My grateful song shall ever be,
my God has been so good to me. Indeed he has. Twice in the book
of God we are given Moses' obituary. We read just a few minutes ago
his obituary given in the 34th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. There we have recorded for us
an instructive picture, but a picture of Moses' death physically by
the hand of God being buried on Mount Nebo. And then in Romans
chapter 7, the Apostle Paul writes by divine inspiration and gives
us Moses' obituary again. Only this time, Paul, writing
by the same spirit of God, gives us his obituary in its spiritual
meaning. He's telling us what God taught
us by that which was revealed in Deuteronomy chapter 34. Clearly,
both texts are texts written by inspiration. There is a lot
of controversy folks raise when they look for reasons not to
believe God, and I have read over the years a number of things
men have said, How could Moses have written the book of Deuteronomy
and wrote about his own death before he ever died? That's not
a problem. That's not a problem. Moses wrote
by divine inspiration. And Paul gives us the meaning
of Moses' words by divine inspiration. Here Moses, the law, died. And the apostle tells us plainly
that he died for this purpose. that we who are God's elect might
be married to Christ. Moses, the law, died, killed
by the hand of God for this purpose, that we who are God's elect may
be married to Christ. In the opening verse of Romans
chapter 7, Paul raises a question by which we are told that the
law, God's law, Man's law, any law, has dominion over a person
only for as long as that person lives. Look at Romans chapter
7, verse 1. Once a person is dead, the law
can't touch him. It can't do anything to him,
and it can't do anything for him. It can't hurt him, and it
can't help him. He's dead. Now, remember the
context. Paul is showing us what he meant
when he declared in Romans 7 verses 14 and 15, we are not under the
law but under grace. God gave the law to our father
Adam and then he gave the law on Mount Sinai and he has inscribed
the law on the hearts of all men and women by nature. Look
at Romans 7 verse 1, know ye not brethren? For I speak to
them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a
man as long as he liveth. All men, like Adam in the garden,
are under a legal covenant, this legal covenant called law, this
law that is nothing but administration of death. All it can possibly
do is identify sin and condemn for sin. The law can't help you
to obey its requirements. The law can't help you to fulfill
its demands. The law can't strengthen you.
All the law can do is slay. It is a ministration of death.
It was never intended to be otherwise. And this law declares cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. So that the law is that which
demands obedience, but us being completely incapable of obedience,
all the law does is curse and curse and curse. All men by nature,
all men by nature seek heavenly glory and eternal life by doing
something. You do things. you do things
or you quit doing things. And by these you think you can
make yourself better and somehow make yourself to be in a position
where that God will receive you and accept you. This law written
on the heart, however, only pronounces sinners guilty. Guilty. God wrote his law on your heart,
on your mind, on your conscience. And his law constantly screams
guilty, guilty, guilty. His law says you're damned, you're
damned, you're damned. And you do all you can to silence
that condemning voice in your soul, but you can't silence it
no matter what you do. Church attendance, church membership,
baptism, prayer, ordinances, good works, you do what you can.
And he still says, not enough. guilty. It is only when we are
united to Christ by faith that we are freed from the law. Oh,
but blessed be God, trusting Christ we are married to Him
and free from the law. Free from the law. I know that
in the religious world every brand of religion except
truth. In the religious world, men don't
dare say that without giving some kind of qualification. You've got to hedge this thing
somewhat. God help you to hear me. If you're married to Christ
by faith, you are free from the law. Absolutely, totally, unconditionally,
without qualification, free from the law if you're married to
Christ. You who are without Christ are
still bound to the law, married to it and under its curse. It's
tormenting to you day and night, relentlessly accusing you and
condemning you. I urge you, trust the Son of
God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you who came in here today hearing God say you're guilty. You who came in here this morning
with a guilty conscience, you who came in here today with no
freedom in bondage to the law, terrified by the law and justice
of God, believe Christ and go home singing from your soul from
the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission."
All right, read on. Look at verse 2, verses 2 and
3. Here the Spirit of God gives
us an illustration familiar to and understood by everyone about
marriage. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
her husband be dead, she is loosed, freed from the law of her husband. So then, if while her husband
liveth, she be married to another, she shall be called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law, so that
she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Now in Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 4, The Spirit of God tells
us marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Marriage
is honorable among all men. It's just right that a man and
woman should marry one another. It's just right. Brother Curtis
and his fiancee are back there. Be sure to congratulate Curtis.
He finally got somebody to say yes. They're back there. They'll soon be married. They'll
soon be married. And being married, that's right.
That's right. It's proper. Believers and unbelievers. It's honorable in all. This marriage
is a lifelong thing. You beware of that. This is forever. This is forever. I said to my
son-in-law before he and Faith were married, I promise you,
I won't be an interfering father-in-law. I promise. I'll do everything
I can to help you. I'll be here for you all the
time. And if my daughter comes home
and is upset with you and she wants to come back home, I'll
hug her around her neck and kiss her and wipe away her tears and
say, go back to your husband. I'll send her back home. Work
it out. Work it out. This is for life. This is for
life. Whoremongers and adulterers,
men and women who violate God's law, Paul is telling us here
in Hebrews 13, 4, men and women who violate the teaching of God's
Word regarding marriage shall be judged by God. Not by me,
by God. Not by you, by God. Yes, marriage
is for life, but only for life. And married women bound to their
husbands in love as long as the husband lives. Once the husband
has died, That woman is utterly and completely free from all
obligation. She is utterly and completely
free from all obligation, though she is married to another man.
All obligation to her former husband is ended. It's cancelled. It's dead. I know that folks
have A lot of sentimental and emotional things that are involved
here. I'm talking about what's just
a matter of right and wrong. It's a matter of right and wrong.
He shouldn't have got married so soon. She shouldn't have got
married so soon. If the wife is dead, it's perfectly fine.
If the husband's dead, it's perfectly all right. And when they marry
again, all obligation to the former husband is ended. All is canceled. If she does
marry another man, Her marriage is no more a breach of her chastity
than the marriage of a virgin to her husband is a breach of
chastity. This is something Paul says all
rational people recognize. Everybody recognizes this. It
might not sit just right with you, but you recognize this is
right. This is right. Now look at the next thing, verses
4 and 5. Here's the third thing Paul tells us. We who believe
on the Son of God, Sinners who trust the Lord Jesus Christ are
dead to the law by the body of Christ. Specifically, he tells
us, we are dead to the law for this intended purpose, that we
might be married to him who died for us at Calvary. Look at verse
4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law body of Christ, that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit under God. For when we were in
the flesh, that is when we lived by the law. What a statement. What a statement. To you who seek to live by the
law, you live in the flesh. When we were in the flesh, when
we were in the flesh, when we sought to live by the law, when
we were married to the law, the motions of sin, which were by
the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Everything we did, hoping to give ourselves life, only ministered
to death. It only ministered to our greater
condemnation. Now, since we're married to Christ,
let us bring forth fruit to God just as we brought forth fruit
unto death when we're married to the law. Our freedom from
the law was obtained for us by the body of Christ, by the doing
and dying of the Son of God. When it speaks of the body of
Christ, obviously, it's talking about that which our Savior accomplished
in His flesh. Our freedom from the law was
accomplished by our Lord Jesus, the Son of God, assuming our
nature, becoming one of us, and living in obedience to all the
requirements of God's holy law. Jesus Christ came into this world
to fulfill all righteousness. Remember when he came to John
the Baptist to be baptized, and John said, I have need to be
baptized of you. And the master said, suffer it
to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And he was buried in the river
Jordan, and rose up out of the water, and walked out of the
river Jordan. Now being baptized does not fulfill
righteousness. Being baptized, I don't care
if you're baptized by John the Baptist, In the River Jordan,
it doesn't fulfill righteousness. I had a professor when I was
in college that people have such silly, sentimental, nonsensical
things, idolatrous things. She and her husband were visiting
Israel on their first trip over there, and they decided to be
baptized again, because they could be baptized in the River
Jordan, as if that makes some difference. That doesn't fulfill righteousness.
Well, what did our Lord mean? If being baptized doesn't fulfill
righteousness, why did Christ say that? It symbolically fulfilled
righteousness. His death under the law, having
fulfilled all the law, and His rising up out of the watery grave,
walking away in life, is the picture of righteousness fulfilled
by the obedience of the Son of God unto death. He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. And then he suffered all the
fury of God's wrath and justice in our room instead, and he satisfied
all the demands of justice. And when it was done, he rose
up from the dead in new life. And this, he's telling us, we
were made to die in him. We lived in him and we died in
him. I said to the folks over at Todd's
Road last night, I haven't begun to preach that like I want to. We haven't begun to understand
it like we ought to, or you couldn't possibly sit still. When Christ
obeyed God, by blessed is you perfectly obeyed God. I don't mean it's as though you
did, I mean you really did. You understand that? You really
did. When Christ obeyed God, I obeyed
God in Him absolutely and perfectly. God made me one with Him before
the world was. And when Christ died as our substitute
at Calvary, when He satisfied the justice of God, when He,
with one tremendous draft of love, drank damnation dry, hear
me, children of God, We died. And we, with one tremendous draft
of love, drank damnation dry. Now look at what the scripture
says. Look back in chapter 6, Romans 6, verse 6. We're baptized. This is the reason we're baptized,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him. Our old
man, this sinful vile thing called humanity. We died with Him. We were crucified once and for
all with finality with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed, loosed, justified from sin. Now if we be dead with Him,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. crucified with
Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, ascended with Christ,
and sat down with Christ in the heavens. The Apostle Paul, turn
over to Galatians chapter 2, Galatians 2 verse 20, look at
this. He is reproving Peter and the
Galatians because of their attachment to the law. Peter had led a dissimulation
at Antioch, you remember. He just, he didn't do much. He didn't do much. Oh, he did
a lot. He did a lot. All he did was
got up and walked away from the picnic table where they were
serving barbecue and walked over here with the Jews where they
ate beef or lamb. That's all he did. But in doing
that, he symbolically said, We can't behave contrary to that
which the ceremonies of the law require. Otherwise, we are damned. We must be circumcised like the
Jews. And Paul said, Peter, he said,
I was stood into the face. He said, Peter, you're dead wrong. That's dead wrong. You know,
you know, we can't be justified by the law. This is his conclusion
matter. I am crucified with Christ. Again,
our translators have put it in the present tense because Paul
is speaking about that which we continually experience day
by day. But it is that which was done
before he ever was born. And quite literally, the text
reads, I was crucified with Christ. When Christ died, I died in him. Nevertheless, I live. But I'm
not talking about old Adam living. Oh, no, no, no. Yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me. Christ is the one who lives in
me. The life I have, this eternal life given by God, is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Christ comes in, takes up residence
in you in the new birth. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith, by the faithful obedience of
the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now look
at Romans 8. The death of Christ was a death
that answered all the demands of God's law, all of them. And
because the law has no demand on Him, look yonder to glory
and behold the Son of God. Brother Lindsey told us about
that angel coming down from heaven, a messenger of justice. Justice,
justice slew him. And God sends a messenger of
justice to roll away the stone. Because justice declares he who
has made sin has put away sin. And now he rises from the dead
without sin. Look at him, yonder. Seated on
the throne of God. Look at him. What can the law
require of him? Can the law demand more righteousness?
Oh, no. He is righteousness. Can the
law demand greater satisfaction? Oh, no. He fully satisfied the
demands of the law, because the law can require nothing from
Him. The law can require nothing from you who are His. Romans
8 verse 1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Verse 33, Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's election? Who's going to do it? Nobody
can, no matter how they may try. Not Satan in hell, not men on
earth, not even your own conscience. It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. We are no longer married
to the law, but married to Christ. I don't perform a lot of weddings
on purpose. But when I do, I make it a point
to say things to a woman that are completely politically incorrect. And I don't apologize much for
that. I try my best to be politically incorrect all the time. But these
are the things I say to her. Your union with your husband
is your identification with him. Lord Mary's brother Curtis, your
union identifies you from now on not with mom and dad but with
him. Your dependence now It's not on yourself and not on anybody
else. It's on Him. Your happiness is wearing His
name. Your joy is His life, His love,
His grace, His fellowship, His delight, His approval. Well,
I'm not going to have that. Well, don't get married then.
Stay and live until you're an old maiden widower and die in
bitterness. That's the way you want to live. You find your fulfillment
in Him. That's what it is for a woman
to marry a man. That's what it is for a woman to marry a man.
Otherwise, it's just ceremony. Otherwise, it's just a whole
lot of hoopla about nothing. Believers are united to Christ. United is not the word. In perfect
union with Christ. We take our identification from
Him. We depend on Him. Our happiness is wearing His
name. Our joy is His life, His love,
His grace, His fellowship, His delight, His approval. We find
fulfillment in Him. Nowhere else. What joy, what
comfort. We are as completely and blamelessly
free from the law as if we had never been under it. When the
Lord God revealed this to Martin Luther, Luther was just overwhelmed. That Roman Catholic monk, you
can imagine. Some of you have been in religious bondage. And
the religious bondage you've known wasn't anything comparable
to a Roman Catholic monk in Luther's days. I mean the man, he would
beat himself at night. He'd physically beat his body
at night trying to make himself better. Starve himself trying
to make himself better. And he found out that he's free
from the law in Christ when God revealed Christ in him. And he
was so overwhelmed, he said, our sins are no more ours, but
Christ and his righteousness is mine. Oh, what joy! What comfort! I'm no more mine,
I'm His, and He's mine. Turn to Colossians chapter 1.
Colossians 1. Let me show you. Verse 12. Paul says, Give thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light. There sits Alan Kibbe, completely worthy of heaven's
glory. That's what the text says. If
you're Christ, Completely worthy of heaven's glory. Not you're
going to be. Not it is as though you were, but completely worthy
of heaven's glory. Read on. Who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness. Now let me tell you what that
power of darkness is. It is the delusion that you can make yourself
better. The power of darkness is Moses'
law, darkness. But God, our Savior, has delivered
us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Look at verse 21. And you
that were sometime alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled. in the body of his flesh when
he died in his body and made us dead to the law by his body
in the body of his flesh he reconciled us in the body of his flesh to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight Paul said in chapter one, he
said, I labor preaching the gospel to you. I labor to preach the
gospel to you, Rex, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. I labor, we pray for our children,
seek to teach them things of God, that we may present them
as a chaste virgin to Christ. Around the throne of God you
see the innumerable company of saints described in the book
of Revelation as virgins, chaste virgins. Christ died that we
might be married to him as chaste virgins, holy, unblameable, and
unreproofable. Holy, unblameable, and unreproofable. You are complete in Him. Complete in Him, which is the
head of all principality and power. Trust in Christ, we're
dead to the law. That's exactly what we read in
verse 4. Ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ. The sentence of the lawgiver
against the transgressor. was fully satisfied by Christ. God said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And now we're in Christ, and
God says there's therefore now no condemnation. Having fulfilled
all the types of the ceremonial law and all the requirements
of the moral law, Christ is the end of the law. In the old days,
If a man had a bond that had been canceled, they'd place it
in a public place, go in a public place and nail it up. Nail it
up. This bond is canceled. So the
public notice, it's canceled. Our Lord Jesus Christ took the
commandments of God that were contrary to us and nailed them
to his cross. When he said, it's finished!
He said the bond of law is cancelled for my people forever. Justice
is satisfied. Righteousness is fulfilled. Sin
is put away. The bond is cancelled. And that
was not talking about the ceremonial law. Mark, the ceremonial law
was the gospel. Pictured in type and foreshadowment
the ceremonial law was the hope of Israel the ceremonial law
Portrayed the hope the ceremonial law portrayed redemption accomplished
by the Redeemer It's the moral law the Ten Commandments that
he nailed to the tree saying I have fulfilled all and now
we joyfully sing a with our faith fixed upon Christ, His blood,
His righteousness, our Redeemer, free from the law, oh, happy
condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. This gives us comfort and freedom. The law can only bring bondage
and fear. I can't tell you how often I've
spoken to men and women who sat and listened to law preaching
all the time. And I've listened to preachers try to convince
me that I ought to preach the bondage they do. They always live in bondage.
They always live in bondage. Never do enough. Never righteous
enough. Never good enough. Never pray
enough. Never love enough. Never believe enough. They always
live in bondage. Our hope is not in law, Josh. It's in the Redeemer. You got
that? Our hope is not in law. It's
not in what we do. It's what Christ has done. His
finished work is all our hope. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain. Christ died for nothing. Look
at verse 4 again. Christ died for us that we might
be lawfully married to him. even to him who is raised from
the dead. Now this is not a metaphor, but
a blessed reality of grace. You and I, who are gods, sinners
who believe Christ, are married to him. Married to him. He betrothed us to himself and
wed us to himself before the world was. But we knew nothing
about that. We had married another man. We
were married to Moses and married to Law until Moses died. And that happens when God comes
in omnipotent sovereign mercy and gives us faith in Jesus Christ. And now we are married to Him,
our Savior, by a work of God. This is something that God the
Holy Ghost preached throughout the Old Testament Scriptures
beginning back in the book of Genesis. The Lord God looked
at Adam whom he had made and he said, it's not good that man
should be alone. I will make and help meet for
him. What a wonderful word. And help
meet for him. Just the kind of wife he needs.
Just the kind of wife he wants. Just the kind of wife that suits
him and help meet for him. Oh, what a picture, as says Regina. Just the kind of wife he wants.
Just the kind of wife he needs. Just the kind of wife that suits
him. That's what God did for Adam. And he did it by causing
Adam to go into a deep sleep. A sleep that portrays death.
And he opened up his side and took out a rib. And out of Adam
he made Eve. And then Adam awoke from his
sleep and God brought Eve to Adam. Oh, my soul. Can you imagine? His heart must
have been beating a thousand times a minute. Look at that. Look at that. Look what God made
for me. And the Lord God married them. God married them. And Adam said
prophetically, for this call shall a man leave his father
and his mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they
too shall be one flesh. And God, the Holy Spirit, gives
us the interpretation of that whole thing. He says this is
a great mystery. Oh, it's a great mystery. How a man and woman are brought
together in the blessed, sweet bonds of matrimony, a great mystery. But I'm talking about Christ
and the church. God, the Holy Spirit, comes in
mighty grace and calls a sinner to Christ. And sweetly compels the sinner
to come to Christ by revealing Christ in him, by revealing Christ
in her, by revealing Christ in you. When I was 17 years old, I dated
this pretty blonde here for about two weeks, and I told her one
time, I want to marry you. And she looked at me and said,
you're crazy. You don't know what you want. And I couldn't persuade her.
I couldn't persuade her. So I started courting her. I
started courting her. And you know what I showed her?
I showed her everything there was decent and good to show about
Don Fortner. I would drive three miles to
walk her a half a block from her dorm room to class. I'd take her to McDonald's and
get her a milkshake every night if I could. I'd just do everything
I could. And after about a year of that,
I asked her to marry me and she jumped at the chance. What made
the difference? Well, now she knew me. Who could
resist? Oh, I speak facetiously intending
for you to laugh, but not now. If God reveals Christ in you, you can't resist. You will speak
like Gomer, and you'll say, I will go now to my former husband,
for it was better with me than it is now. And the Savior says,
I'll betroth you unto me in righteousness and in judgment, in loving kindness
and in mercy. I will even betroth you unto
me in faithfulness. And so he weds us to himself. The law acted as our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. But now we've come to Christ,
we're no longer the schoolmaster. I got a call. Friday from my
former schoolmaster my sixth grade teacher Bob Spencer y'all
bet it He one-armed fella, but I used to be scared to death
of him He that one army had was strong and he worked me over
with it more than once But I get a call from him now tickle death
here from him because we're good friends. I Don't owe him anything
and he has no power over me and he can't do anything to me The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. But now we've come to Christ
and the schoolmaster is dead. The schoolmaster is dead. Dead
to the law and married to Christ that we should bring forth fruit
unto God. Fruit unto God is that fruit
which God himself gives. He says, thy fruit from me is
thy fruit found. It's called the fruit of the
Spirit. It's not works we produce, but fruit. Fruit wrought in us. Fruit produced by God in us. The fruit of life in us. The life of Christ, that divine
nature put in us. love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
goodness, meekness, temperance, such thanks. That's the fruit
we bring forth unto God. Now, let's read Moses' obituary. Turn back to Deuteronomy 34 for
just a minute. Deuteronomy 34. Hold your hands there and look
at Romans 7 verse 6. Here's the spiritual meaning
of Moses' obituary. But now we are delivered from
the law, that being dead. What? What did he say? The law dead? That's what he
said. That being dead, wherein we were
hailed, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not
in oldness of letter. Paul is telling us that we're
delivered from the law because the law now, our first husband,
is dead. Just like Moses. Killed by the
hand of God because the law had fulfilled all its purpose. Here
in Deuteronomy chapter 34 we have a picture of the law's death. God took Moses up to Mount Sinai
and killed him. Buried him somewhere in Mount
Nebo And nobody knows where. Nobody knows where. Let me show
you four or five things here. I'll wrap this up. Moses, the
law, died having fulfilled his appointed service. He was 120
years old. And his eye didn't have cataracts. He had perfect vision. His body
was as strong as a 20-year-old. I can't even fathom that. He
is a full, vital, living man. And the Lord killed him. Buried
him on Mount Nebo. And all hell could never dig
him up. So Christ nailed the law to his cross, took it out
of the way forever, And though Satan constantly strives over
the body of Moses, tries to dig up the law and accuse and condemn,
the Lord Jesus stands by his sacrifice and intercedes as our
advocate and says the law is silent. It can say nothing. Second,
when Moses was dead, the children of Israel wept for Moses. Oh, they mourned for Moses. That
seems so strange, Merle. They spent 40 years cussing him. I mean, they spent 40 years cussing
him. Every time Moses would do something
they didn't like, they'd murmur. They'd grunt. Spent 40 years
cussing him. And now they're, oh, Moses. So it is with all natural men. They despise the law. They despise
the law. But they weep over the thought
at not having the law because men love law. Men love works. Men love to have a set of rules.
We all do. Your nature and mine. We love
to have a set of rules. I'll give you an illustration.
There's a movement been going on the last 30 years or so. When
you play a ball game, let's not keep score. Children feel so
bad about keeping score. Somebody's got to lose. They
don't even want to give children grades in school. You can't give
a kid an F. That's why they feel bad. That's
the reason for keeping score. So one fellow feels good and
the other feels bad. The worse you feel, the more
motivated you are to do better so that next time, next time,
I didn't win, but buddy, I beat him. I'm not there yet, but I'm
not where you are. I was there, but not anymore.
We love rules to measure ourselves by against one another so we
can strut like peacocks. And when the rules are taken
away, our pride weeps and mourns. And man constantly fights against
losing law, constantly. I've said this to you so many
times, maybe today you'll hear it. Here's the only thing that
keeps you in this place, you who are sitting right here, you
who are listening to my voice, here's the only thing that keeps
you from Jesus Christ. The only thing. You're too good. You still keep trying to do something
to please God. You still keep trying to lift
yourself up by your own bootsteps. I know I've got to have Jesus,
but he expects something from me. You're still trying to do,
and your doing will take you to hell. All right, here's the
third thing. Joshua was full of the Spirit
and of wisdom. So Christ Jesus, our Joshua,
is full of the Spirit of God. and he made unto us wisdom and
righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Number four,
before he died, Moses laid his hands on Joshua. Moses said to
all Israel, this is the man I approve of. This is him. This is him.
This is the one I approve of. And the law in all its commands
and in all its ceremonies, lays its hands on the Son of God and
says, this is He! Perfect righteousness, perfect
redemption. Not only that, with Joshua as
their head, the children of Israel were told specifically, did as
the Lord commanded Moses. Now I find that strange. Read the book of Joshua. You'll
find it strange too. They never did obey Joshua. They
never did obey him. Read the book of Joshua. They
never did obey him. And yet we read in the scriptures,
after Joshua said to those Israelites, you cannot serve the Lord for
he's a holy God. He's a jealous God. He will not
forgive your transgressions nor your sins. told plainly in Joshua
23 and verse 24 that before Joshua died the children of Israel under
his lead entered into the land of promise, conquered the land
of promise, possessed the land of promise, and obtained all
the fulfillment of the covenant God made with Abraham. They obtained everything, not
by what they did, but by what Joshua did. And we who believe cannot obey God's law. I can't
do it. Mark Henson, I can't do one thing
right. Not one thing. Not one thing. Not one thing. I can't do one
thing right. Not one thing, Merle Hart, that
God can smile at. Not one thing God can approve
of. Not one thing God can be pleased
with. But I've done everything right.
Everything God approves of. Everything God's pleased with
in Joshua, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, God give you grace
to trust Him. And go home today, married to
Christ, free from the law, because Moses is dead. Dead forever. And nobody's ever going to raise
his body up. Amen.