As long as we're in this flesh,
we're going to want this flesh to be glorified. We're going
to want to do things and behave in a certain way in our worship,
in our day-to-day lives, in everything we do to bring attention to ourselves. That's the flesh. It wants you to pat it on the
back and say, good job. And because we want that by nature,
the first charge that's going to be laid to anybody who declares
with boldness that Christ Jesus the Lord is the end of all glory in the
flesh. He's the end of righteousness,
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He
is the fulfillment of this Word. He is the one whom God has set
forth to be honored and glorified in His Word. And because that
is the case, His messengers that come forth are going to preach
that message. And the first charge that they laid to the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, or the Pharisees and Sadducees laid to those true
messengers of God who came preaching was, he's an outlaw. He's against the law. He's an
antinomian. Why'd they say that? They had no care about God. They
had no care about God's law. They had no care about that temple,
that tabernacle, those people that met there. They had one
love and that was for self. And if Christ is all my righteousness,
then I got to bow and I can't have any glory. And if I can't
do it according to the law, I can't keep my yoke on people. I can't
keep my bondage on people. I'm going to lose my position.
I'm going to lose my status. I'm going to lose everything
that I've worked so hard to gain for my flesh. When I preach to you, I want
you to see, brethren, that those men who laid that charge,
outlaw against God's messengers, in all their legalism, they were
the outlaws. They were the antinomians because
they were not bowing to God. Samuel went and Who was it he
talked to? He went and he told him, God
has said, go and kill everything in there. Everything. Men, women,
sheep, goats, everything. Kill it all. And he came back
with the choicest, fattest lambs. And Samuel went to him and said,
have you obeyed the voice of the Lord God? And he said, yes,
I've obeyed Him. And he said, well, why do I hear
the bleeding of these lambs then? God said, destroy everything.
Why did I hear the bleeding of these lambs in my ears? Well,
I want to bring those lambs back here. Don't you see what I'm
doing? These are the choicest lamb.
God said we've got to come in with a lamb. That's what His
law says. So I'm coming to bring these lambs because according
to the law, I want to come and offer these lambs to God. Oh,
that's a good thing. Pastor, don't you see that, Samuel?
And Samuel said, which is better? to obey the voice of the Lord,
or to sacrifice. To make your offering, to put
your hand to the work, or to obey God. When they were walking
up that mountain, and they were going up to offer up Isaac, Isaac
said, Father, here's the wood, and here is the fire, but where's
the lamb? The law says we have to have
a lamb. Abraham wasn't disobeying God's
law. He wasn't an antinomian when
he turned to his son and he said, my son, I know that's what the
law said, but that law is pointing to Christ and God will provide
Christ himself a lamb. And therefore we don't have to
take that lamb up. God's going to provide the lamb.
And in saying that to his son, he was not turned back to the
law. If he would have been, he'd have been an antinomian. He'd
have been an outlaw before God almighty. But he trusted God
and through faith he established that whole law of God. Because he said, this law is
pointing to the Lamb. And God is going to provide that
Lamb. And I believe God. My hope is in that Lamb. So son,
let's come on up here. Let's go on up here and trust
God. My message to you this morning
is establishing God's law. Establishing God's law. Romans
chapter 3. I preached from this text in
Plymouth a few weeks ago. I don't think I used any of the
notes that I had, just a little bit here and there, so this should
be another message altogether, but the same message. So, let's
begin here in Romans 3.19. Now we know that what thing soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Let
me ask you a question. We know whatsoever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law. Who's under the law?
Who's under the law? Every person born into this world,
Jew or Gentile, who is not trusting through God-given faith, Christ
the Lord, Jesus the Lord alone, is under the law. He's under
the law. And this is what the law says
to him. The law says three things. It shuts our mouth. and declares
us guilty before him who demands perfection in thought, word,
and deed. That's why it was given. The
law speaks to us and it teaches us something of the depth and
darkness of our sin before a thrice holy God. And the law shuts us
up to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.21, if you'll turn
there with me. When a sinner is brought to faith
in Christ, he's brought out from under the law. He's under grace
now. But until then, he is under that
law. And we see an example of it in
the fact that when God gave the Old Covenant Israel was under
the law until Christ came. And God abolished the ceremonies.
He took them away. He destroyed the temple. He showed
that once Christ has come, you're not under the law anymore. But
that happens to each individual sinner in every age before or
after Christ's death. When Christ comes to us through
the Holy Spirit, and by faith we're united with Him, Christ
has come. We're no longer under the law
anymore. Now we're delighting in the whole law of God. We've
established the law of God because we see now that it all converges
into one, and it's Christ. He's the end for which it was
given. Now, Galatians 3.21 says, Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid, for if there had
been a law given which could have given life, Verily, righteousness
should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But 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
to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come,
we're no longer under a schoolmaster. Look with me at Romans 7 and
verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known
sin, but by the law, By the laws, the knowledge of sin. I hadn't
known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. The law's not made
for a righteous man. The law's made for an ungodly,
unrighteous man. Through that law, I understand
what it is to covet. And I understand that that's
all I am, is covetous, an idolater before God. But sin, because
it was in me, It took occasion by the commandment. It took advantage
of me. And here's what it said. That
man who says that Christ is the fulfillment of the law, he's
an outlaw. Don't listen to him. He's an antinomian. You need
to work. You need to be obeying this law
because that's how you're going to be made righteous. That's
how you're going to be accepted of God and become more accepted
of God is by your obedience to this law. Sin was deceiving me. Sin was taking advantage of God's
law. Taking advantage of me being
a sinner and using that law to deceive me. Make me think I could
have righteousness by it. That's what Paul says here. It
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. You know when Paul says in Romans
8, he says right here, I just was looking at this verse 13.
He says if you live after the flesh you'll die Well, what is
that living after the flesh? He said if you through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live Well, what is
the living after the fair? What is it to mortify the deeds
of the body? If you'll look there in the marginal
reference, it says Colossians 3 5 you turn over there to Colossians
3 5 and Paul says there, mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. What is these things he's
talking about? Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection. Look at that next word, evil
concupiscence. Now let's go back over here where
we were in Romans 7. And Paul said, verse 8, sin. Taking occasion by the commandment
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence He's talking about When I thought
I was alive by my works and by my deeds before the law that
was evil concupiscence That was evil that was idolatry Look here
what he said read off for without the law sin was dead He had the
law he was under the law and But he didn't hear the law. He
didn't hear what it said. That's why he asked Galatians,
do you not hear the law? You, the desire to be honored,
do you not hear it? And look here, he says, for I was alive
without the law once. Thought I was. Considered myself
to be alive, Romans 7 and 9. Considered myself to be alive.
But when the commandment came, When God spoke into my heart
and He gave me a spiritual understanding of what His law said to me, sin
revived and I died. All my self-righteousness went
out the window. It died. And the commandment
which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. Not because
there was any fault in the law, Not because God's law is holy
and just and good. The fault was in us. The fault is in Paul. He couldn't
obey it. So, that's what our text tells
us back here in Romans 3. By the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now, now, you want to be
righteous before God's law? Is that really what you want?
The man who charges me with being an outlaw for preaching this
gospel, do you really want to establish the law? That's my
question. Do you really want God's law
to be honored and magnified and fulfilled? Is that really what
your argument's all about? Is that the motive for where
it's coming from? I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's because we are deceived
by sin into thinking that we can obtain a righteousness by
our obedience to God's law. And until God speaks in the heart,
we'll go on thinking that, being deceived and in the lust of our
flesh. Everything we'll do will be in
the letter of the law and it'll be to exalt ourselves. It'll
be to keep something for ourselves, our position in the church, our
profession we made, putting our confidence in our faith, whatever
it is. Keeping the people under your thumb, whatever it is. And
the reason men don't like this message, brethren, is because
when When it's set forth, no matter how those Pharisees and
those Sadducees objected to this message, the reason they threatened
Peter and John, I said, speak no more in this name. Don't preach
this gospel anymore. It's because it's through this
gospel that God reveals true righteousness. The righteousness
of God and who that is. And in spite of what a man wants
or doesn't want, God will go right in the midst of his own
congregation And with the gospel of the truth, He will break a
stony heart and call out one of His sheep and say, be ye separate
from them. Come out from among them. And
He'll bring them out. And our old flesh knows there
ain't nothing we can do about that. Ain't nothing we can do
about that. It's going to happen. God's going
to call them out. Now look here, let's see, where's
this righteousness to be found in? If you do want to establish
the law, let's see how we can do it. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The righteousness of God spoken
of here includes a full satisfaction, a complete fulfillment of God's
law in precept and in penalty. That's what we're talking about
here. The righteousness of God. Is that what you want? You want
to obey God's law perfectly? You want to fulfill His law?
Do you really think His law is holy and just and good? And you
want to establish that law and fulfill it in every jot and tittle? Do you want to? God's people
want to. They delight in it. They want
that law to be fulfilled. But delighting in that law, brethren,
we're going to fulfill it in a way that's contrary to this
flesh. We're going to fulfill it in a way that God says it's
going to be fulfilled and established. And a man has to be made by God
to delight in his law to want it to be established this way.
Now look at it with me. And now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested. That doesn't mean there's not
going to be a full satisfaction to the precept penalty of the
law. It means now the righteousness of God without regard to the
sinner's obedience to it. You got that? The righteousness
of God without your obedience to the law is manifested. We're going to have to let go of our obedience, of our way,
we're going to have to trust God. This is what's offensive. This is the offense of the cross,
brethren, that it's not in my hand or your hand to work this
righteousness. It's God. Now here it's manifested. And here's why it's this way,
brethren. As Job said, who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean thing? Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard
to his spots? We can't change and do good who are accustomed
to doing evil. So we couldn't do this. God has
to do this. Now, it's manifested. Where's it manifested? Where's
this gospel manifested? Back there in Romans 1.16, Paul
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. For as it is written,
the just shall live by faith. If a message is preached and
this is not the message that's preached, that the righteousness
of God is without your obedience to the law, but it's by the obedience
of another. If that message is not set forth,
it's not the gospel of Christ and the righteousness of God
is not revealed in that message because this is the message wherein
God's righteousness is revealed. This is the message where God
saves unto salvation. Now, and it's witnessed by the
Law and the Prophets. Paul said back there in Romans
1, he said, I'm separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had
promised afore by His Prophets in the Holy Scriptures, and it's
concerning His Son, Christ Jesus. Everything the Prophets said
was bearing witness, testifying of this One, of this Righteousness
of God. And everything God's Law said
testified of this Righteousness of God. It's witnessed by two
witnesses. Ever, ever, there has to be two
or more witnesses. Can't be just one witness. The
law and the prophets say, here's the righteousness of God. Now
the law witnesses against us and the prophets witness against
us because they preach the same gospel. They said, the law says,
you cannot be justified by your deeds before me. That's what
the law says against us. He's guilty. But the law says
of this righteousness, I'm satisfied. Every requirement's been met.
A whole fulfillment has been brought in. I'm satisfied. Now,
what is this righteousness? Verse 22. It's the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. For there is no difference. For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Faith. God-given faith. Trust the righteousness
of God. God-given faith trusts the righteousness
of God. And the righteousness of God,
as we're going to see here in this next passage, is accomplished
fully, perfectly, freely, on behalf of God's elect by the
faithfulness of his son. And when God gives you and me
faith to believe, what does your faith, or whom shall I say, does
your faith believe? Who is it your faith is trusting
in? Jesus Christ the Lord. He is
the believer's righteousness, complete and total righteousness
before God. And it has to be through faith
in Him, because this is what God has said, Romans 5.19, As
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Not by the obedience
of many, of one, God said. And the law entered that the
offense might abound, that we might see what we are. But where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And the example
is that as sin has reigned unto death, grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord, by Him. And the righteousness
of God is by faith in Christ Jesus and His righteousness imputed
to us. And it has to be through faith
in Him. Anybody that's going to come
to God, it has to be through faith in the righteous One. And
this One who is the very righteousness of God. Because all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There's no other way to
come but in His righteousness. There's no other way to be found
complete but in His righteousness. There's no other way to be accepted
of God but in Christ's righteousness. That is the only way we can come
before God. And this righteousness that He
brought in before the law is the obedience, brethren, to the
precept and penalty of it. Now look here at Romans 3.24. This is the righteousness we're
talking about here. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. whom
God hath set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare at this time
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." Now, I got this from Brother
Henry. I don't know who he got it from,
but I liked it. I thought this was good. is justification
as opposed to condemnation. Being justified. We're justified. When he died, we died. The law
has no more claim on a man who's answered the penalty of the law.
The wages of sin is death. We're justified. He was raised
again for our justification. We're justified. That's the blessing
opposed to being condemned by the law. Here's the cause. Freely by His grace. Freely by
His grace. God chooses. Christ redeems. The Holy Spirit calls sinners
according to the good pleasure of His will. According to the
purpose of God. It's freely by His grace. And
then here's the source. It's the redemption that is in
or wrought or accomplished by Christ Jesus. Christ, our Redeemer, purchased
us out from under sin and death. He bought us. He paid His blood
and He paid with His life and He bought us. He bought us. And when He died and rose, we
rose in Him. But He's the one, brethren, listen
to me, He's the one whom God hath sent forth God is pleased to set him forth.
Why are it why it every preacher that stands up anywhere and In
claims to be speaking on behalf of his name Why is he not totally
wrapped up and nothing else but setting forth? This one if God
pleased to set him forth. Why don't we set him for? I'll
tell you why we don't If you preach too much about him Folks
get offended Now you got to talk about me a little bit. Tell me
about, I got a long road ahead of me. Tell me about what I need
to be doing. I'm telling you what you need
to be doing. You need to be setting Him forth by bowing to Him and
trusting Him and casting all your care upon Him because God
said He's done everything for you. He careth for you. He's
done it all for you. You see, the old nature wants
so bad to hang on to that law, and hang on to our works, and
hang on to our righteousnesses, and hang on to our so-called
holiness, and all these things, that we don't need to be told
what we need to be doing in our deeds, unless our deeds are interfering
with us falling at the feet of Christ and worshiping Him. Then
we need to be told You need to let go of those deeds. If it's
your deeds of self-righteousness and evil concupiscence as Paul
thought that he could come to the law by his deeds of self-righteousness,
I'm telling you, turn from them. Let them go. Relinquish your
grip on salvation. And if it's outward sin and rebellion
against God where you're running wild, listen to me. Let that go. because you need to be hearing
what God said. This is what He set forth. But
I'm not going to stand up and tell you that you need to be
doing these things because this way God's going to be more pleased
with you. And He's going to receive you
more into His heart and love you more because of these things
you've done. No, brethren, that's what the flesh wants to hear.
That's what the old nature wants to hear. That's what we want
to glory in. That's what we want to say, Yes! Now I like that
message! That's putting it in my hands
now. God set Him forth. He set Him
forth in the eternal counsel. He set Him forth in the covenant
of grace. He set Him forth in time upon this earth. He set
Him forth on the cross at Calvary. He set Him forth at His right
hand. He sets Him forth in the hearts of those that He's redeemed.
He sets Him forth. And from that day forward, they
behold Him as altogether lovely. When the commandment comes and
sin revives and we die, our mouths become shut and we
flee with every fiber of our being and lay hold of Him. If
I can but touch the hem of His garment, I'll be made whole.
That's what it is to serve God. That's what it is. And it's to
give ourselves to this Gospel, to set Him forth in our lives,
in our workplace, in our schools, wherever we are, inviting people
to come and hear about this One. We want to hear about this One
whom God set forth because, brethren, one of these days, God's going
to call the last one out. And we're going to go home. We're
going to get to go home. Use every means he's given you.
Use everything he's put in our hands to set this one forth. When I used to live in South
Arkansas, every summer I'd go out and work for farmers and
haul hay, square bales of hay. And a farmer, if he's selling
his hay, you can always tell if he's selling his hay because
he'll wrap them, he'll loosen up those baling, that baling
twine so that there's not a whole lot of hay in it and the bale
will be real light because he wants to get as much hay out
of that field as he can. But if he's packing it in his
own barn and he don't have a lot of room to put it, he packs them
bales as tight as he can get them and they're heavy. And we'd
go out there, and it'd be August, and August in South Arkansas
is like standing on the sun. It's 100 plus degrees, and you're
out in the middle of a hot hay field, you know, there's no shade,
and you get them cuckoo birds out of that hay, and they stick
in you and hurt you, you know. go in those barns and it's all
just dust and covered everywhere, you know, and it gets all in
your nose, you can't breathe. It's miserable, miserable. The only reason a daddy would
let his son do that is so his dad would go get a good education
and not have to be out there in that field all the rest of
his life. It worked for me, but when I was out there, I can remember
there'd be some guys that would, if you worked hard, there'd be
some fellas, you know, that always would act like Well, why are
you working so hard? You know, we're going to be out
here the same amount of time. You know, he's going to drive
that trailer the same speed. And whether you pick up 10 bells
or you don't pick up a five, you know. At the end of the day,
we're all going to go home at the same time. But there's always
fellows there, and we'd say, as soon as we can get this field
picked up, we can get out of this heat and go back, go home,
and sit down and rest. That's how I look at this thing,
brethren. It's not going to happen any faster than God's ordained
it to happen. He's going to add to the church.
He's given us the responsibility to set forth Christ. But let's
use every means He's given us to set him forth. Because when
He calls that last one out, we're going home. We're getting out
of this hay field and going home. But He set him forth. Look here
with me now. He's a propitiation through faith
in His blood. That mercy seat over the ark
that was in the tabernacle. That mercy seat was there. The
Lord said, Put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the
ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there
I'll meet with thee, and will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat. That was the place, that mercy
seat. The testimony was in that ark. It was bound up in that
ark. And over the top of that ark
was the mercy seat. That testimony, that ark is Christ, that mercy
seat is Christ, that testimony is bound up. That's God's whole
law, His whole, our delight, it's all bound up in Christ,
in Him. And that blood of that Lamb was
brought and it was sprinkled on that mercy seat over the broken
law that we broke, that we broke. And God said, right there, that's
where I'll meet with you, right there. I'm satisfied, my law
is satisfied, it's established, it's fulfilled, and right there
is where I'll meet with you." That's Christ. That's this propitiation,
this place of mercy and truth. Right there. He said, I'll meet
with you. That's why he set him forth, to say, this is where
I'll meet with you. And he said, he did it, set him
forth, He said He'll meet with us there through faith in His
blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that
have passed through the forbearance of God. You see, the Old Testament
saints were saved just like New Testament saints are. All sins
of past, present, and future, they've all been remitted the
same way. It's through God's long suffering.
It's through His forbearance. It's in Christ. That's how it's
always been. That's what God set forth. It will be in Christ. And He
did it to declare at this time, now, in the obedience of Christ
at Calvary on the cross, at this time, His righteousness. The
Law and the Prophets witnessed of this time. Every Old Testament
believer saw Christ in the Lamb, and in the high priest, and in
the mercy seat. And he saw the promises of far off. He saw the
promises of yea and amen in Christ. And he saw those promises bound
up in Christ who would come. Way of far off. And we see them
bound up in Him who's come and has risen. And we're looking
for Him to come again. Why did he set Christ forth? What's the big deal about this
thing? Here's the critical factor, brethren. He set it forth that he might
be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
You see, if God is just, and He is, that means He saved in
accordance with His holiness. He didn't sweep his justice under
the rug. He poured out justice on his
son. And his justice is satisfied
toward his people. And if he's the justifier, it
means he's merciful. It means at the same time that
he's just, he shows mercy. That can only be in one That's
what the psalmist meant when he said mercy and truth are met
together. Mercy is his being the justifier,
showing us mercy. And truth is his justice, him
satisfying his law. They're met together. Righteousness,
that justice of God, and peace from God. They've kissed each
other. Where? in the mercy seat, in this one
whom He set forth to be the propitiation. And payment cannot twice demand,
first to my bleeding surety's hand, then again at mine. It
is paid for. Righteousness of God is brought
in. His law is satisfied. And therefore when faith comes
and He calls His believer to delight in Christ, the One of
whom the whole law gives witness, of whom all the prophets give
witness. The righteousness of God, when He gives us a delight
in Him, then we truthfully have a delight in the law of God. Because that's the end purpose
for which God gave His law, His word. Everything that He has
said to us is to bring us to His Son. And when faith has come,
We're no longer under that law anymore. We're no longer under
its bondage. We're no longer under its penalty.
We're no longer under its dominion. We're no longer under it as a
way of righteousness before God. And for the first time ever,
we actually delight in it and actually look at it and go, you
know, it is a good law. Everything it says in it just
is what's for my good and for the good of my brethren and what's
honoring to God There's nothing nothing wrong with it. I like
it. I want to obey it I want to and so we we then now we've
been created anew we we See that we're not under it. We're not
bound to it but only then can a believer actually delight in
it and want to follow God and serve him because his Redeemer
paid the wages of that law, the wages of sin. Now, look here,
this is the end. Here's the great rejoicing of
every believer in the conclusion of the whole matter. Where is
boasting then? Romans 3.27. Where is boasting
then? You see, here's the problem with
preaching Christ and Him crucified. Here's the offense of it. There's
no boasting then. If God Himself fulfilled His
law, that means I can't do it. So I can't boast of anything.
If God Himself is saved according to mercy and grace alone, He's
the justifier. And that means I didn't deserve
anything. It wasn't by my obedience to that law that God did anything
for me. You know, I was looking a while ago, and I was talking
about that verse over there in Romans 6. We had, when we were in sin,
we had our fruit unto death. Did you, did you, you didn't become a sinner because
you died. You died because you was a sinner.
And then when God comes, we have our fruit unto holiness. We didn't
become holy because we did something. Our fruit is the result of Him
making us holy. It's the result of something. I didn't die. It's just like
when you came forth from your mother's womb. Were you alive
because you cried? No. You cried because you was
alive. I sinned because I did in trespasses
and in sin. That's all I was. But your fruit
The fruit that God works in the center is going to be because
of what He's done. Because of the righteousness that He's brought
in. And because that He's sanctified
His people Himself. And the fruit of that is going
to be a delight. And that which is good. That
which is holy. That which is just. And folks will pretend
like they delight in it. But if you if if that's why I
keep telling you and I keep saying that this thing is not there's
not Antinomianism over here on the right and and legalism over
here on the left And we got to keep a balance between the two.
They're in the same extreme. They're at the same opposite
extreme Because if we think that we are an outlaw, we're not we're
not bowing to God's law. We're not establishing God's
law We're making our boast that we're keeping the balance. I I can't make you understand this.
I can't make you rejoice in it. Only God can. But when you do
and you see that in Christ, I can neither be an outlaw nor can
I be a legalist because I'm free from that law. I've established
the law fully by faith in Him. Now let's see that. And I can't
go, where's boasting then? Verse 27, it's excluded. By what
law? Of works? No, but by the law
of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is... Let me ask you something. Could you keep the balance before
you knew Christ? By looking at the law and trying
to obey the law and not being an outlaw, could you keep any
kind of balance before God gave you faith to trust Him? Well,
how come you think you can't after He does? How is it that
you entered into this thing? Was it by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? No. Look here, therefore we conclude,
a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the
God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles?
Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it as one God, One God
who shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through
faith. The circumcision of the Jews,
they had the law. The uncircumcision of the Gentiles,
they didn't even have a law. They didn't even have the law
that Israel had. And yet they are still justified
the same way through faith. But through that faith, look
here what they did. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we established
the law. We establish it. We establish
the purpose for which that law was given. The purpose for which
that law was given was to bring us to its end, which is Christ
Jesus, our righteousness. That's why it was given. To give
us the knowledge of sin, to reveal the depths of our sin, to shut
us up to Christ. Paul said, my desired prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them
record. They have a zeal of God. but not according to knowledge,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." If you think
I'm telling you not to obey God's law by preaching this, you're
in your flesh. You're in your flesh, and everything
that you're saying, it ain't for the honor of God, it is for
the glory of your flesh. You roll that around in your
heart and mind. I'm not trying to accuse anybody
of anything here, but I'm telling you, brethren, we got to be laid
low in the dust of our depravity. If that's if if if you think
that's what I'm saying, it's because you don't like that.
I'm telling you that salvation is all together in Christ Jesus,
the Lord. He's our justification before
God. That's the purpose that law was
given. You want to establish the end purpose for which God
gave that law? Do you really want to establish
it? Trust Christ. Therein we establish the law
of God. We establish the witness which the law testifies when
the law says by Christ finished working that the law is satisfied. You want to truly establish the
law? You truly want to fulfill the law? You truly want to be
honorable to God's law? Quit trying to justify ourselves
by that law then, because the law, you're calling God a liar,
calling God's law a liar. It says we're sinful. It says
we're guilty. And it says Christ is righteousness. We want to establish that law?
Really want to establish it? Trust Christ. That's how you
establish it. And our faith testifies that
God is indeed just and justifier. Do you really want to honor God
and glorify God? Are you just trying to bring
back the lambs from the slaughter so you can sacrifice according
to our own way and the way we think ought to be done? Do we
really want to obey God and what He said? Are we going to turn
and some Isaac raise up and say, well, now you've got to take
a lamb with you if you're going to go up on the mount and offer a sacrifice. You've got to obey the law. We're
going to look to the one that this law exalts and glorifies
and by faith in Him, establish that law. You see, we establish the law in fulfilling
it. perfectly. That's not the way
we establish the law. It's to fulfill it perfectly
in every jot and tittle. Do you want to establish it?
Do you want to honor God's law? Do you want to magnify God's
law? There's one way. It's through faith in Him who
perfectly, completely fulfilled God's law. In Him, God says,
you perfectly fulfilled my law. He says, you are righteous as
I am righteous. You are holy as I am holy. And I say, I never have. And
He says, in my Son you have. in my son you have." And then
brethren, also, we've established it because by faith in Christ,
by trusting Him alone, it's the only time we acknowledge that
in our flesh dwells nothing good. It's the only time we actually
say before that law, that law is right. What it says about
me is right. And it's the only time we delight
in that law is when we trust Christ by God's grace. And when
we do, brethren, even though our Delighting in God's law and
our desire to fulfill it is not perfect God accepts us in the
beloved and says Perfectly fulfilled it Now that I don't I just uh
Turn over Romans 8 1 I'll just end with this I Just I know what it is I know
why people don't rejoice in this and I didn't I I didn't rejoice
in it until God saved me by His grace. I was deceived by my sin. I thought I was righteous. But
now look at this joy. Do you have this peace? You can
just lay down that pole that you're using to walk that tightrope
and just rest right here. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
not in that deceivableness of sin and trying to look to the
law for your own righteousness, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, for sin, condemned sin
in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Lord might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." I don't believe, and I'll be
a facetious, I don't believe God's going to stand for anybody
glory and in the flesh when it's his son that's made his people
the righteousness of God. So I pray God give us grace to
bow to his son and trust him. By faith we fulfill the whole
law of God. You establish the law. You want
to establish it? Believe on his son. All right.