I think there are probably two
things that cause more confusion and strife and division among
folks who profess to believe the gospel of God's grace than
any other. One, of course, is the matter
of believer's baptism. I won't talk about that now,
but baptism is the believer's confession of faith in Christ.
It is the symbolic fulfillment of all righteousness, portraying
the accomplishment of redemption, salvation, righteousness for
God's elect by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. And
therefore, we're buried with Christ in the waters of baptism
and rise up from the watery grave to walk with him in the newness
of life, symbolically lifting our hands to God, testifying
to God and to the world that we're his. bought with the precious
blood of Christ to live for him for his glory. The other is the
relationship of the law to God's people in our day. Few, very
few people know what it is to be free from the law. Few even of God's people Know
the full blessed joy of freedom from the law. I want, as God
will enable me, to talk to you this morning about God's holy
law. The title of my message is The
Law's Failure and Its Fulfillment. The Law's Failure and Its Fulfillment. My text will be Romans chapter
8, verses 3 and 4. the person who knows the proper
place of the law and the glory of God's free grace in Christ. The person who can rest in Christ
alone for all that the law requires and all that justice demands
knows the gospel. But that person who mixes law
and grace in any measure whatsoever As a matter of acceptance with
God, as a matter of righteousness, as a matter of holiness, any
person who mixes law and grace in any measure whatsoever has
not yet learned the gospel aright. There are no two things in the
world more completely opposed to one another than law and grace. They're as opposite as light
and darkness. They're no more alike and can
no more agree than fire and water. Like oil and water, law and grace
simply will not mix. You put the two together and
you mess up everything. If it's of law, it's not of grace. If it's of grace, it's not of
law. The two can never be mixed together. And yet, there is an amazingly
well-established opinion in the minds of depraved men that law
and grace, after all, can be mixed. Everybody tries to do
it. Though law and grace are diametrically
opposed to one another, The depraved human mind is so void of spiritual
understanding that most people, most people simply cannot discriminate
between law and grace. Man insists on mixing that which
God has put us under. Because his foolishness and ignorance
is so great, man constantly seeks to find some legal standing before
God. Every man does. Every man does. The first thing a person does
when he begins to have some interest in the things of God is to do
something. Find something to do. Something
to make me holy. Something to make me righteous.
Something to make me fit for grace. Sirs, the Philippian jailer
said what must I do to be saved? That's the natural reasoning
of all fallen depraved men and men Continue to ask what must
I do? Surely there's something I must
do. This is the thing the Apostle
Paul opposed and contended with Everywhere he went it is that
which he opposed and dealt with in all his epistles. He expends
every effort to destroy every remnant of legalism among God's
people. Read the New Testament. I urge
you to do so. Read the New Testament. It doesn't
matter what John Gill says or Don Fortner says. It doesn't
matter what John Calvin says or C.H. Spurgeon says. It doesn't
matter what the Baptist Church says or the Presbyterian Church
says. It doesn't matter what the Reformed folks say or the
Armenians say. Read the Word of God. It matters what this book says.
It matters what this book says. And I'm going to tell you what
you'll find. Mark every place in the New Testament, every single
place in the New Testament where the word law is used. Every single
place. Mark every one of them. Nowhere
in the New Testament is there even a hint of a suggestion that
somehow believers are still under the law. Not anywhere in this
book. It's just not found. It's not
there. To suggest such is just the invention
of men. It is but the remnant of papacy
in Protestant churches and sadly in Baptist churches by which
men still think there's something they can do to make themselves
righteous. In the New Testament, everywhere
in the New Testament, we're told with regard to God's elect That
is with regard to sinners who believe on the Lord Jesus. We
are not under the law. We're dead to the law. We're
not under the law. We're dead to the law. We're
not under the law. We're dead to the law. But there's
a sense in which you're under the law. No, that's not in there. We're not under the law. We're
dead to the law. Christ is the end of the law. Nowhere, I repeat, nowhere is
there even a hint that believers are under the law, live by the
law, or have anything to fear or dread from the law. Law and
grace cannot be mixed except to the destruction of your soul.
They cannot be mixed except to the destruction of your soul.
If you choose Moses, you cannot have Christ. If you have Christ,
You don't want Moses. Did you get that? If you choose
Moses, you can't have Christ. If you have Christ, you don't
want Moses and don't need him. Don't need him. This is what
the book says. If you be circumcised. If you be circumcised. Now, That's
not just talking about physical circumcision in the flesh. If
you do something, if you do something, if you do something, it doesn't
matter what it is. Keep the commandments, read your
Bible, go to church, pray, witness, go to the mission field, become
a preacher, get baptized, take the Lord's Supper. If you do
something, if you do something, to make yourself acceptable to
God, Christ shall profit you nothing. You've missed the grace
of God altogether. Brother Don, are you saying that
all we have is Christ? What else do you want? What else do you want? Have you
better righteousness to offer God than him? Have you greater
holiness to offer God than him? Have you greater atonement to
offer God than him? Oh, no, no, no. Christ is all. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, as you first came to Christ, naked,
helpless, bankrupt, filthy sinners with nothing to offer God but
His Son. So walk ye in Him. I bid you who do not know my
Redeemer, right where you are right now, come to Christ. Come
to Christ. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Christ with all your
guilt, all your depravity, all your corruption, all your deadness,
all your sin, and offer God nothing but His Son. And God promises,
He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. And I call on you who are gods,
come to Christ right now. Come to God right now. with all
your filth, and degradation, and depravity, and sin, and corruption,
and death, and misery, with nothing to offer God but his sword. And God's promise is, he that
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Salvation is
purely by the grace of God and purely through faith in Jesus
Christ without the deeds of the law. All right, let's look at
our text Romans 8 verses 3 and 4. For what the law could not do
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit. Now generally when we talk about
God's law we divide it into two sections. Men commonly refer
to the ceremonial law which of course has to do with all the
rites and ceremonies and sacrifices and garments of the priesthood
and services of the priesthood and all the tabernacle and temple
and the furnishings of the temple. All of those things which were
rites and ceremonies in the Old Testament portraying and pointing
to Christ. People talk about the ceremonial
law. And then they speak about the moral law, the Ten Commandments. Those commandments by which God
reveals everything righteous and good. And denounces everything
sinful and evil. But the two cannot be divided.
The two cannot be divided. They're not divided in the book,
and they oughtn't to be divided by us. The two The moral law
and the ceremonial law point to Christ, direct us to Christ,
and find their fulfillment in Christ and only in Christ Jesus. Both the ceremonial law and the
moral law point sinners to Christ to show us our Savior, pointing
us to Him, showing us the way of life. But the law can only
point to Him. It can't put us in it. The law
can only point to the way, it can't put us in the way. The
ceremonial law, I repeat, deals with all those things that had
to do with the worship of God in the tabernacle and temple.
It stood throughout the Mosaic Age as an instrument of God to
portray the way of life through the substitutionary sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, God's Son. All the blood of all the thousands
of sacrifices that were offered before God in the days of the
law, however, could never put away one transgression. Couldn't
put away one sin. The blood of an animal, the blood
of an innocent victim, the blood of a spotless goat, The blood
of a spotless lamb, the blood of a perfect red heifer can't
possibly remove the stain of sin from you. It just can't be
done, can't be done. But Christ was offered and accepted
by God once for all. His sacrifice, never to be repeated,
obtained eternal redemption for us, washed away our sins, put
away our sins, obtained everlasting salvation. Christ died once for
our sins, according to the Scripture. And that one sin-atoning death,
effectually put away sin. and effectually purges sin from
the conscience of man throughout the ages, believing on him. Most everyone recognizes that
that was the purpose of the ceremonial law, just to point us to Christ.
Almost all professing Christians recognize that the ceremonial
law was fulfilled by Christ and finished by Christ. But few,
very, very few realize that it is also the purpose of the moral
law to point to our Savior. And fewer still realize that
just as our Lord Jesus fulfilled and is the terminus, the end
of the ceremonial law, so he fulfilled and he is the terminus,
the end of the moral law for righteousness. We hold the moral
law of God as we do the ceremonial law in highest esteem In high
there could not possibly be better pictures of redemption than you
find in the ceremonial law You can't find it people these days
want to find ways to illustrate the death of Christ and they
and we We like to illustrate things and that's good and there
are lots of good illustrations, but all of them pale by comparison
to the Passover. All of them pale by comparison
to the sin offering. All of them pale by comparison
to blood on the mercy seat. All of those things point to
our Redeemer, and we highly esteem the ceremonial law. And in just
exactly the same way, we highly esteem the moral law. But we
must remember that the law can't save. The law can't produce righteousness. It was never given for that purpose. Law obedience contributes nothing
to grace. Law obedience contributes nothing
to righteousness. Law obedience contributes nothing
to holiness. All grace, all righteousness,
all holiness is found in Christ Jesus. The purpose of the law
is just to point to Christ. It can't do any more. Once the
needy sinner comes to Christ, the law has no other use. Once
the sinner comes to Christ, he is done with the law and the
law is done with him. Oh, if you ever learn that, you're
going to walk on this earth in peace. That's what the apostle
told us in Galatians 3, what we read just a little bit ago.
The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ. The law was our
schoolmaster until Christ came. The law was our schoolmaster
until we came to Christ. But once Christ has come, once
Christ has finished his work, once you've come to Christ, you're
no longer under a schoolmaster. You're no longer under the rule
of law. You have nothing to fear from the law. The schoolmaster
has no power over you. It's needful for us to understand
the teaching of Holy Scripture in this regard. So let's look
at our text this morning line by line. Here, God, the Holy
Ghost, tells us both what the law could not do and what the
God of all grace has done in the person and work of his dear
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read the text again. What
the law could not do. in that it was weak through the
flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, us who walk not after
the flesh but after the spirit. Just two points. First, our text
speaks of the law's failure. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. We acknowledge and rejoice
to do so, that the law is holy and the commandment holy and
just and good. The law of God is perfect. You can't add anything to it
or take anything from it without spoiling it. If you read the
Ten Commandments and understand them in their spiritual meaning,
you find that they are far-reaching, far-reaching far beyond what
men imagine. There's nothing right, there's
nothing right with regard to the conduct of man which the
law of God does not approve of. And there is nothing evil, there
is nothing evil with regard to the conduct of man except that
which the law of God condemns. like to invent rules and regulations.
God's given ten commandments. Those ten commandments approve
of everything that's right and condemn everything that's evil
in this world. And those ten commandments are
summed up by our Savior like this, Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The first table of the law has
to do with God and me. And this is all the law requires.
This is all it requires. It requires, Merle Hart, that
you love God with the totality of your being. And being born of God There's
nothing you more greatly desire. Is that correct? And nothing more indescribably
beyond the reach of your ability. The law doesn't require that
you do your best to love God with all your being. The law
requires that you love God with the totality of your being. And
the second, the second table of the law is like this. Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Next to desiring to love God with all my being, there's nothing
I more earnestly desire, being born of God and taught of God,
than to love you like I love myself. And that too, I confess, is utterly
beyond the reach of my ability. I just can't do it. I just can't
do it. But blessed be God. Christ has. And I have in Him. And He's put a new man in me
that can't do anything but love God and can't do anything but
love you. That's called righteousness.
That's called holiness. That's called life. That's called
being born of God. What a great law the law of God
is. What a magnanimous law. What
a blessed law. But there's a weakness, a very
great weakness. This the law could not do because
it was weak through the flesh. There's nothing wrong with the
law, but much wrong with us. because of the weakness of our
fallen humanity. The law that commands us to love
God with all our hearts can never produce that love. The law that
requires us to love one another as we love ourselves is not capable
of enabling us to love one another. The law that commands us to be
righteous can't make us righteous. The law that demands that we
be perfect can't make us perfect. The law that demands holiness
from us can't make us holy. When you start home this morning,
or after the message this morning, no matter which way you turn,
up that road, up that road, up that road, no matter which way
you turn, you won't go very far until you'll see a law sign.
You'll see a sign that says speed limit, 55 miles an hour. Now, that speed limit sign, is
there to tell you what the law requires. You are not to exceed
55 miles an hour. But that sign can't make you
drive just at 55 miles an hour. All it does is tells you this
is what the law requires. You can't go beyond 55 miles
an hour. Now, the law of man bends a little. I found out in the last 50 years
driving, 52 years driving, 51 years driving, excuse me. I found
out you can generally get by with about 61, 62 miles an hour
in a 55 mile an hour zone because the law bends a little. Man,
if you get caught doing 10 miles over the speed limit. When I
was 17 years old, I lost my license for a year. because I passed
the gals right on top of the Smoky Mountains, going to Spruce
Pine, North Carolina. I kicked it down. At about the
time I got side by side, I saw a gray car sitting up there.
Ah, he got me. I was doing 65. Cost me $100.50, and the judge took my license for
a year on the spot. I drove home without a license.
150 miles from home. 150 miles from home. Why? Because
that sign required, the sign required 55 miles an hour. That's the limit. And it didn't
matter what I had to say to that judge. He wasn't hearing it.
I was breaking the law because the law can't make me do anything. It can't enable me to do anything. It just tells me what the law
is. That's all. The law. can't produce a new
heart. The law can't save a lost soul.
The law can't justify. The law can't draw a wanderer
back to God. The law can't make us new creatures.
The law, as it was given to Adam in Adam's original state, had
Adam obeyed it, may indeed, his obedience may indeed have brought
in life everlasting. But we are not like Adam was.
We're fallen. We're dead. We're lost. And the
law, because of the weakness of our flesh, has no ability
to do us any good. That which Paul calls the flesh
is our old nature full of lust obscene. The law can point me
in the right direction, but it can't take me there. The law
can show me my filth, but it can't remove it. The law can
condemn me for sin, but it can't put away sin. The law can tell
me what I ought to do. but it can't give me the slightest
inclination to do it. What does the book tell us the
law can't do? The law can't justify us. Now, I don't know too many
folks who would argue with that. Well, I do. I know a lot of folks
who argue with that. I don't know too many folks who
profess to believe the gospel who would argue with that. The
law can't justify us. By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. That's not generally the problem
I run into. The problem I get is folks are
all the time writing to me or cornering me when I'm away from
town or out of town and they'll say, but Brother Don, I realize
I can't keep the law perfectly and I realize we can't perfectly
obey the law. The law can't justify it. But
surely, surely, obedience to the law will make us more holy. Surely not. You see, by best,
your obedience to the law is just sin. Let's just say it. We've come here this morning
to worship God. Is that why you came? Came to
worship God with his people. You came to sing the praises
of our Redeemer. You left a sick husband and here
to sing praises to our Redeemer. To pray with God's people, to
hear God's word, to worship our Redeemer. but your worship's full of sin. You've never done a better thing,
but it's full of sin. You're gonna offer it to God?
You're gonna offer it to God? Well, I'll do the best I can.
God will not accept the best you can do. God demands perfection. The law can't sanctify. Christ
is our sanctifier. Christ is our sanctification.
The word is holiness. Holiness. follow peace with all
men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. The
law can't justify and the law can't sanctify. The law is not
our holiness. Christ is our holiness, our righteousness
and justification, our holiness, our sanctification and regeneration. We read Galatians 3, the Galatians,
Paul said, who bewitched you? Who's cast a spell on you? You
act like folks who are under a witch's spell. That's what
it is to be under the spell of false religion. You act like
folks who are under a witch's spell. You're trying to make
yourself holy after being justified by grace. Did you receive the
Spirit by the hearing of faith or by the works of the law? How
did you get it? By faith. That's how you walk
with God. The law can't put away sin. The law shows me my malady, but
offers no remedy. The law denounces sin and warns
of death, but it does nothing and can do nothing to turn sinners
to God. I think it was John Bunyan who
originally came up with this little ditty, something like
it. Run, Don, run, the law demands, but gives me neither feet nor
hands. The gospel far more sweetly sings, it bids me fly and gives
me wings. That's the law's failure. Now
second, let me show you from our text what the law can do. The law's, I mean what Christ
has done in fulfilling the law. This is the law's fulfillment.
God sending his own son in the likeness of sin for flesh and
for sin, condemns sin in the flesh. I read a story Spurgeon told
back in the days before dynamite, when folks made something similar
to dynamite and had to light a fuse. He said some miners, just about
dark, had set some powder to go off and had a long fuse leading
up to it. And they had spread the powder
out for the explosion, and they lit that long fuse. And there was a little boy who
saw the fire and started running after that fire. He was just
excited by that fire. He's running after the fire.
And the miners were hiding behind the rocks, seeking shelter. They
said, son, no, no, no. Don't go there. Don't go there.
But the little boy had paid them attention. He was enamored with
the sparkle of the fire. And his mother saw what was going
on. And she ran out, and she fell on her knees, and she cried,
oh, Johnny, come to mama. And she stretched out her arms,
and the little boy turned and saw his mama didn't know what
was wrong. and ran into her arms. The Lord God Almighty says to
you, sinner, flee the law! Run from the law! It's death! And he stretches out his arms
in the gospel and calls sinners to Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh,
God give you grace to come to Christ. Who has fulfilled the
law? How so? How did our Savior fulfill
the law? Let's look in the scriptures.
God sending. The text doesn't say God waiting,
waiting for you to come to Him. Oh no, if God waited for you
to come to Him, you wouldn't be coming. The text speaks of
God sending. Sending from the throne of heaven.
sending not an angel or a host of angels, but God, who is rich
in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, sending his own
son. God sent his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, his only son, his darling son. Our case is so desperate
that only God himself can meet our needs. and Jesus Christ,
God's own son. Very God of very God can do the
job. He came into this world, the
sent one of God. Hark the glad sound, the Savior
comes, the Savior promised long. But how does he send him? God
sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. I sat and looked at that a long
time yesterday. Oh, can you imagine how astonished
the angels must have been? When they saw God step into humanity. When they saw God the Son take
into everlasting union with himself our nature and take, cause our
nature to take everlasting union with him. How the angels must
have stood astonished. He sent his son and it took not
on him the nature of angels, but it took on him the seed of
Abraham. He took on him the nature of
a man and the likeness of sinful flesh. But specifically, he did
this for the seed of Abraham. When God sent his son into the
world, he didn't take hold of Adam's seed. No, no, no, no.
Oh, no Christ didn't come to save everybody. He didn't come
to give everybody a chance to be safe He came here to save
his elect his covenant people the seed of Abraham. He took
hold of them to save them Call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins He was our Savior before he came
We were his people before he came. He came here to save his
people from their sins and save them he did. This one who comes
in human flesh is Christ our surety, Jehovah's righteous servant. He's the sent one of God. He's
the sent one of God. When you work for someone, And
they send you with a message to another person. You are sent
to deliver a message. When they send you into a place
to accomplish something, you're sent with a mission. The Lord
Jesus, Jehovah's righteous servant, Voluntarily came here as Jehovah's
Servant. He said open my ear. I love my
master. I love my wife I love my children
I will not go out free and it came here as Jehovah's Servant
with a mission to accomplish and It couldn't go back to glory
until it was accomplished. He said when the spirit of truth
comes he'll convince you of sin Because you believe not on me
Righteousness because I go to my father. I Finished the work
he gave me to do Behold in him the love of God and the grace
of God the justice of God and the wisdom of God He came in
the likeness of sinful flesh turn over a few pages to Philippians
2 What does this mean? Philippians chapter 2 The apostle is telling us about
bowels of compassion. Now look what Christ did. Verse
six, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. That is to say this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, is a man who doesn't have to try to be God. He is
God. He is God. But he made himself of no reputation. The word is he emptied himself. He emptied himself and took upon
him the form of a servant. He came here in the likeness
of sinful flesh and being found in fashion as a man, he kept
on stooping. He humbled himself and became
obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Christ did not come in sinful
flesh, but he came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came in the
reality of flesh. His flesh was like sinful flesh,
but was not sinful flesh, yet it was real flesh. It was the
likeness of sinful flesh. For as you looked upon him, nobody
could tell who he was. Nobody could tell who he was.
I actually had a preacher's wife tell me one time she and her
husband were both pretty severe judges of folks. She said, I
can tell a Christian five minutes just by looking at it. I was
a little shocked. I said, do what? She said, I
can tell somebody who's a Christian just five minutes just by looking
at him. That sounds strange to me. Folks couldn't tell who Christ
was by looking at him. He had no form, no comeliness.
When we should see him, we should desire him. There wasn't a halo
around his head. There wasn't a glow and aura
about his body. He was just in the likeness of
sinful flesh. He was in the likeness of sinful
flesh so that he might know what it was to be poor, and hungry,
and thirsty, and tired, and despised, and rejected, and homeless, and
friendless, and betrayed, and forsaken, and scourged, and put
to death. He was numbered with the transgressors.
Why? Look at the text. God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. For sin. What a statement. What an astounding statement.
God sent his son to save his people from their sins. He sent
his son to save a people who had rebelled against him, a people
who had broken his law, a people who defy and despise him. He
sent his son for sin. That is, he sent his son because
of our sin. And he sent his son to punish
our sin. And he sent his son to put away
our sin. He sent his son to save his people
from their sin. And thus he condemned sin in
the flesh. The law couldn't do it. The law
couldn't do it. The law could pronounce the condemnation,
but it couldn't condemn. The law could pronounce the curse,
but it couldn't curse. The law could pronounce the sentence
of death, but it couldn't produce it. Christ came for sin, and
he condemned sin in the flesh. What do you mean, preacher? I
mean he annihilated it. I mean he suffered all the fury
of God's holy law and justice until justice was fully satisfied.
I mean he with one tremendous draft of love literally drank
damnation dry. So that God now has no reason
ever to be angry with one sinner for whom Christ died. No reason. No reason. No reason. You have reason to be angry with
me. Neighbors have reason to be angry with me. Folks downtown
may have reason to be angry with me. Folks I don't even know may
have reason to be angry with me. But not God. Not God. For blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin. God sent His Son into the world
that He might make His Son sin for us. And he who knew no sin
was made sin for us. He didn't just pretend to make
him sin. Like the goats on the day of Passover. Oh, no. That
silly goat was just a dumb animal. And when Aaron laid his hands
on the head of that goat and ceremonially pretended to transfer
the sins of Israel to the head of that goat. That goat didn't
feel a thing. It was no more to him than if Aaron had been
brushing his hair with a brush. No more to that goat than if
Aaron had just been petting him on the side of his head. The
goat didn't feel a thing. It was just a ceremony. It was
a pretense. It was a show to picture something
real. And this is real. God made his
son sin for us. and his heart broke before God. And he cried out, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee are fallen on me. My sins are such
I cannot look up. Oh my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And the answer is given plainly,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Our Lord Jesus
Not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with their own blood
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. I ask again, why? Why did God
do this? Why did Christ do this? Why this
great sacrifice? That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us. who walked not after the flesh
but after the spirit. God sent his own dear son in
the likeness of sinful flesh that he might bear our sin in
his own body on the tree and thereby condemn sin in the flesh. He forever put away forever annihilated
by the sacrifice of himself our sins. And when he did, he fully
satisfied the justice of God. This he did. That he might make
us the righteousness of God in him. I listened to a message
by the mark preached here a few weeks ago. She and I did last
week. He made a tremendous statement.
He said, for God to impute something is simply for God to declare
what it really is. When God imputes righteousness
to his people, he declares what we really are. Christ Jesus has
made every sinner for whom he lived and died the righteousness
of God in him. And when God the Holy Ghost comes
in saving power, giving the sinner faith in Christ, he declares
in the conscience of a man and the conscience of a woman, sinners
themselves, you're righteous. And God says, now you reckon
yourselves also the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Well,
how on earth is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us? Not by what we do. Not by what, which of you? I
ask you, I ask folks, people start arguing me about law and
law obedience, being under law. I said to them, well, what did
you do that was holy? Tell me something you've done
that's righteous. Tell me something you thought
that was good enough for God to accept. Oh, now, Brother Don,
I wouldn't even think about saying that. Then you don't live by
the law. You break the law. Well, how is the righteousness
of the law fulfilled in us? It's fulfilled by the perfect
obedience of our substitute, by our perfect obedience in our
substitute. It's fulfilled by perfect satisfaction,
by the death of Christ when he had fully satisfied the justice
of God in his death. I was crucified with Him and
fully satisfied the justice of God in His death. The righteousness
of the law is fulfilled by perfect sanctification. Perfect sanctification. Surely
you don't believe in perfect sanctification. There ain't any
other kind. Either you're holy or you're
not. You can't be partially holy. Either you're sanctified or you're
not. In the new birth, Christ is formed in you. God gives you
a new nature and it shall be fulfilled at last in resurrection
glory when we have dropped this robe of flesh and this body is
raised in incorruption and in immortality forever to be with
the Lord because what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh. God sending his own son for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit. Oh, Spirit of God. Oh, Spirit of God. Give dead
sinners life. Life in Christ Jesus the Lord.
And will you be pleased, our God, to revive the life you've
given us day by day and hour by hour, ever drawing us out
to our Redeemer? Amen.