If you would take your Bibles and turn to Matthew, Chapter 5. Matthew, Chapter 5. These verses are all on your verse sheet. I like using my Bible. I know you ladies are going through the Sermon on the Mount with Lloyd-Jones. I checked him out and he's right, so there's no trouble there. Yeah, you're past this. Matthew 5, starting at verse 17. Matthew 5, 17, these are the words of Jesus. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Let's look to our Lord in prayer before we start. Father, I would just ask that you would own your word to our hearts. You would speak through your word. that you who are the word would speak through the word you have spoken, Lord, and teach us again these great and precious and necessary truths. And we give it all up in the name of Jesus, for his sake. Amen. Now, this portion of scripture has been studied hard for all of church history. There's lots of debate. What does Jesus mean here? In fact, basically, the debate studies centers on two words, abolish and fulfill. This is early in Jesus' ministry. This is the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus began his ministry, it was understandable that people were wondering, where does Jesus stand in regards to the law, in regards to Jewish theology? What's his relationship to all those thousands of years of Jewish teaching? Is he in agreement with the scribes and Pharisees? They're all wondering this. Jesus, what do you believe about these things? Was he in agreement with the laws of Moses? Is he here to overturn or bring in some new teaching, some new religion? This kingdom he's speaking of, they're wondering, what rules govern your kingdom? Is it the law or is it something else? So here in the middle of what was Jesus' most important sermon, he lays it out. Notice he says, verse 17, do not think. Because they were thinking. They were wondering, are you here to do away with the law? Are you here to cancel Moses? Some were thinking, it's an assumption, that he's against the law, that he's bringing some kind of a new religion. He says, don't think that. Don't think I've come, he says, to abolish the law or the prophets. Don't think that. That phrase, law or prophets, always refers to the entire Old Testament. It's on your verse sheet, Matthew 7, 12. Remember the golden rule, Jesus said, whatever you want others to do for you, do the same for them. For this is the law and the prophets mean this is the whole of God's law. The law and the prophets refers to their entirety of their law. He says, don't think I've come to abolish that law. Now the word abolish means to destroy, to wreck, to dismantle. Later in chapter 24 too, he used that word for what's gonna happen to the temple. It'll be destroyed, not one stone left upon another. Don't think I've come to do that to the law, I haven't. Which means he's not going to set the law aside. He's not going to ignore the law. He's not going to cancel the law. He's going to fulfill. He's going to fulfill the law. He says, I've not come to abolish, but to fulfill. And that word fulfill means to complete, to fill up, to accomplish, to bring it to its intended end. We say today, I need to fulfill my obligation. I've got something I have to do. Jesus is saying, I'm going to fulfill the law. I'm not going to set it aside. I'm not going to wreck it. Deny it, I'm gonna fulfill it. Now he follows that up in our text with his assessment of God's holy law. Here's what Jesus thinks of God's law. It's found in verse 18. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law. Some of your versions say not one jot or one tittle, the smallest specks of the Hebrew alphabet. Jesus is saying, as long as heaven and earth remain, which is a long time, not one of the tiniest bits of the law will ever be set aside. Now hear that. There's confusion today over that. We tend to use words like, well, grace has replaced the law. No, it hasn't. Not according to Jesus's word. He said, until heaven and earth pass away, not one of the tiniest bits of that law is going to be done away with or put aside. Every bit of it will be kept and fulfilled. He's not come to replace it. He said, I've come to fulfill it. His kingdom that he's speaking of all through this sermon is based on fulfilling that law. Jesus says God's law is absolute and God's law is permanent. Now think about that. So right after this in verse 19, he gives a further indication. Here's what Jesus thinks about the law. He's clearing this up because remember, some were thinking you're here to just destroy the law, aren't you? He says, no, the law will be, kept perfect as long as heaven and earth remains. And he says in verse 19, therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Now, least means you're not going to be there. You will not be in God's kingdom if you're against the law. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. There again, Jesus is giving them his opinion on the law. The law must be kept. The law must be taught, and those who do not keep it and do not teach it have no place in my kingdom. That's what he's saying. Relaxed there means to loosen or to let go, to water down. It has the idea of explaining away the law or getting rid of the law somehow. In Jesus' kingdom, those who keep the law will be highly honored. Those who oppose the law will be leased in his kingdom, meaning they're not going to be there. So your place in his kingdom, Jesus says, depends on your relationship to God's law. That's what he's saying here. Have you thought that through lately? The reason I'm teaching this is I've read some books lately. I'm looking at some of this stuff and I have some new understanding on this and deeper insights into what he's talking about here. Now up to this point, his Jewish audience would say, yeah, OK, that's cool. Yeah, we like that. That's good. They'd be well pleased. You're going to keep the law. You're not going to abolish the law. You're not going to do away with thousands of years of teaching of the law. You're going to uphold the law. You're not some radical prophet here to bring some brand new religion and does away with all of this. But then he says something that's truly shocking. And the Jewish audience would get this probably far more than we do. Look at verse 20. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." That would have hit them like a hammer. Now today, looking at the shock value of that, we need to understand how they heard that. They wouldn't hear that like we do in this room today. When I look back at the scribes and the Pharisees, I think of a bunch of lying, judgmental, hypocritical snobs. A lot of them were. And Jesus took them on many times for that very reason. Matthew 23 is all about lying hypocrites, snakes, vipers, fools. But to the average Jewish mind of their day, they were the righteous of the land. They were the ones who took their religion extremely seriously. Most people thought that the Pharisees and the scribes are as high as you can get in Judaism. They not only believed the law, they had all these other laws around the law to try to keep the law sacred, try to keep the law safe. In the old Western movies, the bad guys wore the black hats, the white guys wore the white hats, the good guys wore the white hats. Well, the Pharisees, in a Jewish mindset, would have worn the white hats. They're the ones every mother said, why don't you grow up to be like them? They were the righteous of the land. If anyone was close to God in their mind, it was the scribes and the Pharisees. And there's some truth to that. They were considered the most godly Jews in Israel. So what Jesus says here is shocking. Very unexpected. You would almost sound ridiculous to some of them. No one, they're saying, is more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees. And you're telling me they're not in your kingdom, and we're not either, unless we're more righteous than they are? He's not saying they're not righteous. He's saying they're not righteous enough. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the guy you consider to be the most righteous in the land, you're not entering my kingdom. Now let's think this through. What's he talking about here? Not only those who are considered the most righteous in the land, not only are they not going to enter, they're not good enough. If your righteousness isn't far greater than theirs, you're not getting in either. That's quite a conundrum. R.C. Sproul said in this text, he said, don't think too lightly of this. We tend to downplay this. In their Jewish mind, this was a high standard of righteousness. Jewish law required you fasted about three times a year. Pharisees fasted twice a week. And there's a whole lot of laws like that that the Pharisees did. And here they're being told by Jesus, that's not enough. That would hit them hard. So let's think this through. Jesus here says, I've not come to destroy God's law. I'm not here to relax any of those holy stairs. I'm not here to water down the law and explain it away. I'm not here with some new religion. Secondly, quite the opposite, all of the laws demands will be fulfilled. I'm here to fulfill the law, he says, not to cancel it. He says his kingdom is for those who are righteous before the law. They thought the Pharisees were the righteous of the land. He says, no, you can be more righteous than that or you're not getting in. And then he says, even their extreme righteousness isn't enough. He's holding forth a standard of righteousness that would have blew their minds. What is he even talking about? Then to illustrate this point, Jesus goes on through the next part of the Sermon on the Mount. He gives him illustrations of this. What's he talking about? You're familiar with this. He gives several examples of what he means by your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. And I can tell you again, for a long time, I never really saw these truths, excuse me, allergies, never really saw these truths in their full context until just recently. I'm learning too. Jesus isn't telling their followers just merely how they must live. Now he is doing that. All of these things in the Sermon on the Mount are for those who would follow Jesus. If you're going to follow me, Jesus says, here's how you're going to live. But when he gives these examples, you've got to read them in the context of what he just said about exceeding the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He's describing what kind of righteousness is required if you're going to be in my kingdom. And here he's talking more of just outward righteousness. That's what the scribes and the Pharisees had. They were pretty much righteous in regards to law. But in these next several examples, he talks about righteousness of the heart and inner heart righteousness. Look at Matthew 5.22. I'm not going to spend much time explaining this, but look what he says there. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to the judgment. Whoever insults his brother is liable to the counsel. Whoever says, you fool, will be liable to the fires of hell. So if you're offering your gift at the altar, and remember that your brother has something against you, you leave your gift there before the altar and go, be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. It says, come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, the judge or the guard, and you're put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you pay the last penny. Now I won't take the time to take that apart, there's a lot in there. What he's basically saying is, you call your brother in your heart a fool, you're going to hell. You don't love your brother from the heart. You don't make things right with your brother. You don't love your brother inwardly enough to not condemn him as a fool and rock on all those things. You're going to hell. He mentions there the council. He mentions there the fires of hell, the prison you're not going to get out of. That's the standard. The Pharisees were outwardly righteous. They'd come to church and shake your hand, look in the eye, how you doing today? But in their hearts, they were full of bitterness and anger and judgmentalism. He says, lest you love your brothers from the heart. Unless you forgive your brothers from the heart, you're going to hell. Fires of hell. That's what he said. Next, Matthew 5.27. You've heard that. It was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away, it's better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand caused you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, it's better you to have one of your members lost than let your whole body go to hell. Again, I'm not gonna explain this in detail, but what he's saying is, if you're not pure in your heart as regards to lust and adultery, you're going to hell. That's what he says, isn't it? The Pharisees say, as long as I don't cheat on my wife physically, I haven't committed adultery. Christ says, oh yes you have. If in your heart you're lusting after someone else, you commit adultery and you're going to hell. That makes sense. How does that make you feel? That's a hard word, isn't it? Then he goes on to talk about many other things. Verse 31, 32, he talks about heart purity in marriage and regarding divorce. 33, 36, he talks about heart purity in your speech and your vows and the way you talk. It's your yes be yes and your no. In other words, if you're not truthful, you're not altogether honest, you're going to hell. Verse 38 to 47 talks about heart purity towards our enemies, how we treat our enemies. There's a long section there, a lot of details there. I won't go into that. Now there's a lot to be said about these instructions. And we are supposed to try to live this way. This is his instructions to his followers. But understand what he's saying. When Jesus says that if we're angry or insulting with our brother, you're in danger of going to hell. How does that make you feel? That puts us in danger, doesn't it? Just not to smile and shake their hands in church. If in your heart you're not truly loving your brother, you're going to hell. When he says that moral purity is more than just avoiding the physical act of immorality, it's in your heart, lusting in your heart. And if you're doing that, he says you'd better stop it, cut it off, or you're going to burn it out. Isn't that what he says? That's what the words mean. Now note carefully how Jesus ends this section. We could talk a whole lot of this, but look at verse 48. He ends this section with this therefore. Matthew 5, 48. You, therefore, must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. In other words, you must love your brothers and be forgiving like your heavenly father is. You must have moral purity, not only outwardly, but inwardly, just like your heavenly father is. You must honor marriage and all these things and be honest in your words and the way you treat your enemies, just the way your heavenly father does. And he sums up by saying, therefore, what I'm telling you is, just be perfect like your father's perfect. Now that verse always troubled me. I never quite understood it. At this time, I took it apart word for word. But note the word therefore. Here's what he's telling him in all these examples he gave. Therefore, what I'm telling you is, you must be perfect like your heavenly father's perfect. He's including what he said back in verse 20. Unless your righteousness is greater than the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not in my kingdom. Therefore, be perfect as my father in heaven is perfect. That's the standard. That's a hard word if you think this through. That's how your righteousness better exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. Their righteousness was only outward. Your righteousness better be outward and inward of the heart, perfect like your father in heaven. Now the Greek word perfect, I spent some time this week on this word. It's a Greek word teleos. It has two possible meanings in Greek, in the Bible. Context must determine which meaning it's using. The first meaning, teleos, means something completed. a finished work, something mature, like he's a mature man, he's a teleos man. And when Jesus died on the cross, he said, to telestai, it is finished, I've finished the work. It speaks of maturity, of completeness, of finishing a task, of becoming full grown, teleos. The other meaning is the meaning we use today, mostly, is perfection. Absolute, spotless, flawless, perfect. You speak of a perfect diamond, it has no flaws in it. Perfection. Now which of those two do you think Jesus is using here? Think about it. Perfection. Because think about it. Is Jesus saying, be fully mature like your father in heaven is fully mature? That makes no sense at all, does it? Be full grown like your father in heaven is full grown. Be fully accomplished in your task like your father in heaven is. That's not what he's saying. He's saying you be perfect. like your father in heaven is perfect. It speaks of absolute moral perfection. And Jesus here is using these examples to point out, you will not enter my kingdom unless you're perfect like my father in heaven is in these areas. How does that make you feel? You uncomfortable yet? Obviously, all these teachings are meant to tell us, here's how you ought to live. We should be trying to do this as best we can. But think about it. Can any of us read these words of Jesus and go, yep, that's me? That's ridiculous, isn't it? Yeah, I've got this. This is how I live. This is it. That's me. Can any of us claim to have the heart righteousness he's demanding here? I confess I don't. I'd love to have it, but I confess I don't. Are we as loving as we ought to be? Are we as forgiving as we ought to be? Don't we curse our brothers sometimes in our hearts? You moron. Don't we do that? You idiot. Imagine you had a speaker on the side of your head and everything you thought was broadcast. Thank God we don't. We wouldn't go outside. Are you never angry with your brother in your heart? Are any of us as morally pure as we need to be? That's a hard question and the answer is obvious. Can any one of us say we are as perfect as God himself is perfect? Now, we as Christians, again, are to strive to live like this. This is the law for those who would be in his kingdom. We should try to not be committing adultery and forgiving our brothers and all these things, be honest in all we say and all of that. But this leaves us with a big dilemma. Because he says, you're never going to enter my kingdom without this. Unless your righteousness is greater than the scribes and the Pharisees, don't even think about it. And here he describes what that is. So what's he telling us here? What's he teaching? Go back to the words of verse 17. He started this whole section with, do not think I've come to abolish the law of the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Now hear what he's saying. Note, he says, I have come, meaning I'm here on a mission. I've come here with a mission in mind to get the law fulfilled, to fulfill the law. Now he doesn't say here, I've come to make sure you fulfill the law. Read your Bible schedule. What he says is, I have come to fulfill the law. Do you get that? I am going to make sure the law is fulfilled. And the standard for my kingdom is the law must be upheld in every point, every jot or tittle. It must be perfect as God is perfect. And I have come to fulfill the law. Do you see what he's doing here? See what he's really saying? I have come. This is the reason he's here. He's come to fulfill the law outwardly and inwardly. Part of his mission on earth is to make sure the law is fulfilled. And he says, I've come to do that. Now, yes, we must try to live by these teachings here, but none of us are ever going to do this perfectly. None of us are ever going to be perfect in this life as God is. And Jesus isn't saying that. I have come to fulfill the law. part of his mission. Remember when he told John the Baptist, remember he came to get baptized, and John says, no, you should be doing the baptizing, not me. Remember Jesus said, it's on your sheet. Let it be so for now, for thus it's fitting to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus didn't need to be baptized, but he says, I must be baptized, because that's what a righteous man would do. Therefore, I must be baptized. And you see there, Jesus is fulfilling the law. He's doing what righteousness demands. This is what theologians call Jesus's active obedience. The things he did, he actively, on purpose, because it's who he was, obeyed God's law in every point. There's also his passive obedience, where he allowed things to be done to him. He allowed himself to be arrested and beaten and all that, crucified. That was his passive obedience. But actively, he perfectly lived righteously, outwardly and inwardly, before God's law in every last point. He's the only one who ever truly loved God with all of his heart, mind, soul, and strength. Did anyone ever claim to have obeyed that command? Even for a moment? He's the only one who's ever done that. He loved God enough. He's the only one who ever truly loved his neighbor as himself. He never wronged anyone. He never sinned against anyone. He's the only human being who ever, who never had an impure thought. Think of that. And even when he was sexually tempted, and he was. He's tempted in all ways as we are. Don't think there weren't pretty girls running around Jerusalem. Even when he was sexually tempted, he never gave in to it. Never. He never allowed his mind to dwell on that. He never went there. He was morally pure in his thought life. He never lied or gave any hint of falsehood. He never exaggerated or overstated the case or anything. And never put on false oppression. He was never a hypocrite. He's the only one who could truly dare his enemies. I dare you to accuse me of any sin. That's John 8, 46. And then none of them spoke up. No one could catch him lying, or cheating, or eyeing up the women, or whatever. He was perfect before the law. And of course, he's doing that as our substitute. He said, I've come here to fulfill the law. Some verses in your sheet. We'll run through these quickly. He did for us what we can't do. What we don't do, what we won't do. He fulfilled the law perfectly. Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also the Greek, for in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed for faith as it's written, the just shall live by faith. In the gospel, God's own righteousness is revealed to us. Think about that, let's work through this. Romans 3, on your sheet. Paul says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. What did Jesus say? You must be perfect as who? Your father in heaven is perfect. Paul says here, the righteousness of your father in heaven has been revealed, manifested apart from law keeping, because you can't keep it. How? Through all who believe. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Can you grasp in this context now the force of that statement? You put your faith in Jesus Christ. God's own perfection is now charged to your account. The righteousness of God is applied to your account. Next verse, Romans 3.26. It was to show his righteousness at the present time that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. You put your faith in Christ. God pronounces you just. just means you haven't sinned, just means you're innocent, just means you're free to go, just means you are not condemned, or you are as perfect as your father in heaven. The next verse, Romans 4 or 5. To the one who does not work, that means doesn't keep the law, can't keep the law, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, get this, his faith is counted as righteousness. You can't keep the law perfectly, you can't Be as perfect as your father in heaven is by the things you do. But the one who has faith in him, notice that word, is counted, reckoned as righteous. The Christian is righteous before God's holy law. Can you fathom that? And it goes on to say, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness, notice that word, apart from works. I don't keep the sermon amount perfectly. I don't even do it all that well some days. But by faith in Christ, I'm pronounced, accounted, reckoned, righteous. And not just righteous. Get with that righteousness. That's the very righteousness of God himself. Or as Jesus said, you must be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. That's what he means. First Corinthians 1 third is on your sheet. Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. He's all those things if you're in him. The last one, this is the one I want to focus on, 2 Corinthians 5.21, a verse you really ought to memorize. He made the one, meaning Christ, who did not know sin, to be sin for us. We get that. On the cross, Christ took my sin. He was perfectly righteous at every point. There was nothing sinful about him at all. God made him into our sin. God dumped our sin on him. But don't read carefully that second half. So that we might become what? The righteousness of God. Can you fathom that? I can almost understand righteousness. In Christ, you have the righteousness of God through Christ. That explains what he's talking about here in Matthew 5. I've come to fulfill the law. And when I fulfill the law, when you are in me, you fulfill the law in me. You are perfect as he is perfect. That's what that verse means. That's what he's talking about here. Jesus fulfills the law as our substitute. In him, we're pronounced righteous. That's what he means when he says, unless you're righteous, you're not in my kingdom. The only righteousness God will ever accept is his own, his own perfection. Only God would allow his own perfections in his presence. And we have the perfection of God, the perfect moral righteousness of God if we're in Christ. That's astounding, isn't it? I just find these things astounding. In Him we stand before God's holy law as righteous as Jesus Christ himself. When God looks down at you, if you're in Christ, He can find nothing to condemn you for. Nothing. In fact, He can find everything to reward you for. Everything to love you for. Everything to accept you for. Because you're perfect. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this, do you? This is true. The Bible says it's true. But I have a hard time picturing this. I'm as righteous as God himself through Jesus Christ. I don't often feel that righteous. I often feel pretty dirty sometimes. But it doesn't matter how I feel. The Bible says if your faith is in Christ as your Savior and Lord, you are pronounced righteous before a holy God. Just in closing, let me ask you, Christian, do you understand this? This is basic gospel truth, but do you understand that? Do you realize what Christ has done for you? Do you believe this? I need to be reminded. They often say you should preach the gospel to yourself every day. This is the gospel. You should tell yourself every day, through my Savior, I am right with God. I am justified. I have fulfilled what Jesus said. When he says, be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect, I am so in Christ. That sounds like a bragging. It's not. That's just the truth. You should be able to say that to yourself. Romans 8.1, there's therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because there's nothing to condemn you for. You're uncondemnable. You can't be condemned. It's gone. You are as righteous as God himself. Who could possibly condemn him? Well, you possess his righteousness now. You're covered with Christ. You're clothed with Christ. You're in Christ. We possess the righteousness of God himself. That's why as Christ sits on the throne interceding for us, Satan can accuse us all he wants. We're in Christ. There's nothing he can accuse us for because it's all paid for and we possess his righteousness. This is the best news you're ever gonna hear. It doesn't get any better than this. It really doesn't. This is truly that news of great joy the angel said to all peoples because Christ has come. Look what he's done. I think we tend to underplay this. We love grace so much, and we should, that we tend to think, well, grace has done away with the law. No, it hasn't. The law has never been done away with. The law never will be done away with. Do you realize God never forgave a single sin? Now, the Bible speaks like that. We're forgiven. We're pardoned. But God has never forgiven a single sin, and he never will. Every single sin will be punished, either by your substitute hanging on that cross or by you in hell. God never pardons sin. He can't. Sin has to be paid for. But the Bible is telling us, in Christ, all of our sin is paid for. And not only that, if that's all he did, quote, what a great thing that would be. He took away our sin. He gave us his righteousness. That's why he says things like we're going to shine like the stars of heaven, like we're going to share in the glory of Jesus Christ. I don't even know what that means, but that talks about we're going to, it's just glory and righteousness. You are in Christ much greater than you can ever imagine you are. Not because of you, but because of him. Exactly right. We are to strive to be righteous. We're supposed to fight and strive to do these things in the Sermon on the Mount. That's our orders. Understanding though, my acceptance before God is not because I do a good job at this, and we most of us don't. It's because Christ, my substitute, provides me the very righteousness of God. In Christ, I possess everything God could ever require of me. You should be able to say to yourself, I am no longer a lawbreaker. I'm not. In Christ, the law has been satisfied. Remember Galatians 3.13, he made him, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? By becoming a curse for us. There's nothing God can curse you for. The law now looks at you and says, innocent, righteous, like God himself. The Bible could never condemn God. Now it can't condemn us. So I just close in asking the question, how we should love him. Do you realize what Jesus did on that cross? Do you realize how lost we'd be without him? If God left us alone, like we deserve, do you realize where we'd be? He came here knowing full well we can't be more righteous than the Pharisees. We can't fulfill this law. We're broken, fallen, weak sinners. So he says, I've come to fulfill it. I'm going to do it for them. They can't do it, so I'll do it. And he did it perfectly and fully and completely. Do you know how to cheer yourself up by preaching the gospel to yourself? I know we're facing hard times. I know people are sick. I know this is a hard ride. I know that. But you should be able to say to yourself, yes, but in all this, I am in Christ. I possess the righteousness of God in heaven. I'm redeemed. I'm saved. There's nothing now between my God and me because I'm in Christ. And when you finally step into heaven, It's going to blow your mind what God has really done. We only see through a glass darkly now. It's going to blow your mind when you see what actually Christ has accomplished on your behalf. That's something you'll remind yourself of all the time. Don't forget that. I'm guilty of this. We tend to put this aside. Doesn't this biblical truth change everything? Won't this affect how you go to work, how you live your life, and how you face trials and everything? gives us reasons to sing. This is what Fanny Crosby knew. They called her the songbird. She sang and sang. She couldn't praise her savior enough. We have it so good in Christ. And I hope you understand how the depths of this and these verses teach that. Is this true of you? Because if you're not in Christ, this is not true of you. Your sins were paid for by you in hell. But if you're in Christ, as he says here, you possess the righteousness, the perfected righteousness of God himself. Chew on that, think on that. Let's just close in prayer. Our Father in heaven, if your word didn't contain these truths, we'd never dare to say such things. Lord, we thank you that your word makes it clear over and over again that the righteousness we don't have, the righteousness we need but can never attain, was bought for us by our Savior. Oh Lord, thank you for providing for us the salvation we needed. Lord, we can't save ourselves. We can't please you on our own. But Lord, you have undertaken, as you said, you have come to fulfill the law. And Lord, you did it perfectly because you are the Son of God. You are the God-man. Lord, we thank you that in our place, you did everything we should do but don't. And I thank you, Lord, that on the cross, you took our sin. You took all of our guilt and our filth crimes upon yourself so that they're gone forever because you paid for them and you bought for us by your death the very righteousness of God himself. Lord, I say these words, I truly cannot enter into all that they mean, Lord, but thank you for these truths. Thank you for your word that tells us this. Lord, help us to believe this. Help us, Lord, to know this to the depths of our soul. Help us, Lord, to feel this, to experience this, to give us, to teach us, Lord, teach the gospel to ourselves, to remind ourselves of how great a savior we have, how great a salvation we have, how awesome it is. Help us start to remind one another, to encourage one another with these words. Lord, help us to be thankful. Lord, we should love you to the depths of our soul, how we should adore you and praise you and live for you. Lord, burn these things into our hearts. Lord, make us people, Lord, who know the gospel, who understand your salvation and who live accordingly. Lord, thank you, praise you. We give you all the praise and glory for this in Jesus name.