Do I understand what Jesus meant when He said He came not to abolish, but to fulfill the Law?

17 "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. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

INSIGHT:  I met a Dove award-winning Christian music video producer over coffee one time.  I shared my testimony of how my relationship with God became extraordinary when I got intentional about obeying the commands of Christ.  He grew up in a very religious home in the Bible belt of the U.S.  He saw legalistic righteousness in his father, apart from an actual loving relationship with God, and so the idea of obedience seemed repulsive to him.  As a result, he had run to the grace movement and wanted me to know a few reasons why I should probably lighten up. I walked away sad, knowing here was another man who the devil was able to cut off from an authentic personal relationship with God, by perverting the concept of obedience to Him. We can’t know God without intentionally obeying Him (1 Jn 2:3-6), but we can be totally deceived into thinking we do. 

Have you ever been confused on this whole issue of grace vs keeping the law and obedience to Christ? To be in relationship with God, and to go to heaven, we must be in right standing with Him (righteousness).  In the OT, righteousness came from obeying all of God’s laws (Deu 6:25).  However, because of their sin nature, they were not able to keep the law (Rom 8:7) and there were constant breaks in the relationship.  Their sin could be forgiven by God through animal sacrifices, but they were not able to completely remove their sin or their guilty conscience which still impeded their worship and their relationship with God (Heb 10:1-4).  Jesus changed all of this!

Jesus did not abolish the Law or its moral requirements, but He did abolish the way we are to meet those requirements.  The Law of Moses, with all its regulations and rules, were intended to be like keep out fences around sinfulness, but because of our sin nature, it makes people want to sin even more, (Rom 7:8) making them slaves to sin (Rom 7:14).  But the righteousness that comes from Christ not only cleanses us from all past guilt (Heb 10:22) but gives us a new, born-again nature, with His power to set us free from sin, making us slaves to righteousness (Rom 6:16-18).  When we are born again, The Holy Spirit of Jesus lives in us, and as we daily depend on Him, He empowers us to live a life of Love, which is the fulfillment of all the Law (Rom 13:10). He gives us an internal power to live godly, rather than just the old external pressure of the Law upon a guilty conscience and an unchanged sin nature.  A “Christian” that still struggles with living in sin, like Paul did while under the law (Rom 7:14-20), before he was born again and set free by the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:2), should consider that they may not yet be truly born again.  A guilty conscience and a desire to do good is not evidence of being born again.  Even sinners can feel guilty because right and wrong is written on their hearts (Heb 10:16). However, a truly born-again Christian is no longer controlled by the sinful nature (Rom 8:9-10).  Yes, we still have a sin nature that wants its way and creates conflict (Gal 5:17), but it is to be considered dead (Rom 6:11, 15-18) because it is overpowered by the grace we receive from the Spirit, as we humbly obey and trust Him. Christians are still tempted to occasionally sin, but they will not be able to stay in it, enjoy it, or keep returning to it without great pain. (1 Jn 3:9, 5:18) The Bible warns us much about not being “carnal believers” who end up missing out on heaven, despite how much false teaching tries to twist the Scriptures saying it’s all ok (Mat 5:29, Rom 8:6-9, Gal 5:19-21, 6:8, Heb 10:26-27, Titus 1:16, Jude 1:4).  Yes, Jesus did abolish the external regulations like circumcision, festivals, sacrifices, Sabbath keeping, don’t eat, don’t touch, etc. (Eph 2:15-16, Col 2:20-23) but we are still required to uphold the moral law of God (Rom 3:31) and to obey the Lord’s commands and to live by the Spirit (Rom 8:12-13, Gal 5:25) growing up into our salvation (Heb 6:11-12, 1 Pet 2:2).