We'll turn back with me to Matthew's
Gospel, Chapter 5, and the Sermon on the Mount, and we're coming
to the third message, I think it is that we've... or maybe
it's the fourth. Yes, maybe it's the fourth. The fourth message
of this series on the Sermon on the Mount. And the verses
we're looking at this morning are verses 17 to 20, so let's
just read these now. Jesus says in verse 17, 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, ye shall in no case enter into heaven." a person is blessed by God with
eternal salvation. They discover by the Word of
God, by the preaching of the Word of God, they discover that
that means that in the sovereign purposes of God they were chosen
before time began, chosen of God before time began. And then
in time, they were redeemed, the liberty price was paid, redemption's
price was paid from sin's curse by Christ in what He came to
do. And they're quickened by the
Spirit. The reason they believed is that they are quickened by
the Spirit of God and have become a new creation. The characteristics
that result from that are quite clear in the first 12 verses. The Beatitudes. The Beatitudes
say, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. These are the characteristics of those who have been saved.
They mourn for their sin. They're of a meek disposition.
They hunger and thirst for righteousness. they have a merciful character,
because they have been shown mercy, and they are pure in heart,
in the sense that the righteousness of God has become theirs. They
are peacemakers. They desire peace. They are they
which are even though they possess and display these good characteristics
the world hates them as it hated the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore
this persecution for righteousness sake and he pronounces blessings
upon them these are the characteristics of those that are saved and he
says in the next few verses 13 to 16 that people who are believers
who have been by grace saved and display these characteristics
they are as salt and light salt to sought to restrain corruption. And believers with their attitudes
to sin, believers with their attitudes to righteousness, are
as salt stopping the putrefaction of bacteria on meat. They're
like that in society. And not only that, they're as
light in a dark place. Spiritually, the world is dark,
but they are as light. And Jesus says, let your light
shine. You will be as salt and light. Let it do its job. Let the light
shine. Do not try to restrain it from
shining. So then, when we get to verse
17, we might be tempted to think that the religion that Jesus
is preaching here in this Sermon on the Mount is a radical new
religion that replaces the Old Testament order of legal religion,
the temple worship, the priests, and all of that. But in these
verses, these four verses that we read, in these verses and
in those that follow in the rest of chapter 5, Jesus teaches the
complete harmony that there is between the Old Testament, he
calls it here the Law and the Prophets, and Christ's New Testament
fulfillment of what the Old Testament Scriptures taught and pictured.
Now, the key objective is there clearly in verse 20. Right at
the end of it, it's about entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It's about
qualification for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you want
to enter the kingdom of heaven when you leave this life? Do
you want to enter the heaven of God, that glorious eternal
bliss of intimate communion with God who is above all and in all
and the one with whom we have to do? Do you want that? Yes,
yes you would say, I want that. Well what qualifies anyone to
enter it? And Jesus gives the answer in
that verse 20. His answer is this, you must
have a righteousness that is superior to the righteousness
of the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes and the Pharisees
were the ones that were renowned for being pretty righteous people.
When it came to doing the will of God and obeying the laws of
God, the scribes and the Pharisees were the ones with the reputation
in that society for being pretty near perfect, as good as you
could get. There was an old Jewish saying
that used to say, if there be only two people that go to heaven,
one will be a scribe and the other will be a Pharisee. Will
God judge you as being as good as that? Will God judge you as
having a righteousness which is superior to the righteousness
that the scribes and the Pharisees had, that reputational righteousness,
that reputational goodness? Because If not, if you don't
have a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, Jesus teaches here that you shall in no case
enter in. God's heaven will not allow in.
It tells us in Revelation, right at the end of it, chapters 21
and 22, there is nothing that defiles shall enter in there.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing allowed in there,
because God is perfectly holy. If you are not allowed in there,
then these are hard words, but they have to be said, because
it's the teaching of Scripture. If you're not of a sufficient
righteousness to get into heaven, you will be banished to hell
for eternity. This is the teaching here. Jesus
says, I haven't come to get rid of that Old Testament religion. I've come to fulfill it. I've
come to fulfill its purpose. So what is the purpose of the
law? What is the purpose of the Old
Testament law? You know, it's God's perfect
standard of righteousness, the standard that we must have to
be acceptable to Him in every detail. There is a law that is
written in the heart written in the conscience. It tells us
that in Romans 2 verse 15, Paul talking about the world being
without excuse. It says even those that don't
have the scriptures are without excuse because there's the law
that's written in their heart. The intention of God for good
and evil is written in the hearts of all people. It's a creation
thing. It was known by men and women
before the law was given by God through Moses at Sinai. It was known by men long before
that. It was known by Job, wasn't it?
Surely Job knew about the righteousness of God. Job sought to achieve
the righteousness of God. by his own works, to start with,
until he saw God. Job knew about righteousness
before there was any law given at Sinai. Enoch preached about
ungodliness. If you read in the epistle of
Jude, you will see there, he says that Enoch preached about
unrighteousness, about ungodliness. Noah, long before Moses, long
before the law was given by Moses, Noah was, as Peter tells us,
a preacher of righteousness. That's what he did, he preached.
As he was building the ark, he was a preacher of righteousness.
He preached the righteousness of God. Long before the law was
given, There was Lot. Lot. Basically, people think
that Lot is a pretty poor specimen. You know, he chose the plains
rather than sought the will of God. He went down there. But
it says about the wickedness in Sodom that it vexed the righteous
soul of Lot. It vexed his righteous soul.
That's what it tells us. The Scriptures tell us. Before
the law was given, they knew about God's standard of right
and wrong. But the law was given to define
it clearly. The law was given by God through
Moses at Mount Sinai, when the children of Israel came out of
their bondage in Egypt, they were led across the Red Sea,
they came to Mount Sinai, and there this people that was the
covenant people of God, with his special purposes upon them
in the promises given to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob, this
people that had been brought out of Egypt, you remember the
gospel that they were shown, the Passover lamb and the blood
on the doorposts and the angel of death, passed through the
land and slew every firstborn apart from the houses of the
Israelites, where there was blood on the lintel and the doorposts
of their houses. They knew what the Gospel was,
and they came out, and they were given this law. God defined His
standard for them, and them only. It was a strict standard of right
and wrong. It was the strict standard of
ten commandments. We know them, you know, what
we should do and what we should not do. And in addition to that,
there were all of the civil laws about the way that the state,
the people of Israel, were to be governed and were to conduct
their affairs one to another. The civil laws. And then there
were all the ceremonial laws of rightful worship, and all
of those concerned making atonement. for law-breaking, making atonement
for sin. All of those things, the ceremonial
laws, the Levitical laws, all of those laws about the tabernacle
worship and the priesthood, it was all about making atonement
for sin, for law-breaking. But this law was only given for
Israel. That's all. It wasn't given to
the rest of humanity. It was given to the symbolical
people of God, not to mankind in general. Its main proponents
of this law were the scribes and the Pharisees. And, as I've
already said, they were held in very high regard for their
conformance to it. People thought that if you were
going to go to heaven, then they were setting the standard that
had to be achieved. They kept it outwardly. And Paul
the Apostle, who had been Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, a strict
Pharisee, a respected Pharisee, he could say about himself, as
Paul the Apostle in Philippians chapter 3 verse 6, he's talking
about how he was when he was a Pharisee, before he became
an apostle preaching the gospel. When he was a Pharisee, he says,
touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. By what he means, nobody could
point a finger at him and say, hey, look at you Saul, you've
broken, you've offended the Sabbath law. You've gone and picked up
sticks on the Sabbath day. You've walked further than is
permitted on the Sabbath. No, no, he was blameless in terms
of the outward definition of what was right and what was wrong.
They put in their very best efforts. The Jewish people, many of the
scribes and Pharisees and the religious folks, they put in
their best efforts. But you know, their best efforts
fail to reach the required standard. As Romans 9 tells us, Romans
9 verse 31, He says this, but Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, they tried to do the right thing to
keep the law, hasn't attained to the law of righteousness.
They followed after it, but they didn't reach its required standard. Why? Verse 32, why? Because they
sought it not by faith. Do you remember what Peter read
to us in Galatians chapter 3 earlier? They sought it not by faith,
but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at
that stumbling stone. What was the stumbling stone?
The stumbling stone was faith in Christ. That was the stumbling
stone. That's where righteousness comes
from. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone,
and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him, Christ, shall
not be ashamed. 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 for God, of God, but not according
to knowledge. They're very determined in their
religion, but it isn't according to the truth of God. It isn't
according to that which God has said, for they These people trying
to be righteous in God's eyes, they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. They think the righteousness
God requires is just this outward righteousness that the scribes
and Pharisees attained to. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness
by the things they do, they have not submitted unto the righteousness
of God. It's the righteousness of God
that we need. It's the righteousness of God
that we must be made for Christ is the end of the law. Christ
is the end of law-keeping for righteousness. He's the end of
it. He's the finish of it. We don't
achieve the righteousness God requires by law-keeping. Christ
is the end of it to everyone that believes. If you don't believe,
Believe me, you are under the requirements of the law and God
will judge you absolutely strictly. If you are outside of Christ
and not believing in Him, then God will judge you on that day
of judgment strictly according to your conduct versus the law
of God. The books will be opened, everything
will be laid bare. No, Jesus taught that that pharisaical
righteousness was inadequate. He said, you've got to exceed
it or you won't get in. The Pharisees and the scribes
are not good enough to get into heaven. Their righteousness is
not good enough. A standard is needed which is
higher than that. And in the rest of the sermon,
He goes on to show the law's true intent is not just what
it defines as outward rights and wrongs, but as heart righteousness,
as inner purity and perfection, of godly motives in things, that
that is the intention of the law. And because of the weakness
of the flesh, None can attain to it. None can attain to it.
He says, for example, he says, you've heard that the law says
don't commit adultery, but I say unto you, it's not the actual
act that breaks the law, it's the thought that breaks the law.
It's said, you shall not steal. It's not the fact that you haven't
physically gone and stolen something. It's that in your heart, you
have thought thoughts of going to steal it. You have thought
about it. You have coveted. Paul said, I thought I was perfect
until the law came and in my conscience it convicted me because
I was a covetous man. And that's idolatry. He said,
you see, it's the weakness of the flesh that means we can't
attain to it. What the law, Romans 8 verse
3 says, what the law could not do, what couldn't it do? Make
us righteous. Why couldn't it make us righteous?
Because it's weak through the flesh. The weakness is not so
much the law's weakness, but the flesh's weakness in being
unable to keep the standard of the law. Nevertheless, It remains
as the defining standard of God's righteousness which flesh cannot
attain to. This is what Jesus says. Not
one law is going to change, not one jot or tittle, those are
the little, you know, like crossing the t's and dotting the i's,
not one jot or tittle of it, never mind, oh well it didn't
really mean that, not one jot absolutely strictly Strictly,
it stands. It's the standard of righteousness.
It's the standard which must be attained. We're told in Hebrews
12 verse 14 to follow after holiness, to pursue it. Without which holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. No man shall go to God's heaven.
No man shall. What does it teach us? What does
it teach us? It teaches the inability by works
of the flesh to do that which is right. The Pharisees were
the best. but they were not good enough.
And the more we try, if we're truthful, the more we learn our
inability. The more we learn the futility
of pursuing to achieve a righteousness that God requires by works of
the law, fleshly law works. It drives us to look for another
way. Turn to the passage that Peter
read to us earlier. In Galatians 3, And we'll pick
it up at verse 19. Galatians 3 and verse 19, Paul
is asking the question, what's the purpose of the law? Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. It was there to make a strict
definition. You know, you could have a law
which says you shouldn't go too fast in your car. And we go,
well, what's one person's opinion of too fast might not be somebody
else's opinion of too fast. How fast were you going? Oh,
I was going 50 miles an hour down this road. Oh, well, somebody
else thinks that 30 miles an hour is too fast. Well, how do
we make it clear? Well, we make it absolutely objective
that on this piece of road, if you exceed 30 miles an hour,
you're breaking the law, and you will be subject to a penalty
if you're caught. No, it was added because of transgressions. The law was to make it clear
what were transgressions, till the seed should come. The seed? the promised seed, the promised
seed which was Christ. The seed should come to whom
the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid, no, no, that's wrong.
For if there had been a law given, which could have given life,
verily, Righteousness should have been by the law, but the
scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,
and you will notice The next few words, schoolmaster, to bring
us, they're in italics. They're not really in the original,
and I think the translators made a mistake in putting them in.
The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ. The law was our
schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by faith,
but after faith is come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster.
The law pushed us to trust in Christ. That's what the law did.
It's not against the promises of God, but its objectives, the
law, its objectives are not attained by fleshly obedience to it, because
the flesh is weak. Job learned that, and then Job
saw God. He thought it was by his own
efforts, and then he saw God and he realized there when he
saw God, how high and unattainable was the standard, and that he
was only by faith in the Christ of God that you had righteousness
with him. Isaiah was God's prophet, and
no doubt a highly respected man. He was the one who brought the
Word of God, and he was very conscious of the presence of
God. But it wasn't until chapter 6 where he says, in the year
that King Uzziah died, he saw the Lord in the temple. He had
this vision of God, and he saw the awesome majesty of God. And
he saw what he'd never, as the prophet of God, seen before.
And he cried out, Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.
Seeing God as he was, showed him what sin was. You see, however
much the flesh tries and thinks it gets close, in truth it doesn't.
Romans chapter 7, Paul shows us again and again, as believers,
but in the flesh, every effort, we're frustrated because of the
sin tendency of the flesh. The inability of the flesh drives
us, because he finishes that chapter by saying, here I am,
every time I want to do good, I end up doing wrong, and every
time I want to avoid wrong, I end up doing it. And he says, woe
is me, he says, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This fleshly body is a body of
death in the judgment of God. Who shall deliver me? He says,
thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The law fulfilled then. Jesus said, Don't think my teaching
is at odds with the Old Testament and its requirements. Rather,
learn that I have come to fulfill it. Do you see? He's saying,
don't think I've come to change it, to do away with it. I've
come to fulfill it. It stays absolutely unchanged. It isn't abolished. Rather, its
holy intentions, the law's holy intentions are accomplished in
Christ. And they're the possession of
his believing people by faith in him. He is the perfect fulfillment
of the law's purpose. How is Christ the perfect fulfillment
of the law's purpose? Firstly, by his perfect obedience to it
in life. That proved that he was a fitting,
perfect Passover lamb, the substitute, the sacrifice for his people,
a qualified substitute. If he had had the merest hint
of sin, he could not have been the Passover lamb for his people. to die in their place, for he
would have had sins of his own to be justified before God before
he did that. But he was perfect in all points,
tempted just as we are, yet without sin. He was a qualified substitute. And secondly, when his people's
sin, because it was his people's sin, and only his people's sin,
and all of his people's sin, that was imputed to him, laid
to his charge, laid to his account, when it was imputed to him at
Calvary, There, it was his sin. It became his sin. You read in
the Psalms, you read the words, my sins overwhelm me. That is
Christ speaking about the sins that had been placed upon him
at Calvary. And there being the one who had
all of that sin imputed to him, He was guilty of it, and being
guilty of it, though he had never committed a sin, he was justly
crucified by his father for that sin, that it might answer the
demands of the law. What are the demands of the law?
The law demands that the soul that sins, it shall die. The law demands that Cursed is
everyone who continues not in all things written in the book
of the law to do them, but Christ has redeemed us from the curse
of the law. How has he redeemed us from the
curse of the law? By being made a curse for us,
by taking that curse in our place. This is how he, Christ, fulfilled
the righteous demands of the law. He said, I didn't come to
replace it, to get rid of it, I came to fulfill it. This is
how he did. It's exactly as that verse you
know so well, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. God has made Him, Christ,
to be sin for us. He's made him, in a once for
all time act, to be sin for his people, in the place of his people,
to bear the punishment of that sin for his people. He who knew
no sin, he that had no sin, it was all loaded upon him. I don't
understand how, I don't understand the mechanics, but I believe
the truth and the effect of it. The effect of it is that we,
His people, those for whom He died, those whose sins He bore
at Calvary, might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And the two words made, when He was made sin, it was a once
for all time act, just then and then only. When His people are
made the righteousness of God in Him, it means they are continually
caused to become the righteousness of God. in him. That's how he
fulfilled the law. That's how he did it. I don't
believe, some do, but I don't believe that Christ's legal obedience
is that which becomes our righteousness. I believe it's his death. His
death, his keeping of the law perfectly was to prove he was
that fitting substitute, that fitting sacrifice. But in his
death, as Romans 4.25 tells us, he was lifted up for our transgressions
to pay their price, and raised from the dead for our justification,
because the raising from the dead was that which underlined
the justification of his people. It vindicated the sacrifice that
had been paid. If it was by Christ's righteous
acts in life that we are righteous, then I don't see why Galatians
2.21 would say, if righteousness come by the works of the law,
then Christ is dead in vain. It's not that. That was to prove
he was the fitting sacrifice. It's his death. It's his death
that took away our sins. It's his death that justified
us before God. So then, The law is upheld in
what Christ has done. In verses 18 and 19, he says,
"'Til heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in
no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever shall
break one of the least of these commandments and teach men so
shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. And whosoever
shall do and teach them shall be called great.'" God does not
change. God is the great unchangeable
one. He's the same yesterday and today
and forever. And so the law, His law, remains
unchanged as far as the righteousness of God is concerned. You will
find religious folks in our day, there have always been, they're
legalists. and they teach a diminished,
attainable law standard. They teach that, well yes, the
Old Testament law was very strict about picking up sticks on the
Sabbath day, but we'll change it into a much more friendly
Sabbath day law, and we'll have it on a Sunday that, you know,
we can do all sorts of things, we can get our cars out to go
to church, yes, we can do all of that. When the strict Sabbath
law said nothing was to be done, it was a picture of resting in
Christ. but they teach a diminished attainable
law standard in all sorts of respects, and it isn't God's
standard. No. In flesh, the requirements
of God's law remain undiminished. Romans 10.5 says this, Moses
describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. I ask you, Is that the rule that
you want to be under? They talk about the believer's
rule of life. Is that the rule that you want
to be under? Paul says it in Galatians chapter 4 verse 21.
He says, tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, you that
think you can make yourselves righteous with God or more sanctified
with God by the laws you keep and how well you keep them. He
says, tell me, you that desire that, do you not hear the law?
Don't you hear what it really calls for? You're misunderstanding. It calls for a righteousness
way beyond anything that you can achieve. No. The laws and
changing demands are perfectly fulfilled in Christ and in Christ
alone. And believers keep the demands
of the law perfectly by faith in His faithfulness even unto
the death of the cross. He came and fulfilled what all
the Old Testament prophets said of Him. He is Jesus Christ come
in the flesh, exactly as they said. As Daniel said in Daniel
9 verse 25, that Messiah when He comes will finish the transgression. He will make an end of sins. He will make reconciliation for
iniquity. He will bring in everlasting
righteousness. He will do it. Not their works,
but He, the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus Christ will do it. And
He has done it. He, as Romans 10.4 says, He is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Why
is He? because his name is, this is
the name by which he shall be called, the Messiah, the Son
of God, the Christ of God, he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. Jeremiah 23 verse 6. Ten chapters
on, Jeremiah 33 verse 16. This is the name by which she,
his people, his church, his bride, his spiritual bride. This is
the name by which she shall be called. Exactly the same, the
Lord, our righteousness. Being made righteous in Christ
Though flesh is never other than sin until we die, we know that. We know that if we say we have
no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But being
made the righteousness of God in Christ, when we are judged
and found in Christ, then there will be no sin found upon us.
Jeremiah 50 verse 20, the sins and iniquities of Judah and Israel,
that's just a name for the covenant people of God of which his church
is the fulfillment. The sins and iniquities of the
church of God will be looked for, and it says in Jeremiah
50 verse 20, and there will be none. None will be found. There
will be none. Why? Because Christ has taken
it out of the way. He's paid for it. There's no
charge left to answer. He's paid for it. We need to
be found in Him. As Paul said to the Philippians,
he, in Philippians 3, 8 and 9, he says, his desire is that he
might win Christ and be found in Him. Be found resting in Him
on the day of judgment. Not having my own righteousness,
because I know it's always going to be inadequate. That righteousness
which is of the law, and trying to keep the law, but that which
is through faith, the faith of Christ, the faithful works of
Christ. He's doing that which the law
demanded in the place of his people. That's where the righteousness
comes from, the righteousness which is of God by faith. The
result is that there is no record in the books except for one. We read that the books will be
opened and all those who are judged by that strict, unbending
standard of the righteousness of God, their sins will be there
and open. Obviously, not literal books,
God doesn't need books to show him what sins have been committed,
but it's a metaphorical language for the fact that it's like in
a court of law, the legal books will be opened. and their sins
will be there, and they will be judged for it. But people
who are in Christ, there's only one entry, and that's in a book
called the Lamb's Book of Life. Every name for whom Christ died,
the elect, chosen by God before the foundation of the world,
they're there in the Lamb's Book of Life by the grace of God alone. And for those there, there is
no sin to be found. By faith in Christ, the righteous
requirements of the law are satisfied. Even fleshly imperfection, because
we're all imperfect, is purified through faith in Christ. Is that
me making it up? No, it's exactly what the Scriptures
teach us. Ecclesiastes chapter 9 and verse
7 says this to the believer. It says, go thy way, Eat thy
bread with joy, drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God now
accepteth thy works. Why does God accept those imperfect
works? Because actually we're made the
righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's summarise
it with Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 and the first
few verses. Just after. I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. This is how we're delivered from
the body of this death. Then in chapter 8 and verse 1,
Because of this, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. for what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. Listen, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after... don't try to keep it by the flesh,
but after the Spirit, by faith in Christ. For they that are
after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, the enemy of God. It isn't
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they
that are in the flesh However hard they try, they cannot please
God. But you believers, you are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. Do you see there, it makes it
so clear, the righteous requirements of the law Everything that it
demands, everything that the Old Testament and its law demands,
finds its complete fulfillment in Christ. And everything you
need for life and eternity is found in Christ and in Him alone. Will you come to Him, believing,
and find rest for your souls? That's what He promises. Amen.