Join us as we unravel Paul’s passionate discourse on the purpose of the law and the profound transformation it undergoes in Christ. Discover why the law exists to highlight our need for a savior and how faith in Jesus brings peace, reconciliation, and true righteousness. In our conclusion, we reflect on the impact of this message, not just on the Jewish people but on all who seek true spiritual fulfillment.
So, continuing the argument that Paul is making for the salvation of the Jewish people, Paul now says in Romans chapter 10, “…for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Now, what does that mean? First of all, let’s remind ourselves what Paul is trying to convey here. In chapter 9, he’s worried, he’s concerned, he’s deeply troubled and sad about Israel and why they have not been saved by God yet, because Paul says, and it’s the truth of the gospel, that nothing can separate us from the love of God. He’s persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, can separate us from the love of God. Yet why then hasn’t God saved Israel? And Paul is explaining how God goes about that. He doesn’t go about it just because they’re a particular race of people. He is instilling faith. one by one, even though they may be called, rather elected, they have not yet been called. Various ones are being called throughout the nation and throughout the world. And so Paul then implies that all who have received Christ by faith in him are They are Israel, and God is going to bring that message to the whole of Israel. And he then explains that they have a zeal for God, but it’s not according to knowledge. And I talked about that yesterday in regard to us as regular people who are not Jewish. There is a tendency and a danger of being zealous for religion because but without knowledge. What is the knowledge that Paul is talking about? the knowledge of Christ, whom God has put before the world and has set before the world as their righteousness. For he says in verse 3, For they, being ignorant of Christ’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So if we don’t know about Christ, we will automatically try to establish a goodness of our own that somehow makes us moral before God, so we think, and will make us acceptable to Him. But once we have Christ, things change. Now, I noted yesterday, verse 3 again, for they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. This idea of submitting, surrendering, It’s not about surrendering ourselves so that we empty ourselves totally of self and ego. That’s what the spiritualizers very often say. It’s about surrendering our dignity and our reputation and our supposed morality to and surrendering to Christ’s dignity and morality and righteousness and goodness, accepting that he is our righteousness. This is where Paul says in the next verse, which we now come to, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now, what does that word end mean here? It doesn’t mean termination. like you’ve come to the end of the line, it means Christ is the ultimate purpose of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Now, this is consistent with what Paul has taught about righteousness all through this book so far. The law does not lead to righteousness. The law leads only to a revelation of our sin. What’s the purpose then of that? Why does God give the law to simply reveal our sin? And by the way, more than reveal it, but stimulate our sin, chapter 7, verse 5. So why does God give the law? To reveal the necessity of someone else other than ourselves to be our Savior. And that, of course, is Jesus Christ. So the end of the law is the full purpose of the law. Now, those people who are perfectionists or legalists have a real hard time with this. They cannot grasp that idea, because to them, Christ is a means to the law. In other words, I don’t find my own ability in myself to keep the law, but if I accept Christ, then somehow he gives me power to keep the law. So Christ is a means to the end, and the end is the law. Now that is the exact opposite of the truth. That is putting the cart before the horse. Christ is not the means to the end, which is to say, Christ is not the enabling force within me to enable me to accomplish the end, which is the law.
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No. No.
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The law is the means to Christ, in the sense that the law does not enable me to be righteous in order to get to Christ, but the law reveals my sinfulness, which makes Christ necessary. So think of it. If you are a legalist, you’re endlessly calling upon Jesus to help you to obey, to help you to be sanctified, to help you to be righteous. It’s as if Jesus was sent as a sort of extra bit of fuel to enable us to motivate ourselves and move towards the law. That is the distorted view of life. And I have to say that I had that view for years. And I was always using Jesus to become obedient to the law. How wrong that is. Let us not use Jesus. What the law does is to reveal how broken we are. It reveals that we are fallen human beings, born in sin, that the natural inclination of our human nature is downwards, not upwards. That’s what the law reveals. When Jesus says, you have heard it said that you shall not covet,
SPEAKER 01 :
you shall not steal, I should say.
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He then says, but I say to you, whoever covets has stolen. Do you see what he’s getting at?
SPEAKER 01 :
He’s getting at the inner heart of the law.
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You have heard it said, you shall not kill, but whosoever hates has committed murder in his heart. So you see how the law is going to the inner core of our being. And when it does, it reveals that we are undone, as Isaiah said in chapter 5, when he saw the Lord. I’m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. And that’s what we learn from the law. We do not learn righteousness. Don’t go to the Ten Commandments to learn righteousness, but go to the Ten Commandments to reveal yourself. to reveal what you’re like inside, so that then you go to Jesus for mercy, for forgiveness, for his righteousness, so that we stand before God in his righteousness. Now that is what Paul means when he says Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law is not in itself. The purpose of the law is to point you to Jesus, who is your righteousness. The law is not your righteousness. How many times must we say this and repeat it until we get it? We just somehow hear it so many times until finally, in a moment of eureka, oh, yes, I get it. And so each day we trust in Jesus. That’s the purpose of the law. Each day that we love him and trust in him for our entrance to God’s kingdom and to God’s throne room, every time we trust in him for righteousness, knowing that we have no righteousness of our own and he is counted as our righteousness, that’s what the law was intending for us to do all along. The law does not point it to itself, but the law points to Jesus. And you see, the Jewish people missed that, because Paul then says, for Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, the man who does those things shall live by them.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, did Israel live by the law?
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It failed endlessly, and the history of Israel is one tragic failure in regard to the law. But what but the righteousness of faith, verse 6, speaks in this way, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above? Or who will descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead? But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach. There we have the answer to this issue. The law is always telling us, come on, reach higher. You’ve somehow got to get Christ down to you and get him into your heart. Or how are you going to get Christ up from the dead so that he can live with you? That’s what the law kind of says. It’s always the carrot in front of the stick, in front of you. You never reach it. But once you know the life of faith, you realize that Christ is your righteousness. And Jesus as your righteousness means that you are counted as whole before God. In him you are counted as complete.
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In him you are reconciled to the heart of the Father. And so you see, Faith in Jesus brings peace, and that is not what people have if they are working towards Christ by the law.
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You don’t work towards Christ by the law. You let the law reveal your sinfulness so that you trust in Christ as your righteousness. And when you do, there is your peace. And that is what the Jewish people are gradually learning as the gospel comes to them. Thank you for listening today. You’ve been listening to How It Happens with Colin Cook. And I have an appeal to make. You probably heard yesterday. It’s very urgent. As you know, this ministry has supported a number of families across the world, and one particular family it is still supporting. in Nigeria, in Ekiti. But there are terrible storms, and there have been torrential rains for the last 30 days, non-stop. Well, not quite non-stop, but every day. It’s resulted in flooding, in the spoiling of food, in the collapse of the wall around the compound, which endangers the family because there are lots of burglars and robbers in that area. And so I need your support. I’ve been looking for $1,000. I’m glad to tell you I already have $800. So we just need $200 more to complete, to send over to them. to help them to rebuild the wall, to get food supplies, and various other things that they need. Would you send a donation urgently by online, faithquestradio.com, faithquestradio.com, to complete this project. Thank you so very much. I appreciate all that you’ve sent, and I’ll see you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
Join us as we unravel Paul’s passionate discourse on the purpose of the law and the profound transformation it undergoes in Christ. Discover why the law exists to highlight our need for a savior and how faith in Jesus brings peace, reconciliation, and true righteousness. In our conclusion, we reflect on the impact of this message, not just on the Jewish people but on all who seek true spiritual fulfillment.
