Christ The end of the Law - Charles H Spurgeon

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                    Christ the End of the Law

                       November 19th, 1876
                                    by
                         C. H. SPURGEON
                           (1834-1892)

              "For Christ is the end of the law for
       righteousness to every one that believeth."-Romans 10:4

     You remember we spoke last Sabbath morning of "the days
     of the Son of man." Oh that every Sabbath now might be
     a day of that kind in the most spiritual sense. I hope
     that we shall endeavour to make each Lord's Day as it
     comes round a day of the Lord, by thinking much of
     Jesus by rejoicing much in him, by labouring for him,
     and by our growingly importunate prayer, that to him
     may the gathering of the people be. We may not have
     very many Sabbaths together, death may soon part us;
     but while we are able to meet as a Christian assembly,
     let us never forget that Christ's presence is our main
     necessity, and let us pray for it and entreat the Lord
     to vouchsafe that presence always in displays of light,
     life and love! I become increasingly earnest that every
     preaching time should be a soul-saving time. I can
     deeply sympathize with Paul when he said, "My heart's
     desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might
     be saved." We have had so much preaching, but,
     comparatively speaking, so little believing in Jesus;
     and if there be no believing in him, neither the law
     nor the gospel has answered its end, and our labour has
     been utterly in vain. Some of you have heard, and
     heard, and heard again, but you have not believed in
     Jesus. If the gospel had not come to your hearing you
     could not have been guilty of refusing it. "Have they
     not heard?" says the apostle. "Yes, verily:" but still
     "they have not all obeyed the gospel." Up to this very
     moment there has been no hearing with the inner ear,
     and no work of faith in the heart, in the case of many
     whom we love. Dear friends, is it always to be so? How
     long is it to be so? Shall there not soon come an end
     of this reception of the outward means and rejection of
     the inward grace? Will not your soul soon close in with
     Christ for present salvation? Break! Break, O heavenly
     day, upon the benighted ones, for our hearts are
     breaking over them.
     
     The reason why many do not come to Christ is not
     because they are not earnest, after a fashion, and
     thoughtful and desirous to be saved, but because they
     cannot brook God's way of salvation. "They have a zeal
     for God, but not according to knowledge," We do get
     them by our exhortation so far on the way that they
     become desirous to obtain eternal life, but "they have
     not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God."
     Mark, "submitted themselves," for it needs submission.
     Proud man wants to save himself, he believes he can do
     it, and he will not give over the task till he finds
     out his own helplessness by unhappy failures. Salvation
     by grace, to be sued for in forma pauperis, to be asked
     for as an undeserved boon from free, unmerited grace,
     this it is which the carnal mind will not come to as
     long as it can help it: I beseech the Lord so to work
     that some of you may not be able to help it. And oh, I
     have been praying that, while this morning I am trying
     to set forth Christ as the end of the law, God may
     bless it to some hearts, that they may see what Christ
     did, and may perceive it to be a great deal better than
     anything they can do; may see what Christ finished, and
     may become weary of what they themselves have laboured
     at so long, and have not even well commenced at this
     day. Perhaps it may please the Lord to enchant them
     with the perfection of the salvation that is in Christ
     Jesus. As Bunyan would say, "It may, perhaps, set their
     mouths a watering after it," and when a sacred appetite
     begins it will not be long before the feast is enjoyed.
     It may be that when they see the raiment of wrought
     gold, which Jesus so freely bestows on naked souls,
     they will throw away their own filthy rags which now
     they hug so closely.
     
     I am going to speak about two things, this morning, as
     the Spirit of God shall help me: and the first is,
     Christ in connection with the law-he is "the end of the
     law for righteousness"; and secondly, ourselves in
     connection with Christ-"to everyone that believeth
     Christ is the end of the law for righteousness."
     
     I. First, then, CHRIST IN CONNECTION WITH THE LAW. The
     law is that which, as sinners, we have above all things
     cause to dread; for the sting of death is sin, and the
     strength of sin is the law. Towards us the law darts
     forth devouring flames, for it condemns us, and in
     solemn terms appoints us a place among the accursed, as
     it is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not
     in all things that are written in the book of the law
     to do them." Yet, strange infatuation! like the
     fascination which attracts the gnat to the candle which
     burns its wings, men by nature fly to the law for
     salvation, and cannot be driven from it. The law can do
     nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation
     upon the sinner, and yet we cannot get men away from
     it, even though we show them how sweetly Jesus stands
     between them and it. They are so enamoured of legal
     hope that they cling to it when there is nothing to
     cling to; they prefer Sinai to Calvary, though Sinai
     has nothing for them but thunders and trumpet warnings
     of coming judgment. O that for awhile you would listen
     anxiously while I set forth Jesus my Lord, that you may
     see the law in him.
     
     Now, what has our Lord to do with the law? He has
     everything to do with it, for he is its end for the
     noblest object, namely, for righteousness. He is the
     "end of the law." What does this mean? I think it
     signifies three things: first, that Christ is the
     purpose and object of the law; secondly, that he is the
     fulfillment of it; and thirdly, that he is the
     termination of it.
     
     First, then, our Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose and
     object of the law. It was given to lead us too him. The
     law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, or
     rather our attendant to conduct us to the school of
     Jesus. The law is the great net in which the fish are
     enclosed that they may be drawn out of the element of
     sin. The law is the stormy wind which drives souls into
     the harbour or refuge. The law is the sheriff's officer
     to shut men up in prison for their sin, concluding them
     all under condemnation in order that they may look to
     the free grace of God alone for deliverance. This is
     the object of the law: it empties that grace may fill,
     and wounds that mercy may heal. It has never been God's
     intention towards us, as fallen men, that the law
     should be regarded as a way to salvation to us, for a
     way of salvation it can never be. Had man never fallen,
     had his nature remained as God made it, the law would
     have been most helpful to him to show him the way in
     which he should walk: and by keeping it he would have
     lived, for "he that doeth these things shall live in
     them." But ever since man has fallen the Lord has not
     proposed to him a way of salvation by works, for he
     knows it to be impossible to a sinful creature. The law
     is already broken; and whatever man can do he cannot
     repair the damage he has already done: therefore he is
     out of court as to the hope of merit. The law demands
     perfection, but man has already fallen short of it; and
     therefore let him do his best. He cannot accomplish
     what is absolutely essential. The law is meant to lead
     the sinner to faith in Christ, by showing the
     impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to
     fetch the sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which
     drives the traveller to the shadow of the great rock in
     a weary land.
     
     Look how the law is adapted to this; for, first of all,
     it shows man his sin. Read the ten commandments and
     tremble as you read them. Who can lay his own character
     down side by side with the two tablets of divine
     precept without at once being convinced that he has
     fallen far short of the standard? When the law comes
     home to the soul it is like light in a dark room
     revealing the dust and the dirt which else had been
     unperceived. It is the test which detects the presence
     of the poison of sin in the soul. "I was alive without
     the law once," said the apostle, "but when the
     commandment came sin revived and I died." Our
     comeliness utterly fades away when the law blows upon
     it. Look at the commandments, I say, and remember how
     sweeping they are, how spiritual, how far-reaching.
     They do not merely touch the outward act, but dive into
     the inner motive and deal with the heart, the mind, the
     soul. There is a deeper meaning in the commands than
     appears upon their surface. Gaze into their depths and
     see how terrible is the holiness which they require. As
     you understand what the law demands you will perceive
     how far you are from fulfilling it, and how sin abounds
     where you thought there was little or none of it. You
     thought yourself rich and increased in goods and in no
     need of anything, but when the broken law visits you,
     your spiritual bankruptcy and utter penury stare you in
     the face. A true balance discovers short weight, and
     such is the first effect of the law upon the conscience
     of man.
     
     The law also shows the result and mischief of sin. Look
     at the types of the old Mosaic dispensation, and see
     how they were intended to lead men to Christ by making
     them see their unclean condition and their need of such
     cleansing as only he can give. Every type pointed to
     our Lord Jesus Christ. If men were put apart because of
     disease or uncleanness, they were made to see how sin
     separated them from God and from his people; and when
     they were brought back and purified with mystic rites
     in which were scarlet wool and hyssop and the like,
     they were made to see how they can only be restored by
     Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. When the bird was
     killed that the leper might be clean, the need of
     purification by the sacrifice of a life was set forth.
     Every morning and evening a lamb died to tell of daily
     need of pardon, if God is to dwell with us. We
     sometimes have fault found with us for speaking too
     much about blood; yet under the old testament the blood
     seemed to be everything, and was not only spoken of but
     actually presented to the eye. What does the apostle
     tell us in the Hebrews? "Whereupon neither the first
     testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses
     had spoken every precept to all the people according to
     the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with
     water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both
     the book, and all the people saying, this is the blood
     of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
     Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle,
     and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all
     things are by the law purged with blood; and without
     shedding of blood is not remission." The blood was on
     the veil, and on the altar, on the hangings, and on the
     floor of the tabernacle: no one could avoid seeing it.
     I resolve to make my ministry of the same character,
     and more and more sprinkle it with the blood of
     atonement. Now that abundance of the blood of old was
     meant to show clearly that sin has so polluted us that
     without an atonement God is not to be approached: we
     must come by the way of sacrifice or not at all. We are
     so unacceptable in ourselves that unless the Lord sees
     us with the blood of Jesus upon us he must away with
     us. The old law, with its emblems and figures, set
     forth many truths as to men's selves and the coming
     Saviour, intending by every one of them to preach
     Christ. If any stopped short of him, they missed the
     intent and design of the law. Moses leads up to Joshua,
     and the law ends at Jesus.
     
     Turning our thoughts back again to the moral rather
     than the ceremonial law, it was intended to teach men
     their utter helplessness. It shows them how short they
     fall of what they ought to be, and it also shows them,
     when they look at it carefully, how utterly impossible
     it is for them to come up to the standard. Such
     holiness as the law demands no man can reach of
     himself. "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." If a man
     says that he can keep the law, it is because he does
     not know what the law is. If he fancies that he can
     ever climb to heaven up the quivering sides of Sinai,
     surely he can never have seen that burning mount at
     all. Keep the law! Ah, my brethren, while we are yet
     talking about it we are breaking it; while we are
     pretending that we can fulfil its letter, we are
     violating its spirit, for pride as much breaks the law
     as lust or murder. "Who can bring a clean thing out of
     an unclean? Not one." "How can he be clean that is born
     of a woman?" No, soul, thou canst not help thyself in
     this thing, for since only by perfection thou canst
     live by the law, and since that perfection is
     impossible, thou canst not find help in the covenant of
     works. In grace there is hope, but as a matter of debt
     there is none, for we do not merit anything but wrath.
     The law tells us this, and the sooner we know it to be
     so the better, for the sooner we shall fly to Christ.
     
     The law also shows us our great need-our need of
     cleansing, cleansing with the water and with the blood.
     It discovers to us our filthiness, and this naturally
     leads us to feel that we must be washed from it if we
     are ever to draw near to God. So the law drives us to
     accept of Christ as the one only person who can cleanse
     us, and make us fit to stand within the veil in the
     presence of the Most High. The law is the surgeon's
     knife which cuts out the proud flesh that the wound may
     heal. The law by itself only sweeps and raises the
     dust, but the gospel sprinkles clean water upon the
     dust, and all is well in the chamber of the soul. The
     law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and
     then Jesus Christ comes in and robes the soul in beauty
     and glory. All the commandments, and all the types
     direct us to Christ, if we will but heed their evident
     intent. They wean us from self, they put us off from
     the false basis of self- righteousness, and bring us to
     know that only in Christ can our help be found. So,
     first of all, Christ is the end of the law, in that he
     is its great purpose.
     
     And now, secondly, he is the law's fulfillment. It is
     impossible for any of us to be saved without
     righteousness. The God of heaven and earth by immutable
     necessity demands righteousness of all his creatures.
     Now, Christ has come to give to us the righteousness
     which the law demands, but which it never bestows. In
     the chapter before us we read of "the righteousness
     which is of faith," which is also called "God's
     righteousness"; and we read of those who "shall not be
     ashamed" because they are righteous by believing unto
     righteousness." What the law could not do Jesus has
     done. He provides the righteousness which the law asks
     for but cannot produce. What an amazing righteousness
     it must be which is as broad and deep and long and high
     as the law itself. The commandment is exceeding broad,
     but the righteousness of Christ is as broad as the
     commandment, and goes to the end of it. Christ did not
     come to make the law milder, or to render it possible
     for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted
     as a sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to
     lower its terms, as though it had originally asked too
     much; it is holy and just and good, and ought not to be
     altered in one jot or tittle, nor can it be. Our Lord
     gives the law all it requires, not a part, for that
     would be an admission that it might justly have been
     content with less at first. The law claims complete
     obedience without one spot or speck, failure, or flaw,
     and Christ has brought in such a righteousness as that,
     and gives it to his people. The law demands that the
     righteousness should be without omission of duty and
     without commission of sin, and the righteousness which
     Christ has brought is just such an one that for its
     sake the great God accepts his people and counts them
     to be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The
     law will not be content without spiritual obedience,
     mere outward compliances will not satisfy. But our
     Lord's obedience was as deep as it was broad, for his
     zeal to do the will of him that sent him consumed him.
     He says himself, "I delight to do thy will, O my God,
     yea thy law is within my heart." Such righteousness he
     puts upon all believers. "By the obedience of one shall
     many be made righteous"; righteous to the full, perfect
     in Christ. We rejoice to wear the costly robe of fair
     white linen which Jesus has prepared, and we feel that
     we may stand arrayed in it before the majesty of heaven
     without a trembling thought. This is something to dwell
     upon, dear friends. Only as righteous ones can we be
     saved, but Jesus Christ makes us righteous, and
     therefore we are saved. He is righteous who believeth
     on him, even as Abraham believed God and it was counted
     unto him for righteousness. "There is therefore, now no
     condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," because
     they are made righteous in Christ. Yea, the Holy Spirit
     by the mouth of Paul challengeth all men, angels, and
     devils, to lay anything to the charge of God's elect,
     since Christ hath died. O law, when thou demandest of
     me a perfect righteousness, I, being a believer,
     present it to thee; for through Christ Jesus faith is
     accounted unto me for righteousness. The righteousness
     of Christ is mine, for I am one with him by faith, and
     this is the name wherewith he shall be called-"The Lord
     our righteousness."
     
     Jesus has thus fulfilled the original demands of the
     law, but you know, brethren, that since we have broken
     the law there are other demands. For the remission of
     past sins something more is asked now than present and
     future obedience. Upon us, on account of our sins, the
     curse has been pronounced, and a penalty has been
     incurred. It is written that he "will by no means clear
     the guilty," but every transgression and iniquity shall
     have its just punishment and reward. Here, then, let us
     admire that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law
     as to penalty. That curse and penalty are awful things
     to think upon, but Christ has ended all their evil, and
     thus discharged us from all the consequences of sin. As
     far as every believer is concerned the law demands no
     penalty and utters no curse. The believer can point to
     the Great Surety on the tree of Calvary, and say, "See
     there,oh law, there is the vindication of divine
     justice which I offer to thee. Jesus pouring out his
     heart's blood from his wounds and dying on my behalf is
     my answer to thy claims, and I know that I shall be
     delivered from wrath through him." The claims of the
     law both as broken and unbroken Christ has met: both
     the positive and the penal demands are satisfied in
     him. This was a labour worthy of a God, and lo, the
     incarnate God has achieved it. He has finished the
     transgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation
     for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness.
     All glory be to his name.
     
     Moreover, not only has the penalty been paid, but
     Christ has put great and special honour upon the law in
     so doing. I venture to say that if the whole human race
     had kept the law of God and not one of them had
     violated it, the law would not stand in so splendid a
     position of honour as it does today when the man Christ
     Jesus, who is also the Son of God, has paid obeisance
     to it. God himself, incarnate, has in his life, and yet
     more in his death, revealed the supremacy of law; he
     has shown that not even love nor sovereignty can set
     aside justice. Who shall say a word against the law to
     which the Lawgiver himself submits? Who shall now say
     that it is too severe when he who made it submits
     himself to its penalties. Because he was found in
     fashion as a man, and was our representative, the Lord
     demanded from his own Son perfect obedience to the law,
     and the Son voluntarily bowed himself to it without a
     single word, taking no exception to his task. "Yea, thy
     law is my delight," saith he, and he proved it to be so
     by paying homage to it even to the full. Oh wondrous
     law under which even Emmanuel serves! Oh matchless law
     whose yoke even the Son of God does not disdain to
     bear, but being resolved to save his chosen was made
     under the law, lived under it and died under it,
     "obedient to death, even the death of the cross."
     
     The law's stability also has been secured by Christ.
     That alone can remain which is proved to be just, and
     Jesus has proved the law to be so, magnifying it and
     making it honourable. He says, "Think not that I am
     come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come
     to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
     till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall
     in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." I
     shall have to show you how he has made an end of the
     law in another sense, but as to the settlement of the
     eternal principles of right and wrong, Christ's life
     and death have achieved this forever. "Yea, we
     established the law." said Paul, "we do not make void
     the law through faith." The law is proved to be holy
     and just by the very gospel of faith, for the gospel
     which faith believes in does not alter or lower the
     law, but teaches us how it was to the uttermost
     fulfilled. Now shall the law stand fast forever and
     ever, since even to save elect man God will not alter
     it. He had a people, chosen, beloved, and ordained to
     life, yet he would not save them at the expense of one
     principle of right. They were sinful, and how could
     they be justified unless the law was suspended or
     changed? Was, then, the law changed? It seemed as if it
     must be so, if man was to be saved, but Jesus Christ
     came and showed us how the law could stand firm as a
     rock, and yet the redeemed could be justly saved by
     infinite mercy. In Christ we see both mercy and justice
     shining full orbed, and yet neither of them in any
     degree eclipsing the other. The law has all it ever
     asked, as it ought to have, and yet the Father of all
     mercies sees all his chosen saved as he determined they
     should be through the death of his Son. Thus I have
     tried to show you how Christ is the fulfillment of the
     law to its utmost end. May the Holy Ghost bless the
     teaching.
     
     And now, thirdly, he is the end of the law in the sense
     that he is the termination of it. He has terminated it
     in two senses. First of all, his people are not under
     it as a covenant of life. "We are not under the law,
     but under grace." The old covenant as it stood with
     father Adam was "This do and thou shalt live": its
     command he did not keep, and consequently he did not
     live, nor do we live in him, since in Adam all died.
     The old covenant was broken, and we became condemned
     thereby, but now, having suffered death in Christ, we
     are no more under it, but are dead to it. Brethren, at
     this present moment, although we rejoice to do good
     works, we are not seeking life through them, we are not
     hoping to obtain divine favour by our own goodness, nor
     even to keep ourselves in the love of God by any merit
     of our own. Chosen, not for our works, but according to
     the eternal will and good pleasure of God; called, not
     of works, but by the Spirit of God, we desire to
     continue in this grace and return no more to the
     bondage of the old covenant. Since we have put our
     trust in an atonement provided and applied by grace
     through Christ Jesus, we are no longer slaves but
     children, not working to be saved, but saved already,
     and working because we are saved. Neither that which we
     do, nor even that which the Spirit of God worketh in us
     is to us the ground and basis of the love of God toward
     us, since he loved us from the first, because he would
     love us, unworthy though we were; and he loves us still
     in Christ, and looks upon us not as we are in
     ourselves, but as we are in him; washed in his blood
     and covered in his righteousness. Ye are not under the
     law, Christ has taken you from the servile bondage of a
     condemning covenant and made you to receive the
     adoption of children, so that now ye cry, Abba, Father.
     
     Again, Christ is the terminator of the law, for we are
     no longer under its curse. The law cannot curse a
     believer, it does not know how to do it; it blesses
     him, yea, and he shall be blessed; for as the law
     demands righteousness and looks at the believer in
     Christ, and sees that Jesus has given him all the
     righteousness it demands, the law is bound to pronounce
     him blessed. "Blessed is he whose transgression is
     forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto
     whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
     spirit there is no guile." Oh, the joy of being
     redeemed from the curse of the law by Christ, who was
     "made a curse for us," as it is written, "Cursed is
     every one that hangeth on a tree." Do ye, my brethren,
     understand the sweet mystery of salvation? Have you
     ever seen Jesus standing in your place that you may
     stand in his place? Christ accused and Christ
     condemned, and Christ led out to die, and Christ
     smitten of the Father, even to the death, and then you
     cleared, justified, delivered from the curse, because
     the curse has spent itself on your Redeemer. You are
     admitted to enjoy the blessing because the
     righteousness which was his is now transferred to you
     that you may be blessed of the Lord world without end.
     Do let us triumph and rejoice in this evermore. Why
     should we not? And yet some of God's people get under
     the law as to their feelings, and begin to fear that
     because they are conscious of sin they are not saved,
     whereas it is written, "he justifieth the ungodly." For
     myself, I love to live near a sinner's Saviour. If my
     standing before the Lord depended upon what I am in
     myself and what good works and righteousness I could
     bring, surely I should have to condemn myself a
     thousand times a day. But to get away from that and to
     say, "I have believed in Jesus Christ and therefore
     righteousness is mine," this is peace, rest, joy, and
     the beginning of heaven! When one attains to this
     experience, his love to Jesus Christ begins to flame
     up, and he feels that if the Redeemer has delivered him
     from the curse of the law he will not continue in sin,
     but he will endeavour to live in newness of life. We
     are not our own, we are bought with a price, and we
     would therefore glorify God in our bodies and in our
     spirits, which are the Lord's. Thus much upon Christ in
     connection with the law.
     
     II. Now, secondly, OURSELVES IN CONNECTION WITH
     CHRIST-for "Christ is the end of the law to everyone
     that believeth." Now see the point "to everyone that
     believeth," there the stress lies. Come, man, woman,
     dost thou believe? No weightier question can be asked
     under heaven. "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?"
     And what is it to believe? It is not merely to accept a
     set of doctrines and to say that such and such a creed
     is yours, and there and then to put it on the shelf and
     forget it. To believe is, to trust, to confide, to
     depend upon, to rely upon, to rest in. Dost thou
     believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead? Dost thou
     believe that he stood in the sinner's stead and
     suffered the just for the unjust? Dost thou believe
     that he is able to save to the uttermost them that come
     unto God by him? And dost thou therefore lay the whole
     weight and stress of thy soul's salvation upon him,
     yea, upon him alone? Ah then, Christ is the end of the
     law for righteousness to thee, and thou art righteous.
     In the righteousness of God thou art clothed if thou
     believest. It is of no use to bring forward anything
     else if you are not believing, for nothing will avail.
     If faith be absent the essential thing is wanting:
     sacraments, prayers, Bible reading, hearings of the
     gospel, you may heap them together, high as the stars,
     into a mountain, huge as high Olympus, but they are all
     mere chaff if faith be not there. It is thy believing
     or not believing which must settle the matter. Dost
     thou look away from thyself to Jesus for righteousness?
     If thou dost he is the end of the law to thee.
     
     Now observe that there is no question raised about the
     previous character, for it is written, "Christ is the
     end of the law for righteousness to every one that
     believeth." But, Lord, this man before he believed was
     a persecutor and injurious, he raged and raved against
     the saints and haled them to prison and sought their
     blood. Yes, beloved friend, and that is the very man
     who wrote these words by the Holy Ghost, "Christ is the
     end of the law for righteousness to every one that
     believeth." So if I address one here this morning whose
     life has been defiled with every sin, and stained with
     every transgression we can conceive of, yet I say unto
     such, remember "all manner of sin and of blasphemy
     shall be forgiven unto men." If thou believest in the
     Lord Jesus Christ thine iniquities are blotted out, for
     the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, cleanseth us
     from all sin. This is the glory of the gospel that it
     is a sinner's gospel; good news of blessing not for
     those without sin, but for those who confess and
     forsake it. Jesus came into the world, not to reward
     the sinless, but to seek and to save that which was
     lost; and he, being lost and being far from God, who
     cometh nigh to God by Christ, and believeth in him,
     will find that he is able to bestow righteousness upon
     the guilty. He is the end of the law for righteousness
     to everyone that believeth, and therefore to the poor
     harlot that believeth, to the drunkard of many years
     standing that believeth, to the thief, the liar, and
     the scoffer who believeth, to those who have aforetime
     rioted in sin, but now turn from it to trust in him.
     But I do not know that I need mention such cases as
     these; to me the most wonderful fact is that Christ is
     the end of the law for righteousness to me, for I
     believe in him. I know whom I have believed, and I am
     persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
     committed to him until that day.
     
     Another thought arises from the text, and that is, that
     there is nothing said by way of qualification as to the
     strength of the faith. He is the end of the law for
     righteousness to everyone that believeth, whether he is
     Little Faith or Greatheart. Jesus protects the rear
     rank as well as the vanguard. There is no difference
     between one believer and another as to justification.
     So long as there is a connection between you and Christ
     the righteousness of God is yours. The link may be very
     like a film, a spider's line of trembling faith, but,
     if it runs all the way from the heart to Christ, divine
     grace can and will flow along the most slender thread.
     It is marvelous how fine the wire may be that will
     carry the electric flash. We may want a cable to carry
     a message across the sea, but that is for the
     protection of the wire, the wire which actually carries
     the message is a slender thing. If thy faith be of the
     mustard-seed kind, if it be only such as tremblingly
     touches the Saviour's garment's hem, if thou canst only
     say "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief," if it
     be but the faith of sinking Peter, or weeping Mary, yet
     if it be faith in Christ, he will be the end of the law
     for righteousness to thee as well as to the chief of
     the apostles.
     
     If this be so then, beloved friends, all of us who
     believe are righteous. Believing in the Lord Jesus
     Christ we have obtained the righteousness which those
     who follow the works of the law know nothing of. We are
     not completely sanctified, would God we were; we are
     not quit of sin in our members, though we hate it; but
     still for all that, in the sight of God, we are truly
     righteous and being qualified by faith we have peace
     with God. Come, look up, ye believers that are burdened
     with a sense of sin. While you chasten yourselves and
     mourn your sin, do not doubt your Saviour, nor question
     his righteousness. You are black, but do not stop
     there, go on to say as the spouse did, "I am black, but
     comely."

              "Though in ourselves deform'd we are,
               And black as Kedar's tents appear,
                Yet, when we put Thy beauties on,
                 Fair as the courts of Solomon."
                                
     
     Now, mark that the connection of our text assures us
     that being righteous we are saved; for what does it say
     here, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
     Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
     raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." He who
     is justified is saved, or what were the benefit of
     justification? Over thee, O believer, God hath
     pronounced the verdict "saved," and none shall reverse
     it. You are saved from sin and death and hell; you are
     saved even now, with a present salvation; "He hath
     saved us and called us with a holy calling." Feel the
     transports of it at this hour. "Beloved, now are we the
     sons of God."
     
     And now I have done when I have said just this. If any
     one here thinks he can save himself, and that his own
     righteousness will suffice before God, I would
     affectionately beg him not to insult his Saviour. If
     your righteousness sufficeth, why did Christ come here
     to work one out? Will you for a moment compare your
     righteousness with the righteousness of Jesus Christ?
     What likeness is there between you and him? As much as
     between an emmet and an archangel. Nay, not so much as
     that: as much as between night and day, hell and
     heaven. Oh, if I had a righteousness of my own that no
     one could find fault with, I would voluntarily fling it
     away to have the righteousness of Christ, but as I have
     none of my own I do rejoice the more to have my Lord's.
     When Mr. Whitefield first preached at Kingswood, near
     Bristol, to the colliers, he could see when their
     hearts began to be touched by the gutters of white made
     by the tears as they ran down their black cheeks. He
     saw they were receiving the gospel, and he writes in
     his diary "as these poor colliers had no righteousness
     of their own they therefore gloried in Him who came to
     save publicans and sinners." Well, Mr. Whitefield, that
     is true of the colliers, but it is equally true of many
     of us here, who may not have had black faces, but we
     had black hearts. We can truly say that we also rejoice
     to cast away our own righteousness and count it dross
     and dung that we may win Christ, and be found in him.
     In him is our sole hope and only trust.
     
     Last of all, for any of you to reject the righteousness
     of Christ must be to perish everlastingly, because it
     cannot be that God will accept you or your pretended
     righteousness when you have refused the real and divine
     righteousness which he sets before you in his Son. If
     you could go up to the gates of heaven, and the angel
     were to say to you, "What title have you to entrance
     here?" and you were to reply, "I have a righteousness
     of my own," then for you to be admitted would be to
     decide that your righteousness was on a par with that
     of Immanuel himself. Can that ever be? Do you think
     that God will ever allow such a lie to be sanctioned?
     Will he let a poor wretched sinner's counterfeit
     righteousness pass current side by side with the fine
     gold of Christ's perfection? Why was the fountain
     filled with blood if you need no washing? Is Christ a
     superfluity? Oh, it cannot be. You must have Christ's
     righteousness or be unrighteous, and being unrighteous
     you will be unsaved, and being unsaved you must remain
     lost forever and ever.
     
     What! has it all come to this, then, that I am to
     believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness, and
     to be made just through faith? Yes, that is it: that is
     the whole of it. What! trust Christ alone and then live
     as I like! You cannot live in sin after you have
     trusted Jesus, for the act of faith brings with it a
     change of nature and a renewal of your soul. The Spirit
     of God who leads you to believe will also change your
     heart. You spoke of "living as you like," you will like
     to live very differently from what you do now. The
     things you loved before your conversion you will hate
     when you believe, and the things you hated you will
     love. Now, you are trying to be good, and you make
     great failures, because your heart is alienated from
     God; but when once you have received salvation through
     the blood of Christ, your heart will love God, and then
     you will keep his commandments, and they will be no
     longer grievous to you. A change of heart is what you
     want, and you will never get it except through the
     covenant of grace. There is not a word about conversion
     in the old covenant, we must look to the new covenant
     for that, and here it is-"Then will I sprinkle clean
     water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your
     filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse
     you. A new heart also will I give you, and an new
     spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the
     stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
     heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you,
     and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep
     my judgments, and do them." This is one of the greatest
     covenant promises, and the Holy Ghost preforms it in
     the chosen. Oh that the Lord would sweetly persuade you
     to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that promise
     and all the other covenant engagements shall be
     fulfilled to your soul. The Lord bless you! Spirit of
     God, send thy blessing on these poor words of mine for
     Jesus' sake. Amen.
     
Provided by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
internet: www.biblebb.com
Box 318
Columbus, NJ 08022
....online since 1986

http://www.biblebb.com/files/spurgeon/1325.txt

[하토브]

사랑님 올리신 글의 영어 원문입니다.

[하토브]

다른 글이 있는데 율법의 영원성이라는 제목의 스펄젼의 글입니다.

I should like to say to any brother who thinks that God has put us under an altered rule: “Which particular part of the law is it that God has relaxed?” Which precept do you feel free to break? Are you delivered from the command which forbids stealing? My dear sir, you may be a capital theologian, but I should lock up my spoons when you call at my house. Is it the command about adultery which you think is removed?

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Then I could not recommend your being admitted into any decent society. Is the law as to killing softened down? Then I had rather have your room than your company. Which law is it that God has exempted you from? That law of worshipping him only? Do you propose to have another God? Do you intend to make graven images? The fact is that when we come to detail we cannot afford to lose a single link of this wonderful golden chain, which is perfect in every part as well as perfect as a whole.

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The law is absolutely complete, and you can neither add to it nor take from it. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” If, then, no part of it can be taken down, it must stand, and stand for ever.
http://www.angelfire.com/va/sovereigngrace/perpetuity.spurgeon.html

[하토브]

하나님이 율법의 어느 부분을 완화시켰는가? 하고 반문합니다. 제 글은 주말에 쓴 다음 올릴 것입니다.