Let's look this evening in Matthew
chapter 5. I'd like to just teach for a
few minutes on this subject, the fulfillment of the law. As a born and raised Eastern
Kentucky law keeper, when I first began to listen to the gospel,
I took particular notice of preachers who were saying that Christ came
to do away with the law or to put it away. And I'm not sure
if that was what they actually said or that was my interpretation
looking back on it now. My natural religion had been
one of absolute legalism. I was every bit as much a Pharisee
as any of those who crucified the Savior. There was no difference
between them and me. So early on as a young believer,
In my ignorance of the gospel, I misinterpreted this idea of
the law, thinking that it needed to be done away with and develop
something of a negative outlook on the law. I just couldn't grasp
its purpose. I just couldn't figure out what
it was for. I'm ashamed to admit that for
years, It's the relationship between the law and grace just
escaped me. I just could not put that together.
I heard a lot of preachers preach against law keeping and it kind
of, my initial reaction was the law must be a bad thing then.
I must not have, it's something I don't need to have anything
to do with. I'd read Paul in his denunciation of law keepers
in Galatians. You've read those passages. They're
scathing. They're scathing. And I deduce
that the law served no useful purpose for a believer who was
saved by grace. They just had no place in our
lives. And then I'd read again, Paul
speaking in Romans of the law as a commandment unto life. Holy, just, and good. A law that
he said we know is spiritual and how to reconcile the preaching
I was hearing against law keeping at the same time maintain a deep
appreciation for God's law was just not clear to me. Just not
clear to me for quite a long time. But the Lord's lesson here
in Matthew 5 I found to be a great blessing in this respect. In what he teaches here we see
that without the law there could be no grace and that Christ never
intended to put away the law but to honor God by fulfilling
the law. And I hope that if any of you
have shared my free willers path and you have negative feelings
toward the law that perhaps the Holy Spirit might reveal in you
as he did in me the great honor the magnitude of the great honor
that Christ demonstrated toward the law when he fulfilled it
for the glory of his father in behalf of his people. Now let's
begin with verse 17 of Matthew chapter five and just take a
look at a few brief points. Christ says, think not that I
came to destroy the law or the prophets. that is to annul it,
to loose its obligation on us. I came not to destroy, to annul,
but to fulfill. For truly, I say to you, until
heaven and earth pass away, not one jot, the smallest letter,
or one tittle, the smallest part of a letter, the equivalent for
us, I suppose, the nearest equivalent would be that of the dot of an
eye. Not the smallest letter nor even the dot of an eye will
by any means pass away from the law till all be fulfilled. Now that word fulfilled is not
the one that was translated fulfilled back up in verse 17. This one
is not one jot or tittle will pass away from the law until
all be, till all come to pass, come to pass. All the righteousness
described and portrayed in the law will come to pass for God's
people. It will be absolutely fulfilled.
Now, when you read the Sermon on the Mount here, be very careful
because it's not written in such terms as it says, now this is
the Pharisees speaking or this is Christ speaking, but the Lord
Jesus quotes the Pharisees. quite often on and off down through
this whole series of verses on the Sermon on the Mount. And
he's coming up on verse 19 in one of those where he's quoting
the Pharisees here. He's not giving this teaching.
Verse 19 is not his teaching. He's showing in verse 19, how
the Pharisees destroyed the law, how they, uh, know the law. And
here's an example. He gives, therefore introduces,
this is, he says, therefore, those two who were listening
to him, this is, uh, this is what they mean. What I'm talking
about, this fulfilling the law and breaking and trying to destroy
it. This is what they do when they
say this, whoever breaks. One of the least of these commandments,
whoever loses himself from the binding authority of the law
and teaches men to do so. Likewise, he will be called least
in the kingdom of heaven. There's nothing in the law that
says you can break a law and just be the least in the kingdom.
That's an interpretation. That's a Pharisaical interpretation.
Lord Jesus is not teaching here that you do the best you can
with the law, and as long as you only break the little ones,
you'll be okay. That's not the teaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's absolute righteousness, perfect righteousness. No, he's quoting those Pharisees
who destroyed the law, and you see how they did that. They did
that by shaving it a little bit. I was raised a law keeper. I
know how it is to twist the law, to kind of bend it a little bit
to make yourself feel like you're still okay. We did that at will. We did it whenever we had to,
and apparently the Pharisees did that likewise. They had a
saying that it was okay that you could fail to keep a law
if it was for the greater good. You didn't have to do it if it
was for the greater good to omit it. And they would do that at
will. He says, those who break a little
law will be least, or they say, will be called least in the kingdom
of heaven. But whoever does and teaches, that is, even the least
of these commandments, this one will be called great in the kingdom
of heaven. So their view was this, if you break a little one,
careful but it's not so bad but if you keep them all you'll be
great so the best Pharisees are the ones who do it right the
ones who keep it all that's that's the Pharisees view Christ comes
back then in verse 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness,
here's his response to their view of the law, unless your
righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. Now
I used to read that before preparing for this lesson. I used to read
that and say, oh my, these guys were really ardent law keepers. They were trying to keep it every
last jot and tittle and they were so far above and beyond
me, but then I'm reading in here and I'm seeing what they say.
Oh, you can break it a little bit. The smaller laws, the less
important laws. There is no less important laws.
There is no ordinance of God of insignificance or lesser significance. And here's the Lord's response
to that is, I tell you that unless your righteousness is better
than that, we better have a greater righteousness than that. Well,
I've not done much. I don't smoke, drink, or chew. I've never done
a lot of bad things. No, unless your righteousness
is greater than that, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Don't look at them for an example,
the Lord Jesus said. Verse 21, you heard that it was
said to them of old time. Those not necessarily, I don't
believe he's speaking here of those of Moses' time or even
of the prophet's time. He was, I believe, speaking of
the perversion of the law that had happened in the few generations
just previous to the Lord's coming. You've heard that it was said
to them, thou shalt not kill. And then they would add on, yeah,
don't kill because whoever kills will be liable to the judgment.
That means if you kill, God will kill you. They would add on to
that, making sure people understood the seriousness of this thing
about killing. Look in verse 22. That's what they say in verse
21. Christ says, but I tell you,
I tell you that everyone being angry with his brother shall
be liable to the judgment. Now the King James adds a phrase,
shall be angry with his brother without a cause. And I'll be
honest with you, I searched diligently in all of my texts, all of my
Greek texts, and I could not find that phrase. Now don't let
me scare you into thinking that your King James Bible is not
worth following. It's an excellent translation.
It's very literal, and it's a very excellent translation. But that
addition, I find in none of the original Greek texts that I have,
and I could not find that. And actually, I do believe that
it distracts from the weight of that saying, that everyone
who's angry with his brother without a cause means, well,
he ticked me off, and I've got a right to be this way. He did
me wrong, and it's okay. The Lord understands. I mean,
he did me wrong. If I get upset with him, it's
okay. No, it's not. In my understanding of this passage,
it's very, very simple and clear. He said, anger, anger is the
same thing as killing. What is it that leads to pulling
the trigger or sticking the knife in or doing whatever way you
would try to do away with someone? What leads to that? Is not the
heart of murder anger? Anger. Anger in the Lord's eyes
is as serious as the actual act. Potting it and wishing it and
hoping something evil would come to someone who's made you angry,
that's breaking the law. You've broken the law. The law
is not just an act. The law just doesn't cover just
what we actually physically do. Goodness sakes, this is where
it comes right down home for me and I'm thinking I'm looking
at a bunch of people just like me. I don't break the law. very often, enact. And I literally break it all
the time in my heart, in my emotions, in my being. I break it all the
time. I don't know that I ever am not breaking the law. Do you
know what that feels like? I haven't killed anybody, but
I've been mad enough to kill some. I really have. And whether
they deserved it or not is not the point. No, no, unless your
righteousness is more than that. You'll all likewise perish. No. He says, I tell you that everyone
being angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgment.
And here he adds in, in the last half of verse 22, here's another
gloss that the ancients, those old people of old time, had added
to that. They had added some other laws in that that sort
of augment that. They would say, and whosoever
says to his brother, Raka, it'd be pretty much our equivalent
for stupid. Anybody who calls his brother or sister stupid.
shall be liable to the council. They'll drag you before the Sanhedrin
for that. They added that in for a little more punch. Don't
kill and don't say anybody's stupid. And whoever says fool,
moron, it's literal interpretation, moron, whoever says that shall
be liable to hellfire. You can go to hell for that.
I remember being under the fear of that law. I think the first
time, and I don't even know where it came from because I remember
being very young, and my grandmother, heard me call my brother a fool.
And she preached me a long message about that. And I, I for weeks
thought I was going to hell because I'd called him a fool. It wasn't the matter of calling
him a name. It was the fact that I was angry with my brother. That was what was serious. I'd
broken the law. Now let's go on down to verse
23. The Lord finishes up this passage down through verse 26,
by basically saying, you're all law breakers. You've never kept
the law, not even one time. And he shows that with what follows,
verse 23. Therefore, if you bring your
gift to the altar, and there your heart smites you, and you
remember that your brother actually does have a legitimate issue
with you. Don't continue to offer your
offering. Don't pretend you didn't do it.
Don't try to say, well, I'm offering this offering and that'll take
care of it. Look at what he says to do. Verse 24, just leave your
gift there before the altar. God does not receive. This is a heavy statement. God does not receive law breakers. He does not. God, in His mercy,
His mercy is not to receive lawbreakers as lawbreakers. No, we must be
acquitted of the law if God is to receive us. No, leave your
gift there, He says, and go be reconciled to your brother. Go
ahead and admit, confess what we are. We are lawbreakers. We're
evil-hearted people. Are we not? Are we not? Our thoughts
are perpetually evil. Look at the way our society is
going. You know, the most attended movies
are bad stuff. I'm talking about doing bad stuff
to people, you know, killing and raping and carrying on. I mean, that's what we feed our
minds on in this country. I mean, that's art. And don't
think that we're any different from them. That's who we are.
We're lawbreakers. We're lawbreakers. No, leave
your gift there before the altar and first go be reconciled to
your brother and then come and offer your gift. And that's not
suggesting works by any means. You go and work that sin off
and then come back and I might receive. It's not about that.
He's just saying, here's your problem. Your problem is you
broke the law. Verse 25, he gives another example of what not to
be. Here's someone who's not a Pharisee.
Agree with your adversary. Literally, that's your accuser,
someone who has accused you of breaking one of the laws of the
Old Testament, and he's getting ready to drag you before the
Sanhedrin. Agree with your accuser quickly, readily, while you're
with him in the way. That is, while he's got you dragging
you off to the Sanhedrin, just go ahead and tell him, I am,
I'm a worthless dog of a sinner, I did, and I am sorry. And whatever I need to do to
make it right, I'll do." He said, just go ahead and agree with
him. Don't try to hide it. Don't hope that maybe you can present
a better case than he did. Because the imagery of that is,
don't think you're going to do that with God and glory once
you leave this world. You will not be allowed to represent
your case before God. No, just go ahead and say it.
Might as well. I'm a sinner. I'm nothing but
sin in and of myself. I have never had a sinless thought,
never done a sinless deed. I sin from one to the other.
My life is a rolling line of sins. That's all I ever do. No,
agree with your accuser. Lest your accuser deliver you
to the judge, and the judge to the attendant, you be thrown
into prison. And here's the law, verse 26. Truly I say to you, by no means
will you come out of there. Until you pay back the last,
it'd be the equivalent of our cent, every last cent of what
you owe. The law knows no mercy, no mercy. Now, I want us to go back to
verses 17 and 18, and I want to focus on these three things
that Christ introduced this whole thought with. I came not to destroy
the law, but to fulfill the law. till all the law and the prophets
come to pass. Now let's look at those three
thoughts for the remainder of our time this evening. I came
not to destroy the law. Now let's study just for a moment.
Join me in Luke chapter nine. What does it mean to destroy
the law? This word is used in very interesting
ways throughout the New Testament. I find this one to be quite interesting. Luke chapter nine, let's look
at verses 11 and 12. You know, I've done it again.
Bad reference. Let me read you mine. You can
follow me on the next one. Make sure I've missed it one
time. I got it wrong this morning. I just hate it when I do that.
I can tell you what the verse says. The verse is talking about
those who were on a trip and they came in and they lodged. The word is translated lodge
in the New Testament. And that word lodge literally
means, it's the same one translated destroy, literally means to loosen
up. Now you remember how we talked in the Old Testament about gird
up your loins. New Testament talks about that
gird up your loins. Well those people wore robes. If you're
going to walk very far in a robe, you're going to have a lot of
trouble dragging that mess along behind you. And so they would
take that extra garment that was hanging down low, and they'd
tie it up. They'd put a rope on it. And then they would take
their stuff, and they would put it up on their beast of burden,
like the man going down to Samaria. And they would tie that stuff
on. And to lodge meant to unloosen. You'd get to where you were going,
you'd untie. You would destroy, that's the
word, you'd untie the packs and you'd let the burden go. No longer
would the ass be saddled up and burdened. You would untie all
that stuff you had tied up to keep the tails of your robe from
getting dirty and dusty. You'd let everything go. That's
what it means to destroy the law. You just let it go. Well,
obviously it doesn't matter. God's not really that way anyway.
After all, no, God's a God of love. He doesn't really, wouldn't,
surely wouldn't hold us accountable for that. And to destroy the
law is to consider God and without his holiness and righteousness
is to take him as though he's like us. He'll just let things
go. There's a second one in Luke
21. Turn on over there. Let's see if I got this one right. Luke 21, verse 5. This is right. And as some spoke of the temple,
how it was adorned with goodly stones, he said, as for these
things, which you behold, The days will come in the which there
shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be, and
there's that same word, thrown down, that shall not be disassembled. Every single stone built one
upon another in this whole very large and very elaborate building
will be taken off and they'll all be separated out again. That's
what destroying the law is. To destroy the law is to take
it apart, to analyze it to pieces and say, well, I think in this
case, I might be okay. Oh, no. That's destroying the
law. Any attempt to reduce the law
to something that you can keep, that's a good barometer right
there. If you've figured out the law and figured out a way
to keep it, you've obviously destroyed the law. You've disassembled
it down to your level. One last one. Look at 2 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1. For we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle, he's talking about our fleshly body,
if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, dissolved. That word dissolved is the same
word that we find about being used to talk about destroying
the law. Dissolved. Now, he's talking
about our bodies as a tabernacle. It's Old English for a tent. What you do with the tents, you
take the stakes up, you take the canvas and you fold it up
and you roll the ropes up and you disassemble it and you break
it down into its components and you put it away. That same is
true with breaking the law. To break the law is to so disassemble
it and undo it as that it has no more, no more anything to
say to us. It has no more, it does no longer
carry the scope of a command. Now, to destroy the law then
is to pretend that it no longer applies. Now we preach grace,
but you know why we preach grace? Because we know we can't stand
up to the law. the only opportunity for salvation. We don't mix law and grace here.
And it's not by accident that we do that. We cannot keep the
law. All we can do is break the law.
We always want to try to bring it down. We want to try to annul
it. We want to try to make it less
than what it is. But if the law of God could be relieved of its
binding obligation, by our religious rhetoric and our twisting of
the way it is to be fulfilled. If it can be unmade, as it were,
or disassembled, you know what would happen? God would have
to cease to be. God would have to cease to be
because His law is the very manifestation of His being. The law could no
longer be dismantled. It could no sooner be dismissed
and rearranged and watered down than you could do that with the
very holy nature of God. You're tampering with the very
nature of God by messing with the law. And Christ says, I didn't
come to do that. I didn't come to change God.
I didn't come to get Him to take on a new point of view about
people. I didn't come to try to get him to maybe change his
mind about what he's going to do with this sin-cursed planet,
all of these sinful sons and daughters of Adam. I didn't come
to change his mind. Oh, no, I didn't come to destroy
the law. I came to fulfill it. I came
to fulfill it. Totally reverse of what religion
teaches. I came not to destroy, but to
fulfill. Look at 1 Corinthians 9. Let's begin with verse 19. For though I be free from all
men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain them
more. Paul's talking about his ministry. He says, I don't owe
anybody anything, but I have made myself obligated to everybody
so that I might gain them for Christ. Unto the Jews, I became
as a Jew. I can eat kosher, he says. I
can dress like they dress. I have no problem with that.
I can eat what they eat and I can not offend them by eating things
they don't eat. I can become, as a Jew, and to the Jews I became
as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them who were under
the law, I became as under the law. that I might gain them that
are under the law. To those who are without law,
the Gentiles, those tribals living up in the mountains of those
areas that he went to in Asia, in Asia Minor. To those who are
without law, I became as without law. I can eat pig. I can eat
pork if they're eating pork. I got no problem with that, he
says. I can do like they do. I can sit around like they do
and wear the clothes that they do. I can do that. To those who
are without law, I became as without law. Being not without
law to God. Did you notice that? He says,
I'm not saying that I throw God's law to the wind and it matters
no more. No, but he says, but under the
law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. Under
Christ's law. Christ's law is that being found
in him we're found in the one who fulfilled God's law. That's
the law of Christ. The law of Christ is fulfilling
God's every demand for righteousness in every possible domain and
in every possible way without any exception. No, the law of
Christ fulfilled God's law written in the Old Testament. Flip over
to Romans chapter five. Let's look at verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense,
that is, the sin that Adam sinned, the offense of one, that one
is Adam, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
under justification. Let me give you this aside. This
is on a different note, but please don't misunderstand those words. All men is not all men is inclusive
in the scriptures. It rarely means all men inclusive. Almost every time it's used in
that sense in which they were living in a, in a, a dichotomous
culture, there were Jews, and there was everybody else. All
men is the biblical terminology to say it's not for Jews alone,
it's for everybody. The pagans, the Greeks, the Romans,
the Jews, it's for all men, all kinds of men. So let's read on.
Verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made
sinners. Actually, literally it's the
many, the many Christ died for. For as by one man's disobedience
the many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
the many be made righteous, or over law entered, that the offense
might abound. You tell a sinner no and he'll
do it every time. Don't do, try it on your kids.
Tell them not to do something, they'll do it every time. I did
when I was young. I did everything my dad told
me not to. It's the way we are. No, the law entered that the
offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. That as sin hath reigned unto death, now look
at this, as surely as the soul that sinneth shall surely die,
as surely as every man born in the long lost line of Adam will
be born into a sinful life and he will not be able to escape
that, look at the last half, even so might grace reign. through righteousness unto life
eternal by Jesus Christ our Lord. Everyone born in him is spotlessly
sinless by the grace of God in Christ through his atonement
on our behalf. Look on over a couple of chapters
in chapter seven. Verse six. But now we are delivered. That
word is translated discharged over in Galatians. We'll look
at that verse in a minute. We are delivered from, we are
discharged from the law. How do you get discharged from
the law? That being dead wherein we were held, the law is satisfied
and has nothing more to say that we should serve in newness of
the spirit and not in oldness of the letter. We were discharged
from the law. There's only two. There's only
two states of being that a human being can be in. We can be under
the law, which is to be discharged from Christ, or we can be found
in Christ and be discharged from the law. Let me show you that.
Look in Galatians. Galatians chapter five is the other half
of that picture. Galatians five, let's look at
verse two. Behold I, Paul, say unto you,
he's talking about these Gentile believers, these Galatians who
had what he thought had trusted Christ and maybe they did, maybe
they didn't. That if you be circumcised, if these Judaizers have convinced
you that you cannot be fully saved without keeping this law,
understand this, Christ shall profit you nothing. That Christ
shall profit you nothing is the same word. You are discharged
from Christ. Actually, verse four is the one
that says that. Christ has become of no effect unto you. You are
discharged from Christ. You can only be in one of two
realms. You can either be keeping the law and discharged from Christ,
or else you can be saved by grace alone, to which the law can say
nothing. You were discharged from it.
Isn't that a wonderful thought? Sinful as we are, sinful at every
moment, sinful in every way, and yet we have been discharged
from the law. He didn't put it away. He didn't
do away with it. He didn't unknow it. He didn't
destroy it. He kept it. He fulfilled it. And now every
last one for whom he fulfilled is discharged from it and no
longer liable to his consequences. What a wonderful thought. That's
why let's finish up this thought and we'll go on to one last one.
But look with me very quickly in Romans 10. Romans chapter
10. This is my favorite. talking
about being fulfilled, the law being fulfilled on my behalf,
Romans chapter 10. Let's begin with verse one. I'm
sorry. Yes, that's correct. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. Their law keepers are zealous.
They're very, very religious people, but not according to
knowledge. They don't know what they're
doing. They think that God is actually pleased with them and
he hates them more and more because of their, that they think that
they can offer a righteousness that he would accept. For they
being ignorant. of God's righteousness, God's
perfect righteousness, absolute holiness, absolute sinlessness. They're ignorant of that. And
going about then to establish their own righteousness, to somehow
think they can keep these laws and decrees and commandments
and somehow attain to what God expects These people have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. They've
only tried to work out one of their own. They've never come
face to face with the law that says you've never kept it one
time. You've never done a single thing
God was able to accept. And look at verse four. For Christ,
there's only one who's ever done this. Christ is the end of the
law. not the end of the law and that
it was abolished or put away, but he kept the law all the way
to its absolute end. Christ is the equivalent, perfect
righteousness of the law. He is the end of the law, the
absolute fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believeth, everyone who trusts in him, is a perfect law keeper. You know why? Because he kept
every last jot and tittle. Not a single little tiny mark
of the law fell in his life. He performed it all. Christ didn't
do away with the law. The law is not a bad thing. The
law is the very justice and holiness of God. It's a wonderful thing.
It's a merciful thing. The law demonstrates God's love.
It demonstrates his mercy. And yet none of us could live
up to that. And yet Christ is the end, the absolute fulfillment
of the law. Let's look at one last thought
here and we'll finish up with this. I came not to destroy the law,
but to fulfill the law till all the law and the prophets come
to pass. It's not just about Christ fulfilling
the law, but it's Christ fulfilling the law in us. Let's focus on
that thought for just the last few minutes. Look back in Romans
chapter seven. His keeping the law, I can honestly
say this, my Lord's keeping the law is my keeping the law. Now,
I dealt quite a bit this morning on that subject of union with
Christ. We were united with him at his
death, and we are united with him in his resurrected life.
and as holy as he is, is as holy as we are. You can't see it in
me, and I can't see it in you. Sometimes in my religiousness,
I get to looking for some good thing I've done. I've not found
one yet, thank God. I've not been able to find one.
For the moment I find one, I'll know I'm nothing but a law keeper,
and an ignorant fool, and an ignorant religionist. Now look
at verse four, Romans chapter seven. Wherefore, my brethren,
you also are become dead. Let me give you a direct translation
that old English is a little heavy for me wherefore my brethren
you also died to the law How did I die to the law? by the
body of Christ All who were found in him All with whom he graciously
joined himself in spiritual you mark I don't understand how that
could be that's 2,000 years ago I wasn't even in existence then. Well,
if you want to get hung up on that one, let's get hung up on
this one. How could he have chosen me before the foundation of the
world? That's a way before I came to be. No, let's not try to figure
out how eternity works or how God eternal in his ways works. I can't understand that. I'm
just going to take what the scriptures say. And what they say is when
Christ died to the law, I died to the law. The law slew Him,
and in slaying Him, it slew me for all these things I'm doing.
You know, one of the hardest things for me in my life is that
I am painfully aware that day by day, everything I say, everything
I think, everything I feel, I am sinning sins that sent my Savior
to the cross, and I cannot stop. Would you not stop if you could?
I'd do it for Christ's sake. I'd stop thinking like this.
I'd stop wanting what I want. I'd stop feeling like this if
I could just make myself do it. And yet, it is a great comfort. It's a wonderful comfort to know
that what lies between, what sins lie between me at this moment
and the end of my days have already been covered. have already been
paid for, have already been sent to hell for in the body of Christ. No, therefore, my brethren, you
also died to the law by the body of Christ. That's part of that
till all the law and the prophets come to pass. It's come to pass. And it's going to come to pass
when we leave this world. Look at another one in Romans
eight. Let's begin there with verse one. There is therefore
now no condemnation. Oh my, there's plenty to condemn
us for, but there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, before we get to the last
part of that verse, let's talk about that a minute. In Christ
Jesus is not just a slogan. It's not a Christian slogan.
It's a believer's reality. It's my life. Do you understand
the gospel? I think many of you do. Did you
understand the gospel before? I did not. I fought vehemently
against it. I decried, I hated the doctrines
of election and predestination and particular redemption. It
took me totally out of the picture. I'd have none of it. I couldn't
understand how all that could possibly work. And now I don't
understand how it could work any other way. Oh no. No. There's no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus, who've been made one with him. Well,
if there's a soul here this evening that you still struggle with
that thing that I know I'm saved because I repented, ask forgiveness, changed
my doctrine, came to this church instead of it. If there is a
because I, the only because I have is because he has joined himself
to me. I'm one with my Savior. That's
all of my refuge. That's all of my safety. That's
all my fulfillment of the law. Otherwise, it's me and God and
the law. And who's going to lose on that one? Me and you. Oh,
no. No. We rely on Christ. No condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh.
We're not looking to save ourselves. That's what walking after the
flesh is. We're not walking after keeping these commandments. Most
folks say walking not after the flesh is don't drink, don't chew,
don't cuss, don't smoke. No, walking after the flesh is
trying to keep the law, give it up. Oh, may God grant you
to give it up. But we walk after the spirit.
For the law of the spirit of life. Christ Jesus has made me
free free from the law of sin and death the soul that sinneth
it shall die in Christ I have no sin I shall
not die that the first three for what the law could not do
and that it was weak and weak because of my flesh. I can't
keep it. I'm a sinner through and through. I can't do anything
but sin. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful
flesh. He was human just like me and for sin condemned sin
in the flesh, not sin in general, not sin as a concept, but the
sin of his people. Every last one of them in order
that the righteousness of the law perfect, sublime, holy and
flawless might be fulfilled in us. I'm looking at some people
who have fulfilled the law. God looks at you and said, there's
a righteous person. There's a holy woman. There's
a, there's a righteous man. Goodness sake. How is that possible? No. There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. All of our hope
is in him. Let me take you to one last one. Romans chapter three. Let's look
at verse 31. Do we then make void the law
through faith, Is that what people, is that what you think happened
that somehow or other we were law keepers and we switched to
another program and now we're just forgetting about the law
and we're just trusting Christ? No, that's the whole thing about
trusting Christ. Trusting Christ is trusting him to have fulfilled
everything God required of me. No, we're not throwing the law
out. We're preserving the law and we're upholding the law.
No one honors the law. other than Christ, but no one
on this earth honors the law more than true believers. We
have nothing to do with the law. No, we don't try to keep it.
No, we don't go around talking about people and teaching them
how to, I mean, look at false religion. Is that not what false
religion does? False religion is teaching people how to keep
the law. Here's how you do this. Here's how you keep away from
that sin. Here's how you do to not get caught up in this. No,
that's not us. No, we're not teaching people
how to keep the law. We're teaching people who kept
the law. And we're saying, here's salvation.
We're looking to him. and every lost soul, every lost
soul. I don't know how to explain that.
I mentioned that this morning and that's still, that's one of the greatest
conundrums for me in my little pea brain, is how in the world
God can say in his word that he chose a people, elect them
to salvation, predestined every last single event in their life
to lead them to Christ and no other place and talk about how
it's all so fit and formed and cut and dried and can't be changed.
And then at the same time, I can say, look to Christ, come to
Christ, trust him and him alone to fulfill the law for you. and
you'll be saved. Because no one comes to Christ
and gets turned away. I don't understand how that goes
together, but I'm glad it does. Because I couldn't tell you for
sure if I'm elect, I wasn't around when the books were written.
I don't know when my name was written in the Lamb's Book of
Life, but by God's grace, it's there sometime. Not in my lifetime,
I didn't see it done. But my trust is in Him who fulfilled
the law for me. I trust you can find some peace
in that yourself. Let's pray.