Let's turn again this evening
to Romans, the third chapter. Let me introduce our message
by giving you a little bit of history. On March 1st, 1527, in firm Scotland,
there was a man by the name of Patrick Hamilton. preacher of
the gospel, who was called by the Archbishop of Rome, James
Denton, to come and stand trial on the charge of heresy. This
man, being a man of fervency and zeal, arrived several hours
early for his trial, and he was charged with heresy sentenced
to die, condemned on the spot. The charges were drawn up against
him, publicly displayed, and he was burned to death that afternoon. He was burned to death under
the order of his holiness, the Pope of Rome. In the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for these things. These are the charges which were
laid against the man. These are the charges which were
listed as the reason for his condemnation. This man, Patrick
Hamilton, preaches that man hath no free will. I like him already. Secondly, this man declares that
a man is only justified by faith in Christ. I like him better. Thirdly, he declares that a man,
so long as he liveth in this world, is not without sin. Fourthly, he declares that he
is not worthy to be called a Christian who doth not believe that he
is in grace." In other words, unless a man has experienced
the grace of God and has confidence of salvation in Christ Jesus,
he is not worthy to be a part of the visible Church of Christ,
worthy to be called a Christian. And fifthly, this man was put
to death because he declares that a good man doth good works
But good works do not make a good man. Now, that's exactly what
the Apostle Paul asserted in the text we had this morning.
This man, Patrick Hamilton, was put to death because he said,
Whosoever believeth or thinketh that he is saved by his works,
denieth the faith that is in Christ Jesus, and denieth that
Christ is his Savior. Now, that's precisely what Paul
said in Romans 3, 28. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. I read
the biography of this martyr last night, late, and as I came
to the conclusion of it, I was very anxious to find out just
how old this man was. At the age of 23 years, he sealed
his faith with his blood, refusing to bow to Babylon and partake
of the wine of her fornication. And he yet speaks from beneath
the altar, crying for God's vengeance upon those who put him to death
for Christ's sake. And I endeavored this morning
to show you from the word of God that salvation is by grace
alone, without works in any measure whatever, that the works of the
law have nothing whatsoever to do with our salvation and our
acceptance before God. Now then, the question naturally
arises, if that's the case, if salvation is by grace without
works, If we receive righteousness by faith in Christ without doing
anything, then we must certainly make void the law of God. This
is the question I want to answer this evening. Do we make void
the law through faith? You have my text in verse 31.
Paul says, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. We do not nullify, we do not
make the law useless or in vain by declaring that salvation is
by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone. But rather, we establish
the law. Now what Paul is telling us is
that the only way the law of God can be honored, the only
way the law can be established, firmly fixed in a man's heart,
The only way the law of God can be fulfilled by us is through
faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. I'm convinced that almost all
doctrinal error and religious heresy arises from a man's inability
to distinguish the law from the gospel. Blessed is that man who
knows the difference between grace and works who can distinguish
the law and the gospel. Let me try to do it for you at
the outset. The law says, pay thy debt. That is the debt of perfect obedience
to God. The gospel says Christ has paid
it. The law says your sins are many. You must be forever damned, despair
sinner. The gospel says your sins, which
are many, are all forgiven you. Be of good comfort, you shall
be saved. The law says make amends for
your sins. Atonement must be made. The gospel
says Christ has made it. Receive the atonement of his
blood through faith. The law says God is angry with
you. The gospel says Christ has pacified
God by his blood. The law says, where is your righteousness,
your goodness, your satisfaction? The gospel says, Christ is your
righteousness. Christ is your goodness. Christ
is your satisfaction. The law says, you're mine. I will rule you. I will curse
you. And I will damn you forever. The gospel says, Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law. You're free from the law. You
belong to Christ. Christ will rule you, and Christ
will bless you forever. I'm trying my best to demonstrate
that we must trust Christ alone, to mix works with grace, to mix
the work of the law and the work of Christ in any way whatever,
for our salvation is to deny that Christ is the all-sufficient
Savior as He is revealed in the Word of God. Now this evening
I want, if God will enable me, to answer four very basic principle
questions with regard to the law and the believer. Number
one, why was the law of God given? If the law of God cannot redeem
us, cannot justify us, cannot sanctify us, cannot make us fit
for heaven, cannot make us more holy, cannot do any of these
things for us, why was it given? Now this is precisely the question
which was asked by the Galatians in Galatians 3 in verse 19. The
apostle says, wherefore then serveth the law? That's a natural
question to ask. If the law can't justify us,
If the law can't sanctify us, if the law can't redeem us, if
the law can't make us acceptable with God, if the law can't pacify
God, if the law can't give us peace, if the law can't make
us holy, what's the use of the law? Wherefore then serveth the
law? And Paul answers the question
very plainly in this third chapter of Galatians. Look at it with
me. The law was added because of transgression. The law was
not given so that men might obtain God's covenant mercies in Christ.
Those things were promised 430 years before the law was given
in the covenant God made with Abraham. Indeed, they were promised
before the world began. But that covenant was confirmed
to Abraham 430 years before the giving of the law. The law was added because of
man's transgression, so that man might be brought under rule,
so that the law might rule over him and restrain wicked man until
God fulfilled the covenant of his mercy, bringing his people
to Jesus Christ and bringing Christ to his people. So what
purpose then does the law serve? It can't save, it can't justify.
What purpose can it serve? What can it do? The word of God
tells us plainly that the law does certain things, certain
specific things. Number one, God gave the law
at Sinai to convince wicked men and women of their guilt and
their sin before God. Turn back to Romans chapter seven,
Romans the seventh chapter. The law of God identifies sin. The law of God tells us what
sin is. The law of God exposes our sin
and exposes our guilt to ourselves. In Romans 7 and verse 7, what
shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, don't
misunderstand what we're saying. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Turn over to Romans
chapter 5 and verse 20. The apostle says, moreover, the
law entered that the offense might abound. That is, the law
was given to make man's sin abound, not that the law increases sin,
but that the law makes man's sin abound in his own eyes, makes
man to see his own corruption. In Romans 3 and verse 19. Paul
is concluding his argument of the universal depravity and condemnation
of all men, Jew and Gentile. He says, now we know that what
thing soever the law sayeth, I wish we could learn this, whatever
the law says, it says to them who are under the law. It does
not say it to anyone else. It says to them who are under
the law. I have no doubt that Tuesday
morning all over this country there will be sentences pronounced
upon criminals in courts all over the land. I don't even bother
to read them. Some folks pick up the paper
and read the obituaries. Some folks pick up the paper
and read the court cases. I don't read either one. I'm
not interested. Neither one of them have anything
to do with me. I'm not dead and I'm not under
the law. I have no fear of any sentence
passed by any court upon any man because I am not a criminal. The sentence has nothing to do
with me. Do you understand that? And whatever the law of God says,
it says to men and women who are under the law, not to those
who are not under the law. It says to them who are under
the law, so that every mouth may be stopped. That is, so that
everybody will stop making excuses for his sin and the whole world
may become guilty before God. The law then is given to show
man his sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law. Do you hear what the law says?
Read the commandments of God. We won't read them tonight, but
you read in Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 through 21. You read
those 10 commandments, the moral law of
God, the Decalogue, and you'll find that it is not a list of
ethics morally. It is not a code of conduct. It is not a rule of life. The
whole list of the law is a sentence of eternal death and everlasting
condemnation. This is what Paul said to the
Galatians. Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. You who
want to post the Ten Commandments. You want to wear them on your
t-shirt. You want to have stickers all over the place with the Ten
Commandments. Tell me you that desire to be under the law. Do
you not hear the law? Don't you hear what the law says?
Any man who ever sees what the law says will seek a place of
refuge from the august holy God and seek a mediator to deal with
God on his behalf. When Moses received the law and
he told Israel what God had written in the law, the Jews said, Moses,
Moses, speak the gospel for us. Don't let God deal with us. We've
got to have a go-between. We've got to have a mediator.
Don't let this holy God come near us. We've got to have a
mediator. That's exactly what the law is designed to do. Now,
to break the law in one point, James says, is to be guilty of
the whole. We have not only broken the law in one point, we have
broken the whole law We've broken it from our youth up and we continue
to do so day by day. We read the commandment concerning the honor of God,
the reverence of God, the worship of God. And we suppose that as
long as we don't worship at some statue, or as long as we don't
have any crucifixes hanging around, or as long as we don't worship
stumps and dogs, or as long as we come to church on Sunday and
open the Bible and sing our prayers and give our gifts and observe
the ordinances, then we observe that commandment. Oh, no. The
commandment with regard to worshiping God is that we must reverence
Him always and in all things so that we always love Him perfectly
without any failure. Nothing comes between us and
God. We're not to take the name of God in vain. We limit that
usually in our thinking to swearing an oath with the name of God.
And that is to take His name in vain. Some go further. And they talk about using the
name of God or any derivative of God's name as a byword. I
still hear it, you young people. I put you on record. If I ever hear any of you say
to me, gosh, oh Lord, Lordy, or anything of the kind ever
again, I'll call you down for it on the spot. It is to take
God's name in vain. We don't take God's name in vain
in that way. But there's something more. To
take God's name in vain is to fail to reverence the living
God. To fail to reverence Him, always
and in all things, and we take His name in vain. That's what
Paul says taking the gospel in vain is. He says don't receive
the grace of God in vain. That is, don't fail to hear and
obey the gospel. That's what it is to take the
gospel vainly. And to take God vainly is to
fail at any time, anywhere, under any circumstance, to worship
the living God, love him, and reverence him. We read the law
concerning adultery. Say, well, I've never committed
adultery. You're either a liar or Satan
has thoroughly blinded your heart. For the Lord God says to look
is to lust and commit adultery already. I wouldn't steal anything. You're either a liar or Satan's
blinded your heart to want what you don't have is to steal. Well,
I would never commit murder. Most of us have murdered our own wives and
children and husbands. Anger is murder. Murder 20 men before breakfast
most days. Anger without a cause is murder. You see, the law does not deal
just with outward things. The law does not deal just with
outward acts and outward deeds and outward morality. The law
deals with inward principles of the heart. The law deals with
thoughts and attitudes, the spirit, the root of the heart. That's
what the law deals with. Now hear me well. The law of God can never cleanse
you. It can only condemn you. The
law can never save you. It can only slay you. The law
can never convert you. It can only eternally damn you. The law can never pardon you
and give you peace. It can only punish you and bring
you to torment. Only Christ can save. Only Christ
can give peace through the pardon of His blood. So the law was
given first to expose our sin and our guilt. Read the law of
God and ask God to give you understanding of what the law says. And all
you will see in the law is your guilt, your corruption. Secondly, the law was given to
destroy the hope of salvation by works. Look again in Galatians
3. Verse 10, once a man is convinced of his
sin and convinced of his guilt, first thing he always does is
just as natural as a thirsty man drinking water. First thing
he always does is he wants to do. He runs back to Sinai. He turns to Sinai and he says,
what must I do? What must I do? He looks for
something to do. Somehow or other, he's going
to make amends for his sin, turn away God's wrath, and win God's
favor. But the law was given for the
very purpose of showing us that we can never do enough to satisfy
the justice and the righteousness of God. Galatians 3.10, for as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. What does that mean? That means
everybody who attempts to find acceptance with God on the basis
of law work, everybody who attempts to find favor with God on the
basis of law obedience is cursed in his effort, cursed in his
religion, cursed in his profession, cursed in his sincerity. Why?
Because it is written. Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things written in the law, in the book of the law,
to do them." Now, you might do one now and another tomorrow
outwardly, but who on earth keeps the law continually? And you
read the reference to what What Paul is quoting back in the book
of Deuteronomy, he says, you do these things when you rise
up in the morning, and when you go out in the field, and when
you come in in the afternoon, and when you go back out in the
evening, and when you lie down at night, you do these things.
You do them all. You do them continually. You
do them perfectly without sin. That's what the law requires.
The law requires perfection. The law cannot accept sincerity. The law can't accept turning
over a new leaf. The law can't accept reforming
the life. The law can't accept changing
your conduct. The law requires perfection,
inward perfection, outward perfection, perfection without a flaw. That's what the law requires.
Future obedience, that's nice, but it can never make atonement
for past guilt. In our criminal cases, In our
criminal system, everything is designed for the purpose of creating
chaos, it seems. This fellow was turned loose
after committing the rape of a 15-year-old girl and cutting
off her arms. And they say he's paid his crime
to society. Now, you tell me how he's going
to pay that crime. Tell me how he's going to pay
justice, justly, for his offense. It's not possible. He said, well,
I'll never do it again. That doesn't replace that girl's
arms. That doesn't take away the pain,
the agony, the torment. There's no way on earth he can
ever justly pay for his crime. He can't do it until he's dead. Now, there's no way on earth
he can ever justly pay for his crime. No way. Man commits murder,
and because he never does it again, does that mean that it's
okay to forget about the past? In the eyes of fallen, depraved,
sinful men, we look on it and say it's alright. But God Almighty
can't. He can't do so. If we should
cease to sin today, never sin again, there's no way we can
make up for our past transgressions. And even if we could, future
obedience is an impossibility. There's no way for men and women
with corrupt, depraved hearts to keep the law of God and satisfy
the justice of God. Now, if you start, you're under
the curse. You're under the curse. Anytime
you pick up and decide you're going to find acceptance with
God by deeds of the law, you bring yourself under the curse.
Thirdly, the law is intended to show the sinner the justice
of his ruin. We read it that every mouth may
be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
Now, legal conviction by itself will never accomplish a work
of repentance. But legal conviction is necessary. A sinner must be made to see
that he justly deserves eternal damnation. This is the very reason why many
of you sitting here tonight Do not yet call upon God for
mercy. You do not yet trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. You do not really understand
that you deserve and must have eternal damnation in heaven.
And when God sends you to hell, he's doing what's right. Now
that's true of you and me and everybody else. And you've got
to understand that. That's what the law's given for
us. David saw his sin and he said, Lord, my sin is ever before
me. And you're just when you speak.
And you're clear when you judge. I have nothing to say about your
judgment. It's altogether right. And God's
judgment, God's justice is altogether right. It's right for God to
punish every transgressor with eternal damnation. It's right,
and in the day of judgment, We shall all be judged exactly according
to the word of the law which God has given. God will judge
every man for that law which he has broken, which we have
broken by our own iniquity, transgression, and sin. The law requires perfection. We've come short. That's iniquity.
The law requires obedience. We have transgressed. We've stepped
across the line. We've broken the law. We've said,
God, you've got no right to demand these things of us. And we break
the law. That's transgression. The law
demands inward perfection. We don't have it. It's sin. Sin. That's what we are. Now we're
going to stand before God. and be judged according to the
book of the law, and exactly what the law records, we must
have." Oh, thank God there is a substitute. One who has taken
our iniquity, our transgression, and our sin upon himself, satisfied
justice, put it away, and brought in an everlasting righteousness.
God help you to trust that substitute, else you shall surely perish.
Fourthly, the law of God was given to show the need we have
of that substitute. When I read the words of God's
law and see the rigorous, inward, infinite spiritual requirement
to the law, I see my need of one who is mighty, someone who
can stand in my stead, stand in my stead with infinite merit. Stand in my stead with infinite
worth. Stand in my stead and be accepted
of God. I see need of one who is able
to take sin and put it away and yet live. One who is able to
give me righteousness that God will accept. I can't get it on
my own. And that blessed one who stands
in my stead is Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute. Oh,
the law of God's severe. Immutably, inflexibly severe.
The law will never bend. The law takes no consideration
of how old you are. The law takes no consideration
of what abilities you have. The law takes no consideration
of where you live. The law takes no consideration
of how you're raised. The law takes no consideration
of ignorance or learning. The law demands perfection. Without it, you'll die. That
law's severe, buddy. It's severe. But oh, Christ is
gracious. The law is condemning, but Christ
has removed condemnation. The law curses, it can never
bless, but Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.
In a word, the law was given at Mount Sinai to bring us to
Christ. Now I want you to look here at
Galatians 3 and verse 24. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster,
to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. When I was a boy, six years old,
my mother and father committed me to a schoolmaster. And I had
several of them. I had four of them. No, I had
five schoolmasters. over a period of 12 years. And
I got well acquainted with every last one of them. I was frequently
around them. The schoolmaster would call me
to his office. I remember the first time he
called me to his office. Back in those days, things were
different. And he reached down to his bottom desk drawer. I
can see him now. And that man pulled out a rubber
hose that looked to me like it was 20 feet long and four inches
thick. And he worked me over. He flat worked me over. And then
he called my mama and daddy. And when I got home, I got worked
over again. They said, that's all right. That's all right.
Any time he gets out of line, work him over, and we'll give
him the same. Got displaced every time I went
in his office, and he even moved that hand, pulled that right-hand
desk drawer out of him. Every time I saw one of the schoolmasters,
every time I saw one of them, I was like this. Good morning,
sir. How are you, sir? Fine, fine. I'm glad. Things are going well.
I trembled, trembled, because I always knew he had reason to
punish me because I was always guilty. Always. He might not
have known I was always guilty, but I always suspected he'd find
out. Oh, and I trembled before him. When I was 17 years old, I said
goodbye to schoolmaster. Goodbye, fellas. And none of
them's ever called after me. None of them's ever threatened
me. And I've seen a few of them. I've been back and forth a few
times, and I see them. You know, I like those fellas. I like them. When I was under
them, I despised them. Man, I wanted to support their
company. I didn't want to be around them. I was scared to
death of them. But now, now that I'm totally free from their yoke,
I see their values. I see their beauty, I see their
usefulness, and I put my daughter under the law. You see what I'm
saying? That's what the law is. The law
is my schoolmaster. It was my schoolmaster to bring
me to Christ. Now all the time I was under
the law, every time I opened the word of God and saw the law
of God, I trembled, I feared, for I was always guilty, and
the law could justly cast me into hell. I never liked it. I never liked it. But now I'm
free. Now I'm free and I see the beauty
of this law, the beauty of the schoolmaster, the use of the
schoolmaster, the justice of the schoolmaster, the necessity
of the schoolmaster. And I approve of it. I approve
of it. I delight in it because now I'm
free. And only after you're free do
you see the beauty of the law. Only then. What is the believer's relationship
with and attitude toward the law? I'm not going to spend but
just a few minutes here, but this point is so very, very important. I hope you'll give me your attention.
Let me show you three things from the word of God. Number
one, the believer, now write it down. You put it in quotation
marks and write Don Fortner beside it. I'll take all blame and all
responsibility. The believer is totally free
from the law. Totally free from the law. I want us to look in the Word
of God, beginning back in the Book of Romans, and before we
read these texts of Scripture, in your heart ask God right now
to enable you to put aside everything you've ever heard in your life
except the Word itself. put aside all church creeds,
all the words of the theologians, all the old puritans, I don't
care how good they were, all the old preachers, I don't care
how much you respected them, put aside every word you have
ever read or heard about the believer in the law outside of
this book. And when you do, see now what
God has to say. Nothing else matters. Nothing
else matters. Just nothing else matters. Doesn't
matter what our logical assumptions are. Doesn't matter what our
logical deductions are. Doesn't matter what our church
creeds are. Doesn't matter what our confessions of faith say.
Only thing that matters is what does God say in this book. Now let's look in Romans chapter
6 and verse 14. Romans 6 and verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. For ye are not under the law,
but under grace. Period. Number 15. What then shall we sin? Because
we're not under the law, but under grace. God forbid. God forbid. Romans chapter 7
and verse 4. Wherefore my brethren, ye are
also become dead to the law by the body of Christ dead to the
law I have a granddaddy had a granddaddy
three of them my great-grandfather my grandfather my grandfather
on my mother's side even had a step-grandfather on my father's
side and we had good relationships you know we We got along, all
of them except my father's father. I never knew him till he's about
dead. And I, boy, I enjoyed being with them. Loved them. Loved
them. But they're dead. They've been
dead for years. And now I have no relationship
with them and they have no relationship with me. Now we're dead to the
law. Dead to the law. What kind of
relationship do you have with something that's dead? What kind
of relationship do you have with that which you are dead to? None
whatsoever. Romans chapter 8, verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. Romans chapter 10, rather, verse
4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Galatians 3 and
verse 25. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. And look at what he says in verse
25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. No more. No more. Look in Colossians
2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 10. Paul declares, ye are complete
in him, complete in Christ, which is
the head of all principality and power. He tells us that Christ
has taken the handwriting of the ordinances, verse 14, the
handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, that is,
the commandments of the law, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, having spoiled
principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it." Now look at Paul's conclusion. Since Christ
has taken the ordinances of the law, those things which were
contrary to us, for they cursed us, they condemned us, he's taken
those and nailed them to the tree. Let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of
the new moon, or of the Sabbath day. Somebody says, well, we're
free. We're free to obey the law if
we want to. Oh, no, you're not. Oh, no, you're not. Somebody
says, well, we're free to keep the law. Oh, no, you're not.
No, sir. Paul here strictly forbids the
observance of those very things which were set forth under the
law, both the sacrifices and the ceremonies, and even the
observance of the commandment to keep the Sabbath day." Paul
said, don't you do it. Don't you do it. Which things
are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. He's
the substance. He's the fullness of it all.
Look in 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. The apostle is writing Timothy
and admonishing him concerning false teachers, charging him
that the saints of God teach no other doctrine than the doctrine
of Christ. And he talks about the law, the
end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart. Verse six,
he says, from which some, having swerved, have turned aside unto
vain jangling. Vain jangling. It's Babylon. just babbling, just meaningless
words, just futile efforts, desiring to be teachers of the law. And
I'm telling you that anybody who desires to be a teacher of
the law understands neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. Now then, anyone who reads these
few passages of Scripture without receiving any instruction other
than that which God gives in His Word must conclude that God's
children are entirely free from the law, there is absolutely
no sense whatsoever in which the believer is in bondage to
the law. We have no legal covenant with
the law, we have no legal curse from the law, and we have no
legal constraint to the law. I cannot find in all of the New
Testament, I cannot find a single duty, a single responsibility,
a single admonition given to any believer on the basis of
law. I can't find one. I've read it
several times. I cannot find a single admonition, a single
reproof, a single encouragement given to any believer on the
basis of the law. Never. You see, the believer
is totally free from the law. The law is not our rule of life. The law is not our motivating
force in life. The law is not the governing
principle of the believer's life. Our rule of life, that which
motivates us, that which governs us, that to which we seek conformity,
is not the law of God, but the Son of God. What do you say? We seek to be conformed to Christ,
not to a set of rules. I don't know how to make this
clear. I don't even know how to make it presentable to you. And I certainly can't answer
the arguments of men. Don't make me ask you to. But
there's all the difference in the world in living by a set
of rules and living to please a person. There's all the difference
in the world and living by a set of rules, motivated by those
rules, and living because you love a person, motivated by love
for that person. My wife has many things she does
for me. She's a good wife. I come in
in the evenings. Of course, she works over here
with me every day, I still come in in the evening, see a faithful,
pull my shoes off, slide up the stool, get me my pipe, stoke
it for me. They don't know how to light
it, but they'll stoke it up for me. And they bring me my coffee
and turn the air conditioner on, get me something to eat.
All those things, all those things. And you know, I've never, in
all these years, I've never sat down and said, now, now Shelby,
you do this. And you do that, you do the other, and you see
to it that you have this ready and you do the other. I never
do. No list of rules on the wall
anywhere. None at all. She does it because she loves
me. That's all. That's all. She does
what she does at the house because she loves me, takes good care
of my clothes, takes good care of the house. not because there's
some force on her, not because there's some constraint, but
because she loves me and her love for me causes her to desire
my pleasure. That's the believer's relationship
with Christ. That's the believer's relationship
with Him. I heard a story of a man who was a preacher. He had a housemaid, his wife
had died. And when the housemaid came to
work for him, he told her that now there's On the back of the
kitchen cupboard, there's a list of responsibilities for you to
take care of. And each week and each day, you
check the list, and you do the same with your laundry. And she
worked for him for several years, and she did everything. Every
day, she'd check the list. Every week, she'd check the list,
be sure everything was in order. And the old man fell in love
with that gal, and they got married. And they came back home after
their honeymoon. She got up first morning. She
went open the kitchen cupboard. The list was gone. She asked her husband, said,
what happened to the list? He said, you don't need it anymore. You
don't need it anymore. You see, we have another relationship
now. We're no longer master and servant. We're husband and wife. And the
relationship is different. You don't need that list to tell
you how pleased you do. You don't need that list to keep
you in line, do you? You don't need that list to motivate
you, do you? You're not afraid of losing your
job anymore. You're not afraid you're not
going to get the raise that's coming anymore. We have another
relationship. That's the believer's relation
with Christ. We have another relationship,
not legal, but love. Not fear, but faith. We trust
Him. And our motive, that motive which
governs us, constrains us in all things is love and faith
and gratitude, our heart's desire for the glory of Christ. Because
of that love of Christ that constrains, we want, we want to be conformed
to the image of Christ in our relationship with men. I want
that so very much. I want to deal with other human
beings. like my master did. I want to
deal with you like you did. I want to deal with my friends
like you did. I want to deal with my enemies like you did.
I want to deal with people like Christ did. That love for Christ
causes me to desire conformity to his sacrifice we give. God teach me someday. Teach me
now. to give, to give, oh, to give
myself, to give my possessions, to give willingly, cheerfully,
generously, sacrificially. That's the pattern. It's Christ. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, how that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you through his poverty might be made rich.
I want to be conformed to Christ in his faithfulness in seeking
and doing the will of God. I say to every child of God,
you're free from the law, free from the law. I say it emphatically
without apology and without fear. There is absolutely no sense
in which any believer is under the law. But every child of God
in this world honors the law and establishes the law. This
is what Paul says back in our text. Do we then make void the
law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. With David we affirm, O how love
I thy law! I esteem thy precepts concerning
all things to be right, and I hate every false way. With Paul, the
believer says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. We love the law's requirements,
we would not change it. We honor the law's justice, we
would not alter it. We establish the law's righteousness,
we would not lower it. You see, the great difference
between the legalist and the believer is just this. The legalist
really hates the law. He really hates it. But he must
have its yoke. He must have the law to keep
him in line. and he strives to live by the
rule of the law because he fears the wrath of the law and hopes
to win the favor of the law, whereas the believer is entirely
free from the yoke of the law and the fear of the law, though
he loves the law entirely. The real antinomian, then, is
the person who must have the law to rule him. because he's
a lawless rebel at heart. The man who is really against
the law is the one who pretends to defend the law, but he must
have the law, and he'll tell you he must have the law, otherwise
he wouldn't know how to behave. Thirdly, how do we fulfill the
law by faith in Christ? Paul tells us in Romans 8 and
verse 4 that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. We do not
make the law void through faith, but rather we establish the law. You see, the law requires complete
satisfaction. That's what the law requires.
If God Almighty looks on Buddy Darby or Dale Smith in the day
of judgment and sees any sin, you're dead. That's all. Daily. There's no allowance, no toleration. The law demands complete satisfaction. How do we satisfy it? We offer
to the law of God, thy faith, the blood of Jesus Christ. And
the law says that's enough. That's enough. The law requires
complete love for God. It requires a total consecration
of every person to the will, the worship, and the glory of
God. That was symbolized by the tithe. We don't tithe. Tithing is under the law. We're
not lawless. We don't rob God of the tithe,
but we don't tithe. That tithe was the representation
of a man's confidence in God and his love to God. He brought
God to tithe. He brought in the first fruits.
And in saying so, he's saying, Lord, I belong to you. He's saying,
Lord, everything I have comes from you. Everything I have belongs
to you. Everything I have and am, I give
to you. On a year like this, that'd be tough, would it, Oscar?
A year like this, man, comes and brings the first fruits.
The first fruits? But it's been drought this year.
The first fruits? But I'm going to have to sell
all the cattle anyhow. The first fruits? What are we
going to do? I belong to God. I bring in the
firstfruits. That's what the law said. That's
what the law required. And in those laws of the tithe
and the firstfruits, those men were saying representatively
and symbolically, everything is consecrated to God. Everything. Everything will look to Him.
More than that, the law requires perfect trust and confidence
in God. Not only love, and consecration
of trust and confidence. God set a Sabbath. He had a Sabbath
of the week, and he had a Sabbath of the years, and he had a Sabbath
of the Sabbath years. And God required on the Sabbath
day that no man do any work. No work. But I couldn't get it
all done in six days. Couldn't get it all done last
week. And if I don't get it done, I
won't get any pay. No work. If I don't work, this fella's
not going to have me work for him next week. No work. No work. I don't know if it's going to
be expected. It's expected to obey such a
law. Trust God. You trust God. Doesn't matter
how much you need it. You don't pick up a stick on
the Sabbath day. Doesn't matter how bad things get, you don't
work on the Sabbath day. No work. That Sabbath day was
a symbol of trust. We'll worship God. We'll trust
God. No matter how bad things get,
we're going to trust Him. That's the symbol of the Sabbath
day. We fulfill it in Christ Jesus the Lord. We come and give
ourselves to Him. And we rest in Him. We cease from our own words. Oh God, help us to totally
cease from our own words. Totally. Insofar as acceptance
with God is concerned. Insofar as God's favor is concerned. We rest in Christ. It means I
don't even want to pick up a stick. Not even a stick. Nothing. Nothing. What are you going to do? Nothing.
Nothing. Not one thing to win God's favor. Not one thing to
gain God's approval. Not one thing to satisfy or make
up or make amends or atone. Nothing! I rest in Christ. When things are getting pretty
bad, I rest in Him. When things are getting tough,
I rest in Him. When the evidence is a few, I
rest in Him. When my heart's cold, I rest in Him. Looks to
me like nobody could possibly be saved and be a man like you
are. I rest in him. I rest in him. That's all. I
rest in him. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of the Sabbath, a rest to the people of God. Oh, come enter
into his rest by faith. Trust the Savior. Cease from
your works and cease from condemnation. We obey the law of God and establish
the law of God. only by faith in Christ, that
law requires perfect love, complete devotion to our neighbor. Told
Lindsay back here before services tonight, and I'd like to love
him just like I love myself. I'd like to love you, your family,
your children, just like I love myself. I want to, I want to. And I do love you. But if I ever think about trying
to find a basis of comfort in my love for Hubert Montgomery, my love for you, Hubert, give
me no peace, whatever. And I hate that. I'm sorry for
that. But it gave me no peace, no assurance. A preacher, what
on earth do you offer the law? The love of a substitute. The
doing and dying of the Son of God. That's all. That's all.
The law says that's enough. That's enough. We must look to the law. Never. Never. We must look to our obedience
to the law. Never. We must not look to anything
but Christ. We must not look for anything
from the law or our works, but look to Christ alone for everything. You see, to seek justification
by the law is to deny the sufficiency of Christ's blood. To seek sanctification
by the law is to deny the sufficiency of his righteousness. To seek
reward in heaven by the law is to deny the sufficiency of his
intercession. To seek comfort, assurance, and
peace of God's favor by the law is to deny the sufficiency of
Christ our advocate. One last question. I'll be very
brief. Does the believer's total freedom
from the law promote licentiousness? That's what we're often accused
of. They say that if you preach these things, people
will live licentious lives that promote sin. I heard Mr. Swaggart trying his
best to defend his doctrine that man could fall from grace and
the doctrine of legal obedience, saying that if you don't teach
these things, it promotes Apparently teaching them doesn't
do any better. Exactly the opposite is true. The fact is, history
and experience attest that the meanest, most vicious, most abominably
wicked people in the world are self-righteous religionists.
It was self-righteous religionists who put Patrick Hamilton to death
for his faith. You read your history books.
Look into those countries today where Romanism reigns supreme. In Mexico, Brazil, Italy, France,
bribery, deceit, and theft is just a way of life. Top officials
to the bottom rung of the ladder, everybody, everybody lives by
the code of I get all I can any way I can. That's all. Romanism
reigns supreme. There is absolutely no limit
to the wickedness of men who seek to find refuge in their
works. Read your newspapers. If legal
religion promotes righteousness, please explain to me Jim Baker
and Jimmy Swaggart. Most all of you and myself have
experienced church squabbles and fights that are so common
in this land. I have known a very, very, very,
very, very few where that the squabble had anything to do with
the gospel of Christ and the glory of God. It's always over
pride and self-righteousness. Always. The Word of God uses
the free, full, irrevocable, unconditional pardon of sin through
the blood of Jesus Christ as the basis and motive of love
to Christ, holiness of life, and consecration to God. Our
Lord told that Pharisee to imitate, imitate the secret of love. You see, this old prostitute,
this woman, a Jew, you're offended, she didn't even think about coming
into your house. Listen to what I tell her. Your
sins, which are many, are all forgiven. They're all forgiven. Now, that
song you sang, David, he never said a word. He never said a
word about my sin. He never reproved. He never chastised. He never punished. He never made
me feel bad. He never beat me down. I come
to him. And he says, they're all fools. They're all fools. Oh, she loved
me. She loved me. That Pharisee despised him. John writes to his beloved people,
surely if there was ever any word of admonition given to men
about living in this world for the glory of God, walking in
the path of righteousness and holiness and faith and love,
the epistle is 1 John. And John says to his dear people,
my little children, these things write unto you that you sin not.
How is he going to encourage them not to sin? How am I going
to encourage you, you who believe, don't sin? How am I going to encourage myself?
Don't sin. Don't sin. Don't sin. I'll tell you how. If you believe, God will never
charge you with sin. He'll never do it. He'll never
impute sin to you. Never. If you do sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and
he's the propitiation for our sins. Somebody says, well, let
us then eat, drink, and be merry. All is well. It doesn't matter
how we live. Oh, I don't think you know what
I'm talking about. I don't think you know what I'm talking about. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Corinthians and he says, give yourselves completely to
God. Give yourselves to God. Live
for him, love him, walk with him. Give yourselves to God.
Well, Paul, what's your motive? What's the basis of your appeal?
You're bought with a price. Christ has redeemed you. You're
washed, you're sanctified, you're justified. Therefore, glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. To you who believe not, hear
me. If you would obtain righteousness before God, you must seek it
by faith alone. If you would trust the Lord Jesus
Christ, you must trust Christ only. And to you who trust Christ, if you've heard nothing else
I've said tonight, hear this. If you trust Christ, If you trust
Christ, you need no other righteousness,
but his righteousness. Mark, you don't need anything
to cleanse you from your sin, but his precious blood. Nothing. Oscar, you don't need one thing
to give you comfort, assurance, and peace, but faith in him. That's all. That's all. I wonder
if we can believe it. Hardest thing in this world is
just to trust Him. Just to trust Him. It's impossible
unless He gives us grace. God give us grace to trust His
Son. Amen.