My text this morning can be found
in the first four verses of Romans chapter 8. Romans 7, as I read to you a
while ago, tells us what this carnal and sinful flesh cannot
do. cannot keep the law of god cannot
honor the law of god cannot obey the law of god as we are required
to do so and then romans eight tells us what the law can't do
because of this carnal place and so i titled the message doing
what cannot be done doing what you can't do and doing what the
law can't do, Christ did. He did. He does what cannot be
done. Now it's always been in the heart
of Satan to question the purpose and will of God and the redemption
of his people by his sovereign grace through our Lord Jesus
Christ. He's questioned these things
from the beginning, long before even the beginning of man. He
questioned these things. I believe the fall of Satan was
brought to pass as he heard for the first time the gospel of
Jesus Christ and the glory which should be manifest in him. As
it was announced in glory, as it was preached in glory, made
known in glory. Isaiah 14 records the fall of
old Lucifer. And his sin is summed up in these
five statements. You can read them for yourself
there in Isaiah 14. He said, I will ascend into heaven. He was already in heaven. He
was an angel. What's he talking about, I will
ascend into heaven? Just as Christ ascended into
heaven, he said, I'll do that. I'll do that. He said, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. That is, above the angels. Far
above the angels. Above those whose design is to
minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. He said,
I'm going to ascend above that. I'm going to be way above that.
Thirdly, he said, I'll sit also upon the mount of the congregation.
That is, I'll be king over Zion. I'll be king over the church.
I'm going to sit in the throne. I'm going to be the power. I'm going to be the chief. I'm going to sit also in the
mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. And then
fourthly, he said, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
what's he saying there we know that because christ humbled himself
and become a servant become obedient on the day of the even the death
of the cross that the lord god has highly exalted he raised
him above every nine given him a name above everything every
need go back before him i believe that's what they can say in here
I'll do that. I'll ascend above the heights
of the clouds. I'll be exalted above all, and
I believe that so by his next statement. He said, I'll be like
the Most High. I'll be just like God. I have
it in my ability to do all that I will to do, and this is what
I will to do. I'm going to exalt myself and
be like the Most High perfectly manifesting the glory of God. He never did any of those things,
he just said them in his heart. And God cast him down to the
sides of the pit. He said, in short, Satan saying,
I'll do the work of Christ myself and rob him of his glory. Isn't that what every unbelieving
man says in his heart? And his judgment and all who
followed after him is recorded over in the book of Jude and
verse 6. They are reserved in everlasting
chains of darkness unto the judgment of that great day. There's no
possibility of salvation, no possibility of reconciliation,
Chained up, waiting for that day. Now I said that to say this. Dead sinners, ruined by the fall
of Adam. Sinners yet in their unregenerate
state are said to walk. Now listen to me. According to
the prince of the power of the air, they're doing the same thing
he did. He's leading them down the same
path he walked. They walk according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
That's Ephesians 2, 1 and 2. And he works in them, deceiving
them, beguiling them to reason upon some other foundation other
than the word of God and other than the gospel of Christ. And he leaves them wanting. He
leaves them in darkness. Satan's greatest work, his primary
work, is false religion. That's where he works. That's where he shines. False
religion. He deceives men by lies and half-truths. You know, he told Adam and Eve,
he said, thou shalt not surely die. But the Lord knows the day
you eat that fruit, you'll be like Him. You'll know good and
evil. That's a half-truth. What He didn't tell them was,
knowing the truth, they wouldn't be able to keep it. And knowing
the evil, they wouldn't be able to resist it. It's a half-truth. And so He continues on and on
and on. He gives half-truths. Half-truths. He spoils their minds, Paul said,
by philosophy and vain deceit, using the universally approved
interpretation of the Word of God, and then points to the mass
showing of the multitudes who believe it, and the seemingly
success of their ministry. That's how he does it. He said,
look, look. Because men are depraved by nature,
there's none that understand it, and none that seeketh after
God. That's man. That's what Paul's
telling us over here in Romans 7. He said, I know what the law
says, and believers have a will to
do it. I wish I could. I wish I could. But I know I can't. And he said,
the good that I would, I don't do. What do I do? What I wouldn't do. That's what
I do every time. And then there's the law of God.
God's holy law. Not one statute in it that might
compromise the glory of God. The law in detail, showing to
men and women what's right and good, what God will condone and
what God will not condone. Paul said if there had been a
law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should
have been by the law. There's nothing, there's no flaws,
there's no weakness in the law itself. The law is perfect. The law was given of God. There's no flaw in it, there's
no sin in it, there's no darkness in it. It's holy and just and
good. And our Lord is God come into
the flesh, submitted himself to it. Did he not? He was made of a woman, made
under the law. He walked and submitted himself
to the law of God. And he kept it, and he exalted
it, and he honored it. Now this is what Paul's talking
about back in Romans 7, 14 when he says, and we know that the
law is spiritual. We know that God gave the law. Spirit inspired men to write
that law. It's spiritual, it's perfect,
it's holy, it's just, and it's good. But he said, I'm carnal. You see, this is what men and
women are ignorant of. They're carnal. Yes, that law is holy. Yes, if
you could keep that law, God would honor you. He'd love you.
But you can't keep that law because you're carnal, sold under sin. A carnal man is a natural man,
and a natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him. A natural man is a carnal man.
He's carnally minded. He hates God. To be carnally
minded, it says, is death. And it also tells us that the
carnal mind, now listen, is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be. And so Paul sums it up. Here's
a holy law and here's a wretched man. Here's a good, righteous
law. Without flaw. And here's a man
who's nothing but flaw. And so he sums it all up and
he cries, oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death, this flesh, this sinful flesh? Who gonna
deliver me from that? My friend, believers are a new
creation. All things have passed away and
all things have become new. We've got a new hope built upon
new principles, a new foundation, a new mind, and a new spirit. We see now what we could have
never seen in our sin. We could never see these things
in our carnal state. We see Christ being made of God
unto us, wisdom, understanding all things as we
see them accomplished in Him, see them manifested in Him. We see Christ being made of God
unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And with this mind, this faith,
if you will, we see a glorious liberty, a victory, and deliverance from
the condemnation of God and the law. Now watch this here in Romans
8 and 1. There is therefore now, right
now, no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. What's it mean to walk after
the Spirit? What's he talking about here
when he says those who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit? Talking about speaking in tongues, them that speak in
tongues, those that heal the sick. What's he talking about
walking after the spirit? To walk in the spirit is to walk
with the mind of Christ who lived and died for us that we might
be made righteous in Him sanctified in Him, and have a full and complete
redemption from our sins. That's how a believer walks.
He's not out here trying to attain a righteousness. Romans 7, if
it teaches anything, it teaches the absolute impossibility of
that. That's not going to happen. And if you will, you can go back
to the beginning of Romans, and he'll show you there that the
heathen couldn't do it with the light of creation and conscience,
and the Jews couldn't do it, who had the prophets and every
advantage, the Word of God, they couldn't do it. It's an absolute impossibility
for a man to manifest the righteousness that God demands. But God has
provided that righteousness to the believer in Christ. He did
what we couldn't do. He came down made of a woman,
made under that law to redeem them that were under that law.
He came down in union with his people and obeyed that law in
every jot and tittle. I suspect, I don't know, I've
never told this in the scripture, but I suspect because of the
way he describes the sinner that Christ never cried as a baby. Never cried. David said We come
forth from the womb speaking lies. That baby's crying, but
it don't really need anything. It just wants attention. We come
forth from the womb speaking lies. He didn't. He didn't. If he needed something, he may
have cried. But he didn't. His crying was
not lies of his nature. That's what I'm trying to say.
He obeyed that law. He loved God with all his heart,
soul, mind, and strength and kept that law. Believers are not trying to establish
a righteousness before God. That's what the Jews were doing
in the ignorance of their fallen nature. He tells us plainly in
Romans 10 verse 4 that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes it. And believers are not attempting
to pay for their sins by sacrificing their lives in service to the
church. If you could suffer and serve God forever, it would not
be sufficient to put away your sins. Well, how do you come up
with that, preacher? Because hell is everlasting.
That's why. Everlasting. They'll never pay
for their sins, never. You know, one Sunday morning
there was a family, beautiful spring day, and they walked across
town to go to church. They went in and heard a great
message on the death of Christ. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures, paid the ransom, paid it in full. And on their
way back home, the father noticed that his little boy kind of lagged
behind. He was back behind the family,
and he's just kind of all to himself, looking down and just
kind of kicking around the sidewalk. And you could tell there was
a problem. So his daddy slowed his pace a little bit, and he
went back beside the little one. He said, son, are you OK? Oh,
yes, sir. He said, I'm OK. I'm just a little
confused about what the preacher said about the death of Christ.
He said, I just don't understand it. Well, he said, son, tell
me what you don't understand. Well, he said, I don't understand
how the death of one man could atone for the sins of so many. How can that be? How could the
death of one man on that cross put away the sins of so many? And so they walked on a little
bit and the father suddenly stopped and he pointed down to the sidewalk.
where there was a grasshopper sitting. And he said to the boy's son,
he said, how many grasshoppers do you think it would take to
be worth the life of one little boy? Oh, he said all grasshoppers
in the world wouldn't be worth the life of one little boy. Then
the father stooped down and opened his Bible and he read this passage
to him out of Isaiah. He said, Our Savior said, I am
he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and all the inhabitants
thereof are his grasshoppers. That's why his death can put
away so many sins. Because of who he was. Who he
was. The sufficiency of the death
of Christ is owing to who he was. Believers walk and hope
and rest with the mind of Christ. Now look at verse 2 over here
in Romans 8. For the law, the fixed principle
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from
the law or fixed principle of sin and death. Now sinners don't
become sinners when they sin. Sinners sin because they're sinners. You don't believe that? Next
time your grandkids come to visit, put them in a room and take everything. I mean, put everything you got
for them. Put their eye out there on the
floor and tell them, now don't go in that closet right there.
You can have all this stuff, but don't go in that closet.
And come back in a few minutes and see where they're at. They'll
be in the closet. Sinners sin because they're sinners.
They're sinners. David said we're a strain, a strain from the womb. We go astray
as soon as we be born. And because we're sinners, they
can never by their own deeds reconcile themselves to God. At the end of what might be the
most complete definition of sinful man in the scriptures, Romans
3, 9 through 18, I won't bore you by reading all those verses,
but at the end of those, one of the clearest declarations
of man's sin in the scripture, Paul makes this declaration.
He said, 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,
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law, all 635 statutes of it, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. I've heard so many testimonies
of men talk about salvation in the law. There's no salvation
in the law. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. You won't have to read the law.
Actually, you'll just have to read the very first of the Ten
Commandments. That ought to be enough right
there to tell you you're a sinner. Romans 8 verse 2. Now the law,
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. Romans 8 verse 3. For what the
law could not do, why couldn't it do it? Because 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. What the law could not do, cannot
now nor ever shall do because we're sinners, unwilling and
unable to keep it. The law requires a righteous
nature. If we cannot, and I want you
to listen to me for just a minute, we're talking about the law of
God. The very first thing he says at the beginning of the
law, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul,
mind, and strength. And in the second statute, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Everything else in the law is
inconsequential, isn't it? Because everything else requires
those two motives. And our Lord said everything
in that law hangs on those first two commandments. Actually on
the first one. If you could love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength, you wouldn't
have a bit of problem keeping the rest of that law. But you
don't. And so regardless of what you
do with the rest of the law, it falls short. That's what it
is to be a sinner. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What couldn't the law do? Well,
the law cannot justify us because we're sinners. The law cannot
make us righteous because we cannot obey it. The law could
not sanctify us because we have no mind and heart for it. And
the law cannot give us hope, only misery, because it strips
us and judges us and shuts our mouths, leaves us guilty before
God. Without the law. And what the
law could never do, because we're sinners, he said, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, for
the transgression of that law, for its great demands, he condemned
sin in the flesh in his son. What's that mean? Well, you take
every good thought you ever had, every good deed, your best prayer,
your best offering, your best behavior, and you see it on the
cross in the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. Being crucified. All our sins, the sins of our
righteousness, and the sins, our wicked sins, and lust, and
all those things. There it is, right there. Here's
what God thinks about it, right there. crucified on the cross. He bore our sins in his own body
on a tree. And you can see the law being
honored and exalted in his death. See him justifying us freely
by his grace through the redemption that he accomplished. A preacher, what can the law
do? It can strip. It can strip. All that stuff you thought was
clothing, it'll take it away. It'll strip, it'll leave you
naked before God. The law can condemn. The law
can render a man guilty before God. And the law as a schoolmaster
can bring him to Christ to be justified by faith. But what the law could never
do God did in Christ. He condemned sin in the flesh. Punished our Lord to the full
satisfaction of His justice. Declared and provided for us
a perfect righteousness. And He did all this. Are you
listening? Romans 8 forward. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. What? What's He saying there? He's saying that you can't honor
that law and exalt that law any more than you do when you see
it accomplished in Christ and give Him all the glory for having
exalted it. It's a masterpiece. It's a perfect
righteousness. And what an offense to God to
look at that righteousness and say, yeah, but I still need to
keep the law. You want to know what God thinks
about that? You take a long look at Israel who were going about
in their ignorance trying to establish a righteousness and
would not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. They
died and their blood was so deep it said it was up to the blood
of the bridle on the horses. He slayed Israel by the thousands. Believers do not look to the
law as a standard they must live up to. They see that law satisfied,
honored, and exalted in Christ. And they serve that law by faith
in Christ. Well, that church just don't
believe in works. I don't believe in works of the
law for righteousness, but I believe I can see those works of my Lord
honoring and exalting that law higher than any man's ever done
it. enough to satisfy God. And so I say again, you cannot
honor the law more than you do when you see it exalted and complete
in Christ. And then one more verse and I'll
quit. Turn with me to this one over in Galatians chapter two. Galatians chapter two. I wanna
read you two verses here and I'll wind this thing up. Galatians 2 verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Put to death with Him. I was
in Him by covenant union. I was in Him by that mystical
union of God and flesh in one person. I'm crucified with Him. When they crucified Him, they
crucified me. Nevertheless, He said, I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
died in vain. He died in vain. If it was even
remotely possible for you to obtain a righteousness on your
own, It would make the coming of Christ, his appearance on
this earth as a man, and his death vanity. Vanity. If this justifying righteousness
can be obtained by your obedience to the law, the death of Christ
was completely unnecessary and just a vain show. It accomplished
nothing, fulfilled nothing, good for nothing, if righteousness
can be obtained by man's obedience to the law. And if you make the life and
death of Christ a vain show, then you cast dispersions upon
the wisdom, mercy, grace, and glory of God. You manifest a
great indignity to the person of Christ and his accomplishments
as the mediator of God. And I say this. God help us to
see what this passage is teaching. I'm not teaching men to live
licentious lives or sin that grace may abound. That's ridiculous.
What I'm trying to do is to get you to look to the Savior whose
blood put away our sins and whose righteousness clothes us before
God and leaves us blameless in the presence of His glory. That's
what I'm pointing men to do. I'm pointing men to Christ. Trust
on Him. Rest in Him. When He said, all
you that are labor and heavy laden, He's talking about men
trying to work out a righteousness, trying to save themselves. Quit
trying to save yourselves and fall down at His feet. He'll
save you. He's the Savior. He's the Savior. We're not the Savior. He is.
So look to Him. But don't look to him at his
work like it's a vain show or a great attempt and then you
have to make up the difference. That's not glorifying to God.
I'm going to tell you something. When he bowed his head and said
it's finished, it was done. It's done. All you have to do
is enter into that rest. Enter into rest with him. Believe
on him. That's the gospel best I know
how to preach.