If you will, take your Bibles
and turn back with me to Romans chapter 10. My message this morning is a
subject that even believers of some standing will struggle with. Even believers. Peter was a believer. And Peter had to be withstood
to the face on this very issue. the righteousness of God. I suppose it will continue to
plague the church as long as we remain in this flesh and in
this lost religious world. I want you to listen carefully
as I read to you the first four verses here of Romans chapter
10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Does that strike anybody as strange? What a strange prayer request.
Why, nobody else on earth knew anything about the living God
except Israel. Not in that day. Nobody else
on this earth knew anything about God but Israel. Nobody else in
the world had the oracles of God except Israel. Nobody else had a law called
the law of God except Israel. All of the prophets of God, all
of His spokesmen and ambassadors and writers of scriptures were
all Jews. All of the holy priesthood were
Jews. Nobody else in this world was
given a tabernacle, Nathan, except the Jews. Given the temple, but
the Jews. Nobody else had a mercy seat.
Nobody else had the Ark of the Covenant. Nobody else had the
priesthood except the Jews. And nobody else owned a covenant with God but
the Jews. And Paul said, my prayer to God
for these people is that God might save them. God might save
them. For I bear them record. Now,
what's this? They have a zeal, a zeal of God. They're zealous to keep the holy
days and the feast days and the Sabbath days. And they're zealous
to teach the holy law of God. and the tradition of the fathers.
I doubt a Jewish boy of 10 years old, they would dwarf our children
at 10 years old with what they knew about the Old Testament
scriptures. They were taught from the time they were babies.
They were taught and read the scriptures to. They were zealous
to read and search the scriptures. Our Lord said to those men who
addressed Him from the council of the Jews, He said, you search
the scriptures. For in them you think you have
eternal life." You search the Scriptures. They were zealous.
They were zealous to obey the law. Paul said he's touching
the law. I was blameless. You couldn't
accuse him of anything outwardly. And they were zealous to come
for sea and land. Our Lord said, you come for sea
and land to make a proselyte. You've taken this thing of the
law and of the things of God, and you've taken those things
encompass sea and land. But now watch this. He said,
I bear you record. You've got a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. Not according to knowledge. That
is, not according to the truth as it's set forth in the Word
of God. They had a knowledge. They had
reasons for doing the things that they did, but nothing that
was in conjunction with the Word of God. They had reasons. They
could give you reasons. I grew up in religion. I grew
up in false religion. And they gave us reasons for
things that they did, and their reasons seemed logical to me
at the time. But I didn't view their reasons
with the Word of God. What I looked at was their zeal. What I looked at was the fact
that they gathered, was the fact that they read, was the fact
that they studied, the fact that they were zealous. I looked at
all of those things and never one time doubted what they said.
And I listened to their reasons. Now back in Romans 9 when he
said this long suffering of God toward these, he said what if
God willing to show his wrath and made his power known endured
these vessels of wrath. He's showing his wrath upon this
world right now by giving them strong delusion and causing them
to believe the lies of Antichrist which is everywhere in the land.
You see, in His endurance of these, He's willing to show His
wrath on these vessels of wrath. He's poured it out. And He's
pouring it out yet today. They've got a knowledge and they've
got reasons for doing the things that they do, but nothing in
conjunction with the Word of God. Verse 3, Romans chapter
10. Four, here's the problem. Here's
the problem. It's still the problem. It will
always be the problem. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. That's what was missing, John. They had a righteousness, but
that righteousness was of the law. They were ignorant of God's
righteousness. Now, brethren, we can sit around
from now until doomsday and talk about righteousness, It's a good
thing to visit the hospitals. It's a good thing to give to
the Pope. It's a good thing to lend a hand to somebody who needs
help. All those things are all good things, but they don't constitute
the righteousness of God. You see what I'm saying? Here's
where the ignorance is, right here. The issue is not about
whether you're better than somebody else. The issue is the righteousness
of God. They, being ignorant of the righteousness,
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Or, now watch this, Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. He's the end of the law. And
most every large denominational religion that I'm familiar with
in our day could substitute their name right here in the place
of Israel. You could just write it in. Write
it in. They're zealous. They're religious. But they're totally ignorant
of the righteousness of God. How do you know that, preacher?
How do you know that these denominations are ignorant of the righteousness
of God? Same way Paul did. They're still
going about trying to establish one of their own. As long as
a man goes about trying to win the favor of God by something
that he does, that's what these men were doing. They were trying
to win God's favor, trying to keep God's favor. They thought
they were born with God's favor. And they were trying to keep
it. And they were going about, just going about. You could talk
about that from now on, all the different things involved in
men's working out their own righteousness. And they were going about, trying
to establish their own righteousness, but would not submit themselves
to the righteousness of that man alone. Alone. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
1. Any man who is still engaged in an effort to win God's favor
by the works of the law has missed the gospel of Christ. He's missed
the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. He's missed
it. He's missed it. I want you to
listen to this. This is an angry apostle. He's
upset. He established this church. He
was there. He said, I bear you witness.
When I preached to you and you saw my infirmities, he said,
every one of you here, you'd have plucked out your own eyes
and gave them to me if you could. He said, I was confident in you.
I know that I set forth Christ, and I set him forth by evidence
from the Word of God. I set him forth, and you received
him. Now watch this. Galatians 1,
verse 6. And he said, I marveled. that
you're so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace
of Christ unto another gospel. Now brethren, you read the book
of Galatians and you'll see that this thing of the law is exactly
what this book of Galatians is all about. Some of those legalistic Jews,
what Paul called later on, called them dogs. They came in there
teaching the law, not the whole law, but just some law. We're
just going to bring in a few. We're going to bring in circumcision.
We'll keep that. I gather from his writings to
Timothy that they also wanted to bring in some holy days, some
Sabbath days. We're going to keep the Sabbath.
Now, if you want to change it to Sunday, we'll call it the
Christian Sabbath. We'll be all right with that,
as long as it's a Sabbath. We're going to carry that in.
He said, I marvel that your soul shall remember me, which is not
another. There is no other gospel. This
is not another gospel. I tell you, we're too quick.
We're too quick when men come along who are pretty close with
the truth, but they deny the righteousness of Christ alone.
We're too quick to say, well, you know, they're short on a
few things, but they're really believers. No, they ain't. Oh, no, they ain't. There is
no other gospel. There's Christ and Christ alone. He's the gospel. He's the end
of the law for righteousness. In Him is free justification. It's all in Him. If you don't
have Him, you don't have anything. It appears like another, but
it's not another. But there be some that would
trouble you, now watch this, and pervert. Boy, that's a strong
word. We call it perverts in our day. It means the same thing. It means
the same thing. That would pervert the gospel
of Christ. And this is exactly the way some
Calvinistic churches are doing in our day. They're attempting
to be identified with the truth and yet pervert the gospel of
God's grace in Christ by denying Christ to be the end of the law
for righteousness. This is an important point. You
miss this, you miss Christ. It says he is the end of the
law for righteousness to some of the people who believe. That
ain't what that verse says. He said He is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. There is no righteousness of
any kind, not justifying righteousness, not sanctifying righteousness,
to be had by your personal obedience to the law. There is no such
thing. Paul said in Galatians 2, flip
over there a page, Galatians 2 verse 21, He said, I do not
frustrate the grace of God. And that's what it does when
you say these things. For if righteousness, you notice
he didn't say justifying righteousness there. He just said righteousness.
He's talking about all righteousness. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. Galatians chapter 3, verse 1.
Well, you say, maybe this righteousness has to do with the man he saved
by grace, and then we're going to take him over here to the
law, and we're going to sanctify him through the law, and he's
going to have this, what do they call it, a sanctification that
grows. It's going to grow. He's going
to grow in a sanctification, a progressive sanctification.
Listen to this. Oh, foolish Galatians. who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you. That is, by the preaching of
the gospel, showing you the strong evidence of the scriptures, by
the strength of the Holy Spirit, how that he must suffer and die
such a death for the salvation of his elect. That's what was
set before them. That's what they embraced and
saw. And then these people come in. with these lies. Not big things all at once, but
just little things. Little things. This only would I learn of you.
Receive you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. How did this come about? How
did you get this righteousness? Did you get the blessings of
God? Is that how they come to you in the gospel? according
to something you did, according to your righteousness? Is that
how you got these? Are you so foolish having begun
in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? My friend, Jesus Christ is the
end of the law in every sense of the word. He is the fulfillment
of it. He is the conclusion of it. He
is the finality of it. He is the object of it. And He
is the termination of it. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30,
Paul said, but of Him, talking about God. Of Him are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. It's all in Him. It's all in
Him. And in writing, by divine inspiration,
Paul warns us in 1 Timothy 1 to avoid such men as try to teach
these things. Listen to this. 1 Timothy 1 says
it. He said, these men are desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof
they affirm. Any man comes to you and starts
talking to you about a law of sanctification, You have to embrace
this law once you're a believer. And you have to obey this. And
you have to do that. And you have to do this. You
have to keep these certain days. And you have to do this. He don't
know God. He don't know what he's talking about. That's what
Paul said. These men, they desire to teach
these things. They want to teach these things.
They're persuaded that they're right. They're persuaded that
they know something. And they want to teach it. But
he said, they don't understand what they teach. They don't understand
what they teach. They don't understand what they
say, nor whereof they affirm. And then in Galatians 1, he tells
us this. He said, these men come in preaching
another gospel. Here's how you treat them. Here's
how you're to look at them. Let them be accursed. Now what
did he say? Oh, I tell you, he was more strict
than that. He said, I don't care if it's an angel from heaven
come down. and tries to teach you some other
gospel other than that that I delivered to you, let him be accursed."
You count him accursed of God. Accursed of God. We pray like the Apostle Paul.
We pray for our religious generation as he prayed for his kinsmen
that God will open their blind eyes. I prayed for them. God
opened their eyes. He opened mine. I was right in
the middle of them. He opened my eyes. Somebody told a story about old
John Newton. One of these fellows came in
to him. He said, John, you ain't going
to believe who the Lord saved. Down there in County Bath, he
saved this man. He said, you know what kind of
man he was. He said, I'll never despair again
of God being able to save anybody. You know what old John Newton
told him? He said, what? He said, I've never despaired
of God saving anybody since he saved me. Since he saved me. If God can
save me, he can save anybody. I was right in the middle of
this mess. I was right along with them having car washes and
putting windows in the church and stained glass and working
with young people and doing all these things. I was right in
there with them. And one day God opened my eyes
to His book. And I looked in there and saw
the testimony of God. Oh, I tell you, I had questions
then and they couldn't answer none of them. They didn't understand. He's right on the button here.
They don't understand what they say, neither will they affirm.
They don't know. And if God ever gives you the
right questions, you'll find that out. They can't answer the
question. I pray for God to save them. God to save them. Reveal to them
the glorious gift of God's righteousness in Christ. Now, let me give you
several things here. Christ is the end of the law.
He's the end of the law as a means to accomplish or establish a
righteousness with God. Before or after conversion. He's
the end of the law. In Galatians 4, it says, But
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Why must Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, be made under the law? Why? Why is that? You know, the whole time I was
in religion, not one time did I ever hear anybody tell me why
that Jesus Christ must be born a small child and grow for 30
some odd years before He ascended back into glory. Now, they talked
about His death. on the cross, but nobody ever
talked about the life that he lived, except in moments of inspiration
and things, like he dumbfounded the priest with his wisdom and
stuff. But nobody ever talked about
it. He was born, Paul said, under the law. This sinless, spotless
Son of God took to Himself human flesh and was born under the
law. Why? Why is that? to redeem them
that were under the law. That's why He had to be made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
they might receive the adoption of sons. And because you're sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His sons into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, as this world is a servant to the law, but you're a son. You're a son. And if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ. We're heirs of His righteousness. It's given to us, not on the
basis of our works, but on the basis of His free grace and the
basis of the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, who obeyed that
law in every jot and tale. It's through the meritorious
life and death of Christ that we become heirs of God. God's
favor and blessing, not by something that we've done. And this was
God's purpose from the beginning. He tells us plainly over there
in 2 Timothy 1.9, I quote this to you all the time, God has
saved you and called you with a holy calling, not according
to your works, but according to His own purpose and grace,
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Righteousness. God's righteousness
is His free gift, and it's to all and upon all them that believe. Here's the second thing. He's
not the end of the law to everyone. Does that come as a shock to you? We won't tell one another He's
the end of the law, but He's not the end of the law to everybody. Christ is the end of the law.
for righteousness to everyone that believes. This world is still under the
law. They're going to be judged. If I read that right over there
in Revelation chapter 20, they're going to be judged according
to their works. They're still under the law.
What thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law. Now, let me tell you something. This might help you. Believing
is not the source of God's righteousness. It's the title to it. It's the
title. Romans 3, verse 21, But now the
righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being
witnessed by the law and prophets, even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith or the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe. That's the title. That's the
title. Faith is the title to the righteousness
of God. It's the evidence that His righteousness
is yours. Every true believer is sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of his inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession. Listen to this in
John chapter 1. As many as received him, to them
gave he power, that is, the right and the privilege to become sons
of God, even to them who believed on his name, which were born. How was they born? Not of the
will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. To be an heir of grace is to
show trust and rest in and rejoice in the righteousness of Christ
as to cease from your labors. Huh? Now come on, that's what
it says over in Hebrews chapter 4, ain't it? Huh? We've entered into His rest and
we cease from our labors as God did from His. That's what it
says. They heard the gospel the same
way we did, but it wasn't mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For he that hears it, what does he do? He rests. That's
what he does. He rests. He rejoices. He finds in him complete satisfaction. Oh, it says, Abraham believed
God. This old idol worshiper, this
old son of an idol maker, Used to sit in his daddy's shop in
there and fashion out them idols. And God called him by his grace.
And old Abraham believed God. And you know what he said? He
was counted to him for righteousness. And I'll tell you what else it
says over in Romans chapter 4, verse 24 or verse 23. It wasn't written for his sake
alone that God said that to him. But it's written for our sake.
written for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And then
thirdly, Christ is the end of the law for motivation, inspiration,
and guidance. Turn with me to Romans chapter
6. Children of God are not led by fear, or threats of punishment,
nor inspired by the law. Paul said, the love of Christ
constraineth us. Huh? You go there and read through
2 Corinthians chapter 5 sometime, all down through there about
this reconciliation. You won't find anything in there
about the law. What you'll find out is that
you were reconciled in Christ. God was in Christ reconciling. He did the reconciling. The reconciliation, our ministry
of reconciliation is to reconcile you to His reconciliation. That's
what it is. He said, the love of Christ constraineth
us. He said, if you live after the
flesh, you'll die. But if you through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you'll live. For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, not the law, they're led by the Spirit
of God. These are the sons of God. Verse
15, for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father. Now look with me here in Romans
6. Look down here in verse 8. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. Do you believe
that? Do you believe that in this oneness
of the believer that God quickened us together with Christ and when
Christ died, we died? That's the gospel. When Christ
died, we died. When God raised Him from the
tomb, He raised us with Him. If we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over us. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God."
These things are not even an issue with him anymore. These
things are settled. They're accomplished. God's law
is satisfied. It's honored and exalted. God's
justice is satisfied. All these things are done. Likewise,
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ. Let not sin, therefore, reign
in your mortal bodies, that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God. Now listen. For sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under
grace. under grace. I have nothing to fear from the
law. The law has already done everything it can do to me. It
killed me in the Son of God. And I'm free from it. I'm free
from it. Verse 17, but God be thanked,
you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then
made free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness. Believers are motivated by love,
they're inspired by gratitude, they're regulated by grace, and
they're led by the Spirit of the living God. As many as are
led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God. These are the
sons of God. Most every creed, confession,
or religious dogma written by the Protestants, Baptists, or
Papists They all, every last one of them, strongly affirm
that there's still some sense in which the believer is under
the law. But you can't find it taught
anywhere in this book. It just flat ain't there. It
ain't there. We're not under the law, but
under grace. Listen to Paul's observation. He talks about these two men
in Romans chapter 5. He sums up the whole work of
salvation, the fall, and all this in two men, Adam and Christ. And he gets down to the end of
his dissertation there, and he tells them where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. that as sin has reigned unto
death. That's what sin did. You were
born in it and it reigned. It reigned over your mind. It
reigned over your heart. It reigned over your works. It
reigned over your will. It reigns unto death. And as
that sin reigned unto death, even so might grace reign, now
watch this, through righteousness. Whose righteousness? Yours? through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how it reigns. It reigns
in him. And then lastly, Christ is the
end of the law as a manifestation of the glory of God. Now what
I mean by this is that you cannot more fully honor or exalt the
law by your obedience to it than you do when you trust Christ
who honored it perfectly. We went to Washington, D.C. to
visit with my son here a year or so ago. And we were down in
the Smithsonian somewhere, and we walked into that big art gallery.
And I thought I'd seen some art in my days. Boy, I hadn't seen
anything until I come in there. I walked in that little section.
My favorite was the Dutch Masters. And I walked in there, and there's
paintings there probably five feet wide and two or three feet
tall, and so detailed it looked like a snapshot that somebody
went in and touched up with a brush. Just had depth to them, and oh,
you could just tell. Whoever did this, I can't make
a picture. I'll get a big head and little
feet and little arms. Nothing turns out right when
I get. But these guys, boy, when they painted that painting, the
depth of everything was there. The light, they somehow in a
brush stroke had light in that canvas. Now for me, by my works,
to try to honor God's law would be like for me to take a brush
in my hand and go up there and start touching up on them masterpieces
on the wall. You reckon the guy over that
thing would let me do that? He'd tackle me in the floor.
As soon as he seen the brush in my hand, boy, uh-uh, you sit
down. Give me that brush. That's what
I'm telling you about the righteousness of Christ. It's honored and exalted
in Him. You want to honor the law, trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. glorify Him and His work. He perfected that law. He exalted
that law and made it honorable. He lifted that law up to a place
where it shines with the glory of God. And all you can do by
your good works, when we try to look at our works and add
our works to His accomplished work, all we can do is ruin the
masterpiece. That's what we do. We ruin the
masterpiece. Brother Don told a story one
time. I don't know how much y'all know
about Texas history. But he told a story one time
about old Sam Houston. And Sam Houston led what was
probably the most famous battle ever fought down there in San
Jacinto, Texas. And he won the independence of
Texas when he defeated Santa Ana's army. And they become a
republic. And they elected old Sam Houston
as their president. And he said, I'm going to tell
you. He said, I'm going to pass a law as your president that
any man who fought with me in that battle got a free title
to land in this republic. He can have his land for nothing
if he fought with me in that battle. Well, later on, some
time went by. And this old fellow, Boyd Humphrey,
he was a shyster. He was a shyster. He was just
a man of ill repute in every sense of the word. His name was
Knobby Horsham was his name. And old Knobby got in trouble.
He got some land from these farmers, and he wouldn't pay them. And
these farmers took him to court for defrauding him out of this
land. And so the day of the court, of his trial came to pass and
lo and behold everybody in there was just abuzz because Sam Houston
came into the courthouse and they thought, what in the world
is he doing here? And he walked, he didn't walk
up to the judge, he didn't say nothing to the judge, he didn't
say anything to the people who were sitting up there on the
jury. He went straight over to old Nobby Horsham and stood there
as his counselor. And when it come time for the
trial to open, old Sam got up and he said, Nobby, and old Nobby
looked up at him like a son looking up to his father, this old scoundrel. And he said, where were you on
the afternoon of April 21st, 1836? What was you doing? I said, Sam, he said, I was with
you on the front line at the battle of San Jacinto. And old Sam turned to the court
and he said, I rest my case. And the judge said, case dismissed.
What I'm trying to tell you is that we have a righteousness
because we was with him. With him. Case dismissed. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes.