Did Christ abolish the law and the Old Testament?

When Paul says we are not under law, but under grace (Rom 6:14), isn't he also saying there no longer is any place for the law? When John the Baptist said the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus (Jn 1:17), wasn't he also saying the same thing? Someone once said to me, "We are a New Testament not an Old Testament church. It is the New Testament we should spend time with."

All of this leads me to ask: Is the law still applicable today? Or, what about the whole of the Old Testament – should we ever read or preach from it?
In today’s verse from the sermon on the mount, Jesus speaks to this. He says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets ..." Matt 5:17 - 19.

I. Jesus: A Threat to the Law and Prophets?
As a teacher in Israel Jesus was unusual. First, at that time all teachers in Israel were Pharisees; but Jesus was not a Pharisee. He had not been trained as a Pharisee. So the people looked at him and said, "Who is this man without any formal training or education, who teaches and makes all these pronouncements?"

Second, in word and deed Jesus deliberately criticized the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Don't forget, they were the leaders and teachers of Israel; almost everyone obeyed them and believed their every word. Jesus, who did not belong to their schools, dared to denounce what they taught.

Our Lord was not content with making only positive statements. He also criticized other doctrines. Our Lord was not hesitant to condemn wrong doctrine and we shouldn't be hesitant either.

Third, in contrast to the Pharisees, Jesus did not spend all his time explaining the law. He often preached grace and the love of God.

Fourth, again in contrast to the Pharisees, Jesus mixed with tax-collectors and sinners. He sat down with them and even ate with them. He not only broke all the Pharisees' rules and regulations, he actually seemed to be breaking them deliberately.

B All of this caused questions to arise. People wondered, in condemning the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees, was Jesus perhaps condemning the law and the prophets, our Old Testament, too?
Is this actually the case? What is it that Jesus is teaching us today?

II. Definitions: Law, Prophets, Fulfill
A To understand clearly what Jesus was saying we have to make sure we understand the terms that he used. First, what did Jesus mean by "the Law"? The law, as given to the children of Israel, consisted of three parts: the moral, the judicial, and the ceremonial. The moral law is the Ten Commandments and the great moral principles that were laid down once and for all. The judicial law is those rules given to Israel for that time and place telling them how to treat others jutsly and fairly in matters of the community and the state. The ceremonial law has to do with worship and offering, the ritual and ceremony used to approach God. By "the Law" Jesus has all of this in mind.

Second, what is meant by "the prophets"? The prophets would be those Scriptures in the Old Testament that do not fit the term "law" in the strict sense of the word. The law and the prophets therefore refers to the whole of the Old Testament. So Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Old Testament."

B Jesus adds to this: "but to fulfill them." "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." Fulfill here does not mean to complete, to finish.
What Jesus says to us can be summed up in two principles. We find the first principle in verse 17 and the second principle in verse 18. I want to look at them in reverse order.

III The Demands of God's Law are Permanent
A The second principle stated by Jesus is that God's law is absolute; it can never be changed, not even modified just a wee bit. It is absolute and external. Its demands are permanent and can never be put to the side. Says Jesus,
(Mt 5:18) 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.

B The law which the voice of God dramatically announced from Mount Sinai, is as much for you and me as it was for Israel. It wasn't only Israel but also you and me who can have no other gods, who can't take God's name in vain, who must not steal, who must not commit adultery. It wasn't only Israel but also you and me who must worship God alone, who must use God's holy name only with reverence and awe, who must work to share with those in need, who must keep thoughts pure and holy. The law and the prophets, the whole of the Old Testament, says Jesus, is still applicable, relevant, and appropriate to us today.
We too must strive for a just society and we too must worship God in truth and in Spirit.

IV Jesus Came to Fulfill the Law.
A The first principle stated by Jesus is that he has not come to destroy, to abolish, or even to modify, the teaching of the law or the prophets. Rather, he has come to fulfill them, to carry them out, to give them perfect obedience:
(Mt 5:17) "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."
We need to ask: in what way exactly does Jesus fulfill the law and the prophets? Everything prophesied about him, also through ceremony, happened when he came to us and was fulfilled.

B Jesus is the fulfillment not just of the prophets but also of the law. First, Jesus is the fulfillment, in and of himself, of the ceremonial laws and rules about worship. All these decrees speak of him and point at him.

Christ is also the fulfillment or the fulfiller of the Law's moral requirements. As the Son of God Jesus is eternally above the law; yet, he came as one under obedience to the law. And his comlete obedience is imputed righteousness, given to us, as if it is our own.

As we read the Gospels we can't help but notice how very careful our Lord was to observe the law; He obeyed it down to the smallest detail. Not only that, but he also taught others to love and obey the law. At the end of his life there was nothing of the law, not a jot or a tittle, that he had broken or disobeyed or violated. So Christ fulfilled the law by his perfect and unwavering obedience to it.

C. It was especially on the cross, however, that Christ fulfilled the law. Because of the Fall in the Garden God had pronounced judgment on all sin. Punishment of sin must be carried out. The law must be fulfilled. And it was, at Golgotha, when Christ suffered the punishment demanded by the law, when he completely and finally fulfilled the law of God.

And this is the Gospel - that Christ fulfilled the law, freed us from its punishment and wrath and kept the law in our place.
Therefore we become children of God only by grace, and only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.