back in John's Gospel chapter
1. As you know, all four of the
Gospel writers, although they all speak of the Lord Jesus Christ,
they presented Him in a different view. For example, Matthew presents
Christ as King in his Gospel. And Mark pictures Him, presents
Him to us as Jehovah's righteous servant. And Luke describes him,
and our Lord referred to himself with these words, I believe,
more often in Luke's gospel than anywhere else, as the Son of
Man. And John tells us, as we just
read, the verses that we read, told us more than once and throughout
his gospel that this is the Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth is
God Almighty, God in the flesh. He's our eternal God and Savior. Another thing peculiar to John's
gospel makes it distinctive is that it's much older than the
other three. It was the last one to be written
and John was an old man by the time he wrote it, by the time
or at the time that God the Holy Spirit moved on him, dictated
to him to write this gospel. So to speak he is like a man
with one foot in heaven And he tells us of his all-glorious
Savior, the Son of God, and he tells us in chapter 20, the reason
is this, that we might believe. Verse 31, but these things are
written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ. John
20, verse 31, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Messiah, the one prophesied of. Don't look for any other. He's
already come. And this Christ is the Son of
God, and that believing ye might have life through his name. That's the purpose of John's
Gospel. And what we have here is the
loving adoration of a sinner for his Savior. That's what the
Gospel of John is. He describes the greatness, the
grace, and the glory of the Son of God as he experienced it. He experienced those things.
Now I like that. I like that, don't you? I like
to hear about a man who's talking from experience, not giving me
something second-hand, but John says, I know these things. In his epistle, especially 1
John, he says that over again. We know, we know, we know that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And then beginning at verse 15
in John 1, The Apostle John tells us what John the Baptist, the
forerunner of Jesus Christ, had to say about the Lord. The Apostle John tells us that
John the Baptist bore witness of Him, verse 15. He bore witness of Him, that
is, Jesus Christ. Well, what else would he do?
What else would he talk about? Who else would he point people
to? He was the forerunner of Christ. He was sent before Christ. And
until Christ came on the scene, John was constantly saying, there's
one coming after me. If you stop short with me, then
you've missed the mark. No, it's the one coming after
me. That's the one I want you to
see. That's the one to believe on.
That's the one that has eternal life. He's the Lamb of God. And
then when Christ did appear on the scene, John said, that's
the one I've been telling y'all about. That's the Son of God. Behold Him. John the Baptist
begins his witness with these words. This is He, verse 15 again,
of whom I speak. This is He. What else would He
do? Man, that is good preaching.
I hope y'all appreciate that. I believe you do. That is good
preaching. To preach nothing but Jesus Christ. To tell sinners about the Son
of God. Nothing else matters. Nothing
else matters. Now you and I have both seen
people, preachers, Christians, professing Christians get sidetracked. with a lot of silly things, just
absolute nonsense that does nobody any good whatsoever. Oh my soul,
may He keep us continually preaching, hearing, witnessing to Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. That's what the Great Commission
consists of. This was he of whom I spake,
John said. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me for he was before me. He was before me. Now wait a
minute, John. You were born first. You were
six months before Mary had Jesus of Nazareth in Bethlehem. And
He came to you, you were already baptizing and after that Jesus
came to you to be baptized. What do you mean He was before
me? Well, as we read just a moment
ago, in the beginning was the Word and the Word's with God
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. That's not talking about John. That's talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ, so that pretty well settles the question,
who was first? Who has the preeminence? There's
none before Him. There's none greater than Him.
In John chapter 3 verses 29 through 30, John repeats it. It says,
He that had the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend, what
does he do? The bridegroom, of course, is
Christ. His church is His bride. It belongs to Him. God chose
the bride and gave it to Christ. Christ became responsible for
it. Just as God brought the Eve from man and brought her to the
man, we were in Christ before the foundation of the world and
God chose us in Christ and gave us to Christ and he became our
surety. He that hath the bride is the
bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, that's John the
Baptist, what does he do? which standeth and heareth him,
he rejoiceth greatly." That's enough for him. Because of the
bridegroom's voice, this my joy therefore is fulfilled, he must
increase, but I must decrease. Again, I repeat, that's good
preaching. That's good preaching, isn't
it, from John the Baptist. John tells us that he, Jesus
Christ, was preferred before him. And I've told you before,
and John uses that expression several times in his first few
chapters of John. What does that mean? Preferred
before him? It means he, that is Christ,
ranks higher than I. You might want to print that
on the margin of your Bible if it's not already there. Preferred
before me means he ranks higher than I do. God was speaking to
John the Baptist, but not about John when he said, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Look at verses 33 and
34 here in John. John 1. John says, I knew him
not. I knew him not. Now he had to
know Jesus of Nazareth. He had to know about his birth.
I'm sure his mother told him and his father told him much
about it. What does he mean I knew him not? He didn't know him in
a saving way. He didn't know him as the Messiah. That requires a revelation. That
requires the gift of God, even to John. I knew him not, but
he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me,
upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining
on him, the same as he was baptized with the Holy Ghost and I saw,
I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God. John the Baptist is still doing
the talking in chapter 1 in verses 16 through 18. It's still John
the Baptist talking. Verse 16, and of his fullness
have we all received and grace for grace. All His fullness. Jesus Christ is all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Where else but Jesus Christ could
God deposit all that? Who else could contain it but
He who is very God of very God? And grace for grace. That means
grace piled on top of grace. That's what it means. It means
grace heaped up on grace. Grace overflowing all the time. Now that brings us to our text,
verse 17. Let's read it together. The title
of my message is Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ. For the law
was given by Moses. Now you notice there the word
but is in italics, meaning it wasn't in the original. And I
don't think it should have been put in, personally. For the law
was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Two facts. Two simple statements. That's an easy outline. The law
was given by Moses. This grace on top of grace doesn't
come through Moses. The law was given to Moses, but
not grace. not grace. For grace you must
look alone to the Lord Jesus Christ. That which the law commands,
represented by Moses, the lawgiver, grace bestows. This is our Savior's
great supremacy being preferred, as John said, above him, over
Moses. It was he who gave the law to
Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God. And it was he
who fulfilled that law that he gave by grace. Think about that. The law he gave demanded righteousness,
and the grace he performed brought in righteousness, giving us complete
justification before God. The law he gave to Moses demanded
satisfaction. The soul that sinneth it declares
must die. God says, the God-man says, I
will in no wise clear the guilty. It demanded satisfaction, and
the grace he performed gives satisfaction. It gives us a perfect
redemption. The law he gave demanded our
death. The grace he performed accomplished
death in our place. Glorious atonement, glorious
substitution. The law he gave demanded holiness. The grace he performs gives holiness. Perfect sanctification, not progressive
sanctification. Oh no, perfect sanctification
in regeneration. In regeneration, in the new birth,
Christ is formed in us. Christ in us. The hope of glory. This is what John is speaking
of in his epistles when he says, His seed abideth in you and you
do not sin. He cannot sin. That new man never
sins. The old man doesn't do anything
but sin. And all this grace by which the
Lord Jesus Christ has magnified the law and made it honorable
and the everlasting salvation of his people was done in truth. Notice that. Grace and truth. That is, it was done in absolute
accordance to God's law without the least compromise. It's amazing
how many people wrongly imagine that the death, the life and
death of the Lord Jesus Christ somehow lowered God's standard. We couldn't keep the law as God
demanded, so Christ in his life and death lowered that standard. I mean, it was like a fence too
high originally. We couldn't step over, so Christ
brought the fence down so we could. No, no, no, no. No, no,
no. He didn't destroy God's law. He fulfilled God's law. He fulfilled
every bit of God's law. The law was given by Moses. The law was not given to save
us, but to show us our need of a Savior. That's the purpose
of the law. This is what God uses the law
to do. Our schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ, we read in Galatians. The law in the hands of God's
Holy Spirit is used to get sinners lost. To get sinners lost. Oh Larry,
everybody's lost. They may, that's true, a lot
of everyone outside of Christ is lost, but they don't know
it. They don't know it. That's why they can sit under
the preaching of the gospel and not be moved. That's why they
can be satisfied with a silly religious decision or taking
a preacher's word by shaking his hand or signing a card and
never be disturbed, lay down and sleep like a log, trusting
a false hope. The reason is they've never been
lost. Only God can get them lost. It
takes a miracle of God's grace to convince a sinner that they're
lost. Romans chapter 3, verses 19 through
20. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped. Any sinner that's still mouthing
off about their righteousness, their goodness, their morality,
their religion, have never been slain by God's law. Or they would
quit running their mouth and sit down like Job and sight cloth
and ashes and say, man, I didn't know what I was talking about.
The law shuts our mouths, and all the world may become, what?
Guilty before God. They've always were guilty. Oh,
but God by His law proves them guilty. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. It convinces us that we're sinners.
We wouldn't know our guilt or feel the need to be free from
it otherwise, otherwise. I mean, no sinner, no safe sinner,
no believing sinner ever just all of a sudden wakes up one
morning and say, hmm, I think I'm lost. I realize I'm lost. No, no, no, no. No, God, God
gets them lost. God convinces them that they're
lost. And this is what Paul says in
Galatians 3. Here's the purpose of God's law, to declare us guilty,
to stop our mouths, to reveal our sin, and this, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. And that's what John the Baptist
did. That's what was prophesied concerning John the Baptist.
When you read, look in Isaiah chapter 40. These words, although
they remind us of the brevity of life, flesh is grass, all
the flower, the honor, the glory is like the flower grass, it
soon withers and falls off. But it means more than that.
This is a prophecy of John the Baptist and what his ministry
was for, what God intended by it. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 6,
the voice said cry and he said what shall I cry? All flesh is
grass. Well, that's not very flattering.
Well, let's read it again. All flesh is grass, and all the
goodness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth up
on it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Now, take
those words, keep them in mind, and apply them to what we read
in Matthew chapter 3, the words of John the Baptist. Matthew
3 verse 7. This work, this stripping of
God's Holy Spirit that Isaiah is talking about is the very
thing that John did. But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, you see John calls to stir, as
we mentioned, And people just begin to flock to him at the
banks of Jordan. And the Pharisees come and say,
well, we want to get in on this. The Pharisees and Sadducees came
to his baptism, and he said to them, oh, generation of vipers,
can you imagine a preacher saying that to anybody today? You know,
they want to win friends and influence people. They want everybody
to like them. And they just... I saw a fellow
up there on the news. He was a TV preacher. I don't like to use the word
preacher. If they don't preach the gospel,
they're not a preacher. But he said, tune in to our shows. It's
been... It's sponsored by a lot of the churches in the area.
And then he smiles and says, we love you. We love you. God
loves you. And we love you. I looked at Rob and said, that
dude don't know me. How can he love me? He don't know me and
nothing about me. These Pharisees, these religious
leaders, come to John and says, John, baptize us. Baptize us,
John. I mean, after all, they were
the elite of the elite. They were the who's who on the
Sunday morning religious page. Their names would be there. And
look what John said, verse 7. Oh, generation of vipers, who
have warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth
therefore fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham, which is exactly what they did. We have Abraham
to our father, for I say unto you that God is able of these
stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Not very flattering.
And now also, John goes on in verse 10, now also the axe is
laid to the root of the tree. Now you Pharisees, y'all just
dealing in fig leaf religion. That won't get it done. The axe,
the axe of God's law, the axe of Holy Spirit conviction must
be laid to the root of the tree. We're going to get to the heart
of the matter. Therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth
good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. And in order to
make room for the display of the divine glory in Christ Jesus
and his salvation, there has to be, what John's ministry did,
a withering work by God's Holy Spirit. Spurgeon preached a great
message, and that was the title of it, from Exodus, those verses
that I read to you, the withering work of God's Holy Spirit. It's necessary. It has to be
done. It's a preparation for grace,
by God's grace. And this was seen under the ministry
of John the Baptist. And the picture is a preparation
of the Holy Spirit in men's hearts in order that the glory of the
Lord should be revealed and human pride be brought down. You say
that doesn't apply to you? Oh, yes it does. Oh, yes it does. And if you think it doesn't,
that's just evidence of how proud you are. Oh, John came and in
effect was preaching, come down sinner, come down sinner. The axe is laid to the root of
the tree. And in his preaching, the spirit
blows upon the flesh, and that which seems so beautiful, like
the flower of the grass, it withers by His grace, and thank God that
it does. There's now room made for the
ever-abiding Word and the Great Spirit, the Great Shepherd of
the sheep, who brings spiritual light. Yes, this withering work
is necessary, and that's what John's preaching done. The fleshly
religion, and that's all it was, the fleshly religion of the Jews
was then in its prime. Man, it was in its prime. There
had been 400 silent years between Old Testament, the last prophet
that spoke in the Old Testament, and when Christ appeared. 400 years. God didn't speak to
anybody for those 400 silent years. And you know what happened?
Religion flourished. Men did what they thought was
right in their own eyes. And when Christ appeared on the
scene, these religious Pharisees said, we don't need you. Who
do you think? We've got Abraham for our father.
You don't know who your father is. The fleshly religion was
in full force. Phariseeism proudly walked the
streets in all of its pomp and said, look at that. Christ said
that's what they did, didn't he, Bill? They said, you pray
on street corners. You find the busiest intersection
you can find, and you stand there and pray so everybody can see
how religious you are. It's all an outward show. Christ
said, don't be like the Pharisees. They do everything they do to
be seen of men. Don't be like that. They're like
whited sepulchers. They're like whitewashed graves.
Oh, they look good on the outside, but inside, they're full of dead
men's bones. And John's work. was to level
the mountains and to lay low every lofty imagination. I imagine
when those Pharisees and Sadducees heard him come preaching, especially
to them, repent, man, it was like a bucket of cold water in
their face. It was like a scorching wind
to their self-righteousness. It was a killing blast for the
confidence of their dead ceremony or what we could properly call
What describes 99% of what goes on today? Christless religion. Did you hear that? Christless religion. Man, it's big business. Is there
anything in America that brings in more bucks, is bigger business,
and that appeals to the flesh of men and women than religion? Huh? I mean, we could pitch 10
here, but I don't want to. I don't want to. Big bucks, big
bucks. We've got America with your name
on it. Come to our church. I mean, you're bound to like
something. I tell you what, if we're doing something you don't
like or we're not providing something you would like, just let us know
and we'll give it to you. Just give it to you, just like
that boardwalk I worked on up in New Jersey. People would walk
by and say, oh, don't walk by. Bring that little girl over here
and try to win the prize. And everybody was competing with
one another to try to get the crowd in to get their money.
That's modern day religion. Men have discussed this question,
how much does one need to know before they can be saved? Or
then they'll ask this question, how little can one know to be
saved? I know this. I know this. According to God's
Word, no one, no one will ever be saved, has been saved, who
hasn't been lost first. It won't happen. Ask any believer,
yourself. No matter who we are, or when
we live, or where we live, God by His grace has to get us lost. Remember what the Pharisees again
said to our Lord? That day he called Matthew and
Matthew made a feast in his honor at his house. And Matthew's former
friends, the Pharisees, the tax collectors, and publicans, they
came around. And they said, why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? And Christ, of course, heard
them. And he said, when Jesus heard them, he said, they that
behold don't need a physician, but they that are sick. He's
talking to the religious leaders. And no one will know that they're
sick that they are anything but whole until God convinces them
of it. That's just so. Verse 13 of Matthew
9. But go and learn, he said to
them, go and learn what that means. I will have mercy and
not sacrifice. And I'm not come to call the
righteous but sinners to repentance. Every man thinks himself righteous
until God teaches him that he's not. Only God can make a sinner. I can't think of anything better
that describes this than Joseph's heart's old hymn. He said, to
understand these things are right, this grand distinction should
be known. Though all are sinners in God's
sight, there are but few so in their own. Such as these our
Lord was sent, they're only sinners who repent. And a prime example
of that is, of all people, a Pharisee. He stands, our Lord says, and
prays thus with himself, Lord, I thank you that I'm not like
other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this,
publican. Clueless. The man was clueless. He was lost. He was undone. He was trusting his own man-made
Christless religion. He was going to hell, and he
didn't have a clue. didn't have a clue. What comfort
heart went on the right? What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? Was sinner is a sacred thing?
Oh, indeed they are. The Holy Ghost had made him so. New life from him we must receive
before for sin we rightly grieve. And the publican is an example
of that. Lord, he said as he bowed his
head and wouldn't even look up toward heaven? Lord be merciful
to me, the sinner. What happened? I mean, there
you have two extremes. The self-righteous, blind Pharisee,
and a needy sinner. God got that publican lost. He'd been taught of God. Remember, How our Lord introduced
that parable of the Pharisee and the Publican? He spake this
parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous, and they despised others. Hart went on to write,
This faithful saying let us own, where well worthy it is to be
believed, that Christ into the world came down, that sinners
might by him be saved. Sinners are high in his esteem,
and sinners highly value him. Let me just sum it up. Never
lost, never found. Never stripped, never clothed.
Never brought down, never left it up. Years ago, years ago,
30 years ago, probably, I preached in Danville, Grace Baptist Church
in Danville one morning, and after the service we were walking
to the car and Roger came up to me and said, Dad, I understood
that. I understood that. He turned
to me and preached a lot of times. He never said that. He said,
I think I understood that. Oh, a few days went by, and we
were at home, and he got me a sign, and he said, Dad, I've been thinking
about what you preached. And he said, Dad, I don't really
know what I've done that's so bad. I mean, I really don't know
why God would send me to hell. I don't know what. And I thought
to myself, come down, sinner. Come down. Come down. More time
went by. Quite a bit of time went by.
And then he came to me on this occasion and he said, Dad, do
you think, do you think that God could have mercy on a sinner
like me? Oh, he'd been stripped. He'd
been brought down. I think this is what old Simeon
meant when he spoke to Mary and Joseph in the temple that day.
Simeon blessed him and said, unto Mary his mother, behold,
this child is set for the fall and the rising again, the bringing
down and the lifting up, the stripping and the clothing, the
fall and the rising of many in Israel. And thank God that he
does. The second part of the verse. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He had it. It comes from Him. He's that fountain that grace
flows from the needy sinners. It doesn't come from any other
source. And aren't you glad? Aren't you
amazed? Aren't you amazed that it flowed
to you? Is there anything that's ever
happened to you in life that even compare, no, of course not. Is there anything that causes
you greater wonder, greater adoration than this? Often, often, most
of the time, after I've preached, Billy comes up to me with tears
in his eyes, and he'll say, Larry, he saved me. Why would he save
me? Why would he save me? Why would he elect me? Why would
Jesus Christ die for me? Well, I tell you what, Billy,
the reason's not in you. I know that. It's all because
of his unmerited favor. Oh, thank God for that grace
that came to such sinners as we are through the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is what the psalmist sang
about when he said, he brought me up also out of a horrible
pit, out of the Murray clay, and he set my feet upon a rock.
and established my goings, and he hath put a new song in my
mouth. What did you sing, David? Oh, unto me, unto me, give all
the credit, no, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it in
fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Oh, it's grace that closes,
it's grace that lets us up, and grace, only God's grace, gives
us a good hope. The experience of grace, I know,
is different in those sinners who are blessed to receive it,
but that grace is always the same. It's always the same. It's
the grace of the triune God that flows from the fountain of living
water. Have you ever heard Him speak?
Have you ever heard Him say to you, like nobody else was around,
I mean, He signaled you out. Saul, Saul, I'm talking to you. All that band of soldiers with
you, I'm not talking to them. I'm talking to you, Saul. Ever
had that experience? Ever heard him say, after he
brings you down from your high horse, after he strips you, say,
whisper these sweet words, if any man thirst, let him come
to me and drink. Come to me and drink. Isaiah
45, these familiar verses. Tell ye and bring them near,
yea, let them, this is God speaking, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? And there
is no God else beside me, a just God, grace and truth, a just
God and Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me. Doesn't it just break your heart
to see people looking everywhere else but there? Look at priests
and preachers and churches and tradition, and God says, no,
no, no. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. Oh, grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. God who at sundry times and in
divers manners, Luke 1, spake in times passed into the fathers
by the prophets, had in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, and by whom also
he made the worlds. And that was God's last word. Final. That word that we read
up In this chapter, John 1, that word that was made flesh will
never be repeated. God said, this is my last word
to you. This is my beloved son. Hear
ye him. That's it. That's it. That's
final. And thank God that it is. And our Lord Jesus Christ, that
word made flesh, said, I am the door. I am the door, the only
door. There is, by me, not by anyone
else, not by preacher or priest, but by the door of Jesus Christ. If any man enter in, what a blessed
promise. You proved that it was so, didn't
you? You can bear witness to this, can't you? If any man enter
in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. Now notice where the if is in
that verse of scripture. It's not with Jesus Christ. There's no uncertainty about
His power to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him.
The if lies with if any man is entered in. If you enter in,
there's no question you shall be saved. Over that door that
Christ said He was is written in large letters that says, come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Well, I proved that. Louie, there's
a lot of things I don't know, but I know that's true. I know
that's true. In my mind's eye right now, I
see that skinny, Looked malnourished because he ate drugs instead
of food. Long-haired, peace, peace. And there was no peace. Clueless, just clueless. Until
God got me lost. Lord, have mercy upon me. I'm the sinner. Larry, come unto
me. But I'll give you rest. And for the first time in my
life, I had rest. I had peace. Peace with God. No man is justified by the law
and the sight of God. It is evidence for the just shall
live by faith. And here's the clincher. Galatians
3 is where I'm reading from. Verse 13, Paul says, Christ had
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. So don't look to the law. It
was never intended to save. The thunder from Sinai in the
hands of the Holy Spirit is used to drive us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Behold Him there. under the law
fulfilling all righteousness because God demanded it. God
demanded it. And by doing so Christ enables
God to be just when he justifies a sinner and when he does so
it's forever and it's complete and it's perfect. And let me
say this The law is not, I hope nobody here believes that it
is, the law is not the believer's rule of life. We don't look to
the law for a guide on how to live. Paul in Romans 7 deals
with that explicitly. Compares it to a woman whose
husband has died. Paul said as long as that man
was alive, she was obligated to him. She was obligated to
be a faithful wife to him. But once he's dead, she's free. She's free from that. She can
marry whom she wants. And Paul said, even so, a believer's
relationship to the law is exactly like that. He's dead to the law
through the body of Christ, the one who loved them and gave himself
for them. And remember this too. Believers
have a new nature. This is what these legalists
forget. Believers have a new nature. They don't need laws. They don't need the threatening
of God's law or being fearful all the time. They serve God
because they love Him. They do it naturally, according
to the new nature. They respond to God Almighty. One more thing. Did Christ not
keep the law by His perfect obedience to it? And was he not the representative
when he did so of his people? I come to fulfill the law, he
said. Then why does the believer have to fulfill it? They could
never do it anyway, and Christ did it for them. No one would
ever think, well, anyone that's got any sense, any light that
knows God, would dare say that Jesus Christ on the cross, concerning
the work of redemption, concerning putting away sin, bringing everlasting
righteousness, would ever think when he cried, it is finished,
who would dare say that it wasn't? Who would dare say that? Who
would dare say that? Well, even so, who would dare
say that when Jesus Christ lived that perfect life of obedience
before God, doing it as our representative, and then saying before he went
to the cross, Lord, I finished the work that you gave me to
do, who would dare say that he didn't? Oh no, living and dying,
Jesus Christ was the substitute and representative of his people. So now believers live their life
in this world, not under the law, but under grace, under grace. And seeing as they go, as they
make their way through this world, free from the law, oh, happy
condition. Jesus has bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, oh, Christ have redeemed me. Once for all, now
we are free. There's no condemnation. Jesus
provides a perfect salvation. Oh, come unto me. Hear his sweet
call. Come and he saves us once for
all. Moses, the lawgiver, could not
lead the children of Israel into the promised land, could he?
Remember that? No. He couldn't do it. Remember
who did? Remember who did? It was Joshua. It was Joshua. Moses, the law
giver, couldn't, but Joshua did. Joshua means Savior. It's the
same word as Jesus. It means the salvation of the
Lord, and he takes them into the promised land. Even so, our
Joshua, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. When I was preparing this message
and thinking about it, I remembered what I thought would be an excellent
illustration that I had read in one of Spurgeon's books years
ago. And I knew the book. And I thought, man, this would
fit in so good. And I found it. Let me share
it with you, and we'll wrap this up. Mr. Spurgeon, at one time
in his life, had an older, older preacher that was a neighbor
of his. And Spurgeon said he ran into
him one morning and said, I'm pleased to see you are so well
at your age. And the old man replied, yes
I am, for an old man and hardly feel myself failing at all. Spurgeon
said, I hope you're in good health and will continue for years to
come. And that like Moses, you will go down to your grave with
your eye undimmed and your natural force unabated. All very fine,
the old gentleman said. But in the first place, Moses
never went down to his grave. He went up. He corrects Mr. Spurgeon. And in the next place,
what is the meaning of all that you have been talking about?
Why did not the eye of Moses wax dim? Spurgeon said, I suppose,
sir, Spurgeon said, he replied very meekly, that his natural
mode of life and quiet spirit had helped him to preserve his
faculties and made him a vigorous old man. And the old preacher
said, very likely, but that's not what I'm driving at. What's
the meaning, what's the meaning the spiritual teaching of the
whole matter. Is it not just this? Moses is
the law, and what a glorious end of the law the Lord gave
it on the mount of his finished work. How sweetly its terrors
are all laid to sleep with a kiss from God's own mouth. And mark
you, the reason the law no more condemns us is not because its
eye is dim, so that it cannot see our sins, or because its
force is abated with which to curse and punish but Christ has
taken it up to the mount and gloriously made an end of it
by his death on behalf of his people. John Calvin in your bulletin
in his will, his last will and testament said this when he was
about to die, I do testify that I live and purpose to die in
this faith which God has given me through his gospel and that
I have no other dependence for salvation than the free choice
which is made of me by Him. With my whole heart I embrace
His mercy through which all my sins are covered for Christ's
sake and for the sake of His death and sufferings." When I
read that, I thought, man, let me die like that. Let me die
like that, looking unto Jesus and through whom I have received
saving grace that will bring me the glory. He'll give grace
and glory. Hallelujah. What a Savior. God
bless you. God bless you.