Sermon - Trinity VI, 2026 - Matthew 5:17-26

Moses Descends from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, Ferdinand Bol, 1622

The Law of God is His Eternal Will

1. God’s Law is:

1. His good and gracious will for human flourishing

2. Broadly all that He speaks

3. Narrowly ceremonial, civic, and moral

1. The ceremonial was fulfilled in Jesus

2. The civic partially fell away with the exile/captivity/destruction of Jerusalem

3. The moral law continues for eternity

2. God’s Law does:

1. Curb: Dissuade us from evil

2. Mirror: Reveal our sins

3. Guide: Direct our path forward

3. God’s law is wholly fulfilled in Jesus’ active obedience to the Law

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” Sometimes it’s tempting for us to think about the law negatively, to think of God’s Law as a bunch of stodgy rules, and we don’t like stodgy rules, and therefore we like to think of God’s Law as something which passes away and perhaps won’t affect us any longer. So, when Jesus says that He doesn’t abolish the Law nor will the Law pass away, it can perhaps be somewhat surprising to us. So it’s worth discussing this morning what God’s Law is and how we should understand it.

God’s law is more than mere arbitrary rules, like the laws of man. Sometimes I will hear people compare God’s Law to speed limits, but that’s frankly a terrible comparison, because speed limits are entirely arbitrary. Different states and different countries will have different speed limits for exactly the same type of roads, because it’s not morally necessary that you drive 55, or 60, or 65. Additionally, hardly anyone obeys the speed limits, including the police and our government officials, because it’s just an arbitrary number. Nothing bad suddenly happens when you drive 41 instead of 40. The origin of speed limits is premised on moral law not to harm our neighbor in body or possession, but the limits themselves are arbitrary.

God’s law is not arbitrary. God’s law is properly speaking His divine teaching in which God’s righteous, unchangeable will is revealed. God’s law shows what the quality of a person should be in nature, thought, word, and deed. Psalm 119, the longest Psalm and chapter in the Bible is an exposition of the greatness of God’s law and our love for His law. “Forever, O Lord, Your Word is firmly fixed in the heavens.” Likewise, Psalm 19, which we heard this morning, does the same thing. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul… the just decrees of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.” God’s law is His good and gracious eternal will for human flourishing, it is the ordering by which God has so arranged His creation. The breaking of the Law is therefore an evil in and of itself, unlike the arbitrary rules we often break, because it is breaking the order that God has created for good.

It is also worth noting however, that the term Law in the Bible is sometimes used more broadly than only the “thou shall” and “thou shall not” we often think of. For instance, Jesus today says He does not abolish “the law or the Prophets.” In this sense, Jesus is using the word Law to refer to what the Hebrew calls Torah. Torah means all the teachings of God, including the promise of salvation, God’s mercy, God’s gracious works, and His commandments which we are to obey. So when Jesus says neither the law nor the prophets are abolished, He really means that none of His Word shall ever pass away.

But strictly speaking, God’s law is that which rebukes sins and teaches about good works. And the Gospel is that which teaches about saving faith in Christ. But here perhaps another distinction is helpful. Because at times people who are hostile to God’s law will claim that we don’t really keep the Law because we don’t follow all of the laws found in the Bible, for example we aren’t concerned with wearing mixed fabrics nor do we sacrifice lambs in the temple morning and evening. So what gives?

The Laws found in the Old Testament fall into three categories: The Ceremonial Law, which includes the laws pertaining to the religious life connected to the temple. The Civic Law, which includes laws pertaining to the Old Testament nation of Israel. The Moral Law, which includes how God’s people are to live morally. The Civic Law of the Old Testament was premised on the Moral Law, however the specifics of the Civic Law did pass away with the Old Testament nation of Israel. The Ceremonial Law was all connected to Old Testament religious life surrounding the temple, and with the coming of Christ these Ceremonial Laws were fulfilled in Him. The Ceremonial Laws were all shadows of what was to come in Jesus, and so Jesus is the true temple, the true Lamb of God, the true sacrifice for sins, and those ceremonial laws were completed in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and therefore we must not keep them any longer because Jesus is the greater One to whom all of those things were pointing. The Moral Law, however, continues forever.

This moral, divine, eternal will of God continues to operate among us to this day. Here another distinction is helpful when we think about God’s moral Law. God uses His law in three ways among mankind. The first use of His law is called a curb, by which God maintains external discipline and decency against disobedient and unruly people. For example, we have earthly laws against murder and  theft, and we used to have earthly laws against adultery, and these laws have been maintained among us for the sake of restraining evil. 

The second use of God’s law, which is the primary use of the Law, is called a mirror. The law, like a mirror, reveals in us a knowledge of sin and thus brings us to the realization that we need repentance. For example, when I heard Jesus explain that murder is more than killing someone, but is committed when I am angry with them, then I realize that I have broken the 5th commandment, and I am a sinner, unworthy of God’s favor.

The third use of the Law is called a guide, because for those Christians who have been born anew by the Holy Spirit, have been converted to Christ, whose sins are forgiven and their guilt is washed away, they now delight to live and walk in God’s law. For instance, when I hear Jesus explain: “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” When I hear those words, I desire to live in accordance with them, and I want to reconcile with my brother.

But ultimately, God’s law, which is His good and gracious eternal will for human flourishing, is always going to reveal the sinfulness of my heart and lead me to the realization that I am a sinner deserving of God’s eternal wrath. God is holy and perfect, and He demands perfection: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Because I know my heart, I know the frequency of my sins and the ease in which I fall prey to temptation, I know that I am not righteous enough to enter into God’s kingdom.

Because God’s law cannot be abolished, since it is God’s good and gracious will for human flourishing, and to abolish the good order would be to abolish goodness, therefore the problem lies in me. It’s not God’s fault that I am not righteous enough, it’s my fault. The solution isn’t to change the law in order to make it attainable for my sinful flesh, but the solution is to change my sinful flesh! 

So the Lord did not abolish the Law, but He fulfilled the Law! In perfection Jesus was born into our flesh of the blessed virgin Mary, He was born under the Law as a man in our flesh. In perfection Jesus completely obeyed God’s law by actively keeping it not only externally but within His heart and He never succumbed to temptation. In perfection Jesus passively kept the Law by obediently bearing the weight of God’s wrath against our sins when He submissively suffered the agony of the cross. Because Jesus utterly fulfilled the law on our behalf, God’s wrath was meted out on Him in our stead, as our substitute. No longer is God wrathful over our sin, because God’s wrath was assuaged by the blood of Jesus.

God is perfectly just, and therefore He didn’t relax even the least of His laws, but instead Jesus obeyed the Law perfectly, and suffered for even the slightest of sins that we have committed. Every iota and dot of the law that we have broken, Jesus atoned for by His precious blood. Since He fulfilled the law as our substitute, in our place, this means that since His blood covers us by grace, through faith, that His righteousness is now our own righteousness. The scribes and pharisees, try as they might, never could perfectly fulfill the Law, and therefore were never perfectly righteous. But you, dear Christians, who have been atoned for by the blood of Jesus, your righteousness does exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, because your righteousness is Christ’s righteousness.

Therefore, when Jesus instructs us to keep His good and gracious will, and reminds us that His Law will not pass away, we mustn't hear that with sorrow, but we rejoice, knowing that God’s will is good and His law is meant for our good. Because Christ has fulfilled the Law in my stead, I am not burdened with my sins, but I hear God’s law and I delight in it more than fine gold and drippings of honey!