you'll open your Bible to the
book of Romans chapter 6 verse 14. Just to let you know I did you
all a favor today. Several years ago I was preaching
at a church not my own and I didn't have a watch and they didn't
have a clock on the back wall and I went way too long so I
went out and I bought me a watch But I notice there's a clock
back there, so... Yes, sir. I will endeavor to get through this
material in a reasonable amount of time. I certainly hope the
Lord will bless it. I know this, it won't do any
good if He doesn't bless it. No amount of study, no amount
of notes, and no amount of experience that enables a man to preach
under his own steam and do anybody any good. So indeed we pray that
the Lord will bless me to preach, and later Brother Fortner, and
bless us all to hear. Because the Lord must bless both
the mouth and the ear if any good is to be done. This evening
I would like to preach on the subject of the ministries of
law and grace. the ministries of law and grace. Paul says, or wrote in Romans
6 verse 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you
are not under law, but under grace. Now when Paul says that
there are some who are not under law, but under grace, He implies
very strongly that these are the only two conditions that
exist, being under law or being under grace. There is no third
option. There is no transition state. Some people like to add a middle
condition. I kind of like things in the
middle. I'm not real good at making decisions. I like to be
able to go up, and they have a small, medium, and large, because
I can kind of say medium, and I don't feel like I've really
committed myself either way. But there is no middle ground
between law and grace. These are the only two conditions
that exist, and there is no transition between them, transition phase,
nor is there such a thing as a man existing under both covenants
at the same time. You are under one or you are
under the other. The entire book of Galatians
was written to clear up that issue that you cannot be under
grace and under law. You cannot be under law and under
grace. Only one at any given time. So right now, this group here
this evening, every one of you and me is at this very moment
either under law or under grace. Now, there is one single condition
under which everyone exists, and that is under God. So when we talk about being under
law or under grace, we're not acting as though there's a condition
where man is not under God. It's really this, he's under
God by law, or he's under God by grace, but either way, he
is under God. Now in Romans chapter 3, if you'll
go back to that, Romans chapter 3 verse 19, Paul describes the powerful and
terrible ministry of the law of God among us sinners. There
is something the law does. There are some things it cannot
do. But there are some things it can do. And what it does to
people like us is horrible, is awful. is terrible. I don't mean
evil. I just mean it's terrible what
it does. It says in verse 19 of Romans
chapter 3, Now we know that whatever things the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Now Paul
describes this terrible ministry. The law has a testimony. The
law says something. And whatever it is that the law
says, it's only for those who are under it. For it says, whatever the law
says, it says to those who are under it. Now, I make that point
because there are some who classify themselves as Christians, who
would even classify themselves as believing in sovereign grace,
and yet they believe that those who have been saved by that grace,
and they would say certainly that such people are under grace,
that's a phrase they'd use to describe them, but somehow they
think that the law has something to say to these people who are
under grace. But we've already seen that you're
either under law or under grace. And the things that the law has
to say, it has to say to those who are under law. And the startling and bold statement
is this, that the law has nothing to say to a man who's under grace. You know, because we're still
flesh, It's sometimes just downright
scary to say the thing that the gospel says. For me to stand
here and tell somebody that there are a people to whom the law
of God has nothing to say. You see, law is very natural
to us. It's so very natural to our way of thinking. that we
cannot naturally accept the idea that there's really a group of
people or even one person who's not under the law. And religious
folks, no matter how much good doctrine they get, the hardest
thing for them to do is actually believe that they or anybody
else is truly free from the jurisdiction of the law. Law's natural to
our way of thinking. We were born under law. Our flesh
is very legalistic. We realize that our race came
under condemnation because our first representative broke the
law. Therefore, it's quite natural
for us to think that the way to heal that breach is for us
to keep the law, to not break it. That makes perfect sense,
doesn't it? And you know something? You've
got to be real careful, those of us that believe grace, that
we deal with these issues the way the Scriptures do. The law
is every bit as much of God as the gospel is. And there's not
a thing wrong with the law. When it says, for what the law
could not do, It wasn't because there was a weakness in the law.
It's not because there was a fault in the law. It was not as though
God had unreasonable expectations of us. It's that we couldn't
do it. It was weak in our flesh. And there's nothing wrong, there's
nothing inherently sinful in a man saying, well, I'm going
to try to get my blessings from God through obedience to the
law. God's not going to say, well, that would be a sin for
you to do that. God will simply say, okay, try. We'll see how
that works out. Of course, it won't work out,
because nobody can do it. But once again, the problem's
not in the covenant. The problem is not in the way.
The problem is that we can't walk that way. But this way of thinking, that
the proper way to restore our favorable relationship with God
is by obedience to the law, it received divine sanction. Because
God gave a law and said, do this and live. God said that. And you know something? If you
do it, you'll live. God said it. Therefore, it would seem that there is no way
that we could come to a position where we are not under that law. It's a good law. It's a holy
law. It's God's law. It's acceptable
in every way. Our conscience bears witness
to the goodness of it. Our natural way of thinking says
this is a way to come to God, and God said it. And so there's just no way that
our natural mind is ever going to be able to come up with a
way for us not to be under that law. In fact, turn over here
to Romans chapter 7 verse 1. Who is under the law? That's a good question. Who is
under the law? Paul says in Romans chapter 7
verse 1, Know ye not brethren, For I speak to them that know
the law, how that the law hath dominion, that is jurisdiction,
the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. What's he saying? If you're alive,
you're under the law. If you're alive, You're under
the law. And you just keep that thought
in mind. And we'll see how it fits with the gospel in a minute. Only two conditions you can be
in. Under law or under grace. And the law has jurisdiction
over everyone who is alive. Now, to be under the law, what's
that mean? That means to have all your blessedness
determined by your success at doing the law. That's what it
is to be under the law. It means that any blessing you
hope to receive, If you're under the law, it's going to be based
on your success at keeping that law. In Romans chapter 10, verse
5, For Moses describes the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man who does those things shall
live by them. They say, well, that verse says
nothing about blessings. Well, remember, blessings are
for the righteous. Say ye to the righteous, it shall be well
with them. So blessings are for the righteous.
So when we talk about getting blessings by the law, what we
really mean is we're trying by the law to be declared righteous
so that the blessings of the righteous will fall upon us. And the only way to be righteous
by the law is to do it. You don't become righteous by
the law by learning it. You don't become righteous by
the law by posting it on the wall of your house. You don't become righteous by
the law by trying to get other people to obey it. You don't
even become righteous by the law by loving the law. You become righteous by the law
by doing it. And I'm reminded of that popular
psychiatrist when he asked people, you know, what are they doing
to deal with their problems? And when they get all day, he says,
how's that working out for you? You who desire to be under the
law, how's that working out for you? You who want God to bless
you according to your success at keeping the law, how's that
working out for you? You know, the really sad thing
is, is there are some people who say, that's pretty good. In fact, they wouldn't just say
it to you, they'll say it to God. I thank you God, I'm not like
other men. I give my time. I learn my Bible
verses. I go to church every Sunday.
I care for my elderly parents. And I'm not like this, and then
just pick whatever sinner you're particularly offended with. Certainly
not like him. They think it's working out great. The opposite of this, that is
where it says that if you want righteousness by the law, you
must do it. The opposite is this, curse it, is everyone who continues
not in every point of the law to do it. You can't even get the righteousness
by the law by doing it 99 and 99 one-hundredths percent of
the time. There's nothing a man can do
to transfer himself from the jurisdiction of the law to the
jurisdiction of grace. Nothing you can do. You say,
why? Nothing any one of us can do. Imagine this, and you'll
see what I mean. You're a criminal, a murderer. You have been found guilty, and
I mean hands down guilty. You were Mirandized, so you can't
pull that one on them. They've got photographs, they've
got forensic evidence, they've got eyewitnesses. You were standing
there with blood on your hands when they caught you. DNA, nothing's
gonna set you free. And you are before the judge.
And he's about to pronounce sentence. And he says you have been found
guilty of murder, capital murder. And you are hereby sentenced
to death. Now imagine if you said, well,
you know, I don't recognize the authority of this court. Because
I've decided that I shall no longer be under this law. I'm
going to be under grace. What do you think the judge is
going to say? He doesn't have to say anything
to you. He's going to say to the bailiff, put him in cuffs. Turn
him over to the jailer. Soon, sometime, the governor
will issue a warrant for his execution and carry it out. Your
words, your decisions mean nothing. They will not transfer. You cannot
get yourself out of the jurisdiction of a law in which you were justly
put in the first place. And we were justly put under
law. We were born that way, it's only right we should be under
law, and we don't have the authority to release ourselves from its
jurisdiction that we might be under the jurisdiction of another.
It can't happen. Not by us. Now, the law has a
threefold ministry in everyone. And sooner or later, it's going
to accomplish it. If you'll turn back to Romans
chapter 3, we'll look at that. Now, Paul mentions these three
things, beginning with the fruit and working back to the root.
But I'm going to start at the root of these three things. And the first of these things
is that by the law, this is in the end of verse 20, by the law
is the knowledge of sin. Now, it does not mean by this
simply that by the law we know what sin is. Now, the law may
do that for us, but that's not all that Paul means when he says
by the law is the knowledge of sin. Neither Does it simply mean that
because it tells us what is right and what is wrong, that the law
is able then to discern for us whether our conduct is right
or wrong? The law does that, but that's
not all that's meant by saying that by the law is the knowledge
of sin. He is saying that the law has
the power to make us aware that we are sinners in the sight of
God. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, it gives
a description of our Lord Jesus Christ, a really interesting
one. It says, He knew no sin. Now, for many years, I thought
that simply meant He never did sin. Well, it's true. He never
did sin. But now he was under the law. How come he didn't know
sin if the job of the law is to make you know sin? He did
know sin. Therefore, the law could not
make him know it. You see, there's different kinds
of knowledge. There is the knowledge of facts. I know that the capital of California
is Sacramento. I'm right, aren't I? I'm pretty
sure I know that. I think it's Sacramento. I know
that. That's just knowledge of fact. There's knowledge how to.
I know how to ride a bicycle. And then there's knowledge of
persons. I can say, now that I've met
you, I know Gene. Now I know about Abraham Lincoln,
but I don't know Abraham Lincoln. But I know somebody, I met you.
We make contact. And then there is what we might
call a fourth kind of knowledge. And that's the knowledge of experience.
Give you an illustration. You can take a blind man and
you can teach him all about light. About the science of light. In fact, you could teach him
so well that he could actually be useful in inventing materials
or machines or whatever that make use of light. He could run
experiments about light. He could teach about light. The one thing he cannot do is
know light. A baby, right out of his mother's
womb, when he first opens his eyes, knows light in a way that
a blind man can never know it, no matter how educated. Now,
our Lord Jesus came into this world born of a woman, born under
the law. He was under the law. And yet
the law could not make Him no sin because He didn't have any. You see, the law awakens us to
the truth that despite all our efforts to do good, we don't. Despite all our efforts to satisfy
the demands of the law, we don't and we can't. To give an illustration of what
it is to know sin, probably all of us when we were kids, mom
made some cookies, put them in a jar, and said, now don't you
take any of them. Now as soon as she said, don't
you take any of it, you knew what the law was. You knew that it was sin, according
to mom's law, to take a cookie. And that it was righteousness
to leave them alone. You knew that. But mom leaves
the room. And there's the cookies. Chocolate
chip. Still warm. And so you look around, you take off the lid, and you
put your hand in there, and you can feel the cookie. Now already
your mind is telling you it's the wrong thing to do, but it
don't mean nothing. And just as you're about to pull
that cookie out, and you've got your hand in the cookie jar,
Mom walks back in. And at that moment, you were
made to know sin. You're made to know sin because
you not only knew what it was, you not only knew that what you
were doing was a breaking of the law, you realized that this
sin was not just a breaking of the law, it was a violation of
a person. When mom walked in, the law walked
in, because mom is the law. And you see, to know sin is to
be caught by God. To be dead to right guilty in
the sight of God and knowing. That's what the law does. It
catches us and makes us know that we are
alienated from our God because of our sin. Secondly, in this
threefold ministry of the law, is to make the whole world become
guilty. There in verse 19, the whole
world may become guilty before God. Now that word guilty actually
means under sentence. The law in making us to know
sin has already rendered the verdict guilty. And then it delivers
the sentence. And oh, what a dreadful sentence
it is. The soul that sins, it shall
die. But I'll tell you this, and I
suppose that most of the people that I'm speaking to this evening,
if not all of you, are under grace and you are You love God
because He first loved you. You love His Son because He loved
you and gave Himself for you and all that. And I know that
the thoughts of the wrath of God are terrifying, but isn't
it awful to think that you'd ever be cut off from God? That you'd be forsaken by God?
But that's what the law teaches the sinner. You've been cut off
from God. Cut off from all His goodness,
all His mercy. And then thirdly, the fruit of
all of this, the whole world becomes guilty before God. And that means if you're part
of this world, you're guilty before God. That every mouth may be stopped.
I like, as I looked it up, I love words, I like to find out where
they came from. It doesn't mean that the law convinced these
people to shut up. The word means blocked up. Mr. Proud Pharisee, you are not
going to make him willingly shut his mouth. You got to stick a sock in it. And I'll tell you this, I believe
it to be so. You can tell when the law has
accomplished its work in a man or woman, they get quiet. They get quiet. Now I said that we're either
under law or under grace. that everyone alive is under
law, everyone in this world is guilty, under sentence, before
God, and yet Paul tells us there are some under grace. Now how
in the world can that be? There are some in this world
in whom this terrible ministry of the law has completed its
work, and they are silenced. But how can that be? If the law
has jurisdiction over a man, so long as he lives. Look at
Colossians 3. Verse 3. First four words. For ye are dead. Colossians 3, verse 3, for ye
are dead. Now brethren, I don't know of
any other situation under which I'd be glad to hear that I'm
dead, other than this, that the law has jurisdiction so long
as a man lives. My only hope there to ever be
delivered from the law is to be dead. You say, well, you don't look dead
to me. You're moving around, you're talking, you're breathing.
Well, how does a man get dead? How does a man die and survive
it? Look at Galatians chapter 2,
verse 19. Every living man is under the
law. But Paul says concerning himself,
and this is applicable to every believer, every child of God,
for I through the law, this is verse 19 of Galatians 2, for
I through the law am dead to the law. Now Paul was by Natural reckoning,
a living man when he said that. But the gospel is not natural. And though Paul was a living
and breathing man like you and me, he was dead to the law. And here's the thing, he was
dead to the law by the ministry of the law. The law is the one
that put him to death. How can that be? Verse 20. I'm
crucified with Christ. In the book of Galatians chapter
4 verse 4, it says that Jesus Christ was born of a woman, born
under the law. And for all his life, the law
testified that Jesus Christ was a righteous man. The law testified that even if
you just looked at His commandments written on a wall, and looked
at them, and looked at Him, you'd say, there goes our righteous
man. But we have more testimony than this. We have the testimony
of God, the lawgiver, speaking from heaven and saying, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus Christ was
under the law and was pleasing to the law, or pleasing to God
through the law. He had every right to claim all
the blessings of God which were promised according to Moses'
words. He that does these things will
live by them. But there came a day when the one who did no sin was
charged with the sins of all of his elect. Sin was laid on him. Their sins
were made to be his sins. And when that happened, The law
began its terrible ministry upon him. For though by his own practice
he knew no sin, when our sins were laid on him, and I think
this is an appropriate use of that scripture, he who knew no
sin was made to know sin. He was made to know it. He knew what it was before all
this happened. He knew what sin was. He knew
it better than you and I do. But he'd never been caught in
it. He'd never suffered for it. He'd never been alienated from
his God because of it. Now when our Lord hung there
on Calvary, so far as His character, so far as His nature was concerned,
He was the most righteous man that ever lived. In fact, you
will never find a more righteous deed than what was done at Calvary. There is a man, and I know He's
a God-man, but there He's hanging as a man, as the one mediator
between God and me and the man Christ Jesus. Never did a man love God more
than the Lord Jesus Christ loved him when he was on the cross.
Never did a man submit to the will of God more completely than
did the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Never was a man more
determined to fulfill the work he'd been sent to do by God than
was Jesus Christ on the cross. And so we could say that so far
as his essence is concerned, Never was there a more righteous
man than Jesus on the cross. And yet, so far as law and justice are
concerned, never was there a more sinful man than Jesus Christ
on the cross. You can combine Judas and Hitler
and Pol Pot and Lenin and Stalin and every evil man you want to,
put them all together. Our Lord had laid upon him the
iniquity of a multitude no man can number. And if you want to
get a little idea of what that'd be, just think of your own sin
and multiply that by ten thousand times ten thousands and thousands
and thousands. And all of it was caused to meet
together on him. And caused to meet together on
him in such a way that he was declared guilty before
God. He came to know sin. And then the law caused him to
be under sentence. And is it not interesting how quiet our Lord was throughout
the ordeal. They brought Him before Herod
and before Pilate, and He answered them not a word. He did not defend Himself. Why? There was no defense. He's a guilty man. Those two
men, Pilate and Herod, scoundrels though they were, they stood
as representatives of law. God arranged those kangaroo courts
to illustrate to us what was going on in the real court. Christ offered Himself to God
and made no defense of Himself because there was no defense
to give. He was guilty. He who knew no sin was made to
know sin. The only way I know to put this,
maybe that we can understand it, is this. Christ got caught with our hand
in the cookie jar. And he died. As I was putting
these notes together, it occurred to me, he's really the only man
that's ever died. Do you remember there on the
Mount of Transfiguration? It says that Moses and Elijah
spoke to him about the death he should accomplish. Accomplished is a translation
of the same Greek word that our Lord Jesus Christ said. Well,
actually, he probably said it in Aramaic, but it's a Greek
word. You find it in the New Testament. This translated, it
is finished. It means to be perfected. It
means to be brought to completion. And whatever else may have been
meant by our Lord's words when he said it is accomplished, it
is perfected, this he meant. I have died. Fully, completely,
death has been perfected. You know why hell goes on forever?
They're never done dying. They're never finished dying.
It's an eternal death. Not just a death that lasts forever,
like you die and never come back alive. A death that keeps going
on forever because they never finish it. We're so wretched
we can't even get death right. The Son of God did. He died. He died all the way. And when He died, so did everyone
in Him. And according to the testimony
of Scripture, He that is dead is free. That word is actually
justified. He is freed from sin. Because Jesus Christ is dead
to the law, so is everybody in Him. And therefore, they're not
under the jurisdiction of the law, for the law has jurisdiction
over man only as long as he's alive. And no believer is alive,
not to the law. Now give me just a couple more
minutes. Let me describe to you then the wonderful ministry in
glorious ministry, then, of grace. It is said of law that first
it makes a man to know sin, and then it makes a man to come under
sentence, and then it shuts his mouth. What does grace do? It makes us to not know sin. Now, I know that we're kind of
in a mess right now in that God has revived our spirit. That part of man that is the
image of God that enables man to know God and commune with
God, that part's been made alive again. The flesh is still just
a dying mess. And so we have these doubts right
along with our faith and everything. But have you ever noticed this?
Oh, I notice it, and that's why I love to hear Gospel preaching.
When the Gospel is preached and the Spirit of God is pleased,
to join His power to it and touch my heart with it. I do not know
sin. You say, you mean you tell me you
reach perfection? No. No. I mean, there's nothing between
me and God. I realize despite what I've done,
despite that, yeah, my hand's been in a cookie jar plenty of
times, I'm not caught up in it. I'm not condemned by it. The law says you're condemned.
Grace says there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. And there will come a day, brethren,
when God finishes up this work that He's begun, and you and
I will stand in His presence with all those 10,000 times 10,000.
We'll know we sinned. Elsewise it wouldn't make any
sense to say, worthy art thou for you've redeemed us from our
sins. We'll know that it happened, but we won't know sin. And since we don't know sin,
we won't know anything about the punishment of sin. Because
we'll be free. We'll no longer be under sentence.
And then lastly, The law shuts a man's mouth.
Grace opens it up again. But I'll tell you what a man
says under grace is a whole lot different than what he said under
law. Oh, it's altogether different. It says, Open my lips that I
may sing forth thy praise. The lips of grace say, worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive and gives the long list. Worthy art thou for thou has
redeemed us. I will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever. I hope that the log is done with
you here. Because if the law doesn't finish
here, it's going to keep working forever. But if it gets done with you
here, if God gets done with you by the law here, that means He's
picking you up for grace. And you're dead, and the law
can't touch you, unless it be God's name.