Thanks for reading that, R. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I'm just going to preach from one
verse. We're just going to start here. This really should be contained
in chapter 10, but it goes with those last few verses where he
said, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God and give
no offense to anyone. And then he says in 1 Corinthians
11 verse 1, Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now the title of our message
is going to be what our proposition is, what our main point for tonight
is, and that is Christ is the saint's rule of life. Christ
is the saint's rule of life. Our rule of life is not the letter
of the law. Our rule of life is not the letter
of the law. If you want to turn to these,
I'm going to read them rather quickly. If you'd rather jot
them down, that might be better. But Romans 7 verse 6 says this,
Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein
we are held. that we should serve in newness
of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. And then in 2
Corinthians 3 and verse 6, 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 6, we read this. Paul says, God has also made
us able ministers of the New Testament. Not of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. Galatians chapter 2 and verse
19, it says this. Galatians 2 and verse 19 says,
I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. Do you ever see police officers? They are officers of the law.
Their job is to enforce the law. Do you ever see them writing
citations to anybody in a cemetery? Because if you are dead to the
law, the law has got nothing else to say to you. I through
the law am dead to the law. Christ died to it and I died
in Him. Now, I'm risen with Him that
I might live unto God. Galatians 3.11, we read this, Galatians 3.11, No man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. It's evident. For the just shall
live by faith. The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them,
that doeth those precepts of the law, shall live in them. If he can do them, he can live
in them. But Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
And the promise that the Spirit makes to us that we receive through
faith is righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. Look at Galatians
5 and verse 5. We through the Spirit wait for
the hope of righteousness by faith. We are going to one day
be made completely, in and out, righteousness. And we are waiting
for that promise the Spirit has given us through faith. We are
waiting for it by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Now let me make another statement.
If you want to turn to Romans 3, let me make another statement. Since Christ is our righteousness,
and our holiness, His saints are under grace, not under law. We're under grace and not under
law. Romans 3.19 says, We know what
thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law. To them who are under the law. For this reason, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. But
now look at Romans 6.14. He says there, He is speaking
about us being dead with Christ who died to that law. And now
He says this is the result of that. Sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. Back
in Galatians 5, Galatians 5 verse 18, He says this, If you be led
of the Spirit, If you're born again, born of the Spirit, led
of the Spirit of God, ye are not under the law. Galatians 3, Galatians 3, verse
23. Now the Gentiles were never under
the law, but here he's speaking about the Jews who were under
the law. And he says, Verse 23, "...before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,"
and here's the word, "...until Christ, that we might be justified
by faith." But after that faith has come, we are no longer under
a schoolmaster. We are not under the law anymore.
For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now, to worship God in spirit
and in truth, to worship God in spirit and in truth is to
rest in Christ for all acceptance with God through faith. We rest
in Christ for all acceptance with God through faith. We're
led of the Spirit so that we run the race of faith looking
to Christ alone, following Christ alone. And we put no confidence
in the flesh. That's what Philippians 3, 3
tells us. Now back there in 2 Corinthians
3, 7, It says Moses' ministry there
in verse 7 is the ministration of death. You see that? The law
came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Christ. Now here
it shows the ministry of Moses in the law is called the ministration
of death. Verse 9 is called the ministration
of condemnation. Verse 11 is called that which
is done away. But Christ's ministry, back up
there in verse 7, is called the ministration of the Spirit. Or
verse 10, the ministration of righteousness. Verse 11, that
which remaineth. You see that? There's the difference
between the two. So we're following Christ. He's our rule of life. First
off, in order to see it, to see that Christ is our rule of life,
I want to show you a few scriptures that declare it is so. They declare
we are to follow Christ. Now Christ Himself commands this. If you turn with me to Matthew
16, this was said in the Old Testament. Remember in Isaiah
45, 22, He said, Look unto Me and be you saved all the ends
of the earth, wherever you are. For I am God and there is nothing
else. In Matthew 16, our Lord said this in verse 24.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself. Let him deny himself. and take
up His cross and follow Me. Follow Me. Why? Because whosoever will save his
life shall lose it. If we're going to try to save
our life, if we're going to try to save faiths in any way, including
trying to come to God by our obedience to the law, coming
to God by what we've done under the law, if we're going to try
to save our life that way, Whosoever will save his life shall lose
it. He shall lose it. And whosoever
will lose his life for my sake shall find it. We can only be
saved by following Christ. By following Christ. Look at
John 12. That whole book of Galatians. Paul is taken up with showing
how serious the matter is of turning from Christ back to the
law and to the work of our hands. He showed there over and over
that the gospel ceases when men do that. Now look here in John
12. These are the words of Christ Himself. He said there again,
He's going to the cross and He's talking about that corn of wheat
that must fall into the ground and die so it can bring forth
fruit. That's Christ. And He says, He says here now,
if any man serve Me, let him follow Me. If any man serve Me,
let him follow Me. And where I am, there shall also
My servant be. If any man serve Me, him will
My Father honor. You see, we are serving Christ,
we are following Christ. Look at Revelation 14, look at
verse 4. The Lord showed John those that
were sealed in their forehead. That's what a believer is. He's
been born of God and sealed by the Spirit of God in regeneration. And he says, Revelation 14, verse
4. Let me get there. He says, These are they which
are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. That's what
a believer is. These are they which follow the
Lamb. wheresoever he goeth. These were
redeemed from among men. They're the firstfruits unto
God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found
no guile, for they're without fault before the throne of God."
That's what every believer is. We're following the Lamb. Go
with me to Hebrews 12. So what do you think Christ's
ambassadors preach? They come forth preaching the
gospel. Preach the same word. Hebrews 12. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking where? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him,
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds." And
right down the page there, this whole point of the Hebrew letter
is, don't go back to the law. And he says there later, but
if any man draw back, draw back to what? draw back to the law.
My soul shall have no pleasure in Him. So we follow Christ. Over there in Colossians 3 after
the Apostle Paul said that he talked about the folly of those
men who preach touch not, taste not, handle not to believers.
He said you've been freed from that. And then right after that
he said this, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above where Christ sits. Seek Christ, who
sits at the right hand of God. And set your affection on things
above. Set your heart on Christ. Not
on things on the earth, for you're dead. Dead to what? Dead to the law. You're dead
to the law. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. Is Christ under the law? The
law can't say anything to Christ. He can't say a word to Christ.
He can't say a word to His people either. When Christ who is our
life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory.
Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul told the Thessalonians,
we know brethren, verse 4, we know brethren, beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sakes. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord. You became followers of the Lord,
having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy
Ghost, so that you were examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. Paul could say to them, follow
the Thessalonians as they follow Christ. Because he said, because
that's what God's grace made you do. It made you follow Christ.
And you became an example to the others to follow Christ.
You see there? We follow in Christ. So Christ
is our rule of life. He's our rule of life. Because
God the Father is going to have the eyes of His people on Christ. on Christ. Always on Christ. Always on Christ. And Christ's
example for us does what the letter of the law didn't do.
The letter was given to show us our sin, but we see grace
and truth when we look to Christ. We learn the spirit of the law
when we look to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see a clear example
of what it is to follow Him when we look to Him and see how He
walked when He walked this earth. That's how we learn our walk
in this earth. It's a clear picture when we
look to Him. And so Paul says, Be ye followers
of me, even as I also am of Christ. So that's the first point. Our
rule of life is Christ. We follow Christ. Now secondly,
what is it to follow Christ? What is it to follow the Lord
Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, to follow
Christ is to follow Him as the all of our salvation. is to follow
Him as all our salvation. There's a lot of folks who profess
Christ and preach of Christ as an example who don't look to
Christ and declare that His blood is effectual to atone for the
sin of His people. There's a lot of people that
preach Him as an example that don't preach His sin atoning
blood as being effectual. They tell sinners, you have to
make it effectual by something you do. That's not so. All they
do is preach works when they do that. They're preaching righteousness
and holiness to be morality and outward obedience to the law
that's always lesser than what the law requires. That's the
only way you can make a man feel like he's obeying the law is
to lower the law. The law speaks to the heart.
The law deals with your thoughts and your motives, not just your
outward work. That's what Christ dealt with
in that Sermon on the Mount when He kept saying, you think adultery
is just an act? No, it's in the very thought.
That shuts our mouths. You think stealing is just an
act? It's even in the thought. That strikes a blow to our righteousness
by the law. and our holiness by the law.
We follow Christ as the one who by His blood atoned for sin. We follow Christ as the God-man.
He's the creator of the heaven and the earth. He's God. He's
the ruler, sovereign ruler over all things, controlling everything
big and small, to the smallest, to the largest thing. He's controlling
everything. He's controlling everything.
And He's the head over all things to the church. And this very
One who rules everything, who is our God, is also man. He's the God-man. As God, everything
He did on the cross is eternal. It's eternal. There's no end
to His accomplishment of redemption for His people. And as a man,
that's the only way He could go to that cross and be made
sin for us and lay down His life for His sheep. So we follow Christ
the God-man, sovereign, ruling, reigning, risen Savior who is
the God-man. And to follow Him is to follow
Him as the representative and substitute of His people. Christ
came for a reason. He said, I came to lay down my
life for the sheep. He said, I know them just like
the Father knows me. And I've given my life for them. So when He went to the cross
and He was made sin, there was a particular people that He was
dying for. Only that people. And their sin
were laid on Him. And He bore their stripes. So
that He wasn't just dying for some ambiguous thing called sin. No, He was dying for the sin
of a particular people. He was standing in the room instead
of Clay Curtis on that cross. So that when He died and everything
He did, His obedience unto death was my obedience unto death.
And when He satisfied justice, justice was satisfied toward
me. And that's so of all His people. He's our righteousness
and we don't need any other. We're following Him as all our
righteousness. And Christ is our holiness. Paul
said to the Colossians, he said Christ in you is the hope of
glory. And the reason Christ in you,
one reason Christ in you is the hope of glory is because when
you have Christ in you, you have now an inner man that's created
in holiness so that God will receive you. You can come into
God's presence now because in that inner man, you're as holy
as Christ is holy. That's right. We're as holy as
Christ is holy. He's the holiness we have to
have. He's the holiness of the new
man. He is. If it's by the work of our hands,
then we have something to boast about and to glory in. And it's
not by our works. You don't get all holy. That's
a state. that Christ makes you, puts you
in when He enters. He said over there in Romans
8, if you're no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so
be that the Spirit of Christ dwell in you. Now, sanctification
is progressive in this sense. We're growing in grace and we're
growing in knowledge of Christ. But we're not growing more holy.
We're holy. when they were born of Him. We're
growing in grace and knowledge of Him. That's what we're growing
in. He grows you in faith. He makes your faith stronger.
That's a grace He gave you. All those fruit of the Spirit
you read about in Galatians, over there in Galatians 5. You're
growing in that fruit. He's producing that. You grow
in that. And you grow, you grow. Living things grow. But we don't
get more holy. I've given you that illustration
of when I became a human, I became a human. I was conceived, I was
a human. And I've grown in that state of being a human being,
but I've never grown more of a human being. You see, what
I'm getting at is because we preach free grace, we're saying
that you don't get more righteous and you don't get more holy than
Christ our righteousness and our sanctification makes us.
That gives Him all the glory. Don't give us any. He's even
the one that grows us in grace and knowledge of Him. It's grown
by Him. He said, I in them and thou in
me that they may be made perfect in one. And that one is Christ. Only He can transform us. He
renews us into His image. And He's the only one that can
do that. So to follow Christ, first of all, first and foremost
is to follow Him as all our salvation. He's everything. He's the author
and finisher of our faith. That's who we're following. He's
all. And if He ever gets a hold of your heart and teaches you
that you can't make yourself righteous, and you can't make
yourself holy, and you can't redeem yourself, and you can't
present yourself to God, and that He's done it all for you,
I guarantee you the one you'll follow will be Christ. Because
you can't help but do otherwise. You've got to have Him. And you'll
follow Him. Now, another thing to follow
Christ is to follow His example as our pattern. The one thing
we're to aim at is to tread in the footsteps of Christ. To tread in His footsteps. Where He walked as He walked
this earth. In every way that He can be imitated. There's some
ways He can't be imitated. But in every way that He can
be imitated, we're to be as He was when He walked this earth. Follow Christ. Let me give you
a few of these. We follow Christ imitating His
influence. imitating his influence. This
is the subject of our text. Paul said, follow me as I follow
Christ. Influencing others is a great
responsibility. And nobody is neutral. We all
influence people around us either for good or for evil. But we
are going to influence one way or the other. We have an influence.
Christ's influence was only good. He only influenced people for
good. When people were around Christ, they experienced what
it was to be around somebody who was absolutely holy and righteous
with no sin whatsoever. They saw the beauty of holiness
when they saw Christ. Because that's who He is when
He walked this earth. And so by following Christ, by
God's grace and by God's power, we are to influence others with
the beauty of Christ our holiness. I know that they didn't see holiness
in Christ and they're not going to see holiness in you unless
God gives them grace to see. But that doesn't change the fact
that the way that you and I are to walk. Now listen very carefully. Just as you look to those that
are older than you and you follow them as they follow Christ. Don't
you look up, don't you look to those that have gone before you
and look to those older than you to follow them as they follow
Christ. Well, just like you do that,
remember those younger than you are looking to you to follow
you as you follow Christ. So what does that tell me I should
do? Before posting it publicly or before doing it publicly,
think about it. How is this going to influence
a younger person that is following Christ? How is it going to influence
them to follow Christ? You know, when you think about
doing something and you kind of have a slight thought in your
mind that this might not be honoring to the Lord, that's because it
ain't. You don't have that thought because it is. You have that
thought because it's not. But what do we do? We think about
some other believer that's maybe a faithful believer that we know
and look up to and think about, well, I've seen them do this
or that. And we justify it. So follow Christ. and do so setting an example
to influence those that are following you as you follow Christ. That's
what Paul is talking about. Then also, we follow Christ in
His subjection to others. Christ, when He walked this earth,
our Lord came down so lowly, He was a son. He was a son. He was a child in a house. Even though He was not conceived
of Joseph, He was under Joseph as His father. And he walked
and obeyed Mary, who was his earthly mother. He made them. He made them. He was giving them
the breath they breathed and the provision they had or didn't
have. And yet he submitted himself
to them and obeyed them and everything. If you're still under your parents'
roof as a believer and you want to learn how to obey your mother
and father, Go look to Christ. Study how Christ obeyed His mother
and His father. You'll find out. It's in the
Lord. Remember that time He was in the temple? And He was sitting
there talking to those folks. He was a little fellow, young.
What was he? I think something like 11 years
old or 12 years old. He's influencing all these older
men, teaching them. And His mother and His father
came back. And they said, we didn't know you weren't with
us. Well, He was about His father's business. And He said, Obey your
father and mother in the Lord. And He said, Do you not know
I must be about my father's business? But when it was following them,
just following them, and it was according to the Word of the
Lord, He submitted to them and everything. So what I'm getting
at is you follow your mother and father in the Lord. If it's
not in the Lord, you be about your father's business. But you
follow them in the Lord. And He subjected Himself to rulers
and authorities. Christ's word was this in Matthew
17, 27. He said, less we should offend,
let's do it. He subjected himself to the temple
rulers, false rulers, false rulers. He subjected himself to civil
rulers. He said in Romans 13, Paul said,
let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is
no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resists the
power, resists the ordinance of God. Christ never gave a needless
offense to anybody. You think about that. He never
gave a needless offense to anybody. I'm so bad about offending people
and then justifying it. Especially if it's not a believer.
That's awful. He never gave a needless offense.
Paul followed Christ and he says, now you follow me giving no offense
neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of
God. No offense. And then we followed
Christ learning how to love. We saw this Sunday in Ephesians
5.1. He said, be followers of God
as dear children and walk in love. Now you go back to the letter
of the law. You are not going to find this. Now, I'm going
to say a little bit about the law when I get to the end, but
you're not going to find what I'm about to read to you by going
to the letter of the law. He doesn't give you the spirit
of the law. Here's the love of the law. Walk in love as Christ
also hath loved us and given himself for us, an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. You don't learn
that kind of love Look into the law. Christ exhibits that kind
of love fulfilling the law. You see the righteousness, that
love that is the righteousness of the law when you see Him hung
there between heaven and earth willing to be forsaken by God
and His brethren because He loved them both and would glorify His
Father and declare Him just and declare Him the justifier and
at the same time justify His people. That's love. That's love. bear that kind of shame. He says,
now, you walk in love like Christ loved you. Just think about it. Lay down. We get so hard and so determined
that we're going to be right. Do you know how Christ laid down
His life for the apostles? We learn longsuffering when we
look to Christ. They were so ignorant. The apostles
were absolutely ignorant. They didn't know anything. They
thought Christ, even after hearing Christ say, My kingdom is not
of this earth, they still thought Christ was going to establish
an earthly kingdom right there at Pentecost. They didn't realize
what He was doing until He poured His Spirit out right there and
showed them His kingdom is not of this earth. They didn't get
that until then. They were constantly exalting
themselves over their brethren. They were constantly bragging
about what they would and wouldn't do. And Christ turned to them and
said, they can't be believers, they've got to be... Don't stand
over there, don't come near to me, I'm holier than you are.
Is that any way He treated them? No. Think about if Christ held
your foot to the fire on what you know and what you don't know.
Think if He took... Every time you've been an offender
for a word, if He made you an offender for speaking a word
that was wrong, think how soon we'd be thrown into hell. And
He laid down His life for us. Now He says, you love your brethren
that way. When He washed their feet, He
wasn't telling us to wash one another's feet. He was telling
us, this is what it is when your brother is walking in a way that
is contrary to the truth. You come down. You condescend. You go down and become the lowest. to wash their feet. And you and
I can't wash their feet. All we can do as His vessels
is we're to come down and depend on Him to wash their feet through
the Word that we speak. And that's all we can do. That's
what He did for us. He was made the least in the
Kingdom of God. By doing that, He gave all the
glory to God. He highly glorified the Father
because as the servant of God, He was totally dependent upon
the Father to work this work in their hearts as He walked
this earth. And now, as the One who is reigning over all, we
are to be totally dependent on Him to work this in the heart
of His people so that we bow down and wash their feet. and
trust Him. That's highly glorifying to Him.
And in due time, He'll exalt you just like the Father exalted
Him. But when we try to exalt ourselves
and make ourselves look wise in the eyes of others, we look
like a fumbling fool. And you know what? Sadly, we're
usually the last ones to know it. The only ones that don't
know it. Everybody else sees it, knows
it, and you know what they do? They lower themselves and condescend
and bear with us while we're walking around in our pride,
acting all puffed up, and they're not casting us away and saying,
you're an unbeliever. They just bow down and say, we
trust God, we're going to teach Him. Pray God to teach Him. That's
what we do. And then we follow Christ to
learn how to suffer reproach. Look at 1 Peter 2. We are not very good at suffering
reproach. 1 Peter 2.19. Let me read verse 18. Servants, be
subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good
and gentle, but also to the frail one. For this is thankworthy,
if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
you're buffeted for your faults, if that forward man gets on to
you when you're really wrong, and you bear that, that's not
a big deal, you were wrong. You shall take it patiently.
What big deal is that? But, if when you do well, you've done
nothing wrong, and you suffer for it, and you take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even hereunto were you called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that you should follow His steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth, Who when He was reviled, reviled not again. You know, we like to justify
why we said this and why we did that. But you just don't know
what He did to me. I know what they did to Christ.
And He reviled not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not. But He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. who His own self bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. He did all this bearing our sin
on the tree. That we being dead to sin should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. For
you were a sheep going astray, but you are now returned to the
shepherd and bishop of your souls. See, a shepherd is somebody the
sheep follow. A bishop is somebody the sheep
follow. That's what he's saying now. You've returned to him now.
Follow his example. Follow his example. That's how
you suffer reproach. Now I don't have time to go into
ore, but here's a short list. I'll just give you these. When
popular opinion favored him, when he came into Jerusalem that
time, and then when they hated him, he glorified God. He wouldn't let them take him
and make him a king when they favored him. opened not his mouth
when they hated him. That's how we learn to suffer
with applause or rejection. How do we learn to be tempted
by the devil? When he was tempted by the devil,
he said, Thus saith the Lord, as it is written, as it is written.
He clung to the Word of God. When we are oppressed to pay
the debt we owe, he was oppressed to pay a debt he didn't owe.
You know what he did? He restored that which he took
not away. What about how to suffer loneliness?
Nobody suffered loneliness like our Savior did. He said, yet
I'm not alone because the Father is with me. How about concerning
forgiveness? Where do we learn to forgive?
He said, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. He
said that hanging on the cross. He said that bleeding from the
stripes they had inflicted upon Him. What about concerning praise? How do we learn how to praise?
Learn who to praise. He said, I will declare thy name,
O God, unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. That's who we glorify. God. Nobody else. What about prayer? Oh, we need to learn something
about prayer. I can tell you that. Listen to this. In the morning, rising up a great
while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary
place, and there he prayed all by himself. Nobody saw him. Nobody saw him. Bless them that
curse you, he said, and pray for them that despitefully use
you. I like what one preacher said. Folks want to raise their
hands and do all this waving and do all this stuff, you know,
they want to do all the time. He said, get in your closet.
And if you still want to do all that, do it. Get in your closet where nobody
sees you. If you still want to do all that, do it. Have at it. When facing death, we're going
to all face that one day. How are we going to learn how
to do that? He said, Father, save me from this hour. And concerning sinners. Concerning
sinners. How do we deal with sinners?
What do we do with sinners? This was the slander they waged
at Him. This man receiveth sinners. That's how we treat sinners.
Receive them. You see how we learn faith and
love and grace and truth from Christ? We learn it from Christ. The law was given by Moses. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now let me give you just a few
words in closing. Turn to Romans 7 real quick. I've got two scriptures I want
to show you. Romans 7. There's nothing wrong with the
letter of the law. Nothing at all. Nothing wrong
with the letter of the law. I'm not saying that at all. Look
at Romans 7 verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? Now Paul says this right after
saying, we're dead to the law now that we might serve in newness
of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. Now, obviously,
he's talking about what I've been telling you tonight because
he knew what men's objection would be. He knew men would accuse
him of saying the law is sin or something wrong with the law.
You see, that proves that what I'm telling you tonight is so.
Because he just got through saying, you're not under the law, you're
under grace. You follow in Christ, you're married to another, you're
married to Christ, that you bring forth fruit unto righteousness
by Him. And you follow him in newness
of spirit, not in oldness of the letter. And he knows what
the objection is going to be. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known
sin but by the law. That was the purpose of the law.
For I had not known lust except the law. It said thou shalt not
covet. Look down at verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy and
the commandment holy and just and good. Oh then, here's the
next objection he knows has come. Was then that which is good make
death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good.
You see, the law was given to make sin appear, to make me see
it, to make it work death in me. That's what the good law
did. That sin by the commandment might
become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual,
but I'm carnal, sold under sin. Look at verse 22. I delight in
the law of God after the inward man. I really do. You do too, born of God. We delight
in the law of God after the inward man. But here's why we don't
go back to the law. I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. The only way we're
going to be delivered is by following the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why we keep following Him. Keep following Him. Keep following
Him. Now go to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. And I don't know why
folks, I know why folks can't see this, but it's just so clear. Look at 1 Timothy 1 and verse
5. Now the end of the commandment,
this is the end of Christ's commandment to you and me. Here's the end
of His commandment. It's love out of a pure heart
and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. Not hypocritical fake
faith. True faith from a pure heart
and love from a pure heart. That's the end of the commandment.
That's what it is to come to the end of the law for righteousness,
to come to Christ who's the end of the law. It's to have faith
that works by love. That's the end of Christ's commandment
right there. Alright, now watch. Verse 6, "...from which, away
from which, turning aside from which some have swerved, and
have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."
Paul asked them in Galatians, he said, do you not hear the
law? And that's what he's saying here. They don't hear it. They
don't understand that the law was given to declare you guilty.
It wasn't given to give you life. It was given to declare us guilty.
But we know that the law is good, just like what we just saw, if
a man used it lawfully to declare one guilty. Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. What are
you in Christ? We're righteous. We're righteous
in Christ. The law is not made for a righteous
man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly
and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves for 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. Now understand
this, the law still shows us our sin if we turn from following
Christ and His doctrine. That's what he's saying there.
Anything that's contrary to the sound doctrine of Christ, the
law will expose it. And if you turn from Christ and
His doctrine, the law will tell you that's wrong. But now the
law is not our rule of living. Christ is our rule for living.
You follow Christ. And then I will show you one
more scripture, John 21. I promise you this is the last
one. This is what I want to show you. This, to me, sealed up what
I'm trying to show you. Anytime that we do turn away
from Christ, anytime that our will and our works and our way
and our wisdom is the way we go, if we're Christ and He redeemed
us, He's going to turn us back. And when He turns us, chastens
us and turns us, where does He turn us to? Christ. because that's
who we turn from. That's who we serve from. We
swerve to vain jangling. He turns us back to Christ. That's
what happened to Peter. Peter left him. Peter denied
him and left and went back and was going to take up fishing
and he wasn't going to serve Christ anymore. And he came to
him and he said, Peter, you love me? And this time Peter wasn't
so bold to say what he knew. He said, Lord, you know. And
he said, Feed my sheep. Three times. And then look at
this. John 21, 19. It says, He told
Peter by what death he should glorify God. And when he had
spoken this, he said unto him, Follow me. Follow me. Anytime we turn, we turn away
from Christ. And anytime we turn back, We
turn back to follow Christ. And then look, and then Peter
turned about and he saw John, that disciple that Jesus loved,
that one that leaned on his breast. And Peter seeing him, he said,
Lord, what shall this man do? Verse 22, Jesus said unto him,
If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?
Jesus said unto him, Follow thou me. In other words, don't be
worried about John. You concern yourself with you
following me. You follow me. You see what I'm
saying? Follow Christ. Now four times
scripture says to just live by faith. It says we're constrained
by the love of Christ. And it says the law is not of
faith. So Paul tells us all, follow
me as I follow Christ. Christ is the saint's rule of
life. Amen.