The End of the Law 120902

Romans 10:1-4. Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

In chapter nine the Apostle Paul begins by saying that he had a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart about the condition of his people with relation to salvation. As we begin chapter ten he repeats himself. His heart's desire is that they may be saved. It is one of the greatest tragedies in history that the people of Israel, as a nation, rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and continues to do so. By human standards Israel had many advantages. Earlier, Paul had pointed out that they had the oracles of God — the written word of God. Not only did they have God's word but they studied it. They memorized it and wrote commentaries to explain it. And as Paul says here, they had a zeal for God! But their zeal was not enough!

It is a lot of fun to be around joyously zealous people. However, it can be pretty difficult to be around a zealous person who is not joyful. Zeal can be mistaken and may even be dangerous. The zealots of this world are very hard to deal with. Throughout history zealots have caused division in churches, and countries, and have led crusades in the name of Christ. A lot of shame has come upon the Christian church because of zealots. At the same time, people with no zeal are equally embarrassing. The problem Paul is addressing here is the problem of…

Zeal without knowledge.

Paul had had zeal. Read with me Philippians 3:4-6, …‍though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ‍circumcised on the eighth day, ‍of the people of Israel, ‍of the tribe of Benjamin, ‍a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, ‍a Pharisee; ‍as to zeal, ‍a persecutor of the church; ‍as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Yes, Paul had zeal! He was proud of his Jewish heritage. He was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew through and through. Concerning the law, he was a Pharisee. Pharisees were very serious about living a life of obedience to the law of Israel. Concerning legal righteousness, Paul was blameless. But his zeal made him a great danger to the emerging church of Jesus Christ. His testimony, in Jerusalem, was, "I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women," (Acts 22:4) Yes, Paul had zeal, plenty of it, and some to spare. What Paul did not know was that all the while he was persecuting the church God was preparing him to be a tool for expanding the church. He had zeal…

But, he came to knowledge. Read with me Acts 9:1-9, But Saul, ‍still ‍breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to ‍the high priest and asked him for letters ‍to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to ‍the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ‍me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, ‍whom you are persecuting. But ‍rise and enter the city, and you will be told ‍what you are to do.” ‍The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, ‍hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, ‍he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Remember, before Paul's conversion his given name was Saul. In all his zeal, he went to the high priest to get arrest warrants for men, or women, in Damascus who were followers of the Way. However, God had other plans for this zealous young Jew! Suddenly a light from heaven, literally, shone down on him and those with him. He was blinded by the light. Just as he had been spiritually blind before, he was now physically blind. Apparently he saw in the light a person whom he did not recognize. It is likely that Saul of Tarsus had never seen Jesus of Nazareth. But now he had seen the risen Lord. Jesus confronted him with his guilt, not just against individuals, but guilt against Jesus himself. "Whom you are persecuting" were the words that must have driven it home to him. He was not persecuting some sect of people. He was persecuting the risen Lord Jesus. Now he was blind and forced by his condition, to think about what just happened to him. During that thinking time, I believe he became a Christian! At least, he was very open to the short message given to him by Ananias in Damascus.

It was easy for Paul, in later years, to recognize the problem his people had because he had the same problem with regard to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He knew now that they could not respond because…

They were blinded. Read with me 2 Corinthians 4:3-4, And even ‍if our gospel is veiled, ‍it is veiled only to ‍those who are perishing. In their case ‍the god of this world ‍has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing ‍the light of ‍the gospel of the glory of Christ, ‍who is the image of God,

The God of this world, Satan, had blinded the Jews by their lack of exact knowledge of the gospel, and of the righteousness of God.

Today, billions of people seem to be in the same condition. Blind to the gospel, not physically, but in their minds. Do you have someone you have witnessed to and had no results? Or, had negative results where they have turned you away? Your prayer should be, "Lord, open their eyes, their spiritual eyes, so they can see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." Until they see with their spiritual eyes their minds will be resistant to the good news of Jesus Christ. Yes, all over our community people have a veil over their spiritual eyes put there by Satan himself. As a result they are…

Ignorant of the righteousness of God. This ignorance causes them to…

Try to establish their own righteousness. Read with me what Jesus had to say in, Luke 18:9-14, He also told this parable to some ‍who trusted ‍in themselves that they were righteous, ‍and treated others with contempt: “Two men ‍went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, ‍standing by himself, prayed‍ ‍thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‍I fast twice a week; ‍I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, ‍standing far off, ‍would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but ‍beat his breast, saying, ‘God, ‍be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For ‍everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus told this story as a perfect illustration of the self-righteousness of religious people. The Pharisee in the story was grateful to God that he could view himself as "a good man". Note that Jesus said that this parable was about some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt. Self-righteousness always results in contempt for other people!

The tax collector in the story, on the other hand, was overwhelmed by his guilt. He would not come near the Pharisee and he would not even lift his eyes to heaven. He could only cry out for God's mercy since he recognized that he was a sinner.

Jesus said that the tax collector was the one who went down to his house justified before God and not the Pharisee.

The Jews, that Paul was dealing with in Rome, had this same self-righteous problem. They could see themselves as "good" but they could not see that their goodness was not acceptable in God's eyes. They should have known, from their own Scriptures, that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the presence of God. "Good" by the world's standards is nothing in the face of God. The problem of the self-righteous person is…

They can't see God's righteousness. Let us see what Jesus had to say in Matthew 21:28-32, “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him....”

They were ignorant of God's kind of righteousness. Here Jesus talks about two sons, one who heard and obeyed and one who heard and did not obey. Jesus used this to show that God was, and is, looking for people who will hear and obey. It is not enough to believe! Belief must change your thinking, your feelings and your actions!

He reminded them of the preaching of John the Baptist. What happened there was that the self-righteous Pharisees did not believe John's teaching with regard to righteousness but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed! Jesus said they would go into the kingdom of God because they believed.

When one believes something the evidence is a change in behavior. If you are inside a building and you hear a fire alarm, or even more urgently, someone shouting, "FIRE!", You have to decide whether you believe it or not. What you believe will determine what you do. If you believe there is a fire you will leave the building. If you do not believe there is a fire you may stay where you are. But whatever you do will be based on what you believe. Because the Pharisees did not believe…

They did not submit to God's righteousness. Turn with me please to, 1 John 3:7-10, Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

The Pharisees of Jesus day, as well as the self-righteous of today, are condemned by the Scriptures. Paul says to the Romans, "they did not submit to God's righteousness." And now we find John, in his old age, saying that what you practice is what you are.

Remember, in the beginning of Romans Paul proclaimed his theme, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The religious leaders of Jesus day did not understand the real purpose of the law. They thought the law was their way to righteousness. I meet people today who say, "Oh, of course, I keep the ten Commandments." I am always tempted to ask them to please quote them for me but I do not believe I was called of God to embarrass people. They do that to themselves without my help. The people who claim to keep the ten Commandments usually do not realize what they say. Why the very first is enough to condemn most people. "You shall have no other gods before me."

Jesus, in the sermon on the Mount, took away the refuge of hiding behind the law. The law says do not commit adultery so Jesus said, “Do you look on a woman to lust after her? Then you commit adultery with her in your heart.”

The law is God's standard for holy living but it is impossible to keep it all. Only Jesus kept the whole law. But he did not come to take away the law as many people seem to think. We must look at Christ and see what Paul is saying to us here in Romans.

Christ.

The end of the law. See what Jesus said., Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish ‍the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but ‍to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, ‍until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Here we find, in our Lord's own words, an affirmation of the law of God. The law was not temporary; it is eternal! The law is an expression of how God would have men and women live in this world. Now let us see what Paul had to say in…

Romans 2:13-15, For ‍it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, ‍by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is ‍written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them…

The point of this is pretty clear. Everybody is subject to the law, Jews and Gentiles. The law is God's expression of His holy character and shows what he expects from mankind.

Christ is the end of the law in the sense that he has fulfilled it for those who believe in him. He was born under the law. He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God. And then, he went to the cross to fulfill completely the demands of the law. As Peter would later say, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. Christ carried out the ultimate demands of the law on our behalf. He did not do away with the law. He answered the law and satisfied the law.

In that respect, Christ is the end of the law…

For righteousness. Read with me please, 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, …in Christ God was reconciling‍ the world to himself, ‍not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us ‍the message of reconciliation. Therefore, ‍we are ambassadors for Christ, ‍God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ‍For our sake he made him to be sin ‍who knew no sin, so that in him we might become ‍the righteousness of God.

You see, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The law overwhelms us because we cannot meet its demands. It was intended to be a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So, God made Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for our sake so that we become the righteousness of God "in Him "

Christ is the end of the law for righteousness…

To everyone who believes. Turn with me to, 1 John 5:13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

Many people today want to believe, and many seem to teach, that everyone goes to heaven when they die. Nothing could be further from the truth. Christ becomes the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. John, in his first little letter, tells us that he is writing to believers. Not just believers in God but those who believe in the name of the Son of God. And he is writing to encourage them to know, as a matter of fact, that they have eternal life. Earlier, in his gospel, John wrote about this belief. Turn with me to the gospel of…

John 3:15-16, … that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Eternal life is the gift of God to everyone who believes in him. Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Not who believes about him but who believes in him. Those who put their faith and trust in him. Folks, most of the people in the world believe some facts about Jesus. The vast majority of Americans believe that Jesus existed. That is not the kind of belief spoken of here. Later, chapter 3, we find these words…

John 3:36, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; ‍whoever does not obey the Son shall not ‍see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

This seems to repeat of John 3:16 but it is an addition to it. Evidence of belief is obedient. Whoever does not obey the son shall not see life. That is pretty powerful! A number of times in John's writings the truth is affirmed that people who love Jesus but also keep his commandments. In other words, they will obey him. Do you believe about him, or do you believe in him? It is a matter of eighteen inches, the distance from the head to the heart. Head belief is inexact knowledge! Heart belief is exact knowledge of who Jesus is. He is the Christ, the son of the living God, and only in his name is salvation available to us. If you have not trusted Christ as Lord and Savior I urge you to do so now. You do not know how much time you have to receive him and believe in his name.

If you are a believer in Christ, the son of God, all that he is and all that he has done for his people is true for you. Your old man is crucified with him! You have died to the law and are under grace. You are forgiven completely. You are justified absolutely! You are reconciled to God in Christ! God is your Father! You are adopted into his family and he has given you a "spirit of adoption". You are well pleasing in his sight and are alive to God. You are risen with Christ in a new realm and right now you are seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You are eternally secure, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Believing these truths make us able to live them out in our day-to-day lives. Have you received him and believed in his name? If not, I urge you to do so today.

All Scripture verses are from,The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Slaves of Righteousness

Slaves of Righteousness 120304
Romans 6:15-23
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Last week we heard a great promise “Sin will have no dominion over us”, since we are under grace not under the law. A person who is born again does not have to be a slave to sin. We can sin, and will sin, but we can help ourselves because of the spirit that works in us. Today we see the Apostle asking the same question, “Are we to sin because we not under law but under grace?” The answer remains the same, “BY NO MEANS!” Ultimately, spiritual slavery is a matter of choice. (This choice is not a choice between being free or being enslaved. The choice is, “Whose slave will I be?”) The problem most people have with that statement is this, their slavery to sin is an entrenched habit that is not yet broken. Therefore, they think they have no choice. Believers have a choice because the grace of God is released in their lives. The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

I. There are two kingdoms. Anyone who doubts that is not very observant. No matter how one looks at it there is obvious evil and obvious good in the human race. Whether it is set in the world of fiction such as The Chronicles of Narnia or in the reality of the daily news nothing could be so obvious as the struggle between good and evil. These two kingdoms dominate our worldview. Often Christians try to “sit on the fence”. Jesus himself said that wasn't possible.

A. We cannot serve two masters. (Matthew 6:24) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Here, “money” is used to represent the fallen world. The anger and dissension we see all around us as a result of attempting to live in two worlds at one time. Having become a Christian we have a new allegiance. We must serve Christ if we are to have peace.

B. We cannot be intimate with the world and with God. (James 4:1-7) “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” In recent years it has become more and more obvious that the church and the world are much alike. But it's not anything new it is just more obvious in the world of television and the Internet. Wordsworth said it two hundred years ago: “The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:” Of course, we cannot be totally separated from the world! To do so would cut us off from all opportunity to witness to our faith in Christ. The problem is not the world around us but the subtle inroads of the world within us.

C. We have been transferred. We were born sons and daughters of Adam and Eve and as such were subject to the kingdom of this world. Paul explained our new relationship to the Colossian Christians with these words: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:11-14) Now, we did not apply for a transfer and it was not our idea! It is God the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints. He delivered us! We did not deliver ourselves because we could not. We were dead in sin!

II. Believers were dead and are now alive.

A. Dead In trespasses and sin. Paul said, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—“ (Ephesians 2:1) We must all admit that dead people are incapable of making decisions. We could not decide for ourselves. He had to decide for us because we were not only dead but our very actions proved we were dead in sin. Of course we were physically alive but spiritually dead. We could not make spiritual decisions that would deliver us.

B. We lived like dead people. In the first letter to the Corinthians Paul reminded them what life was like before they met Christ, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11) When a person comes to faith in Christ things began to change. What was formerly natural to them is now unnatural! Things that they used to do without any sense of conscience now disturb them. After a person comes to faith in Christ they begin to wonder why people around them seem to not care when they do wrong. They are simply following their nature. We really shouldn't expect better of them. The change in the Christian's nature comes about by the work of God in them. What they once did, without much thought, now weighs on their conscience. You see? We been transferred to the kingdom of his beloved son and we have passed from death to life.

C. We are now alive! Paul reminded the Ephesians that they were once alienated from the life of God having no hope. Then he says, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, …“ (Ephesians 2:13-15) This is magnificent news! We were spiritually dead and lived like spiritually dead people. But now, in Christ Jesus, we have been brought near to God and to other believers. God has destroyed the barriers that kept us from him and from others who believe in him. We once were slaves to sin but now, Praise God, we have been given life in his name and have been adopted into his family. We have submitted ourselves to a new master!

III. Now we are slaves of righteousness.

A. We have been set free. A new spiritual law has taken effect in our life. In Romans 8:1-2 Paul points out that we are not under condemnation because we have been set free! Listen to his words, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

Have you ever wondered what makes an airplane fly? Most of us have made paper airplanes. Some of them actually fly! The reason they do is they are shaped right and balanced properly. No matter how large the plane the rules are the same. A Boeing 747 has a takeoff weight of nearly one million pounds. It's long enough that the first flight of the Wright brothers could have been made inside its economy section. It takes off with between 400 and 500 people inside. And it flies! The 747 flies because the engineers designed it according to certain scientific laws that override the law of gravity. Gravity would keep it down on the Earth. But the laws of aerodynamics work together and it not only can lift into the air! It can fly from San Francisco, California, to Melbourne, Australia, nonstop!

In the same way, the law of the spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin and death. We were in bondage to a slave master. We were bound by the chains of sin and inheritance. We could not set ourselves free. New Year's resolutions, determination and struggle produced frustration and failure. And then Christ came into our life and set us free. One problem we have, out of many, is this — we're accustomed to the voice of our old slave master. We haven't fully believed that we are free. Romans 6:11 lists two of our assets: “dead to sin” and “alive to God”! When we enter those assets and weigh them against the deficit of “dead in sin” we see that our eternal assets greatly outweigh our deficits. If Christ has set you free you are free indeed! ( John 8:36)

B. We are free to serve God. Verse 22 of our text says, “…now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” in the Garden of Eden Satan promised freedom and delivered death! The fruit they received led to bondage. We're either subject to Satan or God. When we come to faith in Christ we are set free from sin and have become the slave of God. A blessed slavery that bears fruit leading to holy living and eternal life. Jesus told the Pharisees, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Satan lies when he promises happiness and freedom. Remember, Satan was a liar from the beginning. Only in service to God are we going to find peace. We were created for that purpose. The old confession of faith says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Service to God is a joy beyond compare!

C. God's grace gives us eternal life. Verse 23 of our text says, “…the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The usual use of this passage is to point out the obvious, “the wages of sin is death”. If we stop there we are left in trouble. Grace is a gift given without any expectation of return having its sole purpose in the need of the recipient and the freeheartedness of the giver, God's grace gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We should rejoice in serving him. Because he has rescued us from death — eternal death. We should glorify God by enjoying him forever. We should begin now and the joy of our relationship with God will flow over into the lives of others.

Mankind is born in trouble. All mankind is born in sin and we all choose to sin. The wages of sin is death. If that was the entire message we would have no hope in this world or in the next. The truth is we do have hope. Although the wages of sin is death the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! We once were slaves to sin leading to death, and now, for those who've trusted Christ, we are slaves to God leading to sanctification and eternal life! Praise His Holy Name!

( All Scripture references are from The English Standard Version unless otherwise noted. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.)