Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 46. Hymn number 46. Oh, for a thousand tongues to
sing my great Redeemer's praise, The glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of His grace. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name. Jesus, the name that charms our
fears, that bids our sorrows cease, tis music in the sinner's
ear. He breaks the power of canceled
sin He sets the prisoner free His blood can make a phallus
clean His blood of hell for me Hear Him, ye deaf, his praise
ye dumb, Your loosened tongues employ, Ye blind, behold your
Saviour come, And leap, ye lame, for joy. For aid to God and praise
and love be ever, ever giv'n By saints below and saints above
The church in earth and heaven They say it will sing hymn number
117. 117. For our transgressions He bore
our sins In His body on the tree For our guilt He gave us peace
From our bondage gave relief And with his stripes our souls
are healed. He was numbered among transgressors. We did esteem him forsaken by
his God. As our sacrifice he died, let
the law be satisfied. And all our sin, and all our
sin, and all our sin was laid on Him. We had wandered, we all had wandered
Far from the fold of the shepherd of the sheep But he sought us
where we were On the mountains big and bare And brought us far And brought a safety call to
God. Who can cover this generation? Who shall declare all the triumphs
of His throne? again. Periods follow in this
train. Victorious Lord. Romans chapter 4. Start reading at verse 8 down
to verse 17. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. comes this blessedness then upon
the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When
he was circumcision or uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had, yet being
uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that
believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also. and the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet
uncircumcised. 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. For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh
wrath. Where no law is, there is no
transgression. Therefore it is of 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 which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him of whom he believed,
God, who quickens the dead and calleth those things which be
not as though they were. Our blessed, oh, our blessed,
blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, what a blessing
it is, what a privilege it is to be able to come into the presence
of a thrice holy God, to come into the presence, the chamber
room, behind the veil, into the very presence of the holiest
of holies, where the blood's already been shed, The blood's
obtained eternal redemption for us. You opened this way for us
through the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's always new, and it's
always open, and we bless you for that. And Lord, we've gathered
out this evening to worship the Lord our God, to worship his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, I pray that I would
be a blessing to those that's gathered out, that they'd be
a blessing to me, that we would be, share our mutual faith as
we preach tonight, teach from your precious word, that it would
help them in their faith and help me in my faith, and help
us to bring glory, most of all, to your holy name. We have people
that have great troubles, great trials, great afflictions right
now in their life, very troubled, and so, Lord, we pray For them,
you know who they are and you know what's going on in their
lives. So we ask for your mercies, for your grace. You said it was
always sufficient, always sufficient. And you said all things, all
things work together for good to them that love God and are
called according to his purpose. And Lord, we believe we are called
according to your purpose. and we know that we love God
because you first loved us. Please bring glory to yourself
tonight. Enable me to speak, enable the
hearers to hear. We ask these things in our blessed
Savior's name. Amen. Amen. Hymn number 205. 205. Free from the law, happy condition,
Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law
and bruised by the fall, grace hath redeemed us all. Sinnery secret, once for all
Brother, believe me, into the cross the burden will fall Christ
hath redeemed us, once for all Now are we free, there's no condemnation
Jesus provides a perfect salvation Come unto me, O near His feet
go Come and He saves us, once for all Once for all, sinner
is saved Once for all, I'd rather believe we cling to
the cross, the burden will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling,
Surely His grace will keep us from falling. Passing from death
to life at His call, Blessed salvation once for all. For all the sinner receive it
For it's for all the brother believing I'll bring to the cross
the burdened will fall Christ hath redeemed us I want to talk tonight the only
way of righteousness, the only way of righteousness. I read
from verse 8 down to verse 17, the apostle has shown us that
righteousness is apart from the law and is apart from works. And yet this righteousness, which
is by faith, is witnessed by the law and the prophets. And
Abraham has been justified before the law, and that justification
is free. Justification is free. Then this
free justification, what he asks us here, is this for the Jews
only, since Abraham is the father of the Jews? But look what he
says here in verse 8, Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Then he asks this question, Does
this blessedness come upon the circumcision only? Does it only
come upon the Jews? Is that the only people this
blessedness comes upon? Upon the circumcision? Or upon
the uncircumcision also? Which one is it? But we say that
faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. So the blessing
of God not imputing sin to some It's not for the Jews only, but
it's also for Gentiles, too. Abraham believed God, and God
said, You're a righteous man. You're a righteous man. Now,
let me say something right there. Most folks, they understand that
they believe that faith, when Abraham believed God, that that's
when God saved him, or God reckoned him righteous. But now a man
can't believe unless he's regenerated. So God, when He called Abraham
to go out, Abraham had to be regenerated. and who could regenerate
him but God only. When Abraham was called to go
out, he didn't know where in the world he was going, but he
went. Where did he get the power to go? Same way you and I got
the power to believe, the power to be regenerated. God did it. Now I want you to understand
that. Abraham didn't become a saved man when he believed. He believed
just like we do because we're saved. salvation, and the new
birth becomes before faith. And so when Abraham believed
God, he was already regenerated, and the reason he believed God
is because God had saved him. And oh, the answer then, how
was it then reckoned? Verse 10, How was it then reckoned? Was he in circumcision or uncircumcision? Well, he certainly was in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. You know if righteousness, how
was he reckoned? Before or after he was circumcised. If righteousness is IMPUTED to
him before circumcision, then it tells us, and circumcision
is, and we'll get to it in a minute, what it REPRESENTS and what it
MEANS to the Jews. If righteousness is imputed to
him before circumcision, then circumcision can t be the CAUSE
or the NECESSARY for his justification. It can t be at all if that s
what it is. And then, oh my, he asked this
question, How then was it reckoned? How was it reckoned? And then
he received the sign. Look there in verse 11, he received
the sign. of circumcision to seal the righteousness
of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he
might be the father of all them that believed, though he be not
circumcised." Now, I want you to look with me in Genesis chapter
17. Look over here in Genesis 17.
We need to understand what this circumcision is all about because
the Jews, they really trusted in it. They made a sign that
God gave Abraham and gave to his people. They made that to
be their whole salvation. They made that to be their whole
salvation. You remember when Paul and Barnabas, you know,
down there in the canyon, and the Jews come in there and told
the Gentiles, EXCEPT YOU BE CIRCUMCISED AND KEEP THE LAW OF MOSES, YOU
CAN'T BE SAVED. Now, they taught that, they was
teaching that, and they wanted people to believe that. And there's
people that when you get into legalism and you get into works,
that's EXACTLY the same thing. You've got to meet some kind
of requirement before you can be saved. But look what he said
here in Genesis chapter 17, look at verse 1, let me read a couple
things to you. And when Abram was ninety years
old and nine, ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram,
said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me, and be thou
perfect, or be upright, and I will make my covenant between me and
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on
his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold,
my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many
nations. That s the first time God told
that to him. And he says, Now you re not going to be called
no more Abram, you re going to be called Abraham, because that
word Abraham means the father of many nations. Now look down
here in verse 9, And God said unto Abraham, thou
shalt keep my covenant. Therefore thou and thy seed after
then their generations. God said, I'm going to establish
my covenant with you. I'm going to establish it with
you. And this is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me
and you, and thy seed after thee. And every man shall be circumcised,
and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall
be a token," You listen to this, a token of the covenant between
me and you, a sign, a seal, a token. And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every man child in his own generation,
that he is born in the house or bought with money of a stranger. And then he goes, he that is
born in thy house, he's bought with our money, must need to
be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in your
flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man whose
flesh in his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall
be cut off from his people. He hath broken the covenant.
Now look down in verse 24. Now, he's already been justified,
he's already a righteous man, and it was faith that justified
him. It was God reckoned him to be a just man and called him
a righteous man because he believed God. And Abraham was ninety-nine
years old and nine when he was circumcised in the flesh of his
foreskin. Ishmael, his son, was thirteen
years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. So you see, it was as a TOKEN,
it was a SIGN. So Abraham already HAD righteousness
ALREADY, so what they had was they had this seal, God made
a covenant between them. I want my people Israel to be
different than any other nation out there in the world. I want
them to be different, and this is what s going to make them
different. Well, then he says, What then is the ADVANTAGE of
circumcision? That s what they want to know.
What s the ADVANTAGE of circumcision? If the RITUAL, and that s what
it is, is a RITUAL, DOES NOT CONFER RIGHTEOUSNESS OR CAUSE
GOD TO COUNT YOU RIGHTEOUS, WHAT IN THE WORLD DID IT ACCOMPLISH?
WHAT DID CIRCUMCISION ACCOMPLISH? HUH? WELL, IT DIDN'T CONFER RIGHTEOUSNESS
UPON ANYBODY, AND IT STILL NEVER CONFERS RIGHTEOUSNESS UPON ANYBODY,
BUT IT CONFIRMS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT GOD ALREADY GIVES ABRAHAM,
YOU KNOW, AND IT'S JUST A SEAL, IT'S LIKE A RING, A RING ring
doesn't make you married, it's a token, it's a seal. You know
what makes you married? Love in your heart, a covenant
of a heart. But you get a ring as a token
of your relationship, and that's what circumcision was, as a token
of his relationship with God when he ALREADY had faith, already
had faith. And oh my, it bore witness this
circumcision did to ALREADY existing righteousness, and God setting
apart His covenant people against all other nations. So He already
had righteousness by faith. And I ll tell you something else
about this circumcision. You know, it was also a typical
sign of the Lord Jesus Christ shedding His blood to cleanse
us from all our sins, And you know what the real circumcision
is that God performs? And He did this for Abraham before
Abraham was given this covenant of circumcision? It s God taking
the heart, and that s what needs to be circumcised. The heart
needs to be cleansed. The heart needs to be the filth
taken away from you. The heart has to be, this business
of salvation is a HARD WORK! is something that God has to
do inside a man, and we all was born with filthy hearts. We was
born with a black heart. We was born with a heart that
was against God and against Christ, and Christ, when He shed His
blood, just like when they circumcised us, Christ shed His blood. He
washed away our sins, and now He uncircumcised our heart. Let
me show you what, look over in Philippians chapter three. I
just thought of this. Let me show you something over here
in Philippians chapter 3. You know, and circumcision is
of the heart, it's not of the flesh. Circumcision profits nothing,
or uncircumcision profits nothing but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Watch what He said here in verse
3, Philippians chapter 3 and verse 3. We are the circumcision. which worship God in the Spirit,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh." Where did we get that circumcision at? Christ did it,
that I might also have confidence in the flesh. You know, that
we worship, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. So that's what we're talking
about. You know, it was a seal to Abraham. And it says there
that he should be the father, father of many nations, that
be the father of many nations. Ain t that what he said there
in verse 17 of Romans 4? I ve made thee a father of many
nations. And oh my, and you know here
s the thing, that when He made Him the Father of many nations,
in a spiritual sense, and the righteousness which He had by
faith, that it's gonna come upon all those that are believers,
Jew or Gentile, and we all walk by faith. We have no, you know,
we're justified by faith. And that's the way Abraham was.
Circumcision didn't enter into it. But look what it says down
here in verse 23 and 22, 23 and 24. that it was imputed to him for
righteous. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it would
be imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed. Now listen to this, if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord, then oh my. Now go back over here in verse
12 now, verse 12. And look what he says, and he's
the father of those that believe, the circumcised, and them that
are not circumcised. It says there in verse 11, last
part of the verse, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And He s the Father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only. Now, I want you to get
this right here. But who also walk in the steps
of that faith of our father Abraham which he had, being yet uncircumcised. You know, he s the father to
all who believe, the father to all who believe, and we walk
in the steps of our father Abraham, and he shows us here that Abraham,
before he was ever circumcised, that he was a believer, and all
who will be saved will not be saved any other way than Abraham
was saved, because He s the Father of them that believe. He s the
Father of circumcision and uncircumcision. He s the Father, and when we
say walking in the footsteps of our Father, what in the world
does that mean? What does that mean? Let me show you if I can
find it over here, and look in Hebrews, I think it is Hebrews I believe it is, Hebrews chapter
8, let me see if that's right. No, chapter 11 verse 8, that's
what I'm wanting to go through. Excuse me, I'll get it right
in a minute. And this, we walk in the steps
of our father Abraham. And I'll tell you, Jews, you
know, there's only one way to be saved. he believes, and righteousness
is imputed. But look what he said here down
in verse 8, By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out
into a place which he should have to receive for an inheritance,
obeyed. He went out. Where are you going,
Abraham? God said, told me, Go that way.
And that s what God does. He said, Go that way. What way?
To He trusted Christ and that s
what we do, we walk by the faith. God called us to go out and walk
by faith like Abraham did. Now watch what else he said here,
And by faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a
strange country. And then we're going through
this world as a pilgrim, journeying through this world, and we're
in a strange country. And they dwelled in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
And look this now, for he looked for a city which has foundation,
whose builder and maker is God. Now we do all that. We do all
of that. We do that. Now back over in
Romans four with me. And oh my, so we walk in the
steps of our father Abraham, he had before he was uncircumcised,
while he was yet uncircumcised. Now watch this, he had a promise,
God gave him a promise. And I tell you this, it's a representative
righteousness he's talking about now. He had his own personal
righteousness, we got our righteousness that Christ gave to us and made
us righteous in Him. For the promise, now this promise
now, is that he should be heir of the world. And oh, the meaning
of the word promise here doesn t refer to righteousness by faith,
it s the promise that he would be heir of the world. Heir of
the world. Now, this world and the world
to come, that s what he s going to be heir of. Abraham and all
believers are heir of all things in Christ. Now look with me in
1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. This is what he's talking about. This is what he's talking about. Look down in verse 21. 1 Corinthians
3, 21. So his promise he had that he
was going to be, you know, we read it over there, it said,
you know, you're going to be heir of the world, I'm going
to make you inherit the whole world. He said in verse 21, Therefore
let no man glory in men. What's there to glory in men?
What's man ever done? What's man ever done? What's
he ever accomplished but sin? What's he ever done but go against
God? Let no man glory in men, for
all things are yours. Listen to this, whether it's
Paul, whether it's Apollos, whether it's Cephas, whatever preacher
it is, it's yours, God gave them for you. Or the world and everything
in this world, God has this world for His people. Whether it's
life, if He gives you life, or death, or things present, or
things to come, everything that God has in this world is strictly
for you. He uses wicked men to provide
for His people. And I know you have to go in
the world to get a job, and listen to this. Now, this is the kicker.
This is what it all boils down to, and you re Christ. You know
why everything s yours? Because everything belongs to
Christ. He s the one sitting on the throne.
He s got all the power. He s got all the authority. He
runs everything. He s got all the power. He s
got all the glory. And you re Christ, You belong
to Christ, that's why everything belongs to you, because everything
belongs to Him. And Christ is God's, He's God's,
and oh my, so He's made heir of the world, and we are too.
You know the scriptures, and look what it goes on to say here
in verse 13. For the promise that He should
be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed, Well,
it didn't come through the law when He talked about His seed,
but through the righteousness of faith. Now, what is the seed
that He's talking about? Huh? What is the seed? He's the
covenant, and all its promises and references to spiritual blessings
was established in Christ, who was Abraham's seed. Now, you
keep Romans 4 and look in Galatians chapter 3. Get in Galatians with
me, chapter three and verse 16, talking about seed, Abraham's
seed. You know, all these spiritual
blessings were established in Christ who was Abraham's seed. Look what it says here now. In verse 16. Now to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as
of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. So we heirs, we're heirs of God,
joined heirs through Jesus Christ. Abraham has inherited the world.
How? Through Christ. How do we inherit the world?
We're joined heirs with Christ. We're going to inherit with Christ.
That's what it's telling us about. And then he said here in verse
13, this promise was not through the law. The law couldn't give
a promise, but through the righteousness of faith. There's no law, Moses'
ceremonial rituals, but only faith in Christ. I hope you're
still in Galatians, because there's some more things you need to
look at talking about the law, righteousness by faith and not
the law. Look what he said in verse 21 of Galatians 3. Is the law then against the promises
of God? That s the first thing he asked.
Is God s law, God s rituals, God s ceremonies, His circumcision
and all the things that Moses taught, is the law against the
promises of God? God forbid! For if there had
been a law given, which hath given life, righteousness should
have been by the law. But, but the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, now listen to this, that the promise by faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. The promise
of what? Christ. That promise by faith. Abraham
had one seed, and that seed was Christ. How in the world is he
going to be blessed to be the father of many nations unless
it s through the Lord Jesus Christ? Abraham didn t have enough children.
He didn t buy himself all related to Him. But I tell you, the only
people, the ONLY people that God said He s going to bless
people through is through Christ, the PROMISE by faith of Jesus
Christ. To who? Them that believe. Them
that believe. Oh, my! And I tell you, CHRIST
is the end of the law. It s only by faith in Christ
is the promise given. That s the only way it CAN be.
Oh, my, look down in verse 14. You know, the promise came through
faith, that the righteousness is through faith. In verse 14
it says here, For if they which are of the law be heirs, Now
listen to it. If they which are of the law
be heirs. Now I was reading, let me tell you something. I
believe it's in Mark, it's going to be in Mark 11, where they
talk to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ spoke to them in parables
and He said this, He said, A man built a tower I best sent him
a vineyard, put a big wine vat in it, and he sent people over
it. And he said, now I'm going to send one of my servants to
go and get what belongs to me. Well, they stoned him, run him
off. And they said, I'll send another
one. They mistreated him and sent him off. And so, and he's
talking about, and finally they said, well, I'll tell you what,
I'll send my beloved son. I'll send my beloved son. Surely,
surely they'll give what's mine. And what they do, the scripture
says they took him and they killed him. They killed him. They killed
His son, and now WE, they killed Him, He's the heir of all things,
and now WE will be the heir, WE'LL be the inheritance! And
that's EXACTLY what the Jews did with Christ! They wanted
to be heirs! They thought Jews were the only
people to be the heirs of God's promise! but the promise is by
faith in Jesus Christ, and everything, every promise we have ever been
given from the time of Genesis to the end of Revelation, every
promise that God ever made to anybody came through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know why the only reason
we're gonna inherit anything? It's through Jesus Christ. This
world belongs to Him, that's why it belongs to us. God said,
I give everything into the hands of my beloved son. He'd given
all things into his hands. Whether you're alive or whether
you're dead, whether you're lost or whether you're not, everybody's
in the hands of Christ. And that's what he said, if they
which be of the law be heirs. And that's what they thought
they was. They said, we'll not have this man reign over us.
And oh, they killed the heirs, said, now we, we the ones got
the heirs now. But oh my, if the law, if they
which are of the law, verse 13, be heirs, faith is made void. You know what void means? That
means it don't have no power to it. You ever voided a check? Void it. And that's what he's
talking about, void it. And the promise made none effect.
Now I tell you what, if the blessings come by the law or through law,
two things have to happen. And faith, if a man goes to the
law to be saved, goes to works to be saved, goes to anything
in the world to be saved, and to be faith, then it becomes
void. Because you don't need faith,
you got law. You got works. So faith, you
don't need it. And then the promise is made
absolutely useless. Now, let me give you an illustration.
You talk about legalism. A lady was talking with a lady
yesterday afternoon, and she was talking about a former pastor
that they had, and said, You know, he would mix works with
grace. I don t know how you do it, but
he did. And he said we'd go home after he'd get through preaching
and we'd go home just crying, crying, crying, crying because
he put such pressure on us and put works on us in such an awful
way that we'd get home and we'd read the scriptures and we'd
start praying and we'd feel good again until we got back to church
and he put us under law again. So why do you need faith if you're
gonna be under law? Why do you need a promise if
you're gonna be under works? That's what he's talking about.
Legalism, legalism, and I'll tell you, legalism is anything
that you put in the place of Christ, you're making faith void,
you're making the promise useless. And that's what Paul meant when
he said, you've fallen from grace. You add anything to Christ, you
fall from grace. Grace and works do not mix. And
I tell you what, I need, listen, faith is by grace
through faith. Oh my, and I tell you what, And
I know preachers that do that business. I know preachers right
now that do that. They get up there and tell you,
you know, that, that we want to teach you how to love God.
You can't teach somebody how to love God. You can't teach
somebody faith. We can teach you the Bible. We
can teach you some things from the scriptures. But we can't teach a man how
to believe. We can't teach a man how to live.
We can only tell a man what Christ has done, and oh, my! But oh, my, look what He says
now, and this is what He says, and He goes on to say, Now, this
is what the law really does, because the law works wrath. For where no law is, there is
no transgression. What does that mean? You know why it s not by law? Because the law works wrath.
You know, the promise of eternal life and blessing comes through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my! You know, the law can
t work or earn a promise. The law works wrath. Now, what
does that mean? It means He makes God angry at
people. God's angry with the wicked every
day. He hates the workers of iniquity. He that believeth on
the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
of God, the wrath of God abides on him. The law, when you go
to the law, you know what it does? It makes God angry. He
said, You mean to tell me I put my son on the cross, I crucified
him, I shed his blood, I made him a sacrifice, a sin offering,
and you want to talk about that you're going to Go to something
else for your righteousness? That'd make God angry. Bypass
His Son? God's angry. And not only does
God make angry, but it makes the sinner, when you get law,
you get people under the law, it makes them mad at God. They
get angry with God. You know what they do? They get
so tired of trying to work out a peace and work out something
to get peace with God, and then the next thing you know, they're
mad at Him. They're angry. You're wanting too much out of
me, and I can't give it. I can't give it. Oh, my. And I tell you, the law, the
broken law brings the wrath of God upon men. And I tell you,
obedience to the law must be perfect. To attempt this, all
it'll do is produce God's anger on the worker. And I tell you,
God Almighty, you know, this is the heir, come let us kill
him. Let me tell you a true story. I know a young man, well, he's
not so young anymore, but he was young when this happened.
You know, they was, he never owned a gun in his life. This
fellow never owned a gun in his life, never wanted a gun. But
you know when he bought one? When the government and the people
start saying, we're going to outlaw that gun. We're not going
to let people buy that gun. We're going to outlaw it. He
said, I'm going to go buy one just because they told me that
they was going to quit making them. He never owned a gun in
his life. But because they're going to
outlaw it, that's what the law does. It makes you a rebel. You'll come out there. He went
and got a rifle and never owned one in his life. Just because
they said you couldn't, that's what the law does. It makes you
angry at the person who lays the law down. Do you understand what I'm saying? Oh, my. It's like that self-righteous
Pharisee. I thank thee, O Lord, that I'm
not like this fellow, that fellow, and that fellow. I pay tithes
with all I possess. Oh, my goodness. You know, God said, Oh, my. He said, he's a self-righteous
man. Then there's that man who beat on his chest and beat on
his breast. And he said, he went down to
his house, justified that other fella. God's angry with him. God's upset with him. That rich
young ruler come running and said, what must I do? Our Lord
gave him the law. He said, oh, I've done that ever
since I was a little boy. But he said, I'll tell you what
you got to do then. He said, I ain't going to do that. I'm
not going to do that. I'm not going to do what you
told me to do. I'm not going to do it. That's what the law
does. And then look what he says there. This is a mystery. I hope
I can make this understandable. Because the law worketh wrath,
for there is no law, there is no transgression. Do you reckon that if there isn't
any law, there really is no transgression? THERE WAS NO LAW IN GENESIS.
WHEN ADAM SINNED, THERE WAS NO LAW THERE. IF THERE IS NO LAW,
IS THERE NO SIN? AND GOD IS NOT ANGRY WITH ANYONE.
AND MAN IS NOT A SINNER. HE DOESN'T NEED RIGHTEOUSNESS. HE DOESN'T NEED RIGHTEOUSNESS
AT ALL. HE DOESN'T NEED IT. BUT OH MY! BUT THERE IS LAW. THAT'S WHY WE ARE ALL SINNED
AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. Now I love this right here. And I hope I can preach a little
on this Sunday night, maybe. The proof of the promise, look
what it is, what it says there. Therefore it is a faith. What's a faith? Righteousness
is a faith. The promises, look what it is.
It is a faith, now listen to this, because it's by grace. Grace and faith go together.
If you know the reason you have faith is because of grace. Faith
is because of grace. That's what he's saying here.
There's no other way through faith except salvation by grace. If it's of works, it's not grace. And if it's of grace, it's not
works. Since the law can't produce nothing but wrath, righteousness
must be by faith and by grace. Salvation s a gift! It s of grace! Oh, my! And here to the end,
this is the goal of it. This is the goal of it. To the
end than promise might be sure to all the seed. How can it be
sure to all the seed? How can it? How can it? because it s by grace. That s what makes it sure. Faith
is sure because of grace. The promise is sure because of
grace. Oh, the only way for salvation
to be sure and certain and the promise of eternal life for Jew
or Gentile or anybody else is for the whole WORK to be by the
grace of God as Abraham s And that s why He said to Abraham
that also which is of the FAITH of Abraham, he s the father of
all of us that believe. And then God made this wonderful,
wonderful promise, and He confirmed it. You know why God can make
a promise to Abraham? Because it s by grace, through
faith. He said, I have made thee a father
of many nations, many nations before him who believe. Even
God. Even God. You know, here's what's
sure. This is what's sure. This is
what's certain. Since it's a faith by grace,
many will believe. God promised. God promised. Our gospel, when we preach it,
is not in vain. And the promise is sure. Who's
it sure to? Is there in verse 16? The promise
might be sure to who? All the seed. All the seed. Now, let me show you something
about this seed. I hope I'm not taking too long.
Let me show you one thing and then I'm done. Romans chapter
nine. I believe that's where I wanna
go. Yeah. Look what he says, he said in verse 6, Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect, for there are not all
Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they the children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called, that is, they which are the children of the flesh, Ishmael. and all the people that God left
in the wilderness. These are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Children of promise. God promised
people, you know what he said? This is one of the promises God
gave to Christ. All that the Father giveth me,
what are you gonna do? You'll come to me. That's the
promise. Guess what? He said, Well, nobody
don t care what they do. They caught Abraham in three
lives. Abraham went down to Egypt, you
know, to get bread. He wasn t trusting God. He went
all the way down into Egypt. So he was a mess like the rest
of us are. But you know what the difference
in him and anybody else was? God said he s a righteous man, and that s all that matters.
What God says is so, no matter what we feel. Ain't that right? All right. Father, thank you for your great,
great, glorious gospel. Oh Lord, if it had anything to
do with us, anything to do with this flesh, anything to do with
this old fallen nature, It would be impossible for us to be believers,
but since it's by grace, and you give us this glorious faith,
and you count us as righteous because of the Lord Jesus Christ,
because he's that seed, and all the promises that you've given
us in him are yea and amen, and we thank you for it. Thank you
that we're the children of Abraham, whether we're the true descendants
of Abraham. We're children of promise. We're
children that was promised to our blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Christ has promised us everlasting
eternal life, promised to keep us, promised to uphold us, promised
to preserve us, promised to take us all the way home, Thank you
for the blessed promises in Christ Jesus our Lord, amen, amen. Standing on the promises, that
sounds like a good one. Standing on the promises, let's
sing that and then we'll sing a verse or two of it. Standing
on the promises, R-S-T. 175. Yep, okay, let's stand together
and sing that, 175. And then you'll be at liberty
to go. All right. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through the urgile ages of His praises ring. Glory to the Highest, I will
shout and sing, standing on the promises of God. ? Standing, standing ? Standing
on the promises of God, my Savior ? Standing, standing ? Standing
on the promises of God Just sing the verses and the chorus last.
? Standing on the promises that cannot fail ? ? When the howling
storms of doubt and fear assail ? ? By the living word of God
I shall prevail ? ? Standing on the promises of God ? Verse
three. ? Standing on the promises of
Christ the Lord ? ? Bound to Him eternally by strong, strong
cord ? ? Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword ? ? Standing
on the promises of God ? ? Standing on the promises I cannot fall
? ? Listening every moment to the Spirit's call ? ? Resting
on my Savior as my all in all ? ? Standing on the promises
of God ? ? Standing, standing ? Standing on the promises of
God my Savior ? Standing, standing ? I'm standing on the promises
of God See you Sunday, God willing. That was a good one to end on,
wasn't it? Yeah. You worry about taking too long, it ain't even
7 o'clock yet.