Now we're going to be looking
at Jeremiah chapter 44 tonight. Jeremiah chapter 44. But the title of the message
is not taken from Jeremiah 44, it's taken from Romans chapter
3. Brother Terry read verse 9. So this is part of the text of
our message, Jeremiah 44 and Romans 3, 9. And in Romans 3,
9, the apostle Paul poses this question. He says, are we better
than they? That's the title of the message.
Are we better than they? Now, the answer he gives in Romans
3, 9 is no, in no wise. The way we would say that today
is, no, in no way. There's no way that we are better
than they. There's no way. No way, shape,
form, or fashion. What's he talking about? Well,
he's talking about both Jew and Gentile. That's what he's talking
about in Romans 3. And as we look back at Jeremiah
chapter 44, this is a historical account of the last message that
Jeremiah the prophet spoke, preached to his nation, the nation of
Judah, the remnant that God had left in Jerusalem but who had
been taken to Egypt. And it's not a pretty picture. It's not a positive message in
the sense of building up man. But that's not what we're here
to do, are we? It's not a feel-good message. It's a very convicting
message. And I've been reading this passage
and studying it for quite a while, and I just wondered in myself,
well, what it shows me is why I, personally me, not just the
Jews here, not just these people who are on this earth, 450, 500 years before Christ. But it shows
me personally why I need salvation by the grace of God. Why I need
Christ. Why I need mercy. Why I need
the righteousness of God in Christ. Here's another glaring example
of our natural depravity and hardness of heart. And if we
don't read it that way, it'll do us no good. The Bible says
this Old Testament, in the New Testament, it's written that
this Old Testament was written for our benefit. Well, how are
we going to get any benefit out of this? Well, the only way I
believe we'll get any benefit out of it is if God reveals ourselves
in the mirror of his word as we go through this. There may
be a lot of differences. As you read through this, there's
a lot of differences between me and the people of Israel back
then, you and the people of Israel. We could talk about those differences.
But here's the point. And as we go through this, as
we read some of these verses, ask yourself this question. I'll
ask it for you. Ask it of me. Are we better than
they? Now, if you answer it based upon
your own natural way of thinking, if we do that, well, we'd say,
sure, we're a lot better than those folks. I mean, listen to
how he described this bunch of rebels. But if you answer it
scripturally, you'll have to answer it the way Paul answered
it, no, no way. Listen to what he says. Verse
one, the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning all
the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt. which dwell at Migdon,
Tophanes, and Knoth in the country of Pathros. The reason the Bible
is so precise to point out these locations, if you look at a map
of Egypt, what's happened is not only did they go in Egypt,
they spread all over. In other words, they got quite
comfortable in Egypt. They looked upon Egypt, the land
of bondage, the land of death, as some place to be where they
could be saved and be fed. That's a picture of man going
to his own self-righteous ways instead of running to Christ,
isn't it? We've talked about that. Egypt pictures bondage,
death, the land of death. Remember what Egypt means, land
of the crypt. And that's why people go to Egypt
today, to see the graves, see the pyramids, see where the dead
kings are buried. And remember, I told you that
the only ones who'd ever benefited from those pyramids, you know,
their whole religion in Egypt was that if you're going to have
any wealth in the life hereafter, you've got to accumulate it and
take it with you. And that's why they stuffed those
pyramids with riches. And the only ones who benefited
from them were the grave robbers. And that's it. And what an ugly picture, but
it's a great picture of man's religion, isn't it? man trying
to stuff his grave with goods so that he can have something
on the other side, either earn his salvation or earn his reward. And it just don't work. And the
only ones who benefits from that is the false preachers that they
support, the grave robbers. That's what they are. Nobody
else. Well, Jeremiah had been preaching
God's Word for about 46 years all total. And this is his last
message to the people. A lot of months have passed since
they first went into Egypt, and now they're spread throughout,
even down to the southern part. Verse 2, he says, Thus saith
the Lord of hosts. This is God's word, not man's
word. You've seen all the evil that
I've brought upon Jerusalem. He's talking about the destruction
of Jerusalem under the judgment of God. God did that. God is
the one who ultimately punishes all sins. God is the judge of
all. He said, upon all the cities
of Judah, behold, this day, they're desolation. No man dwelleth therein. They're empty. No population
there. He says, because of their wickedness,
which they've committed to provoke me to anger, and that they went
to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not,
neither they, ye nor your fathers, As soon as they entered into
Egypt, what did they do? They went to idolatry. You know, man is religious by
nature. He's got to worship something.
He has to worship someone. Even an atheist, I believe, is
religious. He worships self. You've got
to worship somebody. and self-righteousness, even
though these had seen the destruction of Judea and Jerusalem because
of idolatry and unbelief, they still ran to serve other gods.
Disobeying the word of God, disobeying the covenant, not believing God,
going after other gods. It says in verse 4, how be it
I sent you all my servants, the prophets, rising early, sending
them, saying, oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
Now you can see right away, this is not a smile God loves you
message. Not at all. You say, well preacher,
you ought not say things like that. I'll tell you why I say
things like that, because there's not a one of us sitting here
and this man standing here that deserve God's love. Not a one
of us. And outside these walls too,
there's none of them. We do not deserve God's love.
If God loves any of us, it's grace, it's miracle. He says in verse 5, that they
hearken not, nor incline their ear to turn from their wickedness,
to burn no incense unto other gods. In other words, they didn't
turn from it. Now, are we better than they? No, and no wise. This is our story in sin, isn't
it? This is our story, man by nature. He says, verse 6, He says, wherefore
my fury, mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the
cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. They're wasted
and desolate as it is this day. They wouldn't listen to the prophets.
They wouldn't listen to the gospel preachers. Natural man receives
not the things of the spirit of God, their foolishness to
him. Neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. Herein is the condemnation. This is the condemnation that
light has come into the world. What? Men love darkness and hate
the light because their deeds are evil. That's us by nature,
isn't it? Are we better than they? No. They cut themselves off. Look
at verse 7. It says, Therefore now thus saith the Lord God of
hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against
your souls. This is soul language. This is
soul issues. The soul normally in the Old
Testament refers to the whole person. In the Old Testament,
God made Adam a living soul. But the point that he's making
here is that you're dealing with issues here of life and death.
This is serious business. This is not just stumping your
big toe. This is the difference between
eternal death and eternal life. And he says, you cut off from
you man and woman, child and suckling, you even lead your
children into this idolatry. Cut them off out of Judah to
leave you none to remain. Verse eight, and that you provoke
me under wrath with the works of your hands. That's man's religion. Started with Adam and Eve in
the fall. The works of men, when aimed at earning, God's favor
and recommending sinners unto God, all they do is provoke him
unto wrath. Isn't that right? Salvation is
not by work. The works of man aimed at making
himself righteous before God or holy before God just provokes
him to wrath. Talking about burning incense
unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whether you've gone to
dwell, that you may cut yourselves off. And look at the last line
of verse eight and that you might be a curse and a reproach among
all the nations of the earth. Now hold that thought. We're
going to come back to it. You might be a curse and a reproach
among all the nations of the earth. Well, Beginning there at verse
9, he talks about their history. Have you forgotten the wickedness
of your fathers and your kings? All of that. What he tells them,
he says, you haven't learned the lessons of history. History
does not improve man as far as taking away or dealing with or
curing the matter of sin. We can learn from history, and
we hope we do. They say, what is that saying, those who don't
Learn from history are destined to repeat it. Well, that's what
we do. Anyway, even when we learn from but history will not cure
sin Won't do it And they hadn't learned the lesson verse and
that's why they didn't come to repentance. Look at verse 10
They're not humbled even unto this day neither have they feared
nor walked in my law nor in my statues That I set before you
and before your fathers. That's no repentance. I and then from verse eleven to
verse fourteen god issues forth having brought these charges
he issues forth the punishment punishment from god look at verse
eleven therefore thus saith the lord of hosts the god of israel
behold i will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all
judah now you know that's not talking about god being evil
or God committing sin. The evil that he's speaking of
is what we, from our viewpoint, see as evil. And that's the punishment
of sin. Man, by nature, sees that as
evil. But you know what it is? It's justice. God is a just God. He says, I'll take that remnant
that I left in Jerusalem, that went into Egypt, and I'll make
them an astonishment before the whole world and a curse and a
reproach. And he says, they'll die. Verse
14, the last line for none shall return, but such as shall escape. I'm not sure what he's talking
about there that who shall escape, but it may be talking about the
future when they came back out of the captivity of Babylon.
He says, none of these in Egypt are going to return, but there
will be some return. We know why that is. It's because
God providentially had determined that the scepter still would
not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. His whole purpose in keeping
this rebel bunch together was to bring the Lord Jesus Christ
into the world to save his people from their sin. Now that is a
bright spot in this whole dark background, isn't it? It is. Well, from verse 15 to verse
19, He brings a strong indictment against the women of Judah. He
says, then all the men, which knew that their wives had burned
incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by,
a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land
of Egypt, in Pethros, answered Jeremiah, these men knew that
their wives were burning incense to other gods, but they didn't
stop them. They weren't the spiritual leaders
of their homes. They allowed their women to make
their religion a religion of self-righteousness and sentimentality. And that's what happened. And
listen, this didn't let the men off the hook now. When Adam blamed
Eve, it didn't let him off the hook, did it? In fact, it's a stronger indictment
against the man. He says in verse 16, as for the
word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we
will not hearken unto thee. Now, are we better than they?
No and no wise. That's us by nature. If left
to ourselves, isn't that right? Verse 17, but we will certainly
do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth. We're going
to do what we want to do. To burn incense unto the queen
of heaven. Some people say that's talking about the moon or an
Egyptian goddess. We don't know, but it's an idol.
It doesn't matter what you call it or how you shape it or form
it. All religion without Christ is
idolatry. You believe that? Somebody says,
well, we're just all worshiping the same God. We're just going
different ways. No, no, no. All religion without Christ. The true Christ, not a counterfeit,
all religion without the true Christ is idolatry. Listen, if I didn't believe that,
I wouldn't be up here preaching to you. I wouldn't be here pastoring
this church. He said to pour out drink offerings
to her, all of these things, thanking her for the food. From
verse 20 to the end of the chapter, his God's pronouncement of judgment
says, Jeremiah the prophet said unto all the people, verse 20,
the men and to the women and to all the people which had given
him that answer saying, and then what answer? We will not serve
God. We'll do what we want to do.
And he says, the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah
and the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings,
your princes, the people of the land. You see, this is widespread.
This, you know, all have sinned. What, what, what Brother Terry
Reed? And Romans 3, all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. There's no exemptions here. That's the amazing thing
about it. As far as the natural state of
man. He says in verse 23, because
you've burned incense, because you've sinned against the Lord,
not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in his law, nor in
his statutes, nor in his testimony. Therefore, this evil has happened
unto you at this day. This is because of sin. This
is judgment because of sin. Look down at verse 26. It says,
Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah, that dwell
in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by my great
name. Now boy, when God makes a statement
like that, you know what He's saying? He's saying He's engaged
His reputation behind what He's about to say. His reputation. And He will not He will not devalue
or diminish or corrupt or blemish his reputation. God will glorify
himself. And he says, I've sworn my great
name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in
the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying,
the Lord God livid. Don't you even speak my name.
That's what he said. What a judgment. Somebody says,
well anybody can pray, not these folks. Don't you even say the
Lord God of heaven. He said, look at verse 27, behold,
I will watch over them for evil and not for good. God's going
to watch over them, but to punish them, not to do them good. And all the men of Judah that
are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword, the
famine, until there be an end of them. Sin's gonna make an
end of them. James talked about that. When sin is finished, brings
death. You see, that's, are we better
than they? No and no wise. That's why we need Christ. He
made an end of sin for his people. And he says, yet a small number
that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt
into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah that are
gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose
word shall stand, mine or theirs. Now, who's going to have the
last word, God or me? God or you? Whose word's going
to be true? God's word. And look at verse
29. This shall be a sign unto you,
saith the Lord. that I will punish you in this
place, that you may know that my word shall surely stand against
you for evil. Thus saith the Lord, behold,
I'll give Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his
enemies. Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon's going to destroy Egypt, conquer
Egypt. You see, the people of Judah that are there, they went
there because they wanted to be protected from Babylon. God
says, I'm going to give him over to his enemies. And in the hand
of them that seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah, that was the
last king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king
of Babylon, his enemy, that sought his life. There's the conclusion to Jeremiah's
message. Turn with me to Romans chapter
3. Now there it is. There's man
in his sin. Man fallen in Adam, ruined, ruined. Man dead in trespasses and sin. Man left to himself, to his own
will. What'd they say? We're going
to do what comes out of our mouth, not what comes out of God's.
That's man by nature, isn't it? What's sad and tragic sometimes
is that many think, well, what comes out of their mouth is the
word of God, but it's not. It never is. You see, the word
of God has to be revealed to man. Doesn't come natural, not
the word of salvation. But when we look at the whole
history of this, and you know, we study quite a bit in the Old
Testament, many passages, and we never, not one time do we
find a ray of light or hope that's found as original or perpetuated
by man. If there's any ray of light or
hope, it's always original with God and perpetuated by God. Isn't that right? It's never
with man. In other words, there's not one
passage of scripture from Genesis to Revelation where any human
being born of Adam rises up above the crowd and can say honestly,
well, I'm not like those people. I'm better than them. And therefore,
God's going to bless me. It doesn't happen. It's not there. You can say that from the best
of them to the worst of them. When the Apostle Paul was inspired
by the Holy Spirit to write this, what he was doing from Romans
chapter 1, look over there first. Remember he said in Romans 1
verse 16. Now listen to what he's doing
here. He says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, the
good news of Jesus Christ. the person of Christ, the work
of Christ. He'd already defined it back there in Romans 1-5 talking
about the glorious person of Christ. Who is Jesus Christ?
He's God in human flesh. He's Emmanuel, God with us. That's
the kind of person that it takes to save sinners like us. God-man. God could not die. You can't kill God. I know people
say in this mysterious way that God died on the cross. The God-man
died. But you can't kill God. He's
life. But this person who is God did
die. Now I can't explain that to you
and I'm not gonna try to attempt it and I'm not gonna poeticize
it or theologize it or any other thing. I'm just gonna tell you
what it is. There it is. Man cannot create life or sustain
life. He can't do it. But this person
who is perfect man has created life and does sustain life. He
gives life. And then it speaks of his work
of redemption, which was capped off by the evidence of his resurrection
so that we know that he accomplished what he set out to do on the
cross of Calvary. He didn't try to save anybody.
He didn't make man savable by his work on the cross. But he
saved his people from their sins. And that's the gospel of Christ,
verse 16, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, talking about in time, and then
to the Greek or the Gentile also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, that is written, the just
shall live by faith. Now, why do I need the righteousness
of God? First of all, what is the righteousness
of God? It's the work of Christ. On behalf
of his people, in obeying the law unto death to put away our
sins. That's the righteousness of God.
It's perfect satisfaction to God's justice performed, accomplished,
finished by the Lord Jesus Christ alone as the surety and substitute
of his people. Now, why do I need that? Tell
you why. Because I'm no better than that
bunch back there. Knowing no lies. Were they righteous? Well, read about them again.
We read through several verses there, didn't we? I didn't hear
one word that says this is a righteous people. Were they holy? In the sense of being sinlessly
perfect? No. Were they obedient? Were they
even trying? No. In fact, they said, we won't
do what God wants. We'll do what we want. Are we better than they? No and
no wise. Well, what Paul does here, beginning
at verse 18 of Romans 1, he's like a lawyer, a prosecuting
attorney you might say, who's bringing charges against the
whole human race to show why we all by nature deserve eternal
death and damnation based on our best. Because it all falls
short. And he starts off with the world,
the Gentiles basically. And from Romans 1.18 to The last
of that chapter, he brings the Gentiles in guilty before God.
And then in chapter two, he begins with the Jews. Now the Jews would
say, well, now we're not Gentiles. We're better than those Gentiles.
Well, that's when he says, you're inexcusable, you who judge that
way. That's self-righteous judgment.
And from Romans two, All the way down to the end of that chapter,
he brings in the Jews guilty and deserving of condemnation
based on their best. And he asked this question in
chapter three, verse one, what advantage then did the Jew have?
Well, if the Jews are no better off than the Gentiles by nature,
And the Gentiles are no better off than the Jews by nature.
Then what advantage all this great history, you know, most
of the Old Testament that we read is the history of the Jews
under the old covenant, isn't it? You know, that ought to account
for something people might say, but no, listen, what advantage
did they have? Verse one, what profit is there
of circumcision? Now that's another way of saying
that would be what profit is there being a Jew? All right. Well, he says, verse two, much
in every way. Chiefly, he said there was some
prophet in this sense, chiefly because that under them were
committed the oracles of God. God revealed his word through
the prophets to be preached to them. They had Jeremiah. They sat under
Jeremiah's preaching. They had men like Isaiah. And
you can go all the way back. He says, well, what if some,
verse three, look at chapter three. What if some did not believe?
Well, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Now, we know from the history and from the recorded commentary
in the New Testament that the vast majority of them down through
their history did not believe. But now God promised a lot of
things. through the Jewish nation. Now
he did. Now you remember back there in
Jeremiah 44 in verse eight when he says, and that you might be
a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth.
Well, didn't God promise Abraham over a thousand years before
this, more than a thousand, in Genesis chapter 12, that in thee
shall all nations be blessed. Well, here, the last message
of Jeremiah, the last message just before the whole, you know,
after Jerusalem and the whole country had been brought to desolation,
he said, you're a curse and a reproach among all nations. Now, how do
you jive that? Did God fail? Did God mess up? Did God not
foresee the obstacles? Or does God not have the power
to overcome the hindrances? Or is God just playing some kind
of a cosmic joke on all of us and, you know, it's, you know,
it just didn't work, fellas. We'll try something else maybe
later on. I don't, is that what happened? Look back at Romans
three, verse four answers the question. God forbid. Is God, listen, is the faithfulness
of God without effect, is the word of God without effect, God
forbid, yea, let God be true and every man a liar. That's
the way it is. God never lies. God never fails. He says, as it's written that
thou mightest be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome
when thou art judged. Whatever God did, it was well
within his purpose and his plan, and it was well within his justice. Is God ever unfair? No. Is God
ever unjust? No. Is God ever unreasonable?
No. We're all of that stuff. And he says in verse 5, But if
our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall
we say? That's spoken in light of the common way of thinking
that man thinks, you see. God was all this time, and here,
this is mind-boggling now, and you can't figure this out, and
I can't figure this out, but it's so. Here all this rebellion,
we read it in Jeremiah, all this sin, all this idolatry, and God
is still working all things after the counsel of his own will.
And he's doing it in a way that he cannot be accused of sin and
evil. Now you go figure that one out
and come back to me when you got it figured. You'll never
make it. You'll die first and I will. It just won't happen. You see,
our thoughts are not God's thoughts. Our ways are not his ways. Paul
says here, well, I speak as a man. Verse six, God forbid, for then
how shall God judge the world? God's gonna judge this world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained and that
he has given assurance unto all men and that he has raised him
from the dead. He's gonna judge this world by the standard of
Jesus Christ. All who do not measure up shall
be damned. That's so, isn't it? You say,
well, preacher, how can I measure up to him? There's not but one
way. And that's by standing before
God in him, having been washed in his blood and having his righteousness
imputed to charge to verse seven, for if the truth of God has more
bounded through my line to his glory, why yet am I also judged
as a center and not rather as we be slanderous reported. And
as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come
whose damnation is just. You see, that's man's reasoning,
and it's wrong. And he says, well, what then? Are we better
than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, both
Jew and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. They all deserve
damnation. And then he goes to describe
it. None righteous, no, not one. The best and the worst. There's
none who have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. Religious, irreligious, moral
and immoral. There's none that understand
it. What is it we don't understand? Well, we don't understand the
holiness of God by nature. How holy and how righteous God
is. We don't understand the sinfulness
of man by nature. We all think we're better than
we are. It's just like I've summarized
it in the Words that a man down south told me. He said, I'm not
perfect, but he said, I've never done anything to deserve hell.
You don't understand. You don't understand who you
are in the sight of God. He says, there's none that seeketh
after God. And you know, I always tell you,
don't read that with the accept me syndrome. Are we better than they know
and know why? By nature, man will not seek
after the true and living God. Brother Henry used to say it
this way, there's none that seek after, it doesn't say there's
none that seek after a God. He says there's none that seek
after the God, the true and living God. Verse 12, they all gone
out of the way. What's the way? That's the way
of God's grace in Christ. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Man by nature knows nothing of
that way. That's what it means to be lost. They're together
become unprofitable. Here's those folks down in Egypt,
they think they're profiting. Not so. God's going to destroy
Egypt. He's going to destroy every hope,
every refuge, every security, except that which a sinner finds
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only refuge. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. Do you see that? What's
he talking about? Does that mean that there's nobody
in this earth who's charitable, who gives to the poor, who helps
the needy, who visits the... No. It means there's none good
according to God's standard of goodness. God's standard's high. And he goes on. He says, well,
we know that what, verse 19, what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped, What he's talking about there is stop trying to
justify ourselves. Stop trying to defend ourselves.
We have no defense. I'm a sinner. That Pharisee,
he had a defense. He said, I thank God I'm not
like other men. I'm better than them. I do this, I do that. I don't do this, don't do that.
That publican had no defense. He just said, God be merciful
to me, the center. That's all I've got. All I can
say, I'm the, I'm a center. I need mercy. That's it. Shut
your mouth. He says that all the world might
become guilty before God. And therefore here's the conclusion
by deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
side, in God's side for by the laws, the knowledge of sin. So
are we better than they know? in no wise. Well, he goes on
in Romans 3. We won't go further in that verse.
I want to go to one more and then I'll conclude with that.
But he goes on to show how God saves sinners. And it's by his
free, sovereign mercy and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. It
has nothing to do with who I am or what I do. It's all who God
is and what he does. That's what salvation is all
about. I know that's tough for the natural man. It's impossible
for the natural man to receive. Everything that we have in salvation,
eternal life, forgiveness, righteousness, and the certainty of glory is
freely, freely, freely given in Christ. It's not without cost
because it must be based on righteousness, justice satisfied. But Christ
paid the cost, not you, not me. We don't even empower it or enact
it or apply it. It's all of God in Christ. But go over to Galatians 3. And
let me conclude with this. Now, remember what he said back
there in chapter 44, verse 8. I told you we'd come back there.
He says, this is the judgment of God against them that they
might be a curse. and a reproach among all the
nations of the earth." But over in Genesis chapter 12, he told
Abraham, he said, in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed,
all families of the earth be blessed. How is that going to
be fulfilled? How is that going to be fulfilled
when you consider the sin and the rebellion and the judgment
of God against the nation Israel? Well, here's how. Look at verse
8 of Galatians 3. We won't read the whole passage. Well look at verse seven, he
says, know you therefore that they which are of faith, the
same are the children of Abraham. Now, what is it to be a faith?
It's to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope of salvation,
your only salvation. It's to plead his blood for the
forgiveness of all my sins. It's to plead his righteousness
alone for my complete justification before God, nothing else. That's
to be of faith. Faith is the gift of God. It's
to be saved by the grace of God and to be given the gift of faith,
to believe. And those who believe in Christ,
he says, the same are the children of Abraham. Now, is that, did
y'all read that the same way I'm reading it? I mean, why argue
about that? There it is. If you believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, he says you're a child of Abraham. Now,
I don't think anybody, maybe one or two of you, I don't know,
but I don't think any of us have any physical connection to Abraham. I know I don't. Well, I really
got to say, I'm not sure, but I don't think I am. I wouldn't
care, wouldn't mind, it doesn't bother me either way. But we
don't have any physical connection to Abraham. So what kind of connections
he talking about that makes me a child of Abraham? He's talking
about a spiritual child of Abraham. The spiritual seed of Abraham,
a spiritual nation, a spiritual child of God. How do you know
who the, who the citizens of this family, the members of this
family, the citizens of this spiritual nation, they which
are of faith. And it's not just believing,
it's believing in Christ, it's believing God, it's resting in
Christ as the author and finisher of our faith, you see. So he
says in the scripture, verse 8, foreseeing that God would
justify who? Who is that now? The heathen.
Now what are the heathen? Well, that was a common way for
the Jews to refer to the Gentiles. You heathens? That's what it
was like. And that's what he's saying.
However, a sinner is justified, Jew or Gentile, it's through
faith. And what he's saying here is
that it comes through Christ. It's not our believing that justifies,
it's Christ in whom we believe that justifies us. Preach before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. Now, how are all nations going to be blessed through Abraham?
By sending Christ into the world. The all nations were not going
to be blessed by the obedience of the Jewish nation because
they didn't obey. However, in spite of that, God
kept them together until what? Until the time of reformation,
Hebrews chapter nine. What is the time of reformation?
You see John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther weren't
even around at that time. What was that time of reformation?
It was the coming of Christ into the world. where he fulfilled
the old covenant types, pictures, and law, and abolished it by
way of fulfillment, and he brought in a new and living way, Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 19, which he hath consecrated, he newly made
it, you didn't make it, I didn't make it, he made it, whereby
we have right and title to come into the very holiest of all
by the blood of Jesus. And he did it by the shedding
of his blood. Verse nine, so then they which be of faith are
blessed with faithful Abraham. And he says in verse 10, for
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
That's what was wrong with Israel back in Jeremiah's day. That's
what's wrong with man by nature. Trying to be saved by works.
What does that mean? It means you're under a curse.
Why? Well, it's written, cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things, which are written
in the book of the law to do them. In other words, if you're
going to be saved, justified, accepted, righteous, holy by
your law keeping, then you've got it all to do. There can be
no sin. There can be no transgression,
no trespass, no breach of the law. I mean, it has to be absolute
white perfection. Or else the curse. So verse 11,
well, that's the case. You know, just like the fellow
asked me one time at lunch, he said, well, nobody can do that.
Well, here's verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law
on the side of God. You're right. Nobody can do that.
No man can do that. No woman can do that. Somebody
did, but no man is justified in by the law on the side of
God. It's evident. That's evident. for the just
shall live by faith. What is it to live by faith?
Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
the law is not a faith. The law doesn't say believe.
The law says do. Do and live, disobey and die.
But the man that doeth them shall live in them. In other words,
if that's what you're going to do, you've got to live by it.
But Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now that's
how all nations will be blessed. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation whom Christ redeemed from the
curse of the law. How did he do it? He was made
a curse for us. He came under the curse. The
sins of his people, his sheep, his church, God's elect, were
charged, imputed to him. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that hanketh on a tree. Look at verse 14. That the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.
There's how it is. You see, it's not through the
obedience or disobedience of the Jews. It's through the coming
of Christ who came through that nation that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. What is the promise of
the Spirit? Well, that's the new heart. That's
the new spirit. That's new life. That does what? That brings a sinner to Jesus
Christ and submits him to Christ. brings
him to repentance from dead works and idolatry. Now, are we any
better than they? No, in no wise. But you know
what? The kind of people whom God chose,
that's the kind of people he saves. That's the kind of people
he blesses with faithful Abraham by bringing us to Christ. All
right.