“The Fulfillment of the Law”
Romans 10:5-15
We are finishing our Sermon Series on Paul’s Letter to the Romans this morning.
This letter to the early Church in Rome contains some of the Church’s most important theological writings.
At the same time, they can be challenging to understand and preach, so I am trying to make them as accessible as possible.
It is essential to grasp Romans because much of our understanding of salvation by grace through faith alone is contained here.
(pause)
In his book, “Organic Church,” author Neil Cole tells a story about a young man named Sean.
He writes that “Sean was an outstanding musician before drugs took everything away from him.”
Eventually, Sean started coming to the church Cole pastored and he was baptized in the ocean.
He stayed clean for a while, but when he moved back home he fell into bondage once again.
Cole tried to talk Sean into rehab, but Sean refused and begged for another option.
“Well, there is one other radical option we could try,” Cole told Sean, “You and I get in the car right now and drive over and tell your drug dealer about Jesus.”
His drug dealer was a mother.
She lived next door to Sean in an apartment building and supplied drugs for the local kids.
Sean shared the Gospel with her.
From that point on, Sean never took drugs again.
He was free.
The power of the Gospel received and also given to another transformed his heart.
Sean’s drug dealer didn’t become a Christian that day, but her 14-year-old son did.
Within a year or so, she became a Christian as well.
(Pause)
In our Scripture passage, we just read Paul writes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”
Paul is telling us this morning that salvation is found in Jesus.
But, “Declaring with our mouths and believing in our hearts that Jesus is Lord” means to have a deep and inner trust in Christ, beyond mere intellectual assent or beyond just mouthing the words.
To say, “Jesus is Lord” is to give our complete allegiance to the One Who has loved us before the dawn of time.
When we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, we are raised to live with Him.
And as those who are raised to live with Him, our job is to introduce Him to others.
It’s really a means of grace, whereby we are blessed and sustained in our faith.
John Wesley used to tell his preachers who were having a tough time, “Preach it until you believe it.”
When I was 18 years old, I was a major headbanger.
If you don’t know what that means: it’s a term that comes from the 1980s and the popularity of a particular brand of hard rock music called heavy metal.
The lyrics to many of these songs were angry and spoke to a specific group of primarily male adolescents.
If you get too ensconced in this kind of stuff, it can be troublesome if it starts to define who you are.
And so, I did and I was a lost kid.
I had been raised in a Christian household, and therefore, I knew I was lost.
I didn’t want to be lost.
I felt bad about being lost.
But I couldn’t get myself on the right track.
I knew about the Gospel of Jesus Christ but it hadn’t come alive for me.
It was more what others believed in and lived by, but not me…
…although I wanted to.
Then, I made friends with a kid named Tim, who was a head banger as well, but it no longer defined who he was.
When I met him, the first question Tim asked me was, “Are you a Christian?”
And, since I was raised in a Christian home and went to church my entire life, I said “Yes.”
Then, he asked me something even more peculiar to my ears, “So, you believe Jesus is God.”
Not sure what that meant, but because I didn’t know what else to say, I answered, “Yes.”
Tim and I started hanging out and doing things, and as I watched him and how he behaved, it became apparent that his definition of a Christian and my definition were very different.
Tim was actually living what he believed.
It was the first time I had ever met someone my age with the same kind of background that lived like that.
I hadn’t known it was possible.
I wanted what Tim had—a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
And a while after becoming friends with this young man, I decided to give my life to Christ as well.
It changed my life forever.
It didn’t make my life perfect, but it has defined it ever since.
I can’t imagine where I would be or even if I would be without that experience.
(pause)
Human beings are created to be in a relationship with God.
We cannot be happy otherwise.
But how does this happen?
That’s what Romans is all about and tries to explain.
In verse 4 of Romans Chapter 10 Paul writes, “Christ is the culmination of the law.”
Before Christ came, the purpose of the law was reconciliation with God, but Jesus Christ has now taken the place of the law.
Paul explains this by weaving Jesus Christ into Old Testament passages about the law.
And where the law once stood, he says that is where Christ now stands.
With the coming of Christ, the law no longer serves the purpose of reconciling humans to God.
In fact, the law has become an obstacle to salvation.
In Romans 7:10 Paul writes, “The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”
And that is because none of us can follow the law.
Our sinful natures will not allow it.
Martin Luther knew this too well.
He tried to attain salvation by strict adherence to the law.
And like Paul, Luther found that what had once promised life brought only more doubt, despair, and death.
This is the same thing that John Wesley, learned.
We covered that at the beginning of this series.
Paul, Luther, and Wesley came to understand that the coming of Jesus represents the end of the law as the means by which people are saved.
And this is a huge relief to those of us who have tried to save ourselves, but to no avail.
In Romans 8:3 Paul writes: “What the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.”
And the sin-offering of Christ on the Cross is once and for all!
Let’s think about this for a moment.
God knew we could not save ourselves, so God left heaven and became one of us and one with us.
He was tempted in every way that we are, but He never sinned.
He died as the only sinless person to ever die.
And through His death, He has opened paradise for us all.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t good enough to be saved.
Don’t ever let anyone make you think you have to somehow earn God’s love and forgiveness.
Christ has done everything needed to save you and I.
All we need do is give our lives over to Him and He does the rest.
I remember as an 18-year-old boy, walking home, down the sidewalk at night.
I remember the cracks in the sidewalk, the scene is one of my clearest memories.
As I walked my soul was wrestling with my flesh.
“Will I follow Satan or Jesus?” I kept asking myself.
The decision was right before me.
I decided to give my life to following Christ, and everything changed.
Was everything perfect?
No, and it never will be in this world, but everything changed and love entered my heart and my soul.
Peace overcame me, and spiritual blinders were lifted from my eyes.
(pause)
“The word is near you;” writes Paul, “it is in your mouth and in your heart…
…If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
As an 18-year-old freshman in college, I was taking a public speaking course as one of my electives.
The first speech I gave was a compare and contrast, so I brought a tape deck to class and gave a speech and demonstration of good heavy metal music versus not-so-good heavy metal music.
For the second speech we were asked to pick one of our hero’s and give a speech from his or her perspective.
I painted my face like Gene Simmons of Kiss, and spoke about my hero.
Between the second and third speeches, I had my born-again experience.
When I got in front of class for that third speech I started with, “The night before last, I gave my life to Jesus Christ.”
And then I went on to share the Gospel in the best way I knew how.
I can still see the shock on the faces of my classmates.
Jesus Christ changes us.
It’s all the proof I need to know that it’s all for real.
Jesus Christ is the very purpose of the law.
The law was given in order to join humans and God.
In Christ, by grace through faith, the purpose of law is achieved; God and humanity are once again united.
In Romans Chapter 13 Paul tells us: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’…
…love is the fulfillment of the law.”
As one commentator puts it: “Because Christ is the termination of the function of the law, fulfillment of the function of the law, and the perfect adherent to the law, human beings need only believe in our hearts and confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead in order to be united eternally with God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”
Do you believe?
Have you confessed?
If you have not, but are ready, the chancel rails are open at this time.
