Turn with me, if you would now,
to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew five, I was talking to a brother about
something this week, something glorious, um, concerning the
gospel and concerning Christ, our savior. And while we were
talking about it, I thought I want to bring a message on that Sunday.
And that happens quite often. I'll, you know, somebody will
say something and it makes me want to go search the scriptures
for it. And I feel led to bring a message
on it. And so that's what happened. We got off of that phone call
and I was thinking, I would love to bring a message on. That's
just glorious. And I had just been studying
for the Bible study. And I read the next verse and
I said, well, there it is. That's exactly what that verse
is talking about. So let's read four verses right
here. And as we read this, ask the
Lord to open your eyes, ears, and heart to this. Ask the Lord
to give you a rest. in Christ because of what he
said right here. Verse 17, Matthew 5, verse 17,
our Lord said, think not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise
pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of
heaven. Now here is the truth of what
he just said. He said, I did not come to destroy
the law. You know, you hear about law
and grace, right? Well, that's law and this is
grace. He said, I did not come to destroy
the law. He said, not one dot of the I
or one cross of the T will be excused from the law. Every speck of it must be fulfilled. And you think about, we have
a law. We have laws in these lands. They concern us. There's
laws on various things, but there's a speed limit posted out there
concerning me. That speed limit is talking to
me, talking to you. It says, yes, this applies to
you. Well, the Lord said every speck
of the law concerning you must be fulfilled in order to enter
into the kingdom of heaven. He said, whoever breaks the holy
law of God, I mean one law, Whoever sins against the holy commandments
of God is going to be dealt with. And he said, your righteousness,
your perfection, your goodness, and your deeds and all of your
worthiness. He said it had better exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes were the ones who
transcribed copies of the law because they would deteriorate
and so they were constantly, they were like before printing
presses, transcribing. They were in the Bible business.
And the Pharisees were the ones who saw themselves to be righteous
before other men and before God. And he said, your righteousness
had better exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees,
or you will not go into heaven. Because they're not going into
heaven, not on their own righteousness. Now, that's pretty strict, isn't
it? But do you know that's so? That's
God saying that. And what He said right there
is absolutely so. How perfect does a person have
to be to enter into heaven? As perfect as God Himself. You think about that. Every soul
there is as perfect as God Himself. That's an amazing, that's an
awesome thought. We can't just be better than
we used to be. That's not who heaven is filled
with, those who are better than they used to be. Think about
this, we must be perfect. That does not mean perfect from
this moment on. That means perfect in the past
too, perfect up to this moment. We must be perfect. We must be
perfect. We must be spotless. The law says that the wages of
sin is death. And if sin has ever been committed
in a person's life, it's death for that person. That's what
the law says. The law says, if you do this, you'll live. If
you do that, you'll die. And you will. So here's the absolute truth.
God is holding a record of everything that we're doing. Everything
we're doing. God is keeping a record of everything
that we are doing. Every word we say, every thought
we think, everything we do, God is literally putting it on record. And that's terrible. That's just
terrible. When the judgment comes, every
eye is going to be dotted. Every T is going to be crossed
in sentencing to us what the law says we deserve. Go before
a judge. What's the sentence? Well, what
does the law say? There you go. Now, I'll go ahead
and tell us that, you know, if we just heard the
Bible study, we can already breathe a little sigh of relief. but
just based on the facts at hand right now. What we are and what
we deserve is not good. It is not good. Now, let's let the Word of God
tell us what we are and what we deserve based on our flesh,
based on everything we are in the flesh. Turn with me if you
would to Romans chapter 7. Romans 7. Romans 7. This is the Apostle Paul describing
himself. And I'll go ahead and confess
to you that he is describing me. And really every person here
ought to confess to himself or herself that he's describing
you because this is all men and women by nature in the flesh
before God. Verse one, Romans seven, verse
one, he said, no, ye not brethren, For I speak to them that know
the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as
he liveth. And he illustrates that by saying
for the woman, which hath in husband is bound by the law to
her husband. So long as he liveth and same
thing goes for a man, a man is bound to his wife by the law.
As long as she lives. But if the husband be dead, she's
loosed from the law of her husband. So then if while her husband
liveth, she'd be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she
be married to another man. The law strikes fear into people,
doesn't it? The law makes you go, ugh. That's just one. You want to
keep reading laws? You want to go to other things
that we've broken? You know, a person never gets
married, or a person gets married and gets divorced, or a person
who knows what. You know what our Lord said in
Matthew 5? We're about to get to it. If you look on another
woman, you've committed adultery. Every person here falls into
every single category in the law. Verse 7 right here, he said,
what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Because every
time we hear it, we go, oh, is the law bad? He said, God forbid,
no, I had not known sin but by the law. I had not known lust
except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. I would have
never known that unless the law had told me that. And that's just so, it's not
until the law comes to us that we're convicted of our sin. We
don't realize what we are until the law That bondage of the law
comes to us. It's the law that reveals to
all of us, I'm a sinner before God. I'm a sinner before God. Well, can't I sweep that under
the rug? Nope, I'm a sinner before God. Verse 12, wherefore the law is
holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that
which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that
it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good,
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Now
he gets to the heart of it right here, verse 14. He said, for
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. I don't know. And can't we all enter into this?
I just don't know. He said in verse 15, for what
I would, what I wish I would be and what I wish I would do.
This is, you know, Paul is a saved man here. And this is the new
man of Christ in him speaking. That old man doesn't want to
do right. That old man loves darkness and sin, but that new
man, there's a war going on, he's about to say. And that new
man is saying, I want to be like Christ. But he said in verse 15, what
I would that do I not, but what I hate, that's what I do. If
then I do that, which I would not, I consent unto the law that
it's good. What he's saying is I look at
me and then I look at the law and this is what I say. I'm wicked
and that's good. Verse 17. Now, then it is no
more. I that do it, but sin that's dwelling in me. That's what the
new man can say. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature and he sinneth not. but that old flesh and that
old man is still there. Verse 18, for I know that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.
I just cannot stop sinning. And this is the apostle Paul
saying this. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil, which I would not,
that's what I do. Verse 20. Now, if I do that,
I would not, it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find then a law that when I would do good, evil is
present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that
I am." He said, the law has clearly revealed to me that I am a sinner
against it. And being a sinner against it,
I see the punishment that I am owed, and I see the death that
I deserve. I see it. But this is what he
said in verse 24. He said, who shall deliver me
from the body of this death? That's the conclusion he came
to. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And I'll tell you, the answer
to that question is the gospel. And it's the declaration that
our Lord made in Matthew 5. The Lord was declaring the gospel
to His people. Now go with me back to Matthew
5 and listen to this glorious announcement. Verse 17. He said, think not that I am
come to destroy the law. or the prophets, I am not come
to destroy, but to fulfill. That just made my heart rise
up a couple of inches. I didn't come to destroy it.
I came to fulfill it. Do we realize what that means?
Honestly. This is what our Lord was saying,
and this is the heart of the message. This is the glory of
the gospel for God's chosen people. Everything that God requires, God provides. Everything in this law, this
is so amazing to me because I used to hear about election and particular
redemption and all these things and think, well, how do God's
people get away with it? If we all come from the same
lump and we're all sinners, why do they have to pay for their
sins? And we don't. We do. Why do they have to suffer for
their sins and we don't have to suffer for our sins? Oh, but
we do. That law, everything that that
law requires from us must be met. Not one dot of the I, cross
of the T, but here's the glory of the gospel.
For God's people, everything that God has required
of them, God has provided for them. God has a particular people that
He has chosen to show mercy to. And I was going to run us off
on a tangent to show election. Suffice it to say, in Matthew
5, it says He saw the multitude and He departed up away from
them and His disciples came to them and He said this to them. God has a particular people God
has a chosen people that he chose to not leave alone and not let
them continue to rebel against him. He chose a people to say,
stop. People who are just running as
hard as they can into hell. He chose a people to go, nope,
you're not going to do it. And for His chosen people, He's
chosen to show mercy to those people, and He's chosen to show
grace to those people, and He has done it in this way. Everything
that He has required of them, He has provided for them. That is the beauty and the glory
of the gospel. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
5. First Thessalonians chapter 5,
verse 24, you want to read a wonderful verse, here it is. First Thessalonians
5 verse 24, it says, faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. That's glorious. That is glorious.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. All of mankind was condemned
in sin by the holy law of God, but God chose a people to save.
And even though they were condemned by the law, just like everybody
else, Just like everybody else, God provided a remedy for them
and he provided a fulfillment for them. In love and in grace
and in mercy, God provided to them everything he required of
them. God's people cannot satisfy the
holy law of God. Start turning the pages. Broken,
broken, broken, broken. Can't do it, cannot do it, cannot
do it. So Christ said, I'll go do it
for them. Why was he here 33 and a half
years? Why didn't he just come one day? Just die, go home? Why was he here that long? What
was he doing? He was living for His people.
He was loving for His people. He was being kind for His people. He went about doing good. He was helping. He was healing. Christ said, I'll go do it. Everything,
I'll take care of it. Every penalty, Every punishment,
every perfection, he said, I'll do it for him. Faithful is he
that calleth you who also will do it. Now here's the glory of
the gospel. I'm going to just keep repeating
it. I'm going to say it over and over again. Everything that
God has required, if we want to get our minds around it and
our hearts around it, what is it? What is the gospel? Here
it is. Here's the great news. Everything that God has required
of His people, Christ has provided. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30, it says, but of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Made unto us. He's made unto
us. What that means is everything
we need to know, He knows it for us. And everything that we need to
do, He has done it for us. And everything that we need to
be, He is that for us. And everything
that we need to pay, He has paid it for us. He paid it all. All the debt we owed, sin had
left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Now,
when it comes to what I need to know about God and about religion
and salvation, everything, Christ is the only answer there is. Solomon said, of the making of
many books, there's no end, and much study is a weariness of
the flesh. He said, here's the conclusion
of the whole matter, fear God. Our Heavenly Father said, worship
Christ, hear Him. You want to get to the heart
of it? Paul told Timothy, he said, men
are ever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the
truth. Why? They're missing Christ. They're
missing Christ. All the wisdom a person needs
to know. Paul said, I studied under Gamaliel. And he said,
I learned all about the Jews religion. I learned all about
the doctrine. I learned all about the theology.
He said, now I throw it all away. I count it all done that I might
know him. I need to know Christ. He's my
knowledge. He's my wisdom. He is that for
us. When it comes to righteousness
and sanctification, which is perfection, That's what both
of those things are. Perfect holiness. People talk
about holiness and righteousness and sanctification. It's perfection
in deed and in being. Righteousness is perfection without
in deeds. Sanctification is perfection
within, in being. It's purity without purity within. And when it comes to all of our
perfection without and within, when we read in this holy book
what the law says we must do and be, and fear overtakes us because
we know we've sinned against it. We have an understanding
of our sin against it, and we realize that in our wicked flesh,
we're never going to be able to do what this says we need
to do. And we're never going to be what
this says we need to be. The glory and the beauty of the
gospel cries, Christ has done that for you, and Christ is that
for you. He is our righteousness before
God. And He is our spotless sanctification
before God. He is our perfection. He is our
purity. I've told you this so many times,
but I'm going to tell you again. Years ago, many years ago, I
was preaching for a dear group of believers in another location,
and they were brought up on an understanding of Calvinism, but
they'd never seen Christ. And they had lived a life of
hearing the bondage of the law, the bondage of the law. Bondage
of the law. How can you know if you're one
of His own? Well, do you see holiness in
your body? Do you see perfection in your being? That's bondage. And I was talking to one young
man about they had started seeing these things and the Lord had
crossed their paths with the truth of the Word. And we were
talking about Christ being our sanctification, Christ being
our holiness, Christ being all the purity that we need before
God. When God looks for purity in
me, the only place He looks is in His Son. Let me look at Gabe
Stoniker's purity. Well, there Christ is, all right? And He's everything. Just look
to Him, turn to Him. That young man was listening
to that and he said, Isn't that so relaxing? I said it is, brother. Yes, it
is. Oh, that is so relaxing. You
mean I can quit trying to be what I'll never be? You mean
just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for
me, and that thou bid'st me come to thee? Faithful are you who
has called me, who also will do it? O Lamb of God, I come. So relaxing. It's what every
page in this book says. Just read Ephesians 1. Read Philippians
2. Read Galatians 3. Stand fast
in the liberty wherein Christ has set you free. Every book, every chapter, every
verse in this Bible All of it speaks of Him being the perfect,
spotless substitute for His people. And I was going to have you turn
to Romans 10, but I'm not going to. I've been running too long
lately, so I'm going to cut it off. But it says, the Apostle
Paul said, My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. I want men and women to be saved
so badly. And he's the one who said over
and over and over again, God chosen elect, they're all elect
before the foundation of the world. He said, but here's where
my heart is breaking for people. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. They've never heard about God's
righteousness. And they're going about to establish
their own righteousness, not submitting themselves to the
righteousness of Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. When you want to know, have we
done it all? Have we ticked every box? Here's all that has to happen.
Put Christ, period, done. He's the end of the law for righteousness. All a person needs. He's our
perfection. When the law says, you had better do this, don't look to yourself to do
it. Look to Christ to do it. He's our righteousness. When
the law says, you had better be this, don't look to yourself
to be it. Look to Christ to be it for you. He's our sanctification. Our
Lord said, you come unto me. All ye that are labored over
your sin and heavy laden because of your sin, and I will give
you rest. I'll give you rest. You come to me and you can stop
trying to perform your own imperfect works of the law, imperfect works
of the law. And you can rest in my perfect
works of the law. So Christ is our wisdom, Christ
is our righteousness, Christ is our sanctification, and Christ
is our redemption. Christ is our blood sacrifice
payment to God for all the sin that we committed against Him.
He is that redemption for us. And I was gonna go to Genesis
22, but we're not. Our brother read it for us just
a moment ago. God told Abraham, you take your
son, your only son up to Mount Moriah and you slay him. That
was the command of the law. So Abraham did it. And as he's
taken Isaac, he told his men, you stay here. And as they're
going up, Isaac said, father, I see the wood and I see the
fire, but where's the lamb? And this is what he said. He
said, son, here's the gospel. He said, God will provide himself
a lamb for a sacrifice. And that means two things. It
means God will take care of it. God will provide the lamb. And
it means God will provide himself to be the lamb. And when they
got up there, the law had Isaac right there on the altar and
the knife was about to go in and God said, Abraham, Abraham,
I've provided a ram. And I don't believe there was
a moment in time for Isaac to get off that altar. I believe
Abraham laid hold of that ram and threw him on top of his son
and plunged that knife in there and the blood ran all over Isaac
and all over that altar. And Abraham said, I'm going to
call the name of this place Jehovah-Jireh. And here's the reason why. The
Lord will provide. The Lord will provide to God
be the glory for all the great things that he's done. Everything
he has required of us, he's provided. All right, Brother Eddie, you
come.