for this message. And I was struggling
this morning as to which one I was going to use. So I went this morning and got
and kind of combined them both. So I don't like doing that. I don't
like coming in the last minute and trying to combine things
and do things because it seems like I don't want to muddy the
waters. I do want to make it clean. I
want to make it clear this morning. Before we go into the text, I
do ask your prayers for me as I desire to preach the gospel
to you. I pray that God would use it
in such a way to every believer's heart that we would have the
same heart as the apostle did. We're going to see his heart
in a minute for the lost. I know God's got an elect people.
I know that with all my soul. I don't know who they are. God knows who they are. And so
what I have, then should have, is a zeal for everyone to hear
the gospel. I should have a zeal for everyone,
knowing this, that God's elect are among those. I pray God will instill this
in our hearts. What good is a zeal if it's not
according to truth and knowledge? If you're just zealous about
any old thing, then it wouldn't be any good, would it? So I pray
that God would show us the thing that we're zealous to preach. We should be zealous to preach,
which is the gospel. We use that word a lot, don't
we? I think every church you ever go to uses the word gospel. It's so overused. And yet I dare
say that there are very few that have ever heard the gospel. Isn't
it astounding that there's so many churches? How many did you
pass? Just getting here. I would that all of them would
preach the gospel. I'm not saying that there's some that you passed
that didn't preach the gospel. Maybe they are. I don't know.
But the people I talk to, many of them have never heard the
gospel. They've heard a false gospel. They've heard of a false Christ.
But when you compare them to the Word of God, I think Pink
said it like this, the God of this modern age compared to the
God of Scripture is like a candle compared to the noonday sun.
Altogether different. So my prayer is that this gospel
be effectual. by the power of the Spirit and
not the power of the preacher. If you knew the weakness of your
preacher, your pastor, I imagine you wouldn't come. If you really
knew the weakness of the man preaching, but I know you're not here for
the man. You're here for the message. So I pray God would distribute
his gospel according to his grace. Angela, I talked to her yesterday,
and she is very much still grieving, very sorrowful, not able to seemingly
get out. So pray for her. She goes in
this week also to have some more tests done concerning her health. So I ask you to be in prayer
for her this week. Rick, any word from Rick? Anybody?
Nobody? Where they cut? Being in prayer for him, I'm
so glad to see Jill. God's been gracious. And he is
gracious. He is gracious. OK, pray for
Sherry. She's struggling with that. No matter what we feel or experience, God is still gracious. God is
still merciful. Our experience has nothing to
do with God's person. Your experience is going to go
against what God says about Himself. It just is because this is a
sinful body. We still live in a sinful house. We have the sinful old man. I
think Paul rightly described the flesh as a rotting corpse
about our neck. Always dragging us into the ground. Never helping us to God. Always a hindrance. I think Philpott is the one that
said it, but it's true. The worst enemy is self. Because self never leaves me.
He's always there. And pray for these that are suffering
in the body. It is a most difficult thing
to be spiritual when you're sick. It just is. But God is going
to teach us through it. It is a lesson that has to be
learned. It is a hard lesson. That God is God and I'm not. And submitting to His will is
necessary for the believer. We're going to get to this later.
I'm preaching before I preach, but I know Later we're going
to get to this, that Paul says we should offer our bodies a
living sacrifice. Isn't that something? It's one
thing to offer your body a sacrifice and die. That's a one-time thing. But the believers to offer his
body as a living sacrifice, a continual, perpetual sacrifice. Daily sacrifice. Why? That's just reasonable. If you
understand the gospel, then you understand why it's reasonable
that you just offer yourself. We'll get to that later. But
pray for me as I desire to preach this to you, and pray for those
that are lost. And God will make this effectual to them as well.
Anything I'm missing before we go to God and prayer? Oh, Carol.
Pray for him, member of Todd's Road Grace Church, dear brother
in Christ. Pray for him as he is, I think
he went in and got, I don't know what it is for his
throat, so he can take the chemo, so he can breathe. What sin has done. is devastating. The evils, the pain and the sorrow
that sin has brought into the world. I don't know how men live without
Christ. I just don't. Let's go to Him in prayer. Our
Father, we plead for mercy this morning,
grace, strength, power of your spirit, that you
would touch both the inner and the outer man and give us the
ability this morning, the mind, the heart, the will, the desire,
to hear the word that you have spoken to us. And as we desire these things,
we lay ourselves before you because we are powerless to make it effectual
and powerful to our souls. We cannot apply it. We cannot
make it what we desire it to be. Your word goes out of your
mouth and it accomplishes whatsoever you intend for it to do. But as your servants, as your
sons, we plead that you would be pleased to make it effectual,
that you would make it powerful upon the hearts and minds of
your people. Lord, that we might be comforted
by it. That we, in the teeth of our
afflictions and sicknesses and sorrows and griefs, that we might
again be reminded of the glorious salvation of Jesus Christ, reminded
of your grace and of your power to keep us and sustain us in
faith until you return. These that we have mentioned
in their sickness and sorrows, we lay them before you. As those people laid their sick
loved ones in the street As Jesus passed by, even so now we lay
them at the feet of Christ and plead for grace, plead for healing. Lord, give us grace that we should
constantly submit, daily submit to the will, Thy will, and not
our will be done. Forgive us our sins, and I plead
this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Romans chapter 10. I've entitled this message, A
Heart and Zeal for Righteousness. A Heart and Zeal for Righteousness. Now, we have seen that the apostle
in chapter 9 begins to express his love and his desire for his
kinsmen in the flesh. He says in chapter 9 and verse
1, he says, I say the truth in Christ and lie not, my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have a great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish
myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen,
according to the flesh. And then we have gone over the
apostle describing who the true Israel is of God. He said, you
know, those people that rejected Christ, they're not the true
Israel of God, but yet I pray for them. I desire, if it were
possible, if I could be lost and they be saved, then I would
do that. That's how much love he had for
them. But he expresses in chapter 9
who the true Israel is of God and how it is that they were
chosen of God, how the salvation is completely of the Lord. And
so now he comes full circle. And he again in chapter 10 says,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. He is here expressing His heartfelt
love and desire for those people who wanted Him dead. Now you
understand that Paul was going to Rome because of the Jews. how they lied concerning His
gospel. They lied about Him. They hauled
Him before judges. He was stoned almost to death
and left for dead by these people. And yet, He's telling the church.
He says, brethren, He's talking to us. He's talking to the saints.
And He expresses His heart's felt desire that they might be
saved. It's longing for them. And I know this, that only God
can give life and faith. Paul knew this. He expressed
this in this previous chapter, that salvation is of the sovereign
grace of God, that only the elect are going to be saved. He had
said that. Yet Paul here expresses his desire for these lost, that
they should come to faith and repentance. And as I read this, it is my
longing that this assembly, that everyone under the sound of my
voice would have the same heart for the lost as the Apostle did. That we should have the same
desire and prayer for those that are lost around us. And I pray
that God would use this church, that God would use this ministry,
that God would use the preaching of the gospel in this place,
that God would use the ministry of this gospel in your hearts
so that you should witness of Christ. I long to see others saved. I do. And we're going to see
this in just a minute. This is in no way contradicting
the election of God's grace. Paul, by this, is not contradicting
the election of God's grace. And so I have three points this
morning, really. The zeal and heart of God's people. What is the zeal and heart of
God's people? It is the salvation of the lost. Paul said, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And then we're going to see the zeal of the lost. We have a zeal, we have a desire,
but so do the lost. They have a zeal. He said, for
I bear them record they have a zeal of God. Here's the difference,
not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of the
righteousness of God, going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
They have a zeal. but their zeal is to obtain righteousness
by their works. But here is the gospel then that
the church is to preach. Here it is, for Christ is the
end of the law, listen, for righteousness. Our gospel is a gospel of righteousness.
And how that righteousness is obtained, Christ is the end of
the law, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness, listen,
everyone that believe it. So, let's look at these three
points together. First of all, the zeal for the
lost. Paul had a zeal. He had a desire
for the lost. Even so, we should have the same.
We should have the same. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, look
into the fields, they are white unto harvest already. Let us then not be ashamed of
the gospel, for it is the means by which God will save his elect. If we care for the lost, if they're
hungry, feed them, yes. If they're naked, clothe them,
yes. But if you do all that and you
miss the most vital thing, which is what? The gospel. If we really
have a heart for the lost, then we must have a zeal to preach
the gospel. The gospel. We should preach
it from the rooftops. What? That there is none other
name, Acts 4, 13, there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved. We must preach salvation is only
by one, Jesus Christ. The gospel is single. It's not
complicated. It's a person. It's Jesus Christ. It is His person. It is His work
by which men are saved. And nothing else. It's not a
combination of what you do and what He does. It is singular.
It is Him. This is the zeal of the church.
If you have any desire for the lost, if you have any compassion
for them, then the gospel must be preached to them. We should
have a zeal that Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior. that God hath made Him both Lord
and Christ. A lot of people don't mind Jesus
being a Savior, but man, they don't want anything to do with
Him being Lord. They want a cooperative kingdom. They want a cooperative
kingdom. He's Lord on some things, but
on these other things, I have my own discretion. No. Men love a saving Christ, but
they don't love a King. But you cannot have Christ as
Savior if He's not King. He must be Lord and Savior. You know what? God already made
Him Lord and Savior. I think one of the preachers
used to say, when the church would say, make Jesus your Lord
and Savior, one preacher said, God beat you to it. He's already
beat you to it. He's already Lord and Savior. And so let our witness, our love,
our zeal to the lost be done with not a heart of pride either. If we're to preach the gospel,
we can't preach in pride. There's just no way you can do
it. You can't preach grace in pride. We must preach the gospel
in love and humility. When we speak to people of the
gospel of God's grace, let us understand this. Most people
have never heard it. So when you preach the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, when you preach the gospel that salvation
is of the Lord, you would expect that people have heard this before. Most of you that are sitting
here have heard this most all of your life. And so when you
tell people this, it's just something you know. And when they hear
it, don't expect them to just fall all over themselves. Most
people have never heard that salvation is by grace. They heard
the word grace, they don't know what it means. They heard the
name Jesus, but they really don't know who he is. Ask them. Who is he? Listen to their response. Most people have never heard
this and many have been deceived by false teachers for so long
that they're going to kick against this when they hear it. Don't
expect any other response. And don't be angry when they
respond that way. If we have a harsh desire and love for the
lost, then we should expect them to do what lost people do. And I'll tell you this, I remember
this one time, I was preaching the gospel at the hospital there
in Houston. One man came up to me after service
and he said, Preacher, listen, if what you said is true, then
all of my family is lost. You understand what they'd have
to give up if they believe your gospel. They're going to have
to acknowledge the truth that all they believed, all that they
were taught, all that they espoused from their youth was nothing. that their family members died
in their sins. And I remember telling the man,
I said, well, why will you follow them? And he went away. I don't know what happened to
him. But it's here then we must show
love and compassion. We must show the mind of Christ.
And I know this, no matter how much I want people to hear this
gospel, I can't make it happen. I can't make it happen. I've
got two children of my own who have made no profession of faith
in Christ that I have any knowledge of. I cannot make this effectual
no matter how much I want to. And so Paul says this in Ephesians
4, speak the truth in love. Speak the truth in love, not
in pride or with a spirit of haughtiness. The Lord Jesus Christ,
when He preached the Gospel, you know, those people that heard
Him recognized that His was a heart of love that preached this Word. I'll tell you this, was there
anybody that Christ did not preach the Gospel to? Now listen, He
knew even the ones that were His and the ones who were not.
And yet, how did He preach? He preached to everyone. And this is how we're to do it. And so then, when we preach the
gospel, we're not just to preach to our friends. Notice when Paul is saying, my
heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel, he was praying
for those who wanted to kill him. This should be the heart
of the church. To pray for those, not that just
love us, but those that would hurt us. Those that would despise
us. And I'll tell you this, don't
second guess who is God's people and who aren't. You don't know.
That's just so. You don't know, do you? How many
have you assumed over the years that were believers and then
they left and never came back? You don't know. And so this is
why we're to preach to everyone. We're to witness to everyone.
And I'll say this as well. Make sure that you don't deny
the influence of the Spirit on your hearts concerning this matter. If the Lord puts on your heart
to speak to someone, speak to someone. You know, and if you don't, if
you don't do that, what are we doing but what the
scripture says, quenching the Spirit in that matter? You know,
if we don't, what are we doing? We're saying, well, I might be
humiliated or I might be, you know, ashamed. Ashamed of what? God puts it
on your heart to talk to somebody. Speak to them. Another day there was a man in
our parking lot, and I mean he was just sitting there, he didn't
do anything, just kind of looking out over the field, kind of,
I guess, listening to music, whatever. And I just went out
and asked him if he needed some water or something, and I was
about ready to leave, and I left. Boy, I felt like I should go
back and talk to him, and I did. I went back and talked to him.
I don't know what that does. That's not my business. But my
business is to attend to the things of Christ. So we should speak to everyone
at every opportunity. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. You know, if God puts it on your
heart to knock on doors or hand out tracks, don't be afraid of
being called an Armenian. They don't monopolize that. That's
not a monopoly on that. No, if God puts it on your heart,
do something, do it. Use every useful means that God
has given you to preach the Word. Don't be afraid of your witness
or zeal or love. Man, is our zeal ever going to
be enough? Are you ever going to wait until your zeal has reached
the limit or love? You know, well, maybe I don't
feel as much love as I should, maybe I shouldn't Well, are you
going to wait for your love to be perfect? Then you'll never
do it. Let us have a heart for the lost. That's what Paul here is displaying,
his heart. He said, my heart's desire. Is
that your heart's desire? Are we so focused on ourselves? Are we so focused on our own
troubles, our own afflictions, that we don't follow the simple
mandate of our Savior, go you into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. And so as we have this, let this
mind that was in Christ be in us, who being in the form of
God thought it not proper to be equal with God, but what?
Made of himself no reputation. but took on himself the form
of a servant." Isn't that what you are? Aren't you his servant?
If he is your Lord, then we are his servants. And what he's commanded
us to do is not complicated. Go preach the gospel to every
creature. Secondly, those to whom we preach
also have a zeal. We should have a zeal. I even
thought about this. You remember that time David
David's general was telling, killed Absalom, and he wanted
to go tell David that his son was dead. And this one guy, he
said, hey, hey, hey, send me, send me, send me. And the guy
said, no, I'm not going to send you. I'll send this other guy.
And he sent that other guy. But you know, the one that wanted
to go, he could run faster than the other guy. And so he said,
well, can I go tell him, too? He said, well, go ahead. You
know, the guy that didn't have a message, he didn't witness
anything, He made it there first. That's usually often the case
with false religion. You know, they're always apt
to go, apt to preach, they're zealous, but they don't know
anything. This other guy was a witness.
Somebody said that, you know, allow, get around the world three
times for truth puts on his shoes. And so the church may be slow.
But we have a zeal according to knowledge. Here's what the
lost have. They have a zeal, but it's a
zeal of ignorance. Look at this. For I bear them
record. The ones he longed for and prayed for. He said, I bear
them record. They have a zeal of God. But here's a problem. Not according
to knowledge. Paul confesses and testifies
that the Jews had a great zeal. for the Word of God. A great
zeal. I remember reading this in Josephus,
a historian, he wrote this, that Pilate had brought some statues
of Caesar to put into the temple in Jerusalem. And the Jews were
so zealous for that temple that they opposed him, and when he
threatened to kill them, they all laid down and stretched out
their necks. They were so adamant that they,
he would say, they said, you'd have to kill us all to put those
statues in the temple of our God. They were zealous even to
the giving of their lives for God. These men were zealous for
righteousness. They spent their life and study
in the law and the traditions and the elders because they desired
to attain to righteousness by the law. Nobody was more zealous
than these Jews. When they read the law, they
studied the law, they desired to obey the law. The problem
is they didn't understand the nature of the law. And this is
true of most every works religion, because they don't understand
the nature of the law. The law is not carnal, But spiritual,
what do I mean by that? The law is not just outward actions. That's what most people think
about the law. When it says, don't commit fornication. Well
they look at their life and they say, well I've never committed
fornication. So they say, I have obeyed the
law. But Jesus told us that the law
is much more than outward carnal actions. He said, if you look
upon a woman to lust after her, you have already committed adultery
in your heart. The law, they didn't understand
this. They were ignorant of the law's
nature. They thought the law was to be
observed only outwardly. They thought that the righteousness
of God by the law then could be attained. You know, if you
can just chain a man into a room, in a dark room where he couldn't
see anything, then surely he couldn't commit these sins. They
didn't realize that the sin was coming from a corrupt heart.
Our Lord says, He said, you make the tree, the root, the seed,
the tree good, the root good, and the tree's good. See, man
has a heart problem. He needs a new heart. And they're
ignorant of this. They believe by their sincerity,
their devotion, that a man could be accepted of God by his outward
obedience to the law. But this is the ignorance of
all sinful men. This is the ignorance of all
men by nature, to think that righteousness can somehow be
attained by obedience. Look what Paul says in Galatians
4. Anyone that desires to be under
the law listen what Paul here says in chapter 4 in verse 21
He said tell me You that desire to be under the law. Do you not
hear it? You not hear it Anybody? And then he gives the illustration
and he talks about Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Hagar and
Ishmael. Hagar and Ishmael are a picture
of the law. So what Paul says at the end,
he said in verse 30, nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast
out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman
shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren,
We are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. So what happens
to everyone who's under the law? Well, like Hagar and her son,
they will be cast out. That's what God says in the Old
Testament. This was true before the law of Moses was given. It
was an allegory, Paul said. So anyone that desires to be
under the law, Listen to me. It's because they're ignorant
of what the law requires. These Jews were sincere and zealous
to obtain righteousness from the law, yet their zeal was blind. They had no understanding of
the purpose of the law. And so how many today still have
this blind zeal? They say, yes, I am saved by
Jesus Christ. They confess that. I'm saved
by Jesus Christ, but in order to sanctify myself, I have to
go back under the law of Moses. Listen, that's 90% of churches
today. That's, I'm giving it, I'm kind
of underestimating. that they believe that you begin
by grace, but somehow the law has to come back to make us perfect. This is nothing but a blind zeal,
an ignorance. What then is the purpose of the
law? Look at Hebrews 10, Hebrews 10 and verse 1. Paul says this, he says, For
the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect. The law was only a shadow. It
was only a picture. So when you go to the law, what
are you to see? You're to see a picture of what
real righteousness is. The law can only show you a shadow
of it because it can't help you to be righteous. You ever try
to grab ahold of a shadow? Can't do it, can you? It has
the figure, you know, you stand in the light and the shadow out
and it has the same figure. But you can't ever get to it,
you can't ever attain it. The law was only a shadow. Moses
had these in types and pictures to show us Christ. That's what
the law is intended to do, to show you Christ. Therefore, those
Old Testament, in the Old Testament, these people were saved the same
way we are, by looking forward to Christ. When they saw the
law, they saw they couldn't obey it. And what? They looked by
faith to Him who would. Those before Christ looked to
these shadows, to His coming. Well, we look back at the risen
Christ who's already come. But both then and now, righteousness
is only obtained by the faith of Christ, and not by the obedience of the
law. And so Christ, by His coming,
listen to Christ, by His coming, what He did was obtain righteousness
by His obedience. He did something that none of
us could do. This is the gospel that people
are ignorant of. That Christ didn't obtain partial
righteousness and left the rest for you to fulfill. Christ actually
obtained all righteousness by His obedience. By His perfect obedience to God,
He obtained righteousness by which we may stand before God.
He alone is to be worshipped then, adored, for he alone is
all our acceptance with God. He alone is to be praised and
honored, for he is all our righteousness. He is all our righteousness.
This is what men are ignorant of. Anybody who wants to be back
under the law, they are ignorant of the righteousness of God which
is in Christ. Jeremiah tells us that's his
name. He said, His name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And so all who believe on Christ
as their Lord and Savior, we don't seek to obtain righteousness
by our obedience. We are glad and rejoice in the
righteousness that has already been attained for us. We by faith
lay hold of that righteousness. While those who profess faith
in Christ plus what they have done, they are ignorant of the righteousness
of God, Paul says. And I say this with all love
and compassion in my heart for them. Why? Because I was just
as blind as they are. I was going about to establish
my own righteousness until God intervened. And it is the experience of every
believer that salvation was by the grace and power of God alone.
That I obtain the righteousness of God. And you know what? After
obtaining it through faith, I owe nothing to what I ever have done
or ever will do. I rest all my weight on the eternal
Son of God and His righteousness. I give no praise to my preaching,
no praise to my obedience, no praise to my good works, but I am righteous and I am clothed
in the righteousness of Jesus Christ because of the grace of
God alone. So when I preach to others, how
can I look down at them? How is it possible for me to
to look down at them as though I have attained something of
my own. I like this illustration. Go
to Matthew 22. Look at this. Matthew 22. You know the parable
here. of the wedding feast. The king
had made a wedding feast. He sent his messengers out to
say this, All is ready. All is ready. What a message,
isn't it? All is ready. What's required
of you? Nothing. All is ready. Come to
the feast. My son, I've ordained his bride. I've given him a bride. He's
to be married to this bride, the church, all is ready. And you remember that some made
excuses that they couldn't come. In verse 8 he says, Then saith
he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which are
bidden are not worthy. Go therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage. So the servants
went out to the highways and gathered together all, as many
as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. But when the king came to see
the guests, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding
garment. Now you've got to understand,
the king has provided everything. Didn't he say all is ready? Even
the clothing that was necessary to be worn was provided. Yet there was a guest who came,
and he had not a provided garment. And he saith him, Friend, how
comest thou hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was
speechless, and the king said to his servants, Bind him hand
and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness,
and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are
cold, but few are chosen. Like I said, I love this message,
all's ready. Listen, what do you need to provide
to be saved? Nothing. Why? You don't have anything to provide.
This is what the law teaches. The law teaches you have nothing
with which to provide. You're the ones in the highways
and the hedges. You're the beggar and the bum.
The one that has nothing. And the king has commanded you
to come. And he says, all is ready. Jesus Christ has provided everything.
This robe, this wedding garment, we know this, that this is a
picture of his robe of righteousness. That is pictured in Revelation
in which the saints wear. It is his robe of righteousness.
Jesus Christ knitted this righteousness with his own hands. and provides this righteousness
for every one of his children. This robe has been washed in
his blood for the forgiveness of sins. This is the message
we preach. And I tell you what, I've called
everyone to come. Everyone. Many will make excuses why they
won't come. But there will be others who
will desire to come, but they will try to bring their own righteousness
into it. These have a zeal, but not according
to knowledge. How do you know it's ignorance?
How do you know if a man's preaching a gospel of ignorance? They go about to establish their
own righteousness. Anybody that goes about to establish
their own righteousness is ignorant of the righteousness of God. And listen, everyone who desires
to be under the law have not submitted to the righteousness
of Christ. They're bringing their own garment.
What will be the end of these zealous men? They will be cast out. So we see that we should have
a zeal for the lost, a heart for the lost. We see that the
lost have a zeal for their own righteousness, which is ignorant, But I want you to see this. Go
back to your text real fast. Look at this. They've not submitted
to the righteousness of God. Now Paul is going to describe
the righteousness of God. This is what we are to be, as
a church, zealous about. This is what we are to be zealous
to preach. Here it is. For Christ is the
end of the law. For what? For righteousness. To who? Everyone that believeth. Everyone that believeth. This
is one of the greatest texts in all Scripture. This is one of the greatest texts
in all of Scripture. It is telling me this, that Christ
is the completion and the fulfillment of the law. Why don't we sacrifice
anymore? You ever wonder why? You know why we don't have a
temple anymore? Why don't we have high priest
anymore? Didn't God ordain those back in the Old Testament? Why
don't we have that anymore? because Christ fulfilled all of those
types and shadows. They were just pictures of Him.
The high priest was a picture of Him. The sacrifice was a picture
of Him. The temple was a picture of Him.
Listen, the law of Moses, the moral law, the ceremonial law,
the dietary law, listen, it all pictured Him. And so when He
came into the world and He actually accomplished everything the law
required, He fulfilled it. He satisfied it. He came into the law. He came
into the world to obey the law, to honor the law. For anybody to desire to be under
the law, don't you know this, that if you're guilty in one
point, you're guilty in everything? Now go ahead, go ahead and tell
me, you that want to be under the law, which law have you kept? Name it. And if you say anything,
you're a liar. You've not kept it. Why? James
says if you're guilty in one point, you're guilty of the whole
law. You got that? It's not a partial
obedience. You can't come to God with a
partial obedience. If you want to be under the law
in one point, you must be under the law in every point. But the joy of the gospel is
that Christ has fulfilled all of it. All of it. Go to Romans 8, look over one
chapter. Paul says, there's therefore now no condemnation of those
in Christ. Now why is that? The law condemns us, doesn't
it? If you take your righteousness and lay it out before the law,
what is the law going to do? It's going to condemn you, isn't
it? But in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. Now how is
that possible? Look at this. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. Notice how he terms the law of
Moses. The law of sin and death. For
what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh. In other words, he's saying there's nothing wrong with the
law. Can you find anything wrong with the law? Anybody? Is there
anything wrong with the law? No. It's perfect. What's the
problem? The flesh. We're weak through
the flesh. God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. Why? That the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in Listen, who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit. What does he mean by that, walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit? He's talking, not
saying, not walking after the lust of the flesh or the carnal
desires, he's talking about walking after law. We who believe in Christ, we
don't walk after the law. Why? The law has already been
fulfilled in us. And if I go back to the law,
what am I saying? I am saying that Christ is not
sufficient. We're going to talk about that
next. I've got that already for the next message. It is to bring
Christ down from above. Who shall ascend into heaven?
That's what he's saying. The law says this. Who shall ascend
into heaven? Are you going to earn your way
to heaven? What does that do? That brings Christ down. Well, by my sacrifices, if I
just dig down deep enough, what is that? That's to bring Christ
up and give Him the dead again. No. It's to say Christ is not
enough if you go back to the law. And so some argue, well, the
law is just my guide. Where in the scriptures does
it say the law is your guide? Find it. Is it the ten guides
for life? Is that what God says it is?
Or are they commandments? Are they optional? You get to
pick which ones you like and which ones you don't? No. Some argue, say it's a rule of
the believer's life. No. We have a law. You that believe, we have a law.
But it's not the law of Moses. Here it is. It is the law of
faith and love. That's our law. Faith and love. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then what? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then what? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then what? The just shall live by faith.
And the law is not of faith. Galatians 3, I think in verse
12. The law is not of faith. You can't mix faith and law.
You can't mix faith and law. So what is our joy? Listen to
me. Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness.
For righteousness. To who? Everyone that believe
it. You see, we've been made free
from the law of sin and death. You know, this has already been
argued by the church in the first century. In Acts chapter 15, I'm not going
to go there, but I don't have time. In Acts chapter 15, there
was a dispute among believing Jews. that believed, they said,
yes, faith in Christ is essential, but you need to compel the Gentiles
to be circumcised. In order for them to be part
of the Jewish nation, the Jewish people, they have to be circumcised.
And this was a big contention. And they all got together and
they argued about it. And Peter stood up. This is what he said. Peter rose
up and said, Men and brethren, you know a good while how God
made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear
the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
and bear witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did
unto us. They didn't know anything about
the law. They didn't have any idea what the law meant, and
yet God gave them the Holy Spirit, just like He did us, who knew
all about the law. and put no difference between
us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Therefore, why
tempt you God to put the yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
listen, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Why
would you dare put that yoke back upon the necks of believers
that you have never and could never obey? We believe that through
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. How are we going to be saved?
Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because He is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So what is it if men return to
the law? What happens? If a man professes
faith in Christ and returns to the law, listen, he is ignorant
and he does not believe that text. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. He still believes the law has
some measure of necessity in his life. And listen, he's not submitted
to the righteousness of God. He in pride still believes he
has some ability. Paul said that if you Or go back
under the law, Galatians 5, 2, Christ will profit you nothing. I know this is hard for many
to hear, and I know it's sharp. But better are the wounds of
a faithful friend than the kisses of an enemy. So when we preach
the gospel, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
You listen to that. You don't need to be a theologian to understand
what that means. He's done it. The law is fulfilled. If I put
my hand to it again, I'm saying this, it's not fulfilled. But we that believe, we have
the righteousness of God given to us. And we must preach this
gospel in love, in compassion. This is the zeal of the church,
to preach this. Christ is the end of the lawful
righteousness to everyone that believe it. And listen, never
compromise the truth. and call it love. This is what
the church has failed for centuries, is that they call it compassion
when they compromise the gospel. They want to take the rough edges
off of it. They want to round it down so it makes people feel
better about coming and hearing it. No, that's not your job. You present it in love. as it
is, the truth. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. And anybody that goes back to
the law for righteousness have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God, but are ignorant. I am so thankful that Christ
has provided all my salvation, aren't you? I am so thankful
that there is nothing left for me to add. And what does this do to the
believer? Does it not motivate you? What motivates you to witness
to this gospel? Is it law or love? What is it that desires to keep
you? We don't desire sin, we that believe. We don't desire
to live a life of sin. What constrains us? Law or love? It is the love of Christ that
constrains us, not the law. My, Christ is the end of the
law. He's the fulfillment of the law. Listen, for righteousness. He did it. It's done. And to everyone that believes,
it is given to you. What? His righteousness. So on
that day when the wedding feast is come, I'm going to be dressed
only in the robe that He made only in the robe that He washed
in His blood. I won't dare take my righteousness
there. I pray that God would give us
such a heart to preach this gospel to others. Let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer. Father, dismiss us with Your
own blessing and mercies. Pour out Your Spirit upon this
congregation. Oh, that you'd give us a heart
that you gave our brother for the lost. We not compromise it,
but preach the truth in love, exposing the zeal of ignorance
by simply preaching the gospel that Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And I know this. that your people
will believe. They will come. They will be
saved. Help us to give you the thanks
and praise for it, in Jesus' name. Amen.