Turn again please to Romans and
the 10th chapter, Romans 10. Read a few verses from verse
4, Romans 10 and verse 4. Paul has this to say, for Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For
Moses described if the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. but the righteousness
which is of faith. Speaketh on this wise, say not
in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring
Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep,
that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what sayeth
it? The word is neither, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Paul here contrasts two righteousnesses,
the righteousness which is of the law and the righteousness
which is of faith. And he makes it very plain that
in Christ, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. In Christ, we are no longer under
that law of Moses. which set us about doing, and
under which we only failed. But in Christ, we have the righteousness
of faith. We are under the law of the gospel,
we are under grace. And that gospel does not set
us about doing. It makes known what has been
done, what has been accomplished. what has been manifested in the
Gospel by Christ, which is the righteousness of God by the faith
of Jesus Christ, imputed to every one of his children, declared
to be theirs. For when he died, He took their
corruption and their sin. He took their transgressions.
He took their continual breaking of the Law of Moses, their continual
rebellion against God's will. He took it all, that filth, that
corruption and that rebellion that bubbled up out of their
hearts and which was only made worse when the commandment came
and when the law came and that commandment told them and instructed
them, Thou shalt not, under it, that sin in their hearts bubbled
up and roared in rebellion against the commandment. That sin which
just multiplied under God's law, which slew them, which condemned
them, which sentenced them to eternal wrath at the cross, Christ
took it away. He blotted it out. He took all
their sin, all their corruption, all that they are and all that
they have done, and he took it to the cross with him. and it
was placed upon him. He was made to be it. He was
united with that people and being united with them he became one
with them. God looked upon him as if he
was them and God slew him. God destroyed sin in the flesh
of the Son of God. God slew his own son in their
place. God blotted out every transgression.
and every sin being answered in that three hours upon the
cross in the darkness, every sin being answered, every sin
being judged, every sin being taken away, all that was seen,
all that was left in Christ and in that people, in Him, was the
righteousness of God which was manifested in judgment at that
cross when Christ by faith suffered and died in their stead. And
at the end he could cry out, it is finished. Because it was
finished, it was accomplished, he had taken their sins away.
He had made them righteous, he had judged their sins according
to the righteousness of God and God took them away and found
no more fault in them and in him. So in him they went into
the grave. And in him they rose up from
the grave on the third day victorious, having no sin, being righteous,
perfect, pure, the other side of death rising in eternal life,
never to be taken away. In him they have the righteousness
which is of faith. The righteousness of God, which
Christ brought in by his faith, which they receive through faith. The righteousness of faith. There
are two righteousnesses contrast here. That which is of the law,
that which is legal, that which is commanded of man, that which
respects doing. And there is that righteousness
which is of the gospel which Christ brought in. which is by
grace, which is characterized by faith, which is not about
what is demanded of man, but what God has done for man and
what God has made man in Christ to be and what is brought to
be by faith. It's because of their union with
Christ, it's because they're united with him by faith that
they have this righteousness. And it's because He by faith
suffered in their place to bring this in for them, to make them
to be it, to take their sins away and to make them pure and
perfect in Him, that they have it. All is by faith. The righteousness which is of
faith. There is righteousness by the
law, by works. And there is righteousness by
the gospel through faith, by grace. Romans repeatedly contrasts
them shows us the difference between them and points us squarely
to the latter the righteousness of faith alone for salvation. There is no salvation by works,
no salvation by the merits of man, the will of man or anything
that man can do in his own strength. There is no salvation by the
law, there is no salvation by a legal righteousness alone.
If you could keep the law of God which God delivered through
Moses to his people Israel and if you could keep it perfectly,
You would not have the righteousness which God makes known in his
gospel freely by grace. You would have earned life in
this world. You would have escaped the judgment
of God and the death which comes in when you break that law. But
you would never enter into eternal glory to stand in the very presence
of God the Father. as Christ has done and as Christ
has brought his people to do in him because of the righteousness
of God himself brought in by faith which takes that people
who were slain under that law and brings them not simply to
the point of being righteous according to that law not simply
to the point of having ongoing life in this world but takes
them out of this world, leads them up a mount, leads them up
into glory, leads them into the holy of holies, leads them into
the very presence of God, unto the mercy seat, unto the throne
of God the Father, and presents them to Christ Father as perfect. This is a wondrous gospel It's
a wondrous and an almighty gospel. It doesn't simply undo what Adam
did in the garden when he plunged all his posterity into sin and
condemnation. It doesn't simply take us back
to the garden of Eden. For if we went back we'd find
that garden empty because God withdrew from it. And all the
legal righteousness, if you could render it, would do, would take
you back to that now empty place. But God is no longer in Eden.
He's in glory. And if we're to know salvation
and eternal life, we need to go not simply back to where Adam
fell, but we need to go up into glory. And what Christ brought
in as the tree of life, of which Adam did not eat, but of which
he should have eaten. What Christ brought in, in the
gospel, was a righteousness which transcended all that the law
ever demanded of man. A righteousness which not only
fulfilled all the law's demands, but a righteousness which brings
us into the very presence of God. A righteousness equal to
that in God. God's own righteousness made
known in the gospel, made known in Christ, made his peoples in
Christ. This righteousness brings us
to God the Father as his children that we may come unto him as
his children crying Abba Father. unto one who loved us from all
eternity one who loved us before we were ever born before ever
this world was created before we ever sinned before we ever
turned from him one who loved us with an eternal purpose he
said before he made this world that those that one that one
and that one will be mine and he sent his son into this world
to deliver them from the condemnation which they brought upon their
own heads. He sent his son to save them. He sent his son to
be their savior, to be their surety, to be their sacrifice,
to be their righteousness. And when Christ came in the gospel
in the appointed time, in the fullness of time, he came to
manifest the righteousness of God by faith. the righteousness
of faith. He brought it in for them. But
this righteousness which he brought in is not a legal righteousness,
it's not simply the righteousness of the law. The law, when it
measures it, may find no fault in it, of course not. When Christ
lived as the righteousness of God, when he lived as the righteous
one, when he lived the law found no fault in him. it would not
but his righteousness transcended all the demands of that law and
the righteousness which he brings in and which his people are made
to be in him is far greater than that required by Moses. As Christ
says in Matthew, accept your righteousnesses exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and the Pharisees. We may say, well, perhaps the
scribes and Pharisees weren't so righteous, but they were fastidious
about that law. In the eyes of the people, they
kept that law in the letter perfectly. They were zealous about it, as
Paul says here in Romans 10, I bear them record of Israel,
that they have a zeal of God. They were zealous about that
law, they went about keeping it to the letter as they saw
it. And Christ says except your righteousness
goes way beyond that, you will not enter into the kingdom of
God. But in the gospel, in Christ, we have a righteousness which
answers all that law ever demanded and goes way beyond. It takes
us not simply back to the garden but it brings us up into the
presence of God almighty. righteousness which is of faith. Salvation is by grace through
faith in Christ in his gospel alone that gospel which reveals
the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ. It has
nothing to do with any works or any decision that you make.
under the law of Moses we are commanded to do to do continually
to do from the very moment we are born to the moment we die
without failure without transgression continually and perfectly that
Moses described if the righteousness which is of the law that the
man which do if those things shall live by them. Well have you Have you today? Have you yesterday? Have you
ever? If you think you have then you
are a blind fool because there's no righteousness in you whatsoever. You're bankrupt, you're barren,
you're corrupt in your very nature. All that you have, all that you
have done is iniquitous. And when God by the Spirit of
God brings that law to bear on you and makes you to understand
it as it really is as he did to Paul as Paul records in Romans
7. All you will say is the good
that I would I cannot do and the evil that I would not that
I do. Oh wretched man that I am. who shall deliver me from this
body of sin and death that's what we are that's our state
and that commandment as paul found only fueled it and only
increased the condemnation it's a dreadful thing and a dreadful
law it's a wonderful law in the sense that it's God's holy luck
just perfect law God gave it it describes righteousness it's
right but to us under it as sinners as the natural man it's a terrible
thing because it finds us out it finds us guilty it slays us
and it condemns us it's a thing to be feared This is why when
it was given, Israel at the foot of the mountain saw the thundering,
saw the darkness, saw the lightning and they were frightened, they
feared, they saw the presence of God made known in this. And
they said to Moses, we cannot stand to hear the voice of God,
you go up into the mountain, you hear what he has to say and
you tell us it. It was a dreadful thing. But how wonderful, as Paul makes
known in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, how wonderful it is that in
the Gospel, we know, as it makes known in Hebrews, that we are
no longer come to that mount. We no longer come to Mount Sinai,
the mount which burned, the mount of fire. But we come unto Mount
Zion. our 2nd Corinthians 3 teaches
us we're no longer under that ministration of condemnation
that ministration of death but we're under a ministration of
righteousness in the gospel. Moses described if the righteousness
which is of the law that the man which do if those things
shall live by them but no man did do those things all men died
by them only one man ever fulfilled the demands of that law and that
is Christ. And only in Christ will we ever
be able to satisfy the demands of that law as requested of us. But Christ doesn't just bring
in the righteousness of the law, he brought in the righteousness
of God for his people and that's why that law can find no fault
in them. There's no righteousness to be
earned by our works, our strength, our effort or our will. You can
strive at it all you like. If that's how you think religion
is, if that's how you're going to attain unto God or eternal
life, then go on, go and work, go and make yourself perfect.
Go and pray every day, read the Bible every day, attend every
meeting, be kind to all your neighbours, go and earn your
righteousness. But God will say of it at the
end that it's filthy rags, even your righteousnesses. It's tatters. You might fool yourself that
you have a righteousness, you might fool other people but you
won't fool God. He looks in your heart and he
sees you as you are, bare and open and exposed before him. The law's about works. The man
that doeth them shall live by them. It's about obedience to
external commands. It commands a man and seeks to
bring forth righteousness out of that man. but no man has righteousness
in him by nature to bring forth. So he finds it to be a killing
letter. It slays him. The law is about having a law
which is external to us being under it and by our strength
seeking to rise up to its demands. and anyone under it is simply
living a life in their own strength by their own power seeking to
attain unto this rule and yet under the law no man ever did
live righteously except as I've said Christ and the reason is
because man is a sinner he's fallen his flesh is corrupt and
he cannot attain unto it all that law does strengthen the
sin in him, cause the fires of sin to burn more and cause the
condemnation to come down. And that's why the law was given,
not to make us righteous but to show us sin. As Paul says
in Romans 3, by the law is the knowledge of sin. It's given
to show us our utter depravity, our utter want of righteousness. It's given to condemn us, to
slay us and to bring us in low before Almighty God. and as the
Spirit takes it up in the Gospel, and uses it to convict a sinner,
it is given to bring that sinner to the foot of the cross, convicted
and broken and bruised, to the point where they can do no more,
to the point where they know they are nothing, to the point
where they know they have nothing to pay, and all they can do is
fall down wretched before the cross and cry out unto Almighty
God, To have mercy. Mercy. To show unto them grace. To show unto them forgiveness.
O Lord slay me not. Have mercy upon me, a sinner. The law's about doing. It knows
nothing of faith. nothing of the faith in the gospel
it commands actions and it commands actions with respect to both
God and to man and in this of course yes it it requires an
understanding that there is a God and to keep its commands to a
degree we must acknowledge that there is a God and live according
to the demands of that law with respect to God but it knows nothing
of that faith in the gospel which goes more than just having a
knowledge or an acknowledgement that there is a God but which
actually brings us into union with that God which actually
brings us to know that God which actually brings us to be one
with that God The law knows nothing of this. It doesn't command faith,
it commands obedience. It doesn't give faith. It tells
you what you should do, but it gives no strength to fulfill
its commands. You're left at a distance under
law. You know what you should do,
but it never provides any means to do it. It never gives faith.
And yet the gospel is so different because it's under the gospel
that God by grace opens the eyes of his children he puts faith
in their hearts he opens their blind eyes to see he opens the
deaf ears to hear and he brings that people who were once afar
off that people who were once not a people those gentiles those
ones who were cast out those ones who had no hope in this
world he brings that people by his gospel into the very presence
of god The Son goes out to find that people, He goes in search
of His Bride. The Servant, the Spirit goes
ahead of Him. If the Spirit finds that people,
He brings them to the Son. The Bride is brought to the Son
and the Son takes His Bride unto His Father. And she enters in
by faith. The Gospel is about faith. Entirely. Without faith, no one
will know God. But with faith, with that faith
which comes in the gospel, with that faith which brings the righteousness
of God, the righteousness which is of faith, with that faith,
We not only see God, we not only hear God, we not only know God,
we're not only one with God but we are united to Him in His Son. In His eyes we are as right before
Him, as pure before Him as Christ is. We are as righteous as Christ
is. And it's not because of a single
thing that we have done. For all that we did, all that
we did under the law simply earned condemnation. But under the Gospel,
all we've done is hear a message. And all we've done as God opened
our ears to understand it, our ears to hear and our hearts to
understand it, all we did was hear it and believe it. And even
the believing was not something that we worked up, but God made
us to believe. He put the faith in our hearts. He caused us to understand. He
caused us to believe. He caused us to see. All is of
God in the gospel. All is of man and the law. No, the law commands man, it
demands of him what he cannot render. Even in its implicit
demand of an awareness of our duty before God, it provides
no means to render what it commands. It commands us, but we cannot. We strive to, we want to, the
good that we would, as Paul says, that I do not. And the evil that
I would not, that I do. We can make a mental assent to
all that the law reveals unto us, to all that it tells us,
but in reality we are blind to it. We're blind to who God is.
It tells us to worship a God that really we do not know. We're
like Israel at a distance. Moses went up. Moses the mediator. A picture of Christ. He went
up in the mount. He came down from the mount.
He came down bringing the word of God. But the people didn't
know God. they had Moses record of what
God commanded them but they in reality didn't know they were
at a distance and God ordered this priesthood and the priest
would go in the high priest again a figure of Christ would go into
the holy of holies on their behalf and offer sacrifices for them
And all of this was a figure of the Gospel to come and Christ
to come. But the people under that law
and under that priesthood were at a distance. They never went
into the Holy of Holies. They never went into the presence
of God. They knew of Him, but they didn't
know Him. they didn't know him this is
why these things are recorded and were done as they were because
they're recorded to show us that under that old covenant under
that law we are forever at a distance however well we keep it we're
outside we're outside that tabernacle outside the holy of holies there's
no entrance in only the high priest can go in That people never went up the
mount, they never met with God, they remained on the earth, they
were of the earth, earthy, at a distance. The law, the command
was brought before them but they never ascended the mount. Only the mediator Moses did.
The picture of Christ, the one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus. the one who came in the gospel
from the mount on high, bringing not a law to slay us, but bringing
the law of the gospel to justify us, to save us, bringing not
a righteousness of the law, which we cannot render a demand for
righteousness, but bringing with him the righteousness of God
by his faith to give unto his sheep freely. Under the law we
never climbed the mount, Yet in the Gospel, in Christ, we
do. We go up the Mount in Christ. Not Mount Sinai, but Mount Zion. We ascend unto the greatest heights
in Christ. We go into the very presence
of God in Christ. In Christ we are righteous. In
Christ we are perfect. In Christ, we have salvation. We have salvation. In Christ,
we have the righteousness of God, the righteousness of faith. As such, the righteousness we
have in the gospel in Christ is not about what we strive to
be or what we try to be. but what we actually are in Christ
what we are made to be what is a reality under law or under
any gospel which declares a righteousness of works which most false gospels
are most of religion people are in essence under law under a
righteousness of works and all their religion is is a trying
to be something before others They try to be righteous, they
try to be good, they try to be good before man and in their
in their minds they think they're trying to be good before God
and both men and God will be well pleased with them for what
they have done. Under law essentially you try
to fool God, you fool man and you fool yourself. You think
you're righteous, some others might look on and say that's
a good man, that's a good woman, godly. You may fool others, but whilst you may fool yourself
and you may fool others, you cannot fool God because he looks
in the heart. There's no righteousness there.
But that sort of religion is all about what you're trying
to be. Trying to be something before
others, trying to live how you think others think you should
be and how you think the law of God demands that you should
be. But in reality you're not that and you know you're not
that. you know what you should do when
you can on the outside try to render it you can try to make
the outside of the platter gleaming and clean but inside you're filthy
and you know you're filthy you can please others on the outside
you can please yourself that you're doing quite well today
but you know the thoughts that are in your hearts you know it's
a sham it's just a big game that people play and it's a game that
you play if that's your religion it's an appearance of godliness
but it denies the power of God to actually bring forth a righteousness
in his people It implies that only you can do it by your strength. But it's oh so rotten. As we've
seen before in other weeks, it's filthy rags of your righteousness. It's utterly worthless. It's
a deception. But the gospel is otherwise.
And the righteousness which is of faith is otherwise. The righteousness
which is of faith does not say that the man which doeth these
things shall live by them. You never did the things the
Lord demanded, you died by them. But the righteousness of faith
comes in and demands nothing of you. It does not say who shall ascend into heaven.
It doesn't say go on then one of you ascend into heaven. Strive,
climb, improve. ascend the heights go and bring
your savior down it doesn't call you to ascend into heaven nor
does it call you to go into the grave perhaps to bring him up
from the dead it doesn't command you to do anything but what says
it word is neither even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is
the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart
that God have raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved
for with the heart man believe if unto righteousness and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. the righteousness
of faith simply says believe believe in the Lord Jesus in
thine heart believe for with the heart man believes unto righteousness you say I cannot believe I've
heard but I cannot see I've heard with the outer ear but my eyes
have never beheld him Job heard of Almighty God with the ear
but didn't behold. But he could say one day, when
God opened his eyes and put faith in his heart, he could say, I
have heard of thee with mine ears, but now mine eyes behold
thee. I abhorred myself in dust and
ashes. He knew what he was by nature
before a holy God. But there's a difference between
hearing of God, hearing the letter, hearing the words of the gospel,
and hearing and seeing and believing when God puts faith in the heart.
but the gospel is about believing and the believing is the work
of God to bring you to believe and he brings you to believe
when you hear the gospel and he brings you to hear that gospel
and to believe that gospel because that gospel and the preaching
of that gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's when we hear that Gospel,
when the Spirit brings it, when He makes it known, that He saves
His people. I am not ashamed of the Gospel
of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Elsewhere
in Corinthians, this is why Paul declares his emphasis on preaching. the preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God we preach this message unto you why why
preach a foolish message why just preach a message why do
you think it is so important that it should be preached Because
though it is foolish to man to listen to a message preached,
God has purpose to use it. God has used the preaching of
the cross. He is pleased, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For
the Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but
we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
all those whom God would save, both Jews and Greeks, this preaching
of the gospel is Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of
God. because the foolishness of God
is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than man.
He comes unto these nothings, unto these base, unto these foolish
creatures in his gospel and he preaches it unto them because
in this gospel is the power of God, it is the power of God.
It makes known Christ and his salvation. Why? What gives that gospel, that
message such power? revelation therein of the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ for it is the power of God under salvation for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written as Habakkuk said as we read earlier as it is written
the just shall live by faith This gospel makes known not the
righteousness of the law, not a righteousness demanded of man,
not the righteousness of the law wrought by Christ. Though he did, though he lived,
though the law found nothing in him, that's not the righteousness
of what Paul speaks here. He speaks of the righteousness
of God. which is revealed in the Gospel,
from faith unto faith, from the faith of Christ as he manifested
it, as he made it known, as he demonstrated it, as he showed
it forth both in his life and in his death, but most particularly,
he revealed the righteousness of God by his faith when he laid
down his life for his people. and he reveals that righteousness
out of that faith which made it known when God judged that
people according to his righteousness and brought that righteousness
in for them and he brings that gospel to their knowledge as
they by faith hear of it and believe it and believe that in
Christ they have that righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God is revealed. from faith to faith it's that
righteousness that righteousness of faith which gives it such
power because it has nothing to do with works it's about faith
and this righteousness is characterized by faith it's a righteousness
established on a union a union with God Christ came the Son
of God and he lived a perfect life, he was righteous. But what was so pleasing about
the life of Christ to his father? Did God look upon his son as
he lived in this world and look upon him with such love because
Christ took that external law of Moses and kept it to the letter? no. God was well pleased in Christ
in his son because he was one with Christ he was his son and God the father was Christ's father
they were father and son they were united they have a bond
a bond as we know in the natural realm there's a bond between
father and son between families there's a blood bond there's
a union that you don't have with anyone else and the pleasure
you have in your children is because of that union they're
your flesh and your blood you're not only pleased you don't love
them only when they do what they should only when they do what
they're commanded but you love them regardless you love them
because they're yours because of that communion you have with
them and you love them because of that union and that walk you
have with them that conversation that daily communion you talk
with them you speak with them you watch them Christ walked
before his God as his Son. Every day in this world he lived
and walked before his God, before his Father, in constant communion
with his Father, his thoughts were with his Father. His thoughts
were about his father's work, his thoughts were about his father's
purpose, his thoughts were about his father's glory. All he did
was for the glory of God the Father. He lived a life of constant
prayer, he lived a life of constant faith. The righteousness he manifested
which was seen in his life, which all men looked upon and looked
in wonder at this man and said, who is this? looked upon him
and saw his character heard his words saw the way he acted what
they saw manifested in the son of god was one who lived and
walked with god like no one has ever lived and walked with god
we read of the testimonies of the saints in the old testament
we read of enoch we read of We read of Abraham, we read of these
others who've lived by faith, who've walked with God. And this
is recorded often, but their walk is nothing compared to that
union that Christ had. And His righteousness, which
was seen in His life, was exemplified by that. That was the righteousness. He was God. He was one with God. And as the Son of the Father,
He was united to Him by faith. And the righteousness of God,
which he has as one of the Godhead, which he brings in for his people,
is founded upon faith. It's perfect because it's one
with God. Being one with God, there's no
variance from God. When you go away from someone,
when you leave someone, when you're at a distance from them,
when you turn your back on them, then you begin to live differently.
Then your union is gone. Then you're no longer one with
them. Then when they meet you 20 years later, they find you're
a different person. You're no longer like them. You
no longer live like them. You're no longer the same. But
when you're one with them every day, you're united. You're of
one mind. And Christ never departed from
his father. He was one with him. He was one
and therein is his righteousness. His was a righteousness of faith,
not a legal righteousness, not an obedience of works, not a
mere turn into an external command, but a life with God. And it's
that which He makes His peoples. It's that which He brought in
for them at the cross when He shed His blood. When God judged
their sin according to His very own righteousness, He judged
it according to that standard, that measure. Not just the law,
but his own character, his own being. And the righteousness
which Christ brought in for them was that. The righteousness of
faith. He makes them to be one with
his Father. They are united with God as though
they are his son. God looks upon them with the
same love and pleasure as he looks upon Christ. As Paul writes
elsewhere, we are perfect in Christ. Perfect. Now there aren't measures and
levels of perfection. We are perfect. Perfect as Christ
is perfect. One with God. It's this righteousness
which Christ brought in. It's this of which Paul speaks
in chapters 3 of Romans, where he speaks of justification. He
shows the state of man he shows the effect of the law being brought
in that the law brought in all men guilty before god he shows
that that by the deeds of the lord no flesh shall be justified
in god's sight because the law had a purpose that is the knowledge
of sin but he shows when he says but now that there's a difference
in the gospel and that difference the but now of verse 21 is that
the righteousness of god without the law is manifested. A righteousness
above, beyond and without any instruction by that law, without
any requirement of that law, without any need of that law,
without the law. This is the righteousness of
faith, the righteousness of God by faith. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. The law, the prophets, the Old
Testament pointed to this coming. As Habakkuk says, the vision
will come, it won't tarry. The just shall live by his faith,
he's coming. Christ is coming, the one by
faith, who lives by faith, who will bring in the righteousness
of faith, it will come. And the law and the prophets
all prophesied, Habakkuk said, it will come. this righteousness
of God by faith of Christ will come and he will live by his
faith and he will bring in that righteousness and he will make
it yours and you in him will live by faith even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe for there is no difference this is what he
brought in the righteousness of God by his faith And it should
say of in that verse, by the faith of Jesus Christ, because
it's by his faith that he brought it in. And it stands in faith. It's not our faith, it's not
faith in Christ there that brought this in. We didn't bring it in.
We receive it, we believe it afterwards. It's made known unto
our faith. As Job has once said, verse 17,
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, it's revealed
unto our faith, we receive it by faith but our faith didn't
manifested in the gospel Christ's faith manifested it in the gospel,
it's the faith of Christ which manifested this righteousness
of God which is then made known unto all that believe and is
then received by all that believe He brought it in, He revealed
it in the gospel He wrought it in the gospel, he wrought it
in the sense that he went as the righteousness of God to the
cross, was united with his people, was made to be sin, bore their
sins, and in the work of Christ upon the cross he suffered for
their sins, he destroyed their sins, it was judged according
to that standard of righteousness, and being blotted out there was
no more sin in them as they are in Christ. They were made the
righteousness of God. In that, he wrought it. It wasn't
wrought as such in his lifetime. It wasn't a legal righteousness
being wrought. It wasn't the measure of how
many good deeds he did in his life. He was pure and perfect.
He was always perfect. He could never produce righteousness
in the sense of adding to it. He was perfectly righteousness
when he was born. He was perfectly righteous when he died. but it
was wrought at the crossing that he took the people's sin away
and made the righteousness of God theirs. By faith. Oh, what a righteousness is made
ours in Christ. What a salvation. And what a
length he went to the Saviour to bring it in for us. He came
into this evil world. He came into a world which rejected
him, despised him and hated him. A world full of people like you
and I, who with wicked hands have taken the Prince of Life
and have crucified Him. Because that's what you and I
have done in our hearts when He came, when we heard of Him,
when we first heard of Him in the Gospel, our hearts despised
Him. And we with wicked hands slew
Him and said away with Him, we will not have Him. And yet despite
the fact that all men hated Him and railed against Him and In
the end, took him to a cross to be crucified. He did not turn
from it. He went to that cross. He went
to the place of condemnation. He was nailed to the tree. He
was made sin. He bore sins. The light of the
sun was taken away. And his father, before whom he
had walked in love and union and faith, with whom the father
who had who could say of that son that in him he was well pleased
with whom he had perfect union the father took that sin and
laid it on him and as a consequence judged him as a consequence he
had to pour out his wrath upon his own son because of what he
was made to be and what he stood as as united with that people
where that great company chosen in Christ elect before the foundation
of the world that people who were in him when he died because
of what he was with them united to him God slew him because he
stood as them he stood as that company of sinners and God hated
the sin he hated the corruption and his justice, his holiness,
his righteousness must judge it. And judge it he did. For three hours the sun by faith
waded through the rivers of death for that people he loved. For
three hours he suffered the beating and the bruising at the hand
of his father. For three hours he knew what
it was to be cut off set apart from his father to be at a gulf
an eternal gulf of distance for three hours he waited through
an eternal judgment because he loved that people because he
would save that people because he would bring in the righteousness
of God for that people and in that three hours his faith never
faltered He knew that God would judge him. He knew he would be
slain. He knew he would die. But he
knew that in the end, he would be victorious. He knew that he
would win. He knew that he would take away
their sins. He knew that they would be saved. And he loved them so much that
he suffered so much. He loved them that he gave himself
for them. God crushed him. Yet he loved
them. He loved them to the end. And
at the end, when all was done, he cried out, victorious, it
is finished. And it was. Because at the end,
he had brought in, by grace, the righteousness of God, by
faith of Jesus Christ, unto all. And when they again come to see
it, when they're brought to life by the Spirit, it would be upon
all them that believe. For when God in the Gospel declares
unto that people what Christ did at that cross, and what he
had accomplished when he cried out, it is finished, that righteousness
is made known unto them in their experience. It was wrought, it
was theirs in Christ but then they come to know it and to know
it's theirs and to know they stand before God perfect. He
saved them with an effectual accomplished salvation and he
brought in a righteousness not of works but of grace or faith. A righteousness which is not
outside of him but which is in him. A righteousness which is
not ours but which is ours in Him. He brought it in. And He brought it in to be given
unto His people. People like you, people like
me, people who are brought to know the conviction of sin, people
who are brought to the cross, people who are brought to cry
out unto Him to be saved. He brought it in to give it unto
them. Forever. Forever, never to be
taken away. and that righteousness brings
life because life is demanded by that righteousness and that
life is theirs forever and by that life they are saved forever
and because of that life and that righteousness they are going
to dwell with the son and his father in union forever is that
the gospel you have heard? have you come to that place?
Have you that righteousness? Do you know the comfort of knowing
that it is yours forever? Because if you still cling to
the righteousness of the law, of fig leaf righteousness, your
works, your will, your filthy rags, then you will go and stand
before God when you come to stand before Him, and he will say that
it is corrupt and he will say depart from me ye workers of
iniquity and you will be cast out into eternal judgment forever
but if by grace you've heard this gospel the power of God
under salvation which makes known the righteousness of God by faith
of Jesus Christ and if by faith you've believed and God has given
you the hand of faith to lay hold of Christ as He takes you
up in His hands and if by faith you are made one with Him and
you have His righteousness, the righteousness of faith that Abraham
knew in Romans 4 if by faith you come to the end of your own
works and you've ceased from works but you know the grace
of God then you will know what it is to be in Christ forever
to be righteous forever to have life forever and when this fleeting
world has passed by and we go to be with him we will sit around
his throne to praise his name to praise his glory to praise
that he made known the righteousness of God to praise that he brought
in eternal life for his people forever We will praise the Son
of God, the Saviour of sinners, forever.