Scripture Reading: Luke 4:16-21
Do the Words of Jesus Apply Today? (Part 1)
Intro.
1. Are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (MMLJ) a record of the Law of Moses (LOM) or the gospel of Christ? Do the words of Jesus have application today, or were His words “nailed to the cross” as part of the Law of Moses?
2. Incredibly, some say Jesus came teaching LOM and that His pre-cross teachings do not apply today. (J. Bassett, S. Dawson, L. Williams, D. Billingsly)
3. Why this doctrine? (To accept all second marriages regardless of the cause of putting away, Matt 5:31-32; 19:6-9; No eternal hell fire…)
4. What did Jesus teach? Are MMLJBC (before cross) part of the Old Testament Law of Moses, or the New Testament gospel of Christ?
I. WHAT JESUS CAME TO DO, Matt 5:17-20.
A. Jesus Came to Fulfill the Law and the Prophets, 5:17; Rom 10:4; Gal 3:24-26. Lk 24:44 (Fulfill: pleroo - “to render full, complete”)
1. He did not destroy (invalidate) them Lk 24:44.
2. Jesus kept the Law (Jno 7:18; 8:46; Matt 3:15).
B. As Jesus Lived Under the Law He Came to Redeem Jews and Adopt Gentiles, Gal 4:4-7.
1. As Jesus told Jews to follow the Law while they lived under it (Matt 8:4), He was preaching a new covenant - just as OT prophets said the Messiah would do. Matt 5:19-20; Deut 18:18; Isa 61:1-2 – Lk 4:16-21
2. Jesus was much more than a Jewish rabbi teaching Jews their Law. (Jno 1:14-17)
II. WHAT JESUS PREACHED, Lk 16:16. (Different, distinct, Jno 7:46).
A. Gospel of the Kingdom, Mk 1:1; Matt 4:23, 17; 9:35; Lk 4:42-44.
1. Parables taught things about the kingdom OT prophets did not see and hear, Matt 13:10, 16-17.
2. Preached His deity as foundation for His church, Matt 16:16-18.
3. Keys of the kingdom (not of Israel), Matt 16:19.
4. New birth into the kingdom (not into Israel), Jno 3:3-5.
5. Solving problems in the kingdom (church), Matt 18:15-17.
6. Apostles preached the kingdom before the cross, Matt 10:5-7.
Conclusion
1. In Part 2 we will continue to verify what Jesus preached and how we are to use His words today.
2. Jno 12:48-50: The Father gave Him a command what to speak, and He spoke it.
a. The Father’s command is everlasting life.
b. What Jesus preached contain “everlasting life” (Jno 6:63).
c. That is the gospel of the kingdom, not the law from Mt. Sinai.
QUOTATIONS
• Jerry Bassett (Rethinking Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage):
“It is often assumed that Jesus used The Beatitudes to introduce new qualities which would characterize primarily, if not exclusively, those who would become citizens of the spiritual kingdom he came to establish. Truly, these qualities are required of Christians…however, on the particular occasion when Jesus delivered the Sermon of the Mount, he addressed Jews who were still obligated to the Law of Moses. His purpose, as at other times in teaching the Jewish multitudes, was to call them to repentance with reference to the law under which they lived, the Law of Moses. In so doing, Jesus was preparing them for acceptance of the kingdom which God had sent him to establish… We should not be surprised, then, if we find Jesus directing the Jews back to the teaching of Moses, and of the Old Testament in general…in The Beatitudes… everything Jesus declared to be essential to the enjoyment of spiritual happiness had alreday [sic.] been enjoined on his hearers, the Jews, by the teaching of the Old Testament.” (pp. 13-14, emphasis added)
“The contention that Jesus’ words were intended to point the Jews to a higher, more spiritual plane than had Moses may be well intended, but it is false and misleading.” (p. 23, emphasis added)
• Sam Dawson (Taped sermon: “The Sermon on the Mount, the Law Of Moses, and the New Covenant,” 4/15/90, Sumner, WA):
-On Matthew 5:17ff: “…a section that obviously is not part of the new covenant teaching. Jesus teaching Jews, bringing them back to the Law of Moses - and He’s going to be reinforcing exactly what Moses said.” (emphasis his)
-On Matthew 5:19: The new covenant was “not going to be revealed for three more years!”
-On Matthew 5:32: “Jesus is teaching the same thing in 5:32 that Moses taught in Deut. 24:1-4.”
-On application: “Don’t assume that Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 is addressed to Christians: It wasn’t spoken to Christians. He was speaking to Jews, and He was saying it in a context of ‘I didn’t come to throw Moses out, I came to get you back to Moses the way you ought to have been.’”
“Jesus taught the Jews under the law. He was not teaching any Gentiles, he was teaching them what Moses had to say.”
“Every preacher and eldership that I know of in the entire Puget Sound – you look at every last one of them – and they agree with what I teach. I do not have a weird approach. So, it’s not going to be an approach that I take that somebody else hadn’t had. It’s an approach that everybody in all of this area takes, and throughout the country, many, many, likewise.”
• Dan Billingsly (www.biblestudiesbydanbillingsly.org):
“Jesus revealed no New Testament doctrine during the thirty-three years of the Old Testament age described in MMLJBC.” (Letter to Dennis Ross, Nov-Dec, 2004)
His online material…
“Explains in detail why Malachi is not the last book of the Old Testament and why Matthew is not the first book of the New Testament. Explains why Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23 and John 19 describe the ‘end’ of the Old Testament, and why the New Testament begins in Acts 2.”