What is your attitude toward
God's holy law? Is it something you fear? Something
you dread? Do you use it as a pattern for
moral behavior? Is it a standard you strive to
uphold in your life? Is it a spiritual thermometer
by which you seek to measure your spirituality and your personal
holiness and righteousness? Is the law something you love
or something you despise? Do you seek to be saved by it
or do you ignore it? Are you indifferent to it? Perhaps
none of those questions apply to you. You may simply be ignorant
of God's law. It is my prayer this day that
before you leave here today, God will teach you his law, both
in the letter and in the spirit, and cause you to seek his grace
by faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, causing you
to delight in his law. That's my subject this morning,
delighting in the law. You'll find my text in Romans
chapter 7 and verse 22. Delighting in the Lord, Romans
7, 22. Now while you're turning, please
listen. Because we preach the gospel
of God's free grace in Jesus Christ, the gospel of free grace,
salvation by grace alone without works, by faith alone without
works, by Christ alone without works. We are often accused of
being against the law, that we promote licentiousness, lawlessness,
and ungodliness. That's not something that ought
to take us by surprise. That has always been the case
throughout the history of God's church. When our Lord Jesus walked
upon this earth in perfect righteousness, the holy, righteous God-man,
Pharisees who thought they were righteous and thought they were
more righteous than He, accused the Savior of being a glutton
and a wine-bibber. And they accused Him of being
the friend of publicans and sinners. And what they meant by that was
not a compliment. They said, you keep the company
of harlots, that means you must be yourself an adulterer. They said, you keep the company
of drunks, you must yourself be a drunk. You keep the company
of publicans, you must yourself be a thief. When they called
him the friend of publicans and sinners, dear as we love that
title, it's not what they intended by it. They intended to scandalize
his name. The Judaizers at Galatia, came
behind the Apostle Paul and accused Paul of promoting ungodliness
because he declared the believers' salvation by grace in Jesus Christ,
by faith in Jesus Christ, without any contribution on our part. They said, Paul, he's a promoter
of ungodliness. He's against the law. He seeks
to destroy the law. Now, I can't silence the mouths
of wicked, ungodly men, religious or otherwise, and I won't attempt
to do so. God will settle the issue in
his own time. But I do want you who are here, you who hear my
voice, to understand the doctrine of God, to understand the gospel
of the grace of our God. If we would understand the gospel
of God's grace, we must understand what God teaches with regard
to his law. I want to make five very simple,
very clear biblical statements with regard to God's law. These
five statements I challenge anyone to gainsay. These five statements
are so plainly set before us in the book of God they cannot
be repudiated, they cannot be denied except by those who despise
the gospel of the grace of God. All right, here we go. Number
one, that which Paul declares in our text, Romans 7, 22. I
delight in the law of God after the inward man. All God's saints,
all believers, all who are born of God, all who are taught of
God, delight in the law of God. every aspect of the law, every
word of the law. There's nothing we would change
about God. There's nothing we would change
about God. Let other men, godless, reprobate
men, godless, reprobate religious men. Challenge God in his acts
of judgment if they dare we hear it all the time people get so
upset that we have these Terrorist attacks and somebody said we
people say so this is the will of God that can't be if it wasn't
God's will it wouldn't happen If it wasn't an act of divine
judgment warning us of eternal judgment, it would not happen
Hurricanes tornadoes floods earthquakes pestilence disease. These things
are works of God's judgment every day in your life and in mine,
warning us we will meet God in judgment. We will meet God in
judgment. And what God says and what God
does is right. And we delight in his law. We
delight in the word of it, the letter of it, the spirit of it,
and the judgment of it. We recognize that God is right
and he can do no wrong. Now, we are against legalism. We are against the preaching
of salvation by the law, righteousness by the law. But because that's
the case, we are often accused of an ugly thing, an ugly thing. They call it antinomianism. Now,
I hesitate to even use the word because most of you won't have
any idea what it means. So I've got to explain what it
means. And I don't like to have to explain words. It means against
law. Against law. One of the ladies
asked me a couple of years ago, she said, do you know what people
say about you on the internet? I said, I know a little bit. I know a little bit. I just don't
pay any attention to it. But let me tell you my thoughts
concerning it. I would rather be accused of most anything than
of being against God's law. I don't take it lightly. I don't
take it lightly. I would be just as comfortable
of you accusing me of being an Arminian or an adulterer as being
against God's law. Oh no, we're not against God's
law. We delight in God's holy law. We recognize that the law of
God is perfect. Look back up in verse 12. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. It's holy. It's just. It's good. That is, it is spiritually
pure. It is righteously just. It is socially, morally good. There's nothing wrong with God's
law. We delight in the law. Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
1. We read this a couple of weeks ago, but it'll bear looking at
again. And I'll call your attention to it again in a few minutes.
But let's read it now. 1 Timothy 1, verse 8. We know that the law is good. The law is good if a man use
it lawfully. It's not good if you don't use
it right. It's good if you use it the way God intended. Knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for
the lawless and disobedient, the unholy, for sinners, for
unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons,
and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
but for the righteous man, the law is not made for him, It's
made to hold people in check. The law's given to keep men from
acting as bad as they are. Sometimes people will try to
mullify the clear teachings of Scripture. We talk about man's
depravity. And I've, all my life, I've read
and heard preachers say now, when we say a man's totally depraved,
we don't mean you're as bad as you could be. Oh yes we do. You
could not be any worse. You're just as bad as you could
be. You just don't act like it all the time. And I'll tell you
why you don't act like it all the time, because you can't get
by with it. The law holds a man in check. I know that I'm not
advocating or denouncing capital punishment. Let me tell you something,
though. One thing capital punishment does is it holds down the murder
rate. If a man knows he's going to
be swiftly executed, swiftly and painfully executed, when
he takes another man's life, he'll stop and think twice about
it. He'll stop and think twice about it. If a man knows that
he gets mad enough and he takes somebody's life, he may get a
little time in prison and after some time he'll get off because
some bleed heart wants to let him out and do the same thing
again. And we have prisons full of such nonsense. The law is
intended to hold depraved men in check to keep them from acting
out the evil they would otherwise act out. The law of God, as is
set forth in the Ten Commandments, is perfectly holy, just, and
good. In it, the interests of God's
glory and man's good are perfectly maintained. The law is impartial. It's complete. It covers all
circumstances of life. Doesn't leave anything out. Because
it's perfect, it ought to be kept by all men all the time. If men and women kept the law
of God, just imagine, imagine this. If men and women kept the
law of God, every man, every woman would love God perfectly. Now you tell me what could be
wrong with that. If men and women kept the law of God, every man
and every woman would love his neighbor perfectly as he loves
himself. Now you tell me what could be
wrong with that. People say, well, you folks just preach religion,
do this, that. The law of God is holy, it's
just, and it's good. It could not be better than it
is. It takes in the whole of our
lives. You see, the essence of obedience
to the law of God, if it were perfectly maintained, would be
love, perfect love. Our Savior told the rich young
ruler, the first commandment is love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul, mind, and being. The second is like to
it, love your neighbor as yourself. On these two things hang all
the law and the prophets. We recognize the perfection of
the law because it's been written on our hearts. Now the law of
God was stamped on man's conscience in creation. That's the reason
no matter where you go in history, You can't find a time in history,
this is not true. You can't find any place in history,
this is not true. Doesn't matter whether you go
into the tribes of New Guinea or into the tribes of Africa
or anywhere else on this earth. Doesn't matter whether you go
in the ancient Gentile world, this is true. Everywhere you
go, man has a God consciousness from which he cannot escape and
God has stamped on his heart that it is right and wrong to
do certain things. It's wrong to take another man's
wife, wrong to take another man's property, wrong to take that
which belongs to someone else, wrong to take another's life,
wrong to do injury to another. And all men have that stamped
on their consciences. And then the law was given in
the covenant of the Old Testament, in the Jewish covenant, the covenant
of the law, on tables of stone, written on tables of stone by
the finger of God, which law the children of Israel continually
broke. So God had the law on those tables of stone, placed
under the mercy seat, in the ark of the covenant, and by that
Symbol shows how that the law must be atoned the broken law
must be atoned for and satisfied and that only by the blood of
Christ But in the new covenant in the new birth God says I will
write my law in your heart and in your mind I Want to write
it in your heart and in your mind turn to Hebrews chapter
8 look at just two text Hebrews chapter 8 verse 10 This is what happens in the new
birth. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people. Turn over
one more page to chapter 10, verse 16. This is the covenant. that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them." What does that
mean? When God comes in saving grace
by the power of His Spirit, He makes His people to know the
law's spiritual nature. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. For I had not known sin, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Well, Paul always
knew the law said, thou shalt not covet. But one day, God Almighty
revealed himself in the apostle. And he was made to understand
that covetousness was not just an outward thing. Covetousness
was the idolatry of his heart, the lust of his heart. When God
comes by His Spirit, He causes men and women being born again
to approve of His law, to approve of His righteousness, His justice,
His truth, and all His commandments. And He makes us to see our own
guilt and depravity before the law. The law was given that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God, so that the sinner, convinced of sin, quits excusing his sin. He quits excusing his sin. He
quits trying to find something to hide under. He simply confesses
his sin. And every sinner in this world
who has experienced God's grace in salvation, every sinner in
this world who is born of God delights in the law. God forms
a new man in you. righteousness and in true holiness,
the inward man which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And
that new man, as Paul states it in our text, delights in the
law of God. Now let's turn back to Exodus
chapter 20. Exodus 20. Let's look at the Ten Commandments
for just a minute. Let's see if it's not the case.
Verse 3, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Is it not the
delight, the supreme ambition of your heart, my brother, my
sister, that God have no rival in your heart? That God have no rival in your
heart. O that we might love, worship,
and serve the one true and living God as he is revealed in Christ
Jesus. That's the meaning of the commandment.
Do not I love thee, O my Lord. Behold my heart and see, and
tear each odious idol out that dares to rival thee. Look at
verses 4, 5, and 6. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image. We earnestly seek to avoid every
form of idolatry. Carnal physical symbols and representations
of God, His power, and His grace of spiritual things to the believing
heart are repugnant. They're just repugnant. We seek
to worship God, as our Lord said, in spirit and in truth. We worship
God spiritually and we worship God sincerely. We worship God
according to truth and we worship God truthfully. We don't need
images of angels and crosses and crucifixes and things that
are supposed to be pictures of Jesus and pictures of Mary and
Joseph and men and women with halos around their head. All
that stuff is just idolatry. It's just idolatry. We don't
have golden crosses here, not because we couldn't buy any.
We don't have stained glass windows, not because we couldn't get them.
We don't want them, and we don't need them. We are the circumcision,
which worship God in spirit, and have no confidence rejoicing
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. We worship God
in the Spirit. That means we don't need anything
physical or material to represent Him to us. Now, this is what
I suggest to you. If you've still got some crucifixes
around your house. Well, I wouldn't have one of
those. That's what a cross is. If you've still got one. Melt
it down and make you a nice ring or some earrings out of it. Or
go do something with it. Get rid of it. Get rid of it.
If you've still got pictures of what's supposed to be Christ
around the house, get rid of it. If you've still got images
of angels, throw them away. We don't worship God after the
flesh. We worship God after the Spirit.
You understand that? We worship God after the Spirit.
All right, here's the third thing. Look at verse 7. Thou shalt not
take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Now I could spend
a few days here. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Sanctified be thy name. Don't
take God's name in vain. Don't speak His name lightly. Don't use His name as a byword. I know we live in this age when
everybody's, I had a friend last, just a couple weeks ago ask me
about, what about folks, is it right to pray directly to Jesus? And I understood exactly what
he's asking. I understood exactly what he's asking. It's not wrong to speak directly
to the Savior. Oh no, no, no, no, no. But the
socializing of Jesus I despise. These days, everybody talks about
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And I don't, please don't misunderstand
me. I'm not suggesting you've got
to be guarded, be sure you say Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus Christ
or Christ. But we teach our children not to
call the neighbor by his first name. Say, Mr. Smith or Mr. Jackson. Teach our children that just
as you. Use terms of respect with regard
to our God. Use terms of reverence and respect. And don't take his name lightly.
I'm going to use words you will never hear come out of my lips.
I'm going to use those words because I want you to understand
me. Gosh, oh Lord, Lordy, Golly. Those are all just minced oaths
against God. We reverence His name. Don't
take the name of God in vain. But it means much more than that,
Bobby. It means when you think of God, reverence Him. When you
speak of God, reverence Him. Think highly of God. Sanctify
Him. What on earth happened to Moses
that he could not go into the land of promise? God said to
him, smite the rock. And he had already said to him,
speak to the rock. He had already said to him, smite
the rock. And Moses, in his anger toward the children of Israel,
in his anger toward the children of Israel, showed his anger to
God and he smote the rock a second time. And he could not go into
the land. What did God say was the reason?
Because you didn't sanctify me before the people. You didn't
sanctify me before the people. Honor God. Hallow his name. Look at the next thing. Verses
8 through 11. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. We find rest for our souls in
God's providence and grace. We find rest for our souls by
faith in Christ Jesus. And believing God as He revealed
in Christ Jesus, resting in Him, we sanctify God. We magnify His
name. We do not take His name in vain,
but reverence His name. Verse 12. Honor thy father and
thy mother. The grace of God has taught us
to honor all God-ordained authority, both human and spiritual, as
it grows out of parental authority. Verse 13, Thou shalt not kill. Believers respect human life
and seek to protect it. They respect human life and seek
to protect it. They respect the lives of men
and seek to protect them. Verse 14, thou shalt not commit
adultery. Believers, men and women who
are born of God, seek to honor God with their bodies, not abusing
the sexual, sensual powers and privileges given to men and women
in marriage. The word adultery, as it's used
here, takes in and includes every form of sexual promiscuity. Verse 15, Thou shalt not steal. Grace teaches folks to respect
the property of others. I was sitting in the airport.
Of course, you see this all the time these days. Nobody has any
respect for private property. A fellow sitting along the wall,
slide the chair up and sit with their dirty feet propped up against
the wall. You see folks do it all the time. The wall's just
filthy, just filthy. Why? No respect for personal
property. for private property. Believers
respect the property of others. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Verse 60, we seek
to protect social order by protecting the name, character, and reputation
of our fellow man, especially believers. We seek to avoid Oh,
Spirit of God, help us. We seek to avoid slander, gossip,
and false witness. And Charlie, we practice it all
the time. We ought not to. We ought not to. It grieves me. It grieves me. And I have opportunity. I fail to bolster the name, reputation
of another. Even give way to someone who's
speaking evil. And I had someone just recently ask me about another
preacher, something, a movie he had made. I said, well, I'm
tickled to death for him. And I know what he want me to
do. He want me to criticize it. My response was, he's not my
servant. I don't have any right to think
anything of him. I don't have any right to criticize him. He's
not my servant. He's God's servant. We seek to avoid those things
and honor the name of God's people especially. We want to avoid
hurting other men and women. We want to seek their happiness.
Verse 17, Thou shalt not covet. We seek to avoid all envy, jealousy,
and covetousness. Finding contentment and satisfaction
with God's providence. We don't need commandments written
on a plaque to teach us those things. We have the law of God
written on our hearts. The grace of God, is this what
the book says? that bring us salvation hath
appeared unto all men, teaching us. The word teaching is educating
us. Teaching us. When God comes in
grace, he calls his men and women to know to live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. Only the ungodly, the rebel,
and the lawless need commandments and rules to live by. All right. We delight in the law of God,
but we recognize that it is not possible for any of us to obey
the law. All our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. All our righteousnesses, everything
we brag about, Everything we think makes us different from
others. All our righteousnesses are just filthy rags, nothing
else. A loathsome, rotting, minstrel
cloth, that's the word. Now hold that up to God, let
Him spell it. Filthy rags, filthy rags, the best I just caught
my son-in-law's eye. I love him and admire him. And
the best thing you ever did stinks before God. The best thought you ever had
stinks before God. We can't do right. Everything we do is marred by
sin and self. Everything we do. Our hands. If you walk over and put your
hands on a glass, even leave smudge, because all you can leave
is dirt. And everything touched with our
hands is dirtied by our hands. We desire to have every affection
of our hearts regulated by love for God. But that's just not
the case. We desire to worship God without
rival, but that just doesn't happen. Paul said in verse 23,
I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. We desire to honor God's name in everything, but
we don't. Fact is, Merle, we don't really
honor God's name in anything. The best we do, we dishonor Him.
The best thoughts we have, we dishonor Him. We desire to rest
in God's providence and grace, don't you? Don't you just, oh! Brother Lindsey was talking about
Mary weeping this morning. Why weepest thou? I wish I could quit. I really
wish I could have perfect contentment with God's providence. Perfect
contentment with God's grace. And I try to behave strongly.
But I'm not going to pretend something's not so, just so it'll
look good. I'm not going to pretend it's
not so, just so you'll think, well, Brother Don, he's real
strong. No, when I'm brokenhearted, you'll see tears in my eyes.
That's just fact. Our Lord beheld Mary weeping
at Lazarus 2, wailing at Lazarus 2. And the scripture says, when
he saw her weeping, he wept. He saw her weeping, he wept.
Well, she shouldn't have been weeping, this too. Why? Her brother
was gone. Her brother was dead. Why not? Wouldn't you? If you wouldn't,
something's wrong. Something's just wrong. Well,
he's gone to a better place. I know, but I still miss him.
I'll find myself, it'll be all right if you tell her. I'll find
myself, when I've been away from home for a while, sometimes think
about my wife and weep. And I know I'm going home just
a few days. Why is that? Because I'm sad because she's
not there. I think about those grandchildren that grew up and
they... I'm not critical now, Will. They
don't have much time for Pop anymore because their lives are
full. And you know, I get a little
sad because they don't have much time anymore. Why? Because I miss them. Because
I miss them. You understand what I'm saying?
Believers desire to be totally content with God's providence.
But in this world, it's just not going to happen. It's just
not going to happen. Even our most devoted, most spiritual,
most consecrated times of worship, prayer, meditation, and praise
are full of corruption and sin. Now, I've said all that to say
this. If God's saints can't keep his law. What makes you think
you're going to? If folks who are born again by
the Spirit of God, who have Christ living in them, are brought into
captivity and cannot obey the law, how do you think you're
going to justify yourself by the law? How do you think you're
going to sanctify yourself by the law? How do you think you're
going to measure up to God's requirements? Man, fallen man,
depraved man, cannot keep God's law. Well, preacher, surely God
doesn't expect us to do it perfectly, but we do the best we can. Try
that with God. This is what God says. It must
be perfect to be accepted. God will not accept anything
less than perfect love to God in the totality of your life. from the first breath to the
last breath, and perfect love for your neighbor. Any deviation
is damning. Any breach of the law will take
you to hell. You can't justify yourself by
the law, and if God justifies you, you can't sanctify yourself
by the law, and if God sanctifies you, you can't preserve yourself
by the law, and if God preserves you, you can't get yourself into
glory by the law. Here's the third thing. We delight in the law of God,
though we know it's impossible for any man to obey it. But the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, our substitute, our mediator,
our redeemer, came into this world in human flesh, one with
us, and He has fully and perfectly obeyed God's holy law for us
and satisfied all the demands of God's just law for us. But that's not all I want you
to understand. That's not all I want you to
understand. We have a body of congressmen
and senators in Washington who represent us. And they do things
in our name that are legally binding to us that make us want
to put them out of office. But more folks vote for them
than us who would vote against them. And so we have legally
binding obligations done in our name in a federal representative
way that we have no actual part in. That's not what happened
in the garden. And that's not what happened
in Christ. In Christ, we fully, perfectly
obeyed God's law. We haven't begun to get a handle
on this yet. We haven't begun to get a handle on this yet. If this hand, this hand, does
something, be it good or bad, this whole man does it. Can't separate them. More really and truly are we
one with Christ than this hand is one with this body. When Christ
came here and said, Lo, I come to do thy will, oh my God, we
came in human flesh to do God's will. And when He finished it
all, and the Lord God said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased, and received Him up to glory, we finished it all,
perfectly obeying Christ. That means, Don Renneri, I walked
on this earth for 33 years, the full age of manhood, perfectly
loving God. And we perfectly loved one another,
the full age of a man, never deviating. Never once dishonoring
God, never once dishonoring another man. Never once, never once doing
anything repugnant to God. Never once doing anything hurtful
to another man. In perfect obedience to God. And then when Christ died, I
was crucified with Him. I died when He died. 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. Can you get some handle on that?
This is what it is to believe God. This is the name by which
I call God my Savior. Jehovah Sikinyu, the Lord my
righteousness. And this is the name by which
God my Savior calls me, Jehovah Zedkinu, the Lord my righteousness. With his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as the Holy One. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Come back to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. All who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ fulfill the law by faith in Him. Look at the last verse
of chapter 3. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. We establish the law. Look at
chapter 8. I want chapter 8 verse 4. Or
verse 1 through 4. There is therefore now no condemnation.
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Now this is what that says, to
those who believe on the Son of God. For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. All who claim righteousness of
any kind, all who claim holiness of any kind, all who claim sanctification
of any kind by their works, by obedience to the law, bring the
law down to their level. Nobody keeps the law. Nobody
keeps the law. No matter who pretends it, nobody
keeps the law. They say, well, we do the best
we can. God will send you to hell for doing the best you can.
Nobody keeps the law. Christ is our perfect righteousness. Christ is our perfect satisfaction. And we are complete in Him. Shout, believer, to thy God. He hath once the winepress trod,
Peace procured by blood divine, Cancelled all thy sins and mine. In thy surety thou art free,
His dear hands were pierced for thee, With his spotless garments
on, Holy as the Holy One. O the heights and depths of grace,
Shining with meridian blaze, Here the sacred record shows,
Sinners black, but comely too. God demands from me perfect obedience
to His law and complete satisfaction for
all my sin. And I can't obey and I can't
satisfy. But I bring to God what God brings
when I bring God His Son. righteousness and perfect satisfaction. God cannot demand any more of
me than that which he has found in his Son. By faith in Christ
we establish the law and fulfill the law. Now one last thing,
you turn if you will to Colossians chapter 2. I want to read some
scriptures that are very familiar to you, but it needs to be understood. In Christ, we are free, utterly
free from the law. Romans 6, sin shall not have
dominion over you for you're not under the law but under grace.
Shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace?
God forbid. Paul says we're dead to the law.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Now, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. Now that we've come to Christ,
we don't need a schoolmaster. All right, now look at Colossians
2, verse 13. And you being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened to gather
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Now watch what
it says. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross, nailing it to
his cross. He took those commandments we
read in Exodus 20 and nailed them to the tree. Having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it, that is in his death. Let no man therefore judge
you and meet or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or
of a new moon, or Sabbath days. Ooh. Ooh. And now people will tell me,
well, brother Don, it's all right for one believer to keep a Sabbath
day and another one not to. No, it's not all right. No, it's
not all right. It's wrong. It's wrong to keep
a Sabbath day. Saturday is the Sabbath. And
the Sabbath has ended as far as carnal law is concerned. It's
never been Sunday, never was Sunday. Well, what is Sunday?
It's the Lord's Day. We come to worship God on the
Lord's Day. But Christ is our Sabbath. Don't let anybody bring
you into bondage. Somebody said, well, you ought
not drive on Sundays. Just smile at them and say, well,
have a nice day. Believers are free from those
things. They're free from those things. Read on. Read on. He
said, no man bring you into bondage concerning this. Verse 17. which
are a shadow of things to come, but the bodies of Christ. Let
no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen,
vainly puffed up in his fleshly mind, and not holding the head
from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment
ministered, and knit together increaseth with the increase
of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world That's what it's all about when it's all about
the commandments Dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world.
Why as though living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances
now? Here's the creed of the whole
religious world touch not taste not handle not Touch not, taste
not, handle not. Some say don't touch this, others
say don't touch that. Some say don't taste this, others
say don't taste that. Some say don't handle this, others
say don't handle that. Why? Why? Which all are to perish
with the using. These things are after the commandments
and doctrines of men. Verse 23, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will worship and humility. They have a show
of wisdom. They have a pretense of humility
and the neglecting of the body and not in any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. I turn back to the book of Romans
for just a minute. Romans chapter 10, verse 4. Christ is the end of the law. The end of the law ceremonies.
The end of the law's commands, the end of the law's covenant,
the end of the law's curse, the end of the law's constraint,
the end of the law for righteousness, pardoning righteousness, justifying
righteousness, sanctifying righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
to everyone that believe it. What would you give to go home? with no dread of God, no terror from God, no fear of
judgment, no fear of hell. Believe on the Son of God, for
He is made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Let me tell you a story. Told
it to you many times. Roland Hill, that great, great
preacher in England many years ago, told of a story, told a
story of a dream he had. He said, I had a dream one night
that the judgment day had come and the resurrection had taken
place. The blast of the trumpet caused the dead to rise and we
stood all the world before the great white throne. And the judge
called one name after the other. And one after the other said,
depart from me, you're cursed in everlasting life. Depart from
me, I never knew you. And then I heard another name. Roland Hill. Mr. Hill said, I froze. I couldn't move. Roland Hill,
he heard again. He said, the hair stood on the
back of my neck with terror. And he said, I heard again, roll
and heal! And one stepped before the bar
of God and said, here I am. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
fulfilled all the demands of God for me. And I fully expect to hear what
Mr. Hill said he heard that day.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the glory
of thy Lord. Amen.