The Undying Law - part II

Last week, we started a ‘mini-series’ as it were, on The Undying Law of God. When He preempted the numerous laws He gave with the command to “be holy as He is holy” (Levi. 19:2), we can know that there on thundering Sinai, in the giving of the Moral Law, He was revealing His character and nature in a way that we can interact with. How can we begin to wrap our mind around the “perfect-ness” of a spaceless and timeless God? The Law.

And because God can’t change, it therefore then means that The Law can’t change. All of the Old Testament laws; Civic (how governments ought be run); Sacrificial (how are sins atoned for); or Moral (what is the definition of ‘right & wrong’); are “still on the books” so to speak, precisely because they are “interactable” manifestations of an unchanging God.

Nothing has been done away with, replaced, altered, abolished, nullified, or destroyed. All of the laws still need to be followed, and Christ did. He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law, on behalf of all who will ever repent of their sins and believe in Him. Which means then, if His law-following righteousness has not been applied to us, then we are still under that burdensome obligation. All who refuse to repent, even while carrying out actions that God says are good; is doing nothing but trying to earn their salvation, and failing at every step.

If that is you, and you are trying to earn Heaven, by carrying out actions that God has commanded us to perform, then it will be those same works that God uses to crush you in the caverns of Hell. Your good works, if you are using them to pay for your sins; will do nothing but fan the flame of your eternal destruction. If you want to follow the law of God, do it, by repenting and believing in Him who fulfilled them all. If you are innocent of all your sins, and the stain they left on your soul is the same color as His bloody cross; then live like it. If your sin was nailed to the naked body of Jesus Christ, and He died in your place under its weight, then live like it's true.

Reading → Matthew 5:17-20 & Opening Prayer

Before we move into our Main Sermon this morning; it can help us understand that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4) when we take a step back in our thoughts, and see that the reasons why The Law was given correspond to the reasons why Christ was given.

The Law was given:

To show us who God is and what He requires. (Levi. 19:2) To expose our inability to give what He requires. (Rom. 3:20) To guard us from straying into sin. (Gal. 3:24) And to point us towards Christ. (Gal. 3:24)

Christ was given:

To show us The Father. (Jn. 14:9; Heb. 1:3) To show what He requires of us. (Matt. 22:37-40) To provide what He required when we never could. (Matt. 3:15). And to unite us with The Father that He is united with. (Jn 17:20 & 21)

Both Christ, and The Law, were given to reveal the truth of who God is, who we are, and what He alone has done about the differences; and then that which He alone did…He uses as the means to cause His children who have not yet come home, to believe in Him.

In the coming weeks we will be taking a look at precisely how Christ fulfilled, and is currently fulfilling, the different “categories” of Law; and which ones we are required to live out apart from our repentance and belief in Him. As in: “If Christ fulfilled the Moral Law, does that mean we can go out and murder and steal and sleep around? If Christ fulfilled the Civic Law, does that mean we can just invent a nation from scratch, and put whatever laws we want on the books? How can we tell the difference?”

_____

Before we get there, however, we need to understand that in the verses we have in front of us; Christ is exposing the fallen hearts desire to define righteousness, justice, or “how one ought live” according to their own standards; and He does so in a very peculiar way.

How do we react when we see Him say that there really is a type of righteousness that the Scribes and Pharisees have, and…that we need to surpass it? They are, afterall, the infamous ‘bad guys’ of the New Testament. Does it cause you to pause, and think that Jesus has some undertones here that we aren't picking up?

When we do pause and try to unpack what Jesus is saying, what will come to mind is His well-known rebuke of them in Matthew 23. 

Seven times (or eight, depending on your translation), Jesus pronounces “woe” upon the Scribes and Pharisees; rebuking them for: Refusing to let other people come under His rule & reign, while they refused to submit (v.13); endorsing false conversions (v.15); manipulation (v.16-20); neglecting the “weighter things of the law” (v.23&24); hypocrisy (v.25&26); being filled with evil (v.27&28); and lying about honoring the people who they would have killed (v29&32).

Given all of that, and coupled with our verse this morning; we are forced to ask what kind of righteousness the Pharisees had. And once we find the answer; if you do want to exceed their righteousness; then do not brush it aside. 

Matthew 23:27 & 28 → “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. [28] Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

What type of righteousness did the Pharisees have (that we must surpass, don't forget!)? External. They carried out behaviors and actions that God told them to; because God told them to. It was something they had to do. And, it even appeared beautiful! What a praise report this is!

Time-Out

A quick “Time-Out”. We could easily veer off course here and see that something can look beautiful, without actually being beautiful. This has ramifications in so many different areas of our life, the last one we will discuss later on; but right now we can see that it affects not only every single artistic area that humans participate in; be it writing, music, painting, etc; but how we view ourselves and others as well. The old adage “beauty is only skin deep” is a Biblical truth. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)

Time-In

In one breath, the living Word of God said that their way of life; their God instructed actions and work; their acts of mercy; their worship; their peacekeeping, etc etc, all appeared beautiful and righteous; and then rebuked them for it because it was only an appearance. And all of it was nothing but the content of their heart, coming out of their fingertips and tongues.

This is how humans behave. It's how we act and live. Whatever is in our heart, will manifest itself in our actions. Yes, some people are skilled with hiding it from other people. Putting on different masks depending on the setting to hide their true self, but be sure that your true self, that which is in your heart, will eventually show itself. Everyone works, fights, loves, hates, builds and breaks in accordance with what their heart most deeply desires.

And let it be said brothers and sisters, that before Christ saves someone, the contents of their unredeemed heart, is piece after piece, brick after brick, of idolatry.  We were born at Babel, and spend our entire life trying to build our way upward, to be like God (Gen. 3:5); and that is exactly what The Scribes and Pharisees were doing. 

They, and every unbeliever who knows that God exists and hates that they know it, has said: “God has revealed Himself to us in His Law, telling us how we ought to live. And if I follow through with all of it, every jot and tittle, my eyes will be opened and I will be like Him.” My strength; my willpower. My grit and intellect and understanding. Me, me, me.

The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees (that God says we must exceed) was nothing but self-worshipping idolatry. They worshipped themselves, thinking their actions can make them righteous; and because the instructions were from God, it was enough evidence for the veil over their eyes to remain firmly in place. Instead of owning up to their sin and crying out for mercy; they dug their heels in and doubled down. This is exactly what Christ was talking about in Mark 15:9 → “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. [9] And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Humans inventing laws, while pretending they came from God, is not unique to Catholicism. It is the presupposition for every heresy, regardless of how many times it's regurgitated into a new generation; and it is seen in every false religion. Every faith system, apart from Christianity, teaches that our actions can make us righteous. To just name a few;

Buddhism, the pretentious yoga teachings of hippies everywhere, demands the end of all cravings, either good or bad (using the Christian definition of good & bad, mind you), to achieve enlightenment. But if you can't, your consciousness, not you will come back to try again and again.

Islam, the stillborn brainchild of the pedophile Mohamed; cursed be his name; teaches that one of the many ways to be a good person is to pray at five specific times per day, while facing a specific coordinate on the compass; and if you're off by a few degrees the prayer is invalid. But don't worry, there is a long list of rules they can follow to ensure they “do it right.”

Judaism, the contents of whitewashed tombs since 70AD, demands strict adherence to all 613 laws found in the Old Testament, while, of course, rejecting who those laws point to. And if they fail at adhering to them, because there is no Temple to kill an animal in, they sublet their atonement out to man-made rituals.

Because we by nature hate the God we know is real, while being unable to fully extinguish the eternity in our heart He created us with (Ecc. 3:11); unbelievers shoplift from the truth to shape and mold their own systems of belief. And because pieces of the truth are rolled up inside of it…it smells legitimate. It has a kernel of truth, a portion, which is just enough to not upset their tender little bellies, and is then swallowed wholesale.

Brothers and sisters, you have heard me say this before; the best kind of lie is the one closest to the truth. But something that is 99% true, is still 100% false. Why do you think all of these demon-spawned, man-made, fictitious fairy tale religions steal from our faith in their definition of “right” and “wrong”? Because they have nothing but excrement beneath their yellow surface.

This is why Christ had such harsh words for the Scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. All of their actions appeared and looked beautiful from the outside; having shadows of what God had long said but ignoring their substance; they held, and taught others, that their actions can make them righteous…when the truth is the other-way-around.

When you are righteous,

then and only then,

you will do good things.

This is a bold statement, I know. So…to slightly amend it; we need to understand that actions and motivations can become braided together to such a degree, that they require something so sharp it can cut between soul and spirit, and discern the thoughts and intents of the human heart. In just a moment we will look at some perfect examples of this; but the truth remains; all of us live out our lives in accordance with the deepest desires of our heart.

Finding a spouse, and how we treat the spouse we have, is based on what is in our heart. How we find a career, and what it actually is, is based on the contents of our soul.

How we spend our money, and who we give it to, is a reflection of what we value.

The hobbies we enjoy; the clothes we wear; our table manners; how often we sweep our floors; fold our laundry; the food we eat; our vocabulary; possessions; sleep schedule; the media we consume; the friendships we foster or those we leave behind; everything about the life we live is the causal outworking of our hearts.

In Luke 6:43-45, when Jesus said → “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [44] For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. [45] A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” …He was saying that the “stuff” in your heart will always manifest in your life, because your heart grows on the outside.

What is in your heart, my friends;

and does your answer

match how you live?

Do you take on specific actions, even actions that God tells you to take, thinking it will make you a good person? I pray you don’t, because anything you do that isn't born from your relationship with Jesus Christ, and then held up at Judgement Day as an attempt to pay for your sins, will appear righteous, yes…but will be nothing but filthy rags. 

When you give to the poor, help the needy, or feed the hungry; while your heart grows further black, it will look beautiful, it really will! But that's all it will be, an appearance with no substance. You’ll feel good about yourself, of course. And if you post about it on Social Media it will get even shinier. When other people see it, they’ll honor you. They’ll tell you all of the amazing ways in which God is using you; how spiritual you are; how well respected and nice and polite you are; and will massage your ego all the way to Hell.

So…can a non-Christian do good things? Can someone with a dead heart do things that God approves of? And furthermore, will it have a good effect in the world? Before I answer, remember that our motivations and actions can be interwoven to such a degree that we have to use the only sword sharp enough to separate them. Stay with me here.

In Gen. 41 we see a pagan ruler appointing a Christian to be second in command (Joseph), which brought about relief to everyone during a famine; and benefitting the entire Nation. In Acts 23 the Romans acted in accordance with God’s law (seeking justice through governmental means instead of mob-rule) as they moved Paul through the judicial process; which God used to bring him face to face with the Cesar and spread the Gospel. In Luke 18, The Pharisee was fasting and tithing, things that God tells us to do, but they were nothing but evidence of his own self-righteous damnation. 

For a bigger example, and to explain how intertwined our motivations and actions can become; in 2 Kings 10:15-31, we see a man named Jehu; having been commissioned to be king of Israel; carry out a campaign against the demon Baal. In v.16 He shouted aloud to his men → “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” destroyed false temples and altars, and then killed all of the Baal worshippers. All of which, God speaks of in v.30 → “And the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” He did something that God approved of, yes, but one verse later we read → “But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of Israel with all his heart; for he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, who had made Israel sin.”

Jehu believed that his actions…that God approved of…made him righteous, while allowing state-sanctioned idolatry that benefitted him, to remain. The zeal he was so eager to display, even though it was approved of by God; brought about good for the children of Israel; and blessed his great-grandchildren…was nothing but self-worship.

With that, you might very well be thinking: “Were Jehu’s actions “good” or “bad”? He did something that God Himself said He approved of, and benefitted his nation…but then refused to walk in the law of God. So were his actions good or bad? Answer me pastor.”

My response is…he did something good, yes, and it was really really bad for him. God approved of it, but did it lead Jehu to repent? Did his good actions help God save him? Did they prompt him to abolish idolatry in other places? No. In fact, we could even say that the action he took against Baal, being good, was a perfect excuse to not repent of other sins. “Im doing good over here, look, I obeyed. I did a good thing, followed the law, and acted in ways that God approved of, but…don’t look over there.”

The best way to convince yourself

you don't need to repent,

is by doing good things.

To bring this into the modern day, and then get back on track; we could so very easily draw a Jehu-shaped line from 2 Kings, and connect it to the White House. Is our legislature, (that we are responsible for because we elected them), filled with Jehus? They've done good things and secured our border, sure…while celebrating the Hindu demon-fest of Diwali. They’ve toppled tyrants and freed the people under them, sure…while providing State Benefits to sodomites. They even use the name of Jesus, in public, and have prayer meetings at the Pentagon! Sure…while giving selfish mothers legal protection to murder their children.

God will use the beautiful looking actions of those who hate Him (who we all one time were!) for a number of different things; the betterment of our Nation; the spread of the Gospel; and their own damnation; but never for their salvation. When our good works; our God-approved-of actions; aren't born from a motivation to see Him glorified, but instead are using the truth like a prostitute for our own betterment, they are still good…sure, and it is really really bad for us.

Do you remember what I asked you to hold on to? Our righteousness needs to exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees; and it does so not by destroying the physical outworking; but by coming from a heart that God alone purified independent of our efforts. 

Before Christ, we were God’s enemies (Col. 1:21); dead bodies rotting under the shadow of sin and shame (Eph. 2:1); whom God counted as His enemies (Rom. 5:10); and in His own good time, according to His own will, taking nothing outside of Him into consideration…God brought you to life. (Eph. 2:1) “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10 emphasis - mine)

Considering this, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.” (Rom. 3:27-31 emphasis - mine)

Did you read that? We establish the law! So yes, good works should be pouring out of our life in such quantities that other people see it and know who you belong to. We really do need to “...let (y)our light so shine before men, that they may see (y)our good works and glorify (y)our Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16)

We should be the best citizens, of whatever nation we live in; not because it makes us holy; but because the King who is currently fulfilling the Civic Law lives inside of us. We should be the most forgiving people on the planet; not because it will make us innocent; but because the Lamb who fulfilled the Sacrificial Law shed His blood for us. We should be living out the moral commands of God in every area of our life; not because it makes us righteous; but because God made Him who was perfectly moral, to be sin for us, that we might become His righteousness.

When these righteous actions originate from a heart that has been purified by God, brothers and sisters, is how our righteousness exceeds and surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees; because it directs all of the glory for them, to Him. And…it is what God has always required.

In 1st Sam. 15:22, King Saul hid his self-serving disobedience behind the guise of sacrifices as his reason for not annihilating the Amalekites; and is immediately confronted by Samuel when he says → “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” After repenting of his murder and adultery, the man after God’s own heart, cried out for mercy in Ps. 51:16 & 17 and said → “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. [17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; These, O God, You will not despise.”

God has always required of us an internal change of heart that produces an external change of behaviors. And hear me clearly children of Clyde-Savannah; because the external change, is proof of the internal change…they matter to Him!

Psalm 50:8-15 → “ I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. [9] I will not take a bull from your house, nor goats out of your folds. [10] For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. [11] I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. [12] If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness. [13] Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” First… “[14] Offer to God thanksgiving,” then “pay your vows to the Most High.” So when you “[15] Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

Everything already belongs to Him; every shade of color or music note; every pen, paper and hot meal. Every degree on your thermostat; every penny in your Bank Account belongs to Christ; every article of clothing was spun by Him upon the loom of eternity; and every hobby was designed with divine specification to suit the personalities He created.

So use them all for His glory and the good of the people around you. Create works of artistic beauty that Nations will defend during WWIII. Write songs that students will study for centuries. Feed the stranger. House the orphan. Spend your money knowing that it all belongs to Him, and knowing that none of it will be spent in vain. Live in such a way that your grandchildren’s grandchildren will benefit from; and do it all because the God of the Universe, Jesus Christ; Lord of lords and King of kings; died to save you while you were His enemy.

We should be the greatest musicians, artists, painters, and authors; in all of human history. Every Hospital should be staffed by those who know where life comes from. Every senator, lawyer, president, and police officer should be those whose crimes have been punished by God on the body of His Son. Every teacher should be someone who rejects the God-hating pedagogy of the pagans. Every counselor, psychiatrist, and counselor, should be someone who willfully acknowledges the root of every mentally traumatic event or circumstance since the Garden.

Do good works!

They matter!

But…they can't save you. If you think your Godly usage of that which already belongs to Him will earn you salvation…then you really are a Pharisee. 

To repeat myself as we come to a close; God has always commanded an internal change of heart that produces an external change of behaviors; and…has always promised to provide it despite our inability.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 → “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah [32] not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. [33] But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [34] No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

The burdensome law, at one time external; because of Jesus Christ and His fulfillment of them all; is now inside for all who repent of their sins and believe in Him. Golden lines of glory have been carved into our hearts; each one the penstroke of a perfect author; who has promised to use every single one of our good works for the betterment of our Nation, for the good of our soon to be brothers and sisters, and for His own glory.

Rev. Jacob Marchitell

March 8th 2026