Matthew, Matthew's Gospel chapter twelve. We want to continue our series in the doctrine of fulfillment or the theology of fulfillment and we're in Matthew twelve. Tonight we're going to be in a number of sections in Matthew what we want to begin by reading Matthew chapter twelve beginning at verse one. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn. and his disciples were unhungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not awful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have you not read what David did when he was unhungered and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God and he'd eat the showbread, which is not awful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him. but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how that the Sabbath days, the priests in the temple, profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Verse forty-one. where we read, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment for this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in judgment for this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold, a greater than Solomon is here. May the Lord bless his words. Let's pray together. Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus, we bow before you to thank you for your wondrous grace, for your care, for your keeping power, and especially for the revelation that you've given us of your dear Son. And we pray that tonight, as we open thy precious word together, that the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart will indeed be acceptable in thy sight. and that thy name will be glorified in our midst, and that our souls will be blessed abundantly. For we pray in the name and for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We continue tonight in our study of the doctrine of fulfillment. The last time that we were together, we worked out of Matthew chapter one and Matthew chapter two over the words that it might be fulfilled. And in particular, we looked at the verses in Matthew one concerning Christ, who is Emmanuel God with us, but also concerning him that he is the Savior of his people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And then in chapter two, we had a great time with, at least I did, with the words concerning Rachel. In Rema there was great lamentation. And also the words that were found in that second chapter concerning the wise man, that it might be fulfilled what was spoken of by Micah. And the prophecy of Micah chapter five is mentioned that he would be born in Bethlehem. And finally that he should be called a Nazarene. In other words, he is the true branch of Jehovah. That word that it might be fulfilled. that he should be called a Nazarene can't be found in the Old Testament. But it's a play on the word for branch, Nassar. And the Hebrew word Nassar is a branch, and four times over in the prophets, our Lord is presented as a branch of Jehovah, the king, the prophet, the priest, and that he is a fulfillment as the branch of Jehovah. The Lord our... righteousness. In fact, when we come to the gospel by Matthew, we've heard Bible teachers say all our life just about that Matthew is the gospel of the king. He is presented as a king in Matthew in particular. We're going to notice when we get to Mark, he's a servant of the Lord. In Luke, he is the son of man. In John, he is the son of God. And these are the designations of our Lord. According to the writings in the four gospel accounts that we have, in these four expressions are summed up, the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, the great seed plot of the Bible is Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen. And it's in fulfillment of that promise that God made to Satan. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed, He shall crush your head, but you're going to bruise his heel. And on Calvary's cross, the heel of the Savior was bruised, but the head of Satan was crushed. For Hebrews two says that through death, Christ destroyed him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to bondage. In other words, Christ Jesus the Lord is the fulfillment of all the premises of the Old Testament. In fact, the whole motivation of Matthew's gospel may be summed up in one word, fulfilled. And we want to deal with that tonight from various passages in the gospel by Matthew. But by way of introduction, let me just simply say this. For Matthew, Jesus was the fulfillment of of all the expectations regarding David and Abraham's son. The opening verse of the New Testament is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, and all that those two things designated in the Old Testament. David had the covenant of kingship, and our Lord Jesus is the king of the Jews. Furthermore, To Abraham, God gave the great covenant of redemption. And in the person of our Lord, he brought in redemption, and he completed it. And he is the Son of God who saves his people from their sins. We do not have a Savior who simply went to the cross and died. We present a Savior who is victorious. He saves his people. and not one of them that he purposes to save will ever be lost. He is the one, friends, according to Matthew, who fills full? What does he fill full? He fills full, and that's what the word fulfillment means. He fills full all that the promises throughout the Old Testament economy predicted. It doesn't matter whether you speak of Bethlehem. or if you speak of Galilee, or if you speak of the Messiah, if you speak of the King of Israel, if you speak of the Jews, or if you speak of the servant of Jehovah, or the Son of Man, he is the fulfillment of it all. He is the fulfiller and the answer and the goal of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. We used to sing as an opening song when I was a teenager at Youth for Christ. Saturday nights as young people we'd gather together and we'd sing and we'd have a message from the Word of God. I remember a few times my favorite preacher preached at Youth for Christ, Flores, Dr. Donald Gray Barnhouse. My, what messages that was. I still remember the first sermon he preached at Youth for Christ. It was on First Corinthians chapter ten and verse thirteen. It's indelibly written in my mind the way in which that man expounded the Holy Scriptures. But our opening song every Sunday night or every Saturday night would be Christ hath for sin atonement made. What a wonderful Savior. We are redeemed. The price is paid. What a wonderful Savior. What a wonderful Savior. is Jesus my Jesus. What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord. For you see, he is a fulfillment of all that God said he would be and all that God said he would do. So the first thing we want to examine tonight, how does the Sermon on the Mount fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures? And returning back to Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter five and verse seventeen where the Lord says, think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. In other words, in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter five, Matthew chapter six and Matthew chapter seven is the greatest sermon ever preached. Furthermore, this sermon on the Mount present Christ as the new lawgiver, as the new lawgiver and the one who will usher in the new covenant. In verse seventeen that we just read, he claims to fulfill the law and the prophets. And he implies in that statement much more than that. And I want to tell you what is implied in that statement and we'll move on from there. He does not mean simply that he merely discharged all the mosaic obligations. He didn't only say that. Furthermore, neither does it mean that he is simply a fulfillment of prophecy. Although he is, but it's much more than that. Nor is he affirming the continuing validity of the mosaic law. He's not doing that. You see, we can take those three things and Christ, as he says, I'm not come to destroy but to fulfill, is more than all that. In other words, what he's saying is that Moses' law will stand until it is entirely fulfilled. Look at verse eighteen. He says, For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tiddle shall in no wise pass from the law. To all be fulfilled. If you look at the Hebrew alphabet. You will notice some little markings. That change the meaning. Above letters. That changes the meaning of words. And one of those is a jot. And one of those is a tittle. And to you and me. We could say. It's like the dotting of the eye. Or the crossing of the teeth. No I will go undone it, and no T will go uncrossed. It will all be fulfilled. But here in verse eighteen, we find that it reaches its fulfillment in him who says, But I say unto you. Those are the words that are so important in the Sermon on the Mount. For throughout the Sermon on the Mount, you have the expression, you have heard it said by them of old times. But I say unto you, He is the new lawgiver. In other words, when you come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, look over at chapter seven, verse twenty-four. Therefore, and that word therefore is a word of conclusion. of all that he had said in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock. And then he speaks of the rain descending and the waters of the flood rising. But then he also gives the illustration that whosoever does not take heed to his sayings, is likened unto a man who builds his house on the sand. And when the winds come and the floodwaters rise, there's a destruction great is the father of. In other words, when we examine this, we find that these sayings of his constitute a new law which Jesus introduced in the Sermon on the Mount. Wallessness in the New Testament is defined as disobedience to his word. That's how lawlessness is defined in the New Testament. It is defined so in the Fourteenth Chapter of John. It is defined so in the First Epistle of John. But in the First Epistle of John is in the Sermon on the Mount. He says in verse sixteen, Whosoever doeth the will of God, abideeth forever. In other words, our Lord Jesus is that prophet greater than Moses of Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, who must be heard. Moses said in Deuteronomy eighteen verse fifteen, the Lord your God shall raise unto you a prophet from the midst of you, like unto me. Unto him you shall hearken. You must listen to him. And he is the one who has brought in a new law, the Sermon on the Mount. And he has brought in a new covenant. Well, but as we read in the close of the Sermon on the Mount, failure to hear his word of right results in judgment that is likened to a home that is erected on the sand. that has a terrible fall, great is the fall thereof. It will collapse with a mighty fall. Therefore, this king's demands must be accepted by all who would become part of his kingdom. That's what our Lord talked about in John chapter three. Accept a man be born of gamut. Be born from above. He cannot see the kingdom of God, and he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And that new birth brings with it a new nature. For it is birth that determines nature. And that new nature gives us that inner desire to obey the Word of God. Here is one way we know that we're saved. We have an inner desire. to obey the word of the king. He is the king who brings salvation. But we move now from the Sermon on the Mount to Matthew chapter seventeen, what I call in the earthly life of our Lord the continental divide, the transfiguration of our Lord there on the mountain. I trust you're familiar with the seventeenth chapter of Matthew, but I'm going to read this section just in case you're not to familiarize yourself with it. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto him Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here if I will. Let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Again, among other things, I want to point out from this passage in Matthew seventeen, our Lord Jesus is presented here as the new Moses. And I want to give you the contrast. or the ways in which our Lord is like unto Moses. For it is Moses who said, The Lord your God will raise up unto you a prophet from the midst of you, and you have to listen to him. He is the focal point of the revelation of God. Him shall you hear. And Christ is a new Moses. I want you to notice, first of all, you have the Father's affirmation. And he affirms that. in the presence of Elijah and in the presence of Moses. Our Lord is above Elijah, the great man of the prophets. He is above Moses, the great lawgiver, and God the Father says, hear him. And therefore it is interesting to note the similarities to Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. First, you have the cloud. The cloud in Scripture was the Shekinah glory. And it was the presence, the symbol of the presence of God among his people. And the presence of God was there among the people, just as it was upon the Mount of Sinai, when Moses received the law at the disposition of angels in the presence of God. And in the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus, we read about the... God bringing Israel into the bond of the law covenant and the glory that is there on the mount. So here it is again, the cloud. But second, you have the voice of God. God spoke from Mount Sinai and Israel said, don't let us hear his voice again. Moses, you go talk to him for us. Here we have the voice of God again. Third, we have the commandments from the Mount of God in the book of Exodus, chapter twenty. And here we have the commandment also here, him. What has he said to you? And of course, you remember when Moses came down from the mountain, what was so different about Moses? Second Corinthians three tells us, along with Exodus, chapter thirty-four, that his face shone. and you have the shining face, the shining face of our Blessed Lord, the new lawgiver, there on the Mount of Transfiguration. I call this, as I have before, and if you were listening, you'll remember the Continental Divide in the earthly life of the Lord. The Continental Divide is somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. There's an eastern continental divide in western North Carolina, and it runs all the way up the Appalachians. But the continental divide is simply this. To the west of that point, all the water runs into the Pacific Ocean. To the east of that point, all the water runs into the Atlantic Ocean. It's indeed the continental divide. And when we think of the eastern continental divide, the waters run into the Gulf of Mexico, which eventually enter the Atlantic Ocean, to the west of this eastern continental divide, and to the east of that, where we are right here, the waters run into the Atlantic Ocean directly. Why do I say that concerning the life of our blessed Lord? His life has been brought to the very peak. It was here that he stepped into the glory. And it was rightfully his. And I like to think he could have stayed there. And the Lord Jesus, blessed be his name. He will lift the glory twice. that he may go to the cross once. We see the great love of the Lord for sinful men on the Mount of Transfiguration because Peter said, Let's stay, it's so wonderful. I'd say that too if I were in the glory. Our Lord said, No, Peter. It's a cross. And apart from the cross, there is no glory. Oh, there will be glory for him, but for no one else. But in order that others may be partakers of that glory with him, he came down from the mount and he went to the cross. And that brings us to the portion of the Word of God that we read tonight from the twelfth chapter of Matthew. Matthew chapter twelve is the most interesting chapter to anyone who studies the chronology of the book of the gospel by Matthew Matthew chapter twelve the hatred against Christ and his rejection by the nation is a settled thing what we read in the gospel of John he came unto his own and his own received him not and it is a very settled thing by the time you get to the end of the twelfth chapter. In other words, the disciples are seen here in those first eight verses, working grain on the Sabbath day. And this becomes the platform for our Lord to reveal His absolute authority as a king and as a Messiah. And if you miss that, in this little story, of this eight verses, you're missing the heart of what is revealed here by the Lord. It is also here in chapter twelve that his rejection by the nation is manifested as clearly seen in the unpardonable sin that was spoken by the Pharisees. In Matthew chapter twelve, the unpardonable sin is brought forth. And what is the unpardonable sin? The unpardonable sin is the sin that men commit, knowing the consequences of it, knowing better than doing it, but doing it anyway. And he's attributing the work of Christ through the Spirit of God to Satan. That is the unpardonable sin. And the Pharisees knew that our Lord did these things as a fulfillment of the promises of the kingdom of God. It was evident. But they deliberately said and attributed the work to Satan. They knew better when they did it. They did it anyway. And they sealed by what they did, their own doom. The unpardonable sin is just what it says it is. It is unpardonable. And it's brought out in this fourth chapter, though we're not going to deal with it in particular tonight. But what is brought out here in the verses that we read? First of all, that Jesus is greater than the Sabbath, and he is greater than the temple. And we read that. In verse eight, and in verse six. In verse six, he is greater than the temple, for which they had a great affection. And he's greater than the Sabbath, which was a sign of the old covenant, the law covenant that God made with Israel. But more than that, if you read through the twelve chapter, he's greater than David. to whom the covenant of kingship is made, and in the two verses we read, he is greater than Jonah, and he is greater than Solomon. Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. That always reminds me of the Pennsylvania Dutch where I was reared, because preachers would preach sometimes in another preacher's platform. see and a preacher preached regularly in this place his name was Solomon so you can imagine the text the other man used behold a greater than Solomon he's here and of course there's another preacher there his name is Jonah and he preached a greater than Jonah is here when he came into his pulpit and then there was a little fellow who preached He could hardly be seen behind the pulpit. He preached on the text. Did he die? Be not afraid. But anyway, what we have here in this twelfth chapter is the truth of who Christ is. Who is this one we serve? He's greater than the Sabbath. He's greater than Jonah. He's greater than Solomon. To whom? It is written, of whom it is written, that the Queen of Shiva came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear his wisdom. And here's someone greater. Do we pay attention to him? He is a new lawgiver. He says, Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them. Are we concerned about our obedience to the very words of the Savior? But we move on. We find in his death and in his resurrection a glorious fulfillment. For you see, the kingship of Jesus is carried through his death. Think of Christ's conversation with Pilate. Remember when he was before Pilate, Pilate said to him, Don't you know that I have power to crucify you and I have power to release you? He was a Roman governor. He stood for Caesar. He boasted of the power that he had. Our Lord Jesus calmly said to him, You'd have no authority at all, no power at all, except it were given you from above. Does that thrill your soul? Palant marveled that he didn't answer him. He said, Why don't you answer me? Don't you know the authority I have? I was so confident. He said, you'd have no authority at all, except it were given you from above. But then we have the details of the purple robe. The purple robe they put upon him, signifying that he's a king. Purple is a color that the king's wore. The kings were dressed in purple. They put a reed in his hands. And they mocked him with a cry, Hail, King of the Jews. And then when he was on the cross, they put a sign over his head, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. That's in fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures. The Old Testament scriptures said he would be. And he was. He's the King who reigned from the tree. He was in full control of all the events around Calvary. Satan wasn't in control. Man wasn't in control, but God was. But then his kingship is also declared in his resurrection from the dead. He could say in the midst of his earthly ministry, as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man by three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And following his resurrection from the dead, which declares that he is indeed all that he claimed to be, he gave that great missionary manifesto. What was it? All authority is given unto me. In heaven and in earth, go ye and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is the command of the sovereign Lord. It is a great missionary manifesto that he has given to his church. Coupled with the truth, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. In other words, we can say from the heart, Jesus is here. He is the King. He is the one who fulfills all the hopes of Israel as given to them under the Old Testament economy. He is the focal point of all the premises of God. But now we have to apply this truth. What does that truth mean to me as I walk every day in shoe leather and as I rub shoulders with my fellow men? What does it mean? We who know Him and who understand this truth can say with a writer to the Hebrews, God has spoken in His Son. We have an authoritative book. We never need to fear what men say about the Word of God. Never. We never need to fear. We never need to back up. God's word is like a hammer. We sing with the boys and girls, taken from the prophecy of Jeremiah. God's word is like a hammer that breaketh a rocking twain, a lamp to God our footsteps, and a light on the stormy main. His word it has two edges. It's a mirror ourselves to see. Yes, this is a book of books, the B-I-B-L-E. You see, friends, we need not fear what people say in the Bible. Let me just give you an illustration. I was sitting in a restaurant one morning, and the man next to me was trying to, or he made a statement, and he made it about a group of people, and he said, those people believe whatever will be will be. Well, you see, you've got to beware of cliches. I said to this man, what do you believe? Whatever will be won't be? I said, I happen to be one of those who believes that whatever God has spoken in his word will come to pass. And it is God who determines whatever will be. And whatever God determines will be, it will be. It can't be anything else. That's the confidence this gives us in the Word of God. The second application tonight, you and I must take the words of Christ seriously. He says, but I say unto you, Have you listened to what he has to say? For it is he who declares that by our giving heed to what he has said, it determines our relationship to him. He said, Why call you me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? That doesn't mean we're saved by works. It means by what we do is an evidence that a work has been done by God the Holy Spirit within us. Obedience is the result of the new birth. The third application is this. Since Jesus is a goal of all God's purposes, we should have a growing desire to be like him. That's the end desire of the Christian life. He owes chism in that great hymn that we sing, O to be like the blessed Redeemer, this is my constant longing and prayer. Gladly I'll forfeit all of earth's pleasures, Jesus. thy perfect likeness to wear, O to be like thee, O to be like thee, just as I am, and pure as thou art. Come in thy sweetness, come in thy fullness, stamp thy own image deep on my heart. As we focus the attention of Scripture, And our Lord Jesus Christ, there is that earnest desire to be like him. May we have it day by day. Now let's pray together. And now, our Father, in the precious and worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we commit this message to you. Truly. Our hearts rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory as we consider who thou art and what thou hast accomplished in and through thy beloved Son. We marvel at the contents of your book and how it focuses upon thy Son. Take this word and bless it to every heart. For Jesus' sake, amen.