Good morning, everyone. Let's
stand and begin singing hymn number 258, He Hideth My Soul.
258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. He hides my soul in the
cleft of the rock that shadows the dry, thirsty land. He hides my life in the depths
of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. The wonderful Savior is Jesus
my Lord. He taketh my burden away. He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved. He giveth me strength as I lay. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life
in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. With numberless blessings He
so many crowns, And filled with His boldness divine. I sing in my rapture, O Glory
to God, For such a Redeemer as I. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life
in the depths of His love and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. When both in His brightness transported
I rise To meet Him in clouds of the sky His perfect salvation,
His wonderful love I'll shout with the millions on high He
hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry,
thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. We're going to sing the next
page, 259. The rock that is higher than
I. 259. ? From sea the path to the goal
? ? And sorrow sometimes how they swing ? ? Like tempest now
over the soul ? ? Oh then to the rock let me climb ? ? To
the rock that is higher than I ? Oh, then to the rock let
me flow, to the rock that is higher than I. Oh, sometimes I long to sing
today. And sometimes how weary I'd be,
But toiling in life's dusty way, The rock's blessed shadow how
sweet. Oh, then to the rock let me climb,
To the rock that is higher than high, O man, to the rock let
me flow, to the rock that is higher than I. ? O'er near to the rock let me
keep ? ? In blessings or sorrows prevail ? ? O'er climbing the
mountain way steep ? ? O'er walking the shadowy vale ? ? O'er then
to the rock let me fly ? To the rock that is higher than I. Oh man, to the rock let me fly. To the rock that is higher than
I. Thank you. I would like to read from Joshua
4. Joshua 4. That door is open. Joshua 4. And it came to pass,
when all the people were clean, passed over Jordan, that the
Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the
people, out of every tribe a man, and command ye them, saying,
Take ye hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where
the priest's feet stood firm, twelve stones. "'and you shall
carry them over with you "'and leave them in the lodging place
"'where you shall lodge this night.' "'Then Joshua called
the 12 men "'whom he had prepared of the children of Israel "'out
of every tribe a man. "'And Joshua said unto them,
"'Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God "'into the
midst of Jordan "'and take you up every man of you a stone upon
his shoulder "'according unto the number of the tribes "'of
the children of Israel. that this may be a sign among
you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to
come, saying, what mean ye by these stones? Then you shall
answer them that the waters of Jordan were cut off before the
ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over Jordan, the
waters of Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be for
a memorial unto the children of Israel forever. And the children
of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up 12 stones out of
the midst of Jordan as the Lord spake unto Joshua according to
the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried
them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and
laid them down there. And Joshua set up 12 stones in
the midst of Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests
which bear the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there unto
this day. for the priests which bear the
ark stood in the midst of Jordan until everything was finished,
that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people according
to all that Moses commanded Joshua, and the people hastened and passed
over. And it came to pass when all
the people were clean passed over that the ark of the Lord
passed over and the priests in the presence of the people. And
the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half
tribe of Manasseh passed over, armed before the children of
Israel as Moses spake unto them. About 40,000 prepared for war
passed over before the Lord into battle to the plains of Jericho. On that day, the Lord magnified
Joshua. in the sight of all Israel, and
they feared him as they feared Moses all the days of his life. And the Lord spake unto Joshua,
saying, Command the priests that bear the ark of the testimony
that they come up out of Jordan. Joshua therefore commanded the
priests, saying, Come ye up out of Jordan. And it came to pass,
when the priests that bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord
were come up out of the midst of Jordan, and the soles of the
priests' feet were lifted up onto the dry land, that the waters
of Jordan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his
banks, that they did before. And the people came up out of
Jordan on the 10th day of the first month and encamped in Gilgal
in the east border of Jericho. And those 12 stones which they
took out of Jordan did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. And he spake
unto the children of Israel, saying, when your children shall
ask their fathers in the time to come, saying, what mean these
stones? Then you shall let your children know, saying, Israel
came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried
up the waters of Jordan before you until you were passed over,
as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from
before us until we were gone over, that all the people of
the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty,
that ye might fear the Lord your God forever. Our Heavenly Merciful Father,
we thank you for allowing this opportunity to gather together
as a small flock, a small church. And Father, we thank you for
providing the location once again. Father, will you remember us
this morning? Remember Brother Eric, where
he has prepared his message to bring to us. Father, we thank
you for him and Michelle. Will you continue to give him
strength and wisdom and courage to go forward. Continue, Lord,
to give him a love for us as a group. And Lord, bless his
heart that he may also deliver this message with clarity and
simplicity. And we as listeners, Lord, that
we may take it in, that your Holy Spirit may go before us
and prepare our hearts. Father, give us an appetite for
the Lord Jesus Christ, our gospel, our only hope, our only righteousness,
our sanctification. Father, we thank you that the
Great Shepherd did everything necessary for the poor sheep. Nothing was left for us to do.
but worship you. Father, will you remember us
as a group? We do not know what lies ahead, but Father, that
we may ever be looking to you for guidance, for courage, and
continue to grant us, Lord, the financial wherewithal that we
may continue meeting. Give us wisdom and courage as
we continue to look for a place. Father, what you do is best.
Bless us, Lord. Remember our precious children
and our loved ones, wherever they may be. You know all things
perfectly, even the smallest child amongst us. Lord, will
you pour out your blessing upon us and call your sheep out of
this community. Father, remember us in mercy.
For Jesus' sake alone, amen. Morning. Before I get started,
I just want to just, I'm very touched by how well this has
come together and I'm very thankful to all of you that participated
and helped. bring this together with the
AC and everything. It's really, I don't know why
I'm so touched by it, but it's just a real sweet thing. There's a real blessing in it.
However humble it is, there's still a sweetness that we can
be thankful that our God is providing for us and just encouraged by
that. So thank you all for contributing
and doing what you could to bring this together for your brethren,
that we could hear the gospel in comfort and not be distracted
by the heat and things like that. And thank you even for opening
your home for the time, it's a real blessing, and so we thank
you all. I thank the Lord for you all,
and the heart that he's given you in the Lord, so I thank you. All right, brethren, we're gonna
be in Romans 10 this morning. Romans 10, just looking at verses
one through four. And I think when you see the
first verse, We'll read it in a moment, but when you get there,
I think you'll notice just the similarity to what we saw in
Chapter 9, how that Paul has a burden that he feels for his
kinsmen in the flesh. And I'm certain he feels a certain
sense of sorrow that they are under the condemnation of God.
I'm sure he feels a sense of sorrow knowing that they are
yet under condemnation because they have no hope, no faith in
the righteousness that God has provided for his people. And
he sees, he knows that they have a zeal. He's certain that they're
very sincere in their practices and in their faith. but he knows
that they're yet under condemnation because our sincerity and our
zeal, though it looks good to others and makes us feel good
perhaps, we know that that is not equated with salvation. And so Paul He knows them very
well. He knows what they're thinking
because he was of them. He was just like them in the
flesh. So he knows what they're trying
to do. That is that the Jewish nation, that the people as a
whole, they were trying to achieve the end purpose of the law by
their own works. by what they were doing. They
were trying to achieve that end result, that end purpose, which
is to establish their own righteousness in their keeping and practice
of the law which was given by Moses. And the hope that they
had is that when they stood before God in the day of judgment, they
would hear God pronounce them justified. Oh, you're righteous. What you've done is worked righteousness.
Therefore, you are justified in your works. They wanted to
hear God pronounce them justified. And so, actually, the whole letter,
we're looking at Romans here, but when you look at Hebrews,
when you're looking at Hebrews and reading it, understand that
the purpose of Hebrews was to show how that Christ himself
achieved the end purpose, which the law could never work in the
people. But Christ accomplished it. He
achieved, he obtained, righteousness for the people. The law could
never do that, but Christ himself was able to do it, and so he
fulfilled the righteousness of the law in every aspect of it. And brethren, the moment that
the Spirit comes upon you, when the Spirit is pleased to give
you life in that moment when he reveals faith in his people
that person who believes christ possesses the righteousness which
god requires you are righteous before god in that very hour
that very moment when the Lord gives you faith. And so that
righteousness, which the law requires, is yours. You've obtained it in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's been given to you, because
He's made you righteous. You are righteous in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and you have eternal life. And I know this, because
in Hebrews 10, 14, we're told that by one offering. He offered up Himself. By that
one offering He hath perfected forever, then that are sanctified. He sanctified you by the Lord
Jesus Christ. So that's what I want to talk
to you about. this morning. I want to title this message,
The End of the Law. And when you think of the end
of the law, it's not just that the law has come to an end for
us as our righteousness, but rather Christ has obtained or
achieved and done that which the law couldn't work in us. By keeping the law, we could
never attain unto perfect righteousness. But Christ did. That's what we
mean when we speak of the end of the law. Christ achieved or
attained that for his people, but the law was unable to work
in us due to the weakness of this flesh. He attained perfect
righteousness for his people. So that's what we'll see this
morning. That's what I'm going to tell you, and that's what
I'm going to tell you right now. All right? Paul, as we see here
in Romans chapter 10, verse 1, it's similar to what we read
at the opening of 9. He says, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And so what Paul has been speaking
to has been very hard for a Jewish person in the flesh to hear.
It's very hard, because it's contrary to what they are in
the flesh. He had just showed how that their
unbelief, the fact that they didn't believe, couldn't be blamed
on God. God wasn't at fault for their
unbelief. But it was actually according
to what the Lord had revealed in the scriptures by their own
prophets. Their own prophets said that
they would stumble over that stumbling stone, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And so now Paul affirms for them
once again that man is never going to be able to save himself
He's not going to do it. He's not going to be able to
satisfy the demands of the law. It doesn't matter how hard he
works, how much effort he puts into it. It doesn't matter how
zealous he is or how sincere he is in his religion. And what he does is never going
to please God by his own works. And so that's contrary. to everything
that the Jews were about. All the zeal that they had, that
goes completely against what they were hoping in and what
they were trying to achieve in establishing righteousness by
the law of Moses. And yet, Paul here makes it known,
he wants to establish that he does have affection for the Jews,
his kinsmen in the flesh. And that reminds us of one thing
here, that it's not because of Paul that the Jews didn't believe.
They maybe didn't like him, but it wasn't because of Paul that
they didn't believe. Rather, it's consistently due
to their own sin and their own fault that they found fault with
the gospel that Paul preached. Simply put, they didn't believe
in the gospel of God. They didn't believe the good
news and the righteousness that God was declaring in the gospel.
And so Paul, he remained affectionate, he remained caring of these people
that he knew, some of them probably well, he knew them. And that's
despite the fact that they were opposed to him. They spoke ill of him, they persecuted
him, they reviled him and treated him shamefully. And they would
follow him from city to city trying to have him jailed, trying
to have him silenced, even put to death if they could, because
they hated everything that he was saying. They hated the gospel
that he preached. And so we see it even today that
man will look for faults when they're convicted, when they're
brought under the sound of the gospel, and they start to not
like what they're hearing. We didn't hear what's being said,
and they find fault with the gospel, they'll easily find some
fault with the person speaking, or with the brethren, or anything. Even a humble location like a
barn, they'll use that as an excuse to say, I don't want to
be there anymore. But they're convicted. Most of
the time, they're convicted. If it's a gospel church, they're
convicted because of the gospel that's being preached. There's
very few exceptions that brethren would separate from one another
for any other reason. Very few. And so here, we're
given an insight to the people that Paul has in mind when he
says in verse 2, Romans 10-2, he says, I bear them record that
they have a zeal of God. but not according to knowledge.
All right? Now, Paul knew this person, these
people, very well because this was him. This is exactly where
he was before the Lord delivered him out of darkness. I'll read
a couple of scriptures for you in Acts 26. Acts 26, verse 9. Paul tells us that, he says,
I barely thought within myself. In my own mind, in my own thoughts
within myself, I thought that I ought to do many things contrary
to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I thought that's what I should
do, that I should go out of my way, if need be, just to persecute
Christ and to belittle his people and to give them a hard time,
to give them trouble, put them in trouble. and do evil to them. He also said to the Galatians
1.14, he tells us that he profited in the Jews' religion above many
of his own equals, of his own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous of the traditions of my fathers. And so Paul knows
what it is to be zealous, and he knows what it is to labor
and religion trying to work the righteousness for yourself and
that with all the gusto and the zeal that he can muster up to
put towards it. It was very much given to his
his religion. But knowing that he never makes
an excuse for them and he never tries to fit them into well maybe
because of their zeal and because of their sincerity that maybe
they do know the truth. Maybe there is hope for them
in their current state where they are right now. Maybe that
is sufficient and that's enough. But he never does that. He's sorrowed that they're condemned,
but he makes no excuse or doesn't try to pretend that because they're
zealous or sincere that they must be saved. And that's good
for us to remember, even when thinking of our own experience. We all have an experience in
the past in religion. And if you believe Christ today,
and you believe that you're the Lord's today, Don't struggle
or try to marry that to your past. Don't feel like you have
to, because you witnessed things or felt things or experienced
things, even had prayers answered. In the mercy and grace of God,
even though you had a sense that God is, you don't have to marry
your past experiences under a lie, believing a lie, having a hope
in yourself, that therefore it must be so that you were saved
back then. We all had experiences and all went through various
things. I can't speak to those things. I can see the mercy and
grace of God to bring me through that darkness and not leave me
there. Did I understand certain things or have a knowledge that
God is? Yes, I did. I heard in the name of Christ.
I held all kinds of foolish ideas and foolish notions and trusted
in my own righteousness and had a hope in what I had done. But
the Lord destroyed that hope in me and showed me that my hope
was built on my works of righteousness, not on the Lord Jesus Christ
at all. So there's no need to marry it.
to what we used to believe. Now, the Jews, with their zeal
and their sincerity, it didn't blind Paul into thinking, well,
because I know where they come from, I know what they hold to,
and I think he even has the concision in mind. Those that profess Christ,
but still trusted in they're cutting of the flesh, still believing
that they had to follow the law of Moses and to do things such
as circumcision to show that they're righteous. I believe
he has them in mind when he's writing this, and there was no
They were always opposed to each other. Paul never was blinded
by their professional thoughts. And I think that's good for us
to remember even to this day. We meet people that seem very
sincere. And not that we're going out
of our way necessarily to make enemies, but we're honest with
them and declare the truth. Mr. Paul declared the truth. He wasn't altering the gospel.
For him to make an exception for the concision he would have
to change the gospel that he believed in. It would inevitably
come out in the things that he said to try and appease those
people, to try to help them just fit in and get along with everyone. So our sincerity and our zeal
doesn't equate to salvation. It doesn't mean that we're saved. And we can be very religious.
We could have our whole lives wrapped around religion, And
people do. And they think that that's their
salvation. That because they do what the
church has prescribed for them to do, and they show up when
the church says to show up, and they sing the hymns, and they
tithe what they're supposed to tithe or give to the church,
that they think that in doing those things, that's their salvation. Whether we're leading songs,
or filling in the pulpit, or being the pastor. or how we're
serving, it doesn't matter what we're doing, that's not salvation.
Our hope is always in the Lord Jesus Christ because we can do
a lot of religious things and still be utterly lost like the
Jews. All right, so, and then another
thing before I move on is just we can, you know, those that
possess the scriptures and read the scriptures and pray and even
hear the truth, the Lord is showing us that in His Word that the
fault is never with God. God's not incapable of saving
His people. The fault is with us. We do our
sin. And if you're laboring to know
the Lord and want to know Him, confess that you're a sinner.
Confess you're an independent and keep seeking Him. Keep seeking
Christ that we may know Him and never just settle, looking for
a confidence, well I guess because I'm doing these things, I guess
that is salvation in and of itself. We always need the grace of our
God continually. Alright now, the next verse here,
verse 3, we see the rejection of the Jews, that it was from
their ignorance of what God's righteousness is. Look at verse
3. Paul says, they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. If they had understood God's
righteousness, then like Paul, they would have ceased from their
labors in the law, trying to work the righteousness in the
law. And so Paul, being made faithful
by the Lord, in being faithful. He went about declaring as faithfully
as he possibly could, as honestly and sincerely as he could, but
continued in it. He was faithful in declaring
the gospel. And yet, declaring it, the Jews
still rejected the salvation that God had provided in His
Son Jesus Christ. When they rejected the Gospel
of Paul, they rejected the salvation of God in His Son Jesus Christ. And it's because they had no
understanding of the truth. And our Lord in Matthew said
something very sobering to this point. He said in Matthew 6.23, He said, If thine eye be evil,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. And
that's really a good description of the light that we naturally
have. It's just darkness. And people
have a confidence and a hope in that light, which is really
just darkness. And he says, your darkness is
great. You're trusting in what you naturally
think about God, what you believe to be salvation. And so this
righteousness of God in his son Jesus Christ is what we're sent
to preach and to declare, not just to lay out the law, not
just to have all these applications that you can start doing and
checking off to feel good about yourself now, but to continually
declare that Christ is himself, our life, and the very righteousness
of his people, because it's so easy for us in this flesh to
go right back to dead religion. And to think that we're pleasing
God well in our steps and in our walks and in what we're doing,
and yet our eye is no longer singular. Actually, he was talking
about in that passage about having a single eye upon Christ, the
salvation of God, and not trying to look in two different directions,
trusting in the things of the flesh, which was mannerly in
the context there. He says, I'm not ashamed. I'm
not ashamed to stand here and tell you week after week, time
after time, who our righteousness is and the hope of every believer.
It's Christ. And look there in Romans 1, with
me, Romans 1, 16 and 17. He tells us, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. Therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, anon, from faith to faith." Righteousness of God,
in other words, from His faithfulness, His faithfulness to work righteousness. If we couldn't work in the law,
He reveals that in His people by the Spirit, giving you life,
revealing that fruit of faith in you to look to the righteousness
of God, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as it's written,
the just shall live by faith. In other words, faith has to
be a work of the Spirit. It has to be a gift of God, otherwise
we'd have no life. We wouldn't believe we would
continue to trust in our own fleshly works. And so this gospel
is in itself contrary to man's idea of righteousness. It's contrary
to man's works and what he thinks pleases God and what he must
do to be accepted with God. And yet, the Lord tells us that
He's revealing this Gospel, He's revealing this salvation, He's
revealing righteousness in His Gospel, in this Word which we
preach, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only reason why
men aren't believing it, men and women aren't submitting to
it, is because they don't believe. They have no light in them. They're
in darkness. They're hoping and trusting in
their own works. They believe that, well, the
man who must add something to his own righteousness, he's ignorant
of the corruption that's in his heart. If you think that you
can add some righteousness to what Christ has done, there's
a misunderstanding. There's a blindness to what we
are in our heart, what we are in our nature. And there's an
ignorance of the righteousness of God, of the holiness of God,
right? If we, as men and women, can
satisfy the perfection of God by something we do, then we don't
have a proper understanding of the holiness of God. And we're ignorant of the righteousness
which the law requires of us and demands of us. And we see
a good picture of us in Luke. Over in Luke 18, we see a good
picture of what we are. It's a good view of what we are
in the flesh. And it's the Pharisee who's praying
right alongside a publican. There's a Pharisee there, a religious
man, standing up in the church, and he's praying to God. We're
told the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, and he says,
God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. And he goes on
to say, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, what was he doing? The problem
there with the Pharisee And why it's a picture of us is that
he's ascribing the goodness of God based on the goodness that
he sees in himself. And he thinks, well, because
I'm good, and I'm not an extortioner, and I'm not an adulterer, and
I'm not unjust, well, therefore, God is not an extortioner, and
he's not an adulterer, and he's not unjust. And this is what
he would have me to do. Because that's what he was capable,
able, in himself, in his flesh, to do. And so that was the extent
of his righteousness and what his hope was. And while those
things aren't bad, we ought not to be adulterers and extortioners
and and unjust towards people, but to think that because I do
those things, that's the goodness of God right there. Because I'm
meeting it, therefore that's the goodness of God, and we're
blind to all of our other faults and wickedness. We might be lazy
and steal and do other things, and yet because we do those things,
we think God doesn't care about that. That's the natural. That's
where we are. in ourselves. And so we're very
capable of navigating religion in that way, thinking we're righteous
now and accepted with God. And doing that, we won't see
our need of Christ. We won't see the need of His
perfection. Now that brings us to the fourth
verse, the last verse in our text. And so we see here that
what the Jews simply were not submitting themselves to was
Christ, the righteousness of God. Now, here's how it's worded
in Romans 10.4. for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe. Well, first of all, what is the
end of the law? What does he mean by the end
of the law? Well, in Romans 7.10, Paul speaks
of the commandment which was ordained unto life, the commandment
which was ordained unto life. In other words, if man was perfectly
holy and kept the law of God, he would have life before God.
If he was perfectly holy, which we know The biggest problem is
that we're sinners and can't keep it. But even if somehow
we could do pretty good at it, we always have the very seed
of sin in us from Adam's seed. We're born into sin. We're conceived
of sin and have no hope of righteousness. But the reality is, we're sinners.
We fall short of the glory of God continually. And so the end
of the law was life. If you keep the law perfectly,
you have life. But what's the one thing that
the law can never do for us in our flesh? What is the one thing
the law cannot do? It can never justify us. It'll
never say, justify. Well done for what we do in the
flesh. It can never say that to us.
for our works and what we do and our practices in there. And so the Word of God tells
us, Paul tells us, all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. Every one of us falls short of God's glory. Yet, for this
very cause, God sent His own Son into the world, in the flesh,
and God spared Him not for his people. Romans 8, look there
with me, Romans 8, 3. For what the law could not do, the
law couldn't achieve or attain in us, in our flesh, what the
law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. Our flesh
can't keep it. God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh, Here's why. That the righteousness of the
law that the end purpose of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. See that? So that Christ attained unto
the end purpose of the law for his people, because we, by the
law, couldn't attain unto life. We couldn't attain unto righteousness. So Christ came and did it. He
did it for his people. All right, that's really, that's
the most important thing for you to see is what Christ attained,
what He attained for His people, their very righteousness, to
stand before God spotless, holy, unblamable before the throne
of God. So when Christ Himself came,
we're told, I'll read Daniel 9.24, it was to finish the transgression. which means he was bringing an
end to the very sin of the people when they would reject him, when
they would crucify him. It was to bring that about, right? Because, as we're told, man meant
it for evil, right? When they crucified the Son of
God, it was for evil. They, by wicked hands, crucified
Christ, but God meant it for good. He determined, by his foreknowledge
and counsel, that through that sacrifice of his son, will lay
down his life to obtain eternal redemption for his people, which
Daniel says, to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation
for iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness. So we see there that pinnacle
of history, the richest point in history, when Christ was crucified,
man crucified him with wicked intent in his heart because he
wanted to work righteousness. And yet in that transgression,
Christ obtained eternal redemption for the people. He obtained the
righteousness that his people could never attain unto in the
law. Alright, so our life now is found in Christ who is our
life. There's no life by our works.
In John 10.10 our Lord said, I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. So that we
read in Colossians 3.4, when Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall we also appear with Him a glory. So what Christ did, what He did
there on the cross, when He laid down His life, He gave up the
ghost. He said, well, he did this while
bearing our sins in his own body to put them away, to make sacrifice
for the sins of the people, to deliver us from the penalty that
we deserve because of our sins. He declared that on that cross,
John 19, 30, it is finished. It is finished. That's the same word that we're
looking at that Christ is the end of the law. It's brought
to an end. It's completed. It's perfected.
It's accomplished what it came to do. Now that same root, I'm
just going to show you a few more things, that same root in
Hebrews 6.1, that same root word is used in Hebrews 6.1 and we're
told there, leaving the principles, therefore, knowing what Christ
came to do, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection. Unto perfection. And remember,
he's writing to Jews who are under persecution and wondering,
why am I going through this? Why do I keep doing this? What's
the point? If I can turn back to the law
for righteousness, if I can satisfy God and be accepted among my
own countrymen, why should I stay in Christ anymore? And so Paul's
saying to them, don't leave Christ, who is the perfection of the
world. Don't go back now to the rudiments
that you had there in pipes and in shadows and in pictures under
the law. Why would you leave the fullness
and the clarity that we have now in the gospel, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and go back to those early principles? When
you were sacrificing and baptizing pots and pans and couches and
stuff like that, why would you go back to those things, leaving
Christ, when you have now the perfection that we could never
attain at all? Because he himself attained unto
it. And so instead, he says, let
us go on unto perfection. Let us continue in Christ who
attained the perfection that the law, that we can never attain
unto under the law in trying to work that righteousness for
ourselves. And to help you see that, look
at with me two more scriptures in Hebrews. Go to Hebrews 7. He says in verse 11, he says,
Hebrews 7, 11, if therefore perfection, again that same word there, same
word, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood,
or under it the people receive the law, what further need was
there that another priest should rise up to the order of Melchizedek
and not be called after the order of Aaron? All right, look down
at verse 19. Hebrews 7 19 for the law made
nothing perfect but bringing but the bringing in of a better
hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God we draw nigh near
to God in his son Jesus Christ You're never going to be righteous
and be able to come near to the holiness and righteous God by
your works in the law. But through Christ, who perfected
his people, who accomplished that work for his people and
in his people, that's how we draw near unto the Lord, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, men like the Jews, they're
ignorant of God's righteousness, of his perfection. Therefore,
they're going about to establish their own righteousness by an
obedience to the law, at least to the point they can see it
and be satisfied with themselves, right? To the point they can
get it just good enough to where they know, all right, I've done
it. I've brought God low enough now where I can meet it and feel
good about myself. But now that Christ has come,
now that has come, even us today who don't consider ourselves
Pharisees, now that Christ has come, stop looking to the law
for your righteousness. Stop looking to your practices
in church and your practices in the life before that, the
hope of righteousness. By all means, circle it. By all
means, sacrifice your own selves to see this Gospel go forward
and to deliver His people from the darkness and inner sin. for the sake of the elect. I
want to see the elect saved. I don't want to be an offense
or be a stalling block. But that's not my hope. My hope
is Christ. And he bears those fruits of
righteousness in me. And I don't want to be complacent
or careless with my life. But I'm looking to him to bear
those fruits of righteousness in me and to not go back into
into foolishness. In fact, a lot of times, well,
you should even just avoid sin just because when we sin, how
often do we stumble over that and begin to go right back to
religion to try and satisfy a screaming conscience, right? So keep looking
to Christ. Believe Him. Trust Him. This
isn't your inheritance. He's our inheritance. He's our
hope and where we're pressing on to. All right, so let us look
to Christ because the law now is abolished. It never could
work righteousness. It's never going to work righteousness
in you. Look to Christ. That's our only
hope because you may strive and try all you can under the law
to satisfy your screaming conscience. It'll never quiet up. It'll never
be sufficient to stand before God. Christ and Christ alone
is the peacemaker between God and men. But Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe. He's our perfection. He's made
us perfect in himself. John 3.36, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. No matter how zealous and sincere
we are. So understand, our Savior, our
God, and our Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ accomplished redemption. He reconciled us to the Father.
In Him we stand complete. Isaiah 45, 24 tells us, Surely
shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Jeremiah 23 says, in his days
Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. He is the end of the law. He
didn't just bring it to an end, but rather he satisfied it fully
and made you that hope in him. Have no hope in your worse. made
you righteous and accepted with God, and delivered you to eternal
life, gave you eternal life, and shall bring you to life with
Himself. And I know this because we are
told by one author, we have to perfect it forever, then that
of sin. So trust and believe Him, God's
not playing around. He's believing. We can't do it
of our own works. Christ alone is our righteousness. And I pray that He'd comfort
you and bless your heart to see that and to rest in that. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank You. Lord, I pray that You would clear
out all the excess of my own words Lord, the things that clutter
it, but I pray that you would bless this to the hearts of your
people, that you would show us that Christ has satisfied you
perfectly, has satisfied your law perfectly and made us righteous. Lord, let us ever look to Him
and rest in Him and find our hope, our rest, our peace in
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Lord, bless your people. You
know the needs that we have. Lord, you know the pain that
we have in thinking of our family, those that we love, who we see
suffering. And Lord, the hardships that
we have from that and providing for our family and loving them
and being there for them, with them. Lord, we think of Johnny
and Scott. Lord, that You would bless them
richly. That You would help them and
be with Don. Show him grace and mercy. And
Lord, that You would comfort their hearts. Help them to be
a help to him as much as possible. Lord, we thank You for those
that are hearing Your Word that aren't yet with us. Lord, that
You would bless them and call them out from darkness and just
being alone, Lord, and restore them to fellowship with Your
people. And Lord, we pray concerning
a building, we're so thankful, Lord, just for this place and
for the wisdom and the ability and talent You gave to Your people
and their willingness to help that we can meet here in greater
comfort. And Lord, we pray that you would
give us wisdom in just being able to minister rightly to one
another. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. We're going to stand and sing
488, my Redeemer. 488. Oh, sing of my Redeemer with
His wondrous love to me. On the cruel cross He suffered,
from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh sing. With His blood, He purchased
me. On the cross, He sealed my heart
in. Paid the debt and made me free. ? I will tell the wondrous story
? ? How my lost is made to say ? ? In his boundless love and
mercy ? ? He the ransom freely gave ? ? Sing, oh sing of my
Redeemer ? He purchased me. On the cross He sealed my pardon,
paid the debt, and made me free. I will praise my dear Redeemer,
His triumph How the victory he giveth over
sin and death and hell. Sing, O sing of my Redeemer,
with His blood He purchased me. He sealed my pardon, made the
dead, and made me free. I will sing of my Redeemer and
His saving grace. Oh He filled my garden, paid the
debt and made me free. Thank you. I'm just gonna say,
next week, pray for Brother Scott because he'll be bringing the
message on the 26th. So I'll be in Florida, returning,
make a home. So next Sunday, Scott will be
bringing the message, so pray for him. And then again, you're
all welcome. Today at four sometime show up
if you can't stay long. That's fine, or if you come a
little later, but that's fine The weather's nice. We might
just have a little Fire in the fire pit too, so it's not too
hot. Let's see how that goes um And
then pray, because I think maybe in August, we should open up
and go back to two services. So think about the logistics
of what that means. I was going to ask you. Yeah. It's better in that 30?
Exactly. Exactly. So. Yeah, I think we'll
do that. Let's think about that. And then
plus also gives the mothers and the fathers, it gives you a chance
to make sure that you can listen without. What's that? Darwin's not coming. Yeah, I
told him to hold off because we didn't have a place. So I
told him to hold off. But yeah, as soon as we get a
place or at some point, I'm sure, I know he'd love to come up.
And he'd be very thankful to bring a message to us all. So we will have him up. No, I called him about when I
thought we were going to get that place, that we could have
the pulpit. He's going to donate his old
pulpit to us. So that's still on the table,
but I'll bring him up when we can. Yeah, I know this. This Wednesday he would have
this Wednesday. He'll be going to Larry Chris's.
Silicon. Yeah, Alabama stuff. Alright
brother, thanks for your time.