God's Law & Christ's Righteousness

Q: What does the Bible say about God's Law?

The Bible teaches that God's Law encompasses all His commandments, which Christ came to fulfill, not destroy. According to Matthew 5:17-20, Jesus states that He did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it. This indicates that all of God's commands, not just the Ten Commandments, are important, and they reflect God's demands on humanity. Jesus emphasized that every aspect of the Law would be fulfilled, highlighting its enduring significance. In the Sermon on the Mount, He also reveals that to enter the kingdom of heaven, one's righteousness must surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, showing the deeper spiritual implications of the Law beyond mere external compliance.

Q: How do we know that Christ fulfilled the Law?

Christ's fulfillment of the Law is evidenced by His life, death, and resurrection, aligning perfectly with prophetic Scripture. The belief that Christ fulfilled the Law is foundational in Christian theology, as supported by Scripture. Matthew 5:18 proclaims that every jot and tittle of the Law will be fulfilled before heaven and earth pass away. Throughout the Gospels, we see that Jesus' actions were in direct fulfillment of prophecies, demonstrating that He is the anticipated Messiah who meets the demands of God's Law. Every event in His ministry served the purpose of fulfilling what had been written concerning Him, affirming His role as both Lawgiver and the One who perfectly obeyed the Law on our behalf. This understanding reinforces the belief in His righteousness being imputed to believers, as stated in Romans 3:22.

Q: Why is Christ's righteousness important for Christians?

Christ's righteousness is the basis for our justification and acceptance before God. In Christian theology, particularly from the sovereign grace perspective, Christ's righteousness is crucial because it is through Him that believers are justified before God. Romans 10:4 explicitly states that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. This means that the righteousness required to enter God’s kingdom is not found in our own works but completely in Christ's perfect obedience and sacrifice. The doctrine of imputation explains that Christ's righteousness is credited to believers, allowing them to stand before God not in their imperfect attempts at righteousness but in the perfection that is in Jesus. This understanding provides hope and assurance of salvation, emphasizing grace rather than works.

Q: How does the Law function as a schoolmaster according to scripture?

The Law serves as a schoolmaster by revealing sin and leading us to Christ for justification. The concept of the Law being a schoolmaster is articulated in Galatians 3:24, which states that the Law was our guardian until Christ came. This means that the Law has a specific purpose: to show humanity its sinfulness and inability to achieve righteousness through its own efforts. By defining sin and establishing God's standards, the Law leads us to recognize our need for a Savior. When we understand our failure to keep the Law perfectly, we are driven to Christ, who fulfills the Law on our behalf. Therefore, while the Law cannot justify, it plays a critical role in showing us our need for grace and faith in Jesus Christ.

Q: What does it mean to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees?

Exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees means possessing a heart transformed by faith, not merely adhering to external rules. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus warns that to enter the kingdom of heaven, our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. This statement highlights the inadequacy of mere external compliance to the Law, which the Pharisees practiced. Their righteousness was rooted in pride and self-righteousness, failing to recognize the deeper, spiritual nature of God's Law. True righteousness, as understood in sovereign grace theology, comes from a relationship with Christ, which transforms the heart and produces genuine obedience out of love and gratitude. Believers are called to reflect the righteousness of Christ, which surpasses that of traditional religious practice defined by legalism.

This is our Lord's Sermon on
the Mount. Let's read verses 17-20. He says, Think not that I am
come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have 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 the Pharisees, you shall in no case enter the kingdom
of heaven." Now, the Lord is talking about the law. He's not
just talking about the Ten Commandments. Everything God wrote is law,
isn't it? His Word, His commands. David in Psalm 119 speaks of
God's Word, and he gives it many different designations, precepts,
commandments, and so forth. Everything that is written, God
demands This is what he is saying here. What is written is what God demands
and what man should be and should do. Now, why did he say this? Think not that I am come to destroy
the law or the prophets. He is talking to his disciples,
though everyone heard him. He is talking to them. He's telling
them clearly. He's revealing to them clearly
why he came. Okay? Most people are very ignorant
of the law of God, even those who claim to know it and be teachers
of it. But why did he say this? Because
he would be accused shortly thereafter, he would be accused of breaking
the law of Moses, wouldn't he? He would be accused, especially
of the Sabbath. You see, men were ignorant then and ignorant
now of what the Sabbath represented, the purpose of the Sabbath. It's
a picture of Christ. He is our Sabbath. We don't worship a day. I've
got to get away from that. They would accuse him of breaking
God's law, changing it. He's not going to change it.
He wrote it. This is the law giver. This is
the one who wrote it with his finger on the tables, gave it
to Moses. But they're going to accuse him
of that. Later, they said the same thing
of Paul, didn't they? Changing the law of Moses, Paul
said, God forbid. You know, everyone that preaches
justification by faith, everyone that preaches the truth as it
is in the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ, the end of the law, will
be accused of breaking or changing the law of God. That's not true.
It's not true. No, no, no. It must be kept. Our Lord said that. It must be
kept. Verse 18, He said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, and here's what He's saying, every jot and every
tittle, every crossing in our English vocabulary, the crossing
of every T, the dotting of every I, every period, every comma
will be perfectly fulfilled. before it all ends. The earth
is not going to be destroyed until this is all fulfilled.
And our Lord is saying here, every single command, precept,
every type, symbol, picture, ceremony, everything written
in God's Word will be fulfilled completely by whom? Now, the reason being is because
God wrote it. God said, I've written it, and
it's going to be done. I've spoken it, and it will come
to pass. And it proves that this is God's
Word. It has been fulfilled. It is
being fulfilled. And it will yet be fulfilled.
Every single word. He said heaven and earth will
pass away. Not one word of mine shall fail. Not one word. Not
one prophecy shall be unfulfilled. That's how you know that God
wrote this. Whatever man says may or may
not come to pass. And it proves that Christ and
that all things will be fulfilled, has been, are now, will be, proves
that Christ is who this book says He is. He came to do what
it said He would come to do. And that He did it. You understand? And when God opens that to His
people's understanding, they see. God begins to reveal to
them how that every How many times does it say this in the
Word, that the Scripture might be fulfilled? He did this, that
the Scripture might be fulfilled. That the Scripture might be fulfilled.
He was doing everything that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
When he was hanging on the cross, they were doing everything that
the Scripture said they would do thousands of years before.
Pluck out his beard. Whip him. Take his clothes off
of him. Give him vinegar to drink. He
would say, I thirst. He would cry, my God, Psalm 22.
And on and on and on. It's like somebody over to the
side was taking the Old Testament and saying, now here's what we're
supposed to do. Now here, now here, now do this. Somebody was. But he was hanging on the cross.
That's who it was. The one who was directing all
of it. The one who wrote it. It must
be fulfilled. Why? It's God's work. It's going
to happen. And one scripture says, men fulfilled
the scriptures in condemning him. In rejecting the scriptures,
they fulfill it. Alright, this is the law. Now,
many people talk about the law. Look at verse 19 and 20. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and
teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever shall do, and teach them." Do how many of them? There are many men who
don't understand what the Lord is dealing with here. Whosoever shall do. All of them. Didn't James say to offend at
one point for guilty of it all? Do all of them. The same shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Who's great? Who's called great? And then
he goes on to say, I say unto you, and he's talking to his
disciples. Now listen to me. He said, I say unto you, I'm
talking to you now, accept your righteousness far exceeds these
scribes and these Pharisees, that everybody thinks moral,
everybody thinks holy, everybody thinks they're law keepers, everybody
thinks they look good, they sound good, they look religious, they
call them holy men, except your righteousness is far better than
theirs. You're not going to get into
heaven. That's what he's saying, isn't it? That's what he's saying. These
scribes and Pharisees were Bible scholars of their day. We've
got a lot of those now, don't we? They would have had M.D.
or Master of Divinity behind their name. D.D. Can you imagine? And there are men that I love. There are men that we know and
love that had this D.D., this doctorate, didn't they? They
have now through the years. But they were just wrong. They
were just wrong. Men were wrong. Men at their
best state are wrong. Elihu said, I don't know to take
flattering titles, and I won't give them. Nobody deserves the
title of doctor except the Great Physician. Nobody deserves this
title of reverend except the Lord. Reverend is His name. At any rate, these Bible scholars,
doctors of divinity, masters of divinity, these were men who
studied the Bible and even wrote it down word for word, transcribed
it, That's where the word scribe came from. Christ would say things
like this to them, and it made them furious. He
said, You do err in not knowing the Scriptures. And that made
them furious. Well, they didn't. And it doesn't
matter if a man knows the letter or the law. If he doesn't know
the purpose of it, he doesn't know it, does he? Are you with
me? Do you know what the purpose
of the law is? Very few people do. Do you know what the law
teaches? It's kind of like a schoolmaster.
Do you know what the schoolmaster teaches? Very few people know
that. That's why God wrote it. Paul said this later on. He said,
Desiring to be teachers of the law. They don't understand what
they're saying and don't know where they got it. I know the time. I love this.
The Lord said to those scribes and Pharisees, have you not read?
Yeah, but they can't retain it. They
don't know it. They can't retain it. Yeah, we've got time. Turn over
to Exodus 20. The law of God, and if we want to talk about
the Ten Commandments, let's just look at them a second. Ten Commandments. Our Lord, in His sermon, magnified
the law. That means He blew it up, made
it larger so that you could see every aspect of it. Like put
it under a magnifying glass. You see things you didn't see
about the law. Paul said, the law is spiritual. That is, it goes much deeper
than outward performance of it. All right? The Lord magnified
it in his Sermon on the Mount. And look at Exodus 20. Here's the Ten Commandments.
He says in verse 3, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The actual translation says,
thou shalt have no other gods beside me. In other words, no
God, period. No one. Zero. None. There are no gods. No one that
you're to worship or esteem as reverend or whatever. Read on, verse 4, Thou shalt
not make unto thee any graven image, that's a carved image,
a painted picture, any likeness of anything in heaven, in earth,
or under the earth. What's that? Fish. Don't do it,
God said. Why? What's the harm in it? Well,
number one, God said don't do it, didn't He? That's good enough. Just don't do it. But this doesn't
mean anything to Him. You know why? Because men will
worship it. They will worship it. They will
consider it some kind of holy relic. I said that to a woman
one time. She had a picture. of supposedly
Jesus on a wall, and I called him Wild Bill Hickok. That's
what he looked like, long hair. The Lord didn't have long hair.
He did not have long hair. You ever think about why the
Lord came before there was photography? We worship a living Lord, not
a picture assembly. There were no masters, painters
of the day. Nobody painted his picture. He
didn't allow that. There's a reason for that. At any rate, I said
to that woman, I said, that's not him. And I said, that's an
idol. And anyway, she said, well, I
don't worship that. I said, well, OK, let's see.
I said, let's take it down, put it on the ground, stomp on it,
just stomp on it, spit on it. Oh, I can't do it. Why? Why not? It's a worthless piece of canvas. It's a worthless piece of brass
is what Hezekiah said when he found the serpent on the pole. Worthless piece of brass. They
were worshiping it. But men, here's the point. Just the first
two laws alone, men have broken it hands down all over as millions,
billions. Everybody worships somebody.
Everybody worships somebody other than God. All people, by nature, worship
the creature rather than the Creator. Guilty. Guilty. And he goes on to talk about,
don't take my name in vain. Don't ever use my name, the Lord
said, in any way. except praise, honor, and glory. Don't ever use the name of the
Lord God in vain. It won't hold you guiltless.
My, my. See, that's just the moral law.
We are guilty. I go back to our text. So, you know, these things are
plain to us, aren't they? We have been taught so well. The Lord God our Father has taught
us, and these things are easy to spot, these lawbreakers. Now, there are some people who
are more subtle than that. There are these scribes and Pharisees
of our day who mix law and grace. who will say that you should
trust Christ, that He's going to take you back to Sinai, take
you back to Moses. That you're justified by Jesus
Christ, His blood, and they'll even you say righteousness. But
you sanctify yourself by keeping the law, that the law is your
rule of life. That's more dangerous. If it's
possible, it would deceive the very elect. And they go by the
names of, like, well, not so subtle are the Southern Baptists,
the German Baptists, and the Seventh-day Adventists. Very
moral. But there's a... And this will probably go out
on the terminology, but I don't care. Reformed Baptists. Reformed Baptists. I used to preach in a conference
in one place, and I heard some fellas doing this. They would
get up and they would preach, and it sounded like the gospel.
It sounded like they were preaching Christ. But all the while, they
were having you examine yourself, so much so, And look at yourself
so hard that if you could not find these evidences, if you
did not have these evidences, these proofs that you're a child
of God like them. All the while, I could see it. They were having people, people
were thinking, boy, I wish I could be like him. And you know, their preaching
left me just without hope. Because I'd look within and try
to find these perfections that they said we ought to have, and
how far short I'd come, and I would just get so, for a moment, depressed. And they would never leave us
looking to Christ. It was always looking to yourself,
looking to yourself, looking to yourself. They say Christ. But they were preaching works. They say grace, but they were
preaching works. They were saying salvations of
the Lord, but he did this. Now, you've got to perfect yourself. And it just left me without hope.
But bless God, he didn't leave me without hope. And I remember
also in that same meeting, that all I tried to do was preach
Christ. And there was an old brother,
Hubert Davis. You remember Hubert Davis from
Farmville? A dear old man. I told you about him. He and
I would room together. We hit it off immediately. All
he wanted to preach about was Christ reigning and ruling, and
I loved that. And he came to me privately and
he said, you and I both feel the same about the law. At any
rate, after I preached one time, one of those preachers came up
to me and actually said this. He actually said this. He said,
you know, I noticed that every time you preach, you just preach
Christ. And he said, the people seem
so overjoyed and glad. He said, there must be something
to that. I hope. I haven't seen
him in years. I hope he saw something to that. It's the sinner's only hope.
You point him to Christ, don't take him back to Sinai. That
would kill him. Point him to the serpent pole,
a serpent on the pole, the Lord on the cross. How good must someone
be to get to heaven? Here's the question. How good
must we be to get to heaven? Our Lord said it. Accept your
righteousness far exceeding the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees. You will in no wise, no case,
not one person enter the kingdom of heaven. Did not Brother Gabe
preach from Psalm 24? Recently, who shall ascend unto
the holy hill of the Lord? Who is the holy God going to
let into His holy heaven? He that hath clean hands, no
sin on your hands, no blood guiltiness, a pure heart, an absolutely pure motive. God
looks on the heart. Man, all they can look on is
outward glory. He looks holy. God says he's full of extortion
and excess. She looks like a nice woman.
You look on her heart, she hates God. Is that too hard? God said that. God said that. Let's turn to Romans 3. Romans
chapter 3. Let's turn and see what it says.
And he that has never lifted up his soul unto vanity. Never
gone after anything in this world. been devoted to God all His days. Never sworn deceitfully. Not
one lie ever issued from their mouth. Not one falsehood. Everything's been praise and
truth and glory come out of this grace poured from the lips. That's
who's going to get to heaven. Who can say that? Well, later
on it says, open the gates. Somebody's coming in. There's
a man walking in. Clean hand, pure heart. Who is
it? It's the Lord of Glory. Well, look behind him. A whole
bunch of people are coming in on his coattails. Romans 3, these verses, you know
these verses. I look around, I don't see anybody
who hasn't heard these things before, but to say it again,
it's not grievous to me. It's my hope. Romans 3. Now, in chapter 1, he talks about
the Gentiles, doesn't he? Gentile world without God. He
says they're all guilty. They're all guilty. Chapter 2,
he talks about the Jews. The Gentiles don't keep the law.
They're lawbreakers. That's Sodom and Gomorrah and
all that. They're all guilty. Chapter 2, he talks about the
Jews. He said they say they keep the law, and they don't. He said
they're guilty. Look at verse 9 in chapter 3. It says, Jew and Gentile, they're
all under sin. All under sin. Verse 19, We know
what things to ever the law saith, that saith to them that are under
the law. Who's that? Well, every human being by nature. That one, that every mouth that
be stopped. But no, buts stop your mouth. And all the world become what?
Guilty before God. By the law, he said, is the knowledge
of sin. That's why God wrote it. Paul
said, I wouldn't have known lust except the scriptures say. He
said, I was alive without the law. When the law came, it killed
me. It slew me. Paul said, I thought
I knew it. I thought I kept it. But when
I really heard it, it killed me. I died. The law can only
do one thing, condemn. And that's all it can do. It
can't justify. Don't go back. You won't find
any mercy. Just guilt. And oh, I was going
to have you turn to so many scriptures. Look at that. Look, one more,
okay? Verse 21. Verse 20. By the deeds of the
law, no flesh justifies disciple. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now. That's like, but God. But now,
the righteousness of God, acceptance with God, holiness of God, without
the law, that is, without us keeping it, is manifest, made
clear, being witnessed by the law. Even the law tells us, you can't
keep me? Someone's coming who will. Someone's
coming. That's what the law. and the
prophets. Christ said to him, to me, give
all the prophets witness. What is it? Verse 22, even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of. That's not a misprint. Not faith
in. Faith of Jesus Christ. His faithfulness. In Isaiah 42,
he said, behold my servant. God said, behold my servant.
He said, I'm well pleased for His righteousness sake. God looked,
I'm well pleased with this man. He's kept my law perfectly. I'm well pleased for His righteousness
sake. He magnified the law and made
it honorable. And I was going to have you go
over there and show you where it says, well, look at verse 24. It says,
"...be justified freely by His grace through the redemption
of the sin of Christ Jesus." And on and on it goes. It says
that Abraham believed God, and it was imputed. It was counted
to him for righteousness. Before the law was even made,
God showed Abraham the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham, He said, rejoiced
to see my day. And he saw it. And he was glad.
And God said, You're righteous, Abraham. Before the law was even
written, your righteousness. Before circumcision, your righteousness.
Amen. How? Why? I didn't do anything.
No, you didn't. But you've got to substitute.
You've got a righteousness. You've got a person who's coming
to keep it for you. And you know, people argue, and
I'm not even going to answer their arguments. And they argued
against Paul. Well, let's just send that grace
may abound. Or that means we can do anything we want to. God's people, none of them say
that. None of them say that. No, no, no. They don't do it. And back in our text, our Lord
said, whoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. Who's great? Great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised. That's who's great. And He says,
except your righteousness exceed The righteous as of scribes and
Pharisees shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven." His name,
the Lord's name, is Jehovah Sid Canoe. They that know his name will
put their trust in him. Psalm 9.10 says, those that know
his name will put their trust in him. What does Jehovah Sid
Canoe mean? The Lord, our righteousness. In Romans 10, Paul in great love
and concern, compassion for his Jewish brethren, he says, they
have a zeal for God. I bear them record. They have
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They're going about
to establish their own righteousness. And it won't do. God won't accept
it. God will reject it just like Cain. Just like Cain. Every time. There's one that
Christ will accept. We're accepted in the beloved. It said in verse 4, Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Write
that on the table of our heart for us. He's the end of the law. The goal, the purpose, the fulfillment
of the law for righteousness. You want to get to heaven? You'll
get there one way. Jesus Christ. And this is why David said this.
He said, deliver me in thy righteousness. David said this. He said, my
mouth shall show forth thy righteousness. He said, I will go in the strength
of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness. and thine only. He said, I'll
behold thy face in righteousness. How's that? Something you did,
David? No, all I did was sin. The Lord did it all for me. He's my righteousness. And He
will perfect that which concerneth me. So we have a righteousness. Believers, all believers have
a perfect righteousness. And His name is Jesus Christ.

God's Law & Christ's Righteousness

What does the Bible say about God's Law?

How do we know that Christ fulfilled the Law?

Why is Christ's righteousness important for Christians?

How does the Law function as a schoolmaster according to scripture?

What does it mean to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees?

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God's Law & Christ's Righteousness

What does the Bible say about God's Law?

How do we know that Christ fulfilled the Law?

Why is Christ's righteousness important for Christians?

How does the Law function as a schoolmaster according to scripture?

What does it mean to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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