We're going to go to Romans chapter 7, which will be most of our text this morning. So let's start in Hebrews chapter 7, which last week we ended Hebrews chapter 6. And this week we start Hebrews chapter 7. So let's pray. Dear Father, I pray, God, please help us with your word, God, that we would hear it, understand it, obey it, that those here who don't know you, Lord, would be regenerated today, God, that they would be filled with your Spirit, that they would have the joy of knowing Christ. And I pray, Lord, God, that you would work these things in our heart. In Jesus' name, Amen. In chapter 7, you have the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ. That's the overriding theme you see in chapter 7. And the writer is contrasting the eternal priesthood of Christ versus the Levitical priesthood, or the temporal priesthood. that the Jews had. That's the theme of chapter 7. If you look in verse 11, it says, If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? So in this, we see the old covenant also in the new covenant that we're going to get into in this chapter. But you see the old covenant and therefore the old priestly order were only in place and useful for a certain amount of time. And actually, they were only useful in time. They were not useful in eternity, where they were only useful as types and symbols of what was to come. In other words, the blood of animals could not forgive sin, and the ministry of those human priests, those temporal priests, could not make the people right with God without other provisions. So he's showing that there must be this new priestly order. And verse 11, I believe, is the key verse in this chapter. It gives us insight into what is the content of the chapter. And this is the point of the whole chapter, and it is that if perfection was by the Levitical system, then why was there the promise through the whole Old Testament of this coming Messiah? Well, why was this promise of this priest that would come after the order of Melchizedek and not from the Levitical priesthood? Now, and we're going to get into this character Melchizedek in later weeks. We're not going to get too much into it today. And as we go through this chapter, what I want to do today is I want to give you the purpose of this chapter, maybe we can call it, because we might look at this chapter and we might get confused and say, how can anybody really understand who this Melchizedek is? You know, he being so mysterious in the scriptures. And then we might say that, how does all this priesthood talk, you know, relate to me? You know, we've never been under any Levitical priesthood, so how does this, how does this principle relate to us? But my friends, this has incredible implications on our Christianity in a few different ways, but primarily it affects us in our attempts to please God. Verse 11 in Hebrews 7, which I believe is the key verse of the chapter, can be directly connected to Galatians 2. Go to Galatians 2. What was happening, as we've been talking in weeks prior to this one, some of these in the church of these Hebrews were going back to the Levitical priesthood. They were going back to their system of works. They were going back to the sacrifices, back to the old priesthood. They were going back to their old system. And really, that can relate to us if you look in Galatians 2.21, it says, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. If we could do good to get to heaven, then Jesus died for no reason, we could say, in accordance with this verse. And this is a message that should ring loud and clear to anyone who tries to mix their works or their religious system with the person and work of Jesus Christ. For Jesus Christ is the end of your religious system. This is the message of Hebrews 7. The message of Hebrews 7 is that Jesus Christ is the end of your system. He's the end of your trying to be good to get to heaven. That's what Jesus Christ does. That's who He is. He's the end of your system. And this applies to us in our 21st century Christianity in a big way. For many will say, I believe in Jesus, but few will give up on themselves and on their religious systems. Jesus Christ is the end of the liturgical priesthood, and he is the end of your trying to make yourself righteous by what you do. I'm sorry, Romans 10 verse 4 says, For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. But my question to you today, this is what I want you to remember. Because we're going to go to Romans chapter 7. This is what I want you to remember from today. Have you ever been under the law? Has the law ever done its work in your heart? That's the question I want to pose to you today. Because if Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes, first comes the law. First comes the law. Then comes Christ as the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Has the law done its work in your heart? is my question to you today. It may sound strange to some of us today because our starting point is backwards. I grew up in a Sunday school where I was told that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Meanwhile, I was fighting with my brothers and sisters. I was promiscuous. I was cheating in school. I was doing all kinds of evil in my thoughts. Yet I was told God loves you. No one told me that God's judgment was coming toward me and that I was in direct opposition to His law. Instead I was told I did not need to worry about the law for I was under grace. How can we go on to Christ being the end of the law for righteousness when many of us have never been under the law? Many of us have never been under the law. In Galatians chapter 3, if you just turn your page to the next chapter in Galatians 3.24, it says, Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. What brings us to Christ? The Law. The Law brings us to Christ. That's what it says. The Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. The Law does four things I want you to see today. Go to Romans chapter 7. We're going to stay in Romans chapter 7 from this point to our conclusion. Go to Romans chapter 7. And I want you to see this. The law does four things. The law does four things. Number one, it exposes our actions as sinful. Number two, it exposes our intentions as sinful. Number three, it exposes our nature as sinful. And number four, It exposes the great degree of our sinfulness. It measures our sinfulness. It shows the great degree of our sinfulness. But my friends, if you have never been under the law, then how can you come to Christ? If you have never experienced the law, then how can you come to Christ? You can't. I don't believe you can come to Christ. If you just say, well, I believe in Jesus and he died on the cross for my sins. And you've never seen his holy requirements. That's why we talk to so many people, even people in sound doctrinal churches. And you ask about righteousness and they're like, righteous what? They don't even know what it is. They don't even know what righteousness is. Because they've never seen the holy requirements of God. And if we've never seen the holy requirements of God, God is nothing but a compromiser in our mind. He just kind of forgives us because He loves us. Yeah, Jesus died on the cross for my sin. But we're mistaking. We're mistaking God's character. If we don't understand God's Law, God's Law and the purpose of His Law, and His purpose of His Law, you see in verse 13 in this chapter, it says, Was then that which is good make death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. What does the law do? It exposes us for who we are. It exposes us for who we are in all four of these points that I made. that we'll go over those four points again in our conclusion, but let's go back up to verse 6. Look at verse 6 in chapter 7. I want you to know this before we get into that verse because I don't really see how we can get into Hebrews 7 and understanding how Christ is the end of the system. He's the end of the religious system. He's the end of the law for righteousness. How can we go on to that if you've never been under the law? Look at verse 6, but now we are delivered from the law, but being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in the newness of spirit and not in the oldness of letter. So right there you have the nature. The nature, it exposes our nature. The law exposes our nature. But now as believers in verse 6, those who have experienced the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we have been delivered from the law for righteousness. Believers are dead to the law because of the new nature. We do not serve God to try to justify ourselves, but we serve God because of His great love in us. This is the difference of the two natures. One nature can only serve God because He's trying to justify Himself. And that's every person that's born onto this earth. He's trying to justify Himself. I don't care if someone calls themselves an atheist. I talked to a psychiatrist one time, I remember down in Rittenhouse Square, who claimed to be an atheist, and he was still justifying himself. And I showed him through his conscience that he was still trying to justify himself. And he was. And he was trying to make himself, he didn't even realize it, but he was trying to make himself right with God by what he was doing. And my friends, everyone who operates in the old nature is doing the same thing. Until the law comes and exposes us. But those who are true believers, they serve God not to justify themselves, but because of the love of God that is in them, that is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. So in verse 7, it says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law said, Thou shalt not covet." Now here we see in this verse, it says lust, and it says covetousness, it's really those who are dealing with the inward passions of a man, the inner passions of the man. But at the beginning of the verse, it's actually a question, is the law sin? Or is there something wrong with the law? And his answer is, God forbid. This is the strongest negative that can be used. Some translate it, may it never be said, may that never be said, that God's law, that there's something wrong with it, or that it's sinful. Because the law was given for a very important reason. And with it, we cannot be saved. The law was given that we might know sin, but I believe also the law was given that we might know the nature of God. God loves righteousness. God loves what is right. And God passionately hates what is wrong. And God loves what is right. But the law was also given by God's grace that we might know sin, as it's explained here in this chapter, that we might know sin. But I have not known lust, he says, except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. Mark this down. You cannot know sin without the law. You cannot know sin without the law. And this is a big misconception. We've been through this on Thursday nights, going through the book of Matthew a couple times. Because many will say, well, you know, everybody knows right from wrong. That's a common statement, right? Everyone knows right from wrong. Let me tell you right now, you know nothing about right and wrong in terms of how God knows it in your flesh. You don't know one thing about right and wrong. You know right and wrong on a human plane, but you don't know right and wrong in terms of how God estimates it. You cannot know sin without the law. You may know right and wrong on a human plane, but you cannot know the inward workings of sin without the law. These words lust and covet in this verse deal with the inward desires and passions. Without the law, we simply judge sin by the superficial. And by that, we're probably doing pretty good. But when God's law takes effect in us, it exposes our inward lust and our inward evil desires. Verse 8 says, But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiance, for without the law, sin was dead. Well, we could say sin was aroused by the commandment. It was seen and made real. It was exposed in all manner of evil desires. The word concupiance means a longing for that which is forbidden. Again, the law exposes the evilness of the heart that would never be exposed except by the law. And why, we could think, why are the first five books of the Bible talking so much about God's law? But it is because of the sinfulness of the human race. Why would someone have to be told what not to do unless they were in great danger of doing it? Now, contained in the law, there are several types of law that we won't get into today in great detail, only to mention the three basic types. Some people break this up into five, some people break it up into seven, but I like to break it up into three basic types of law in the scripture. One is the civil law, one is the ceremonial law, and one is the moral law. The civil law and the ceremonial law are given to change. You see that in scripture and you can't deny that the ceremonial law and the civil law are given to change. And I won't get into why, that's a long explanation. But the civil law or the governmental law was given to control the sinfulness of man in society. We need the laws of the land or we would have what? We would have lawlessness. We would not be able to exist as a society. And the very existence of the law shows the great sinfulness of man. And we are not only in need of the law in general, but we are in need of the law in specifics. Go through the civil law in the Pentateuch, in the first five books of the Bible, and the detail is incredible. That's why God gives different types of law. The civil law to control society, the ceremonial law to show the great need and provision of forgiveness, and the moral law, the moral law was given to show the inward workings of sin. That's the one I want to look at today, the moral law. The ceremonial law and the civil law, or the governmental law, are given to change. But the moral law is not given to change. And the moral law is best seen in the Ten Commandments. It is best seen in the Ten Commandments. Are you guys all familiar with the Ten Commandments? Jesus expounds on the Ten Commandments for us in Matthew 5 and 6, showing us that the moral law not only forbids what is wrong, but it commands what is right. So everywhere where the moral law says not to do something, it's commanding you to do the opposite. It's telling you to do the opposite. or that you should be doing the opposite. If you look at the first commandment, what is the first commandment? Thou shalt have no other gods before me. The Westminster Catechism says that the first commandment requires us to know and to acknowledge God to be the only true God and our God and to worship and glorify Him accordingly. So I can say well I don't have no You know, idols in my room, so I'm keeping the first commandment. I don't have any idols that I bow down to. But to truly keep the commandment, God is requiring us to worship and glorify Him in our lives according to who He is. How can I say that I have no other gods before God unless I am honoring God properly and glorifying and worshiping Him for who He is? Which leads us to a more probing question. Follow me on this. Why is it that the first thing that God has to tell us in the moral law is to have no other gods before him? Well, you should read the Old Testament and you'll get the answer for that. And then read the New Testament and you'll get it again. Do you know why? Because it's our tendency, it's in the propensity of all of our sin natures to worship something other than God. And you see it over and over again read through the book of Kings and Chronicles and the people. One king would deliver them from the idols and they'd be right back to it. In just a few years they'd be right back to worshipping idols. You see that over and over and over again. And then you see it also in the New Testament by worshipping different things. And that is the great tendency that is in our hearts, is idolatry. Which leads us to the next logical question, which is why is this pattern seen over and over again in scripture and throughout history? The pattern I speak of is the pattern of worshiping other gods. This pattern is consistent because of the wicked heart of man that refuses to recognize God for who he is and worship him as such. Therefore, we must worship something. Some worship wooden idols. Some worship money. Some worship themselves. Some worship their talents, their abilities. Some worship fame. Some worship power. Some worship sports. Some worship men. And some worship their religion. But a person will never worship the true and living God until he is born again. And he will not be born again until the work of the law is done in his heart. Because without the work of the law in my heart, I will always consider myself to be a good person. I will always judge my intentions as being good. Because the Holy Spirit has not done the work in the heart to convict of the present evil desires. The law must do its work. Look in verse 9. For I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. For I was alive without the law once. Paul's saying he was alive in the sense that he was unaware of his condition. He could not see the inward corruption at that time. He lived as if he was alive. He was not truly alive, because he was spiritually dead, but without the law doing the work in him, he was alive, or he did not see the sentence of death that was in him. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. When the law did its work in the heart, sin revived, or it came to life. 1 Corinthians 15.56 says, the strength of sin is in the law. The law cannot and does not terminate sin or diminish sin. It does the opposite. It causes sin to be stronger. The law cannot terminate sin. The law cannot fix your sin problem. Do you have a problem with sin in your life? The law cannot fix it. The law will only strengthen sin. I believe in two ways. One being immoral and one being moral. One being immoral in that sin loves that which is forbidden. It's like a little child. Tell a little child what not to do and what will they do? They'll do the opposite. Many times you'll see that with children. They'll do the opposite of what you tell them not to do. Sin is revived by the immoral way of wanting to do. That's what it's told not to do. And secondly, in a more moral way, sin loves to justify itself by supposedly keeping the law. The law revives or brings to light self-righteousness Which is the worst type of sin. It's the worst type of sin because it places us in the place of God. It places us in the place of God. But when the commandment changed, sin or evil, evil indwelling desires and corruption of nature was brought into plain view. And what does he say at the end of the verse? And I died. I saw death working in my members. Look in verse 5 of this chapter. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 2 Corinthians 1.9 says, But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead. Do you see that? Until you see that the sentence of death is working in you, you're going to keep trusting yourself. That's the way it is. It's plain and simple. You will keep trusting yourself until you see this principle of death that is working in you, this principle of sin that is leading you to death. And the only way you can see this working in you is through the law. Through the law. Stop matching yourself up against other people. Stop improperly judging yourself. And look at the law. The law commands us what God requires. And you will see the true condition of your life. You will see the principle of death and sin that is working in you. And you will wholly trust Christ and flee to Him. But until then, you will keep trying, you will keep trying, you will keep trying to produce something that can please God. And you will never come to true righteousness. You'll never come to true righteousness. The law shows me the inward corruption of sin. It shows me that I have as much of a chance of breathing life and giving life to an inanimate object as I do of saving myself. Because it is an issue of nature, not of action. And how would I know that except by the law? Except by the law verse 10 in this chapter says in the commandment which was ordained to life I Found to be death the commandments that God gave were to bring life They're perfectly obeyed as we see in the example of our Lord Jesus He lived in perfect obedience But Us, because of indwelling sin, the commandment or law exposes the principle of death that is working in us. The principle of eternal death. Galatians 6.8 says, He that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap everlasting life. And the everlasting life, you could say that corruption is everlasting corruption. If you sow to the flesh, those that are in the flesh will reap eternal death. Those that are in the Spirit, that are in Christ, will reap everlasting life. Verse 11, For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Sin promises that by keeping the law, you can find eternal life. But sin deceives in that believing that we are a good person and by showing that goodness, we could gain favor with God. But this is only deception that God was using the law to bring us to the end of ourselves. You must be brought to the end of self before you can come to Christ. And you must be brought to the end of self by the law. Verse 12 says the law is holy and just and good. Do you see that? Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. Many want to condemn the law because they don't want to condemn themselves. Oh, we don't have to worry about the law. Don't preach the law to me. But I say that unless you have come under the conviction of the law, you will still go back to yourself. You will always go back to yourself. You have no other choice. Romans 3 19 flip your Bible back one or two pages in Romans 3 19 It says now we know that whatsoever things the law says It says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Do you see that in Romans 3 19? Now we know that whatsoever things the law says it says to them who are under the law that that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Has your mouth ever been stopped? Has your mouth ever been stopped and you say, Lord, I have nothing to say. I am 100% guilty. I deserve hell. I deserve your judgment. I have nothing to say about my sins. I have no excuses. But the natural man will always make excuses. He'll always say, I'm not as bad as that person. He'll always say, I did that bad thing over there, but look, I did this good thing over here. The man in his flesh will always justify himself. He'll always have something to say about his sin and why he did it. Oh, I'm just a man. We're all sinners. All of sin and falsehood are the glory of God. We're all sinners. That's what the unregenerate man does. That's what the flesh does. The man who's never been brought under the conviction of the law. But when the conviction of the law comes, our mouths are stopped. We have nothing to say. We have nothing to say but to plead for the mercy of God. That's all we can do is plead for the mercy of God. And Jesus showed us that the law goes far beyond just our actions. Because God is all-knowing and knows our thoughts and desires. We can lie to others and we can even lie to ourselves, but we cannot lie to God. I can say I never committed adultery, and that's true, but Jesus says, have you ever looked and lusted? I can say I never committed murder, But Jesus says, have you ever gotten unjustly angry at your brother? I can say I've never worshipped any wooden or stone idols. But Jesus says, you cannot worship God and money. And I propose to you today, there's not one of us here that haven't worshipped money. Jesus says you can't do it. I can say I have loved my neighbor, which is a big one. People talk about that. Even people in the natural world know they should do that. I can say I love my neighbor, but Jesus says to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who despitefully use you. You need to read Matthew 5 and 6. You need to meditate on it. In order that by God's grace, if you have never fallen under the conviction of your sin through the work of the law in your heart, that God will grant you that. That God will grant you that great favor that you would see the detestableness of your nature and of your heart through the work of the law. through the work of the law. The law goes much deeper than just our outward actions. But the law tells us how we should be. How we should be. Not just what we should do, but how we should be. How our desires should be controlled. Romans 2.16 says, look in Romans 2.16, it says, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. What will God judge on the Day of Judgment? He'll judge the secrets of your heart. Your actions are really very small on the Day of Judgment, although they'll be brought against you also. But this says that even the secrets of your heart The things that no one else knows about. Not even the people that are closest to you. God will hold you accountable to. If you've never come to the end of the law, the righteousness, you will be held accountable even for your deepest thoughts that nobody else knows about. God will hold you accountable. This is the law of God. God knows every word, every thought, every deed that you have ever done. And every secret thing will be made plain on that day. The things that no one else knows about, the things that you may know about, that you may not even know about. Unless through the work of the Spirit of God, the work of the Law is done in your heart. The Apostle sums up this section in Romans 7 in verse 13 and makes it very clear. Look at 13 in Romans chapter 7. Go back to Romans 7. 7, 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid, but sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might be exceedingly sinful or exceeding sinful that we see the degree of sin. We've seen the action of sin, we've seen the intention of sin, the nature of sin, the degree of sin. Has the law been made death unto me? The law wasn't made death in me, but the law revealed that death was in me. The law exposes sin. It is a light that shines in the deepest and darkest crevices of the heart. Not only does the law expose sin in its outward actions, but it exposes the corrupt nature. And it shows the exceedingly sinfulness of sin. So I would like to conclude this portion, then we'll conclude the whole sermon. I'd like to conclude this portion by saying, repeating the four things. The law exposes our actions, the law exposes our intentions, the law exposes our nature, and the law shows the degree of our sinfulness. Quickly, number one, it exposes our actions as sinful. This is the easiest part of the work of the law, and this is a progression. For even the civil law can do this work, but we must not overlook this part either. For many judge their actions on a curve instead of by God's law. Even in our outward actions, how do we judge ourselves naturally? Nobody can deny this. Nobody does deny it. We talk to people on the streets and they say, yeah, you're right. How do we judge our actions in the natural? I look at him and I say, I'm not as bad as he is. We judge ourselves on a curve. We look at humanity and we say, well, I fit in right about here somewhere. And there's all these people that are worse than me and maybe a few that are better than me. But I'm right in here somewhere. I'm doing pretty good. That's how we judge our actions. Nobody will deny that either. People know it and it's the wrong way to judge your actions. God says, judge your actions by my law. And if you've broken one commandment, James tells us in 2.10, you've broken the whole entire law. One time, one sin will condemn a man to hell. Judge yourself this way. Secondly, the law exposes our intentions. This could be the toughest one. Many are deceived because they believe their intentions are good. But the first three commandments and the ten commandments, which are the most important, show by nature, by action, and by intention, we do not truly consider God. A natural man will only consider God for his own advantage, and never for God's glory. This is true. This shows the intention of our hearts. The first three commandments all have to do with the worship of God, the true worship of God. Why is that? Do you know why? Because you'll never truly worship God unless the work of the Spirit is in your heart. You will never truly worship God. You'll only come to God for what you can get from Him. You'll only come to God for what you can get from Him for yourself or for your family or for those around you. That's the only reason you'll come to God in the flesh. You will not come to Him because you want to worship Him and you want to glorify Him and bring glory to His name. The natural man cannot do that. That's why your intentions are wrong. You may look at your intentions and say, I have such a sentimental feeling for my children and for my wife and for even my neighbors. I love my neighbors. I do what's good for my neighbors. I even help the homeless. I even help the children that have problems in the community. Are you doing it for God's glory? Are you doing it because you want to worship God? No, you're not. Unless you're born again. unless the work of the Spirit is in your heart. Your intentions are wrong, because your intentions are not toward God, are not for His name and His glory, unless you are born again. They cannot be. And the commandments show us that. Read the first three commandments, and you'll see that's what they're showing you. They're showing you that your intentions are wrong. And many are deceived today, because they'll say, oh yeah, I do bad things. But down in my heart, I really want to do the right thing. My intentions are good and honorable. And that is a lie, because they're not honorable, because they're not glorifying to God. And I believe this is probably... Listen to me. I believe this is where most people are deceived. Most people are deceived at this point. They really, sincerely believe that their intentions are good. And maybe on a human level they are. Hey, you know, I love my neighbor. I do good things for my neighbor. I do good things for my family and people like that. And that's good on a human level. But it's not good before God. It's not bringing glory to God. Your estimation of good is not God's estimation of good. And the reason it's not good is because man is sinful and you are sinful. Therefore, if you're doing it for the purpose of a man, you're doing it for a sinful reason. The intention's wrong. But if you're doing it for God's glory, God is good. That's what it should be done for. That's who deserves the glory. Who deserves the honor is who? Is God. If my intention is that, then it is a good intention. Anything outside of that intention is evil, is sinful. Because it's bringing glory to sin. Thirdly, it exposes the nature. This is a progression, our acts, our intentions, and our nature. Our nature. Which is that we are sinful by nature, and we've been through that. So let's move to the fourth one. The law exposes the degree of our sinfulness. Our sin is so ugly that it cannot even be described. Maybe we can describe it by the destruction that it causes. If we can somehow measure all the sickness, death, war, starvation, neglect, hatred, physical pain, and ultimately eternal torment, this is all The cause of sin. And I know I ran through those things, but just even think of the earth. And think of the destructiveness. The destructiveness of the things that so many people suffer. The pain and suffering of this earth. Of sickness and death and war. And all these things. It shows the degree of our sinfulness. We may look at sin as a light matter and think it's no big deal. But my friends, when we face the law, when the Holy Spirit does the work of the law in our hearts, we see the destructiveness of sin and how much destruction it really causes. Our sin is horrible. It's terrible. You should hate sin. You should run from sin because of the work of God in our hearts and because of what it cost our Savior. It cost our Savior everything. Let's turn and we'll conclude with that point. Go back to Hebrews chapter 7. We'll conclude in Hebrews chapter 7. Next week we'll come back to the beginning of chapter 7. But I want to conclude today with this point in Hebrews 7. Let's read 24 to 28. But this man, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him." seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. We need it not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's. For he did once when he offered up himself. For the law makes men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of an oath, which was since the law, makes the son who is consecrated forevermore." Jesus Christ has provided the final sacrifice for sin. He has dealt with our sin once and for all. He is the High Priest that continues forever and ever. And His priesthood goes on forever. He's an eternal priesthood. And when you come to the end of your trying, which I pray you will, when you come to the end of the law, and you see that there's nothing in you Then you could see Christ come to Christ. He's the eternal priest. He ever lives, you see in 25, He ever liveth to make intercession for them. Wow, I desire that you have this understanding and conviction of the Holy Spirit through the law. But that's not the end of it. The Holy Spirit doesn't want us to be only convicted of the law. So that our sin can be exposed. So what purpose does he want that to happen? So that you might truly come to Christ. So that you might stop trusting in your works. So that you might stop trusting in yourself. So that you might stop trusting in your religion. And stop trusting in your idols. and trust the one and true living God, Jesus Christ, the one who has provided salvation for us. This is why God gives us the law, to show us our sin, that we might come to Christ. And I encourage you today, please, please, don't judge yourself by your own evaluation. in the flesh, but allow the Holy Spirit to do that deep work in your heart. I pray that the Holy Spirit would do that deep work in your heart, the work of the law, that you would see there's nothing you can do to save yourself, but it's only through Christ. It's only through Him. He is the perfect Lamb. Do you see what it says there in verse Number 26, He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. His glory even transcends heaven itself. And He is holy, He is perfect, undefiled. He's not a sinner. He kept the law 100% obedient to His Father. And He is the way that we now are made holy through Him. We have righteousness and holiness and the fulfillment of God's law through Christ in us. You see that. Let me just read that verse to you and we'll conclude right there in Romans 8. 3 For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. There it is, Christ came, fulfilled the law, and if your faith is in Him, that righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us through Christ. And I can say, wow, I'm as righteous as Christ today. The righteousness, the fulfillment of the law, the perfection of the law is fulfilled in me through Christ. Wow, I have the righteousness. It's not just Jesus died on the cross for my sins. No, I have the righteousness of God in me through Christ, through what He's done on the cross, through His perfect life, through His resurrection, through His eternal priesthood that goes on forever and ever. I have His righteousness imputed to me. Praise His name. I want to live for Him. I want to sing unto Him and praise His name. He's provided this. for me, but my friends, if you don't see the righteous requirements of the law, you'll just dumb everything down. You'll just dumb everything down. And you'll never come to a true knowledge of the truth. But when you understand the righteous requirements of the law that exposes you for who you are and the terribleness of your sin, And at the same time, it gives you great joy if you're a believer, knowing that our righteousness is found in Christ. And we have a perfect holiness in Christ. And we can be confident in Him. And I pray that that would be in each of your lives today. So let's pray. Dear Father, we praise You and thank You For Your law, God, it shows us who You are. It shows us who we are, God. And we need to know who we are. For without the work of Your Spirit, without the work of Your law, we're all deceived, God. We would all be deceived. But through the work of Your Spirit and the work of Your law, You show us, God, I pray, would You please work in the hearts of each person here, Lord, for those who have never come to You, that they would come today. Even now, calling on Christ, forsaking our own works and calling on Christ. And for those who are believers, I pray, Lord, that we would have great joy in knowing that we have nothing in ourselves, but we have everything in Christ. Even the total fulfillment of the law is fulfilled in us through Christ. We praise you and thank you and glorify you, God, for your work. I pray in Christ's name, Amen.