You've been away apart for a
while. And Lord is blessed. I know that there are many that
you here know, but many on the video and listening online don't. Sunday we did not have service.
You didn't have technical difficulties. People kept emailing me and asked
if they got technical difficulties. No, I wasn't here. I had an emergency. I went to the doctor and they
said I had Bell's palsy, a virus of some sort in my face. So,
better than the alternative. So, but very thankful the Lord
was gracious in that. And now we're here together again. And I do beg for your prayers. I ask you to pray for me as I
desire to preach the gospel to you. I long for it to be plain. clear, and not only that, but
encouraging, strengthening you. That's what every believer desires,
isn't it? Strength. Strength to meet the
day. Strength to continue in the faith.
Because everything in this world is pulling against faith. Everything. The dark providences, they are
of the hand of God, make no mistake. There is nothing that is not
of God's hand. So the dark providence has come
and we don't quite understand. I pray that the message would be
for your strength and encouragement. So before we begin, we'll go
to him in prayer. I did talk to Eric today. He sounded good,
but he's going back and forth between therapy and The treatments. So be in prayer for Eric and
Angela. Rylan and Emma, they made it,
didn't they? They saw it. I think so. But Eric comes back
tomorrow night, I guess. He'll go back in May for the
mom. OK. So this is a preliminary
still? This is just another test. OK. Pray for Rylan and Emma as
they go through this with their youngest child. Pray God be gracious to them. Sorry for your loss, Chuck, concerning
your mom. And pray for you and your family,
concerning that difficult time that you face. And again, I hope
that this message, all messages, really all messages concerning
Christ should be encouraging. They just should. And I pray
that the Spirit would give us a special liberty tonight that
we would enter into these things of how great Christ's work was. So before we begin, let's go
to Him in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven,
we bow before Your throne of mercy, and that's what we seek. We plead for mercy. We plead
for grace. I pray, Father, this night that
You would open the scriptures to our hearts and minds, that
you give me liberty in unction of thy spirit, that you give
us the ability and strength tonight to worship you in spirit and
in truth. Pray forgive us our sins and
lead us and guide us in every part of this. Help us as we sing
to behold our Savior I pray, Father, that you would
give me the ability tonight to preach that, and that you, by
the Spirit, would make it effectual to every heart, including the
one preaching. I pray, Father, for these we
have mentioned concerning their sickness, and do pray that you
would give them grace and healing, that you would heal our bodies
and minds according to your grace and power. Father, I do pray
for these that suffer loss. Be with them. Strengthen that
family. Those that travel and not be able to be with us, be
with them and bring them back to us. I do ask you to do this
in the name of Jesus and for the glory of Christ. Do this. I pray in His name. Amen. If you take your Bibles now and
turn with me to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. Tonight we'll
be looking at verses 7 through 13. Entitle this message, Is the
Law to Blame? Is the Law to Blame? Is the Law to Blame? Now, as we've been studying in
this passage, there are two things the Apostle has made very plain
to everyone who believes, two very important Very encouraging
things. First of all, that we are dead
to sin. Look at that in chapter 6 and
verse 2. He says, God forbid, how shall
we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? And he explains what that means. He doesn't say we're dead to
the presence of sin. He's getting to that in this
chapter. He is telling us as Christ died to sin. Verse 7,
He says, For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we
be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with
Him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, death hath
no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died
to sin once, but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Listen. just as He died to sin. Now He
bare our sin, and He died under the curse of God, under the wrath
of God, He died. Paul said, likewise, listen,
reckon it to be so, because it is, impute it, charge it, because
it is. You also are dead indeed to sin
and alive to God, just like Christ. That's glorious, isn't it? Just
like He's dead to sin. He's not going to ever be charged
with sin again. Neither will you. You're dead
to it. And not only this, in chapter
7 He begins to press this issue that we are not only dead to
the guilt and penalty of sin, but we are dead to the law. This
is vitally important because this is exactly what The church
of Galatia dealt with exactly what the church in this day still
deals with. Those who believe in Christ have
some morbid thing in our flesh that desires to go back to the
law. So Paul says, look, you're not
only dead to the guilt and power of sin, you're dead to the law. And that's in verse 4. Look at that in chapter 7. You
also become dead to the law in the same way. The same way you're
dead to sin, the same way you're dead to the law, by the body
of Christ, by the death of Christ. Not in any different way. And
then Paul makes that illustration in the first few verses of this
concerning the married woman under the law. He illustrates
our freedom by portraying the law as our husband. When we were
born in this world, being creatures of God, we were married to the
law. And listen, the law was a strict
husband. The law was an unforgiving, fault-finding
husband. Imagine that, a woman living
under that. Husband is perfect. There's nothing
wrong with the husband. The husband's great. Imagine
that. A perfect husband. And what does he expect from
his wife? He expects the same thing. And guess what? All he
can find is fault. There's no forgiveness. There's
no mercy with the law. The law only exposes guilt. Imagine
being under that. That's exactly what we were under,
isn't it? But I want you to see this. The
husband is not to blame. That's immediate in our thoughts,
right? If you find a husband like that,
well, that's sorry, no good guy. He's always downing his wife.
Paul is not saying that the husband is to blame. It's the woman. She is guilty. Imagine if you
had a perfect husband and all that woman did was commit adultery. That's all we did. And Paul is
going to express this, the law is not to blame, we are. There is no fault in the law.
The fault's in us. So that's the main point of this.
And so the Holy Spirit, by Paul, asked this question in verse
7, What shall we say then? If that's true, and it is, is the law sin? And that's what
he's saying, is the law to blame? Is the law the cause of my sin? God forbid! No! Nay! I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. Verse 8, here's the problem,
but sin. And you want to know the problem
here, isn't it? Sin. Taking occasion by the commandment, Listen, sin
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. That word concupiscence means
this, a desire to disobey. That's just in us. So what brings
out this desire in us to disobey? Sin. That's what does it. Listen, for without the law,
sin was dead. Listen, were you sinless? Is
that what he's saying? No. He's saying you had no conscience
of it. You had no idea that you were
doing it. It was dead. You had no guilt
in it. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. Now he's talking about his experience
in this. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, listen, what he thought was ordained to life,
he said, I found it to be something totally different. I found it
to be death. Why, Paul? For sin, taking occasion
by the commandment, deceived me, and sin by it slew me. So
who's to blame here? See how he's putting it all back
on himself, on his sin. Then in verse 12, he justifies
the law, wherefore the law is holy, The commandment holy and
just and good. So the question then comes, was
that which is good made death and enemy, God forbid, but sin. You're getting the rhythm here. You're getting the point. And
he's stressing this point constantly. Don't you blame the law. The
law has nothing that is nothing but good. All the law is is good. It's sin. And the law says to
sin, What's the purpose that it might appear sin? Working
death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment
might become exceeding sinful. So now then, this is the point.
As you've read that with me, you see this sin is to blame.
It's not the law. First of all, I want to make
this clear. Look at what Paul says again
in 7. Paul makes this very clear, the purpose of the law. That's
the first thing you've got to establish. If the law is not
to blame, then what's the purpose of it? What does it do? Look
what he said. What shall we say then? Is the
law to blame? Is the law sin? God forbid. No. This is its purpose. I had not known sin but by the
law. For I had not known lust except
the law said thou shalt not covet. God gave the law for one reason. One reason. to make us know sin. That's it. If you want to know
sin, that's it. That's his purpose. The law was not given for a moral
code of ethics. I was hearing a bunch of politicians
talk about separation of church, state, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah. And they said, well, our whole system was founded on the
Ten Commandments. And they got them right there
in the Capitol building. They got big Ten Commandments
sitting in the Capitol. That's not what it was for. It's not Ten Guidelines for Living. Because that's what men think
it is. It is not a rule of life for the believer. That's not
his purpose. How is a believer to walk in
this world? If you're a believer in Christ, how are you to daily,
constantly walk? The Scriptures are clear. We
walk by faith and not by sight. The law is sight, isn't it? If
I do something, if I have a moral character, you can see it. But faith is not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 if you want
to look it up, it says we walk by faith and not by sight. In
Galatians chapter 3, listen to this very clear statement, Galatians
3 verse 11, the just shall live by faith, and this is just a
nail in the coffin to any works religion that wants to go back
to the law. The law is not of faith. You got that? That is
clear. You have to cut up that text
in order to make it say anything different. Faith and law are
two polar opposite things. You are either living by faith
or you are either living by the law. You cannot live by both.
He said, The man that does them shall live by them. If you're
living by faith, that's how you'll live. If you're living by law,
that's how you'll live. And so the believer, listen,
this law is not intended to be your rule of life. And listen, when people take
the law back and make it a rule, I want you to understand they
neuter it. They totally strip the law of
its authority, doesn't it? They become suggestions. They
become guidelines. And if you fail them, well, what
the heck? It's just a guideline. It's not
really a commandment, is it? Yes, it is. And if you're going
to live by that, you need to live by the other 603 commandments. There are 613. They're not just
10. Any theology that desires to
make this a rule of life, you have stripped the law of its
power. And that's not what Paul says here. Law has power. And he did not give the law to
be a motivating factor. That's not what the law is for.
It is not a motivational factor. You know what the law does to
a natural man? It only drives him to more sin. You read Isaiah chapter 1, and
he said, Why will you be stricken more? He said, I've already stricken
you. I've already sent the armies of your enemies in. And he said,
you know what you're going to do? You're only going to revolt
more and more. The law is not a motivator. What is the motivation of the
believer? What is your motivation to good conduct, to service? It is the love of Christ, isn't
it? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2, 5, 14, he says, the love of
Christ constraineth us. Not your love for Christ, but
Christ's love for you. Now you keep that in view, and
that constrains sin. Anything else won't constrain
it. It is the love of Christ that constraineth us. And God
did not give a law to measure your sanctification. If we, if you're just honest,
man, if people just be honest, they want to be under the law,
and they want to put themselves under that microscope, they should
not call it progressive sanctification, they should call it regressive
sanctification. It only gets worse. The more
you understand the law, the more you see you don't obey it. So it's not meant to measure
our sanctification. The only purpose of the law identified
in our text is this, I had not known sin but by the law. So
what's the purpose? I had not known sin but by the
law. That's the purpose. Look at chapter 3 and verse 19.
said this. I keep thinking I'm running over
and over and over this stuff again, but that's exactly what
Paul's doing. He just keeps running this ground over and over and
over again. Look what he says in chapter
3 in verse 19. He says, Now we know that whatsoever
thing the law saith, that saith to them that under law, purpose,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty.
Now you see the purpose? Conclusion, therefore, by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh. I don't care who you are. I don't care how moral you are,
how close you are to obeying this law. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, listen, in his sight. Don't matter about
my sight. It doesn't matter about the sight
of anyone else. It only matters in His sight.
And God said, you're not going to be justified by this law.
That's not why I gave it. I gave it to expose sin. Listen, He said, for by the law
is what? The knowledge of sin. Isn't this
exactly what He's saying? It's not the remedy. The law
is not the remedy. Why would you go back to it? Secondly, so we see the purpose
of the law is not a motivating factor, it's not a rule of life,
it's not a measure of our sanctification. The only purpose of the law is
to expose sin. Now secondly, because we are
born dead in sin, Paul has already discussed this in chapter 5,
that we, through Adam, were born dead. Dead in sins. Because of that, none of us by
nature can hear the law. None of us can understand it.
The law condemns us. The law convicts us. The law
exposes our sin. The problem is not the law, it's
this, we can't hear it. Why do you think men want to
do it? To you that believe, it's astounding. Anybody want to go
under that law? It's astounding, because you know you can't make
it. And you see them going back under it. It's like a man trying
to grab an anchor. And you're wondering now, why
would you do that? Because he can't hear it. He can't hear
it. And because he can't hear it,
listen to me. He will always use it unlawfully. That's what we did. Look what
Paul says in verse 8. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For
without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law
once. Now make sure you hear what Paul
says. He said sin did this. Sin wrought all manner of things
in me that the law said not to do. Everything the law said to
do, I wanted to do the opposite. Why is that? Because of sin in
me. Sin. Now Paul's sin, consider
this, Paul's sin working in him was all manager, he's talking
about covetousness. He said, I've not known covetous,
I've not known lust. Now Paul's not talking about
lusting after women, anything like that. What is he lusting
after? What is Paul coveting? Listen
to what Paul is coveting. Paul was coveting deity. He was desiring to do what only
God could do, that is make himself righteous. That's what Paul desired
to do. To be able to be holy by his
own will and power, that's what Paul wanted to do. When a sinner
tries to justify or sanctify himself, to save himself by the
law, listen to what he's doing, he's breaking the law. To try to save yourself by the
law is breaking the law. What's the first commandment
of the Ten Commandments? Thou shalt have no other gods before
me. In other words, there's only one God and you're not it. There's
only one God. There's only one God who saves. And you're not it. So when you try to justify yourself
before the law, what you're doing is taking God's glory for yourself. What you're doing, you're robbing
God of His glory. You're saying, God, you do your
part. You do what I can't do, God. You do that. But what I can do,
let me do it. But in doing so, he was making
himself God. Paul said, sin took occasion
by the commandment. Paul, sin is what made him use
the law unlawfully. It made him attempt to save himself
by obeying the law. Now tonight, if you seek to use
the law as a means to save yourself, you are using the law unlawfully. I told you what his purpose is.
Paul told you what his purpose is. To expose sin. That's it. And if you're using it any other
way, then it is, you're unlawfully using it. And even worse than this, Paul
was deceived to think he was doing it. It seemed worse. He was doing it, but all the
while he thought he was succeeding. Look what he said, for without
the law sin was dead. For I was alive. Do you hear what he said? Sin
was dead. I'd conquered it. I was alive. I was alive without the law.
Now what does he mean without the law? Because we know this.
Paul lived under that law. As Saul of Tarsus, he was the
rising star of the Pharisees' religion. And so Paul didn't mean that
he was without the law, that he didn't have the law, but this
was what it meant. He said, I was alive because
I obeyed the law. Look how Paul viewed himself.
Go to Philippians chapter 3. In this sinful condition, sin
and guilt, he felt no guilt. Why? He couldn't hear the law,
so he used it unlawfully. And look what he says in Philippians
chapter 3 and verse 4. He said, if anybody's got confidence
in the flesh, I more. You think you've got something
to brag about? Listen to mine. He said in verse
5, circumcise the eighth day. How about you? of the stock of Israel, the tribe
of Benjamin. That was a big deal. Remember,
the only two tribes that maintained faithfulness to God was Judah
and Benjamin. He said, I'm the faithful tribe.
I didn't even go with those northern fellas. I was a southern boy. Don would have got a kick out
of that. The Hebrew of the Hebrews. Listen,
as touching the law of Pharisee. I was of the strictest sect of
the Jews, the Pharisees. And not only did I acknowledge
the Pharisees, he said concerning zeal, persecuting the church.
I didn't just acknowledge it, I acted on it. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law. Listen to what he said. You see how Paul viewed himself?
He said, I was alive once. I was alive. That law brought
no guilt or shame upon me at all. Sin was dead. I felt no guilt of it. This is
the same idea that the Lord went to those Pharisees, remember?
He told them, He said, You are like whited tombs. You're painting. Beautiful. I
was looking up tombs and somebody had mentioned some tombs out
in New Orleans and the big cemetery they got there and they got these
tombs that are just so beautiful. One guy's got a pyramid and it's
all white, solid white, beautiful. He said, that's how you look
outwardly. You hear that, what Jesus said about the Pharisees?
He said, outwardly, they can't find nothing wrong with you.
What's the problem? He said, inside is full of dead
men's bones. You're dead. Within, you're full
of hypocrisy and iniquity. You see, Paul thought the law
only regarded the outward, which is what men only think about
the law. As long as I don't outwardly commit adultery, as long as I
don't outwardly steal, as long as I don't outwardly covet, then
I'm OK. So like all of us, born dead
in trespasses and sins, a man can become religious without
being born again. Listen, you can come to church,
you can put money in the church, you can do all kinds of things. That does not save you, does
not make you a believer. Man can be religious without
being born again. While he's dead, one thing is
true of everyone who is dead. They will always try to earn
their favor with God. It's just true. How do we know this? Because
that's what I did. It's what Paul's saying he did. And he thought he got it. He
thought he had it. Later on, Paul will say, they
that are after the flesh do minor things of the flesh. If you're
after the law, you know you're going to mind the things of the
flesh. You're going to look around and try to find somebody worse
than yourself so you can look down on them. That's just the
way the law is. It's the way it works in the
natural mind. The lost man looking to the flesh
will not look to Christ. The law is always what? Do. Isn't
it? Do. Do. No, you ain't done enough. Do more. You know what Christ
is? Christ is done. This is a glorious
thing. Christ said it's done. It's all
finished. Nothing left to do. Just come
here and rest. Come here and take a seat. Sit
down with me. I've done it all. Well, that
stirs love. That stirs desire to obey, doesn't
it? Listen, what the carnal mind,
he said, the carnal mind is enmity against God, and this is how
you know. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. And so the law declares that everyone is guilty. Everyone
is guilty. Now, our Lord Jesus in Matthew
chapter 5, he said, I came not to destroy the law, but what?
Fulfill it. I came to satisfy it. I came
to obey it. I came to do all that you could
not do. Me alone, I did it. And then
he begins to describe the law as it truly is. He said if you're
angry with your brother, you've committed murder. Now that's
something, isn't it? If you've looked on a woman to
lust after her, you have committed adultery with her in your heart
already. Do you see what the law is? It's
not just the outward, it's the inward thoughts and motives and
intents of the heart. So it doesn't matter what you
do on the outside, if you break it in here, it's broken. Later on he's going to say, The
law is spiritual. It's not just carnal. It's what
he's saying. When I was alive without the
law, he thought the law was carnal. He thought if he just kept his
body in check, that everything was well. But something happened. Look at this thirdly. When God
makes you to hear it. Now, this is before Paul heard
it. But when God makes you to hear it, listen what happens
in verse 11. But something happened. When the commandment came. Sin revived and I died. When the commandment came, he's
talking about the Spirit of God coming and quickening power and
giving you life. When God the Holy Spirit comes
and gives you life You then are able to discern or hear the law. Paul said, He that is spiritual
discerneth all things. When God gives us discernment,
what happens to sin? It's no longer dead, it resurrects,
it revives. And what is the result? Always
the same. In every believer, the same.
The same with Paul, the same with you, the same with me. When
the commandment really came, when I really understood it,
sin revived. Sin was not just what I did outwardly.
Sin was not just even my thoughts. It's who I am. I am the sinner. And you know what died? I did. I died. Before, my religion was I. I will do this and God will do
that. I will obey. I will. I, I, I. And when the commandment
comes, I dies. I died. It was not me. I cannot,
the only thing I know I, I cannot save myself. I is dead. I'm dead. That's what I learned when the
commandment came. I died. My self-righteousness died. All
that I had been building up for my acceptance died. All I thought would make me commendable
to God died. I was left in a pile of ashes with no hope to save myself. This is the law in the hand of
the Holy Spirit. God gives spiritual discernment.
For the first time, my righteousness becomes filthy rags. We find out what the true purpose
of the law is, only to express my guilt, verse 10, and the commandment
which was ordained to eternal life. That's what I thought.
Paul said, that's what I thought. That's what I believed. I believed
it so much that I persecuted people, that I hauled them off
to prison for their death. I held the coat of the people
who stoned another man to death because I believed he was evil
and I was righteous. He said, that law that I thought
was life, I found something completely different. He said, I found it
to be unto death. And the reason Paul was so wrong,
verse 11, because of sin. My sin. taking occasion by the
commandment deceived me, and by my sin slew me. While dead
in sin, we think the law was ordained to give us life." Paul said this in Galatians.
He said, if it was of the law, surely if there was a law given
whereby we could be righteous, it should have come that way.
But this is what the Scripture hath concluded, all under sin. That's what the scripture concluded.
Now listen to Paul describe the law. Go to 2 Corinthians and
see if this is how you describe the law. You that are born again. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
Go over there just a second. Listen to the words that Paul
used to describe the law and tell me if it's something you
want to be under. Look at 2 Corinthians 3 and verse
6. He's describing two testaments. Two testaments. Two covenants. Verse 3 says, Who also hath made
us able ministers of the new covenant. That's what we do.
I'm here to preach the new covenant. I'm here to preach the covenant
of grace and mercy without your obedience, without your works,
It's all of Christ. And not the letter. See what
I'm to preach? What am I to preach? Which testament? I'm here to preach the New Testament,
not the letter. Why? Not of the letter, but of the
Spirit, for the letter killeth. That's all it can do. It can
only kill you. But the Spirit giveth life. Now
listen to what he calls the law. but at the ministration of death. Now what if, it would be wonderful
if everyone in religion would just say instead of the law,
ministration of death. What you need to do is you need
to obey the ministration of death. What? Ministration of death written
and engraved on stones. He is not downing it. He says
it is glorious. It was glorious. He says so glorious
when Moses came down they couldn't even behold His face. Look what
He says to this. He says, Which glory was to be
done away? It was only to be for one purpose,
to bring you to Christ. That's it. And once it brought
you to Christ, it has no more purpose. It has no more purpose. Why? He says, how then much more
glorious is the ministration of the Spirit? Isn't it more
glorious? Verse 9, for it is the ministration of condemnation.
So call it that. What you need to do is obey the
ministration of condemnation. But if that ministration of condemnation
be glorious than it was, how much more glorious then is the
righteousness? that the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory." Didn't the message of Christ exceed in glory
in the message of the law? Yeah, because Christ is the fulfillment
of the law. So again, Paul says the law is not the fault to blame.
Look at verse 12. He says, this is his conclusion
here. He said, Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good. In other words, nothing's wrong
with the law. God's law is just a mirror reflection
of God's holy character, that's what it is. It's good. And so in verse 13 he answers
another question, what then is that which is good made death
unto me? God forbid. Broken record. What made the
law death unto him? Was it the law's fault by pointing
out his sin, or was it his sin's fault? He said this, my sin,
my sin. Listen, the law was there that
it might appear sin working death in me. The law was showing me
this. By that which is good, that sin
by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." You know,
before Paul was saved, the law was the law, wasn't it? And guess
what? After Paul was saved, the law
didn't change. The law is still the same. The only problem is,
he didn't hear it. But when he heard it, he found
it to be a ministration of death. that the commandment, by the
commandment, sin might become exceeding sinful. So, I want
to ask this question then. Has God used his law to shut
your mouth? Is there anything you can bring?
Do you have anything that you can offer? Any sacrifice, any
goodness that you can bring? Not if you've heard this law
yet. Has the law made you to see that
you are not just a sinner, but THE sinner? I look at you, and I'm honest. There is no way you can be as
vile as me. Not possible. The law makes us to see that
we are wretched. But the good news is this. that
the law that brings us to see we are sinners also points us
to Christ. That's what it does. I ain't
going back there. It points me to Christ. I'm going
there. I'm going there. Look what he says in verse 19. Go back to Romans 5, verse 19. Listen to what Paul says concerning
this. This is what the law brings us
to. It brings a sinner to Christ. It says, verse 19, For by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners. So by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, when the
law came, the commandment came, sin revived, and I died, sin
abounded, death abounded, death reigned over me. But where I
was found in the heat piles and the death, listen, he said this,
grace did much more abound. wherein that sin reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, not my
own, righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Consider this one man. If you
see that law and you see the commandment and you see it only
ministers death, it points you to one man who ministers life.
Jesus Christ is the only one who can minister life. He's the
only one who can minister righteousness to you. that you're a sinner.
He's the only one to give you righteousness, because He's the
only one that earned it. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
came into the world as a man under the law. And He's the only
man that obeyed the law. Only one. There's been a lot
of men in this world. There's been a lot of people
in this world. Only He obeyed the law. Only He. I like reading
what His enemy said. I find no fault in this man."
That was a man fixing to kill him. His enemies said, never a man
spake like this man. That's his enemies. That's his
enemies. They were the ones trying to
find fault all the time. They couldn't find anything.
Why? He obeyed the law. Secondly,
this Holy One took our sins. Took all our sins. And Peter
said he bore them in his own body. One said he drank the dregs of
our sins and drained the cup of God's fury dry. I thought of Psalm 110. He shall
drink of the brook in the way. A little statement like that
is kind of Passover, but that brook, very important, it's a
brook Kittron. Brook Kittron was where all of
the entrails and all of the dung from the temple flowed down this
brook. It wasn't a crystal stream of
water. It was a sewage ditch. It was
where Asa burned all those idols and put the ashes into the brook
Kitron. It's the brook that David crossed
over in sorrow as he was running from Absalom. And our Lord Jesus
Christ, the very night that He was betrayed, He crossed over
that same brook. And the Scripture says He not
only crossed it over, He drank it dry. What is that? All my sin. All that sin I committed
against the Lord, He bore it in His own body on the tree,
and God punished it. I'm not getting away with anything.
My sin was punished. All of it was punished in Jesus
Christ our Lord. And so then, every one of you
that have care, all that you have care concerning sin, listen,
cast all your care on Him. Listen, those who believe in
Him, listen, you are dead to sin. You're dead to its penalty
and you're dead to its punishment. You'll never be punished for
your sins. You've already been punished
in your substitute. This is the glory of the Gospel.
And not only this, we're dead to the law and married to another.
I was married to the law. He only could convict me, only
point his finger at me, only tell me how guilty I was. But
you know what? because of the body of Christ.
I'm dead to that husband and I'm married to Christ. You know
what Christ does? I like that woman taking adultery.
What a wonderful illustration that is, our Lord. He said, who
condemned thee? She looks around, nobody's there.
He said, no man, Lord, neither do I condemn thee. That's what our Lord says to
you. I don't condemn you. Now what kind of love is that? What kind of grace is that? I
don't condemn you. What Paul is going to get at,
there is therefore now no condemnation. Why? You're not under that husband.
That husband is dead. You're under a husband that sees
nothing but righteousness. Now all I see is sin. I still
see it. He doesn't. He doesn't. So the question is, why would
anybody ever want to pick up that dead husband? Why? Would anyone want to dig
up those buried bones of the law and try to put them together?
You couldn't obey it before you heard it. Why do you suppose
you can obey it after you heard it? It only has one purpose,
to condemn you. That's it. Yeah, before, sin
was dead to you, but now by the Spirit, you're alive, you understand
the law, Why then would you go back to it? This thing that him sometimes felt the arrows of distress and found I had no hiding place.
Isn't that true? When the law of sin revived,
I died. Isn't that true? When the arrows of distress,
I found I had no hiding place. Indignant justice stood in view. To Sinai's fiery mount I flew. This mountain cried with frowning
face. This mountain is no hiding place. Haven't you found the law? There's
no hiding place here. But you remember the hymn writer
said, he led me on with gentle pace to Jesus Christ, my hiding
place. That's what Paul's telling us.
The law is not to blame, I was. The law is good. Nothing wrong
with the law. But I can't live under it. And I thought, lastly, I'll just
close with this. I thought old Mephibosheth. What a good illustration
that is, isn't it? Old Mephibosheth, you know, when
David took the throne as king, he had every right to kill Saul's
children. That's what happened when you
became king. So no one could rise up against you. You killed
their children. And old Mephibosheth, the problem
with him is he couldn't run. So he, they had him in a place
called Lodebar. That place means house of no
bread. It was a barren wasteland. Surely David can look at what
I got and he ain't gonna come get me. I mean Lodebar, I can't
go any lower. And sure enough, David, he said
to his soldiers, listen to this, didn't tell the soldiers why
they fetch him, didn't have to tell the soldiers anything about
what he was gonna do. He said, you go fetch him. You
know what they did? When they grabbed Mephibosheth,
it was not a pleasant sight. It was fear, because he knew
he was deserving of death. He knew he'd die. And those soldiers
came and threw him down at the feet of David. That's what the law did. Oh, pick me up. in my lame condition, because
I couldn't come, and as a schoolmaster it brought me to Christ. It laid me out, and I say the
same thing. What is thy servant, that you
should look on a dead dog, such as I? And he said, I'm going to have
mercy on you for Jonathan's sake. That's what God says. I'm going
to have mercy on you because of Jesus' sake. That's the reason
I'm going to have mercy on you. And he said, what you're going
to do is you're going to take your lame bottom, and you're
going to sit at my table, and you're going to eat with me as my son. See, the law is a
purpose. But it's not a rule of life. Law convicts, and then if it
is empowered by the Spirit, it will always bring you to one
person, to Christ. Is that what the law has done
to you? So the law is not to blame, is
it? My sin was. But I'm so glad, and I'll tell
you this, my salvation All the blame belongs to Christ. He owns
it all. He owns it all. If I'm saved,
He owns it all. Forbid of it. Anything more glorious
than that? Ain't nothing more glorious to
a sinner. If you're self-righteous, yeah,
you say that. But if you're a sinner, that's
glorious. I pray God will bless this to
you. Stand and be dismissed in prayer. Thank you, Father, for answering
our prayers. Thank you for giving us strength. Thank you for allowing
us to hear your words. And oh, I beg you to hear it
with the heart, and not with the ears, with the heart. That we should believe, we should
trust in Christ alone. Oh, that everyone would trust
Christ alone. I beg you as we go away that
you would make this Song resound over and over in our heart, Christ
is all, Christ is all. Forgive us our sins. Use your word as you please. Pray it is to save your people
from their sins. May all the glory and praise
belong to Jesus Christ. his name