In the fifth chapter of Matthew,
verse 20, our Lord Jesus Christ made this statement. He said, I say unto you that
except your righteousness, that word righteousness, of course,
is holiness. holiness in God's sight before
the Lord. Righteousness, holiness, righteousness. Except your righteousness shall
exceed, far exceed, be better than the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees. Now, you've got to realize who
these scribes and Pharisees were. He's talking about men whose
lives were dedicated to religion. Men who were raised in religious
tradition, conformity, custom, ceremony, ritualism, described
were men who were entrusted with the with the writing of scripture,
in other words, translating from other scriptures to other paper. They didn't have printing presses.
These scribes were men who knew the languages and knew the doctrines
and knew the traditions of the fathers, and it was their job
to write the scriptures by hand. Those were the scribes. Those
were men who lived in the temple. They went about the things of
the temple. The Pharisees were the rulers of the Jews, the teachers
of the law, the keepers of the law. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee. And our Lord's picking out these
men who tithed all that they possessed, gave alms to the poor,
fasted twice a week, in whose hands was a responsibility of
keeping the religion of the Jews. And they were held in most high
esteem by those people. There's no one any higher than
a Pharisee. Somebody said one time long years
ago during this time that if two men were in heaven, one would
be a Pharisee. Now that's how highly they esteem
these men. And here our Lord very plainly
says, unless your righteousness, your holiness exceed, exceed,
go far beyond anything that's ever been produced by a Pharisee. You shall in no case even enter
the kingdom of God. You're not even going to enter
the kingdom. That means none of the Pharisees are going to enter
the kingdom of God. It clearly says that. None of them will
enter the kingdom of God. No Pharisee will ever enter the
kingdom of God. And no one else will either. Because we don't have a righteousness
to exceed theirs. These were men who prayed on
the street corners, read the scriptures on the street corners,
wore their phylacteries wide to show they honored the law
of God. They were just the very pick of the crop. They were the
best men of their day. And the righteousness he's talking
about is that righteousness over there in the book of Hebrews,
where our Lord says, without holiness, no man is going to
see the Lord. No man is going to see the Lord.
Now turn back to our text in Romans 4. So I'm interested,
I'm interested in this righteousness, in this holiness before God.
I'm going to keep working it over until we at least in our
heads know what we're looking at, what we're talking about,
what we're considering. And maybe by God's grace, some
of us will be a partaker thereof. My question is, how can you know
if the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in you? And I read
how it was fulfilled in Abraham. It says in verse 20 of Romans
5, he staggered not at the promise of God. Now, everything was against
Abraham having a son, an heir, except the Word of God. Everything. Who against hope believed in
hope? No possible way for a man 100 years old and a woman 90
years old. If you told a doctor or anybody
with good sense today that a man 100 years old begat a son of
a woman 90 years old, he would go into convulsion laughing.
Even Sarah laughed when God mentioned it. But Abraham believed God. Now it doesn't say he believed
there was a God. The devil believes there's a
God. and trembles. He didn't say he believed in
God. It says Abraham believed God. There's a difference. Abraham
believed God. And he believed that God was
able to perform anything that God promised, anything that God
promised. And verse 22 says, and therefore
it, this righteousness, this righteousness was imputed to
him on the foundation of He believed God, and therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. And he says that this wasn't
written for his sake alone. God doesn't save men different
ways. He saves them the same way. However
Abraham was declared righteous is the way you're going to be
declared righteous. In whatever way God accepted Abraham, you'll
be accepted or rejected. In whatever way Abraham was made
holy before God. That's where you're going to
be made holy. God says, I am the Lord, I change not. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. And it will be imputed
to us if we believe. Now, there's where it is. There's
where the battle's fought. And there's where the battle's
won. It's belief or unbelief. That's where it is now. You turn
to Romans chapter 3, just back one page. You can wage your religious
battle wherever you want to. You can raise issues as you please,
but I'm telling you, this is where the battle's fought and
won, it's faith. By grace are you saved through
faith. That's just so. Look at Romans
3 now, verse 19. Now, we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law.
That's everybody. that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God, Pharisees, scribes,
publicans, sinners, rebels, harlots, prostitutes, drunkards, whatever.
Doesn't matter who they are, all flesh is guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty, subject to the judgment of God in God's sight.
None righteous, no, not one. Therefore, verse 20, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. And that's where we've got to
be justified. By the law is the knowledge of sin. But now there
is a righteousness. But now the holiness, the righteousness
of God, without the law. without obedience to the law
on my part, not without obedience to the law, because God's law
must be obeyed, but without obedience to the law on my part is manifested,
it's witnessed by the law and the prophets, Abraham's a witness
of it. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and it's this righteousness of
God, this holiness, This way in which men are declared holy
and embraced by God and received by God and accepted by God, even
this righteousness of God, the righteousness He gave, He provided,
He accepted, this righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe. Now, don't add anything
to that. It doesn't say those that believe
and work for Jesus. Though if a man believes, he
will work, he will pray, he will witness, he will be faithful. But it does not come by our doing
anything. It's not of him that willeth
or him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Eternal life
is the gift of God, Tom, the free gift of God. It cannot be
earned, purchased, bought, or borrowed. It's the free gift
of God. You give it to whomsoever you
will. That's just so, believe. Now, turn to Romans 10, Romans
chapter 10, and we're in the same shape these folks were here
in Romans the 10th chapter. Both places I've read where it
talked about the righteousness of God, talked about it coming
to those who believe. Those who believe. It was imputed
to Abraham because he believed God. And it'll be imputed to
us who believe, and this righteousness which God provides and accepts
is by faith in Christ, and it's unto all and upon all that believe. That's what's said. Now, Romans
10. Brethren, Paul's talking here
about Israel, the nation Israel. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, we're talking
about this same thing, righteousness. If a man is saved, he's accepted
of God, he's justified of God, he's righteous in the sight of
God, he is sanctified by the Spirit of God, he's accepted.
He's a child of God, he's an heir, he's accepted by God. That's
his prayer for these people. Verse 2, he says, I bear them
record. I know these people. I was one
of them. I was just like them. They have
a zeal of God. They have an enthusiasm for God. They talk about God. They're
religious. They have a lot of religious
customs and traditions. They have some respect. Respect
for God. They'll remove their hats when
they go into the church. They respect Sunday and they
celebrate Christmas and Easter and all these things. They have
respect for God. They have respect for the clergy.
Men of the cloth, they call them. But it's not according to knowledge,
for they being ignorant, ignorant, and here's where the whole religious
world just about today is ignorant, same place these people were
in total, they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now that's
what we're talking about, God's righteousness. I'm not talking
about the Pharisee's righteousness or your righteousness and morality.
My mother's in heaven, she was a good woman. She's not in heaven
if she's depending on the fact she's a good woman. Because to
begin with, your mama's not a good woman in God's sight. She's a
good woman in your sight. You ain't God. You got a far
less standard of holiness than God does. It's far lower than
God's standard. Your mama sinned and come short
of God's glory, just like you did. And that's a fact now. These folks are ignorant of God's
righteousness. I'm talking about God's holiness
now. I'm talking about perfect love. I'm talking about perfect
faith. I'm talking about perfect righteousness. I'm talking about perfect obedience.
That's what I'm talking about. That's what we're talking about.
They're ignorant of God's righteousness, God's holiness, the same one
Christ talked about when he said, if your righteousness doesn't
exceed the righteousness of the best man on earth, you won't
enter the kingdom of God. I hope you know my daddy was
a preacher, and he was a fine man. And he literally served
God all his life. He preached all his life. He
gave himself to the ministry. He wore himself out. He and mom
did without. If anybody's in heaven, my daddy's
there. If he's depending on his preaching, he's not there. If
he's depending on his serving God, he's not there. I guarantee
it. Just as sure as there's a God in heaven. I guarantee he's not
there. If he's depending on his church
membership, he's not there. No sir. These people were as
zealous as your daddy. These people were as moral as
your mama, and Paul said they lost. And Paul knows a little
bit more about it than you and I do. This is God's Word. They're
ignorant, ignorant, totally ignorant. And you and I, when we talk that
way, when we say a certain person's in heaven because of who they
were and what they did and how they lived, we show we're as
ignorant as they were. We're ignorant of God's holiness,
God's righteousness. God's perfection that's only
found in Christ, and the only one God will receive. They're
ignorant of God's righteousness, and what are they doing? With
all their activities, they're going about, going about, going
about. And isn't that what religion's
doing today? We're going about. We're going
about here, and going about there, and going about yonder. All the
preachers are talking about, be sure and send your tithe in,
and get out there and witness and win souls, and be in church,
be a five-star Christian. By Sunday school, morning service,
BTU, evening service, Wednesday night, Bible study, get in the
circles and do all these things, going about, because serve the
Lord and God will bless you. Give to God, God will bless you.
Do this and God will bless you. They're going about, going about
with all this activity to do what? Look at it, to establish
their own righteousness. They don't go to the movies.
They won't play cards, they won't go to a dance, they won't bowl,
they won't shoot pool, they won't go to a ball game. They do all
these things and just all this activity and going about, I do
this and I don't do that and I do the other, she's saved,
she wouldn't do this, he's saved, he wouldn't do that. This is
the same thing these people were doing. They had their uniforms
of religion. They had their New Testaments,
they had all these things, their Old Testaments, they had all
these things and they were going about to establish some credit
and glory by what they were doing. And that's exactly what religious
people are doing today. They're trying to establish some
credit and glory. And I'll tell you this, if you
start from the cradle and work for religion and churches to
the grave, you'll establish nothing but condemnation in the records
of glory. Because in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing, in the flesh no man can please God. And if you're
the best man who ever walked on this earth, if you're the
best woman, if you're Joan of Art or Florence Nightingale,
or the father of our country, George Washington, or Abraham
Lincoln, who set the blacks free, or whoever you are, with all
of your pedigree and degrees and all these other things, in
the sight of God, the Scripture said, the best man is altogether
vanity, dust of no consequence, even the plowing of the wicked
is sin. Is that too hard? But it's so
in God's sight. And they're going about to establish
their own righteousness, and they're ignorant, he said, totally
ignorant. And they have not, listen, they
will not, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness
of God. Oh, Ebenezer Erskine said one
time, listen to this, he said, Oh, the pride of the human heart. Oh, the pride of a human heart.
Men will do anything for salvation except believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. They'll do anything. He said
they'll give up thrones, they'll give up position, they'll give
up houses and lands. They'll put themselves in monasteries,
in caves, and in convents. They'll lie on beds of thorns.
They'll live on nothing. They'll deprive themselves. They'll
read the creeds and the scriptures 24 hours on end. They'll rise
up in the morning and pray. They'll say so many Hail Marys. And they'll fast till they're
near death. They'll whip themselves with
thorn bushes. They'll go on long pilgrimages. They'll do all this and more.
rather than look to Christ by faith, that they will not do."
That's right. That they will not do. What gives
birth to all this, he cried? Pride. Pride. I'm going to have some part in
the redemption of my soul if it bankrupts heaven. Well, you're
not going to bankrupt heaven. I want to show you some scripture
here. Show you some scripture. Turn, if you will, to Galatians. First of all, Galatians 2.20.
Now, let's just see what God says. See what God says. Galatians
2.21. Listen. Old Paul speaking again. He said, I do not frustrate,
confuse the issue. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, compromise it. If righteousness come by law,
Christ died in vain." Now, that's pretty serious. If righteousness
comes by baptism, the sacraments, doing good deeds, serving the
Lord, Jesus Christ died in vain. Now, if you want to take the
responsibility of saying that, you're welcome, but it takes
my breath even to read about it. He died in vain. Turn to
Mark 9. Let's just look at some scriptures
which our Lord declares in his Word, Mark 9.23. Listen to this,
Mark 9.23, our Lord speaking to a man here, a centurion, and
he said unto him, Mark 9.23, if you can believe, if you can
believe God, if you can believe the record God hath given concerning
his Son, if you can believe, all things are possible. Think
about that. Most folks talk about healing
here, and that's the first reference, I suppose, in reference to this
young boy that was possessed of demons. But I'm talking about,
our Lord says here, all things, sanctification, redemption, righteousness,
inference into glory, acceptance by God, all things are possible
to them that believe. An heir of God and a joint heir
with Jesus Christ, if I can believe. If I can believe, all things
are possible to him that believes. Turn to John 6. Now, let's read
some in John 6. I looked in the concordance in
preparing this message. John has more to say about believing
than any of the other writers. There's so many to choose from
in the book of John, but just a few here. John 6, verse 28. Then said they unto him, Well,
what shall we do? that we might work the works
of God. And Jesus answered and said unto
them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom God
hath sent. There is no greater honor and
glory than to believe God. Believe him. Believe God. Believe
God. Look, if you will, at verse 37.
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh
to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said to you, that you also
seen me and didn't believe me. You didn't believe me. You won't
believe me. Religious people, you see, number one, they just
don't believe their sinners to begin with. This is the reason,
as you go through the Bible, the publicans and harlots didn't
have any trouble receiving salvation by grace. They were sinners.
And people who have trouble receiving salvation as a free gift, the
first problem is they don't believe they're really sinners. They're
pretty good folks. And God never has saved any pretty
good folks. You see, Christ didn't even die
for pretty good folks. He says he died for sinners and
he died for the ungodly. I know that. Romans 5 says that. He died for the ungodly. God
commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Christ said that too. He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous. I didn't come to call pretty
good folks. I came to call sinners. Sinners. Go learn what that means. Read on in John 6. Christ said,
you don't believe me. You don't believe. Now, I said
to you, he that believeth on me will never thirst. But you
don't believe that. But I'll tell you this, verse
37, as Stan prayed a while ago, all that my Father giveth me
will come to me. You won't, but they will. See
that? You won't, but they will. You
see, he's just answering these religious people. He said, I
said to you, I'm the bread of life. He that believeth on me
will never hunger. I'm the water of life. He that
believeth will never thirst. But you don't believe that, he
said. If you don't do it, you won't come to me that you might
have life. But all that my Father giveth
me will come to me. And those that do come, I'll
in no wise cast out." They're not going to be deserted. They're
not going to be shipwrecked. Verse 38, "...for I came down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that
sent me. And this is my Father's will, which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I lose nothing, but raise it
up at the last day." This is the will of him that sent me,
every one that seeth the sun." How do you see Christ? You don't
buy your picture down at the store and hang it on the wall.
That might be Buffalo Bill or Wild Bill Hickok or go about
anybody. That's not Christ. I'll tell
you that. That's not Christ. We don't make any image of anything
in the heaven or earth and call it God. Call it God. I just soon
put the picture of an old bull on the wall and call it God.
Let's put one of those pictures some folks have in their home.
That's not God. God's the Spirit. He that seeth the Son, I'm talking
about sees the Son with eyes of faith. Faith. He sees Christ in the Word. He
sees Christ on the throne. He sees Christ as the eternal
surety. He sees Christ on the cross.
He sees Christ as his representative and sin-bearer. He sees Christ
in the tomb. He sees Christ risen. He sees
Christ seated. He sees Christ the mediator.
He sees Christ the high priest going into the Holy of Holies
with his precious blood as an atonement for our sin and accomplishing
redemption by what he did and where he is. And we see Christ
coming again, we see Christ reigning forever, we see Christ worthy
as the Lamb. I see Him. And he that sees Him
and believes on Him will have everlasting life. Just believe. Just believe. Now that's what
it's saying. Now like I said, turn to John 20. You can raise
all the issues you want to, you can say, but, but, but, but,
but, but, I don't care. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, He
that believeth hath everlasting life. He said, As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but
have everlasting life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall never see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
There is where the issue is decided. Faith is the foundation grace,
faith is the parent grace, faith is the essential grace. Christ
said, if you believe not that I am he, you'll die in your seat.
Now look at John 20, verse 31. And these things are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, you might have life. Where? In him, through
his name. His name, you see. His name is
his character. His name declares who he is.
When you use the name Henry Mahan, you're declaring the attributes
or character of a person. Everything I am is identified
by that name. That name. Everything, when you
use that name, people who know me know who you're talking about.
And when you use the name the Lord Jesus Christ, you're identifying
all that he is, his name. That's the reason it says, there's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. It's not just using the name.
It's knowing him as he is revealed by that name. You see that? In
other words, when you say, Lord Jesus Christ, you're saying surety,
representative, federal head, Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valley,
pastor of 10,000, son of God, son of man. You're saying crucified
Redeemer. You're saying perfect righteousness.
You're saying risen justifier. You're saying seated high priest. You're saying interceding mediator. When you say Jesus Christ, you're
saying everything that that name implies and declares. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That doesn't
mean that a total illiterate fool out there that's heard the
name Jesus can just say Jesus and be saved. You see, he may
be talking about some Jesus in Mexico. You see what I'm talking
about? Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I know who he is. And I'm persuaded. Because I know who he is, that
he's able to keep that which I've committed to him. And having
confidence in who he is, I'm willing to commit it to him.
There's no problem to be, because he is the greatest, the chief
shepherd, the good shepherd, and the great shepherd. These
things are written that you might believe. Turn to Hebrews 3.19.
Hebrews 3.19, I'm saying, here's where the battle's fought. And
whatever you lack, it's because of unbelief. Whatever you don't
have, it's because of unbelief. Whatever you fall short, it's
because of unbelief. And whatever you have, it's because
of faith. Believe in God. Hebrews 3.19
says, So we see that they could not enter in. Talking about Israel,
talking about the people that left Egypt because of unbelief. Verse 12, Hebrews 3, Take heed,
Brethren. That's to be found in you an
evil heart of unbelief. That's where the issues settle.
What are the causes of unbelief? What are the causes of unbelief?
Let me give you just a few or three quickly. One is Satan's
influence. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
their minds. It was Satan's influence that
caused Adam and Eve to disbelieve God. Another is ignorance. That's
what we've been talking about today, ignorance of God's righteousness.
Hosea said this, God speaking, Hosea wrote in Hosea 4, 6, my
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And this is sad. And I'll tell you this, the preachers
are going to bear the responsibility of this horrible condition in
which the church is in this day. They haven't taught the people.
They have not taught the people. The people who have been in church,
A long time, and they'll drop in here sometime and I'll read
these scriptures and expound these scriptures verse by verse
and say, I never heard that before. I've been in church all my life,
I've never heard. And these are simple things. Righteousness,
justification, imputed holiness, these are simple things. Like I said the other day down
in Lexington, I was preaching, some of the college students
were there, and I said, some of you have been in church all
your life. And you don't even know who Melchizedek was. Five
times in the Word of God it said our Lord is a priest after the
order of Melchizedek. And Melchizedek is the greatest
type of Christ in the scriptures. And one of the college girls
went home that night, she'd been to church all her life, she said
to a friend of mine, who in the world is Melchizedek? Isn't that
a shame? Who in the world is Melchizedek?
Now, Kisadek is your Lord. That's who he is. Your Lord. You don't even know who he is.
That's sad. That's sad. And I'll tell you, ignorant fellows,
my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because they have
rejected knowledge, I'll reject them. You read that in Hosea
4.6. You turned your back on somebody
trying to tell you the truth. You won't hear it. You go to
some preacher with itching ears to itch your ears, and you turn
your back on Almighty God's truth. And he said, I'll reject you.
I'll tell you another thing, it's pride. I mentioned that
a while ago, a little while ago. And then here's a fourth reason
for unbelief. It's finding peace in a false
religious refuge. Now, you can't do much with a
man that's already saved. I'm being facetious. You can't
do much with a man that's already fixed up. Some preacher fixed
him up, told him he's all right. Told him he's all right. Well,
God can do something with him. He said, you said, you rulers
of this people, you said we've made a covenant with death. We're
not afraid to die. With hell are we at agreement.
We're not afraid of hell. When the overflowing scourge
of God's wrath comes through, it won't touch us. We have a
refuge. He said it's a refuge of lies.
We have a hiding place, he said, under falsehood if you hid yourself.
The bed's too short and the cover's too narrow, you'll find out someday.
Someday. There are many contributing factors
to unbelief. But these are the major contributing
factors. Satan, ignorance, pride, and
false religious refuges. I've made my decision, don't
bother me. I've got my church membership,
don't bother me. I've got my experience, I remember
when it happened, don't bother me. Well, I've held high office
in the Church. Well, surely a preacher wouldn't
be lost, would he? Lots of them are. Well, surely
I've been a deacon, I've been a Sunday school teacher, I've
been this, that, and the other. Judas was an apostle, an apostle. There weren't but twelve of those
that ever lived. He was an apostle. Well, let's go to Romans 8, verse
1 through 4. Now here we're talking, let's
wind this up on this righteousness we're talking about. We've got
to have it. We've got to have it. Now listen, Romans 8, 1 through
4. There is therefore now no condemnation,
no judgment to them who are in Christ. That's where they are.
How did they get in Christ? And get in Christ. You see, Christ
receives his people three ways. One, the Father gave them to
him. I read that a while ago. Number two, he purchased them
on Calvary. Number three, the Holy Spirit
brings them to him. They learn of the Father and
they come to Christ. That's how Christ gets his people.
And those who are in Christ, there's no condemnation. They
walk not after the flesh. They walk after the Spirit. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us
free from the law of sin and death. We're free from the law's
curse, from its covenant, from its condemnation, from its penalty.
Free. Christ has paid the penalty.
I don't owe it. Christ has lifted the curse. I'm not under it.
That's right. And Christ is our new covenant. We're not under covenant of works.
But what the law could not do, what the law, what couldn't the
law do? The law couldn't make me righteous.
The law couldn't save my soul. The law couldn't present me to
God wholly. Christ can't. What the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. The law wasn't weak,
the flesh was weak. See, what the law requires, it
requires of us, and we can't produce it. But Christ in our
place could produce it, and he did. He was made of a woman,
made under the law, that he might redeem them born under the law.
What the law could never do, in that it was weak through the
flesh or because of the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness, and notice Christ wasn't sinful flesh, he was in the likeness
of it. He knew no sin, he had no sin. He came in the likeness
of sinful flesh and he came for sin, by his sacrifice for sin,
and he condemned sin in the flesh. That, the righteousness of the
law. might be fulfilled in us. Oh
boy, you think about that. If I am by faith in Christ, if
I can believe Christ, if I am by faith in Christ, if
I can look to the crucified Lamb with clear eyes and with a sincere
heart, I can stand right now before God's holy law and God's
holy throne and God's throne of justice and the highest court
in the universe as perfect as God himself. And you think about
it. The law fulfilled in me. The righteousness, the holiness
of God's law fulfilled in me. That's substitution. That's the
gospel. And you can come down and beat on the bench all you
want to. And that ain't the way the righteousness of the law
is fulfilled. You can come up there and baptize you until you
get waterlogged. And you can take the Lord's table
until you're drunk on the wine. That's right. And you can go
through all the motions of religion, join every church in this town,
go to the preacher's school and seminary and come out a preacher
and all these things and perish. The way the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled is God sent his own son as my representative,
as my federal head, as my substitute in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, as a sacrifice for sin, condemn sin in the flesh,
that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
Fulfilled. That's the way it's done. And
let me ask you four questions, and I'll quit. Make it five. Five questions. I'll make them
brief. How can one know that the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in him? I ask you and I ask myself these
questions. An air of holiness imputed righteousness. Number one, have you seen the
corruption of your own righteousness? Have you? Isaiah did. He said, my righteousness is
a filthy rax. Have you seen that? And have
you been weaned from any trust or dependence in it? And I tell
you, I tell you this, a man's going to be stripped before he's
clothed. God's going to take every, every fig leaf off you
and every thread out of your robe of righteousness. And you're
going to stand naked before he ever puts the spotless robe of
Christ's righteousness on you. That's just so. You can't have
both. You can't even have an inch of
one and four yards of another. The whole robe is brought out
and woven by the master. You can't interject, well, I've
never done this. Yes, you have to. In God's sight,
you have to. Offending one point of the law,
you're guilty the whole time. I've never done... Yes, you have.
Yes, you have. You have to. And you better quit
saying, I never have, because you have to. In God's sight,
you're charged with it anyway. When Daddy Adam cursed God, you
cursed God. When he shook his fist in God's
face, you did the same thing. When they cried, crucify Christ,
I hear your voice just loud and clear. God heard it, whether
you hear it or not. That's right. So that's the first
question. You just have to stop right there.
Don't go any further if you can't say that. Have you seen the corruption
of your own righteousness and been weaned from any trust? Here's
the second question. Have you looked by faith to Christ
and his perfect obedience for your righteousness before God?
Have you? Have you looked to Christ? Turn
your eyes on Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and all
the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light
of his glory and his grace. I tell you, the glory of God
revealed in the face of Christ Jesus makes everything else look
like rubbish, garbage. That's exactly right. When you
stand in the full light of the sun, you don't stand and hold
a candle, though you can laugh. And that's what you, you see,
nothing else is needed when the sun is shining. In fact, everything
else, when the sun is shining in its brilliance, everything
else is just a joke. It's just a joke. And that's
where the Lord, listen to what Jeremiah said, "...the Lord our
righteousness." And again, "...surely in the Lord only have I righteousness."
Have you? Have you looked to him alone?
Thirdly, are you desiring to be like him? I own my sins, don't you? And I look to Christ for holiness.
But I'll tell you, my heart, by grace, is set on glorifying
my Redeemer. I want to be like Christ. I long
for the day. Stanley was talking about this
in his prayer a while ago. We've got some obligations here. Paul
said, for me to live for you is expedient, but I have a desire
to be with Christ, which is far better. Remember what you were
telling me? To be with Christ, which is far better. Oh, I tell
you, are you desiring to be like Christ? If any man love this
world, the love of God is not in him. That's just so. I didn't write that. That's just
so. He that loveth father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife,
yea, his own life more than me, he's not worthy to be my disciple.
We've got to be weaned from this world. I want to be like Christ. Fourthly, do you have really
an inward battle with sin? Now, there are two extremes here. The religionist says, I don't
sin. I don't sin. Therefore, he has
no inward battle with sin, does he? Because he doesn't feel any
sense of sin. He says, I don't sin. One preacher
said not too many years ago, a friend of mine was in the service,
he said, I've never sinned since 1938 or something like that. So he has no inward battle. And
then the man who is given over to sin, he has no inward battle.
He's just given over to sin. He doesn't have any conflict.
But the believer in Christ can understand what Paul is saying
right here in Romans 7. You see, we already opened at
Romans 7. Look down. Paul said in Romans 7, verse
18, I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For the will is present with
me that how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would, I do not. And the evil that I would not,
that's what I do. Now, if I do that, I would not. It's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. And I find in a law, when
I would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
of God. I delight in the law of God.
But I see another law, warring. You see, that's what I don't
know about. Engaged in battle. Are you engaged in battle? Do
you have an inward battle with sin? If the righteousness of
the law has been fulfilled in you, I guarantee you there's
a battle. Because God's holiness is not going to lie down in subjection
to Satan's evil. Let me show you a scripture in
Galatians. This reveals exactly what I'm
saying, if I can find it. Oh, I know, Galatians 5.17. Look
over here just a minute. Galatians 5, 17. First he said
in verse 16, if you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the
lust of the flesh. In other words, the more you
walk in the Spirit, read the Word of God, commune with God,
live in the atmosphere and fellowship of God's people, then it's a
deterrent to sin. For, he says, it's always there,
for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. battles against the
Spirit of God, and the Spirit battles against the flesh. And
these are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do
the things you would. You know what that means? My
spiritual man would be perfect, but because of the presence of
flesh, I can't do what I will. My flesh says do this, but I
can't do that either because the Spirit won't let me. See
what I'm saying? So you have that constant warfare.
That's the reason I ask you. And you may think it's a strange
question in with these others, but it's not just strange, it's
fact. It's fact. If you don't have an inward battle,
you're either a liar or a hypocrite, one or the other. Isn't that
so? Either a liar or a hypocrite.
And then fifthly, here's the last one. When your conscience
troubles you and the guilt of your sins stares you in the face,
the reality, the reality of life, the reality of this great revelation,
this great thing talking about not just religion but a relationship
with God, when the awesomeness and the The greatness of all
this stares you in the face, and you come to grips, not when
you're with a bunch of religious folks singing whoop-de-doo and
in the spirit and throwing songbooks and having a good... I'm talking
about when life and death and judgment and eternity and sin,
and God, and Christ, and holiness, and justification, sanctification,
righteousness, and wisdom. When all the great mysteries
of God stare you in the face, and your own inability, and God
Almighty's great holiness, and God's grand design and purpose
to have a people, and this glorious Word of God, when all that stares
you in the face, where do you go? Where do you turn for relief? Where do you go for confidence?
Come on now, be honest. Where do you go? You go to your
church membership, your experience, your baptism, your confession
of faith, your morality. But I've tried, Lord, I've tried.
You know what I've done for the church? I've given more than
anybody. I've won more so. Where do you
go? Come on. Honest. Where do you go? You
know where you better go? To Christ Jesus, the Lord. If
you go anywhere else, you're going to a dry well. And that's
all there is to it. And if you can answer those questions,
I believe that you can come up with this conclusion, by God's
grace, through faith in Christ, the righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in me. That's it. It's so great, without controversy,
great is this mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of the angels, believed on in
the world. What a mystery. And the greatest
mystery of all, that you should be pleased in your great mercy
and grace, in the great gift of your Son, to include me. I'm beyond words and beyond expression,
but I'm thankful. And to include these, my friends,
Lord, we're unworthy. Oh, no one knows here on this
earth. You do. But we believe where sin did
abound and overflow, thy grace did much more overflow. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. May that be the hope of everyone
here. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.