First of all, in Romans 5, verse
12, I know this beyond a shadow of
a doubt, that because of Adam's sin and
fall, this race of men is dead in trespasses
and sin. I'm talking about dead. Without
hope, without help, without Christ, and without God, we're dead.
It says here in Romans 5, 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered the world, and death, death by sin. And that's not
just physical death. And that's not only eternal death.
That's spiritual death. Spiritual death. And so death
passed upon all men, for that all, and that word have is not
in the original, all sinned. When Adam sinned, we sinned.
When death and condemnation and judgment came upon Adam, it came
upon you and me in Adam. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians
15, in Adam we died. How can I die before I die? How
can I die before I'm born? How can I die before my daddy's
born? It says in Adam, John, I died.
Well, how did I die in Adam? I died spiritually. That's how
I died, dead. In D-E-A-D, dead. It's without
life, without life, without God. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
Now these things are just so. Man's either dead or he's not
dead. There's a big argument going on over total depravity
as opposed to total inability. Well, my friend, total depravity
spells total inability. If a man's totally depraved,
he's totally unable to do anything to please God. In the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. He says we're born of God, not
of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, we're born of God. And here in Ephesians 2, 1 it
says, And you hath he quickened You can omit those words if you
want to, they're in italics, but he repeats them later on.
But you hath be quickened who were what? Dead, dead, dead in
trespasses and sins. I hear the evangelists, and I
was in this one time just as deeply as anybody else, just
as deeply, this altar call, this trying to get people to decide
for Jesus, you know, trying to get them down to the front. And
I preached on this down in Jacksonville, Florida two or three weeks ago,
and Dawn Strickland and Jack were there, and Dawn sent me
a poem, and I think it's good. I'm not making fun now, please.
But it's amusing, but I want you to listen to it. And we're
talking about sinners are dead, in trespasses and sin. God must
give men life. I can't give them life, you can't
give them life, God has to give them life. But, Lazarus, in your
grave today, oh, do not turn your heart away. Oh, won't you
see your soul's great need while we pray and while we plead? As
you lay there stiff and dead, just close your eyes and bow
your head. And raise your hand, I know you can, while we sing
just as I am. Lazarus, if you'll take one step,
he'll take the rest. That's a good deal, isn't it?
Come, put the promise to the test. That coffin lid, just kick
away. We'll wait, Lazarus. Will you
come today? Why not? Why not come tonight? Open your dead eyes and see the
light. As the song says, Lazarus, whosoever
hears, come if you hear with your dead ears. Oh, Lazarus,
it's growing late. One more verse while we wait. Your poor mom would be so proud
if you'd shake free of that dead man's shroud. Well, Lazarus,
we now must close. Why you won't come, goodness
knows. But remember, at the cross there's
still room. You'll give yourself life and
come out of that tomb. Now you know God must laugh at
that. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall have them in derision. The Lord shall laugh. That's
foolishness. And yet, That's a way of life
in a religious world. A second thing I know from the
Word of God, those who are elected to life and given to Christ shall be saved. I know that. Turn to John chapter
6. That's what Scripture says now. And I make no apologies,
and I don't stutter when I say it. See, the so is not so. In
John chapter 6, verse 37, our Lord said, and this is Christ
speaking, the Master, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, all of them. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing. but raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son, he gives us eyes
to see." We're not talking about seeing a vision or a dream. We're
talking about with eyes of faith, seeing the redemptive work of
Christ. And believeth on him may have
everlasting life, and I'll raise him up again at the last day. Verse 44, no man can come to
me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. It's
written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God,
and every man therefore that hath heard and learned of the
Father, he'll come to me." No doubt about it. The apostle wrote
in Acts 13.48, listen to this, Acts 13.48, when Paul turned
to the Gentiles, it says in Acts 13.48, and when the Gentiles
heard this, They were glad and they glorified the Word of God,
the Word of the Lord, Acts 13, 48, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life. What'd they do? They believed.
I'm sure of that, that they will come. Our Lord Jesus in John
10, if you care to turn over there to John chapter 10, what
are you saying, Preacher? I'm saying that Out of this dead,
condemned, and doomed race, God hath chosen a people according
to the good pleasure of His own will, and given them as a gift
to His Son. And in that everlasting covenant
made His Son the surety of those people. And I don't know who
they are, and you don't know who they are, but the number
is the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore out of
every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. And Christ
died for them, and they're going to be saved. Not a one of them
will be lost. Not a one of them. Not a one
for whom our Lord suffered. Not a one for whom he prayed.
He said, I don't pray for this world. I pray for them which
thou hast given me out of the world. Thine they were and thou
gavest them me. And they've kept thy word. And
they believe that thou hast sent me. They believe. They do. It
says here in John chapter 10, the Jews came to him in verse
24 of John 10 and asked him, they said, how long are you going
to make us down? How long are you going to keep us in the dark?
If you be the Messiah, the Christ, you tell us plainly. He said,
I told you. I told you. They hear the same
thing you've heard. Both thieves on the cross heard
the same thing. One of them heard it with his
heart, the other one heard it with his ears. That's right. Wherever our Lord preached, they
all heard the same thing with these ears. But there's a lot
of difference in hearing a general clucking of a hen and hearing
an effectual call. There's a lot of difference in
hearing a general warning and hearing an effectual call. And
he says, I told you, the works that I do in my Father's name,
they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. I said unto you, my sheep will
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
them eternal life, and they'll never perish, and neither shall
any man pluck them out of my Father's hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one, and
they took up stones to put an end to that message." That's
exactly right. They hate that message. Nobody
ever washed stone for preaching works. Nobody's ever been stoned
for preaching salvation by work. You can't find a martyr of salvation
by work being a stone for preaching grace, sovereign grace and mercy. Those given to Christ will be
saved. Here's the third thing I know.
They'll be saved by hearing the gospel. That's how they're going
to be saved. God has not only ordained the
end, but God has ordained the mean. People say, well, you believe
that God elected some people to salvation, they're going to
be saved whether they believe or not. That's a lie. I don't know anybody that knows
anything about the Bible that believes that. I don't know any
evangelical, sound, scriptural preacher who's ever preached
that. That's not so. Almighty God ordained the end
and He ordained the means. The end is salvation. He has
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son. That's
so. But he's also predestinated the means and the instruments
and the agents by which we'll believe. Thy people shall be
what? Willing. Thy people shall be
willing. Our Lord has no unwilling bride.
That's ridiculous. Our Lord has no unwilling servants. Our Lord has no unwilling subjects. They're all with Him. They're
all with Him. They all love Him. He loved them
first. They love Him because He first
loved them. Our Lord has no people who don't pray. They all pray.
Our Lord has no people who do not seek the Lord. They seek
the Lord, but He sought them first. They call on the Lord,
but He called on them first. They believe the gospel. Let
me show you that in the Scripture. If you look first of all at John
17, this is our Lord's prayer. This is such an important place
to turn for this information because it's the Lord speaking
himself in John 17 too, and he's praying to the Father. And he
said in John 17 too, thou hast given him power, authority, the
right over all flesh. He's the Lord of the dead and
the living. That he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. Now look at verse 24. Verse 24. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which thou hast given me for thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. They'll be there. All right,
Harold. All right, turn with me, if you will, to Mark 16.
And here's the Lord sending his apostles out to preach. Now he
said, I pray, I have all authority over all flesh to give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given me. And Father, I will,
this is my will, that of all which you have given me, I'll
lose nothing, but they'll be with me where I am to behold
my glory. Now when he sent his disciples forth in Mark 16, verse
15, he said to them, you go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. He didn't
say he that is elected will be saved, he that's not elected
will be damned. He said he that believeth and
confesses Christ will be saved, and he who doesn't believe the
gospel will be damned. Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 21. Now listen to this. God ordained the end and God's
ordained the means. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21,
for after that, in the wisdom of God, The world by wisdom knew
not God. The world by natural wisdom doesn't
know God, can't understand God or comprehend God. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's
what it's pleased God to do. They asked David, they said,
where's your God? He said, our God's in the heavens. They said,
what's he like? Well, he hath done whatsoever
he pleased. That's what David said. He hath done whatsoever
he pleased. In heaven, earth, in the seas, in all deep places,
what God pleases, that's what he does. Well, I ran through
the scripture one time, the concordance, and looked up that phrase, it
pleased God. And it gives the whole redemptive
story in those words, it pleased God. What did it please God to
do? Well, in Samuel, it said it pleased God to make you his
people. And then it said, it pleased God that in Christ should
all fullness dwell. You familiar with that scripture?
Then it said, it pleased God to bruise him. You familiar with
that one? And then it said, it pleased
God with the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
Paul said, God who separated me from my mother's womb, when
it pleased him, he revealed his son to me. So when it pleases
God, the whole story is there. Salvations of the Lord in its
planning, in its execution, Men nailed Christ to the cross, but
they did what God determined before to be done. Even the words
from the cross are written in the book of Psalms. The fact
that they pulled out his beard and spit in his face and pierced
his hands and side is in the Old Testament. The fact that
they cast lots for his garments in the Old Testament. Everything
they did. You reckon they went to the Old
Testament to find out what they were supposed to do next time?
No, sir. They didn't know anything about the Old Testament. They
did what their wicked hearts devised to do, and at the same
time they were fulfilling every jot and tittle of what God said
they would do. They crucified Christ. It pleased God. And it's
pleased God. God's salvation to the Lord in
its planning, in its execution, in its application. If anybody
here is awakened, God awakened him. If anybody here is convinced
of sin, God convinced him. If anybody here believes on Christ,
God gave you the faith. If anybody here has a heart of
repentance, it's the goodness of God that led you to repentance.
If anybody here has embraced Christ by faith, I'll tell you
one thing, you'll spend eternity giving God the glory for it.
That's exactly right. Salvations of the Lord. From
Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end, it pleased God. And look
at 2 Thessalonians. Now look at this with me. 2 Thessalonians
2.13. 2 Thessalonians 2 13 listen to this but we are bound
to give thanks to give thanks always to God for you brethren
beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation now watch this through Not apart from, not in
spite of, not without, but through. Sanctification of the Spirit,
that's setting apart the Holy Spirit, setting apart the Holy
Spirit, zeroing in. The Holy Spirit deliberately,
effectually working in a man's soul, giving life, giving life. We're born of the Spirit, born
of the Word and the Spirit. The Word is a seed, the Holy
Spirit is the agent. The seed is the Word of God.
We're begotten again, not with corruptible seed, semen, but
with the incorruptible seed, the Word of God. This is the
seed. A man can never be begotten without
seed, either physically or spiritually. He can never be begotten. That's
the reason Mary said, how can I have a son? I don't know a
man. Well, she knew a man, she knew Joseph, but he had no seed. You see what I'm saying? There
was no relationship between them. And she said, I can't have a
child. And I'll tell you this, there
can be no birth in the spiritual kingdom of God without seed.
And that seed is the word of God. That's so. And that spirit
by whom we're begotten is the Holy Ghost. So we are chosen
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and what? Belief
of the truth. The hard shell doesn't have a
leg to stand on. I don't care who he is or where he's trying
to stand. The fatalist, the predestinarian who says that if some are predestinated
to hell and some are predestinated to heaven, no matter what to
do, they're not a leg to stand on. Not so. Just not so. God's
people will hear the word. Whosoever shall call on the name,
that's the character, attributes, redemptive name of Christ shall
be saved. But how shall they call? On Him
of whom they've not heard. Huh? And hadn't believed. How are they going to do it?
You can't trust an unrevealed Christ. You can't call on an
unknown God. You can't do it. Somewhere out
there, whoever you are and wherever you are and whatever you do,
no, that's not it. Jesus, thy son of David, have
mercy on me. Lord, remember me when you come
in your kingdom." That old boy knew something. Where'd he learn
it? God taught him. God taught him. We're taught
of God. We're taught of God. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath the inner of the heart of man the things
that God has prepared for them that love him. But he hath taught
us. We have these things revealed
to us by the Spirit of God. For the Spirit of God searcheth
the things of God, the deep things of God. No man knows those things
but the Spirit, and he to whom the Spirit will reveal. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yes, sir. Men are going
to hear the gospel, all right? And it's in 2 Timothy 2, while
you're sitting there on 2 Thessalonians, turn to 2 Timothy. It is on this
ground and with this knowledge that Paul preached. It's on this
ground and with this knowledge that Paul endured what he endured. That man endured stoning, and
shipwreck, and scourging, and beaten with rods, and prison,
and renunciation by false brethren, and wars, and fightings, he said,
without and within. Verse 9 of 2 Timothy 2, he said,
I suffer trouble, real trouble, as an evildoer. They spit on
my name. They cast me out as evil, even
unto bonds, prison. The Word of God's not bound.
Therefore, I endure all things. for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory." Well, Paul, why don't you just sit there in your
house? God's going to save them, he's going to save them. Paul
didn't believe that. And no thinking person does, because God has
ordained the means, and those means are preaching the gospel,
believing the gospel, sincerely, personally, intelligently, willingly,
lovingly receiving Christ. That's right. And a man will
never be saved who doesn't receive Christ. That's exactly right. And you'll receive him, and that's
what we're reading over in Romans 10 now. Turn over there, and
I'll try to get into this message and be brief with it. That's
the reason I say any belief in sovereign grace and elective
grace, which destroys prayer, and which destroys missionary
zeal and evangelistic fervor and a sincere desire to see men
saved is not of God. When you say, well, I've come
to the knowledge of the doctrines of grace and I'm just going to
sit down and let God save them, you've got the wrong doctrine.
You've got the doctrine is what you've got, but you haven't got
the grace. That's what you've got. You've
got the doctrine, and dead letter doctrine kills anything it touches.
You've got the doctrine, but you don't have the grace. That's
exactly right. If you ever get the grace of
the doctrine, you'll skedaddle out and witness to somebody.
You'll pray for people. You'll give. You'll send missionaries.
You'll pray for the pastor. You'll be faithful. All right,
Romans 10, because you love the king and the king's ways you
love too. Let me tell you something. Nobody
loves the king who doesn't love the king's attributes and the
king's will and the king's ways. You find somebody says, I love
God, but I don't love this sovereignty issue. You don't love God, because
God is sovereign. You can't love the king and not
love his ways, and not love his will, and not love his purpose.
Ain't no way. There's no way. Or right in Romans
10, Paul, we have the preacher's desire. He said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
And who were these people, this Israel? Well, they weren't atheists,
I tell you that. They weren't atheists. He said,
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God. They
hold to the law and the traditions. They have a zeal. They follow
the ceremonies. They're religious. They're just
like 1984 in America. We're religious. We got religion
everywhere. People have a zeal for God. They
have all-night prayer meetings and all calling on some kind
of God, you know, and going through all the commotions and emotions
and speaking in tongues and healing and having great campaigns. We
got zeal for God. See, just like these Jews, they
had a zeal for God, a real zeal. They'd kill you for it. Saul
of Tarsus would kill you for his belief in God. He didn't
know God, but he'd kill for the belief in the God he thought
he knew. In fact, he got letters from the chief priest to put
men and women and children in prison for what he believed.
He was a legalistic, moralistic, dead-letter, doctrinalistic Pharisee
who would fight for what he believed. And you'll find that true today.
These people weren't atheists. They had a zeal. But listen to
Paul. They're ignorant. That's what Christ said to him.
He said, you don't know me nor my Father. Isn't that horrible?
Isn't that horrible? All this enthusiasm, all this
activity, all this religious zeal, all this religious enthusiasm,
all this separation, all this keeping the ceremony, standing
by the wailing wall, beating your head on it, praying, you
know, going through all the commotion, wearing sackcloth and ashes,
putting ashes on your head, you know, fasting. That Pharisee
said, I fast twice a week. I give alms to the poor. I abstain
from this, that, and the other. Think about it. But he didn't
know God. He didn't know God. He's ignorant. He's ignorant.
He didn't know God. Paul said they don't know God.
And what are they ignorant of? A person. Somebody said one time,
if a man's sincere in his religion, Brother Henry, his creed is of
no importance. Brethren, our creed is Christ.
And when you say that's of no importance, you say if a man's
sincere in his religion, Christ is of no importance. Christ is
our life. And he that hath not the Son
hath not life. He's dead. He's still dead. And
what are they ignorant of? Verse 3, they're ignorant of
God's righteousness. That's what they're ignorant
of, God's righteousness. Now, let me see if I can help
you on this right here. Paul said, I want these people
saved, and these people were not, they weren't pagans, they
weren't heathen, they weren't atheists, they were religious
people. They were Jews. They held to the law and the
traditions. They had great activities and ceremonies and service of
God and the temple and the sacrifices and the law and all these things,
but Paul said they're ignorant. Of what are they ignorant? The
righteousness of God. And that's why I say my generation
is ignorant of the righteousness of God. That's twofold. Number
one, they're ignorant of the essential righteousness of God.
The average person has got a granddaddy image of God. Yet he doesn't
put up with anything. Now that's the average person
has an old granddaddy image of God. Smile, God loves you. God loves you and I do too. And
we just smile, you know. God wants to give you, he got
a wonderful plan for your life. An old granddaddy, let me tell
you something. God is holy. God is righteous,
so holy, so righteous, so unapproachable, the seraphims cover their faces
in his presence. So holy, so unapproachably holy
and righteous, so far above anything that dwells in heaven or earth,
that even Moses couldn't look on him and leave. That Moses
couldn't look on him, so holy, so essentially righteous, so
unapproachably pure and holy, that when his son, his only begotten
well-beloved son hung on the cross of Calvary buried, somebody
else is seeing God turned his back. My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? God's too holy to look on his
son when his son's buried in sin. We don't know how holy God
is. Isaiah said, on old King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord, a sight few men have seen. Job saw him. He said, Lord, I've heard of
you. I've heard of you. I've heard of you. But mine eye
seeth thee, wherefore I hate myself. I get down in the dust,
headquarters in the dust. I repent in sackcloth and ashes. I've never seen anything like
this before. I just wish today's preachers could get a glimpse
of God's holiness. What a change in their whole
message. What a change in their approach
to the Word of God. If they could see the holiness
of God, scare them to death first. That's what scares you. I hear
people say, you're not supposed to fear God, you're supposed
to love God. You don't know God. You don't know God. I'll tell
you there's no fear of God before the unbelievers' eyes, but the
beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. And the man who
does not fear God is ignorant of God. I fear God. If you call Him Father, you've
passed the time of your sojourning here in what? In fear. And he says they're ignorant
of God's holiness. Today's preachers aren't even
preaching the God of the Bible. They're not preaching the God
of heaven. They're not preaching the God of salvation. They're
preaching a God that they made up in their own minds, in their
own little ecclesiastical schools. And he's not the God of creation.
And that's right, because he's not holy. I tell you how holy
he is. He destroyed two cities in the
plains. with fire and brimstone because
of sin. I'll tell you how holy he is.
He told Noah to build an ark, put his family in it. He says,
I'm going to drown every living thing on this earth. That's how
holy he is. I'll tell you how holy he is.
He made a man and a woman, put them in a garden. And he said,
you can have anything here you want. There's one tree there
you don't eat. You eat it, you die. They ate it and he killed
them. He killed them. He killed them and put them out
of the garden. And that race has been out there
ever since. And he put flaming swords in front of the guard
and said, you can't come back in either. That's how holy he
is. He ain't the granddaddy you think
he is. He doesn't speak with one word and take it back with
another. God's holy. I'll tell you something else
they're ignorant of twofold. They're ignorant of God's essential
righteousness and they're ignorant, totally ignorant, of God's imputed
righteousness. I'm telling you. Now, I heard
a fellow say one time, that's imputed nonsense. You'll find
out in hell about that. Imputed righteousness is a holy,
precious term, and it's not nonsense. If you'll turn to Romans 3, I'll
show you. Romans chapter 3. You listen
to this in Romans 3. Verse 19 says, Now we know what
things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under
the law. That's every one of us. that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty before God. Therefore, by the
deeds of the law, there shall no flesh, no flesh, no flesh
be justified in his sight, or by the laws and knowledge of
sin, but now, right now, the righteousness of God. Now, that's
not his essential righteousness, but that's his imputed righteousness,
the righteousness of God without the law. without your obedience
to the law, without my obedience to the law, because we had obeyed
the law. Without the law is manifested, it's revealed, the righteousness
of God, the imputed righteousness of God being witnessed, being
foretold and told by the law and the prophets, the word of
God and the prophets. And it's the righteousness of God which
is by faith of Jesus Christ, by the obedience of Christ. Christ
came down here. He who had no sin and knew no
sin was made sin for us that we might be made the what? The
righteousness of God. That's not the essential righteousness
of God. That's not the personal righteousness
of God, is it? No. I'm not God and I'm not made
in the righteousness of God, essentially. But I have clothed
with the imputed righteousness of God. You see that? It's called
His robe of righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness.
He's given to me a holiness which He worked out, which He perfected. That's the righteousness of God.
Who's it by? It's by Christ. Who's it for? Well, read on. It's unto all
and upon all them that believe. There's no difference. Jew or
Gentile, because everybody's a sinner. I don't hear that preached, and
you don't either. I hear people saying believe on Jesus, but
they don't tell me what to believe about it. They don't tell me
why he lived and what he did. They don't tell me anything about
his eternal suretorship. They don't tell me anything about
his incarnation. They don't tell me anything about
his obedience to every jot and tittle of the law. Why was he
born under the civil law, the moral law, the law of the home,
the Levitical law, and all this sort of thing? Why didn't he
just charge down here as a full-grown man, stretch out his arm, die
on the cross, and go on back to heaven? We're trusting the
finished work. How about the living work? How
about the active obedience as well as the passive obedience?
How about the mediatorial work? Are you saved yet? Well, not
yet. Well, you've got something else to be done then. Who's going
to do it? You can't do it. Christ is doing it. We have been
saved. We're being saved. Our salvation
is nearer than when we believe. Who's going to get me out of
the ground? I'm going to be raised by the power of God. So I'm going
to get out of the ground. God started this work and He'll
wind it up. I'm telling you the truth. It's
of the Lord. Well, God's done all He can do. It's up to you.
Then we're doomed. We're done for. There's not a prayer for
anybody here if God's done all He can do because I'm not even
out of the ground yet. I'm not like Christ yet. I got
some potentials. I got some possibilities if God's
pleased to do it. It's all in His hands. Well,
it's all in your hands, they tell you. No, it's not. It's
all in His hands. Have a bit of it. They're ignorant. They're ignorant of God's righteousness.
And how is this ignorance expressed? How is the ignorance expressed?
You want to know how? What is the ignorance? The ignorance
of God's essential holiness, the ignorance of God's imputed
righteousness, and the way they express that ignorance. Look,
they're going about with all their activities to establish
their own righteousness. Listen to him. God, I thank you. I'm not like other men. I tithe
and I fast and I give alms. I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
an extortioner, I'm not unjust. I'm not even like this publican.
Don't raise your hand, but how many of you are glad you're not
like that pharisee? Watch it. I'm glad I'm not like
that pharisee. Yeah, you are too. The heart of man is desperately
wicked and deceitful. Above all things, who can know
it? We're going about If we're not
establishing our righteousness by what we're doing, we're trying
to establish it by what we're not doing. If we're not trying
to establish our righteousness by circumcision, we try to do
it with uncircumcision. There's nothing in either one.
Everything's in Christ. They're ignorant. They're going
about to establish their own righteousness. Oh, my soul, look
at Luke chapter 16. Luke 16. Listen to this. Luke
16, verse 15. And he said to them, the Pharisees,
he said to them in verse 15 of Luke 16, you are they which justify
yourselves before men. We're so careful to make sure
people know how much we pray. I see this religiosity and piety,
I see it everywhere. I see it everywhere. I see folks
that are religious. They want everybody to know it.
They want to impress somebody with their piety. They want you
to know how many times they've read the Bible, how much to pray,
how much to fast. They want to dress religiously,
act religiously, talk religiously, so folks will say, he's sure
spiritual. He sure is spiritual. He's one
of those spiritual men, you know. He prays a pretty prayer, all
that sort of thing, you know. That's all. You justify yourself
before men. Listen, but God knows your heart.
God knows your heart, and that which is highly esteemed among
men, that which men hold in high esteem religiously is an abomination
to God. Even our righteousnesses in God's
sight are filthy rags, dirty, filthy rags that ought to be
burned. Well, you say, Preacher, what
on earth are we going to do? I wish we'd all look to Christ. I wish
we'd look to Christ for God's righteousness. I wish we'd close
with Christ. I wish we'd be shut up to Christ.
I wish we'd embrace Christ. I wish we'd quit talking about
us and talk about Christ, because that's where it is. It's all
in Him. For verse 4 says, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. to everyone that believes. What
does that mean? Four things, quickly. Number one, the embracing
of Christ by faith, looking to Christ, believing on him through
his merit and righteousness, means the end of the law as a
means of justification, the end of it. It does not speak anything,
it does not hold anything as far as justification, acceptance
with God is concerned. It's at an E-N-D end. finished,
completed, that's it. It's all in Christ. Galatians
3, 221, let's look at that. Galatians 221, listen to this.
I do not frustrate, confuse the grace of God. If righteousness
comes by the law, Christ died in vain. Christ died, that's
a serious charge, isn't it? If in any way justification and
righteousness come by law in any shape, form, or fashion,
Christ died in vain. All right. If he didn't die in
vain, then righteousness doesn't come by the law. It's finished.
It's finished. When Christ said it's finished,
everything I needed was supplied. Everything the law required was
met. Everything justice demanded was
fulfilled. It's the end. All right. Second
thing it means is this. The end of the law or goal of
the law is to bring a man to Christ. That's what the law is
not to save. It wasn't given to save. It was
given to a bunch of people that were sinners already. The law
couldn't do anything for them. Look at Galatians again, chapter
3. It says in Galatians 3, verse
24, listen to this. Galatians 3, 24, wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. Is that clear? I don't have words
that could be any plainer. But after the faith came, we're
no longer under the schoolmaster. The law's done its work. It's
brought us to Christ. Now we live under the law of
Christ. We live under the law of Christ. The law of Christ
is our rule of life. Christ is our master, our king,
our sovereign, our Lord. We live under His law. All right? Thirdly, the law contained terms
of life. Do this and live. Isn't that
what God said to Adam? Do this and live. Well, Christ
did it, and we live. The law hasn't changed. It still says do this and live,
and I'm telling you this, if any man lives, he's going to
do it, either in himself or a substitute. And our righteousness is in Christ.
So he is the consummation of the law in this regard, that
he was made a curse for us. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. And then last of all,
Christ is the end of the law. He's the end of the law as any
charge might be found in the law against God's elect. No charge. There's therefore now no condemnation
of them in Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is Christ that justifies.
Let me give you two things, and I'll quit. I've been preaching
too long. All right? Moses, verse 5, described the
righteousness which is in the law. Here's the way he describes
it. That the man which doeth those
things shall live. That's what the law requires.
My friend, the law of God doesn't require that you admire it. It
doesn't require that you like it. It doesn't require that you
give agreement with it. The law of God demands and requires
that you do it. That's in thought, word, and
deed. That's in birth, life, and death. That's in attitude,
motive, and spirit. That's in every way perfectly.
It requires you perfectly. Paul said, you that would be
under the law. Don't you hear the law? Do you hear it? You
hear what the law, I wish we could hear that law. People talk
about that law. I wish we could hear that law.
All the law ever says to me is damned, damned, damned. Every time I look into the perfect
law of God, I see condemnation. But when I look at the perfect
obedience of Christ, I see acceptance. All right, that's what the law
says. All right, what does the righteousness of faith say, verse
6? It says this, verse 9, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. That's what the righteousness of faith says. That's what it
says. The righteousness of the law
says this, do it and live. Now, if you wish to stand before
God on that platform, you're quite welcome to. You're quite
welcome to. But here's the other platform,
and that is, he that believeth on the Son hath life. Believe
in Christ with your heart. Find out who He is. Find out
what He did. Find out why He did it, that God may be just
and justified. Find out where He is. Hear the
Word, and lay hold upon Christ by faith, and you'll be saved.
But now if you reject Christ and refuse Christ and turn to
the law or turn to religion or turn to anything to go about
to find some kind of acceptance with God, that entails a perfect
past, present, and future, inwardly and outwardly, and it's an impossibility. They asked the Lord, they said,
who can be saved? He said, with men it's impossible.
It's impossible, impossible. You've launched out on an impossible
voyage to find God. Who by searching can find God?
God has to be revealed in Christ. He that has seen me has seen
the Father. Lay hold on Christ. That's clear as I can make it.
Let's bow for prayer.