If you would, and you want to
follow along, please look at Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. I'm going
to read the first four verses, beginning in verse 1 of Romans
10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear
them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to every one believeth I Entitled this is Christ the
end of the law Now I'm gonna make an assumption
here. I'm gonna make an assumption
that all of you people here know the answer to that question Because
it's an emphatic. No Not the way people talk about
it But that's what I entitled it because it is a question. By way of introduction, I do
want to put this out, if I can. I was talking with my wife in the
kitchen the other day. And for being an apostle to the
Gentiles, the apostle Paul sure writes a lot about Jews. But
that's OK. He is one. Let no one debate
his honesty here. Paul said his heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
I believe that to be as true as everything else the apostle
Paul wrote here under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let no one
doubt his sincerity. He had a big desire to see Israel,
the Jews, my kinsmen after the flesh to
be saved. Paul preached to the Jews first.
Then you'll read in Acts 13, it was when he went to the synagogues
where there was one and he preached. He went to Antioch and he spoke
in the synagogue and the Gentiles asked that he speak to them the
next Sabbath. And Paul did. The Jews then were
envious of the multitude, contradicted and blasphemed against the things
that Paul said. And Paul said, you judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life. Lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Now that's in Acts chapter 13.
Now I've heard people talk like, okay, that's it, Paul became
the apostle to the Gentiles and didn't talk to the Jews anymore.
I mean, that's the impression you get. But if you read on,
you'll see in Acts 14 and Acts 17 and Acts 18, Acts 19 and Acts
26, where Paul went to synagogues after that in different places.
Paul never ignored or avoided preaching the gospel to anyone,
Jew or Gentile. Paul went to the synagogues.
But Paul preached to the Gentiles. He included them. I was gonna
say he went out of his way to preach to them, but no, that
was his way. He preached the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ to whoever would listen. And he said this,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved and it should not come as any surprise because
it was consistent with his ministry. I want to see God save my kinsmen
after the flesh. Because they were just like I
was. Paul, then known as Saul of Tarsus,
was a Jew on his way to Damascus looking for believers to put
into jail and to send bound. Jesus Christ delivered him from
that and he wanted the same thing for his brethren his kinsmen
after the flesh Now these Paul said I bear them record they
have a zeal of God They were possibly I remember early stuff
about this all the time they were possibly the most religious
people ever lived on this earth Dedicated Thorough active toward
their religion. Their zeal was not their problem. But they did have a problem.
But it wasn't their zeal. Their problem was his next statement.
But not according to knowledge. They had a knowledge problem.
They had a knowing problem. Zeal of God is good. zeal toward
God is good. However, their knowledge was
sadly, sadly lacking. Now I will be one of the first
that will tell you knowledge does not save. Christ does. Let's be clear about that. Knowledge doesn't save the man
Christ Jesus saves. However, I will also tell you
this. If you know the man, you're going
to know some things. He's going to see to it. His
spirit will see to it. I'm going to send my Holy spirit,
the Holy spirit, the comforter. And guess what? He's going to
teach you. That's what he said. If you know him, what you know
is gonna change. And what you know changes only
because of who you know. It's not what you know makes
it so that you know who. No, it's who you know changes
what you know. I gotta keep it in the right
order. Because Jesus Christ himself said in John 17 verse six, I'm
not gonna turn to it, that he came and manifested, this is
in his high priestly prayer, to the Father. He manifested
the name of his Father. What? To the ones that the Father
gave him out of the world. It was manifest to me. He made
known. He made known the name of the
Father to his disciples. Our Lord gives understanding
and yes, of knowledge. You won't know everything, but
you will know someone. And these Jews, what they're
ignorant of, it's Paul's fixin' to tell, they were ignorant of
Jesus Christ. They were ignorant of Jesus Christ. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. These Jews in Paul's day did
not know God's righteousness. This is plain. This is plain. And this is where Paul starts
out with their problem. They did not know God's righteousness. They had a zeal, but not according
to knowledge. So where was their knowledge
lacking? According to this, it's lacking in the knowledge of God's
righteousness. Jesus Christ is the righteousness
of God. Our righteousness is a person. Our righteousness is in a person,
but our righteousness is a person. And these Jews did not know him. How is that shown? Well, being
ignorant, they're going about. See, this is where zeal toward
God can get you into trouble. If you're ignorant of God's righteousness. If you don't know Jesus Christ
and if you don't know God. Because if you don't know Jesus
Christ, you can't know God. Christ told us that he that seen
me has seen the Father. There's no one coming to the
Father and then, oh, discovering Christ. It doesn't work that
way. No, sorry, he doesn't work that
way. Our only avenue to the Father
above is through the Son who came below and went back. They thought, though, they could
establish themselves as righteous before God. Being righteous before
men's not a problem. Lots of people fake that. Lots
of people fake that. All you have to do is be fairly
secretive, and I'll think pretty good of you. It ain't gonna do
you any good, but I'll think pretty good of you. But establishing
a righteousness before the holy God, the holy, righteous, vengeful
God, that's a whole nother thing. They were ignorant of God's righteousness,
not man's righteousness, and they were going about to establish
their own righteousness because they were ignorant of God's righteousness,
our Lord Jesus Christ. They tried to establish themselves
as righteous before God and it won't happen because it can't
happen. It never has and it never will
happen. that a man will establish his
righteousness, his own righteousness before God. And they were going about it
though. They had their doings and they had their not doings. There's some stuff they did and
there was stuff they didn't do. But here's the key. Here's the
key. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
what does it say? They have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. And that's a key word right there,
submitted. Submitted. Let's make this clear
from the beginning. The true worship of God is what
Paul said this morning. In spirit and in truth. Now,
whose spirit and whose truth? His spirit and his truth. It's not my spirit and my truth.
It's not your spirit and your truth. It's not what I think. It's what he said. It's not what I want necessarily,
because I didn't want it at one time. but true worship is in
submission to God, in submission to sweet little Jesus. You understand,
the world around here, they wanna push Jesus around, and they think
they can. You know why? They're ignorant. They're ignorant of God's righteousness
because they're ignorant of God, and they're ignorant of God because
they're ignorant of Jesus Christ. No one pushes Jesus Christ around. Nobody crucified him until he
let him. Nobody killed him, he laid down
his life. And he laid it down, what? For
his sheep. For the sheep. But the world thinks they can
push him around. That's ignorance. I'm telling you folks, that's
ignorance. That is rank ignorance. Oh, if I come, Jesus has got
to accept me. Oh, do. Do tell. Is that what you think? It's
what the world thinks. And I'm talking about the religious
world. I'm not talking about the secular
world. They don't think nothing about it. Been there, done that. But the religious world says,
oh, God's got to accept you. Why? Because God is love. Yes, God is love. But yes, God
is holy. And yes, God said, I will in
no wise clear the guilty. But Jesus Christ laid down his
life for the sheep. They're ignorant of God's righteousness
and they go about to establish their own. Why? And because it
shows they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. In true worship, we submit ourselves
to Christ. to God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit. Because there is no true worship
without submission. That's the whole, we're saying
he's God. What does that make us? We're
down here. We're in the mud. At best, we're
earthen vessels with his riches inside. At best, Isaiah said
it, my righteousnesses are as filthy rags in his sight. That's the best I can do. And
yet here they're going about to establish their own filthy
rags. Go figure. And I love what Daniel
Park said about that. And they put them on and wear
them and say, look at me, God. and say, Jesus has got to accept
me. No, you're still wearing filthy rags. His righteousness
is the only righteousness that matters. You will not submit until you
know you have to submit. And then you will, then you will. And you will not submit until
you know you have no righteousness. Or the righteousness you have
is filthy rags. I got nothing to brag upon myself
about. Earl told me we were having lunch
in the old building at Mabscot. And Earl told me one time he
said a preacher had said, You can't love God unless you love
yourself. I don't know, I don't know. And I looked at Earl and I said,
he said that? Earl said, yeah. And I said,
Earl, the only part about me that I love is what Christ has
done for me. What Christ has done in me. And
he said, I know. It's hard to get away from the
flesh. You gotta fight against it. Mortify
the members. And that tongue is the unruliest
member of them all sometimes. They did not submit themselves,
they would not submit themselves unto the righteousness of God,
which is in the face of Jesus Christ. Just like the glory of
God is in the face of Jesus Christ. Walter preached on this a while
back. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, what? And his righteousness. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Now, this is the generation 2,000
years ago or so when Paul was preaching. And I said it this morning, it's
exactly the same in our generation today. And really, if you want to know
the truth about it, That's the truth of every generation. Because it's the truth of the
fallen man that he thinks he can make himself acceptable to
God. We're that bad. We're that bad. I gotta watch for it myself now. Preachers have to watch for it
constantly. Because you don't want to get puffed up because
maybe you preached that you thought was a good message. And maybe it was. And if it was, it wasn't because
of me. But everyone has to watch for
that. But these people, these Jews are just like the people
around us today. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. You listen to them on the television,
you'll hear it. and they're going about to establish their own
righteousness. And if you listen to the television
or the radio, you're gonna hear it. They've got their doings
now and their not doings, both. Well, they call that, I don't
know what they call it, I call it works. And I know from his
word that salvation is by grace, not works. And if it's works,
it ain't grace. And if it's grace, it ain't works. And never the two shall mix.
Not for salvation. Now because of salvation, there'll
be some works. Because of salvation, there'll
be some understanding. Because of salvation, there'll
be some knowledge. Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But grace always comes first. There's no difference. And I said it, what are they
ignorant of? Well, that's the wrong question. Who are they
ignorant of? Who are they ignorant of? That's
the question. Paul answers it, verse four,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Who are they ignorant of? For
Christ. Christ, the righteousness of
God. I'm gonna start with this, because
it's a definite negative, and I've heard it, and I assume possibly
you have, and maybe you haven't, There's a partial quote here.
It's part of what I call chicken theology. They'll say, for Christ is the
end of the law. And they'll put a period right
there. Well, Paul doesn't put a period there. Well, there's
no punctuation in the Greek. But it doesn't matter. That's
not the end of the statement. But it is for some people. Because
they quote this as a support for their theology that the law's
done away with. We're in the age of grace. You
understand? The age of works, the age of
the law is done with. We're in the age of grace now.
That's what they talk about in New Testament times. I've heard
that taught. And they're teaching it today somewhere. I guarantee
it. They quote part of a statement and they ignore the rest. Just
like that, I told you about that chicken out there. That pan plump
full of corn. And that chicken jumped up in
that pan and he started kicking out every kernel that he had
until he was left with one in that pan. I don't know how that
chicken got all that pan out, emptied, and then ate that one
kernel and kicked all the rest of it outside. They'll take this
one piece of scripture, one part of a verse, and they'll build
a doctrine around it or use it to support a doctrine they have. There is no more law, there's
only grace. Christ did away with it and now
you just have to believe. Because they're teaching now
that the law is null and void. And it's not. That's not what
Paul wrote here. This is a partial statement because
they leave out that one word that means purpose. For Christ
is the end of the law. for righteousness. Now firstly, the word end here
translated is the noun form, the original form of a very famous
word that is used in the scriptures, a very famous quotation of Jesus
Christ. When he said it is finished, that's what this word end here
is. It's just, that's the verb form,
it is finished. This is the noun form, which
the verb is derived from. Jesus Christ is the finish of
the law, what? For righteousness. He's the end,
the finish, the completion of the law for righteousness. Now
notice also very carefully, this is not saying what Christ did,
although he did it. This is saying what Christ is.
He is. He is, not saying he did, although
he did. What Paul's writing here, he's
the finisher of the law for righteousness. The finisher of the law for righteousness
is a person. It's a Savior, a Lord, the Lord
from glory, the everlasting well-beloved Son of God, is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's the finish and he's the
finisher. Yes, he did perform the law.
Yes, he kept the law perfectly. And yes, he is the finisher of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The
law is still the law. Everyone that believes, everyone
that believes, that's the way Paul narrows this down. Everyone
that believes, you are under grace and not under law. The law is still the law, but
you who believe are not under it. Why? Because Christ is the
finisher of the law for righteousness. We have, believers have, the
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is our righteousness. Of God are you in Him. That's
what it says in 1 Corinthians. It also says, God has made him
unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's our righteousness. God made
him our righteousness. I didn't make him my righteousness,
Walter. I didn't make him my wisdom, man. I didn't make him
my sanctification or my redemption. God made him. God made him. And you know what? When God makes
something, it's made. That's exactly right. It's made.
Whether you feel it or not, he's our righteousness, if you believe. Whether you know it or not, he's
our righteousness. I want it that way. I want it
that way. I can't have anything depend
upon me. Please, no. I'm gonna do the best I can with
what I got, but I don't want anything dependent upon me. I
can't take it, because I can't do it. You are righteous in him, and
you can claim it, if you believe. If you believe, if you believe.
If you have submitted yourselves to the righteousness of God,
who is Jesus Christ. You are under grace and not under
law. All right, I just got a few things
I wanna say here as a sort of a conclusion. He
is the righteousness of God and the law hasn't gone anywhere.
Romans 3.31 puts it this way. I said it purposely about they
want to make the law null and void. Because Paul wrote this
in Romans 3.31, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. God forbid. God forbid. Yes, yea, we establish
the law. That's what grace does. Christ
doesn't do away with the law. Christ did not do away with the
law. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone who believe it. That establishes
the law as the standard. God's the standard. But the law is holy. And the
commandment holy and just and good. Now we are none of the
above. But the law is holy, and the
commandment's holy. And just, and good, and God is
holy. And we are holy in Christ. He's our righteousness. He's
our righteousness. God can look at me and see me
holy as Christ. Perfect. I still don't understand
how that works, I'm just glad it does. That's the great, I
don't have to understand it either, Walter. I just gotta believe
him. And we believe that Christ is
the finisher of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. But
here's some things, the law is not for justification. I'm not
gonna go into it, it's in Romans three and verse 20. Take a look
at it. The law is not for righteousness
before God. Well, that's Romans 10, four.
The law is not even a continuation of faith in Christ Jesus. That's in Galatians three, verses
one to three. The law is for the believer's
knowledge of sin. That's Romans 3.20. Also, the
law is our schoolmaster. To what? Bring us to Christ. To bring us to Christ. The law's
not our schoolmaster to stay under. When you're a child, you're
under teachers and governors. When you grow up and become a
man, sometimes you become a teacher. David's one. But the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. How? Through the knowledge of
sin. The law brings us to Christ,
points us to Christ, and shuts us up to Christ because we cannot
keep it. In Christ, Believers are dead
to the law, Romans 7. I do want to look at that for
just a minute. Verse 1 to 4. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak unto them that know the law, Jews, how that the law hath
dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which
hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as
he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she
is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her
husband liveth, she 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. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law. The body of Christ that ye should
be married to another even to him who was raised from the dead
that we should bring forth fruit unto God Very carefully the law is not
dead We Believers are dead to the law Amen Thank God. Believers are married to another. Jesus Christ, our Lord, and we
are not under the law. That's the two dominions Paul
gets here. Either you're under the dominion of the law or you're
under the dominion of Christ. And if you're under the dominion
of Christ, you submitted yourself unto him. Why? Because he made
you. He made you. You were willing
to do it, but he made you. because you weren't willing before.
Come on, I've been there, done that. I wasn't looking for God
when God found me. I didn't care anything about
God when God found me. But he cared. And whom the Lord
loveth, he saves. I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, what with loving kindness
I have drawn thee. And that is drawing a bucket
out of the well. There's resistance, there's weight,
a dead weight until he gives you life. But if he loves you,
he's gonna draw you to him. We are dead to the law for the
express purpose of being married to another. Christ. And to live in Christ
is to be dead to the law. The law's not dead, but we're
dead to the law. We don't become dead to the law
to be able to live in Christ. When we live in Christ, we're
made dead to the law. Here the apostle was using an
illustration of a husband and wife to illustrate the removal
of the dominion of the law. Paul is not illustrating the
removal of the law, just the dominion of it. Because the law
didn't go anywhere. We did. We did. We're in Christ now. We're not
under the law. The law didn't go anywhere. We
did. Paul wants his brethren now to
be saved. Why? They're still under the
law. They're thinking they're keeping
it. They're not because they're ignorant of God's righteousness. The law didn't go anywhere. We
did. I think that's one of the best
things I can think of. We are dead to the law by the
death of Jesus Christ, his body. Is Jesus Christ the end of the
law? No. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. We are not under the
law anymore if we believe. He is our husband. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
again for this time, this place, most of all, thankful for you. Be with Walter as he comes to
speak. Give us ears to hear a message to be heard. Thank you, Lord, for the love
of you through your son in us. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.