The day is fast approaching when
we shall all stand before a holy God. One day, you and I shall
stand before God and have to give an account of ourselves
before Him. We are born, we live, we die,
and after this, the judgment. It's inescapable. The fact that
man dies is a fact known to all men. Most men, unregenerate men,
dead men, hope that after death there is either nothing but endless
sleep, or that there is an automatic transfer into some heavenly glory,
even though they have spent their life in rebellion against their
maker. Even though they have despised
him and his gospel, even though they have trampled his truth
underfoot and had no time for God or his son Jesus Christ,
they still blindly hope that when they are laid in the grave,
all will be well. or they blindly hope that there
is no God, so there is no God to stand before. But the fact
is, you and I will die, and we will be brought to stand before
our maker. And for man to come and to stand
before a holy and a righteous God and give an account for himself,
he needs one great thing, one great thing which by nature he
lacks, righteousness. God is holy and if we're to stand
before him, and be spared his wrath and his eternal judgment,
we must be holy too. We must be righteous. We must
have not one sin upon our hands. We must have no guilt. We must
be perfect. We must be righteous. You must
be righteous. Are you righteous? Can you say
that when you come to stand before God and answer unto Him that
you are completely innocent of all charges, that you can stand
before Him perfect? And if not, where are you going
to obtain righteousness? How can you stand before God
righteous? Where is righteousness to be
found? From whence does righteousness
come? Can you go and live in such a
manner? that you will work out righteousness
and that you will be able to stand before God and say, look
at my life, I have lived in this manner, I have been upright from
my youth, I have walked right before thee, I have done nothing
wrong. Can you go to the scriptures
or to the law of God and say, I will live according to this
rule? And do you think that when you
come and stand before a holy God that you will be able to
look back over your life and say, according to thy law God,
I am blameless? Do you think that through the
law, or through the scriptures, or through your works or your
efforts, you can live rightly? Where is righteousness to be
found? Well Paul makes it plain. in the book of Galatians, and
especially in Galatians 2 and verse 21, that righteousness
does not come by the law. He says, I do not frustrate the
grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Then if we're going to go to
the law for righteousness, there was no need for Christ to come
into this world and to die in the place of sinners. If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And yet many continue to go to
the law. Even amongst those who will speak
of the death of Christ, say that Christ is their hope, say that
he died for their sins, they will still return to the law
of God for righteousness. Whether it is a righteousness
by which they will be justified, or whether it is a righteousness
by which they will be sanctified, or whether it is a righteousness
by which they will show forth their love unto God, whatever
it is, they think that through the law, there is righteousness. That righteousness can in some
way come by the law. And in so saying they set the
word of God at naught and they say, though they might not say
it with their lips, though they might not consciously think it
in their head, the fact of the matter is, is that in so saying
Effectively they are saying Christ is dead in vain. His death is
not enough. Righteousness does not come through
the death of Christ. I must go to the law for righteousness. They see the death of Christ
as something to forgive them of their sins, but for righteousness
itself they must go to the law. And if this is what they think,
and if this is what you think, then you and they frustrate the
grace of God. And you say that Christ is dead
in vain. But Paul says, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. Because his hope and his glory
was in the death of Christ. And he looked for righteousness,
not to the law, not to himself, not in any works which he could
perform, not in any works that any could perform. He did not
look to the law at all, he looked to Christ and the death of Christ
alone. He gloried in the cross. He says in conclusion, in chapter
six of Galatians, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. He's been dealing in this whole
epistle with a matter of the law. and the fact that there
were those who had crept into the church at Galatia who were
coming unto these Gentile believers and saying unto them, yes, you
believe in Christ, yes, you've trusted in His death, yes, you
know that He died to forgive you of your sins, yes, you know
He died to save you, but now you must live by the law of God. Christ alone is not sufficient. And they sought to add to Christ.
And they sought to present the law as a means of bringing forth
righteousness. And in so doing, they set Christ,
his death, and the cross at naught. But Paul would not have it. He
would not frustrate the grace of God. And his glory was entirely
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For in the cross the
world was crucified unto him and he was crucified unto the
world. You see, the great contention
of those who would try to bring us back under law in any shape
or fashion is they say, if you rest in Christ alone, if you
just preach the gospel, if you just look to the cross alone,
if you're not going to the scriptures and the law as a means of ruling
your life, if you're not going to the law as your rule of life
to find out how you must live, then you're just gonna live any
old shape or fashion, you're gonna sin. But that's the absolute
opposite of the reality of what Paul brings forth in the Gospel
because he says that the world is crucified under him and he
is crucified under the world by the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the cross that separated
him from the world. It's the cross that changed him. It's the cross that gave him
new life. It's the cross that gave him
a new heart. It's the cross that gave him
a new desire. His old man was crucified. That
which desired this world and sinful walk in this world, a
sinful life in this world, he saw as slain at the cross. And that which gave him an affection
for heavenly things, a love for God, a love for righteousness,
was the cross. Far from bringing in a spirit
of antinomianism, a spirit of, as it were, total lawlessness,
or a desire to live as he liked, i.e. to gratify the flesh and
fill His desire with sin and this world, the cross crucified
the flesh. It took away the desire for this
world. It set Paul's affections on things
above because it set his affection on Christ. Christ was all to
Paul and if your gaze is set upon Christ, there is nothing
that the law can tell you that will bring forth any walk, any
greater, any more righteous, any more free from sin, than
having your gaze set on Christ. If you're watching Christ, if
you're following Christ, if you're looking unto Christ, you walk
in his ways. If you turn to the law, which
can only instruct you how to walk and only instruct your flesh
how to walk, then you will in fact turn aside from Christ,
have no power to live and fall in sin. This lesson was taught
plainly to Peter when Christ came walking upon the water and
Peter by faith looked unto Christ and began to take steps upon
the water. Peter had no instruction how
to walk upon water. He did not go to some external
guide that taught him how to walk upon water. He simply looked
unto Christ and Christ said, come. And as he looked to Christ,
he walked upon the water. And as soon as his gaze turned
aside from Christ, as soon as he looked down, As soon as he
feared, as soon as his own heart of flesh came in, as soon as
the fear of the storm and the water and the doubts came in,
he sank. What made him walk upon the water
was gazing unto Christ. It was Christ. And what made
him sink? was to turn his gaze away. And
if you turn your gaze away from Christ and his cross to the law
or to self or to an external use of the scriptures as some
kind of guide for how you live when your gaze is not firmly
planted on Christ alone, you will sink. Yes, the scriptures. of exhortation. Yes, the scriptures
contain the law. Yes, James says of all the scriptures
that they are useful in various ways, including instruction in
righteousness, but that is as properly understood as leading
us unto Christ. The scriptures as a whole are
given. to reveal the gospel and Christ
and to lead us under him. The law was given to slay us
and to show us that we have no strength in self and having taught
us that lesson it then leaves us bankrupt and dead and worthless
before him who comes in the gospel and picks us up and delivers
us and saves us. and having taught us that there
is no righteousness to be found in the law, having given us faith
to look under Christ, we are led to walk by faith with a gaze
firmly fixed upon Christ. That is the correct use of the
Scriptures, the right division of the Scriptures, and the right
use of the instruction in righteousness which the Scriptures as a whole
provide us with. The scriptures do not teach us
that once led unto Christ we return back unto the law and
start gazing away from him again. They teach us to keep the gaze
firmly upon him. You can walk upon the water by
faith or you can turn aside and sink. and the Galatians were
turning aside and were sinking, and Paul was moved to write his
strongest letter yet to them to deliver them from this foolishness. O foolish Galatians, who have
bewitched you? Who has bewitched you? Received ye the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Having begun walking upon the water, looking under Christ,
are you going to turn aside to the law or to anything else and
start to sink? Have ye suffered so many things
in vain? Don't frustrate the grace of
God. If righteousness comes by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. Pour glories in the cross. He
makes this plain throughout his epistles. 1 Corinthians, where
he writes that his church, into which the flesh has crept, into
which there is division, A people amongst whom there is the uprising
of sin. Things that should never be named
in the Church of God. There were those things come
in. And those divisions come in amongst the people. Paul's
answer to the divisions, Paul's answer to the sin was not to
lead the people back to law, was not to bring a strong rebuke
at the beginning of the epistle, was not to come in with the rod
of Moses and condemnation. was not to come before them and
say, look, you're not living right. You're not living as Christians
should live. This is how you should be living.
You should be doing this and you should be doing that and
you should be doing the other. He did not come in with some
instruction in that sense. He began with the preaching of
the cross. He began with the preaching of
the cross. The answer to the problems at
Corinth was the cross. The answer to the problems at
Galatia was the preaching of the cross. The answer to the
problems in the church in this day and age is the preaching
of the cross. Paul says, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us
which are saved it is the power of God. The answer then was the
preaching of the cross. The answer at Galatia was the
preaching of the cross. The answer today is the preaching
of the cross. The answer always was and always
shall be the preaching of the cross. The answer does not begin
with the preaching of the cross and continue with some other
sort of preaching. with other instruction in how
to live it begins continues and ends with the preaching of the
cross christ and his death is always central we are sent to
preach the gospel paul says christ sent me not to baptize but to
preach the gospel not with wisdom of words lest the cross of christ
should be made of none effect his preaching of the gospel was
to preach the cross that was his constant message now there
are many who will say oh well i love to hear the gospel And
this preacher I've heard, oh he preaches the gospel, I've
not heard anyone preach the cross of Christ like that man. But
they then complain, when that's all they hear. They say, well
that's alright for a while, but after that I want to know how
to live, and I want to know what about this, and I want to know
about that. And they tire of the cross, for
they feel that there must be something added. Then they see,
when they see people sin, There are those who look at those who
sin and think, or look at themselves who sin and think, well I need
to know how to live, I need to know how to deal with this and
how to deal with that. As though the preaching of the
cross doesn't address that. Whereas Paul is unequivocal,
it's through the death of Christ, through the preaching of the
cross, that he is crucified unto the world. Nothing will take
away your sin in a practical, daily manner. than having your
gaze set upon Christ and his cross. Nothing will deal with
your temptation, nothing will deal with your desires, nothing
will deal with your worldliness, nothing will deal with any aspect
of your natural man and the desires of the flesh than hearing the
gospel of Christ, than hearing the preaching of the cross. Now
that might seem strange to some who can only think in terms of
commands that say do this and don't do that. That might seem
strange to some who think well I want to know what I should
do about this and about that. But that turning to legality
never crucifies the sin. It instructs your mind, it tells
you what you should be doing but every day you fail to do
it and you fall. The only way that will deal with
the problem at its heart is to go to the place of crucifixion,
is to crucify the flesh and to see it crucified in death at
the cross. This is all Paul's focus throughout
The Gospel throughout his letters, throughout the Scriptures. All
of Romans is centred upon the cross. Corinthians is centred
upon the cross. Galatians is centred upon the
cross. He glories in the cross. In the Gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed at the cross. And the rest of Scripture witnesses
to this. In Romans 3, When Paul speaks
of the law and the gospel, he says, Now we know that what thing
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth 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 there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law, apart from the law, not with the law, not
by the law, now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested
at the cross. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets, even the Righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. All the Scriptures, the Law and
the Prophet, witness to this fact. When you say, but we've
got all the Scriptures, and in the Scriptures there's the Law
of God, and there's this and there's that, and you say, surely
there's instruction in here, and instruction in Righteousness,
yes there is. because in the law it witnesses
to the gospel and the need for one to die in the place of sinners. The law was given by Moses, it
gave commands unto man by which he should live if he's to be
righteous before God. Man couldn't do it, it proved
us all to be sinners, it stopped every mouth as Paul says here,
it brought in all the world guilty before God. It condemned us all
and demanded the death of all. And in the Gospel, one is brought
forth who says of guilty sinners deserving of death, don't slay
them, slay me. Slay me in their stead. Bring
the penalty of the law which they have broken down upon mine
own neck. Christ stands in the midst and
says, slay me, not them. And the judgment of God and the
judgment of the law comes down upon Christ. And in so doing,
he brings in the righteousness of God for his people. That is
where righteousness comes from. In Christ, at the cross, through
the faith of Jesus Christ when he laid down his life, knowing
and believing that God by this means would justify many. Now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. It wasn't
wrought by the law, it was wrought by the death of Christ. He said,
slay me. And in so doing, he took away
the sins of his people and made them to be the righteousness
of God. but it was witnessed to by the law and the prophets. For the law said, do this. Man
didn't do. It condemned him. And the sacrifices
of the law and the priesthood of the law, as described in the
scriptures, all point us to the constant need of a sacrifice
to be offered up for our sins, that which we should be delivered
from them. There's your instruction in righteousness. It points you
to the death. of the sacrifice, it points you
to Christ. It says if you want to have a
righteousness in which you don't murder, in which God is your
only God, in which you do not commit adultery, in which you
don't lie, in which you love God and your neighbour with all
your heart, if you want that righteousness, It's not by your
attention to these commands and your ability to keep them. It's
by looking unto the death of Jesus Christ. It's through the
cross, which is why Paul glories in it. Here, here alone is righteousness. Where is righteousness to be
found? Not in the law it does not come
by the law the law might describe certain aspects of righteousness
it might say that you should be this and you should be that
but it does not bring it it does not give it It was not wrought
by it. Righteousness does not come by
the law. If it did, then Christ is dead
in vain. Therefore, on the other side, righteousness comes through
the death of Jesus Christ and not by the law, which is why
in Romans, Paul constantly says, in the gospel, through the cross,
through Christ, the righteousness of God is revealed. I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God under
salvation, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. Righteousness does not come by
the law. else Christ is dead in vain. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the Lord, then Christ
is dead in vain. Is he dead in vain for you? Did he die in vain for anyone? Does your understanding of the
truth of God set Christ's death at naught? Is all your desire
for righteousness set upon how you might achieve it somehow
or other. Righteousness does not come by
the law. It does not come by the law for
unbelievers to justify them and save them and deliver them. It
does not come by the law for believers to sanctify them, to
glorify them, to lead them in their walk in this life as some
sort of rule for them. and it did not come by the law
for Christ. He came into this world, he was
made under the law, he lived a life in which the law could
find no fault in him. But the righteousness he brought
in for his people came through his death, not through the law. Firstly, righteousness does not
come by the law to justify unbelievers, to save. This is made plain in
the passages we've read and in many others. Hebrews 7, 19 tells
us, The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. The law made nothing
perfect. It demanded perfection, but it
made nothing perfect. It just brought in condemnation.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 3, 6, that God also have made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. The letter, the law, could do
nothing. It condemned. But the Spirit
of God in the Gospel, as he leads us unto Christ and his death,
brings life. Paul says in this very chapter
in Galatians 2, We know that a man is not justified by the
works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ. So we've believed
in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified. No flesh. Chapter 3. Paul speaks of the
law as a rule master. 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 to bring
us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after
that, faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Romans 4.2. We read that if Abraham
were justified by works, he have whereof to glory, but not before
God. For what sayeth the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man under whom God imputed righteousness
without work, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Abraham discovered that God justified
him, not through works, not by the law. Abraham was living before
the law was ever given by Moses. He didn't have the law, but he
discovered that justification came through faith in a sacrifice,
of which the sacrifice of Isaac was a type and a figure, but
a sacrifice for him. Galatians again in chapter 4
and verse 21 Paul says tell me ye that desire to be under the
law do you not hear the law for it is written that Abraham had
two sons the one by a bond made the other by a free woman but
he was a he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh
but he of the free woman was by promise which things are an
allegory these are two covenants the one from the mount sinai
which gender if the bondage which is agar for this agar is mount
sinai in arabia and answer to jerusalem which now is and is
in bondage with her children but jerusalem which is above
is free which is the mother of us all for it is written rejoice
Thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that
travailest not, for the desolate have many more children than
she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So
then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free. And in Titus 3, 7 we read of
justification, that being justified by His grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. It is plain throughout
the scriptures, throughout the New Testament, in many places,
that believers, that sinners, unbelievers, are not saved, are
not justified, are not made believers, are not justified, we are not
justified by the law. Now many will agree with that.
But when they come to the walk of the believer, or the sanctification
of the believer, the life of the believer, the Christian life,
they then say, well I know that Christ has justified me by his
death, I know that he forgave me by shedding his blood, I know
he paid the price, but now out of love in return I must live,
and I must live according to the law, it instructs me and
it guides me. and they foolishly turn back
to it from looking solely unto Christ. Righteousness does not
come by the law, else Christ is dead in vain. It doesn't come
by the law to justify us, and it doesn't come by the law to
sanctify us. This is what Paul teaches in
Galatians 4 as we've read. And speaking of the bondwoman,
and the two covenants, and Sinai. We're under a new covenant. We
walk a different way. We have faith which is set upon
Christ. And we are sanctified by God
through Jesus Christ. You won't find one passage in
scripture that refers to our sanctification in relation to
keeping the law. If you look up the word sanctify,
the sanctification, they exclusively deal with the gospel. God has
set apart his people in Christ, he's delivered them, he's set
them apart and made them holy through the blood of Christ.
Through the death of Christ they were instantly separated from
those who are outside of Christ, separated unto God and they are
considered holy. no matter how they may fall or
stumble in their pilgrimage in this world they are covered every
sin past present and future has been answered they are holy they
are sanctified they are separated unto God we read that we are
sanctified by the truth John 17 19 And the truth, as we know,
is Christ. I am the way, the truth and the
life. We're sanctified by the truth.
We're sanctified by faith, Acts 26, 18. We're sanctified by the
Holy Ghost, Romans 15, 16. We are sanctified in Christ,
1 Corinthians 1, verse 2. We are washed, we are sanctified,
we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6, 11. We read
of the sanctification of the husband and the wife as being
sanctified by each other, as believe in husband and wife,
by the wife or by the husband. In a different context, but also
spiritually in the context that the bride of Christ is sanctified
by Christ. He covers all her sin. He takes
all her sin as his own. He takes responsibility for all
that she has done. He's responsible and he paid
the price and he set her free and perfected her forever. She
is without spot or blemish before God. We are sanctified by the
word of God and prayer. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4 verse
5. We're sanctified by the will
of God. By the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10 10. That's how we're sanctified.
By God's will through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. He doesn't say by the will of
God through the law. but by the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ. We are sanctified by one offering
of Christ, by which he have perfected forever them that are sanctified,
Hebrews 10, 14. And we are sanctified by the
blood of the covenant, Hebrews 10, 29. And finally, by God the
Father, Jude 1, 1. Every reference to sanctification
refers to God through Christ, through the covenant, through
the blood and the death of Christ. You never read that in any sense
that we are sanctified by the law or by our works or by our
own obedience. You never read of some sort of
sanctification or walk of the believer in which he turns to
the law. All the emphasis of the scriptures
is that we are in Christ and faith looks solely to Christ
and the cross of Christ. Righteousness does not come by
the law to justify, it does not come by the law to sanctify or
to purify or to perfect or to make holy. Also, righteousness
does not come by the law for Christ in how he wrought righteousness
for the believer. The righteousness of God which
he brought in in the gospel, by which he saves his people,
was not a righteousness wrought by his law keeping. Yes, Christ
was made a man. Yes, he lived under the law.
Yes, he lived perfectly under the law. But that's because he
was righteous. There was no sin in him. He glorified
and magnified the law, showing forth his own perfection. The
law could find no fault in him. But he was righteous. In order
to make his people righteous, he had to take the penalty of
the law and deliver them. He had to die. The righteousness
which he brought in for his people did not come by the law in any
shape or fashion, not by their keeping of the law, not by his
keeping of the law. It came in for them through his
death. And again that is taught plainly
and repeatedly throughout the scriptures. Paul's reference
to the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel is constantly with
reference exclusively to the death of Christ and the faith
of Christ which he had which led him through death. We read
concerning Christ that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel
from faith to faith, Romans 1 17. That it is manifested now without
the law, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, Romans
3 21. We read that the righteousness
of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ, Romans 3 22. and that
God's righteousness is declared by the setting forth of Christ
as a propitiation through faith in his blood. Romans 3 25. In Romans 10 we read that the
Jews with the law were ignorant of God's righteousness. They
had the law but they knew nothing of it. It witnessed to Christ
but they could not see him. So using the law they went about
to establish their own righteousness and never submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Romans 10 free. But we read that
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe. If righteousness does not come
by the law else Christ is dead in vain. He's the end of the
law. For Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. but the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above
or who shall descend into the deep that is to bring up Christ
again from the dead but what sayeth it the word is neither
even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith
which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God have
raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved The righteousness
of faith looks unto Christ and His death and His resurrection.
And the righteousness of God is brought in through that death. Elsewhere in 1 Corinthians we
read that, that of God Christ is made unto us righteousness,
that through his substitutionary death in which he was made sin,
we are made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Corinthians
5.21. We read in our very text, In
Galatians 2, that righteousness does not come by law, else Christ
is dead in vain. And in Galatians 3.21, we read
that if there had been a law given which could have given
life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. Likewise,
Paul writes in Philippians 3 verse 9, his desire is to be found
in Christ. not having his own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. If you go
to the law, and if you live by the law, you work up a righteousness
which is your own righteousness by the law. Don't fool yourself
that the Spirit of God, having led you to Christ in the gospel,
has somehow led you to the law and brings forth fruit in you
by the law. If you live in any way according
to the law, it is by the gospel. We are not led to the law for
righteousness. Righteousness is that which is
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. And we read of the Son of God
in Hebrews 1, verses 8 to 9, But unto the Son he saith, Thy
Frono God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
have anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Righteousness comes through the death of Christ else he's dead
in vain. Of course as I've mentioned we
do read in 2 Timothy 3 16 that all scriptures given by inspiration
of God profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for
instruction in righteousness. But as I've said, that's when
the scripture's rightly divided. The law with the prophets witnessed
to the coming of Christ in the gospel and the bringing in of
the righteousness of God through the death of Christ. There's
your instruction in righteousness. The law will point you through
your inability to keep it, through its condemnation and penalty
brought down upon your neck. through the need for a sacrifice,
through the priesthood and the sacrifices offered daily in the
temple, it will teach you the need for Christ and His death.
It will teach you that righteousness comes through the blood of Christ
alone, not by the law. That's the witness of the law
to the gospel and that's its instruction in righteousness.
It does not teach you to use it as some sort of rule as a
believer to live by. And if you do, you'll be slain
again by it. And you trample the blood of
Christ underfoot and you treat his death as a death in vain. For if righteousness comes by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain. The law witnesses with
the prophets the coming of Christ in the gospel and the bringing
in of the righteousness of God by death. The law describes a
righteous standard, yes, but it showed men always failed to
attain it and it demanded their death as a result. The constant
message of the law is the need for death to satisfy the justice
of God. It constantly points us to Christ
and in this sense it instructs in righteousness. not by laying
before us what we must do but in pointing us who have failed
to do what it tells us to do to the sacrifice of Christ by
which righteousness is brought in. Because for righteousness
comes by the death of Christ and only by the death of Christ. This is the whole point and context
of Paul's whole message here in Galatians 2. It's all through
the death of Christ. He glories in the cross. If righteousness
did come by the law, then Christ would have died in vain. He in
his life, under the law, would have already brought in righteousness
for us. and there would have been no
need for him to have died. If his life was vicarious on
our part, if his law keeping could be imputed to us then he
would not have needed to have died because he'd already lived
perfectly. But righteousness did not come
through the law. And Christ did not die in vain. He was righteous. And for that
righteousness to be made ours vicariously, it must be wrought
for us. And for it to be wrought for
us, it must be wrought through death. It must be that he takes
our sin, blots the sin out, takes it away and puts righteousness
in its place. And that can only be done through
death. Sin must be judged, the penalty
of the law must be paid, the righteousness of God must be
satisfied, that the righteousness of God might be justly declared
to be ours. And as we've seen in Romans 3,
that came about through the death of Jesus Christ. But now 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. This is typified,
witnessed to, in the law and the prophets, as we've said. It's typified in examples like
we see with Noah and Abraham. We read in Hebrews 11 of Noah,
by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet
moved with fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house by
the which he condemned the world and became the heir of the righteousness
which is by faith. What does Noah and the flood
point to? It points to judgment. It points
to the wrath of God being poured out upon guilty wicked sinners. It points to death. The whole
message of Noah is to point us to the ark and the flood and
the death and the deliverance of God's people through Christ. Noah's message points to righteousness
brought in through death and through judgment. He was a preacher
of righteousness because he warned of the coming judgment of God,
he warned of the impending flood, he warned of the judgment to
come, and in that sense he preached righteousness. He was not a preacher
of righteousness in the sense of telling people how to live.
He told them they were wicked. He told them they needed to flee
the wrath to come. And he told them where to go
to flee it. He said, I'm building an ark
as God has instructed and this is the way. And they laughed
at him. You may laugh at those who preach
the gospel and point you to Christ alone and say that's not enough. but he's the only way you'll
be spared death and he's the only way that you will have righteousness. Noah preached the flood which
was to come, he warned the people, he pointed to the gospel and
to Christ as seen in the ark. A figure of Christ by which he
delivered Noah and his house from the wrath to come. Likewise
Abraham, was given as a picture of this gospel and this righteousness.
And the scripture was fulfilled which say if Abraham believed
God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was
called the friend of God, James 2.23. As Paul also describes
as we've read in Romans and Romans 4. but both Noah and Abraham
and every true child of God were led and are led by faith to behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That
is where righteousness comes, through the death of Christ.
He is the one who brings in righteousness and He alone. Righteousness only
comes through the death of Christ. And this is what was typified
in Matthew 3, when Christ came unto John and said, baptize me. John could not understand why
baptize Christ, he was perfect. To fulfill all righteousness,
Christ said. Not in being baptized, the baptism
didn't fulfill all righteousness, but what it pictured, his death
would fulfill all righteousness. The death and the death alone
of Christ. fulfilled all righteousness. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbade him,
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Suffer it to be so now. For thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water.
And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him. And he saw the Spirit
of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And, lo,
a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased. Because he laid down his life. He died. He was plunged under
the waters of judgment. Like Noah, like the flood, Christ
died. He went through the waters, he
was plunged under the waters, he was baptised. Baptised in
the fires of God's wrath, to fulfil righteousness for his
people, to take away their sin, to take away the sins of all
his people. Did he take away your sin? Was
he baptised for you? Did he die for you? Has God led
you here to behold the sun? Have you heard a voice from heaven?
This is my beloved son. Has he led you by faith to look
to the sun? To see the sun? To hear the sun? To know that righteousness came
not by the law, but through his death and his death alone. as
he led you to hear him and to hear the voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved son, this is my beloved son in whom I am
well pleased. This is my beloved son. Have
you heard it? Can you say with Paul as a consequence,
I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto
God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life which 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 is dead in vain. Amen.