 verses 17 through 20 and we're looking today at Jesus who is the fulfillment of the law we're continuing our series in the Gospel of Matthew we've arrived at chapter 5 we've been looking at first portion of it would be the introduction to the sermon called the Beatitudes we looked at last time we together it would have been referred to as the similitudes and now we're moving into Jesus and his purpose the purpose of Jesus which is the fulfillment of the law and so beginning at verse 17 reading to verse 20 Jesus said do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill for surely I say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven for I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven and so as we've been looking at this portion of Scripture when last together the Lord was giving to his followers he was giving to us as believers he was giving to us our purpose he had said that we are salt and he said that we are light so assault the church is at work almost invisibly in a sense but as the salt is at work it is being evidenced by a variety of things and we looked at this together we looked at our purity we looked at our flavoring of this world as well as our our call by God to preserve the world from corruption when he speaks of us as being light the church is to minister visibly so we illuminate spiritual darkness of this world and we do so by our lives and so as he's been speaking about that he's also made mention and we saw this last time together in verse 16 that we are to let our lights so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our father who is in heaven now he is not saying that we are saved by works that's an unfortunate belief amongst many who believe in a works oriented salvation they call that a works righteousness you work and you become righteous well that isn't what the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching what Jesus was teaching is that if indeed we are salt if indeed we are light then that's going to be demonstrated by a life that is dedicated to to good works or works that are done from a pure heart and so we're not saved by good works because we're saved by the grace of God in Ephesians 2 8 9 it says for by grace you've been saved through faith and that out of yourselves it's a gift of God not of works less anyone should boast you see if I could work my way into a righteousness I could boast about how righteous I am but I'm saved by the grace of God through faith but after I am saved good works is what is referred to as the the fruit that reveals that I've been saved as well as demonstrating my purpose my purpose is for good works Titus chapter 2 verse 14 says that Jesus gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people zealous he says for good works Ephesians 2 10 Paul said it like this he said we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them and so he has spoken to us concerning our purpose but after proclaiming the purpose of the church he now discloses a portion of his own purpose and he makes it clear in this passage he didn't come to destroy their faith but he came to complete it he's going to make it clear that the law and the prophets actually are pointing to him and so as the Lord speaks concerning this he says something in verse 18 when he says I I say unto you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled so what he's saying here at least a portion of what he is saying is that the Bible is God's word and he is saying that it can be trusted completely the Bible is God's word and it can be trusted why do we as Christians and why do I as a pastor why do I emphasize the word of God Jesus said it is God's word and can be completely trusted now there is an individual some of us have heard his name mentioned before his name is Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins is a well-known atheist he's almost what you would call a Billy Graham of atheism if you will he wrote a book called the God delusion Richard Dawkins and this is an excerpt from it Richard Dawkins said to be fair much of the Bible is not systematically evil but just plain weird as you would expect of a chaotically cobbled together anthology of disjointed documents composed revised translated distorted and improved by hundreds of anonymous authors editors and copyists unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other spanning nine centuries now that's Richard Dawkins take on the word of God it's chaotic it's a cobbled together anthology of disjointed documents it has hundreds of anonymous authors and editors and copyists etc and so he's basically simply saying what do you expect from a book that you can't trust the question is is that accurate you know there are those who would say that Jesus Christ because Jesus quoted scripture and Jesus Christ believed in its inerrancy and infallibility that it's simply because Jesus was just not as as intelligent as they are there are those I've read their quotes where they have stated well Jesus Christ had the information that they have now he wouldn't believe what he says he believed as he was proclaiming the things that he spoke during his day is that true is the Bible just a chaotically put together composed by men confusing disjointed account of somebody's mythological belief of creation and redemption and things of that nature let me give you a few Bible facts that might help you when I would I would begin by quoting DL Moody DL Moody said the Bible was not given for information but for our transformation and so he gives to us the purpose of scripture some basic Bible facts the what contains 66 books divided among the Old and New Testaments 39 books in the old 27 in the new the Bible is looked at and understood as one book Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible the Apostle Paul wrote 14 books over half of the New Testament it was written over a period of 1500 years from around 1450 BC to about 100 AD the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by over 40 different authors from all walks of life shepherds farmers tent makers physicians fishermen priests philosophers and kings despite these differences in occupation in the span of years it took to write it the Bible is extremely cohesive and unified the Bible was written in three languages Hebrew Aramaic and Greek there are 23,145 verses in the Old Testament 7,957 verses in the New Testament giving us a total of 31,102 verses the perfect agreement of these writers is one proof that a single author guided them all the author was God even though many writers wrote the Bible over many years there are no contradictions one author does not contradict any of the others the Bible has been translated into 2018 languages with countless more partial translations and audio translations for unwritten languages in comparison Shakespeare considered by many to be the master writer of the English language has only been translated into 50 languages the Bible reveals the mystery of God's plan which is the unifying theme of the Bible it is the revelation of Jesus Christ as a savior of sinful mankind Jesus explained how the Old Testament centered on him and Jesus makes it clear that all is fulfilled in him and that's what we're looking at here in this passage when the Lord Jesus Christ says do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill for assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one title will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled as we begin the the Jews are being told the Jewish nation are being told that they will not become righteous on their own by following the law of Moses the answer is because the reason they cannot become righteous that way is because the law pointed to and is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ when Paul was writing to the Roman church in Romans 10 verse 4 he said Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes when he said Christ is the end the word and there is the Greek word tell us the word and means termination the limit at which a thing ceases to be or its clothes it speaks that the law was pointing to Jesus and found its completion in him you see the Pharisees accused Jesus of ignoring and breaking Moses's law they thought that because he he dishonored because he healed on the Sabbath he was dishonoring it and they also believed that he was guilty of blasphemy because he declared himself to be the son of God now Jesus certainly appeared by their standard of interpretation to devalue the law of Moses and you can see that as we studied through Matthew in at least three ways one is and this is why they would think that about him he did not observe and agree with their oral traditions that they had you see according to rabbinic Judaism the oral law represents the laws statutes and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the first five books of Moses which is the written law but were regarded as equally binding according to Jewish tradition the oral law was passed on early in an unbroken chain from generation to generation until its contents were fully committed to writing following the destruction of the second temple and so they had laws that are called traditions that they held fast to that they consider to be equal to the written law of Moses you're going to see here in Matthew chapter five how many times the Lord Jesus Christ will actually correct that you'll see it for example in verse 21 when it says Jesus says you have heard that it was said but then notice verse 22 now he goes on to say but I say you'll see it in verse 27 where he says you have heard that it was said and then verse 28 but I say verse 31 it has been said verse 32 but I say and so Jesus does that throughout chapter five and as he does that he's saying you're in error and your oral traditions are not correct and he was establishing himself as being the authority so they did not appreciate that at all second he interpreted the law according to the spirit of the law and not the letter in Matthew 15 verse 6 Jesus said that they had made the commandment of God of no effect by their traditions so Jesus would speak concerning the spirit of the law and then third he ignored their traditional way of teaching because he taught with heaven's authority you're going to see that in Matthew chapter 7 verses 28 and 29 where it says there so it was when Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes you see when Jesus would teach he did not quote some other rabbi he didn't say well rabbi Hillel says this or rabbi Shamai says that rabbi Gamalial says this he didn't say things like that what he said is you have heard it said but I say it to you and that was such an amazing way of teaching that they saw that Jesus was establishing himself as the authority and because of these breaks with the religious tradition he was open to the accusation that he did not honor the law of Moses that's why he begins by saying do not think in other words do not think that I'm subverting the law of God or ignoring the prophets he says I came he says and I have come in other words don't think this because I have been sent on a divine mission by my father like he says in John 6 38 it came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me he's saying as Messiah I have not come to destroy but to fulfill the word fulfill means to establish I've come to establish the law and the prophets now when he speaks concerning the law and the prophets do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets the law and prophets represent the entire Old Testament because those who wrote scripture were regarded as prophets so Jesus is revealed in the law and prophets so he didn't come to destroy he came to fulfill so there is a definite link between the past and the present the law of God is necessary because the people needed to appreciate the gospel that was coming see when you read your Bible and you begin to look at what was called the law and its purpose there are a variety of things that the law was intended to do for the people of Israel for example when you read the law you were actually having the will of God revealed to you by God's word like what Paul says in Romans 2 18 know his and know his will approve the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the law so the law revealed the will of God but the law also required total obedience Paul again in Romans 2 verse 13 said for not the heroes of the law are just before God but the doers of the law shall be justified there's something about the law that it does it also condemns in Romans 3 19 we know that what things the law says it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and the world may become guilty before God so the law actually condemns the law defined sin Romans 7 verse 7 what shall we say then is the law sin God forbid no I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said you shall not covet the law had a fruit it produced death Romans 7 9 says I felt fine when I did not understand what the law demanded but when I learned the truth I realized I had broken the law and was a sinner doomed to die but the law also was intended to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ Galatians 3 24 the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith so there was a purpose in the law you see when the law was given there are many commands in it and people thought that those commands were odious they thought that those commands were harsh and or difficult and and they didn't like it you know because it tells us what not to do so much you know but God's law was intended to keep us safe there are a lot of things that when you're first told not to do a certain thing that you think whoever it is that's telling you not to do that is raining on your parade your joy parade you wanted to do these things how come you're saying I can't do that how come you're saying I can't do these things you know children are that way of the father or the mother says no you can't do a certain thing very often the the kid thinks the mom and dad are raining on their parade that that mom and dad don't understand them you know man what's wrong with you you don't understand how much fun I'd have by doing these things how come you're telling me to come home at a certain time or how come you're telling me I shouldn't hang around with certain people you don't know their heart you don't know the way that they are and we've all been guilty of doing that one way or another and our children are equally guilty because they receive a sin nature and the sin nature usually comes from their mom but we'll talk about this actually comes from the father my mom used to tell me not to do things all the time I've told you guys this some of you haven't heard this before but it comes to mind mama used to say stay away from fire but I liked fire I thought fire was cool and so I would you know I just liked it and my mama used to smoke my mom smoked until she got saved I used to go in and buy her cigarettes they she used to write me a little note please give my son one package of her favorite cigarette she used to be a quarter you who are laughing her smokers on it used to be a quarter you can tell by your cough and and I would go down the street and I would buy these her cigarettes and I bring them back to her so mama mama smoked since she was in her early teens so I was raising a home with a smoking mom and she was smoking and I used to really appreciate how cool my mom looked oh my mom looks so cool when she smoked she really she was so cool she would she would put the cigarette in her mouth and she'd go to the stove and turn the burner on and then she'd lean over and she'd just take it and then she'd pull her head back and she'd take a hit off her cigarette and then she'd let the smoke just kind of gently fall out of her mouth till it went to her eyes and she had this real smoky kind of cool look you know and I thought man you know my mama is so cool and and especially the way she just lights that cigarette and she just kicks back and so when I got older I started smoking when I was about I don't know 12 13 and I I would actually take her cigarettes but I can remember I was about 15 at the time I used to have a pompadour you know where you kind of like smooth it out like and it's kind of cool you know like that and a duck tail and the whole nine yards and and I just wanted to be so cool and so I got my cigarette and I went to the burner and I turned it on and I and my hair caught on fire because it had it all this hairspray you know and it just blew up you know I look like Wiley Coyote my hair was smoking and I had it all frizzed up it just frizzed you know how it is when when the fire hits its hair it just kind of frizzes so I had a nafro I had the first afro in Norwalk back in 65 but my mom used to say stay away from the fire and I used to think that my mom was just just you know not cool I mean come on now you know fire is cool and then I discovered that no there's a reason for that law there was a reason for that command because fire burns and there are so many things that my parents I really thought that they were just just not really in you know aware of what what life was all about when I was a kid stay away from drinking David don't be smoking my mom gave up smoking when she got saved you know and didn't smoke again for over 40 years you know stay away from these things you know it wasn't to destroy it was to build up the law awakens you to what is right and wrong and then also awakens you Moses's law to your own sinfulness then causes you to say oh what a wretched person I am who can deliver me from this body of death when you finally get to that point where you you the will is with you the ability to perform that what you desire is not when you are awakened to the reality that you're not able to do that what you say you want to do so much the laws performing its purpose because you're able to name the thing that is the hidden thing in your life that you're so miserable about so this is called adultery so this is called coveting so this is called alcoholism so this that's what it and that's what the law does and then as it awakens you to your inability to perform that which God has commanded you to do because it expects your obedience not the one who knows it but the one who does it is justified that's when you find yourself to be totally sold to sin and helpless and that's when it becomes the tutor who takes you to the savior Jesus Christ so Jesus didn't come to destroy the law he came to fulfill it so that we might have a relationship with him now the prophets wrote concerning the coming Messiah and they wrote in their writings that Messiah would come Luke 1831 gives us an incident where he took the 12 aside said to them behold we are going up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished after his resurrection he was speaking to two disciples he was on the road to Emmaus it's recorded in Luke 24 25 he said to them oh foolish one slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken Luke 24 27 beginning at Moses and all the prophets expounded to them in all the scriptures of things concerning himself see we Christians have prophecy that's fulfilled in Jesus Christ we can trust the Word of God because it's accurate so he's saying I've come to complete these writings because they're written concerning me notice in verse 18 how he says till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle will by no means pass away from the law so a jot is the tenth and smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet a tittle is a is like an apostrophe if you will they're small is the point he's making so what is he saying here well when he says these things will not pass away saying one God's word is permanent God's word is permanent like he says later on in Matthew 24 35 heaven and earth will pass away but my words will by no means pass away or Psalm 119 verse 89 forever oh Lord your word is settled in heaven or again Isaiah 40 verse 8 the grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever so God's word is permanent he's also saying it is precise the prophecies were precisely fulfilled in him the law is precisely fulfilled in him in accorded to Hebrews 412 the word of God is living and active sharper than any double-edged sword it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit joints and moral it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart so it is precise and finally it is also trustworthy it will be accomplished numbers 23 19 says it well God is not a man that he should lie neither the son of man that he should repent has he said shall he not do it or has he spoken shall he not make it good God isn't a liar God's word can be trusted so Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law Jesus died as the perfect offering so Paul would say in Galatians 313 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us it is written cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree and so God's word can be trusted but notice when he goes on to say in verse 19 whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven now that's really important when he says therefore whoever therefore breaks that word break it speaks of annulling something it speaks of making something void to release yourself from its requirements it speaks of someone thinking that God's commands don't apply to them God's commands don't apply to them we have in our society many of us who think that the laws of the land really don't apply to us we're above the laws they apply to other people but they don't apply to me because somehow I am not having to keep the laws of this land and and all of us in this room could immediately say yeah I know somebody who does that but but I have to say I know myself and I know how I can do that and I know how I can explain away why I just broke the law I know I can do that I know that I'm driving somewhere and I can see that the speed limits 45 but that really applies to other people doesn't it because there's nobody on the road just me and there's a five mile per hour cushion isn't there and you can just do that stop signs stop signs are suggestions you roll up and there's nobody there right I mean double yellow lines they're there for other people because if I'm in a hurry and that person in front of me is going so slow they don't know how important my time is and I've got to get there so it's kind of go around W we do that and that's what the simplest things we do the human beings have a tendency of saying those things don't apply to me they apply to other people and it's funny because we may do something we shouldn't do and then we see that sin in somebody else and we condemn them we say oh man look at that person he's got to be going at least 75 how do you know that because I'm right on him laws applied other people that's a human foyable that's something that we are all guilty of and Jesus is speaking about this in the in the spiritual sense the word of course whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments the Jews had 613 commandments we'll see that later on and I'll give you more detail they had what were called the light commandments and they had what are called binding or the heavy ones the light ones were were were obviously less important in their mind to the heavy or the binding ones and so there is possible for them to to say well that's not that important but this one is more important and the Lord is making it clear that they're equally important God's word is God's word it's equally important and you need to keep his commandments so when somebody is keeping the commandments it's a demonstration of a sincerity that they have concerning the importance of the word of God you see because our attitude towards God's word reveals our degree of devotion to him Psalm 1 1997 oh how I love your law it is my meditation all the day Psalm 1 19 1 27 therefore I love your commandments more than gold yes than fine gold so Jesus is basically saying it's bad enough to willingly disregard what seems to be the least commandment but it's compounded by teaching others to do the same and when a rabbi is teaching his pupil to disregard one and to elevate another Jesus said you're not teaching him balance and therefore you're not doing the right thing obedience to the word of the Lord is really an indicator that you know the Lord somebody said if a man pretending to be Christ's disciple encourages himself in any allowed disobedience to the holy law of God or teaches others to do the same whatever his station or reputation among men may be he can be no true disciple Christ's righteousness imputed to us by faith alone is needed by everyone that enters the kingdom of grace or of glory but the new creation of the heart to holiness produces a thorough change in a man's temper and conduct you see fallen human nature attempts to find ways around obedience but Jesus's point very simple it's not permissible to ignore or modify even the least of my commands and again to teach others to do the same is wrong my understanding of the word of God and its importance is of immense importance in my spiritual life what is the Bible to you what does it mean to you all of us have heard the name Mahatma Gandhi Gandhi was not a Christian by any means he was a Hindu but Gandhi said something worthy of quoting Gandhi said you Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle torn planet but you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature now isn't that an amazing assessment you have got in your hands the most powerful document God ever gave to man and you treat it the way you treat people magazine that's what he's saying in essence bringing it up to 2015 the word of God obedience to it love for teaching it properly in our day we have pastors who are afraid to teach the whole council of God because it offends sensitive hearers they don't want to hear it because our society immediately is going to look at us as haters because we teach the whole council that's just a fact and that's what's going on even right now I was asked by a local newspaper to make a comment on the situation that was recently experienced in high school with a man who declared himself to be a woman and I was received a phone call and they asked me a question concerning it and I said this is what I said to the church on Sunday gave the whole pretty much the whole excerpt transcript of what I given where I said to this church I said it's a teaching moment for us you can teach our children about what it means to be a man or a woman it's just an opportunity for us but we need to be careful not to be haters they have to be careful not to show any kind of or teach our kids to respond in any way that doesn't honor the Lord that's what I said so they take an excerpt from what I said and they take one that could be the most intolerant appearing statement so our door-to-door ministry just yesterday is knocking on doors sharing with people about the good news of the gospel and one of the houses one of the people who lived in the house that they were walking up to and talked to asked them are you from that church that David was all his pastors yes I am and then gave him an earful of how evil I am and that that happened to be Marie she was just you know she shouldn't have said that it's not right but that's what happens you can expect that because the intolerance is not the church of all people Christians are most tolerant because we see so much sin and we're able to love and care for and minister to in spite of that of all people you are the most tolerant because you don't go out and cut people's heads off because you're not out there damaging people's property what you're doing is loving them and telling them the truth that they might be set free but what happens is people think that we are just unloving well we don't want to ignore the Word of God and we also do not want to teach someone else to do the same every believer is a teacher and when you disregard his word you do come under stricter judgment somebody said why is it that some Christians although they hear many sermons make but slow advances in the divine life because they neglect the closets and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's word they love the wheat but they do not grind it they would have the corn but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it the fruit hangs upon the tree but they will not pluck it the water flows at their feet but they will not stoop to drink it from such folly deliver us oh Lord so we need the word of God and we need to obey it he says if you disregard it and teach others also you are least he says in the kingdom in other words your reward in heaven will suffer in 1st Corinthians 3 11 through 15 it says no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold silver precious stones wood hay straw each one's work will become clear for the day we'll declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is if anyone's work which he has built on it endures he'll receive a reward if anyone's work is burned he will suffer a loss he himself will be saved yet as through fire you see we need to be careful to guard our lives like it says in 2nd John 8 where it says watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for but that you may be rewarded fully those who are faithful receive a full reward and that's how we ought to live and that's what we ought to be doing and the teachers of the law should be teaching the whole counsel of it and then finally in verse 20 for I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven so he closes with a warning to live a genuinely spiritual life and not one that is only lived on the outside you see by outward appearance the Pharisees were considered truly and exceedingly righteous but Jesus in Matthew 23 says it this way in verses 25 through 28 he says how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law new Pharisees hypocrites you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish but inside you are filthy full of greed and self-indulgence blind Pharisees first wash the inside of the cup and then the outside will become clean too how terrible it will be for you teachers of religious law new Pharisees hypocrites you're like whitewash tombs beautiful on the outside filled with on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity it isn't the outside it's what's on the inside my dad had a coffee cup that he brought back with him when he served in the US Navy during World War two it was a special coffee cup he drank his coffee in the morning with out of this cup and and and every morning I can remember as a little boy my mom would would make the coffee for my dad and and as I got older I got the I got the task and for me it was an honor to to bring the coffee cup filled with my dad's coffee to him as he was reading the newspaper in his room and I would bring his coffee cup it was like holy service you don't spill a drop of this coffee and I used to carry it to my dad in the morning when I was a little boy and when I got a little bit older maybe nine or ten my mom said okay your dad takes this coffee this way go get him a cup of coffee now I've just advanced into real servanthood and so I remember going in and getting my dad's coffee cup and getting very carefully getting the the coffee pot they stuff what they called coffee pots and we put coffee in it and and I carried it now it's just a little guy and I carried it very carefully and I brought it and I gave it to my dad and my dad said oh son thank you very much and I stood there watching as he took his first drink of his coffee and he spit it out and he goes oh he goes what is this and he looks into it well my mom had taken the coffee grounds and it put them in in in a piece of paper paper towel and it stuffed it in my dad's coffee cup and so I actually just poured the coffee over that coffee grounds and but the outside look good the outside look perfect it was on the inside that there was a problem and I've never forgotten that because a lot of us can put on our Sunday go to meet and faces our Sunday go to meet and clothes and we can we can go to church and we can look good and we can have that appearance and that's what Jesus is speaking about and he's saying listen your righteousness has to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees who amongst the people were the most righteous people in their society when you saw a scribe saw a Pharisee you would see them as people who prayed people who gave people who fasted they did these things they were outwardly righteous and all the people said I can't memorize like them I can't speak like they do I can't quote like they do I don't know any of the things that they they are very righteous and Jesus had no they're not they're like tombs that are filled with decay that's what they are they are careful to clean the outside of the cup but the inside is filled with all kinds of impurity so that's what he's saying it's not that you shouldn't have a righteous life it's why do I have a righteous life what is given my life a righteousness and it has to be because Jesus has fulfilled the law of Moses fulfilled the word of the prophets and I have committed myself to the one who did what I cannot do righteousness comes when we humbly receive forgiveness for our sins through Jesus who fulfilled his father's demands the righteousness of God without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ and to all and upon all those who believe there's no difference the righteousness comes through faith and that's what Jesus is pointing to don't wear your righteousness on the outside become righteous within through faith