Alright brethren, let's turn
to Romans chapter 4. We've been looking at these reasons
that God justifies His people by the obedience of our Lord
Jesus and why He imputes Christ's righteousness to us through faith.
It's apart from any works of the law on our part. The first
reason we saw in verse 13 for the promise that he should be
the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through
the law but through the righteousness of faith. Paul said the righteousness
of the law speaks on this wise. The man that doeth those things
shall live by them. That's what the righteousness
of the law said. You have to do the whole law to live by it.
The righteousness of faith It says this, with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness. That's the difference. And the
Lord saves through the righteousness of faith, because that's how
he made the promise to Abraham. The second reason is found in
verse 14, for if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is
made void. The law is not of faith. Faith's
just made void if man's motive of his heart's to indebt God
by anything he does. Third reason is, for if they
which are of the law be made heirs, the promise is made of
none effect. Scripture says if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more promise. God gave it to Abraham by promise. You know, he who was of the bond
woman was born after the flesh, but he that was of the free woman
was by promise. We as Isaac were the children
of promise. God did all this according to
his promise. The fourth reason, verse 15, because the law worketh
wrath, for where no law is, there's no transgression. Everybody that's
under the works of the law are under the curse, they're under
the wrath of God. But you who have been given faith
in Christ, there's no law against you. because you're righteous. The law wasn't made for a righteous
man. And so there's no transgression, no condemnation from God toward
his people because Christ made us righteous. Isn't that good
news? It's such good news. David described the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. For there is no law, there is
no transgression. Now today we come to the end
purpose. Here's the end purpose why God saves through the righteousness
of faith without us performing the deeds of the law. Verse 16.
Therefore, it, justification, righteousness, salvation, it
is of faith that it might be but grace to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed, and not to that only which is
of the law, but to that which is also of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all. The end purpose for which God
justified his elect in and by his son, and imputes the righteousness
of Christ to us through faith, apart from any works we've done,
is so that God's promise of eternal inheritance, everlasting life,
might be sure to all God's elect Jew and Gentile. That's the end
purpose, that it might be sure to all God's elect. May I talk
about wanting some assurance? How do I have assurance? The
Lord just declared it. Those that God chose to save,
Christ made righteous, and that promise of God that He will give
us everlasting life is sure. It's sure. That's the assurance of God's
believing children. Christ, the promise is sure in
Christ. Do you believe Christ? You believe
on Christ? Do you trust that He's the Son
of God? You have faith trusting He alone
can save you? The promise is sure by Him. It's
for sure by Him. It says here, it, free justification,
eternal inheritance, eternal salvation, it is of faith. Salvation
is of faith. Justification is of faith. Every
elect child of God, who God has made to hear the law, declare
us guilty. Have you heard the law? You hear
what the law says? Everybody that's made to hear
what the law says about us knows the law says of ourselves, we're
guilty. And so to you who know what the
law says, to hear God say that it is a faith, justification
is a faith, that is the good news of the gospel. That's the
good news of the gospel because we all sinned in Adam. God imputed
sin to us and death reigned on us because we sinned in Adam. By one man's offense, death reigned
by one. Like a sovereign monarch over
us, death reigned over us because of sin. We were all conceived
in sin in our mother's womb, and so we came forth as sinners,
and all we can do is sin. That's all the flesh can do.
The man that's not been born of God, that's just been born
the first time, all he can do is sin. Well, look at these good
works, and look at the good deeds men are doing before God. It
is all sin. coming from a corrupt heart and
the motives are corrupt, is selfish, it's all sin. That's all we can
produce in our flesh is sin. Whosoever should keep the whole
law and offend in one point, he's guilty of all. He's guilty
of the whole law. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified for by the loss of
knowledge of sin. But here's the good news, and
this rejoices the heart of God's child. Before the world, God
purposed to save whom He would by regenerating us by the Spirit
and giving us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus. And that's
how God purposed to save us. By giving you a new heart and
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus. and trust that Christ
has and shall do all the saving. That's what, what a blessing
of God, brethren. What a blessing of God. The righteousness
of faith. You know what that is? It's the righteousness by Christ
our righteousness. It's himself, Christ our righteousness,
freely imputed to us through God-given faith. That's the righteousness
of faith. You and I did not do one thing. We didn't do one thing. If we
could understand how truly free salvation is, we do not contribute. Salvation is of the Lord. That means He does everything.
He is all salvation. What a good news. Now, God purposed
to justify His elect and to give us eternal inheritance through
faith in His Son that it might be by grace. Look here, verse
16. Therefore, it is of faith that
it might be by grace. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Salvation is by the grace of
God, unmerited, unsought by us, free and sovereign. It's free. We didn't earn it. We couldn't
purchase it. We did nothing to obtain it.
We tried to keep it from happening is what we did. It's free and
it's sovereign. God is gracious to whom He will
be. The Father chose whom He would in Christ by grace. It
was all by grace. By grace. We just can't hear
this enough. It's by grace. And He predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Christ Jesus by grace. Ephesians
1.4. Look there with me. Ephesians
1.4. It says, verse 4, He hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the Beloved. And
then look there, Christ justified us by grace. Verse 7, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of His grace. Paul said we're justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus
who God set forth to be the sin atoning mercy seat through faith
in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. It's
by grace. It's by grace. It's by grace. We didn't do anything to merit
it or earn it or obtain it, but by grace means Christ came and
did it all for us. He came and took flesh, and He
was despised and rejected, and He suffered under the law, and
He was tried by the law, and by men, and by the devil, and
He lived without sin, and He went to the cross and laid down
His life, and He bore the sin, and He bore the curse, and He
did it all, and He died at the death we owe. He did everything. That's why It's free to us. It's by grace, by grace. And you know the Spirit, look
at Ephesians 2, the Spirit regenerates us by grace. Spiritual life and
faith is all of God's gift of grace to us. It's not of us. Verse 3, we all had our conversation
in time past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh of the mind, and were by nature the children of
wrath, just like everybody else. But God, who is rich in mercy
for His great love, wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. By grace are you
saved." You know what that's saying? That's saying before
you and me knew anything about it, before He even regenerated
you, He raised you up to heaven in Christ and you sat down in
Christ. The work was finished. Now that's
grace, is it not? By grace are you saved. And look,
and he raised us up together, made us sit together in heaven,
the place in Christ Jesus, and here's why he did it. That in
the ages to come, it's been ages since Christ arose, before you
were born, and then ages before you were quickened. But that's
why he did it. He raised you up in Christ, and
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace. in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. You didn't quicken yourself to
life, and you didn't believe on your own. That's not of yourself.
It's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should
boast. What does all this mean? It means we're his workmanship.
He did everything. That means the whole workmanship
is his. He uses the potter as an example.
The potter fashions the vessel under honor. Can you imagine
the pot then turning to the potter and saying, look what I made
me. You couldn't have made me if
I hadn't cooperated with you. If I hadn't accepted your work,
working in me, you couldn't have made me. Shall the potter say
to him that fashion it, why have you made me thus? Let me tell
you something. Somebody might get offended at
this, but it better to get offended now by God's grace and by the
spirit of God than to meet God in judgment. Because this needs
to be told to everybody. Everybody who says they accepted
Jesus, They accepted an idol of their imagination because
they're trusting themselves. They don't know the true Lord
Jesus because the very nature of His grace and His gift of
faith is when He saves you, He makes you know you didn't do
it. Ezekiel 37, the Lord said, tell these dry balls to live,
but they can't. And he said, you can't make them
live. And he told Ezekiel, you pray to me, you preach to them,
tell them what I do, and then you pray to me, and I'll put
the Spirit in them, and I'll make them live. And God declared,
and the result of that will be is they're not going to take
the glory to themselves. They're not going to say, we
accepted God's working with us. and these dry bones, we accepted
God breathing into us, and we accepted that we would come together,
and we accepted that we'd have life, and we accepted that he
could do this work for us. God said, no, they will glorify
me. That's the nature of this thing
of regeneration. Anybody that says they accepted
Jesus does not know the true Lord Jesus. You can mark that
down. In Israel shall all the seed, in Christ shall all the
seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. They're gonna give
Him the glory. That was God's purpose, that
salvation be by grace, grace, grace. Salvation's by God's grace. You don't have a thing in the
world to boast in, me or you, where His workmanship, grace
is God saving whom He will freely by His Son beginning to end. Right now, if God just changed
just one little thing in your mind, where you didn't even know
who you were. And somebody sat here and said,
if you'll just accept to be in your right mind, God will put
you in your right mind, what you gonna do? Ain't nothing you
can do. Well, a sinner's worse off than
that. A sinner don't have life, he can't believe, he can't do
a thing. And that's so from the very first
step you take in the walk of faith to the very last, you and
me can't do one thing without God. We need to stop boasting.
in ourselves and look into ourselves. Our salvation is entirely by
grace. This is grace, grace, grace to
the end. And preachers who speak of salvation
by grace and then tell sinners that they must keep the law in
order to have life, they don't know what grace is. They do not
know what grace is. Grace is God's saving beginning
and end by His Son. Look at Romans 11 verse 6. This
is what I'm saying. This is what Paul said right
here. And if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, it's no
more grace. Otherwise, works no more work.
It's either all God and none of you, or it's all you and none
of God. One of the two. But they don't
mix. Not in the least bit. Now be
sure and understand, God's grace reigns to give us life by righteousness,
by Christ's righteousness. It reigns, grace reigns through
the righteousness of Christ to give us life and to keep us in
life and to save us. You know, death reigned by Adam's
sin. You couldn't stop it. Look back
at Romans, look at Romans 5 and look at verse 17. He says, by
one man's offense, death reigned by one. Much more, they which
receive, and that word means they which are given, irresistibly
given, abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness, they
shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Now, did Adam make it
possible for you to die if you just cooperate with him? Is that
what it was? He made it possible that you'd
be guilty and you'd die if you just accept what he did. No. Adam made you die. Adam made
you guilty. And so you were conceived of
seed in your mother's womb without you doing one thing and therefore
you were a sinner by conception. And therefore you came forth
doing what sinners do. Hating God and not trusting one
thing about him. Well, grace reigns, and it reigns
through the righteousness of Christ. Without you doing one
thing, you're born again of incorruptible seed, just like a child's conceived
in the womb, and a new man's created with a new will and faith,
and God by His grace, by His grace, by His power, brings us
to look and see Christ and know what Christ did for us. And we
just believe on Christ. And His grace, through His righteousness,
reigns to give us life and keep us in life and save us to life
eternal. That's what grace does. Verse
20, Romans 5, 20, the law entered that the offense might abound,
but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace
gives God the Father and His Son, Christ Jesus, all the glory. All the glory. That's all I want.
I want Him to have the glory. I want you to be saved. I don't
want you to, I don't want you to, if a man hears the gospel
preached and he's angry at the preacher, he's angry at God.
And I don't want you to meet God angry at God. This is salvation. This is, it's of grace and I
want you to be saved. I want God to give you grace
and life through the righteousness of Christ and keep you looking
to none but Him. None but Him. Just because somebody
made a profession, just because somebody was baptized, that don't
mean God's worth grace in their heart. The evidence of grace in the
heart is faith in Christ, and faith is trusting Him alone.
Faith is saying, I can't do a thing to save myself. Faith is trusting
the Lord Jesus alone and confessing He did it all, and He does it
all, and He's doing it all, and I have no other hope but Him.
That's what I want for the people that hear this message. It's
His glory that is the matter here. This is the ultimate thing
that's being declared here. That's why Paul would not tolerate
anybody trying to put any work of salvation in a sinner's hand.
That's why we won't tolerate it. It's the glory of God. Listen
to what he said in Galatians 2.21. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. What does that sound like? Well,
that's people that sin with reckless abandon, yeah? That's people
that just hate the gospel of Christ, yeah? But that's people
who say, yeah, salvation's by grace, but that's frustrating
the grace of God. When you put the but in, you're
the but. You become the but when you put
the but in. And that's frustrating the grace of God. I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, here's why,
Christ died in vain. That's what frustrate, that's
what adding that little but in there and saying, but now I have
to do, that is saying Christ died in vain, brethren. That's
serious business. This thing is, this is why God
says through faith that it might be by grace, grace, grace. And here's the end purpose now.
It's that salvation might be sure. Christ is the surety for
his people. That means he must do it all.
Remember when Judah became Benjamin for surety? He said, we're going
down here to Egypt. And he said, and I'll be surety
for Benjamin. And he promised his father, I
will bring him back to you. I will, I'll do it. I'll protect
him. I'll bring him back to you. I'll
save him. And if I don't, you can take
it all out on me. Christ entered covenant with
the father to be the surety for every elect child of God. And
that's why salvation is sure. It's all in Christ's hand. By
Christ justifying His elect, God promised salvation is sure
to all His elect. Look here in verse 16. Therefore
it is a faith, Romans 4, 16, it's a faith that it might be
by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who's
the father of us all. to the end the promise might
be sure to all the seed, to all God's elect. God saves through
faith in Christ by His righteousness that His promise of eternal life
might be sure to all His elect Jew and Gentile. That's why He
saves this way. Not only to that which is of
the law, not only to His elect Jews, you see, If you and me
are Gentiles, if we could just get this, God didn't give the
law to us. Read Galatians 4. God did not
give the law to us. He gave it to the Jews. And so if it's of the law, you
and me never even had the law. And we couldn't have kept it
then because we would have never had it if it wouldn't have been
for grace and salvation by faith. But not only that, brethren,
we couldn't keep it if God had given it to us. No man can. We get this, don't we? What God
says that we have never kept the law. You and me have never
once kept the law. Never once kept it. To break
one is to break them all and we've never once kept the law
of God. But God says through faith that
the promise might be sure to you and me who are Gentiles We
have the faith of Abraham. Look there. But not only to those
that are of the law, not only to the gentile under the law
in Israel, but to that also, which is of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all. Well, those elect Jews, he says,
that were under the law, they have the faith of Abraham too.
He's just showing us here, me and you who are Gentiles, just
like Abraham, we never even had the law. Abraham didn't have
it. Over 430 years before, he didn't
have it. That's us. You remember how when
the Judaizers came down and they were saying, they said what men
say today, it's okay that you Gentiles have confessed Christ
and you believe that you're justified and made righteous by Christ.
That's fine, but you have to keep the law and live a holy
life to be sanctified. That's what they told them. Peter
said, God who knows the hearts, God who knows the heart, He's
made holy. But we witness that He's made
these Gentiles holy because He gave them the Holy Spirit. And
He purified their hearts. He did it. He sanctified their
hearts through faith. So they believed Christ was all
their holiness and all of their righteousness. And Peter's made
this bold statement. And he said, and us Jews who
are of the law, We are going to have to be saved like these
Gentiles who never had the law and were never under it as a
covenant like we were. We're going to have to be saved
like them. And that's how all God's people, that the children
of Abraham, true children of Abraham, they're not the children
walking around saying, oh, we're keeping the law and look how
good we're doing and it's our rule and we're seeing we're progressing
more and more because we're getting better and better and better.
No, that's not the children of Abraham. The children of Abraham
are like Abraham, he didn't even have the law. You think he was
looking at the law to see how well he was doing? He didn't
have it. Was he looking at the law to have his rule to live
by? He didn't have it. We don't either. Not a true child
of Abraham. We're children of faith. Children
of faith. You that are led of the Spirit,
Paul said in Galatians, you're not under the law. Paul said
to the Jews in Galatia, or in the Judea, he said, the law was
our schoolmaster. We were under it. It was teaching
us until Christ came. But after that faith has come,
we're not under that schoolmaster anymore. He said, we were like
a child who's a servant. He's going to be the heir. He's
the king. But while he's a child, he's under tutors and governors
and strict taskmasters that are whipping him and scoring him
and just keeping him beat down. But then, when he becomes grown,
he's not under those tutors anymore. Well, he said, Christ Jesus,
in the fullness of time, when the time was come, Christ came
and he redeemed his people, that we might receive the spirit of
adoption. And he said, and because you
are sons, God sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
making you see God and know God for the first time and cry out
to God for the first time. And he said, wherefore, you're
no more servants. You're no more under the law.
You're no more under those tutors and governors. You've been brought
out from under that now, and you're a son. And if you're a
son, then you're an heir of God. We're children of faith, brethren. God justified Abraham. Christ
justified Abraham. Christ came and regenerated Abraham
by the Spirit. It gave him faith to believe
on Christ by the Spirit. Christ led him by the Spirit. He saw Christ by faith and was
led by Christ by faith through the Gospel of Christ. That's
how we're led. Not by law. And Abraham's rule
of life was faith. He walked by faith. He walked
trusting Christ to guide him and save him and correct him
and teach him and keep him. And he was constrained in his
heart, not by legal motives, not by law, not by threats of
punishment and promises of reward. He was led and constrained by
the love of Christ for him, by what Christ had done for him,
by the fact that nothing he could do could separate him from the
love of Christ. That's what constrained him in
his heart to follow Christ and to love Lot when Lot chose to
leave and depart and go live in Sodom and Gomorrah. That's
why he kept loving Lot. That's why he went down there
and delivered Lot. That's why he interceded for
Lot and begged God, Lord, if it's just one righteous man,
you wouldn't destroy the whole place if there's one righteous
man there, would you? God said, if I just find ten
there, I won't destroy it for their sake. He found one, he
found Lot. What constrained Abraham to not
take anything from the kings and to give it all to them and
say, no, I'm going to trust the Lord? Christ told him, I'm your
shield and I'm your exceeding great reward. That's what constrained
him. He didn't want anything from
anybody in this world. He had everything. The world
was His and all things in it because Christ was His salvation
and He knew He was an heir of God through Christ Jesus. He
was led of the Spirit. He was led by the Lord. That's
how we're led. He didn't care what men said
about Him. He didn't care if men approved of Him or disapproved
of Him. He was crucified to the world and the world was crucified
to Him. That's so of God's people. That's why God's people can't be separated
from Christ, even if it's those you cherish most that
are trying to get you to deny Christ. They can't make you deny
Him. Why? Not because of anything
in you, not because you have power, but because the Spirit
of the Lord is preserving you and keeping you. That's the only
way. It's the only way. We see that. We see it in Abraham. When it
was left to Abraham, what did he do? He denied Sarah was his
wife to the king. He didn't have strength in himself.
He tried to produce the son of promise by himself, by his own
works. Don't think for a minute you're
not a sinner when God saved you. Don't think for a minute that
you're going to be without falls and stumbles and troubles all
your days, but why is that? The Lord is keeping you humbled
by that. He's teaching you by that. You
can't trust you. I can't trust me. We gotta trust
the Lord. We're led of the spirit of the
Lord. We're kept by the spirit of God. God, you see, if God
put one little bit of work in your hand, the promise would
not be sure. It wouldn't be sure to you, it
wouldn't be sure, if it was dependent upon us at all, the promise would
not be sure. It's only sure because it's all
in Christ's hand. But because it's in Christ's
hand, it's sure to all God's elect Jew and Gentile. Oh brethren, know ye therefore that they which
are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And the
Scripture foreseeing God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, And these shall
all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham, not just the elect Jews only,
but you who are of the faith of Abraham. Now brethren, I'm
going to preach a message, Lord willing. I'm working on this
for that last verse in 2 Thessalonians. where he said the grace of our
Lord Jesus be with you all. But I want to preach on that,
on how the Lord's grace is with us after we believe and as we
go through this life. But let me just say this for
now. Folks under the law are miserable. They're miserable.
I've been there. I know they're miserable. It's
called being entangled. It's called the yoke of bondage,
being entangled with the yoke of bondage. It's a guilty conscience
that keeps men criticizing other people. They're always criticizing
somebody else. Somebody else is always at fault. And they're always trying to
bring others under the law. They always know what other people
ought to be doing and always concerned and voicing what other
people ought to be doing. and they're always either puffed
up, thinking themselves righteous, or they're cast down trying to
justify themselves for sin. It's a guilty conscience all
the time. They're never able to rest in
Christ with joy. But you see, experiencing the
power of this grace through faith so that you know salvation is
sure in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our liberty.
This is really what liberty is. Freedom is this, it's joy. For
our own selves, the Lord keeps renewing you inwardly. It's how
the spirit of the Lord, this gospel right here, this good
news is how he mortifies our flesh and the spirit keeps you
from sinning to the degree you would. It's this gospel, the
power by which He keeps us walking by faith, knowing that in Christ
we're justified and God's promise of life is sure to us. It's how
that when you're overtaken and you fall, it's this gospel and
this good news by which the Spirit of the Lord grants you repentance
and He renews you eminently and He restores you to Christ. It's
this word right here. And toward others, it's the same
word of the gospel It's the same gospel, blessed by the Spirit
in their heart. Christ's love for us that makes
you love others and do good for them, especially those that are
of the household faith. Because you know, Christ just,
he's provided you righteousness by his life and his blood. He
will provide you every lesser thing you need so you can just
take what he's given you and use it for the good of your brethren.
That's, we know that. Knowing God's grace and the promise
is sure in Christ, it keeps us calmer in life troubles. When
brethren fall, because you've experienced God's power and His
grace to save you and forgive you and to keep you, because
He's proven to you His promise is sure in Christ. It's sure
by Christ. He's delivered you out of the
league time and time again. That's what makes you gracious
to your brethren in their time of trouble. He's justified his
elect. You know, he'll restore my brother.
You know it. You've experienced it. So you
walk by faith. You walk constrained by Christ's
love for us. You speak the good news and try
to encourage and help with the good news of the gospel. That's
why I don't come here and preach law to you. That's why I don't
come here and try to make you feel guilty and leave out of
here feeling down and guilty. Why? That's not what constrains
God's people. It's the comfort that Christ
gives through the gospel. That's what constrains. It's
His love. It's His faithfulness to us. And then concerning our
lost children and our family and our friends who are lost,
it's this word, knowing God's grace, knowing He's able to save. It's knowing the promise is sure
in Christ. It's knowing Christ has justified
His people and that God, therefore, is not willing that any who He
chose shall perish. It's knowing that He's not willing
that they perish, but that He's promised He will give them repentance. It's knowing that the long-suffering
of God shall result in the salvation of all His people. That's what
keeps you having a degree of calm and peace, even toward your
lost child. Because you know this, if there
He is, He is going to save them. And you know this, there's only
one word by which he's gonna save them, and it's this gospel.
And so every opportunity you get, you tell them about Christ
and what he's done. Because this is a word, and you
pray for them. But you see what I'm saying, brethren? This gospel
is what gives us joy and liberty and true freedom from that bondage
we were under and that misery we were under. That's why Paul
said, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. You're waiting right now when
you're in trouble, or your brother or sister's in trouble, or your
lost children are in trouble, you're waiting with the hope
that Christ will come right now and work righteousness and save
them right now. And over all life, you're waiting
and knowing Christ is gonna return. And by the Spirit, you're waiting
for the hope of righteousness through faith. This is the life
of a believer. We're always waiting by the Spirit. We're always hoping in the Lord.
We're always looking for Christ to work what's right for us. And in Christ Jesus, it's not
whether you are under the law or you're not under the law.
It's not circumcision or uncircumcision. It's not what you have done or
what you have not done. That matters. You don't have
a part in it. That's what that means. What
matters then? Faith, which works by love. Trust in Christ is all. And every
motive of the heart now, it's not trying to indebt God or get
a reward from Him. It's simply being constrained
by His love for you that just makes you want to do whatever
you can. That's it. And Paul said, and God forbid
thou should glory save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. You don't glory. You don't go
around saying I did or I did this or I did that. You glory
in the Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to me
and I unto the world. It's not circumcision or uncircumcision.
It's being made entirely a new creation by Christ, by He being
His workmanship. And listen, Paul said, as many
as walk according to this rule, this is the rule we're under,
it's all Christ. And many as walk according to
this rule, peace be on them and mercy. They're the Israel of
God. That's our hope, brethren. All
right, let's go to Him. Father, thank you for this word,
and we pray you bless it and keep us. For Christ's sake, in
his name, amen.