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| Sermon #64 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven, MAT 5:18-19. As we proceed with our Sermon on the Mount, I want to direct your attention to what we have previously discussed in V:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." We have spoken about the attempt to abolish the fourth commandment, to abolish that sacred day the Lord set apart from eternity, from before the fall. We talked of how that abolishment would take away the blessedness that God has set aside for His people; the blessedness of having a day that would be the emblem of eternal rest from the toils of this life. We have spoken about how blessedly Christ glorified His Father, by fulfilling the law and finishing the work the Father gave Him to do. JOH 17:4 says, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." How did the Lord Jesus Christ finish the work the Father gave Him to do? He did so by fulfilling the law with perfect obedience and also by satisfying justice with payment in full. We have to understand that the Father was so glorified by how the Son came to fulfill that law, not to abolish it, not to destroy the law, but He came to fulfill the law. He came to honor the law. He honored that law not only with perfect obedience but also with the satisfaction of the penalty of the law. We must understand our relationship to the law and how it condemns us before we will ever understand our relationship to the gospel and justification. Until we understand how the law condemns, we will never rightly understand the gospel. The Apostle Paul said in ROM 1:16-17, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ...For therein is the righteousness of God revealed..." The gospel shows God's wrath upon sin in how God poured out His wrath upon His own Son, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," 2CO 5:21. As explained earlier, the beatitudes are the steps which lead into the temple, which is the body of Christ. The remainder of the Sermon on the Mount is the building of the pillars of the temple, or the spirit of the law. As Jesus continues building this temple, which is His body, He is teaching us that honoring the law with the Spirit of the law is the very pillar of this temple. As God works grace in the soul, we are to become the light of the world. Now He starts to establish the essence of the law, i.e. how the purpose of the gospel is to honor the spirit of the law. FOR OUR FIRST POINT , let's consider how the law of God must be perpetual; it is not abolished. He did not come to abolish the law. He did not come to destroy the law. Our text says, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The law is perpetual.FOR OUR SECOND POINT , let's consider God's jealousy over the honoring of His law. We read is v:19, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."FOR OUR THIRD POINT , let's consider how the law must be fulfilled. We have to understand how we must fulfill the law. It says, " one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."FIRST, let's consider how the law of God must be perpetual, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The Apostle Paul pointed to our relationship to the law, and how it condemns us. He pointed to our relationship to the gospel and how it justifies us. The Apostle Paul brought forth what the gospel is. If we are to understand the gospel, we have to understand what the gospel does for us, how the gospel justifies us, and also how the law condemns us. This is what I want to point out in ROM 1:16-18. The Apostle Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation. For therein [i.e. in the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed [we must understand this when we preach the gospel] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." What is ungodliness? To understand ungodliness we must first understand Godliness. Godliness is that holy reverence in the heart for that first table of the law; "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind," MAT 22:37. Ungodliness is anything that violates this. This law of love was not abolished with the sacrifice of Christ. The law is perpetual. Any infraction of the first table of the law of love is ungodliness. How do we stand before God's law of love when we start to examine our own hearts? We have to see the ungodliness that there is in our hearts. How often things come into our hearts that are not holding the Lord in first place: loving God above all with heart, soul, and mind! We have to learn to see the ungodliness in our own hearts. It also says, "For the wrath of God is revealed ...against...all unrighteousness of men...." This is a violation against the second table of the law; this second table of the law was not abolished in the sacrifice of Christ. In other words, what we do and think against our neighbour is unrighteousness. The gospel of Christ reveals; it teaches us that God's holiness, His righteousness, and His justice are revealed by His wrath against sin. By His wrath against ungodliness and unrighteousness, we see how the gospel of Christ reveals our condemnation under the law. ROM 3:20 teaches us that "...by the law is the knowledge of sin." If that law were abolished, there would no longer be any sin. "...for where no law is, there is no transgression," ROM 4:15. When we understand what condemnation there is under the law, we realize that we need a physician for our souls. The perpetual nature of the law must be understood to understand the doctrine of repentance and sanctification. If we receive but a glimpse of God's wrath upon sin, we start to understand the need for repentance; we start to understand the remorse we need over our sins. We must have remorse over having offended a holy and just God and His law. Then we start to understand the need for repentance. "Therein... is revealed" where? It is revealed in the gospel. It is in the gospel that we see revealed that penalty of sin and God's holy and just wrath upon sin. Therein we start to see how God sent His own Son as we read in 1JO 4:10, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." He sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, i.e., for the appeasing of His wrath upon sin. The gospel reveals the wrath of God against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men to work a true repentance, i.e., remorse over having sinned against such love! When faith's eyes are fixed upon the love of the Father in giving His Son, and the love of the Son in giving Himself as the propitiation for our sin, then "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance," ROM 2:4. Then we start to understand our need for sanctification, and sanctification becomes genuine and real. At this point we start to understand what John the Baptist taught in MAR 1:4, "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." Without repentance, i.e., without remorse over sin against the goodness and love of God, there can be no remission of sins. We must see the sinfulness of sin and how displeasing sin is to the Lord and turn from it. He came to preach repentance for remission of sins. This is what we see in the gospel. Without repentance there can be no remission of sins. LUK 24:47 says, "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Repentance must be preached first, then remission of sin. We cannot preach remission of sin and then repentance. We must see that there is no remission of sin until there is repentance. In our natural state, we are hardened criminals against God's law; even the most moral, respectable, and loving of all mankind are sinners who stand condemned under the sentence of death. We must learn to understand that we are actually sentenced as a criminal. We are sentenced unto death for the crimes we have committed against the law of God. Those crimes carry a death penalty. ROM 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Death is the penalty of sin. ROM 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." We are actually condemned criminals before the tribunal of God's justice! Thus there is a death penalty upon sin, and every person is on death row waiting the execution of sentence of death for sin. This is how displeasing sin is before the Lord. When a criminal is executed, it is for breaking the laws of the land. Equally as certain is when a sinner dies, he dies for breaking the law of God. It is actually the execution of a death penalty when every person dies. Every person that is taken from the face of this earth is actually being executed with a death sentence for having sinned and having broken the laws of God. Men by nature are so spiritually blind they take death for granted; they don't see it as the penalty for sin. How often do you really see a person who understands that he is going to die because he is on death row, because he has been sentenced to death before the tribunal of God's justice? How many people understand this? Most get old and take for granted that it is the way of all the earth that everybody dies when they get old. They take their death for granted. How many people have been brought under the condemnation of the law in their hearts to understand that they have been sentenced to die as a criminal before the bar of God's justice? This is preaching the gospel! ECC 8:11 says, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Because the Lord does not execute that death sentence upon the first sin, "...therefore the heart of ...men is fully set in them to do evil." We see that the whole human race is going in the grave. They are all going there under the sentence of death. It is so shocking to read the account of a hardened criminal in our local paper, who was sentenced to death for murder. Quoting directly from the paper, it reads: "At the sentencing hearing, he said he felt no remorse and that he had no motive." He killed without a motive, and facing a death sentence, he has no remorse. He didn't want to go to prison for the rest of his life; he wanted to die without remorse. This was his confession before the court; he had no remorse and no motive! Stop and think about this; his crimes were so gruesome that the prosecuting attorney argued, "Beelzebub has a devil set aside for him. The sooner they meet, the better." He had murdered with gruesome brutality yet he had no motive and no remorse. The judge told him upon sentencing, "May God have mercy on your soul..." Both the prosecuting attorney and the judge saw the hardened character of that criminal. The murderer was sentenced to death and yet confessed that he had no remorse! He had no motive; the crime had just been committed to be doing something. The judge said, "May God have mercy on your soul...." But there was no remorse! No repentance! Without "...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," there is no mercy on his soul! The Lord will not show mercy where there is no remorse. He was so obviously hardened that the prosecuting attorney said, "Beelzebub has a devil set aside for him. The sooner they meet the better." Think of the judgment that was pronounced upon that man when he was sentenced to death with no repentance towards God, no faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ, and no remission of sins! He was sentenced to be executed; without any remorse, therefore, there is no remission of sins and no pardon. I want to draw a parallel here. The apostle was faithful to our souls. He says in Acts 20:20-21, He "kept back nothing that was profitable," preaching "...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Isn't that beautiful? The Apostle Paul did not hold back anything that was profitable. He showed the need of repentance and also the blessedness of faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. He preached a balanced gospel. We have to see that within the gospel is revealed the condemnation of the law in the crucifixion of Christ. It is only through faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ who came to fulfill that condemnation of the law on our behalf with His perfect obedience that we can come from under that condemnation. To illustrate our point, let's suppose your child was arrested for driving 60 mph through a school zone. When the arrest was made, this youth is brought under the condemnation of the law. Let's suppose a court of justice imposed a fine the youth is not able to pay. There he stands condemned under the broken law, with nothing to pay. At this point you, as a parent, come in and pay the fine; you have redeemed your child from the condemnation of a broken law. The law is satisfied; your child is justified, and released to freedom. Does this give the child a license to drive 60 mph in the school zone? Did paying the fine abolish the law? We need to understand the intent of the law! First, the fine is to bring remorse for the violation just committed to prevent a recurrence. Second, it is to vindicate the public, to assure the public that the safety of their children is not endangered by such gross violations of the law. The sacrifice of Christ must exact a deep remorse over our sin which brought such shame and pain upon One we love so dearly, but most of all the sacrifice of Christ must vindicate God's justice, to establish that His "law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," ROM 7:12. How many broad-road Christians shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ as the hardened criminal mentioned before, and have to confess that they 'felt no remorse' and that they 'had no motive' for their sin. They are Christian by profession, but do they have remorse over sin? Are they going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ like this hardened criminal with no remorse over their sins, and confessing that they had no motive? The Lord has done them no harm. The Lord has never done anything that justified their bitterness and enmity against His law. They stand before the judgment seat of Christ as this hardened criminal. Isn't that enough to make a person ponder and think of how urgently we have to go forth to preach the gospel? If we are faithful to our calling as the Apostle Paul was, keeping back nothing that is profitable, we will teach "...repentance toward God, [FIRST] and [then] faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Oh beloved, it is so profitable to first teach the condemnation there is under the law, and then the blessedness there is in the faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ! Our lovely Saviour warned in MAT 7:22-23, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? [These are the broad-road Christians. They will prophesy, and they will do many wonderful things in His name.] and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." What does He mean by "ye that work iniquity"? He means you who have never repented; have never turned from your sins; have no remorse; have never understood that you're sinning without a motive! He will say "depart from me" to the unrepentant! Why? He will say this because there is no remission of sin without repentance. These broad-road Christians have never learned to see the condemnation of the law. They have never learned to see that the gospel reveals the wrath of God against sin. They have never learned to see the sinfulness of sin, and they have never turned from sin. This is what Jesus means when He says, "depart from me, ye that work iniquity." You profess to be a Christian and have all these things you have done for the Lord, but what has the Lord done for you? Has the Lord renewed your heart? Has He opened your eyes to see the sinfulness of sin? Has the Lord worked grace in your soul, and has He brought you to where you turn from iniquity? These broad-road Christians have never understood Godliness—or godly fear, i.e., a holy reverence for God and His holy will. Our lovely Saviour warned in MAT 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." The broad-road Christian never understood Godliness; they never understood what it was to love God above all. They had a selfish motive; they wanted to go to heaven; they wanted to escape hell. They did all these wonderful works, but they never learned to understand the wrath of God upon sin. They never learned to see that they had to be saved from sin. They have never learned to understand what it is to love God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their mind. For the Godly, serving the Lord is not a duty; it is their greatest delight. It is their greatest pleasure to do the things that the Lord has commanded in His laws. They don't do it out of duty but because they love Him. In 1JO 5:2-3 we read, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Isn't that beautiful? His commandments are our delight. We read this in PSA 112:1, "Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." This becomes the chief delight when a person has learned to see what Christ has done to appease the wrath of the Father upon our sin with the shedding of His blood, and he sees by faith what Christ did. We read this in 1JO 4:11, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." Ought we not to love when we see God's love for us? Not that you love God, but that God first loved you and sent His Son as the propitiation for our sins. When our hearts are open to understand this, it becomes our chiefest delight to do His will. There is no person who loves the Lord that is serving Him out of duty. They serve Him out of love in their soul with the greatest delight. When we learn to see God's wrath upon sin and what it took to appease that wrath, then the goodness of God will lead us to true remorse over our sin. The blessed goodness and love of God the Father in sending His Son, and the love of the Son, in what He has done to pay the penalty of sin, will lead us to a true remorse over sin. We read in 2CO 5:14, "...the love of Christ constraineth us." This word "constrain" means the love of Christ moves upon us irresistibly to love God's holy commandments. The love of Christ and what He has done constrains us to love God and His holy laws. When our motive for obedience is love, we will understand how the law of God must be perpetual. It is because we love God and delight to do His will, that we delight in doing what is pleasing onto the Lord. Then His law becomes perpetual. Scripture says, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." We have such a desire to fulfill every jot and every tittle of the law; we have such a desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord. Not that we do it out of a self-serving motive; not that we do it because we are going to earn heaven; but we do it for the love wherewith He has loved us. That love of Christ will constrain us to love Him and keep His commandments. JOH 14:23 tells us, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." What is the motive for keeping His law? Scripture says, "...if a man love me, he will keep my words...." Now this is a taste of heaven, "...my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Heaven to the true children of God is to be in the presence of God, to have God the Father and God the Son with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart. The heart's desire is to be with the Lord. What is the greatest thing that makes sin become so sinful? It is the knowledge that it displeases the Lord and the Lord will withdraw His love and His presence. Our concern is not primarily about heaven and hell, but our concern is that the Lord is so displeased with sin. We see how displeasing sin is to the Lord; we see His wrath upon sin, and we have such a desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord because of His love--"wherewith He hath loved us." FOR OUR SECOND POINT , we will consider God's jealousy over the honoring of His law. V:19 says, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Not only are we to do, but we are to do and teach; it is our duty. If we are to obey, we must go out and teach people to walk according to the will of God. We must teach them the blessedness of what Christ has done and how God is so displeased with sin. We must teach them to honor and reverence of His law."... but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Our Saviour is telling us that there are no little sins when He said in V:18, "...one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." The Lord Jesus is showing us that there is no such thing as a "little" sin. Sin is sin. That is why Christ came to set His church free from the curse of the law, but not from the authority of the law. We have to understand that He honored the authority of the law. He came to show the honor of the authority of that law, and it has not been taken away. V:19 says, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments...." What do we mean by the word "break"? Sometimes I find it so powerful when I go back into the original Greek and get the exact meaning of a single word. We start seeing a light that we do not see otherwise. The word break is taken from the Greek word Luo, which means "to destroy, to dissolve, to loose, to abolish, to relax the meaning of" or to slight the authority of the least of His commandments. When we want to abolish the least of His commandments, or we want to loosen it from the law and slight it, we break that commandment. It is the word Luo in Greek; that word conveys much more to us than the mere infraction of the law. It is speaking to us against any tendency to try to dissolve the law or to slight the authority of the law. This is what is meant by that word "reak, that whosoever shall slight the authority of that commandment acts as though that commandment was not really spoken by the authority of God. When we slight the least of His commandments, it is not His law we're slighting. We are slighting the Law-Giver! We are slighting the authority of God. The word break in our text teaches that we are slighting the authority of God in rendering the least commandment, as though that is something below the dignity of the Lord to enforce. The Lord speaks nothing vain or idle; the least of His commandments is spoken with the same authority as the greatest of His commandments. It is the authority of God that is questioned. This is what we have to learn to see. ROM 1:18 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness...." I have explained that ungodliness is any irreverence for God; it is any slighting of the authority of His word. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. The slightest infraction against our neighbour whether in thought, words, or deed is sin. The slightest unloving thought, or unkind words are an infraction of His law. The wrath of God is upon these sins, and we may not slight them! The message of the Lord Jesus in this verse is that we may not attempt to abolish, destroy, dissolve, relax the meaning of, (i.e. to say the Word does not really mean what it says), or slight the authority of the least of His commandments. He says, "the wrath of God from heaven is revealed against all ungodliness." That means the slightest infraction of His law, the slightest infraction against a holy reverence for Him, or the authority of His Word provokes God's wrath. Can you picture that Christ had to shed His blood to appease the wrath of the Father upon the slightest sin? Then how can we slight the least of His commandments or His authority? It is His authority that is being slighted because the law is His authority. If we are slighting the least of His commandments, we are slighting, abolishing, or bartering His authority with human reasoning. David said in PSA 138:2, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Whereas God has magnified His Word, i.e., His revealed will, above all His name, how can we even slightly rebel against His will? The Lord is jealous of His Word. The Father's wrath against that least sin could only be appeased with Christ's blood! 1JO 4:10 says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." We have to see that it was such tender love of the Father to send His Son. It was such tender love of the Son that He came to appease that wrath. We have to see that His wrath must be appeased; God could not allow His justice to fall by allowing one sin to go unpunished. Rather than let the slightest sin be unpunished, He sent His away Son to appease that wrath. He sent His own Son in love, not because we love God, but that He loves us. Look at the love of the Father to send His Son to become the propitiation, the appeasing of that wrath for sin. The least commandment has the same authority as the greatest. If we can slight the least commandment, and teach men to do so, we dishonor not only the law, but also the lawgiver. It is His authority we are questioning. Little sins are especially offending to God because they are little. Stop and think about this; because they are little, they become most offensive to God. We are willing to offend His authority over a trifle! We show no remorse, and we do them without any motive because they are "little sins." Therefore, there is no remorse and no repentance. Isn't that something? We do them without a motive, without thinking, even though they carry the penalty of death; thereby we become as hardened criminals. By nature, you and I are hardened criminals without motive who will face death without remorse over those little infractions of the law. It is our nature. PRO 24:9 says, "The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men." Just to have a foolish thought in our heart is already sin. Look how sinful we are! Have you ever stopped to think how many foolish thoughts go through our minds? In Scripture we read how these foolish thoughts grow into snake dens. These foolish thoughts multiply, and they hatch and turn into a snake pit. In ISA 59:5 the Lord complains about His people. He says, "They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." We start feeding on foolish thoughts, and we don't realize that one foolish thought is sin. We need to see the sinfulness of sin; we need to see how condemned we are under the law before we can start to understand what it means to be justified in the gospel and what Christ paid for our justification. If you told me that your child came home justified, I would not understand until you told me he was in jail for violation of the speed limit in the school zone, and he was not released until the law was satisfied by payment in full. The Lord destroyed the first world because of sinful thoughts. Think about this: in GEN 6:5 we see that the Lord destroyed the whole first world for the evil thoughts of their heart! "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." What does He mean by that? He means they had no love for God! Their heart, soul and mind were filled with evil thoughts continually. All day long there was not a serious thought in them. They never had time to think about the Lord. They never had time to think about how provoked the Lord was with the vanity of their hearts. He destroyed the whole first world for the evil thoughts of the heart. Slighting little sins indicates the attitude of the heart. When you see a leaf fluttering just a little in the breeze, what does that tell you? The fluttering of one leaf tells you from which direction the wind is coming, the same as if there was a hurricane force and the boughs of the trees are bending from the force of the wind. One leaf fluttering in the wind will tell you just as surely what direction the wind blows. Isn't this so with sin? When our hearts can slight the slightest sin, doesn't it tell us which direction the wind is blowing? Doesn't it tell us which direction we are leaning? Doesn't it tell us what our attitude is towards the Lord? You can tell one's heart is not with you even though they don't come against you with fury. How? You can tell by that little breeze, by that little attitude that they reflect. This is also the way it is with the Lord. The slighting of little sins is like someone who receives you with coldness; his lack of affection is as obvious as if he had revealed it in an angry assault. Have you ever tried to be kind to a person, and they treat you cold? They don't say anything nasty to you. They don't come against you in fury; they don't come against you like a hurricane. Their coldness, however, tells you that their heart is not with you. Can you have a heart that is warm and tender for the Lord and slight the least of His commandments? No, not when you learn to see that it took the blood of Christ to appease God's wrath for that sin. When you see this, you cannot have a cold attitude towards the Lord! With small sins we are showing that we have that coldness and lack of affection towards God. This becomes so obvious even if we have not revealed it in an angry assault. We may not have come against the Lord by viciously blaspheming His name, but those thoughtless attitudes toward His revealed will reveal the coldness of the heart; it reflects a cold attitude. What is meant by "The least commandment"? One commandment is not less important than the other. What is meant when Christ talks about transgressing the least commandment? The scribes and Pharisees were making a distinction between what they called great commandments and little commandments. Christ was showing them that the infraction of even what they considered the least commandment was as great a sin as the infraction of the great commandment. There is no distinction. In JAM 2:10 we read, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." When we slight the least commandment, we are guilty of slighting the whole law. Do you know why? It is because it is the authority of God that is placed in question. When we can slight the least of His commandments, we have slighted His authority in the whole law. It was the authority of God's law which was attacked in the Garden of Eden. GEN 3:3-5 says, "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die [See it was the authority of His Word that was attacked; they questioned His Word! How?]: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." Satan said, "You will decide what is right and wrong!" The authority of God's Word was put under attack. The sin that Eve committed, taking a piece of fruit and eating it, in our estimation would be a little sin, but what was her sin? Her sin was slighting the authority of the Word of God! Every time we commit a little sin, we attack the authority of God's Word. For one little sin the whole human race was brought under the condemnation of the law. In people's minds little sins have very little weight and therefore multiply as the sand. Every grain of sand can be isolated as an illustration of a little sin. People take a little sin so lightly; there is no weight in it. Stop and analyze how these little grains of sand multiply; a ship may be sunken from the weight of sand as easily as with large boulders. If you fill a ship with sand, you can sink it probably using less space than if you used large boulders. Do you know why? The little grains of sand knit so closely together that they become one burden, do they not? What we call little sins are like the grains of sand; they multiply. Why? They multiply because they are slighted. They are not looked at as anything of concern, and you are not on guard. Little sins are most often the destroying sins. Look at MAT 24:12, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." Iniquity abounds through little sins. They build as the sand upon the seashore. What love waxes cold? When we can slight those sins for which Christ's blood was shed to appease the wrath of the Father, it reveals that our love for the truth has grown cold, does it not? It proves that the truth is no longer important to us. 2TH 2:10-12 teaches us, "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:[to what end?]That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Little sins are unrighteousness. These little sins, these things we take for granted as just part of our human nature, as just part of our fallen condition, bring us no remorse. Do you see the necessity for repentance? We must see that we are nothing but wounds, bruises, and petrified sores; then we start to understand what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Everything within Paul died when he saw how he was coveting. The law says, "Thou shalt not covet." Paul saw the sinfulness of his heart because he saw the covetousness of his heart. Then those sins brought him where? He cried out, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord..." Rom 7:24-25. Until we have rightly understood the sinfulness of sin, we are not proper candidates for salvation. We have to see how God is so jealous of His Word. In ROM 1:25 it speaks of "...who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." For these sins which may have seemed small in the eyes of the offender, God says in ROM 1:28-32, "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, [You see their ungodliness? Godliness is to love God with our heart, soul and mind.] God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."
Do you see the ungodliness? Godliness is to love God with our heart, soul, and mind. We can slight these little things, and we can say "but God won't keep me out of heaven for such a little sin". We must realize it isn't the little sin; it is the fact that we are bartering His authority for human reasoning. For their little sins, the Lord left them. He sent them strong delusions and a reprobate mind, i.e., a mind void of sound judgment. Their little sins build as the sand upon the seashore until all these sins mentioned above are considered as little sins because of a reprobate mind.
FOR OUR THIRD POINT, we will consider how the law must be fulfilled, "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." I hope your immediate response is "I cannot fulfill the Law!" The Lord knows we are not able to fulfill the law, but He looks at the thoughts and intents of the heart. ISA 66:2 says, "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." This is so blessed. What does poor mean here? It means that we are not rich in ourselves; we are not able to come before the Lord as the rich young ruler and tell Him all this I have done all my life. No, we come as poor beggars. We come as a humble, praying supplicate having forfeited every right and every mercy. What is a contrite spirit? It is a spirit that comes to an unconditional surrender before the Lord. A contrite spirit sees that every law and every jot and tittle of His law becomes holy, right, and just and "...trembles at my word." The Lord is saying to this man who is humble, contrite, and trembles at my Word, I will look upon him in love. That is not a slavish fear. It means to tremble with such a holy reverence, such a desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord. The Lord opened my heart to see what a blessedness there is when our hearts are humble and melted before the will of the Father, and how He sent His Son to appease that wrath that is upon that sin. When we see this, that blessed atonement becomes so precious. If we are able to slight God's commandments, we must consider what we read in HEB 10:26, "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Do you know why? When we slight the least of His commandments, we trample upon the blood of Christ. We put Him to an open shame. We are mocking the blood of Christ when we slight His commandments. When we have knowledge of what is sin and sin willfully, Scripture says, "...there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." That is a dreadful thought. That should make our hearts tremble before His Word. When we slight God's law, we trample upon the blood of Christ. In HEB 10:29 we read, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Works does not save us. The Lord looks at the heart for godly fear and the fruit of repentance. EPH 2:8-9 say, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." It is through God's grace that He works repentance in our hearts. PHI 2:12-13 says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." It is of God's grace that we receive a new desire to do His will. As we read in HEB 10:29, we must not do "... despite unto the Spirit of grace." It is the spirit of grace that works in us to will and do of His good pleasure. Then if we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, He says there is no more remission of sin. It is a horrible thing to sin willfully against knowledge. It is of God's grace that we receive a desire to do His will. Read PRO 16:1, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD." The changing of attitude, the changing of the heart is the work of grace. The Spirit works this change by conforming our will to Christ's will. In EPH 2:10 we read, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." We are His workmanship; He works it within our souls. We must watch that we do not "do despite unto the Spirit of grace;" we must watch that we do not trample on the precious blood of Christ by willfully sinning, by slighting the least of His commandments. We must learn that salvation is of grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not by our own doings or feelings. HEB 13:20-21 says, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, [This is the blood we may not trample on] Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." It is the work of grace that works in the heart to give us the new desire by making us perfect in every good work to do His will--working in you. Isn't that blessed, how it is the work of grace working within you! When a man breaks God's law, the law says 'I must be honored—if you did not honour me with obedience you must die!' The act of eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden in itself seemed to be a small sin, but it was an affront to God's Authority, which led to the penalty of death. This is what the law tells us; He tells us that " I must be honoured..." and if you do not honour me with obedience, then you must honor me with death. ROM 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." It was through that "blood of the everlasting covenant," that justice was satisfied, and the law was honored by perfection of obedience. By the perfect obedience of Christ and His blood, God's eternal decrees shall stand. ROM 8:29-30 we read, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." This is how we become righteous under the law; it is by the fact that Christ did it. Now we're talking about justification by faith, by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith in what Christ has done. It is now looking outside of ourselves unto Christ. The law requires of us a perfect life; through the imparted righteousness of Christ, the believer presents a perfect life. It is only through the Lord Jesus Christ that we can come to present a perfect life. In 1CO 1:30 we read, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." It is in Christ that we have this perfection. We cannot plead the blood of Christ, however, to atone for willfully sinning against the least of His commandments, so we can go on and willfully disobey. We all offend in many things, and we all have to come before the Lord and confess how unworthy we are. If you can sin willfully, however, woe be unto you! Our lives seem to come so short, but ROM 10:4 tells us, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Christ was the end, the intent, the purpose, the fulfilling of the law. How blessed to stand before God in righteousness that exceeds the requirement of the law. Do you know what that is? We come before Him robed in the righteousness of the Creator Himself. Read what 2CO 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." We come before God with a righteousness that exceeds the requirement of the law. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness sake; He will magnify the law and make it honorable. PSA 138:2 says, "I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." You see the blessedness of having a heart that is tender before the Lord. You see how David so rejoiced to see that God's Word was magnified. He didn't slight it; he didn't slight the authority of the Word. He saw that that Word was to be magnified above all His name. The law has to be fulfilled in us in a spiritual and a gospel sense. ROM 8:4 tells us, "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." It is when that Spirit of Christ is in our hearts and we're walking according to and after the Spirit of Christ that we are fulfilling the law of love. Regeneration is a work whereby the law is fulfilled. That new nature loves the law of God and is perfectly reconciled to the will of God. The new nature has a desire with perfection after the will of God. We still, however, have within us that old man of sin; the spiritual warfare remains. In ROM 7:25 the Apostle Paul said, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." That old man of sin remains; there is a continuous spiritual warfare. That new man of the Spirit strives against the flesh, and the flesh strives against the Spirit. There remains that spiritual warfare as we see in ROM 7:20-22, "Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." The inner man that delights in the law of God is the symbol of the work of regeneration. Now we delight in the law after the inner man, but in glory we shall charm our heavenly bride groom with that joy that was set before Him, for which He endured the cross and despised the shame! This is what I want to set forth: the blessedness of the joy of that perfection of righteousness that we see in REV 19:7- 8, "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." That perfection of righteousness is the joy that was set before our blessed Redeemer that He should receive His bride; that she should make herself ready; that He should receive her clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints conforming to that blessed image of Christ. Amen. |
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