Matthew 5:17-20

The Law of God: Fulfilled and Kept

1. Christ came not to destroy the Law and Prophets but to fulfill.

   1. The Law and the Prophets refers to the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Covenant.

1. Christ came to fulfill the Prophets. They spoke about him.

1. Christ came to fulfill the Law: not to add to it, not to remove from it, not to abolish it.

1. Christ fulfilled every dimension of the law: ceremonial, civil, moral.

1. With the law fulfilled in Christ, Christians are not condemned by the commandments, but are free to obey God in the Spirit.

   1. Breaking and keeping the commandments.

1. Christ shows us the way of loving obedience.

• John 14:21 "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

1. Case study: the fourth commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy…"

   1. The Sabbath commandment is part of the moral law.

   2. The Sabbath has ceremonial elements in it. Christ fulfills these.

   3. The Sabbath is a creation ordinance. We're created.

1. The Sabbath is fundamentally a pause, cessation from work, rest. You need rest.

2. The Sabbath has a redemptive significance. A sign of thankfulness and anticipation.

1. Thus we can understand what Christ means when he says "I did not come to destroy but to fulfill."