I did choose thee. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. In Romans chapter 10, verse 4,
the Apostle Paul makes this remarkable statement. For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. What a statement. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. Now, what does Paul mean by the
law? He's referring to the law God
gave Israel. It had the Ten Commandments.
It had all the priesthood and the sacrifices and all the ceremonies. It's all called God's law. But I want to Try to keep us
thinking about just the Ten Commandments. I mean, you can't separate the
law of God, I realize that, but let's just think of the Ten Commandments,
the thou shalts and the thou shalt nots. Christ is the end
of the law, the loving God with all your heart and your neighbor
as yourself, having no other gods before God, never taking
his name in vain, the commandment against idolatry, the commandment
regarding the Sabbath, not killing, not committing adultery, not
stealing, honoring your father and mother, not telling a lie,
not coveting, the Ten Commandments, Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And you know
what that means? That means if you're someone
who believes, Christ is the end of the law of righteousness for
you. That means you have nothing less than the very righteousness
of Christ. You have a righteousness that
cannot be improved and that cannot be diminished. It's not only
counted to you, it's yours. It's what the Bible calls justification. Oh, how I love justification. Remember that Publican in the
temple crying and beating on his breast and saying God be
merciful to me the sinner The Lord Jesus tells us that he went
down to his house justified Justified means you're not guilty. You
don't have anything to feel guilty about Somebody once says, justification
is just as if I never sinned. No, it's better than that. If
I'm justified, I never sinned. I have a perfect righteousness
before God. Even the righteousness of Christ.
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He's the purpose
of the law. The law was given, not for us
to keep, but to expose our sinfulness. All it does is condemn. All it
does is show what is wrong with us. God never intended for us
to be saved by the law. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. Now listen to me real carefully.
Anyone who thinks they've kept even one commandment one time
is completely ignorant of the law of God. You've brought it
down to human standards. You've lowered it down. And if
you think you can keep one commandment, what you've done is lower it
to where you can deal with it. And what an unholy, unrighteous
thing to do. Oh, let me repeat. If you think you've kept one
commandment even one time, you're completely ignorant of what God's
law really says. Christ is the purpose of the
law. It's to bring us to Christ. Christ
is the fulfillment of the law. There is one who did perfectly
fulfill God's holy law, and that's Christ. He said, think not that
I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came not
to destroy, but to fulfill. And Christ is the termination
of the law. Paul said, after that faith has
come, you are no longer under a schoolmaster. If you be led
of the Spirit, you're not under law, Paul said to the Galatians.
Romans 6.14 says, Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're
not under the law, but under grace. You see, if you're under
law, you're not under grace. It's really that simple. Moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, Paul said. What
the law does is expose sin. But if you're in Christ, you're
no longer under the law, you're dead to the law. It's been satisfied
by Christ. It has nothing to say to you,
you're dead to sin if you're in Christ. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. For who? Now, he's not the end
of the law for righteousness for everybody. There is a place
called hell, and there are men and women in hell even now. And
Christ was not the end of the law for righteousness to them.
Oh, and I don't want anybody listening to me to go to hell.
I want you to go to heaven. I want you to be with Christ.
But you and I will not be in heaven apart from understanding
how Christ is my righteousness before God, how Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. Now, He's not the end of the
law for righteousness for everybody. Who is He the end of the law
for righteousness for? Now, if I said the elect, I would
be telling the truth. Christ Jesus is the end of the
law of righteousness for the elect, those God the Father chose
before time began to be saved. If I said Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to those for whom Christ died, I
would be correct. Christ died for these people.
He did not die for all men without exception. If he did, all men
without exception would be saved. And why make an issue of this? I want you to understand, I want
to understand that if Christ died for me, I must be saved. That's my hope. My only hope
of being saved is that Christ died for me. Now, if you tell
me that he died for somebody and they wind up in hell anyway,
you've taken away the only hope I have. Oh, we believe in a successful
Savior. Whoever He died for must be saved. So if I said Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness for those for whom Christ died,
I'd be telling the truth. And if I said Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to those who have been born again,
I'd be telling the truth. Only those who have been born
of the spirit, regenerated, given a new heart to believe Christ,
to look to Christ, to rest in Christ. These are the people
that are born of God that Christ is the end of the law of righteousness
for. Those who have been born from above. Now, while I said
those things, and they're all true, it's not what the scripture
says in this verse. And this is what I want us to
emphasize. Look what it says. It says, Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He is the end of the law for
righteousness, and what a blessed thing that is, to be justified,
to stand before God without guilt, to have perfect righteousness
before God. What a blessing that is. Well,
who is this blessing for? Everyone that believeth. No exceptions to this rule. He
is the end of the law of righteousness for everyone that believeth. The word believeth, let me give
you a grade school grammar lesson. You probably remember this from
grade school. You learned about participles. A participle is
a word that acts both as an adjective and a verb. It's what you are
and it's what you do. It's a description of what you
are and it's what you actually do. What is a believer? He's
somebody who believes, that's what he does. And he's called
a believer, that's a description of him, that's who he is. This
word, believeth, describes what a Christian really is. He is
a believer. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now I have to
ask this question, believes what? believes what? Now, the reason
I ask that question is because according to the scriptures,
there are people who have a kind of faith, but it's not saving
faith. You remember when James said,
you believe there's one God, you do well. The devils believe
and tremble. Let me read a couple of passages
of scripture to you from the book of John. In John chapter
2, we read in verse 23, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover,
in the feast day, many believed in his name. When they saw the
miracles which he did, but Jesus did not commit himself unto them,
because he knew all men, and he needed not that any should
testify of man, for he knew what was in man. They had a type of
faith, but it wasn't saving faith. In John chapter 12, we read even
stronger language, verse 42, nevertheless, among the chief
rulers, also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God. Now, these men had a type of
faith, but it was not saving faith. Now, the faith that saves
the soul, please listen carefully. The faith that saves the soul
has wholly to do with Christ Himself, nothing else. It's believing Him. Believing is not believing that
you're saved. Believing is not believing you're
one of the elect. Believing is not believing that
Jesus Christ died for you. You see, you're in all of those
equations. Believing is not believing that
you are born again. You'll notice in all those examples,
we begin with something about us. I believe I'm saved. I believe
I'm one of the elect. I believe Christ died for me,
the emphasis being on me. You can believe all those things
and still be lost. You can believe you're saved
and not be. You can believe you're one of the elect and not be.
You can believe Christ died for you and maybe He didn't. You
can believe you're born again and not be born again. But you
cannot believe Him and not be saved. Faith has wholly to do
with Christ Himself. Now let me illustrate this. From
Acts chapter 8, when the Ethiopian eunuch stopped Philip and said,
see, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized? I want to know. Is there a reason
why I shouldn't be baptized? Do I need to know more? Do I
need to do more? Does my life need to get better?
Tell me, what hinders me from being baptized? Give me a reason
why I shouldn't be baptized. And Philip answered, if you believe
with all your heart, you may. And the eunuch answered, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the son of God. He didn't say, I believe
I'm saved. He didn't say, I believe Christ
died for me. His faith was wholly to do with
who Christ was. He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. Second Timothy 1.12, Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. Not what I believe. I know what
I believe. I've heard people say that so
many times. Well, Paul said, I know whom I have believed.
And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
committed to him against that day. I've committed the entire
salvation of my soul to him. If he doesn't do it all, I won't
be saved because all my eggs are in this one basket that he
did everything and I'm relying on him. In John chapter 6, we
read of some people leading Christ. The Lord said in verse 64, But
there are some of you that believe not, for Jesus knew from the
beginning who they were that believed not, and who should
betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man
can come to me, except it were given him of my Father. You and
I can't even come to Christ unless God causes us to, and enables
us to, and draws us. Now we read in verse 66, From
that time many of his disciples went back. and walked no more
with him. They were finished with him.
They weren't true disciples. They went back and walked no
more. Then said Jesus unto the 12, will you also go away? You know, the Lord's not gonna
have any unwilling disciples. He watched that group leave him
and he didn't ask them to come back either. He watched them
leave. And then he looked at the 12 and said, will you also
go away? Now look at Peter's answer. Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom? shall we go? Not where will we go, but to
whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Now these people left the Lord
because they didn't like what he said. Peter said, we do. These words are words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. In 1 John chapter 5 verse 1,
John says, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God. Now I'm not asking you if you
believe you're saved or if you believe you're a Christian. I'm
asking you, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Now what
does that mean? Christ means God's anointed. It's speaking of his offices. He's God's prophet. He's God's
priest. He's God's king. Now, if I believe
he's God's prophet, that means I believe every word that comes
out of his mouth. I believe the whole Bible. All
truth is precious to me. It doesn't do any good to say
you love Christ if you don't pay attention to what he says.
All we believe is word. He's the Christ, the Son of the
living God. He's the prophet. He's the priest. That means if he brings me into
the presence of God, I'm saved. I can't be anything but saved.
He by himself offered his own body once in coming into God's
presence as God's priest representing all of his people. And if he
comes into God's presence, As my priest, I'm saved. If he died
for me, I'm saved. If he prays for me, if he intercedes
for me, I'm saved because he's the great high priest. He's God's
king. That means he's the king of the universe. That means he's
the absolute sovereign over all things. He is God's king. Oh, do you believe that he's
the Christ? The scripture says if you do,
You're born of God. Do you believe he's the Son of
God? The uncreated second person of
the Blessed Trinity? The creator of all things? God
the Son? The one who has all the fullness
of the Godhead dwelling in his body. Do you believe that? Do
you believe what those two blind men did when he said to them,
do you believe I'm able to do this? They said, yeah, Lord.
Do you believe in his ability to save you without any help
from you, without any contributions from you? Do you believe he is
the Christ, the son of the living God? Does that believe on the
son of God? The blind man said, who is he
Lord that I might believe? And the Lord replied, It's he
that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshiped him. You see, when you believe this
is one thing you do, you worship. You worship him for who he is. Your worship of him won't be
based upon what he's even done for you. Whether or not he saved
you or not, when you really worship him, you worship him for who
he is. Like the leper, he came and worshipped
him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now, he
didn't know whether the Lord would make him clean, but he
knew the Lord was to be worshipped whether he was made clean or
not. Is He the object of worship without reference to what He
does for you or doesn't do for you? You haven't worshiped until
He is. And if you believe on Him, you
will worship Him. John chapter 3 verse 18 says,
He that believeth on Him is not condemned. Not just he that believeth,
but he that believeth on him is not condemned. Romans 8.1
says there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. Now what does it mean to walk
after the flesh? To believe in works. What does it mean to walk
after the Spirit? To trust Christ only as everything
in your salvation. In John chapter 6 verse 28 we
read, They said unto him, What shall we do that we might work
the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom
he hath sent. Period. Listen to this scripture
in John chapter 17 when the Lord is praying his great high priestly
prayer for his people. He says in verse 8, For I have
given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have
received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee,
and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me, for they are thine. And he's praying for all of us
elect because we read in verse 20 of this same chapter, neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe
on me through their word. And I pray that that's what takes
place right now through the Word being preached. There's somebody
that's going to believe the Gospel for the very first time. In John
chapter 6 verse 40, we read these words from our Lord. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on him." Now, that person has every life,
everlasting life. Everyone that see it is saying,
you know what that means? That means you, doesn't mean you see
him physically, you haven't seen him physically, but you see that
the only way you can be accepted is because of him. The only way
you can be accepted is because of Him. You have no other hope.
Now that's when you see Christ, when you see you have nowhere
else to go. Sink or swim, I go to Him. I've got nowhere else to go.
That's when a man sees Christ. And you see that all you want
God to see is Christ. You don't want Him to see you.
You want Him to see you in Christ. Like Paul said, Oh that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Do you remember the story of
Mephibosheth? He was the son of Saul, and David
and Jonathan had made a covenant that when David became king,
he would have mercy on Jonathan's descendants. Now, Jonathan has
been dead for some time, and David at this time has become
the most powerful man in the world. The scripture says, the
fear of David fell on all nations. And at this time, he said, is
there any that I can show the kindness of God to for Jonathan's
sake? He remembered that covenant he
made with Jonathan. And Ziba, the servant of Jonathan
and the servant of Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, said, yes, there
is a descendant left of Jonathan, and his name is Mephibosheth.
But he's not worth anything. He's lame in both of his feet.
He can't work for you. He can't fight for you. All he'll
be is carried. All you can do with this man
is carry him. There's nothing he can do to add to you. You
know what David said? He said, go fetch him. And when
Mephibosheth is brought before him, he sees that crippled man. But I know who he really saw.
He saw Jonathan. He saw that boy's daddy. He saw
that one that he made that covenant with years before. And he said,
Fear not, Mephibosheth, I will surely show you the kindness
of God for Jonathan's sake. Now, you've seen Christ when
you see that all you want God to see is Christ. You don't want
Him to see you. You want Him to see you in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 3, 25, and 26 says, whom
God sent forth, speaking of Christ, to be a propitiation. That word
means a reason for the removal of God's anger. If He's propitiated
toward you, that means His reason for anger has been removed. And
that's exactly what Christ did on Calvary's tree. He removed
God's reason for anger. Now, whom God has set forth to
be 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, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth
in Jesus. Listen to this scripture, Romans
chapter 4 verse 5. To him that worketh not, but
believeth. There's that word again. To him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
Now this person who exercises this true saving faith, this
is what their faith tells them. I cannot be saved by my works,
by my doings. I can't be saved by anything
that I do. The only way I can be saved is if God justifies
me through what Christ did on the cross. There's an understanding
of the gospel there. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, you rely on him who justifies the ungodly. Now here's
what or who I'm relying on. I'm relying on Him who actually
justified the ungodly. Christ was delivered for our
offenses and raised again for our justification. I'm completely
relying on Him justifying the ungodly. That's what He did when
He died, was buried, was raised from the dead. And that's who
we're relying on. Acts chapter 10 verse 43 says, Whosoever believeth in him shall
receive the remission of sins." Listen to this scripture, Hebrews
12, 2, looking unto Jesus. the author and the finisher of
our faith. Now, don't look to yourself.
Don't look to your feelings. Don't look to your evidences.
Don't look to the past. Don't look anywhere for assurance
but Him looking unto Jesus. Somebody says, well, I could
believe I was saved if my life was better, if my walk was more
straight, if I understood more, if I had less of a problem with
sin. No, that wouldn't be believing. That would be believing in yourself
is all that would be. Looking unto Jesus, looking away from
yourself and looking to Him. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. And faith, my dear friends, is
always in the present. If I've got to look back to something
that happened in the past to give me assurance for right now,
it's a false assurance. I always look to Christ the same
way. As you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him. How did you receive Him? As an
empty-handed sinner. And we walk in Him that way,
looking to Him and trusting Him only. Paul said in Romans 1.16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. Would you be
in that demographic of those who believe they are relying
on the Lord Jesus Christ right now? I want to read a passage
from 1 Peter 2, beginning in verse 6. Peter said, Wherefore
also, it's contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. They won't be put to shame. Nothing
to be ashamed of. They're perfect in Christ. And
then he says in verse 7, To you therefore which believe, he is
precious. He's all you have. Somebody once
said, if all you have is Christ, is that enough to be saved? And
to that person, the preacher replied, it is if he's all you
got. Is he all you have? Is he all
you want? Is he all you need? Oh, he is
precious to those who believe. It's not my faith that saves
me. It's him. And I believe that. I rely on
Him. Do you believe? That's the question.
Are you in that demographic that believeth? Think of what the
Lord said to Peter, whom say men that I am. And they said,
well, some say you're Elijah, John the Baptist, one of the
prophets. But whom say ye that I am? Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, do you believe that
Jesus is the Christ, God's prophet, God's priest, God's king? Do
you believe He's the Son of the Living God, the Eternal Creator,
the Sovereign of the Universe? Well, that's what it is to have
faith. And if you believe Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness for you, you right now, as I'm
speaking, have nothing less than the very righteousness of Christ
as your personal righteousness before God. What could get better
than that?