2% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit "without cause" (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). NIV, NASB and LB favor us with a footnote informing us that "some manuscripts" add 'without cause'--by "some" they mean 98% of them!! More serious, the shorter text has the effect of forbidding anger, which would contradict other Scriptures (Ephesians 4:26, Psalm 4:4) and the Lord's own example (Mark 3:5)." Wilbur Pickering's note on the passage.

E4 The Lord speaks of murder, adultery, and others

C9 Matthew 5:31-42 are left out. These deal with oaths (true and false oaths) and revenge.

C10 Matthew 5:43-48 deal with how to treat our enemies.

C11 James 2:8-11

D1 The Royal Law

E1 God is the King.

E2 God's Law is the royal Law.

D2 Neighbor (anyone we meet).

D3 Partiality

E1 We need to treat everyone the same.

E2 Treating them with kindness, compassion, and respect as much as possible.

E3 Partiality is sin.

E4 Partiality is a transgression of the law.

D4 One mistake, slip, white lie, error or lapse in judgment is enough to send to die and hell.

E1 The penalty for breaking the law once is the same as breaking it many times--death and hell.

E2 Includes sins when there is ignorance or unintentionally makes one guilty.

 

A4 Questions

B1 Did Jesus completely obey every law and rule required in the Old Testament?

B2 What about marriage laws?

C1 He did not need to fulfill those laws.

C2 He was obligated to fulfill those laws that he was subject to.

B3 What does it mean when Jesus states, "...one iota or one tittle shall by no means pass away from law until all things are fulfilled?" (Once fulfilled then can pass away).

B4 They needed to obey ALL the commandments? Can anyone do this? (No, that is the purpose of the law).

B5 In Matthew 5:22 the Lord Jesus mentions hell fire. Does He really expect us to believe that?

B6 Regarding Matthew 5:43-48 are we to wish anyone to die?

C1 No, we should pray for their salvation.

C2 No, we should forgive them. What is forgiveness?

D1 Forgive is to release.

D2 In this case to release them to God, and He will do what is right.

B7 What is an enemy?

C1 A threat to a person or group.

C2 Associated strong emotions as hatred, fear, and distrust.

C3 Something must be done to neutralize the enemy as banish, imprison, punish, or kill.

C4 Jesus said that we must try to treat them well, nicely, as possible. He is the example of this.

C5 The Lord God sends rain on the just and the unjust.

B8 In Matthew 5:48 what is God's standard for us? (Perfection). ""Perfect"--the Father is our point of reference; we are to be like He is. A standard is a standard; it is not invalidated just because we may feel that it is unattainable. Comparing this passage with texts like Deuteronomy 7:10, "He repays those who hate Him to their face," and Psalm 5:5-6, "You hate all workers of iniquity," I take it that we must distinguish between personal enemies (those who oppose us for personal reasons) and enemies of God and His truth. To be like the Father we also must hate workers of iniquity (because of the consequences to others)." Wilbur Pickering comment on this passage.