Righteousness by Law

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Romans 10:5 — The Jews have continued to believe that their actions, mainly their dedication to keeping the law, is what justifies them. The Jews have misunderstood the law and its purpose. Because of this, Paul is laying to rest this foolish thinking once again. In this sermon on Romans 10:5 titled “Righteousness by Law,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones shares how Paul is essentially saying that even Moses said that those who attempt to live by their actions will also be judged by their actions. He points out that the Jews were ignorant of God’s righteousness, ignorant of their own abilities, and thus have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. Paul continues to emphasize the doctrine of justification by faith only. There is not one thing in the process of salvation that has to do with a person; it is entirely a matter of God’s free sovereign choice. If the Jews want to live by their actions to the law, then Paul says they must keep the whole law. One is not able to only keep certain laws. If even one law is broken, they have failed completely. Dr. Lloyd-Jones reminds that no one wants to live under that kind of rule and reign and Christians should be thankful of the Lord’s work in them, breaking them free from the law.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Now, when we last met together the end of May, we were considering together the fourth verse
0:06.9	in the 10th chapter of Paul's Epistles to the Romans, that great and glorious verse, which
0:13.1	tells us that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. We therefore resume our studies tonight
0:24.3	by considering the section, the subsection rather, of this tenth chapter, which starts at
0:30.8	verse 5 and goes on to verse 10, or perhaps you may even say verse 11. Let me read those verses again. For Moses
0:40.1	describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the men which doeth those things
0:46.1	shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise.
0:53.3	Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring
0:57.8	Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again
1:05.1	from the dead? But what set it? The word is nithy, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach.
1:15.2	That if thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God
1:20.7	has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, men believeth unto righteousness
1:27.4	and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
1:34.3	Now, if we are to understand what that means, it is absolutely essential that we should be aware of the context.
1:42.7	And therefore, I am driven, as we take up this matter again, to remind aware of the context. And therefore I am driven as we take up this matter again
1:45.9	to remind you of the context. You notice that we have in this chapter a succession of uses of
1:52.8	the word four. The second verse begins with four. The third verse begins with four. The fourth verse begins
1:59.3	with four. The fifth verse begins with four, which is indicative begins with four, the fifth verse begins with four,
2:02.5	which is indicative of the fact that the apostle is arguing, is indicating the steps,
2:08.6	the logical steps in an argument. And therefore, as we take up this four at the beginning of
2:14.1	verse five, it is obvious that we will not be able to understand it and its message
2:19.5	unless we are aware of the connection.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Martyn Lloyd-Jones and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.