Keep the Sabbath, Saturday or Sunday & Rest in Christ

[Rose of Shushan]

Hi Grafted, nice to see you back on the forum and sorry to hear your health isn't too good right now.
I want to just comment on the last verse of what you quoted

Mat 5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The righteousness of the pharisees was not a true righteousness.It was based on false appearances and a concentration on external acts of law keeping as opposed to the right heart issue. They were whitewashed tombs as Jesus called them and presented a clean pleasant outward exterior while their hearts hid all sorts of filth.
So when Jesus said that our righteousness had to exceed that of the pharisees he certainly did not mean that we had to keep Torah or the precepts of the written Torah better than them.That would not have made sense in the light of the context.What Jesus meant was that our true righteousness had to exceed theirs.Our inner hearts and attitudes had to be real and not use our works and outward appearances to deceive ourselves that that is true righteousness which pleases God.
That is also what Jesus referred to when he said to them on one ocassion quoting them the words of Hosea the prophet.
Mat 9:13 But go and learn what that means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

In restrospect we can see that adherence to the Law can be so external,that it can make one seem righteous but it can never make you righteous inside.You can tell a person or child not to do something,but unless the person truly doesnt want to do it the desire will always remain.Thus it is with the Law.We can be told by God certain things are wrong but that doesnt change our desire for it and our ability to control that.What God wanted was hearts that truly yearn to do good.And that good is not just adherence to the ritualistic aspects of the Law.Many messianics today say if you truly loved God you'd keep his commandments,implying that we should obey the Sinai Law commandments.Well hello,the pharisees really tried hard to keep those commandments.I have no doubt they loved God with all their hearts.But that didn't stop their hearts being fulled of filth and undesirable things.The mind is willing but the flesh is weak so the saying goes.And it is a part of being human,all these desires and stuff which lead to sin.That is precisely why we need Jesus and the New Covenant so much.The Old will only condemn us as Paul wrote. The whole story of Israel in the Tanak only serves to show us that without a spiritual circumcision of our hearts adherence to outward rituals of sacrifice and circumcision means absolutely nothing in God's eyes and if fact is a stench in his nostrils.