“Christ is the END of the law” in every possible sense of the word “end.” He is the goal, the purpose, the fulfillment, the accomplishment, the finish, the satisfaction, the termination, the finality and the abrogation of the law.
• We are delighted to have Pastor Linwood Campbell and his wife, Becky, with us today. Bro. Campbell is pastor of SOVEREIGN GRACE FELLOWSHIP in Booneville, NC. Our Pastor is preaching today for EGGLESBURN BAPTIST CHURCH in Eggleston, England, where Bro. Peter Meney is pastor. • Bro. Larry Criss will preach the gospel to you Tuesday night,
Christ Our Advocate — Don Fortner (Tune: #342 — Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone? — CM)
1. In highest heaven’s royal court, Where justice reigns and shines, Truth makes a constant, strict report, Of every sinner’s crimes.
2. But there is Christ, our Advocate, For God’s elect employed. — He pleads our cause, secures our state, And floods our souls with joy.
3. Our many sins might oft appear, Before our Father’s eyes, But Christ, our Advocate, draws near, And pleads His sacrifice.
4. Our guilt before our hearts has stood, Like mountains to oppose; But that blest ocean, Jesus’ blood, Our mountains overflows.
5. The law its damning sentence reads, And conscience owns it true; Our Advocate His merit pleads, To justly bring us through!
"I Was Alive Without the Law Once." — Romans 7:9
When Paul says that he was alive without the law, he does not mean that he did not know the law. He knew and understood the letter of it very well. When Paul says, “I was alive without the law once,” his meaning is this - There was a time when the law of God had never come home to my heart and conscience. I did not know its spirituality or its demands.
Lost in Religion
Saul of Tarsus was a lost religious man. He was zealous, devoted and strict. He kept the law in its letter all the days of his life. But he was as lost as the most debased barbarian who ever lived in the darkest corners of Africa. Yet, he was totally convinced that everything was well with his soul.
Though he was dead in sin, he was full of religious life. He enjoyed a false joy, a false peace, a false confidence, rested in a false hope, a false faith, a false assurance and was deluded by a false security, possessing all that religious legalists call “evidences” of salvation. There are many things which support men and give them security in self-righteous religion. Saul lacked none of those things. Saul's proud, self-righteous security made him very zealous in his religion. He looked down upon others with disgust and scorn. He held sinners in contempt. He became a ferocious persecutor. — O beware of self-righteousness! As soon as we think ourselves better than others, we become the judges of others; and the next step is to carry out our sentence upon others.
Spirituality of the Law
Self-righteousness stems from a failure to understand the spiritual character of the law of God. Paul tells us that he was ignorant of the law's spiritual character (Romans 7:7). “Like the rest of the Pharisees,” John Gill wrote, “he thought the law only regarded the outward actions, and did not reach to the spirits or souls of men, the inward thoughts and affections of the mind.”
Uncleanness of mind in God's eyes is as obnoxious as uncleanness of life. An unclean thought is adultery. Anger is murder. Covetousness is theft. Love of self is idolatry. Saul had the respectability and esteem of high office in the church. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He came behind no one in matters of religious devotion. Read the third chapter of Philippians. Saul of Tarsus was a remarkable, highly respected figure in the religious world. He rested in a false evidence of God's love and favor. He thought external reformation was an indication of inward grace (John 8:39-41). He strengthened his carnal security by comparing himself to those who were more profane and wicked than himself. He was deluded by that love of self, which causes a man to overlook his own faults and exaggerate the faults of others (Matthew 7:3-5).
Perfection Demanded
Saul of Tarsus was a man deceived with a wrong idea of God's justice. He did not realize that the law of God demanded perfection and that the justice of God required an infinite atonement for every deviation from his holy law. Through all these things, the god of this world blinded his mind, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto him. Like so many today, Saul of Tarsus was a man lost in religion. His righteousness kept him from Christ!
“We are not Under the Law”
Romans 6:15
I am frequently asked, “What place does the law have in the believer’s life?” When I answer, “None,” I am asked, “Don’t you think the law is the believer’s rule of life?” I answer, “No.” Then, inevitably, I am asked, “What do you do with the law?” I answer, “Nothing.”
Many vainly imagine that men and women can be persuaded to cease from sin and live in holiness by putting them under the bondage of the law. And they quake at the thoughts of evil and licentiousness that would abound if believers are persuaded that they are totally free from the law. Paul knew better. When he wanted to promote holiness of life among God's people, he said, “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace...Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid!” It is legalism, not free grace that stirs up sin in men.
I refuse to be brought again into bondage. Our rule of life is not the Ten Commandments. Our rule of life is the whole Word of God. Our motive for godliness is the love of Christ. Is this not the teaching of Holy Scripture?
The Ten Commandments cannot be separated from the other statutes given to Israel. If we are compelled to keep a sabbath day, we must also keep up the daily sacrifices, the priesthood and the day of atonement. Either we are under the whole of the law, or none of it. Either Christ fulfilled it all, or he fulfilled nothing. The New Testament reveals this as a matter of fact. It is stated as clearly as anything revealed in Holy Scripture. Believers are not under the law to any degree, for any reason, at any time, in any sense, or in any way, because “Christ is the end of the law.” In him, we are “dead to the law.”
Does this mean that believers are loose living, licentious people, who have no regard for the will and glory of God? Only a proud, prating legalist would even think of such a question as that! Believers are people whose lives are voluntarily given over to the rule and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ, consecrated to him, seeking conformity to him, and communion with him, realizing all the while that Christ alone is all our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
The Scripture distinctly teaches us that we are not justified by the law, nor is the law a rule of life. That which can only curse can never justify; and that which can only kill can never be a rule of life (Romans 3:20). Both the Jews, to whom the law was given, and the Gentiles, to whom it was never given, are “saved through grace” (Acts 15:11), “stand in grace” (Romans 5:2), and “grow in grace” (2 Peter 3:18). All who seek to put believers under the law seek to destroy the very foundations of the Christian faith.
Listen to the strong words, which came from the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:12. “I would they were even cut off which trouble you.” It is as clear as the noonday sun that the law is neither the ground of life to the sinner nor the rule of life to the believer. The Lord Jesus Christ is both the one and the other. He is our Life and our Rule of Life. The law can only curse and kill. Christ is our Life and our Righteousness. He became a curse for us by hanging on a tree. He went down into the place of death and judgment, and by his death completely discharged all that was or could be against us. “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
GRACE BULLETIN
April 19, 2009
GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH of DANVILLE 2734 Old Stanford Road-Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 Telephone (859) 236-8235 - E-Mail don@donfortner.com
Donald S. Fortner, Pastor
Schedule of Regular Services
Sunday 10:00 A.M. Bible Classes 10:30 A.M. Morning Worship Service 6:30 P.M. Evening Worship Service
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