Christ is the End of the Law

Romans 9:30 

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;  but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.  Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,  just as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed." 

Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.  For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Sermon for the 10th  Sunday after Trinity                                      8/24/25

Christ is the End of the Law

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

The biggest secret of the Christian faith is the Gospel. Of course in the time of Jesus it was a secret of sorts. The Jews were all about the law, the commandments, the demand to be righteous.  They freely ignored the gospel passages in the Old Testament.  They ignored God's words about forgiveness and reconciliation. They only heard Mount Sinai; the Thunder, the lightning the commandments, Thou shalt not.  

The only way the Jews could conceive of God dealing with them was through the law and legal righteousness.  Many Gentiles, on the other hand, had never learned the law. The God of the Jewish faith was an appealing God to them, but they did not know the rules. When they heard that God would forgive them their trespasses and grant them salvation, they trusted the word of God and received the righteousness which comes by faith.  

Our theme today is "Christ is the End of the Law."   

The situation presented to us in our text is a common situation today.  The significant difference is that, when applied to the Christian church, we're not dealing with Jews and Gentiles. We're dealing with one group who calls themselves Christians and another group who actually are. The world around us today is lost. They all are like the Gentiles in the time of the Apostles. The Jews of today stubbornly cling to the traditions of their fathers and are still as described in our text, lost in the Law. The rest of the world are Gentiles. They don't know Judaism, They are lost in the darkness without any true knowledge of God. They think they know God or about God but they do not.  

We still see the same divide the ancient world saw between Jew and Gentile believers.  Many who call themselves Christians still try to establish their righteousness before God on the basis of their works as judged by the law. It might be the Law of decision theology.  It might be the law of prayer. It might be the Law of an imagined relationship between them and the Lord which they believe they maintain by their careful pursuit of outward holiness in obedience to the law, in avoiding what they call sin. All of their talk about Jesus and salvation, and however they may phrase it, is based on a false understanding of what it is that God is looking for and how it is that you establish a relationship with God, and what His responsibilities are and what your responsibilities are in that relationship.  

Those who are truly Christian depend upon the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins, and the righteousness of Christ.  They understand they cannot do anything on their own. Their faith tells them that they are entirely dependent upon the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, and the gift of salvation. They stand in precisely the same relationship as those Gentiles mentioned in our text who did not follow the law but received their salvation and forgiveness by grace through faith - by believing what the Apostles preached to them. What they understood is that Christ is the end of the law.   

The phrase "end of the law" Can be understood in a number of ways. One understanding is that Christ ended the law. That understanding is false. The law of God is eternally valid. It is His will. The 10 commandments are just as binding and true as they were when they came down the slopes of Mount Sinai in the arms of Moses. Christ did not put an end to the law.   

The phrase "end of the law ," can be understood also that the Christ is the purpose of the law, Of the law, if you will.  The word used in the original Greek is telo~, TELOS, "outcome, goal, aim, purpose" according to a Greek dictionary.  For this purpose that Jesus came into the flesh. He said so Himself, saying, he did not come into the world to end the law but to fulfill it.   And he did.  

Actually, our text did not say that Christ was "the end of the law," it said that he was "the end of the law for righteousness." The law still stands. It still convicts us of our sins. Everyone of you sitting here today knows your sin. I don't know it, at least not all of it, but you do. Except that part of your sin that Psalm 19:12 tells us no man knows his own sin. It says that we have, "hidden faults."  According to Romans six verse 23 The wages of sin is death. We all deserve that judgment. 

But Christ came in human flesh to keep the law on our behalf, earning eternal life. Then, contrary to the law of God, He died. His death was unnecessary. unneeded, undeserved, according to the law of God.  But not according to the plan of God. The plan of God was that Christ would keep the law, earn eternal life and then share it with us by dying in our place and pouring out His grace, mercy, and life upon all flesh, every man, woman, and child in this world. 

 The gift is to be received by knowing about it, believing that it is true, and trusting in it.  That means undoing, after a manner of thought, the sin of Adam and Eve. They did not trust God. They took matters into their own hands. In the Gospel, everything is taken out of our hands. Eternal life and salvation, and perfect righteousness, and so forth, are given to us as a gift.  

In Ephesians 2:8-9, the Apostle Paul writes,  "by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not on the basis of works, lest any man should boast." Your salvation is a gift based on the merits and worthiness and sacrifice of Christ. It cannot be earned because the standard is perfection and we are all born with sin. It must be by grace, the gift of God. So, when Christ died on the cross and rose again triumphantly and ascended into heaven, our salvation, our righteousness, became Christ Jesus.  He is our righteousness. He ended the use of the law to achieve that righteousness. It's pointless. It is impossible. And so it is the gift of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

The righteousness which God demands in the law, you shall be perfect for I the Lord your God am perfect, is met only by the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ poured out on us as a free gift by grace through faith it is received.   

No other righteousness will do.  Jesus said it himself, "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of God."  And the scribes and the Pharisees were the best at keeping the law of God - outwardly.   

The righteousness required is the righteousness of God, and that is only available to us by the gift of God through Jesus Christ.  Christ is the end of the law, that is the purpose of the law, that is the final goal of the law, and the termination of the law for anyone seeking righteousness.  He fulfilled all righteousness, and he bestows all righteousness, So he is both the termination of the law as a means to righteousness And he is the purpose the law was given.   

To those who do not believe, the Law is still the standard. They must be perfect on the basis of their works before the law of God. A truly hopeless situation. 

The law was given to lead us to Christ. Having done that, it serves no other purpose.  The only place to go for righteousness that stands before God is Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen, our Savior and our Lord.   

I know I am a bit repetitive in this sermon, but our text holds out before us the complete Gospel. I repeat it over and over again to set it firmly in your hearts and minds so that you, too, may believe and be righteous in Christ and rejoice.   

 Christ is the End of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 

Amen.