All right, take your Bibles and
turn back with me to Galatians. Galatians chapter three. Begin our reading in verse 23.
The scripture says, but before faith
came, We were kept under the law, shut up under the faith,
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Entitled this message, The Schoolmaster
and the Sons of God. The Schoolmaster and the Sons
of God. Now, what we have seen very clearly
is the Apostle had set forth these two covenants, the covenant
of the law and the covenant of promise as two distinct and separate
covenants. two distinct and separate covenants. He testified that the law was
a covenant of works, and those who are under the law must maintain
perfect obedience, continually perfect obedience, in order to
receive blessing, the blessing of life. But because all are under sin,
Because we have all sinned, we are forever not blessed by the
law, but cursed by it. Cursed is everyone, he said,
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. So because we have sinned, the
evident result is what? Verse 11. No man is justified
by the law in the sight of God is evident. It's evident. It's clear. But then He renders
this blessing of the covenant as a covenant of a last will
and testament. He says in verse 15, Brethren, I speak after the manner
of men, though it be but a man's covenant. That word covenant
there is last will and testament. The covenant of God's will. And
this covenant promises life and free justification without your
obedience to the law. Without your obedience to that
first covenant. He promises life by the work
and responsibility of the testator. Remember our last will and testament.
All the responsibility belongs to the testator. The one who
makes the will, he must determine who gets it, and he must also
store it up. It's his responsibility. And
we know this, that this is something different than a man's last will
and testament, is that Christ not only purposed it, he not
only obtained it, he administers it. He rose from the dead, and
as a mediator, He administers this covenant. Make sure that
you get it. And seeing then the covenant
of works, now Paul says this, that the covenant of the last
will and testament was long before the covenant of works. He says
that, and it was given to Abraham some 430 years before the law
of Moses. And so this covenant of works
was given 430 years after it was revealed to Abraham. The
law then therefore cannot add or take away from God's covenant. You cannot add to or take away
from a man's last will and testament. How much more can you not add
to or take away from God's last will and testament? So what then,
the question comes, what is the purpose of the law? He tells
us it was added because of transgression. It was added to testify of the
guilt of sin. Now this is the mistake of the
Galatians, it is the error of Galatians, and it is the error
of modern religion to superimpose the law of Moses onto the law,
the covenant of grace. The law was never meant to be
superimposed as though it were some new work that had to be
done. Well, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
they believed God and that was well and good. But when the law
came, they had to start doing this and stop doing that. No,
it was never meant for that. It was only meant to expose the
guilt of sin. And what was the conclusion that
you find in verse 22? You find the conclusion of this.
The law concluded what? We're all under sin. We're all
under sin. So that no hope should be found
in the law. No hope. No joy. No peace. No comfort. None of
this should be found in the law. Why? That. Look at this. For the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. That. This is why. the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,
in order that the promise according to the will of God might be given
to us who believe. And this comes by the faith of
Jesus Christ, by the work and by the obedience, by the one
offering of His blood to God for the sins of His people, which
he obtained eternal redemption by that offering, which he has
perfected forever those that are sanctified." This faith of,
now that's a word, very important, the word of there. It's very
important. that the promise of God by faith
in Jesus Christ, no, we receive the promise of God by faith in
Jesus Christ. We're going to see that in just
a minute. You've got to have faith in Jesus Christ, there's
no doubt about it, in order to receive this promise. But our
receiving it did nothing to obtain it. Just like a last will and
testament. That man who stored up all that
stuff, He gets the glory for storing it all up. We didn't
restore it all up. Does my receiving it do anything to the inheritance?
No. Just receive what He promised
to give. But by the faith of Jesus Christ, this means this,
the whole work of salvation was done by Him. That's what it means. By His obedience, by His death,
by His blood, all salvation of all the elect was done. was accomplished by His obedience. Scripture says,
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Those who
are sanctified by the will of God, those who are sanctified
by the blood of Christ, those who are sanctified by the inner
working of the Holy Spirit, He has perfected us. Joanne, you're perfect. Chuckle, you are perfect. He
perfected you. Isn't that glorious? Now, what are you going to superimpose
on that? What are you going to put on
top of that? Well, He perfected me, but I sanctified me. What, are you insane? You would
dare add anything to His sanctification, to His work? Well, I grow spiritually. Really? Do you grow spiritually? Does
He cause you to grow spiritually? Who's doing the work here? If
He's done the work, who gets the glory? Who gets the praise? Who gets the thanksgiving? You?
You get any part of it? No. This is the glory of the
covenant of promise. It's that we're done by the faith
of Jesus Christ. that the merits of Christ then
should be freely given to us. Now, did you earn that perfection? Not a bit of it. Not one bit. Are you earning any part of it
today? No. See, I have the perfections of
God because it was freely given to me. It was freely given to
who? Us that believe. Do you believe? Man, that is a question. It's
the question of utmost importance. There is no greater question
than this. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Do you cling with all your soul
to His merits? Every time I go to God, I have
to cling to His merits. If God's gonna hear me, it's
based on His merit. If God's going to forgive me,
if God's going to pardon me, if God's going to have mercy
on me, if God's going to accept me into His presence, it's because
of Him. Because of what He did for me. If you believe, then listen to
this, you have all the promises of God that are in Christ Jesus,
all of them. We're gonna see this more clearly
in just a minute. Paul says in Romans 5, therefore
being justified by faith. Listen to this, we have peace
with God. We have peace. I don't, at times,
feel like I have peace. I feel my heart is at war with
God, at conflict. I feel as though God is at conflict
with me. I remember, I know when Newton
said this, I feel it often. Wilt thou pursue thy worm to
death? Are you so angry that you'll kill this worm? But this is the truth. I have
peace with God already, forever. Why? Because Christ justified
me. Christ made me perfect, made
me acceptable to God. I have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. So then the law was given for
what express purpose of exposing sin So that being condemned by
it, finding no hope in it, we should what? Flee to Christ.
That's what it was for. We should find no joy in it,
but flee to Christ. And obtain everything by the
promise of God through faith in Him. Now in verse 23, look
at this. He says, But before faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith that should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith."
Now before faith came, what does he mean by that? Before Christ
came. Before the faith of Christ was
revealed. He says, We, the Jews, were kept
under the law and shut up until faith should be revealed. Until the faith by which the
promises should come should be revealed. Now Paul in verse 24
uses the illustration of a schoolmaster. He describes the law in relation
to the nation of Israel. The law was to us a schoolmaster. Now, in the Greek society, a
schoolmaster was nothing more than a slave. You have a rich
person, and he has children. And what does he do? He takes
the most trusted slave that he has, the most educated slave,
and he puts that slave over his children. He can whip them, he
can punish them, and he is also inscribed to teach them, instruct
them. That's what a schoolmaster does. And he was to do this until they
come of age. But when they become of age,
what happens? They don't need him anymore.
Why? Because now they are heirs of
everything. In other words, they rule over
him. They command him. And so the law in relationship
to the Jews was one that guided them, kept them, and separated
them by its ordinances. Why? It taught them something. The law was used of God to the
Jews to teach them something. What did it teach them? Again,
we've already learned this, it taught them that they could not
obtain righteousness by their obedience. That's what it taught
them. But the second thing it taught
them, it taught them of the coming of Jesus Christ. It pictured
and prophesied of the one who would come and remove their sin. It taught them their sin, but
it also taught them how sin was to be removed. By the blood of another. It instructed
them that salvation should come by the works of Christ. And so
what did they do? As young as these, as a schoolmaster,
the schoolmaster pointed them to someone who was coming. Pointed them to someone, Christ. But after Christ had come, the
law was no longer needed. Before Paul shows the purpose
of the law, he's now showing it in the covenant of its teaching
capacity. And I want to use an illustration
of this, Passover. Let's use just one offering.
There are many offerings that we can show, but the law of Passover. You remember the Jews were to
keep this feast, and they really did not fully
understand what it meant. They knew they had to keep it.
And they knew something, that this was testifying of Christ
who would come and make an offering. They didn't know He was going
to be the offering. They may not have known that He was going
to take human form. I don't know exactly. They were
like little children. Their understanding was so little. The light that was given to them
was so small. But they believed on Him coming. And however He was going to do
it, He was going to remove their sin. They trusted Him. This thing of Passover, you remember
they took that lamb, it had to be without spot and blemish.
I'm sure they wondered why in the world it had to be without
spot. It's got to be. Then they took it and they killed
it in the middle of the congregation. Now why do we have to kill it
in the middle of the congregation? I don't know, we've got to do it. Somehow
this is speaking of Christ. I don't know how it is. And they
kill that thing in the middle of the congregation, splatter
it on the door. They go inside. You remember they went inside.
Don't understand what all this is for. All they know is it's going to
save my firstborn son. That's all they really understood. But the second Christ came, what
happened? John said, Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. You see? the law pictured and showed forth
his coming. And only, you remember, on that
day, the Jews, they weren't going to kill Christ on Passover, were
they? They said, we can't kill him on Passover. God said, I
beg to differ. You will kill him on Passover.
Why? Because he's the Lamb of God,
without spot and without blemish. And then what? You're going to
kill him in the middle of everybody. Everybody is going to see it. So after Jesus on that feast
day offered Himself to God without spot, without blemish, as our
substitute, that feast was fully and completely forever done away
with. No more need for Passover feast.
Why? The fulfillment had come. Faith
had come. We were kept under a schoolmaster
until what? Until faith came. Look at him
and you see faith has already come. The faith of Jesus Christ. Another illustration would be
the great day of atonement. Remember the high priest would
come and he would dress up in those priestly garments? What
a picture of Christ. Our priest, those white robes,
linen clothes, and he would go out there and he would lay his
hands on one of the scapegoat and confess the sins and a strong
man would carry that scapegoat away. And another goat, they'd
kill it and take that blood and he'd go inside the veil and he'd
sprinkle it on the mercy seat. They didn't know much, but they
knew that had something to do with Christ coming. They believed
that, that that atonement had something to do with Him. They
didn't quite know what it was. Go to Hebrews chapter 9. Look
at this. I want you to see this. The law
is the schoolmaster, but look at verse 6. It says now, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 6, He said, now when these things
that were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first
tabernacle accomplishing the service of God, he went daily
in there. Daily. He had the table of showbread,
you had the laver, you had the candles, you had that furniture
that needed to be attended to in there every day. But into the second went the
high priest once every year, and not without blood. which
was offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. Now
what was this for? Listen, the Holy Ghost thus signifying. The schoolmaster was signifying. The Holy Ghost was using the
schoolmaster to signify something. That the way into the holiest
was not yet made manifest. It wasn't clear. It wasn't yet
clear how this was going to work out. While the first tabernacle was
yet standing, Which was what? A figure. It was an illustration. The schoolmaster was teaching
them something. It was a figure of something. For the time then
present, when under the schoolmaster, it was for that time in which
were both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that
did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood
only in meats and drinks and different washings and ordinances,
Cardinal ordinances, listen, imposed on them. Isn't that exactly
what Paul is saying in Galatians? He says they were under schoolmasters.
Shut up! They were shut up. They didn't
fully understand why they were shut up. God didn't reveal it
all to them at the same time. They were imposed on them. Until
when? Until faith came. Until the Reformation. But listen,
Christ being common high priest of good things to come, By a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, what is that? His flesh. That
was a tabernacle that was perfect, that wasn't made with hands.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in, how many times? Once. Entered once into holy place,
and what did he get? Having obtained eternal redemption. So where's the great day of atonement
now? The law testified of the great day of atonement. It said
it needed a priest, it needed these offerings, it needed a
tabernacle, a physical building, it needed a veil, it needed the
Ark of the Covenant, it needed a place for burnt offerings. Why don't we have that today? Because that was a schoolmaster
for a time then present to point them to a time in the future.
when Christ would come. But now that Christ has come,
what purpose does that law serve? It's fulfilled. It doesn't serve
any purpose. After faith has come, verse 25,
after faith has come, in your text, sorry, go back to your
text. After faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We no longer need a high priest.
Why? Christ is our high priest. We
no longer need a sacrifice. Why? Christ is our sacrifice.
We no longer need to obtain righteousness. Why? Christ has already obtained
righteousness. We no longer need to sanctify
ourselves. Why? He sanctified us. See, Christ is all. Therefore,
the law serves no more purpose in this life. For Christ is revealed and received
by faith. And if it's no longer applicable
to the Jews, how much more to us Gentiles who were never given
the law? You realize the law was never meant for the Gentiles? Are you a true descendant of
Abraham? I mean, even though we're in
that land right now, I guarantee you they can't trace their lineage
back to Abraham. All mutts now, I think. I think
we're all kind of an agglomerate of a bunch of different things.
Maybe there's a few out there that are, but you know what that
means? Nothing. But us who are Gentiles, we know
this. That law was never given to us. I like what Peter said about
it. I'm going to read it to you. Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15 and verse 7. Let's
see. The Jews wanted to come in and
say, well, these Gentiles, now that they're saved, they need
to be circumcised. And Peter stood up and said, no, no, that's
not how it is. He said, when there had been
much disputing, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren,
you know that a good while ago God made choice among us that
the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and
believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bear them witness, giving the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto
us." Listen, put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why tempt you
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither
our fathers nor we could bear? But we believe through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. You got
that? He didn't say they gonna be saved like us Jews. He said,
No, we Jews are going to be saved just like them. What? Without
the law. They didn't have the law. Don't put it on them. Why? Because God is going to save
us, Jews, the same way He did them. By grace. Without the works
of the law. And so the law no longer is a
schoolmaster after Christ had come. It served its purpose.
And the proof is verse 26. Go back to your text. Look at
this. Verse 26, four. After the faith has come, verse
25, we're no longer under the schoolmaster. Why? Because, look
at this, you are all the children of God by faith, listen, in Jesus
Christ. You are all children of God by
faith in Jesus Christ. Now this is important. The word
for children there means this, full-grown sons. And why is that
important? Remember, the children were under
a schoolmaster until when? They came of age. They came of age, and when they
came of age, they inherited the whole thing. They inherited it
all. So the Greek word for sons of
God or children of God is full-grown son. It speaks of the believer's
position and standing as heirs of God. The schoolmaster was
not for the mature son but for the small child. The thought
came to my mind, if you went to a kindergarten class and you
saw a full-grown man sitting there, You'd say there's something mentally
wrong with that guy or he's in the wrong place. He doesn't fit
there. Why? Kindergarten teaches you
for a little kid. You don't need a full grown man sitting in there.
But behold the greatness and glory of this truth to us who
believe in Jesus Christ. You believe in Jesus Christ,
listen to me. You are as a full grown son. no longer needing
a schoolmaster. You who believe in Jesus Christ,
you are a full-grown son. And you understand this, you're
a son by purpose, aren't you? You're a son on purpose. God purposed for you to be his
son. That's why you're a son. You
believe in Jesus Christ, you are the sons of God. But you are sons because God
purposed your sonship. You know this very well. In Ephesians,
it tells us this. He says, according as He had
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame before Him. Listen. In
love. In love. God did something in
love. God did something because of
love. And what did he do? Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of sons. You see, you were predestinated
to be adopted sons. Adopted sons. And our sonship
was purposed and decreed by the sovereign will of God. It was
no accident we were sons. You know, if you don't understand
election, it's very simple. It means God did something on
purpose. That's what it means. He didn't do it on accident.
You didn't become accidentally a son. He didn't just stumble
upon you one day and say, well man, that's going to make a nice
son. No, before there was ever anything, God in love purposed
you, you who believe in Christ. Now that's the only way I know
that you were purposed. I'm going to see this, is that
you believe, but you that believe, God purposed for you to be a
son. And he purposed that every one
of his sons should be redeemed. Every one of them should be bought.
Every one of them should be pardoned from their sin. Every one of
them should have eternal life and enjoy the presence of God
forever. That's the will and purpose of
God, that you should be holy. That's the only way you're going
to get those things, is if you're holy. And he did this by Jesus
Christ. It's not accident how you were
redeemed. You weren't accidentally redeemed, were you? Christ didn't
come into the world and figure this thing out, didn't do it.
No, he purposed to do it long before he did it. And so if you are a son of God,
you were purposed to be a son, you were bought to be a son.
And what is the proof then that I was chosen? I know people don't like this,
but it's very important that God is only going to save his
elect people. That's very rough and offensive to man. They don't
like it. They don't like to hear it. That
some men are loved from eternity and others are hated from eternity.
They don't like it. The question then is, will you
rebel against it or bow to it? The question I want to know,
I don't have any trouble believing in the election of God's mercy
and grace and love, that He's going to save His people. I don't
have any trouble believing that Christ redeemed His people. The
question is, am I one of them? Because I know if I'm not, I'm
doomed. How do we know that God purposed
us to be sons? How do we know I am a child of
God? For you are all children of God. How? By faith in Jesus Christ. This is the manifestation. This
is how we know we are sons of God. If we believe in Jesus Christ. Believe. Faith alone then is
the evidence of my sonship. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. Paul gives thanks. He gives thanks. I wonder how many religious people
today give thanks for the election of God's grace. Or how many people
despise it. Paul gave thanks for it. I give
thanks for it. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren. Why? You're beloved of the Lord.
Because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Here's
the means. Through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. This is the means that God saves
his children. That the spirit of God comes
to the sinner in his dead condition and makes him holy. does nothing to deserve it, nothing
to earn it, the Spirit of God comes to him when and where he
pleases. To whomsoever he pleases. And
he sanctifies them and gives them what? Faith. Faith. Faith is the substance
of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen.
And what is your faith? Is your faith resting in your
faith? I was talking to Andrew and his friends yesterday, and
he was, you know, some kid, Andrew was talking to him about election.
And I'm kind of wondering why you would want to talk about
that. The important thing is to know
Christ. If you know Christ, election
is easy. It's easy to understand, if you
know Him. If you understand who He is and
what He's done, and you believe on Him, then surely election
is just an easy doctrine to understand. Depravity is just an easy doctrine
to understand. But if you're just trying to
get people to learn doctrine, I like to see it like this. Doctrine
is like the clothes of a man. You have an invisible person,
you can't see him, you can't know what he's really like until
you put clothes on him. Put clothes on an invisible man,
you can start to make a form, kind of see what he looks like.
Doctrine, that's what it is, it just shows the person of Christ.
I don't want to worship the clothes, I want to worship the person. Knowledge, what does that do?
That puffs up, doesn't it? You take a lost man and give
him a little bit of religious knowledge, what does that do?
It increases his pride. You find me a sinner who sees
Christ, and I'll show you an humble man. I'll show you a man
that bows in the dust, confessing his sin. I'll show you a man
who's thankful to be chosen. A man thankful to be redeemed. And a man who does not need the
law to commend him to God. Why? Because I am under a covenant
of promise, not a covenant of words. I'm no longer under a
schoolmaster, but I am what God says as a full grown son. And so our faith never causes
our adoption, it just proves it. Go to John. John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Look at verse
12. As many as received Him. Anybody
receive Him, believe on Him? You believe on Him. As many as
received Him, to them gave He the right. Oh man, this is good. The right to become the sons
of God. even to them that believe on
his name." How many times do you hear that? We're all children
of God. You're all creations of God and
in that sense God is a father to you and that he's a creator,
judge. And I'm telling you this very
truly, not all men are sons of God. Who are? As many as received
Him. I don't know how many there are, I just know this, as many
as received Him. To them, to them and them alone
is given the right. You got the right to say that.
You know, I'll tell you what, sometimes it's hard for me to
spit it out. But I have a right to say it. I am a child of God. I am His
son. Well, how in the world did I
become a son? Look at it says, which were born. I was not only
adopted, but I was born. I was born of God. Born. How? Not of blood. I got a daughter
right there and she is my blood. But she will never be born again
because she's my blood. nor of the will of the flesh.
I didn't become a son because I willed to be a son or I chose
to be a son. That does away with all free
will works religions should burn it and just do away with it.
Nobody is born by their own will. Nobody. Look, nor of the will of man. I'm not born again because somebody
else willed it. That does away with all Catholicism.
Because that's what they believe, that by the will of the priest
you're absolved. I read that this morning. Some
old lady in the village a long time ago, she was on her deathbed
and the priest comes in and he says, I absolve you from your
sins. And she says, what does that
mean? Absolve? I don't know what that means.
He says, I forgive you of your sins. And she said, let me see
your hand. He put out his hand. He said, you can't forgive me
of my sin. There's no nail print in your
hand. She wasn't trusting him to forgive
her. By the will of man to forgive her sins. How was she born? Just like you are. Like Abraham
was born. We were born by the will of God. By the will of God. So faith in Christ does not make
us sons. Faith in Christ reveals we are
sons. In fact, the faith that we have
is given. Isn't that right? You that have faith? Joy, and I'm not picking on you,
but it seems like that you believe longer than all of us. Why do you still believe? Why are you still here? Because God gave you faith. And the faith that I have right
now, God gives me freely. He told those Pharisees, I told
you. John 10 says, Jesus said, I told you. Are you the Son of
God or not? Are you the Christ or not? Jesus
said, I told you. I already told you. But you believe
not. The works that I do in my Father's
name bear witness of me. I raise people from the dead.
I heal the blind. The lame walk, do you need any
more evidence? And he said, but you believe
not, listen, because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, why will a
man not believe? because he is not of Christ's
sheep. What about us who believe, my
sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. You follow
him. I follow him by faith, trusting
him. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish." Never perish. Never perish. When are they going to perish? You who follow Him, when will
you perish, you sons of God? When will you perish? Never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Are we walking a tightrope to
heaven, or what? Is that what it feels like to
you? Is that what Christ said? No. No man can pluck them out
of my hands. No man. You know, if there was any man
could pluck me out of the father's hands, you're looking at him
myself. But I'm included in that. No man, not even yourself, can
pluck you out of the father's hand. The father which gave them
me is greater than all. I and my father are one. So then
we are sons. Sons by adoption. Sons by spiritual
birth. Of his own will begat he us by
the word of truth that we should be kind of a firstfruits of his
creation. Therefore, what? We are no longer
under a schoolmaster. Why? We're full-grown sons. Now, I want to get this because
it's very important. I thought about skipping it,
but I really think it's very important for you to understand.
When you're born again by the Spirit of God, we do understand
that we grow. Now, right? We grow in grace.
We're babes in Christ when we first believe. And then we grow
in faith. We grow in knowledge. We grow
in wisdom. We grow in joy and peace and
all of the fruits of the Spirit. We grow. Let me ask you this. Does someone with great spiritual
maturity inherit anything better than the babe in Christ. When they both die, if you die
a babe, like that man on the cross, consider that. There he
is, babe in Christ. All he knew is that man's his
hope. That's all he knew. He was a sinner and he was dying
within a few hours. And he knew this, that Christ
alone was my hope of being accepted. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. And when he died, he believed he went right into
his kingdom. And he was sure to follow in just a minute. And
Jesus said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That's
all he had. That's all he had! Babe in Christ sitting there.
He didn't understand much about election, did he? He didn't understand
much about predestination or eternal justification or any
of these doctrines that we love so dearly. Did he receive any
less, when he entered into the presence of God, was he any less
an heir than Paul? Or Abraham? Or Elijah? Did this man receive less crowns? I'm so tired of that foolish
nonsense. as though you can earn more than somebody else. One
famous theologian of this generation said this, he's now passed, and
I believe he was a believer in Christ, but what a foolish thing
he said. He said some people get into heaven by the skin of
their teeth. And some people make it in with crowns and other
things. Based on their spiritual growth. You mean to tell me you're going
to add your spiritual growth to His righteousness? You're going to say, well, I've
got Christ's righteousness, but you know what? All those things I
did in life, you know, they're going to add to that. No, it's
what He's saying here. He said, you're full-grown sons
in this, you inherit it all. You are heirs of God, whether
you're a babe in Christ or a full-grown mature child of God, it doesn't
matter. Now there are benefits to spiritual
maturity, aren't there? God does use his children that
have grown in grace. I'm sure that they have more,
like Charles Spurgeon. I got books back there that I
have blessed millions and millions and millions of people. God made
him fruitful. I don't doubt that. Maybe I'll
never achieve what he did. But I guarantee you, when I go
to glory, he's not receiving anything more than I did. Why? We're both full grown sons. in this that we inherit all the
promises of God that are in Christ. And I'm not going to be missing
any of them. Now does that stir me to not do work? Or does that
motivate me to do more? Love always increases our works.
It doesn't diminish them. But I dare not add them. I don't
dare add them to Christ. You are the sons of God and no
longer under the law. You're free. I'm so thankful. I pray God will
just bless this to your hearts and make it clear. It's my thought
all the time, God, make it clear to them. I can't make it clear
to you. I try, but that ain't my job. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer. Our Father, thank you for this
time together and for the spirit that you've given us, Father,
words of wisdom according to your Word. I pray that it's liberating
to your people. I pray that you'd cause them
to see their freedom, their joy, their peace that is in Christ,
their promises that are secure. And no matter what happens in
the providence of time, that Christ is all. Set Him solely as the object
of our faith. Increase our love, increase our
desire to do those things which are pleasing in Your sight, but
Father, never add them to Christ. I pray that You would do this
for Your own glory, in Jesus' name.