What Does God Want From Me?
Excessive Righteousness | Matthew 5:17-20
Dr. Jimmy Jeffcoat · July 23, 2025
(Matthew 5:17-20) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Hard-nosed Christianity – Matthew 12:30; Revelation 3:16
Sermon on the Mount
The Law and Prophets
Torah
Nevi’im
Kituvim
1. The Law and Prophets are rooted in love.
(Matthew 22:35-40) “And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
2. The Law brings knowledge of sin – Faith brings righteousness.
(Romans 3:20-22) “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
3. A relationship with God is Built on a heart connection.
(Romans 2:28-9) “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”
4. Spiritual failure begins in broken relationship and ends in Moral and Religious compromise.
(Isaiah 45:5-6, 12) “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness…I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.”
(Isaiah 46:6-7) People “lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god then they fall down and worship! They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it, they set it in its place, and it stands there; it cannot move from its place. If one cries to it, it does not answer or save him from his trouble.”
(Malachi 1:8-9) “When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lord of hosts.”
(Isaiah 10:1-2) “Woe to those who decree iniquitous (evil) decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”
5. The Scribes and Pharisees are exhibit A!
Matthew 5:20
(Matthew 16:6,12; Luke 12:1 ) “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
(Matthew 23:13, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29) “Woe to you Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!”
Prayer of Confession
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.