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Disclaimer: This is a transcript of Pastor Fenker’s sermon. It was preached from an outline, and the transcript taken automatically from the audio. Please forgive any typographical or formatting errors.

᛭ INI ᛭

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. He says in the Psalm, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, speaking of the coming Christ. The Lord says in Ezekiel, I myself have said it and I will do it, says the Lord. When talking about the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. And today he says, Until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.

By no means. The Lord says it 3 times this morning. must be important. And in fact, it is. Because when the Lord says something, He means it. He’s not joking around. He’s actually serious when he says something. When the Lord says a word that word endures. As we know from the scriptures, the word of the Lord endures forever. And the Lord is indeed serious about his holy word. We heard it today in Matthew 5, 3 times. He’s serious about his law. That nothing will pass from it till the end of the world. He is serious about his holy word about true righteousness. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And he is also serious about the lives of his people. There’s sanctification. Warning, assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you’ve paid the last penny.

THE LORD IS SERIOUS ABOUT HIS HOLY WORD.

He means what he says, and he says what he means. And he expects his people to listen. That is, of course, the way of faith. The Lord. is serious about his holy law. You will by no, not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until all is fulfilled. But which law? It is clear from our text that Christ is speaking about the moral law. At this point in the sermon on the Mount Christ launches into talking about various commandments.

He brings up the 5th commandment and murder. He brings up the 6th commandment when in terms of lust and divorce. He brings up the 2nd commandment in talking about oaths. He’s speaking about the moral law. What is what we are morally obligated to do according to God’s law. He’s not talking about Old Testament worship laws or Old Testament government laws, how the nation of Israel ran itself in the Old Testament. God’s moral law endures until the end of your life or until the end of time. Until all things are fulfilled, Christ says today. That is till the end of time. Or to the end of your life, as we know, in terms of the 6th commandment, a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but once he has died, she is free from that law.

God is serious about his holy law. He says it today in terms of the 5th commandment, including not only murder, physically harming someone and killing them, but that which produces murder also, is governed by the 5th commandment, anger, grudge bearing, seeking to put your neighbor down. And we heard this morning also that God is serious about the 6th commandment in all of the ways that that commandment applies in our lives. The Holy Spirit spoke it through the apostle Paul in Romans chapter one. Things which society now celebrates are actually condemned by the 6th commandment, condemned by God’s law. We considered the 4th commandment in reflecting upon God’s law in our own lives, in the time for reflection, in confession and absolution. And we also can keep going. Pick a commandment, any commandment, even stealing, let the thief no longer steal, Paul says, but let him work with honest hands that he might have something to give to someone in need. Or to just summarize it all. Whatever commandment is given, it is to say, love your neighbor as yourself.

And yet hear again, how serious Christ is about his law. Nothing passes away by any means passes away from the law. unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you won’t enter heaven. And the stern warning if you do not live according to the law, you will end up in prison, and will by no means get out till you’ve paid the last penny. He’s talking about hell. And there’s no way of getting out of there.

And so we rejoice then today. In the words of our verse, in you, O Lord, do I take refuge, let me never be put to shame, in your righteousness deliver me. Because we certainly won’t be delivered by our own righteousness. But the Lord’s. And so it is good news, that the Lord isn’t only serious about his law. He is serious about his holy promises. The law and the promises are the 2 great doctrines of the Holy Scriptures. They are both are revealed in the divine word. So it was that God spoke to Adam. You shall not eat of any tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for the day that you eat of it, you’ll surely die. But then after Adam had done that thing, Death didn’t follow, not immediately. But then the Lord spoke a holy promise. I will put enmity between you and the woman, He spoke to the devil, between your seed and her seed. That seed shall crush your head. But you shall strike his heel.

The Lord isn’t messing around with his holy promises. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees. And here Christ means not a righteousness that comes from deeds. But rather a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ IHS. For whoever trusts in him will by no means be put to shame The Spirit says through St. Peter.

By no means shall you be put to shame when you put your trust in him. And this promise that he is not messing around about that salvation has gone forth to the nations. Until the end of the age, Christ is present working in that promise, that the disciples believe this holy word, and learn all that Christ has commanded. To receive his holy baptism, by which we have the forgiveness of sins. To receive his holy body and blood, the ransom paid for our sins and the sins of the whole world, that we might receive from him. The true righteousness, a righteousness that surpasses not only the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, but is a righteousness that endures forever. For it’s the Lord’s righteousness and a righteousness that indeed surpasses all our understanding.

The Lord is deathly serious about his holy law. And his holy promises. And he is also serious about the lives of his holy people. And this is clear from how Christ concludes his comments on the 5th commandment. You will by no means get out of there till you’ve paid the last penny. Warning his people to do not willfully walk off into sin and unrighteousness. Lest you be lost.

Indeed, Our collect today is good and right to pray, that the Lord would increase within us, true religion, a true living out of what Christ teaches us in his word. True religion is, of course, to visit widows and orphans in their affliction, as James says, but it is also what Christ says in Matthew 5:23, Leave your gift before the altar and go your way, be reconciled to your brother. And then come and offer your gift. Christians reconciling one to another in the forgiveness of Christ is true religion, a true living out of what God has called us to do in Christ.

And this is, indeed, the purpose of his holy word, that we might be brought to repentance and faith in him. And to rejoice and endure in his word. For if you remain in my word, Christ says you are truly my disciples, and you will by no means taste death forever. Because when the Lord’s word has had its way with you, then you will properly believe in him and believe his promises. And when the Lord’s word has had its way with you, there the Spirit will bear his fruit in your life, living properly, according to God’s holy word.

And it is indeed the work of the Spirit. For the Lord, the Spirit, the giver of life, has put you into the path of Christ’s righteousness. In the font the word, water and word of holy baptism. And that spirit through the word is still active within you. As a Christian, you are a temple of the spirit. And he bears his fruit out in your life. Not to further the gratification of your flesh, But his word and spirit, do that for you, and it will be evident in your life. As the Lord’s word says. To put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts, not using liberty as a cloak for vice. through love, serve one another. Or be reconciled to your brother, and then come, and offer your gift.

THE LORD IS SERIOUS ABOUT HIS HOLY WORD.

Whether that’s his holy law, whether that’s his holy gospel, his promises, or how his holy law and his holy gospel work themselves out in the lives of his holy people. The Lord speaks in such a way that you can build your faith on it. But also so that you can build your life on it, the way you live your life. But when it comes to his holy word, then it’s really, just his word, and his spirit doing everything. And we are on the receiving end of that word, rejoicing in it, to be serious about his word as the Lord is serious about it., rejoicing ultimately, again in the words of our verse: In you, O Lord, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, deliver me. A refuge not in our works, but the works of Christ, who is indeed are righteousness, crucified and raised for you.

᛭ INI ᛭