Scripture Reading: Romans 5:12–19

Romans, chapter 5, our meditation this evening will be more of a topical survey, but I did want to read Romans, chapter 5, specifically verses 12 to 19. We consider the active obedience of Jesus Christ tonight. Romans 5, beginning in verse 12, therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense, for if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigns through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your Word and for what it sets forth concerning our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that He is the One who came into this world, sinners to save, and that He accomplished that task perfectly, and how we praise You for the mercy and the grace that You have given to us, and for the faith and repentance so that we could have closed with Christ. We thank you for the supper tonight and how it reminds us and encourages us and exhorts us to consider the blessed reality of Christ's death on behalf of His people. Help us, Lord, to do this on a regular basis.

Help us as well to remember His life, His resurrection, those other things joined with that ministry that He undertook on our behalf. Do forgive us now for our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and fill us with the Holy Spirit, that we may glorify and honor You. And we ask through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Well,

Introduction

as I said, our subject this evening is the active obedience of Christ, and I'll seek to explain what I mean by that in just a few moments, but we just sang in Hymn 127. He, Christ, has hushed the law's loud thunder. He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame. Now, He doesn't do that or didn't do that by destroying the law.

Rather, He fulfilled the law for us. He fulfilled the law that we could not in order to bring us as many sons of God to the Father. Now, the law remains intact, it remains in full force, it remains as a rule of life with reference to sanctification. But when it comes to justification, those who pursue righteousness by that means are using the law unlawfully and rejecting or denying the absolute necessity of the act of obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So Christ's fulfilling the law is referred to as His active obedience, and that is imputed to the elect. It is received by faith alone. Notice Paul says this clearly in verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, this is Adam, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." So I want to do three things tonight. First, the explanation of the active obedience of Christ.

Secondly, the obligation apart from the active obedience of Christ. In other words, what is our obligation if the active obedience of Christ is not true and not biblical? And then thirdly, the realization of the active obedience of Christ, obviously in the life and ministry of our Lord. But

Explanation of Active Obedience

in terms of a definition, as we explain the active obedience of Christ, our confession highlights this reality in chapter 11, paragraph 1, in the section of justification. The confession tells us those whom God affectionately calls, He also freely justifies. The confession then specifies a few ways that that doesn't happen. But then it goes on to say, but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law and passive obedience in His death for their whole and soul righteousness.

Now when we look at Romans 519, Paul says, by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. He doesn't distinguish or he doesn't break it down in terms of active and passive. This is a theological reflection. It is indeed one act of obedience, but the Reformed tradition in the majority has recognized or distinguished between the active, Christ's fulfillment of the law, and the passive, his satisfying divine justice through his sufferings and death at the cross.

And those things particularly answer to our need. We need forgiveness that is wrought by Christ in his death. It is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that washes us from our sin. But God demands righteousness.

God demands perfection. God demands that those who dwell in his presence are pure and are fit and are upright. And so we need a righteousness, and through Christ's obedience to the law, when by God's grace we believe the gospel, we are forgiven of our sins, but we also receive the righteousness of Christ. It is imputed to us and received by faith alone.

So when we consider this particular reality, it is helpful for us to remember we need Christ's death, we need His blood, but we also need His obedience. We need His life. We need the fact that He always submitted Himself to the Father. John Fesco makes this observation or definition.

He says, the classic Protestant use of the distinction, active and passive obedience, is that Christ's active obedience is His fulfillment of. the requirements of the law on behalf of the elect. Christ's passive obedience, on the other hand, is His suffering the penalty and curse of the law on behalf of the elect. I'm sure we've covered this ground many times, both in our confession studies and in our preaching of the Word in a consecutive manner, but I think it bears some reflection and our meditation as we consider what our Savior did on our behalf. Now, as we continue this explanation,

Covenant Theology as the Foundation

there is an assumption here, and the assumption is the truth of Romans 5, 12 to 19. And essentially, Paul's point here, or Paul's design, is to explain how it is that Christ could die on our behalf. how it is that Christ could die for us, and he sets this up in terms of covenant theology. This is the assumption that is necessary when we consider the active and passive obedience of Christ. Again, laying some foundation, we're going to get into some specific texts in a few minutes, but bear with me for just a moment.

Now, covenant theology is taught here in Romans 5. It's taught from Genesis 1 to the end of Revelation 22, but certainly it is preeminent in this particular passage. There is a parallel set up by Paul between Adam and Christ. As well, note in verse 14 of chapter 5, he says, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come.

So Adam functioned as a type in the garden of Him who was to come. And then notice the link between the status of those in Adam and those in Christ in verses 18 and 19. Therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. That's what we have in Adam.

Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. That's what we have in Jesus Christ. He summarizes this or declares it clearly in verse 19, for as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. So as we proceed, we need to understand this link, this parallel, this covenant theology.

Federal Headship of Adam and Christ

Both Adam and Jesus are federal or covenantal heads. In other words, Adam stood or represented his people. Christ stood or represented his people. Both men were placed in a covenant of works, and the result of their obedience would mean eternal life for their posterity.

And then the disobedience and obedience or obedience of the two men is imputed to their posterity. So in other words, God doesn't deal with all men individually. He deals with men covenantally, certainly individually when we come to stand before His throne. But in terms of God's dealing with people, you're either in Adam or you're in Christ.

You are either in Adam and dead in your trespasses and sins, or you are in Christ and an inheritor of all the blessings that Christ has secured. All the spiritual blessing, or every spiritual blessing, is ours in Christ. or to use the language of the apostle, by the one man's disobedience many were made sinners. The idea here is constituted, or it was imputed onto them. Now certainly actual transgressions proceed from this reality, but it's legal categorization.

And then he goes on to say, so also by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. So that's hopefully a brief explanation. If you missed all that, Simply get this, the active obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that He fulfilled the requirements of the law on behalf of the elect, something you and I desperately need. Now,

Obligation Apart from Active Obedience

let's look secondly at the obligation apart from the active obedience of Christ. In other words, let's just suppose for a moment that Christ didn't come. Let's just suppose for a moment that Christ wasn't the covenant mediator. Let's just suppose for a moment that Christ is not the champion of the elect who brings many sons to glory by his redemptive work.

How would we achieve heaven? Well, the way that we would achieve heaven is by obeying the law. Now, on the one hand, you might say, well, that sounds pretty easy. But on the other hand, when we start to explore what is involved in the obedience to God's law, we will see why it is we need the active obedience of Christ.

The Demand of the Law

In the first place, the demand of the law. I'm going to read several passages here so that you can kind of get your minds wrapped around what Christ did and what we would be obligated to do apart from Him should we ever enter into heaven. In Deuteronomy 27, 26, we're told, Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law by observing them. Note that little word, all.

God demands absolute perfect obedience to His law. God demands a confirmation of all the words of this law by observing them. Leviticus 18.5, you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am Yahweh.

I wonder if we feel the full force of such statements as we read through Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Now, before you say, well, that's the Old Testament. Well, Paul marshals these texts into certain contexts to prove the necessity of Christ, the necessity of justification by faith. In Romans 10.5, for instance, he quotes Leviticus 18.5.

He says, for Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law. The man who does those things shall live by them. And then in Galatians 3, 10 and 12, he quotes both Deuteronomy 27 and Leviticus 18. He says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

You see, we need to appreciate that. We're not morally upright, innocent persons with a blank slate, enabled thereby to obey God's law, to obey all that the Lord has commanded. We died in Adam. Our hearts are afar and astray from God, and we do not seek him out.

So Paul says, "'As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, "'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things "'which are written in the book of the law to do them, "'but that no one is justified by the law "'in the sight of God is evident.'" In fact, look there at Galatians 3 very quickly. Galatians 3, notice Paul's argument. Galatians 3.10, just repeat this. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.

For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident." And he gives two proofs. He gives two reasons why no one is justified by the law in the sight of God. Four, first of all, the just shall live by faith.

The Old Testament Scriptures prove that man won't be saved by the law because the demand is all things. Man is a sinner and does not do all things, so even in the Old Testament it was taught that the just shall live by faith. But the second argument is an appeal to Leviticus 18. Yet the law, I'm sorry, but that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith, yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." Do you see there is an exclusivity here that Paul emphasizes so that we will not conclude that we can do it on our own.

That we can go it alone, that we don't need the Lord Jesus Christ. The emphasis in both Romans and in Galatians is justification by faith. That justification is grounded upon the active and the passive obedience of Christ. The fact that He perfectly fulfilled God's law and He died as a penal substitute in the place of His elect at the cross.

Without that, there is no hope. Now, our confessional statement indicates what is demanded by God. It says, God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by which he bound him in all his posterity. Now, notice, I want you to hear this.

If you miss Deuteronomy 27, if you miss Leviticus chapter 18, if you are not a Christian this evening, you are dead in your trespasses and sins, and if you think that moral reformation trying to be a little bit better you, trying to fix some things up in your life, will somehow avail with God, listen to the demands of God's law. It says, by which He bound him in all his posterity to personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience. Your teachers may grade on a curve. Your parents may wink at your sin.

Your parents may not demand absolute perfection. Your bosses may not demand absolute perfection. Maybe they do. But the bottom line is God does, and the divines were right.

Reflecting what Deuteronomy 27 says, reflecting what Leviticus 18 says, reflecting what the Apostle Paul says, as he contrasts approach to God via law or via faith, all these things, we conclude that what is demanded is personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience. Now, let's consider the uses of the law, the way that man uses the law, the way the Bible tells us we are to use the law. In the first place, there's what's called the civil use, and that simply means that God's law is profitable for man as creatures. In other words, the civil use means that God's law is helpful to restrain the wickedness and madness in society.

The second use of God's law is called the pedagogical use, and that means child tutor. The law of God is an instrument in the hand of God, specifically the Holy Spirit, to convict us of our sins, to show us our waywardness, and to show us our need for the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the third use is what's called the normative, and that speaks to sanctification. In other words, when God freely justifies a sinner by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, that sinner is then pointed, that redeemed sinner is then pointed to the law as a rule of life, as a pattern for sanctification, as a means by which we can please and honor and glorify God.

So those are the three uses of the law. Now, Paul tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 1 that

Two Test Cases: Law Used Unlawfully

there is an unlawful use of the law. And it's to this I want to direct your attention now specifically with two test cases in Matthew 19 and Luke 10. You can turn to Matthew 19. Again, just showing you the obligation apart from the act of obedience of Christ. what you need to do if indeed you're going to achieve heaven in your own strength.

Well, there's two instances in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ that I think shed some light on this whole approach to God via law, this whole approach to God via law.

The Rich Young Ruler

Now, the rich young ruler, of course, in Matthew 19, beginning in verse 16, behold, one came and said to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have Now, I want to tell you that Jesus here is using the law lawfully. He is using it as a pedagogue. He is using it as a child tutor. He is using it to show the man the futility of his own attempts to achieve heaven.

So he says to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. He said to him, which ones?

Jesus said, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now note verse 20, the young man said to him, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? It's an incredible statement, isn't it? That is an incredible statement for anyone to ever utter in light of the fact that our obedience to the law must be entire, exact, and perpetual.

For this young man to say all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I still lack? Now here again, Jesus is going to use the law lawfully and show him his sin. That's the point. Jesus is not teaching him a different way of salvation.

He's bringing him to an end of himself. But I think the Geneva Bible study note is absolutely correct. It says, they neither know themselves nor the law that seek to be saved by the law. And that is this young man's mistake.

That is his error, to suggest that all these things I have kept from my youth is to not have reflected upon our own sinfulness and upon the demands of the law, to not reflect upon the impact of Deuteronomy 27 or Leviticus 18 or all of the statutes and the ordinances and the commandments. upon the spirituality of the law. Would any of you ever suggest all these things I have kept from my youth? If you had, I would suggest that you have no clue whatsoever concerning God's holiness, concerning the demand of His law, and concerning your own sinfulness and waywardness. You see, God doesn't want your best try.

God doesn't want your best attempt. God doesn't want you to just, you know, do everything you can, but still come up short. Now Christ, as I said, uses the law here to show him his need. So the young man says this, and Jesus said to him, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.

Now some take this and say, wow, you know, this might be an alternative. way of heaven, to heaven. We just get rid of everything. We have a swap meet, we have a yard sale, we have a garage sale. We dispossess ourselves.

I mean, this is quite popular today, the simplicity of life, or non-complicated life. If that's what Jesus is teaching, and that's the means by which we achieve heaven, according to him, in the rich young ruler, we'll certainly, we'll divest ourselves of all our worldly goods. We'll wear orange robes, we'll shave our heads, and we'll bang tambourines down at the airport. That's not the point.

When Christ says, if you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me. He is preaching the law to him. He is bringing the tenth word to bear upon him. The reality is that this is a covetous man.

It is reflected in his response in verse 22. When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Christ isn't saying sell everything and you'll get saved. Christ is saying sell everything to see your own covetous heart.

Sell everything so that you can feel the weight of God's holy law. And Calvin and Gill agree. Calvin says this reply of Christ is legal because it was proper that the young man who inquired about the righteousness of works should first be taught that no man is accounted righteous before God unless he has fulfilled the law. Again, it's not eight out of the Ten Commandments.

It's not even nine out of the Ten Commandments. It's ten out of the Ten Commandments. This tenth word, you shall not covet, was the means by which our Lord brought this fellow hopefully to recognize his own sin. So Calvin says, unless he has fulfilled the law, which is impossible, that, this is the means by which or why Jesus did this, convinced of his weakness, he might betake himself to the assistance of faith.

You say, well, that doesn't seem like a very gracious response. Why didn't Jesus just say, well, come to me and believe in me and you'll have everlasting life? It was a gracious response. Preaching the law to show sinners their need is a wonderful thing that the church ought to do.

It's unfortunate the church doesn't always do that, but we need to preach the law in all of its killing, condemning power so that sinners will know their problem isn't just they're not as happy as they could be. Sinners will know that their problem isn't just they're not as well adjusted in society as they ought to be. Know that sinners will know that God is angry with them, that God is a furious God against them and their sin, and His wrath is revealed from heaven against them. You see, it is a gracious thing for the church to preach the law in all of its condemning power, because sinners need to know this.

They need to understand their problem. They need to realize that they have big problems, and it's not those things mentioned earlier. It's that they are in enmity with the living and true God. John Gill makes this observation, this Christ said in order to show that it is impossible to enter into or obtain eternal life by the works of the law, since no man can perfectly keep it.

And to unhinge this man from off the legal foundation on which he was, that he might drop all his dependence on doing good things and come to him for righteousness and life. You see, the obligation that is ours, apart from the act of obedience of Christ, is to obey the law entirely, exactly, and perpetually. Now,

The Lawyer and the Good Samaritan

notice in Luke chapter 10, another illustration of, on the part of the persons, an unlawful use of the law. Christ uses it lawfully to show them their sin. But these men attempting to enter into heaven based on their good works didn't feel the weight of Deuteronomy 27. They didn't get their minds wrapped around Leviticus 18.

They wouldn't track with what Paul wrote in terms of the contrast between works and faith. Luke chapter 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, is typically handled in this fashion. Persons begin reading at chapter 10, verse 30, and they read to verse 37, and then the moralistic point of the story is brought to bear upon the hearers. In other words, don't be like that priest, don't be like that Levite, be like the Good Samaritan, go thou and do likewise.

It's taken in a moralistic sense. It's taken in a way to try and encourage the people of God to do what the people of God ought to do. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't try and be like the Good Samaritan. Of course, you see somebody broken, battered, and bruised, bleeding on the ground, help him.

Put him on your pony or your donkey and take him to an inn and give the money to the innkeeper so he can bandage him and give him oil and tend to his needs. By all means, do that. The New Testament is filled with the one and others, the moral principles by which the believer ought to be governed in this world. But that's not from this passage.

Christ uses this as an illustration, again, to show this man his sin. Note the larger context beginning in verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law, what is your reading of it?

So he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered rightly, do this and you will live. Beautiful, isn't it? But what we often fail to realize is that this certain lawyer is testing Christ.

He is testing Jesus. He is not really seeking the answer to the inheritance of eternal life. Luke is conspicuous to tell us what is driving this certain lawyer, what is driving this particular question. It isn't, say, an Acts 16, sirs, what must I do to be saved type of a question.

It isn't the genuine seeker after God's grace who says, what is it in the Bible that I need so that I might have eternal life? No, the man is testing Jesus. So he says, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? So Christ says, what is written in the law, what is your reading of it?

So what does the man do? He summarizes the law. Love to God, love to neighbor. Those two principal commandments upon which all the law and the prophets hang.

Deuteronomy 6, 5, Leviticus 19, 18. Love to God, love to man. First table, second table. You see, Jesus answers his question, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Jesus is correct to say, what is written in the law, what is your reading of it? Again, he's using this as a means to bring this man to see the futility of his effort to try and achieve God without Christ, without the active obedience of our Lord Jesus. So the lawyer invokes the law as the means for inheriting eternal life. Again, the Geneva Bible stands to be invoked here.

They neither know themselves nor the law that seek to be saved by the law. Now, let us... Notice what Christ does. Verse 28, He said to him, you have answered rightly, do this and you will live.

That's true. Don't ever think Jesus isn't accurate. It is true. If you do what the law says and you do it perpetually and entirely and personally, then you will be saved.

But that is a very difficult thing or an impossibility in light of our sin in Adam and in light of our actual transgressions. But the language of our Lord Jesus, he said to him, you have answered rightly, do this and you will live. The translation could be, keep on doing this and you will live. See, that perpetuality involved.

Before we move on, consider this man here. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Does he really think he's done this? Does he really think that love to God and love to neighbor has indeed been demonstrated in his life?

Are sinners that arrogant? Do people actually think that they are okay before God? It sure seems to be the case with this particular man. Now, the lawyer wants to justify himself according to verse 29.

So he says to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Give me a little clarification on this second table thing. It's interesting. He asks no clarification on the first table.

Is that to imply that he's got the first table down? He actually loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, with all his strength. Now, if you're sitting there saying, well, you know, that doesn't sound very hard. It doesn't sound very difficult.

Really? Have you ever considered the spirituality and depth of those first four words? You shall have no other gods before me. Or you shall have no other gods besides me.

Do any of us ever do that 24-7 in a day as believers? I realize we're not bowing down to Molech, we're not throwing our children in the arms of Molech, we're not dancing around or copulating in front of Baal so that he'll water our crops. I get that. You know, brethren, we have an idol in our hearts, and it's us.

Can any of us say we have no other gods before him? Can any of us say, with reference to our approach to God, the manner by which we seek after God, we're always just so? We do that perfectly. I don't think any of us could ever say such a thing.

Blasphemy. So you may not go out and curse the name of the Lord God using His name or using the name of Christ, but by our actions we give cause to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. And I mean the Sabbath day, I mean we might as well all just get on our faces before God right now and confess our sins. I mean, how many of us actually keep, you know, the Sabbath morning, you know, the Sabbath five minutes, five minutes of the Sabbath, do we actually love God and love our neighbor for those five minutes?

No. For this man to posit this means as the way to life and to at least imply that he is in the right place, the right standing and on the right path is absolute arrogance. So now the parable that Christ tells him about the Samaritan is not to be moralized. We're not supposed to take 30 to 37 and then tell people go out and do nice things for others.

Again, go out and do nice things for others, but the point of the parable is to show this man and to show Israel at large their waywardness. Their sinfulness, the claims of Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 27 have not been met by them at the very basic point of rendering kindness to an image bearer of the living God who is lying on the ground bleeding out. That's the reason for the parable. Again, go do good things.

But in the context, this self-righteous, this proud, arrogant man who thinks that somehow he's going to achieve acceptance with God through his own love for God and his love for a neighbor needs to be smashed. He needs to be crushed. He needs to feel the weight of his sin. And the fact that Jesus uses the Samaritan as the hero in our story, contra the priest and contra the Levite, exacerbates this a hundredfold.

Because remember, with reference to the Samaritans, they were not looked at favorably by the Judeans. The apocryphal book of Sirach says that two nations my soul detests, and the third is not even a people. Those who live in Sir, which is Edom, and the Philistines, and the foolish people that live in Shechem. Shechem, Samaria, that's the Samaritans.

The Mishnah, Shabit 8.10 says, he that eats the bread of the Samaritans is like to one that eats the flesh of swine. So in this story that Christ tells, the primary emphasis is not, so you'll go out and pick up a guy that's been broken, bruised, and battered. But again, do that. The primary emphasis is to show this self-righteous man who's trying to achieve heaven by his own works of love to God and love to neighbor has failed. failed miserably, drastically, completely, and he stands in need of the righteousness of another.

You see, the law, again, in the hand of the Lord Jesus, is a gracious means to show sinners their need for the Lord Jesus Christ. This was a blessed thing that happened to this certain lawyer in Luke's gospel. So that is

Romans 3 and the Verdict on Law-Keeping

the futility of seeking justification by the law. We have the express statements of the Apostle Paul. You turn to Romans 3. Romans 3, to tell us, to educate us, to teach us what it is to try and pursue status with God through the law.

Romans 3.20, therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Note the language there. By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. Certainly, if you do the deeds of the law and you're not perfect, you're not exact, and you're not perpetual, people will still think you're a swell guy or girl.

But that's not the point. It's the deeds of the law to be justified in His sight. Certainly, it can be justified in the sight of your parents. Certainly, it can be justified in the sight of your employer.

Certainly, it can be justified in the sight of your spouse or your pastors or whoever. If you're doing those things that are according to God's law, it's not perfect. It's not exact. It's not perpetual.

You see, the design of the text is to tell us with reference to God, therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's one of the lawful uses, the pedagogical use. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Notice in 328, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

So you see, if we have no active obedience of Christ, we have no salvation, because God's law demands perfection, and we are everything but perfect. We are lawbreakers, we are covenant breakers, we are transgressors, we are wanters of conformity unto God's law. Everything that God commands, we have done the opposite. Everything that God has determined that His creatures should engage in is something that we engage in the opposite.

We have broken God's law. We are justly liable to His punishment. We desperately need the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the attempt to approach God apart from the active obedience of Christ means the pursuit of justification by law.

Now, I don't know that everybody always fully understands that or embraces that. If you reject Christ and you still want to go to heaven, you're in bad shape. As well, the attempt to approach God by the law demands personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience, and the obligation apart from the active obedience of Christ means certain damnation. So we've seen an explanation.

We've seen the obligation that we have if there is no active obedience.

Realization of Active Obedience

Let's look finally at the realization of the active obedience of Christ, His life of obedience. I mean, we could go from Matthew chapter 1 to Matthew chapter 28. We could go to Mark. We could go to Luke.

We could go to John. What do we find every step of the way? Our Lord observes. Our Lord obeys.

Our Lord does what the confession says the law of God is about. There is that personal, entire, exact, and perpetual idea. Now, Jesus was under a covenant of works. There's some debate concerning which covenant of works.

Was it the specific covenant of works that Adam found himself in? Was it the republication of the covenant of works under the Sinai covenant? Some suggest it was the covenant of redemption, which was indeed a covenant of works for our Lord Jesus Christ. Suffice it to say, he was in a covenantal context before his father, and he obeyed, in that context, everything that was necessary.

He fulfilled the demands of God's law.

Christ's Perfect Law-Keeping in His Ministry

Turn to Matthew chapter 3, we see an overarching statement there concerning our Lord's respect to God's law. Matthew chapter 3, verse 13, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me? But Jesus answered and said to him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.

Then he allowed him." So that's an overarching story. description or an overarching statement of our Lord with reference to fulfilling all righteousness. Again, we start tracing from this point with reference to the life of Christ. Never did He commit the sin of idolatry. Never did He blaspheme His Father.

Never did He break the Sabbath. Never was He insubordinate to lawful authority. Never did He murder, not only externally but internally. Never did he commit adultery, not only externally, but internally.

Never did he commit theft. Never did he lie. Never did he covet. You see, that is his act of obedience.

Even to the point in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying out to the Father, if it is possible, let this pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. He is always submitting to, He is always obedient to, He is always engaged in personal, entire, exact, and perpetual obedience to every jot and tittle of God's holy law. He does that certainly because He is the mediator.

He does that certainly because He is Christ. He does that certainly because it is His very character to obey the Father. But He does that for us. We need that obedience before we're able to stand in the presence of God Most High.

We have the language of the Apostle Paul emphasizing this reality over and over again. Several passages, not only in Romans 5, verses 18 and 19, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become what? The righteousness of God in Him. that passage, because some deny the imputation of the act of obedience of Christ. We do not.

We affirm that with our confession of faith, and you should confirm that as well. But even in a passage like Galatians 2.21, Paul says, therefore I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes to the law, then Christ died in vain. What do we learn there? Yes, the fact that we need Christ alone, but we need a righteousness.

And Paul's suggestion is that if it comes through the law, our ability to keep it, then Golgotha was in vain. But since Golgotha did take place, Christ hung there on the cross, having satisfied the demands of justice, but as well, having obeyed perfectly the entire requirements of God's law, then that righteousness comes to us. As well, Philippians chapter 3, you can turn there just to see this in the apostle concerning this reality of the active obedience of Christ coming to the elect, received by faith alone. Notice in Philippians 3.7, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted lost for Christ.

Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." Now notice, not having my own righteousness which is from the law. That's sort of righteousness that that rich young ruler prided himself on. That's sort of righteousness that that certain lawyer in Luke 10 prided himself on. That righteousness that Paul or Saul, the Pharisee, would have prided himself on prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus.

And he found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. You see, the reality is we need His death, we need His life. Look at 1 Corinthians 1. So we see the realization of this act of obedience in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus and His perfect fulfillment of God's law at every jot and tittle.

We see the theological implications of this in Paul's language. Notice in 1 Corinthians 1.30, "...but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." A to Z of redemptive benefit that we have in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. And one of those things is righteousness. You see, you need to be forgiven, but you also need to be clothed with a righteousness that is accepted by God.

And that's what Christ's life answers to. And

God Dwelling with His People

all of this to serve what is an overarching theme in the Bible. Now, many have looked at the Bible and said, you know, what's the bottom line? If we were to take the Scriptures and ask the question, what's the bottom line? What's the big picture?

What's the big idea? Some suggest kingdom. Some suggest covenant. Some suggest salvation.

Some suggest moral principles for a happy life. They're really not to be listened to. But certainly an overarching theme that the Bible presents from Genesis to Revelation is God dwelling with His people. God dwelling with his people.

Isn't that what the Garden of Eden was all about? Again, Adam's vocation in the garden was as a priest. It wasn't as a farmer. No, certainly he farmed, certainly had to grow food, certainly had to cut things down and eat them, or else he would have dropped dead.

But Adam's vocation in the garden was priestly. It was to commune with God. In fact, the garden was a temple. It was a dwelling place of God with man.

What happens when Adam sins? Adam is thrown out of the garden temple. So what then occurs in terms of God dwelling with man? Enter the tabernacle.

Now we're just jumping over large swaths of scripture, but just touching on some of the high points here. What was the purpose for the tabernacle? Was it, well, all the other religions have something like this where they try and worship their deity. No, if you look specifically at Exodus chapter 25, you can turn there.

Let's get this idea down in our heads of the dwelling place of God. and how Christ's active and passive obedience served that, we'll see realization. Notice in Exodus 25. Verse 8, and let them make me a sanctuary, this is the tabernacle, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.

Have you ever considered how much of the book of Exodus is taken up with the tabernacle? In fact, chapters 25 to 31 are the instructions on how to build the tabernacle. We have to take a bit of a detour because of the idolatry in chapter 32 and then Moses' intercession in chapter 33, but things get back on track in chapters 35 to 40 for the construction of the tabernacle. So all of these details in terms of how to build it, and then we follow along the builders who are building it, those artisans who are filled with the Spirit of God so that they can pound nails and hang curtains for the glory of God.

When you look at the architecture of the tabernacle itself, it suggests the dwelling place of God. God with his people. Certainly the Holy of Holies that the high priest enters into that one day of the year on the Day of Atonement, but even in the holy place itself. On the north wall you have the Shobrat.

Those 12 loaves of bread, who do you think they represent? They represent the 12 tribes of Israel. Directly on the other side of that wall is the light, the lampstand. What's the emphasis there?

The lamp of God, the light of God shining upon the people of God. You see, tabernacle and then temple under Solomon was all about God dwelling with his people. And this is what Christ does for us through his active and his passive obedience, through what is called justification by faith alone. We're not only forgiven, but we're clothed in righteousness so that we can now ascend the mountain of God and dwell with him.

In fact,

Psalms 15 and 24: Who May Ascend?

turn with me to the Psalter, specifically Psalm 15. Psalm 15, it's a beautiful thing. Psalm 15, the psalmist asks a question. We see it as well in Psalm 24 at verse 3.

Morales suggests that this was sung at the gates. It was a gate liturgy. This framed Israel's approach to the tabernacle. Who may ascend the mountain of God?

Who may dwell in your presence? You see, Adam enjoyed it until he disobeyed. Then he was cast out. So God puts in place a means by which sinners gain access. so that they can dwell with Him.

In the old covenant situation, it was through a bloody knife and a smoking altar. In the new covenant situation, it is what that bloody knife and smoking altar pointed to, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in Him that we dwell in the presence of God. But he says, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in your holy hill? Have you ever considered that verses 2 to 5 are not a description of you? Have you ever considered the reality that that does not describe you? Have you ever asked the question with the psalmist in verse 1, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in your holy hill? You say, well, that's a valid question. That's a good question. I want to know that question so that I can dwell in the presence of God.

And then you start reading verses 2 to 5 and you say, wait a minute, that can't be me. Wait a minute, that's not describing me. So if the one who abides in the tabernacle, who dwells in God's holy hill, is the man defined or described in verses 2 to 5, then I'm finished. I'm toast.

I have no hope. I have no help. Look at the description in verse 2. He who walks uprightly, works righteousness, speaks the truth in his heart.

He does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up reproach against his friend. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

He who does these things shall never be moved. It's that whole sort of thing. Oh yeah, love to God, love to man. I sort of started to ask the questions, what does that look like?

How does that relate or how does that translate in my life? Brethren, you're not the verses 2 to 5 man. I'm certainly not the verses 2 to 5 man. So if we ask the question, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle?

Who may dwell in your holy hill? And we look at verses 2 to 5 and we say, well, that ain't me. It points to another. Notice in Psalm 24.

Psalm 24, verse 1, the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For he has founded upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

You have a pure heart, brothers and sisters? He was not lifted up his soul to an idol nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face.

And then it goes on to describe in detail the Lord Christ. Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O you gates, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Brethren,

Application: The Righteousness Believers Receive

the active and passive obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ brings dwelling. brings communion, brings union, brings fulfillment to all of the covenant promises along the way where God says, I will be their God and they shall be my people. It's realized, it's fulfilled, it is completed by our Lord such that the seer on the island of Patmos can say, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people God himself will be with them and be their God. The movement from paradise lost in the garden to paradise restored in the New Jerusalem comes as a result of the active and the passive obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why it's important.

If you and I are ever going to stand accepted by this God, we're ever going to ascend that mountain of God, we're ever going to stand in the presence of this God, we must be clothed with the righteousness of another. You see, this doctrine is so important that on his deathbed, last words of J. Gresham Machen was, I am so thankful for the active obedience of Christ, for there is no hope without it. And I suggest that is accurate.

No hope without it. If you try to go it alone, you try to mock or parrot or imitate that rich young ruler or that certain lawyer in Luke chapter 10, you are headed to certain destruction and certain damnation. Do not pursue righteousness through the law. Pursue the righteousness which is from God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Isn't it a blessed thing, believer, to be able to say, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that righteousness which is from God through faith? Because that is the righteousness detailed for us in Psalms 15, in Psalm 24. It is that righteousness that the holy God of heaven and earth demands, that he absolutely demands, But in the gospel, he supplies in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, this was Luther's perplexity.

He struggled with the righteousness of God. He struggled when he worked through the Book of Romans with that concept of the righteousness of God. Because the righteousness of God is scary, isn't it? When you consider the unrighteousness of man and you consider the righteousness of God, you ought to be fearful.

You ought to be terrified. But when he realized what the gist of Romans 1, 16, and 17 were, then it was like paradise opened up. Now, I know Truman says that that was probably apocryphal, but I'm not as skilled and as scholarly as Truman, so I'm going to give it to you. A lot of people say that's exactly what happened.

But it was like paradise opened up. Because why? I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed.

Not the righteousness of God in His furious holiness, wherein He's going to damn to hell the unrighteous. That is taught in certain passages. But the righteousness which God demands and God supplies through the grace of the gospel. For in it, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from what?

Faith to faith, that as it is written, the just shall live by faith. You see, when you see that, and when you experience that by God's grace, when you believe the gospel, and you are forgiven of your sins, and you get that righteousness that avails with God, You are like a Luther, you say, wow, paradise has opened up. Paradise is restored in and through the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Well, I hope those thoughts are helpful in our meditation concerning our Savior.

We need His death, we need His life. And certainly the supper calls us to reflect specifically on His broken body and His shed blood. causes us to reflect on that perfect obedience every step of the way that our Savior rendered to His Holy Father on behalf of His elect. Well, let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for what Paul teaches us so clearly and so accurately concerning Your Gospel. how we thank you for that righteousness of God which is given to us, received by faith alone, and how we thank you for His death at Calvary and for His resurrection on the third day. I pray, Most High, that you would cause us now, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, to receive spiritual nourishment and benefit and help for our souls, and God, for any and all who have out there tonight or here tonight that are not believing the gospel, may your spirit work and may you cause them to reflect upon their desperate condition before a holy God and to see the grace of the gospel, to see the glory of Christ revealed, to see that faith alone is the means by which we come into contact with Him. Grace, grant them blessing, grant them the gifts of faith and repentance, and we ask through Christ our Lord, amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 25; 25:8; 32; 33; 35-40
• Leviticus 18:5; 19:18
• Deuteronomy 6:5; 27:26
• Psalms 15; 15:1-5; 24; 24:1; 24:3
• Habakkuk 2:4
• Matthew 1-28; 3:13; 19:16; 19:20; 19:22
• Luke 10; 10:25; 10:28-30; 10:37
• Romans 1:16-17; 3:20; 3:28; 5:12-19; 10:5
• 1 Corinthians 1:30
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Galatians 2:21; 3:10-12
• Philippians 3:7
• 1 Timothy 1