Judgments are prepared for scorners
and stripes For the back of fools This is a simple verse, but there's
a couple of Key things we need to understand first of all the
word prepared here means established or set up and In other words,
the message here is that the reason that there are judgments
and stripes is because there are scorners and fools. The law
was given because of sin, to reveal sin. There'd be no need
for law if there was no guilt. This is the same truth that's
taught in 1 Timothy 1, if you'd turn over there with me. for
a moment, 1 Timothy 1, and we'll get a thorough exposition of
our text. 1 Timothy 1.5. Now the end of the commandment
is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith
Unfamed you remember our Lord was asked which is the great
commandment? And he said all of the commandments are contained
in these I shall love that neighbor as that self. That's the The
the the commandments that regard others thou shalt not steal thou
shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not bear false witness
And then, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
mind, soul, and strength, which are the commandments that relate
to God. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me, and so on. And so, he summed the whole law
up by love. Love. It happens in here. Obedience to the law happens
in the heart. And our heart is corrupt. And
hence the message of all of scripture that no flesh can be justified
by the law because we don't keep any of it. We never have kept
any of it. We're not ever going to in this
life. That's why Christ came. That's why he came and fulfilled
the law. What the law could not do and that it was unable to
because of our flesh, Christ came, God sent his son to be
the propitiation for our sins, our law breaking. So the end
of the law, the goal of the law, the purpose of the law as far
as the summary of the law is love
out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith and fame,
from which some having swerved have turned aside into vain jangling. And here's the foolishness, vain
jangling. In other words, you hear preachers
droning on and on, putting everybody to sleep about their false religion,
but here's the definition of it. Desiring to be teachers of
the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they
affirm. They don't get it. But we know,
by God's grace, that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. There is a lawful use of the
law and there is an unlawful use of the law. And here it is,
to use it lawfully, you've got to know this, knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man. That's our text. The law
is set up, it's established, the consequences of the law are
set up and established for breakers of the law, scorners, fools. The fool who says in his heart,
no God for me will cast their bands from us. which is the righteous
restraints of God's law. Rather than look to Christ, they
just make up their own stuff and do what they want in the
sight of God. Every man follows his heart,
does that which is right in his own eyes as in the days of Noah.
And that's an unlawful use of the law. It's not made for a
righteous man. It's not made to make people
righteous or to affirm righteousness in anybody. But for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of father, we don't think of ourself that way, do we? The
law was made for us. who are all of these vile things
by nature, murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons. And if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. It's the
gospel that condemns us by the law, to point us to Christ, and the
truth established here in that passage and in our text is clear.
The law is not given as a standard for good people. It's not to
keep honest people honest and show the way to acceptance with
God. There are no good people, and
the law is given to expose bad people, all of us. Turn with
me to Romans 3, verse 19. We see this doctrine all through
scripture. The law is for bad people. And the point of the
giving of it was to show us that we're bad people. Romans 3.19. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped. Who are them that are under the
law? Every mouth, everybody. That all the world, that's who's
under the law, all the world may become guilty before God. That's not what makes us guilty.
What he's saying there is that all the world would own their
guilt, would confess their guilt, would take their place guilty
before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, because
that's not who the law's for. That's not what it's for. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. not the putting away of
sin, just it shows us how sinful we are. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, not that God's law is done away
with, but that it's righteousness of God without us keeping the
law. It's made clear, being witnessed
by the law, it's been made clear from the beginning by the law
and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
By the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, there's only one righteousness,
human righteousness. And it's Christ's faithfulness
to the law, not mine. Mine doesn't add anything to
it, and my non-keeping of it doesn't take anything away from
his righteousness. I can't mess it up, and I can't
help in the matter. It's Christ alone being witnessed
by even the righteous by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all
and upon all them that believe. That faith of Jesus Christ is
not our faith, that's his faithfulness. If you look that word up, it
means faithfulness. But it is unto all and upon all
them that believe on him because the faith that he gives us unites
us to him. It takes our eyes off of our
law keeping our imagined goodness and puts our eyes on Christ. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. There's just one way of righteousness. God sent his son because all
of us are goners without him. And he just happens to love some
of us. He just happens to love sinners. And whoever's justified, verse
24, they're justified freely without any reason whatsoever
in you. That's why we call it unconditional,
unconditional election. Unconditional love, unconditional
choice, unconditional justification, freely, without a cause, without
condition, any condition being met by the sinner whatsoever. That's the wholesome reality
in the scriptures of unconditional love, electing love and grace. freely by His grace. And God
can't have grace on you without the blood of Christ, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. All of God's love and
favor and blessing for a sinner, every blessing we have is where? We're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly is where? In Christ. Because of
Him. Through the redemption that is
in Christ. Now our text this morning is
defining of the two paths. The one that leads unto life,
the one that leads unto destruction, grace and works. Turn with me
to Romans nine. If you're there still in Romans
three, flip over to Romans chapter nine and look at this. There
are two paths that sinners will take. the road that leads to
life, and the one that leads to destruction. What shall we
say then, verse 30 of Romans 9, verse 30, that the Gentiles,
which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness.
They didn't have a law to keep. They weren't given the law like
Israel was. And so, The righteousness which is of
faith, the righteousness that looks to Christ for sinlessness
and acceptance with God. They obtained that righteousness,
sinners, are made righteous in Christ by grace through faith
in him. But the Israel, verse 31, which
followed after the law of righteousness, They said, we'll keep this and
this, this ceremony and that law and that ordinance. But they
trusted their keeping of the ordinances to make them acceptable
with God, and so they obtained not. They attained not to the law
of righteousness. Nobody can, nobody ever has. As our text says, that's not
what the law is for. It's not what it does, it's for
bad people. It's for scorners and fools. Wherefore? Why didn't the Israelites,
they're like, boy, I wanna please God. I'm gonna be religious.
I'm gonna do what I'm supposed to. Why didn't they then obtain
the righteousness of the law? Because they sought it not by
faith. They didn't look to Christ for it. Remember, wherever faith
is mentioned in the scriptures, faith has one object. Faith is
not the power of positive thinking. Faith is not thinking that God's
gonna do what you want Him to do. Faith is believing God. And everything that God has said
to sinners is concerning His Son. Faith has one object, and
that's the Son of God. It's faith that God gives. They
didn't seek it by faith, but they sought it by the works of
the law. The law is given, it just makes
sense to the, to human reasoning, that's why we're told over and
over, don't lean to your own understanding. It makes sense to sinners, will
God give us a law of what to do and not do? So in order to
have acceptance with God, we've got to do and not do those things.
No, that's not right. Read the Bible. They sought the righteousness
of the law by the works of the law. and therefore they fell
short. The only way that the righteousness
of the law can be a sinner's righteousness is by faith in
the Son of God, by looking to him as our righteousness, all
of it. He himself is it, he doesn't
provide it, he doesn't give us an example of it, he's our righteousness. They sought it not by faith,
but as in what? They stumbled at that stumbling
stone. They didn't see Christ as he is. They saw Christ as
an example, maybe. They saw him as an imposter for
the most part. People see him as an example.
What would Jesus do? I want to do what Jesus would
do. You never have, you never will. You don't even know what
he would do. They didn't have any idea what he would do. before
he did it in the scriptures, and you're not going to either.
I know what he did do, though. He redeemed his people by his
precious blood, and that's my hope before God. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion, in the city of God, a stumbling stone and a rock
of offense, and whosoever believeth on him, they're not gonna stumble,
They're not gonna be offended. They're just gonna look to him
and say, my Lord and my God. They're gonna see the print of
the nails. They're gonna see his redeeming blood shed for
their sins. And they're gonna say, that's
my hope. That's my righteousness. He's
my salvation. All that the law can do for a
sinner is condemn him. That's it. Expose him to be a
scorner and a fool, as our text reveals. But the grace of God
reveals to a sinner what the law really says about us. And
that's vital. Look at Romans 7. If you're still
at Romans 9, you're right there at Romans 7. Look at Romans 7.7. This defines our relationship
to the law. This is the apostle Paul, Romans
7, 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Since the law
can't save us, is it bad then? God forbid, nay, I had not known
sin. What good the law does is it
shows us what sin is. It shows us what we are. It exposes,
it's the light that shines upon our darkness and evil and exposes
it. I had not known sin but by the
law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou
shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. It revealed to me, and my heart
wrought in me. It was already there, but now
I saw it, when God revealed the truth of his law. For without
the law, sin was dead. The law is what defines sin.
And I was alive, Paul said, verse nine, without the law once, I
was doing just fine. I didn't understand the law. I thought, well, if I just don't
kill anybody today and I don't steal anything, then I'm doing
real good and God's gonna like me. I was alive, I was fine. But then when the commandment
came, when the Lord Jesus said, if you've even thought in your
heart, If you even hate somebody, you're
a goner, you're sinful and vile, and you do, you are. He exposed
what's in our heart. He exposed the lie that we've
been telling ourselves until the commandment comes in spiritual
reality to our hearts by His grace, by His revelation. But
when the commandment came, sin revived. Sin came alive in my
heart, and I died. The self-righteous me, the one
that looked to myself for righteousness, the one that looked to my heritage,
Philippians 2, and my law-keeping, he's a goner. I can't ever look
to the law again the same way. In the commandment which was
ordained to life, God said, this do and live, I found to be under
death because I can't this do. For sin taking occasion by the
commandment deceived me into thinking I could keep it. And then I realized I was deceiving
myself and by it slew me, slew my self-righteous law-keeping for acceptance with
God, me, wherefore the law is holy, the commandment's holy
and just and good. Was then that which is good made
death unto me? God forbid, I was made death
unto me. The law didn't kill me, it just
showed me I was dead. God forbid, but sin, that it
might appear sin, The sin that was already in me, I didn't see
it as sin, I thought it as, you know, I'm doing pretty good before
God, you know, I hadn't killed anybody, I hadn't committed adultery
today. Maybe I confessed my sins to
some reprobate in a booth somewhere, so I'm feeling pretty good about
myself. The sin by the commandment, when
God revealed it to me, When God gave me eyes to see and ears
to hear what He truly has revealed about me, sin became exceeding
sinful. That's why Paul said, I'm the
worst of the worst. I'm the chief of sinners because
sin became exceeding sinful to him, his sin. The unlawful use of the law is
to presume to be able to keep the law and thereby, by your
law keeping, be acceptable in the sight of God. That's not
lawful use of the law. Matthew 19, 16. I've had you
turn to a lot, but this is the last one we'll turn to. Matthew
19 and verse 16. This also, I think, will shed
much light on our text. Matthew 19, 16, and behold, one
came and said unto him, good master, what good thing shall
I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, why
callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. But if thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments. And he saith unto him, Which?
And Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt not commit
adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith
unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up. But
like the pronouncement upon the Jews in the book of Romans there,
He didn't seek righteousness by faith in Christ. He didn't
have faith in Christ, or he would have followed Christ. But by
the deeds of the law, his righteousness was based on what he had done.
I've kept these from my youth, that what lack I yet? And Jesus
said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect. A sinner can be perfect. not
by what he does, but by the grace of God causing
us to fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ so much that nothing
else matters. Go and sell all that you have
and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven
and come and follow me. But when the young man heard
that saying, he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions
And the Lord told his disciples just after that, that it's impossible
for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they
said, who can be saved if this man came to you seeking eternal
life, wanting to go to heaven when he died? Isn't that what
the, that's the litmus test for religion. Don't you want to go
to heaven when you die? Oh yeah, I'd like to go to heaven. Oh,
just repeat these words and you're on your way. So what the Lord told him, The Lord, this man claimed to
be a keeper of the law. And you see what the Lord Jesus
did there? What's the very first commandment in the law? Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God and shall have no other gods for me. And so not only teaching him,
showing him the gospel, that salvation and life and perfection
is only by Faith in Christ, trusting him. I don't need anything else,
I just need him. One thing is needful. That's
a perfect sinner that can say that because his righteousness
is the son of God and not himself. By the grace of God. But he confronted
him with the very first commandment. Get rid of your gods and follow
the one God. This man who said he kept all
the commandments from his youth up Couldn't even begin to commence
to get started It was repulsed it was repugnant
to him the idea of keeping the very first one And of course following the Lord
Jesus Christ is not keeping the commandment It's when he comes
in power and says I Come follow me. And we do. So there's a double
lesson there. That we can't keep any of God's
law. But sinners can be made perfect
by grace through faith in Christ. He had great possessions. That
meant more to him. He meant more to himself. than
the Lord Jesus did, and that became very clear. The Lord has
a way of exposing that, doesn't he? The lawful use of the law is
to, as we read, own our guilt before God and plead for mercy. In the story of the Pharisee
and the publican in Luke chapter 18, we won't read it now because
of time, but the Pharisee used the law unlawfully, didn't he?
He used the law to justify himself before God. The publican rightly
saw that the law condemned him and that he was a sinner before
God and he cried for mercy. The self-righteous Pharisee was
condemned and the sinful publican was justified. The Pharisee did not understand
our text, did he? But the very reason there is
a law is because I'm a great sinner. God, give us grace to take our
place before him as hopeless and helpless sinners and cry
for mercy, which is found in Christ Jesus alone. Amen, let's
pray.