Christ the End of the Law pt 1

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us on the program again today. It's always a pleasure to have your company. And as we start, we just invite you to bow your heads with us for a word of prayer. Gracious Father in heaven, we just dedicate this program to you ourselves as well, and we just pray for the illumination of your Holy Spirit to guide and lead us into all truth. And as we open your word, Father, we just pray that you will give us understanding and insights, but ultimately Father, that Jesus will be revealed to us more fully, that we can appreciate what he means to each one of us, that in Him we live and move and have our being is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Right, so we're continuing a study and we're actually continuing in Romans chapter ten, like we did in the previous two studies. And the text we want to look at today actually says something very interesting. And quite a few people have just on the surface and the surface reading of it have misunderstood what this text is actually saying. And we're talking about Romans chapter ten and verse four where it says that Christ is the end of the law. Now, before we go to unpack that, maybe we can just give a little bit of background and we can read the first few verses. So from Romans, chapter ten, from verse one. SPEAKER D Okay, it says this is Paul speaking. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So the situation we have here is Paul, and he's writing primarily to a gentile church community. Yes, and he's expressing his concerns for his fellow countrymen, the Jewish people as a nation, they rejected the prince of life who came to give them life. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D John chapter one says he Jesus came to his own and his own did not receive him. When Jesus was talking to the Pharisees, he said, you search the Scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify of me, but you are not willing to come to me that you may have life. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D So they were not willing to come to Christ. So Paul is expressing his deep heart's desire for his fellow countrymen is that they may be saved. SPEAKER C That's right, yes. SPEAKER D And then it goes on to say that they have a passion for God, but it's combined with a lot of ignorance. SPEAKER C Yes. So there's a great enthusiasm, but it's not based on knowledge. Now he's talking about the knowledge of the Scriptures, but not just general knowledge. It's actually an understanding of the Scriptures, because he does also talk about the fact that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, the foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. So therefore they need the Holy Spirit. But as the Holy Spirit works with us, if we don't submit to the leading of the Spirit, the rebellion remains in our lives. And therefore we are, because of our rebellion, incapable of fully comprehending and understanding that knowledge that brings salvation. SPEAKER D And that's so interesting. This is Paul writing and someone who, when he was writing about his prior experience as a Pharisee, he knew the Bible back to front. SPEAKER C No one more zealous than Paul. SPEAKER D He had a lot of data, a lot of information. And so when it talks about here, they've got a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge. You've really made it clear just in your prior comment. It's not data that we're talking about here. It's an intimate knowing and understanding of the ways of God and the plan of salvation. And what do these people do because of their ignorance, it says. But they being ignorant of God's righteousness. So God has something god number one, himself is righteous. And number two, he offers righteousness as a free gift to all who are willing to receive it. SPEAKER C That's right. And these people haven't been able to see it because they're still ignorant of it. Although they have had the Scriptures, and they've probably read the Scriptures a lot, somehow they have not seen this, this righteousness that God offers. SPEAKER D And then it continues and says and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So they're trying to establish righteousness for themselves. And as we study Scripture, we realize that the basis of their quest to achieve righteousness was based in their ability and discipline to try to live up to God's standards in their own strength right. By ticking boxes. SPEAKER C That's right. But they've also misunderstood how high the standard is thinking in themselves that, oh yeah, that's the requirements. I can attain to it, I'll just try harder. Meantime, they don't realize how high that standard actually is because they do not submit to that righteousness because they trying to go to establish their own righteousness because they are ignorant, as it says in verse three, the ignorant of God's righteousness. So they misapprehend. They misunderstand the righteousness of God. SPEAKER D And you've made a really good point there. They didn't discern just how deep the law of God is, because at a surface level, when people read the Ten Commandments, for example, it's like, oh yeah, I don't kill anyone. Oh yeah, I don't sleep around, I don't lie, I don't do these things. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And it's kind of like this tick box. And you go, I got it sorted, I'm on top of it. I'm living a Godly and a righteous life. And this is not a problem that they only had back then. We can have it today as well. SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER D Because today there's some people who are too proud to sin because of self respect. SPEAKER C They may hold themselves back. They won't say the wrong thing. They won't necessarily do the wrong thing. SPEAKER D Because imagine how many people would be unfaithful to their spouses if there was no consequences, social consequences, to doing that act. People get looked down on well, not so much today, but traditionally people get looked down on who abandon their family and be unfaithful to their spouse. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And so pride is actually something that pride is a terrible sin. I think it's Proverbs, chapter six. We're told there there are six things the Lord hates. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Seven are abomination to him. And the first one is a proud look. So pride is actually something terrible and shocking, but a proud person can look at the law of God and just go, yep, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. But in their very heart, they're completely opposite to the humility of God's kingdom. Just a surface glance. And this is the problem. We struggle today with surface Christianity and surface study of Scripture, where we have a quick glance and we go, I'm fine, and I'll continue with my life. SPEAKER C Tick, tick, tick, yep, I'm good. SPEAKER D But a deep understanding of the plan of salvation and an understanding of our human problem leads us to never conclude that we can do it ourselves. SPEAKER C That's right. Because Jesus actually says the law goes deeper than just the outward actions. It actually pertains to the thoughts. If you look to a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C If you hate your brother without a cause, you've actually committed murder. So he talks about the spiritual application, not just about the actions, but also pertaining to the thoughts. And it's hard for men to control their thoughts, especially if they are how can I put it? They're slaves to their own senses. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C It could be visual, it could be pornography, it could be food, it could be a number of addictions. It could be substance abuse, whether it be alcohol or cigarettes or even something stronger than that, drugs. So all these things will enslave us. And all those things are actually a contradiction or a violation of the principles of God's kingdom, which is the Ten Commandments, which embodies love to God and love to our fellow man. SPEAKER D And this is interesting. When the children of Israel received the Ten Commandments, they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D So God said it, we'll do it. And the appropriate response would have been, all that the Lord has spoken, he will do. SPEAKER C That's right. So that verse three beautifully actually explains what you just said there about them receiving the Ten Commandments. They being ignorant of God's righteousness, seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. SPEAKER D That's right. And they think that they've arrived having the Ten Commandments. They think they've arrived by having them? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D God, through Moses, god with his own finger, inscribes the law upon the stones. Moses brings them down. But that's only stage one of the plan's business. When we study Scripture, God's business is not just to write his law on rocks. His plan is to write His Law, which is the principles of his kingdom, on our hearts. So stage one brings the law down on stone. And they think they've arrived at that point just by having them knowing them, we're good. But how wrong they were. SPEAKER C That's right. Well, out of the heart flows the issues of life. So we are encouraged to keep our heart with all diligence. And the whole idea was that God would actually put those principles in your heart. Because Jesus says if you look to the woman to lust after, you've already committed adultery. Where? SPEAKER D In your heart. SPEAKER C In your heart. So the heart is the issue. So when the Commandments are written on tables of stone, but they're not in the heart, all they can minister to you is death. Matter of fact, two Corinthians, chapter three tells us that the ministry of death engraved and written on tables of stone was contrary to the people, quite simply because they had a different mindset to what those principles were. Why? Because the principles weren't in their heart yet. They were actually external on stone. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Now, the stone suggests that the principles are eternal. They can't be wiped away. You can't just take an eraser and clean them up. They are eternal. But God intends those under the New Covenant promise to write them in our hearts so that we can live by those principles, be transformed by the renewing of our mind, by recreation, as we've spoken about in previous programs. So we get to this point now where it says that they are ignorant of things, they have a zeal which is not according to knowledge. But then it says this interesting thing, and I would just want to say is the Bible doing away with the law? And it says there in verse four of Romans, chapter ten, for Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now that's the fascinating thing, because in previous programs we've already showed from Scripture that all God's laws are righteousness. They are the principles of righteousness. We find that in Psalms 119, verse 172. So how can we then end the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes? Does faith then get rid of the Law? SPEAKER D Sounds like a contradiction. SPEAKER C Yeah. Well, perhaps we should unpack what do you think? We should unpack what it's not saying before we actually tell people what it's saying. What do you think? SPEAKER D I think so. SPEAKER C Okay, well, there's some text in the Bible, we can use Jesus words for this very clearly. Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount. And we just alluded to that sermon before where Jesus spoke about adultery in the mind and talking about hating your brother without a cause and committing murder in your heart. And that same sermon on Matthew, chapter five and verse 70, jesus says, do not think that I've come to destroy the Law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. So Jesus himself says that the Law is not to be destroyed, it's not to be done away with. He's come to fulfill the Law. And then we have some other texts as well it talks about, and I believe this is macinic to a certain extent, but it's also talking about the work of God. And we find that in Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 21, it says here. SPEAKER D The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake, he will exalt the law and make it honorable. SPEAKER C Wow. So God is not going to destroy the law. He's going to do the opposite from what he's saying there. He'll exalt it, exalt the Law, and by exalting it, he'll make it honorable. SPEAKER D Honorable, which is interesting. That's the complete opposite of what the devil and his followers do. It's drop the law down, degrade the law, abolish the law, break the law. SPEAKER C Promote antinomianism, which is lawlessness. SPEAKER D If we consider Scripture from beginning to end, the difference between those who serve God and those who do not serve God is very, very clear. There's those who are willing to keep God's law. Yes. And if we people get a bit scared when they hear about the word law. It's almost like a bad word when people think about it, but it's basically living according to what God says and actually appreciating the things that God says and saying. God, I want to be on your team and I want to follow your instructions. On the flip side, you've got those who are lovers of iniquity and rebelling against God. So God's uplifting and exalting and magnifying his law, and I think we should be doing the same. But it's interesting if we're on the. SPEAKER C Same side as the Lord is. SPEAKER D Yes, it's interesting because lifting up and magnifying the Law, some people might go, but we're not saved by the law. That's totally clear in Scripture as well. SPEAKER C Absolutely. SPEAKER D But it serves a very important purpose. And I'm just actually thinking about a verse here in Romans chapter seven and verse seven, it says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? So it's interesting, right? Is the law sin? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Certainly not. He says, on the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. SPEAKER C That's right. So the law actually shows us what sin is. The Law gives us the knowledge of what it is, because this is Romans chapter seven, verse seven. If you go to Romans chapter four and verse 15, it says, where there is no law, there is no transgression. Now, transgression is just another name for sin. Where there's no law, there's no sin. So if you take the law out of the way, you take sin out of the way, therefore you take the need of a savior out of the way, and therefore also you take the cause of death out of the way. So then we should all have eternal life. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Now, some people try and modify that and try and fit that into the Gospel. But as we start unpacking this today, I think we'll be able to show that the Gospel message is good news, but it actually doesn't destroy the Lord, actually magnifies it and makes it honorable, as we saw in Isaiah. SPEAKER D Because what makes something right or wrong when it comes to morality, we just assume that. We just all know it by nature, which is not the case. A lot of what we think is right and wrong we've kind of adopted because of our culture. But Western civilization really just draws back to Scripture. That's where it all came from. SPEAKER C Yes, it does. SPEAKER D But we just assume that things are right and wrong just naturally, and we just know it. But the thing is, who gets to make that decision on what is right and wrong? There's been times in my life where I've done something wrong and I actually didn't realize it. And then I found out that it was wrong. For example, I remember a friend of mine, he had a copy of a movie or something like that, and I was like he's like, Would you like it? SPEAKER C I was like, oh, cool. SPEAKER D Put on my computer. I think it was like Madagascar Three or something. I don't know, something like that back in school. And I realized later on that that's actually stealing. It's actually not a good thing to do. SPEAKER C A lot of people actually don't even think about it like that. But that's really what it is, someone else's property that has been taken without actually paying the money for it. SPEAKER D That's right. And so I was completely ignorant and completely sincere, sure, but I was not aware of the issue here. And so when I realized someone actually let me know that Pirating is actually not a good thing. It's a crime. Yes. That's when I was like, oh. And my life was modified from that point onwards. I was like, no, you can keep your stuff. I don't want to borrow it from you. SPEAKER C No, it's like driving down the road and you get caught in a 60K zone, but you don't know it's sixty k, you still think it's 80, so you're doing 80, 81, whatever it is that the policeman pulls you over and you go, yes, officer. And he goes, well, you were speeding. He goes, no, I wasn't speeding. I'm doing 80 k's. He goes, well, this is a 60K zone, but you know that ignorance actually is not a defense. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C He can still find you and he can legally do that. So ignorance still makes you guilty. It's just that you weren't doing it as a rebel. SPEAKER D And this is the beautiful thing about God, because Jesus actually says, before I had come and spoken to them, talking about Him coming to this world and speaking to the people, he said, before I came and spoke to them, they wouldn't have had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. Jesus is such a compassionate God. He understands that we do things in ignorance, and he's a God of such compassion and mercy. And he comes and he says, if I hadn't spoken to them, he says, they would not have had sin, but now they have no cloak. SPEAKER C That's right. Well, the Book of Book of Acts, there's a great sermon there by Paul in Acts Chapter 17, when he's talking to the Athenians in Acts chapter 17 and verse 30, he says, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. So that just affirms what you've been saying before. God is actually lenient with us because when we don't know, he acknowledges the fact that we're not living in rebellion. But if we do know and then we don't do it, he who knows how to do good and doesn't do it, to Him, it is sin. The Bible says in the book of James So it's a different mindset, isn't it? SPEAKER D And so the word of God and the law of God is basically God's way of removing the cloak of ignorance. So we get to make decisions based not upon what we just assume or hope for, but actually based on what we know to be right. And this is people people don't like that cloak of ignorance to be removed. When God's word is speaking in when God's law is speaking into our lives and calling us to a higher standard, we want to run away because we don't want that cloak to be removed. We would like to be saved with that cloak still intact. But what we don't realize is that it's a very necessary part of salvation for God to diagnose and make us know what our problem is. Because if god didn't do that. How can we experience the blessings that he wants to give us if we did not know there was a problem? SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D It's like, how can someone benefit from the help of a doctor if they do not recognize that they've got a problem? SPEAKER C That is so true. A lot of people have problems, but they're not aware of it. I was recently at a health seminar, and at this health seminar, they said that most of the times when people find out that they actually have heart problems, it's fatal. I think it was something like 60 or 70% of the time. So the first heart attack is the first sign that there's a problem. And the first heart attack for 60 or 70% of people is fatal. And I just heard while I was visiting at this particular place that one of the ladies there, her husband had just passed away two weeks earlier, fit as a fiddle, apparently, until he had a heart attack. And that was the last thing. SPEAKER D Oh, wow. SPEAKER C So ignorance doesn't necessarily mean bliss. So God obviously wants to give us a knowledge. And as we were reading before there in Romans chapter ten, it talks about those who live in ignorance, they are ignorant of God's righteousness, and then they go and seek to establish their own righteousness and therefore they do not submit to the righteousness of God. But God wants them to have a knowledge. He wants them to have a zeal, but according to knowledge. Not like it said in verse two there of Romans chapter ten, having a zeal but not according to knowledge. Now there is a Messianic psalm. Now look, a lot of the psalms are messianic. When Jesus, just before he send it to heaven, after his resurrection, he's meeting with his disciples. He just met with two disciples on the road to MoS. And while they were talking there, he expounded everything in the Scriptures concerning himself. It says according to Moses and the prophets, or the Law and the prophets. Then when he meets with all his other disciples, he expounds them on the Scriptures, everything that was written regarding him, concerning what was written in the book of Moses, also the prophets. And then he also mentions the Psalms. So the Psalms are about Jesus Christ. Now, in Psalm chapter 40, we have a macianic psalm and it talks about the relationship that the Messiah would sustain in relation to God's law, because we are talking about God's righteousness and his law at the moment. And we can read that from verse six and verse seven. SPEAKER D And this is actually a prophecy of what Jesus himself said just before the incarnation, just before coming to this planet. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D It's that moment before the Creator of the universe becomes a fertilized egg in the womb of a young lady. It's a powerful, powerful moment. SPEAKER C It is a powerful moment. And then I said, so this is Jesus pre incarnate, just before he is going to become a human being, become one of us, it says. Then I said, Behold, I come. In the scroll of the book, it is written of me. So who is the Bible about? Jesus says this testifies of me. So he's definitely referring to the Messiah. In the scroll of the book, it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God. And then we can even ask a question why? And then he says, Your law is within my heart. So he delighted to do God's will simply because the principles of righteousness, the principles of love to God and to his fellow man, because that's a simple summary of what the Law is that was written in Christ's heart, therefore he could delight in doing God's will. SPEAKER D What's interesting, because we have a contrast here with the children of Israel at the foot of Sinai. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D They did not delight to do God's will. They intellectually agreed to. But a few days later, when Moses was delayed up on top of the mountain, what did they really delight in? It was sensual feasting and dancing and worshipping idols, which is actually breaking God's law. All of those things are breaking God's law. So they delighted. What they wanted was that and it was very different from what God's will was. And so here we have the Messiah, who's coming to this planet and he actually delights, finds joy in doing God's will. SPEAKER C That's right. It's also in God's time. SPEAKER D In God's time. And why? Because the Law is not written on a piece of stone, it's written on his heart. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And so for Jesus, the Law is not something external that he's just relating to and yeah, I'll do that and then runs off and does his own thing. God's will, which is embodied in His Law, is actually in his heart and in his mind. It's the way he does life. It's the way he sees the world. He sees the world and lives his life through that lens and directed by that code of conduct. And he says, I actually love doing your will, God. I'm passionate to do Your will. He's got a zeal, but it's actually according to knowledge. SPEAKER C That's fantastic. Jesus also says these words in Luke chapter 16 and verse 17, that it is actually easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fail. Now, what is a tittle? I mean, what is a tittle? Another place that actually says one jot or one tittle. Now, what I understand a tittle is is the crossing of a t, isn't it? SPEAKER D The smallest little components of the writing. SPEAKER C So the Law has got this Ten Commandments in the Law of God, and of course there's an expansion of that in the books of Moses as well. It elaborates on those further. But we see that not even the crossing of a t would fail. What is more likely to fail is heaven and earth passing away. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Well, when I go outside, heaven is still here. When I look down, earth is still here. So obviously the law then hasn't passed away. Matter of fact, not even a tittle of the law, the crossing of a T has passed away. SPEAKER D And what this means for us is that God doesn't change. Because what the law as we're going to look in part two of this presentation, the law is all about God's character. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Jesus says love God and love your neighbor. On these two principles hang all the law and the prophets. Everything is about other centered love and that's what God's kingdom is all about. And so when God says my law is not going to be done away with, that means we can trust God that he won't change. He will be the same kind, good, loving God all times and in all places forever. He won't change because that law written on those tables of stone initially is but a reflection of everything that he values, everything that love values. And God is teaching us how to love. But it's interesting how hesitant and I guess resistant we are to learn how to love. Because what that means is that we need to put ourselves not first but last and put others first. And this is where the major conflict comes, is because God's law is like an x ray machine that is identifying things inside of us that are a problem. X ray machine can't solve your problem. It's like don't blame know this is a problem that's inside of you. I'm just identifying the problem. You need to see a doctor. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And so the law points out to us you don't measure up. You don't measure up in the way you treat people. You claim to keep the law, but you're lusting you claim to keep the law, but you're hating. Go to Jesus. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And he will solve your problems. SPEAKER C Yeah, there's a reason why there's pain. Either you're causing pain or you're in pain yourself. And the reason is you've got a broken arm and the x ray machine just showed you. You don't get upset with the x ray machine. You go, fantastic, at least I know what's wrong now. Now I can go for the solution. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C So you go and see the doctor. He then puts a cast around your arm. It could either be plaster, I think they use quite often they use fiberglass, fiberglass or whatever nowadays. And then they set your arm, they reset it, make sure it's straight and then they put it in there and then they allow it to heal and mend again. And so it is with us when we see our sin. It is the law is supposed to be our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified. By faith in Christ Jesus and his righteousness. It is to give us a knowledge of God's righteousness. Then when it showed us our faces dirty, it is to show us to the water, to the basin, so we can get washed and cleaned up by Jesus Christ. Well, dear listener, that is the end of our program. And this program will actually continue next week, so we look forward to catching up with you then. And the topic of this program is Christ, the end of the Law. May God be with you until next time. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.