My subject this morning is the
righteousness of God. You'll find all through the book
of Romans, Paul talks about the righteousness of God. And he begins in chapter 1 by
saying, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed." And that was
his hope. Everywhere he went, he preached
the righteousness of God. Now, Paul begins this chapter
declaring a strong inward desire for the salvation of his kinsmen. He said, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. And this is kind of a restatement
or an affirmation of what he said back in chapter 9. You go
back to chapter 9 and read those first two or three verses. And
there, he uses even stronger language to describe that burden,
saying that I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. He loved his people, and
he had a strong burden for them and prayed for them. All true
evangelism begins with a burden for the souls of men. That's
where it starts. That's where it starts. It starts
in that experience of heart that a man receives when God saves
his own soul. You know, he saved one man and
he ran and told his brother. And brother saved him. The Lord
saved his brother. All true evangelism begins with
a burden for the souls of men. And I hardly believe that Paul's
burden, I heard some of the old writers wanted to use a little
prejudice here toward the Jews, but I hardly believe that Paul's
burden was only for them because he speaks of the Gentiles throughout
the rest of the chapter. That's why I wanted to read that
whole chapter to you this morning. He speaks of that people who
were not a people and yet they were the people of God, these
Gentiles. He gave his whole life to the
ministry of the gospel to the Gentiles and calls himself, in
particular, God's apostle to the Gentile. But these people,
these Jews, were especially on his mind and heart because he
was one of them. He was raised among them, and
he had a keen insight into their concepts of God and their ways
of worship. I know Henry Mahan very well. And as a young man, I remember
him coming out of the Southern Baptist Association. I mean,
I don't remember the actual time when he came out, but I was aware
of it when I was a young man. And nobody could deal with fundamentalism
the way Henry Mahan could, because he came out of it. He grew up
with it. He had a burden for those people. And he ministered
to them as best he could. Now, in order for a man to have
a burden for lost sinners, four things must come to pass in that
man's life. Do you ever think about it? I
know we think often that we'd like to have more of a burden
for sinners than what we have. I wish I'd spend more time in
prayer for them. Well, to have this burden, four
things has to take place in a man's life. First of all, that man
must come to possess a clear and certain knowledge of the
condition of man. Man, if left to himself, if left
to the influence of this world and worldly religion, is doomed. He's doomed. My children are
doomed if God doesn't intervene in their life. They're lost.
I know that. I know the condition of man if
God leaves him to himself. He's gone. There's not even a
shadow of hope for him if God leaves him to himself. If God
leaves him to himself, what do I mean by that? I mean if he
leaves him under the influence of this world and this world's
religion and this world's schools, this world's education, if he
leaves them under the leadership of the nations of this world,
if that man is left to himself, he's a goner. Now, if you don't know that,
you can't have a burden for men's souls. There's no hope for them. Salvation
with man, of man, and by man is a total impossibility. They watched the disciples, watched
that rich young ruler walk away with his tail tucked between
his legs, his head all down walking away, a rich man had every thing
possible that a church could look for that was in this man.
And here he is walking away from the Lord rejected. And they said,
who then can be saved? And our Lord, knowing the thoughts
of their heart, turned to them and said, with man it's impossible. It's impossible. Any man who's
not absolutely convinced of the total depravity of man cannot
minister the gospel of God's sovereign grace because there's
nothing in this gospel that's dependent on man. And you're
not going to get very far with people who don't believe that
they're depraved. If you don't believe they're
depraved, you're not going to get very far with them in this gospel
of grace because it doesn't have anything dependent on man. It
doesn't appeal to men. It appeals to God. It doesn't
glorify men, it glorifies God. It's all of God and all of grace. It's by representation and substitution. And many times it only refers
to two men, Adam and Christ. The entire chapter, Romans chapter
5, that entire chapter deals with two men, Adam and Christ.
Adam and Christ. And I'm convinced that those
who attempt to preach in such a way as to skirt about the issues
of the gospel and take away its offense to men, they do so because
of an ignorance or unbelief of man's total depravity. That's
why they do it. They think there's a little bit
of spark in there, and if I can blow on it, I can get a fire
started. They believe this man has all the faculties and all
the things that's needed, and if I just sit down with him in
the corner and I just tell him these things, then he has the
capability to know what I'm saying. No, he don't. God don't open
his heart. He'll go right in his ear and
right out that way. It'll roll off of him like water
off a duck's back. It's all of God, and it's all
of grace, and man is dead. He's dead. The Spirit of the
Lord took Ezekiel out to a valley covered with dead men's bones,
and He said, Son of man... He asked him a few questions,
and then He said, Son of man, these bones are the whole house
of Israel. So this is where A burden for
the lost is when you understand what it is to be lost. Until
you understand that, you can't even hope to have a burden for
lost sinners. I'm never going to have a true
burden for people that I believe can save themselves. And then
secondly, if I would have a burden for the salvation of men and
women, I must have a clear and certain knowledge that God's
willing and able to save them. Do you find yourself troubled
with that? Do I believe God's willing and able to save sinners? I'm going to tell you something.
A man told me this 30 years ago. He said, God's more willing to
save than men are to be saved. That's true. I found that to
be true. And I tell you this, nowhere
is God's power and willingness to save sinners made known clearer
than it is in the person and work of His beloved Son. The
coming of Jesus Christ into this world was all about salvation. It's all about the redemptive
will of God to save a people. It's not about condemnation.
It's about salvation. It's not about being unwilling.
It's about being willing. It's to manifest the will of
God. Our Lord said when He was born, when He entered into this
world and appeared here as the sinner's substitute, He said
in the volume of the book, it's written of Me, I come to do Thy
will, O God. This is God's will that His Son
come into this world and give Himself for sinners. God's willing. He's more willing to save than
I am to be saved. Coming of Christ into the world
was to manifest and accomplish the will of God. And if you'll
be careful to read it, everywhere you find the will of God nearly
in the scripture, it has to do with his redemptive will. This is the will of him that
sent me that everyone would see if the son and believeth on him
may have everlasting life. I don't know how you could express
a willingness of God any clearer than that. God sent His Son not
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. And Paul, whose burden for sinners
we're talking about here in Romans chapter 10, he said, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came into the world specifically to save sinners of whom I am
cheap. And I've got all the hope in
the world of the salvation of sinners if I can find one. I
can't find a sinner. I know what man is. I know that
man is a sinner. I know he's totally depraved.
I know he's lost and he don't know it. But I can't find one
that will acknowledge it. And if I do, I've got good news
for him. Christ died for sinners. His coming has to do with the
redemptive will of God. He came seeking to save that
which was lost. And it's not God's unwillingness
to save that will send you to hell, but your unwillingness
to believe on the Son of God. That's what will send you to
hell. He that believeth not, he said, is condemned already.
He was condemned back in Adam, and he stays condemned because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And it's not an inadequacy of the means. The means are in place
and have been sufficient to save sinners from the beginning. God doesn't make up things and
try them, and then they don't work. He said, well, that age
is gone. I'm going to have to come up
with something else. That's not how God does. His means has been
in place since the very beginning. It's not an inadequacy of the
means. God's put his means into place. It's the heart of man who will
not come to Christ that he might be saved. And then the third
thing needed for a true burden for the souls of men is a clear
and certain knowledge of the love of God for His people. God loves His people. He loves His people. You know,
it's hard to believe. that God loves me. I can talk
about his love for you. I can talk about his love for
his elect. But it's so contrary to my nature
to believe that God loved me. Yet that's what Paul preached.
He said God loved us, gave himself for us. Do I believe that? Do I believe
God has a people and he loves them? And that love is not going
to fail. It can't fail. This is the love of God, and
it cannot fail. Who can separate you from the
love of Christ? Things present, things to come,
life or death or any other creature, nothing is going to be able to
separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. He loves His people. He commended
that love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He died for us. And it's that
kind of love perceived in the heart that will compel men to
minister to fallen sinners. Christ loved me while I was yet
a sinner. Why do I find it so hard for
me to love another and to believe that God's going to save him?
And then fourthly. If I'd have this burden for men's
souls, I must have a clear and certain knowledge of the means
of reconciliation. We don't just say, well, God's
going to save everybody He wants to and then go sit down. No, He has means set in place
to save His elect. God devised means, He said, to
recover His banished. And as ambassadors of Christ,
we minister to men as though God did beseech you by us, be
you reconciled to God. I tell you, this is something
this world, this present generation in which we live, do not believe. They do not believe that. They
don't believe in the necessity of the preaching of the gospel.
They just don't believe it. I'll tell you this, if I didn't
believe it, I wouldn't preach. I said, I wouldn't even start.
I wouldn't even start, because I know something about the heart
of man. My brother said to me one time, we were having a discussion,
and he said, well, if I believe what you believe, I wouldn't
preach at all. I said, no, if you believe what I believe, you
preach. Because you'd know not to try
to preach to men to save themselves, because you'd know they're lost.
And you would preach to men because you know that's God's ordained
means to call out His elect. All right. We've got a man here
with a burden for the lost. He knows their condition. He
knows God's willingness to save. He knows the means. He knows
something of the love of God for His people. But there's a
fly in the ointment. There's a fly in the ointment.
Satan has deceived men's minds with the idea that they can produce
a righteousness acceptable to God by their own obedience. He's
deceived men to believe that. Actually, salvation is God saving
the unrighteous, sinners. They just couldn't believe it.
Do you know your master eats and drinks with sinners? Well,
yeah, that's why he came. Why he came, minister to sinners. Satan's deceived men. He's deceived
their minds with the idea that they can produce a righteousness
acceptable to God. The proof of that is this. When
do you feel good? Before you pray or after? Huh? When are you convicted? I ate
a meal and I didn't pray, and now I'm convicted because I didn't
pray. That's self-righteousness. That's what that is. That's all
it is. Listen to as Paul describes the
problem here, Romans 10, verse 3. He states his burden for the
people. He tells us that his people had
a zeal of God, but it wasn't according to knowledge. Now listen,
verse 3, here's the problem. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness, Ignorant of it. Didn't know what
it was. They didn't know anything about
God's essential righteousness and they didn't know anything
about God's imputed righteousness in Christ. They were ignorant
of God's righteousness and they were going about to establish
their own righteousness. And because they were, they have
not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. That's
the problem with this whole generation. It's always been a problem. It's
been a problem with every generation. Satan's primary work in this
world is to transform men into ministers of righteousness, not
God's righteousness, self-righteousness. And if you'll go over and read
2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 through 15, you'll see that. They're transformed into ministers
of righteousness and they're called his ministers, Satan's
minister. The whole book of Galatians is
written to a group of churches bewitched by Satan's ministers,
selling them on the idea that they could produce their own
righteousness, that they were saved by grace but now they were
depended back under the law to walk and to produce righteousness. And Paul told them, he said,
if righteousness come by the law, Christ died in vain. He
died in vain. Now, if you can see past the
facade of religion, you'll discover that there's only two kinds of
religion in the whole world, works and grace. Well, what's
works religion all about? It's all about producing a righteousness,
self-righteousness. That's what it's about. All works
religion. Salvation by grace trusts in
Christ. Trusts in his righteousness.
Stands in his righteousness. Hopes in his righteousness. Paul
said, oh, he said that I might win Christ. and be found in him,
not having my own righteousness." Now, that's enough to get you
to throw it away, isn't it? He didn't want to be found in
his. If by grace, Paul said, then
it's no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. And the
scripture is abundantly clear that salvation is altogether
a work of grace. And then at the close of Romans
chapter 5, now I'll just quote this to you or you can turn over
there, whichever you prefer. At the close of Romans chapter
5, he'd been dealing with these two federal heads, Adam and Christ. Sin entered through Adam. Passed upon all men. Brought
down upon man the condemnation of God. And now he tells us in
this very last verse, He said, as sin hath reigned unto death,
and that's what it did in Adam, it reigned unto death, even so
might grace reign, how? Through righteousness. Isn't that what he said? Not
yours. Might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The salvation of God, which is
His gift to all that believe on the name of the Son of God,
is a salvation that declares God's righteousness in His justification
of believers. And that through the person and
work of Christ, they are righteous before God. There's people in
our day telling men and women that they don't have to know
anything. to be saved. You don't have to know anything
to be saved. That's the most idiotic statement I ever heard
in my life. It is. You don't have to know
anything to be saved. You can just stay home and be
saved. You can go out on an oak tree and be saved. You can go
out on a lake and be saved. You can be saved anywhere. You
don't have to hear anything. You don't have to know anything.
You don't have to understand anything. Where do men get such
ideas? They didn't get it out of this
book, I can tell you that. It said in this book, God set
forth His Son as a propitiation for our sins, that which enables
God to save us. He's set forth as a propitiation
to declare God's righteousness. That's how He's set forth. If
He ain't set forth that way, you're preaching another Jesus. Listen to this, the Son of God.
John said, we know this. Every believer knows this. The
Son of God came and had given to us an understanding. Why thought
He didn't have to understand anything? Well, that ain't what
it says. He's given us an understanding that we might know Him that's
true. And that we might know that we're in Him that's true.
And this is eternal life. This is salvation. Listen to this one. None other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Over in Acts 13, he said, through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Over
in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he said, for God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. Now
listen, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Now, I said all that to say this.
The issue in the salvation of sinners is the righteousness
of God. That's the issue. That's the
issue. And if you miss this, you miss
salvation, just like Paul's kinsmen. He said, I pray for them that
the Lord will save them. What was wrong with them? They
were ignorant of the righteousness of God. Romans 10.2, they had a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. What's zeal? That ain't a word
we use a whole lot nowadays. What does zeal mean? That means
an active enthusiasm. That's what it is. Active enthusiasm. I believe we could say the same
thing for our generation. They have an active enthusiasm
for God, but not according to knowledge. What was missing? Where did their knowledge fall
short? They being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. But how could Paul, how
did he know? I'm asked that all the time.
How do you know what them people believe over there? How did he know these people
didn't know the righteousness of God? How could he just make
a blanket statement like that? How could he say that? What made
him so sure that they were ignorant of God's righteousness? Well,
here it is, Romans 10, 4. Because Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's
why. That's why. The righteousness
of God in Christ is an issue resolved in the hearts of sinners
by way of the gospel of Christ. And you're never going to have
peace with God until this issue is resolved in your heart. The
righteousness of faith is the word of faith which we preach.
And Paul readily admits this willingness of God to save, and
he said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord is
going to be saved. But how are you going to call on Him in whom
you have not believed? And how are you going to believe
in Him of whom you have not heard? There's some things to know,
some things to learn, some things to be preached and believed. We preach salvation by representation
and substitution. Christ represented a people given
to Him by the Father before the world began, and that Christ
died as our substitute, bearing our sin, putting away our sin,
canceling our debt before God. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to some. No, that ain't what that says.
He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now, if we have time, I'd like
for you to consider four or five things which Paul tells us in
these verses as far as Christ being into the law for righteousness.
First of all, that the righteousness here is spoken of is the righteousness
of God. This is the righteousness of
God. It's not your righteousness approved of God. That's not what
it is. It's not the best you can do
and then counted for righteousness. And it's not a superior righteousness
to those who are less righteous. Listen to this old Pharisee over
here in Luke 18. Our Lord gave this example. He
said, this old beggar come in to pray, and the Pharisee come
in to pray. And the Pharisee, he stood way
off from that beggar. He was way off from that public.
And he didn't want anything to do with him. And he prayed thus
with himself. And he said, God, he said, I
thank Thee I'm not like other men. I'm not like those men are. They're extortioners and unjust
and adulterers. Even like that publican, I sure
think you ain't like him. I pass twice a week. I pay tithes
of everything I possess. Huh? Guess who went home justified?
That old publican. That old publican. This righteousness
is not a superior righteousness to other men. It is the righteousness
of God. Well, how good does a man have
to be to be righteous? He has to be as good as God. Huh? If you're going to start
down this path, you better know something. Cursed is everyone
who continueth not in all things in the book of the law to do
them. You're going to have to do them perfectly, continually,
spiritually, with all the right motives and with all your heart
till the day you die. One slip and you're gone forever.
You have to be as good as God to be righteous. And therefore,
he tells us there's none good and there's none righteous. And
just in case you have something to say about it, he said, no,
not one. To be saved is not to believe
you're righteous. The Pharisees believed they were
righteous. Paul said at one time he believed
he was righteous. And thousands today believe that
they're righteous. And our Lord said, even at judgment,
some would say, had not we done many... They're still talking
about their righteousness. Had not we done many wonderful
works in thy name? He said, depart from me, ye workers
of righteousness. That ain't what he said. He said,
depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. The living God will not judge
this world by a standard set by religion or conceived by this
ungodly world. Rather, he declares that he hath
appointed a day in which he'll judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath appointed. whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." What's
he giving them assurance of? Now, he's talking about all men
here. He's not talking about believers. All men. Giving assurance
unto all men. Assurance of that judgment. Assurance
that every sin must be paid for and was in Christ. There's not going to be a judgment
according to the righteousness of God. There would be no need
of the resurrection of Christ. Christ died to satisfy the righteous
demands of God. God set him forth as a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sin. The righteousness of God is manifested
in His Son. I hope you'll hear me, what I'm
saying, right here, right now. The righteousness of God is in
His Son. He's Jesus Christ the righteous. Isn't that what the Scripture,
how the Scripture calls it? He Himself is righteous. He was the only righteous man
who ever walked on the earth. He was righteous. Which of you
convinceth me of sin, He said. He did no sin. The Scripture
constantly affirms that. He himself is righteous. Everything
he said was righteous. Somebody told me one time, an
ignorant man told me this one time in a conversation. He said
even Jesus Christ made mistakes. Everything he did was righteous.
Everything he said was righteous. Every step he took was righteous.
He was righteous in his birth, righteous in his life, righteous
in his death, and righteous in his resurrection. And he righteously
reigns at the right hand of God. It became him to fulfill all
righteousness. He's Jehovah Sid Canoe, the Lord
Out of righteousness. And then secondly, he's the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe in him.
How? How so? How is he the end of
the law for righteousness? Well, he's the end of the law
for righteousness, as he's a better expression of it. You want to
know something about righteousness, don't go to the law. People have
been duped by the law for thousands of years. They haven't learned
anything at all. These Jews studied the law, memorized the law, transcribed
the law, knew every jot and tittle of it, but they knew nothing
about the righteousness of God. They were ignorant of it. Where
does a man learn something about the righteousness in Christ? In Christ. He's the end of the
law for righteousness because he's a better expression of it.
The law sets forth the demands of a righteous God, thou shalt
and thou shalt not. Christ exceeds the letter of
the law. He expresses a righteous love,
a righteous obedience, righteous forgiveness, pure thoughts, holy
motives, on and on. Far exceeds the law. The law
demands 10% of everything that you have. Christ gave himself
for his church. Huh? The law demands honor and reverence
of a certain day. Christ honored every day. Huh? I must today. Today is the day
of salvation, he said. Huh? Today I must go here and
I must go there. The Scripture said, the Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. He's the end of the law, as he's
a better expression of God's righteousness. And secondly,
he's the end of the law for righteousness, having fulfilled it unto absolute
perfection. I have men ask me all the time,
well, Well, how do you all honor the law? You don't keep the Sabbath? You don't tithe? You don't do
this? You don't do that? I'm going
to tell you something. You cannot honor the law more
than you do by believing on the Lord Jesus. If you want to honor
the law, believe on Him. Believe on Him. And to mix your
works with His righteousness is to detract from it, not to
enhance it. Let me show you something over
here in Romans chapter 3. He tells us over here in Romans
chapter 3, this is based on the nature and power of sin. He's
already said, he had before proved that we're all under sin, Jews
and Gentiles. Then he describes that nature.
And he gets down to verse 20, and he said, Therefore, by the
deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." The only thing
that you'll ever discover in the law is your guilt and your
corruption. That's all you're ever going
to find in it. But now, verse 21, the righteousness of God,
are you listening, without the law. just as though the law never
existed, just as though it was never printed. The righteousness of God without
the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the
prophets. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe, for there is no difference. Oh, listen to me. Every demand
of God from the sinner is met and fully accomplished in our
Lord Jesus Christ. What is it that troubles your
soul? Right now, as a believer, every
week, you go home. What creeps in and troubles your
soul? Are you troubled by your lack
of love? God hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Why? That we might be holy without
blame. Now listen, before Him in love. In my representative, I don't
have that kind of love. I readily tell you I don't have
that kind of love. If I loved him the way Christ
loved him, I'd love you just like I love him. I don't have
that kind of love. I want it. But I don't have it. I don't have it. But I have it
in him. Before him, I stand before God,
loving him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength in my
substitute, in my representative. That's why he chose me and put
me in him. One day, I'll actually have it. I'll actually have it. I'll be with Him and be as He
is. But right now, I have it by faith,
by faith. Are you troubled by your lack
of love? Oh, I tell you, I have perfect and righteous love in
Christ. What else are you troubled about?
Are you troubled about your lack of faith in Christ? I don't believe
like I ought to believe. I don't trust Him like I ought
to trust Him. In Christ, I have a pure and righteous faithfulness. Think about it. Think about it. He stood before God knowing that
he had to offer his soul for sin. I don't even know what that
means. I look at it and wonder. And yet he was faithful. Not
my will, but thy will be done. Perfect. pure, righteous faithfulness
in Christ. And then thirdly, he's the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it as
a threat of condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh.
What's that mean? That means trying to establish
your own righteousness. Read Romans chapter 8. but after the Spirit, that is,
resting in the righteousness of Christ. 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
was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."
Now listen. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit, who quit trying to establish a righteousness
and trust in Christ who is our righteousness. And that righteousness
of God is established. There it is. And then fourthly,
Christ is the end of the law as an instructor of the righteousness
of all who believe. Religion's quick to get you to
the law, take you to the law. I've never seen such stupidity
in all my life as a sign built like a scroll out in front of
the church with Ten Commandments on it and then a little thing
down there at the bottom that says the Ten Commandments is
enough for me. They're too much for me. I can't
handle them. But I am perfectly fulfilled
in Christ. And I don't go back under that
law now to learn how to walk. Where do I go? I go to the source
of my righteousness. If you would see the law and
see it fully satisfied. I skipped over something here.
I need to go back. Paul said in Colossians chapter
2, This is a very familiar chapter to you. I quote it to you all
the time. But he said, Christ blotted out the handwriting of
ordinances which was against us and contrary to us and took
it out of the way. He's talking about the entire
law of Moses. Took it out of the way. What
did he do with it? He nailed it on his cross. Now,
I want you to just get that picture in your head. Here's our Lord
hanging on that cross. and nailed to that cross is the
law fastened to the cross. He brought it out. He took it
out of the way, nailing it to his cross. If you see the law
and see it fully satisfied, fully manifested, and fully accomplished,
where are you going to see it? On the cross. You're going to
see it because it was nailed there. And it was nailed there
in the person of his son. And doing so, he spoiled principalities
and powers, made an open show out of them. He reveals them
for what they are. He uncovers their lies and deceit
and all of these things, showing us the true righteousness of
God, showing us that law honored and exalted in the death of Christ
on that cross. And as I said before, the primary
work of Satan in this world is through false religion to promote
and teach and glory in self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. Christ spoiled
that. He uncovered it. He exposed it. And now every believer, he says
this. The Lord says to him, let no
man therefore judge you in meat. Oh, I can't eat meat on Friday. I can't. Get me a T-bone. I can eat it on Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, Monday. Oh, you got to eat fish on Friday.
Let no man judge you in meat or drink. Oh, did you see that
man? He had a glass of wine. It was
good, too. Let no man judge you in meat
or drink or in respect of a holy day. You're out there mowing
your yard on the Sabbath. Christ is my Sabbath. He's my
Sabbath. Don't let people judge you in
respect of a holy day or new moons or Sabbath days. These
were shadows of the body. You walk out here and you see
a shadow. It's just a shadow. It doesn't have any details in
it. If I see a shadow, the next thing
I want to see is who's giving the shadow. The body, he said,
is Christ. Christ. And Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes.