Let's all stand together. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Man of sorrows, what a name! For the Son of God who came,
ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, It is
finished was his pride, Now in heaven exalted high, Hallelujah,
what a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransom home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Hallelujah, what a Savior! Please be seated. It's good to have Andy with us
tonight from Lexington. And I forgot to mention Sunday
that Michael and Hugo, most of you I'm sure know this, will
be bringing the messages this coming Sunday here, and I'll
be in Crossville preaching at the conference up there. As I
know, several of you are going as well. But as the Lord enables
you to remember, to pray for us in the meeting up there. It
was like Logan told me before the service, he said, pray the
Lord will be pleased to meet with you all. If he doesn't,
it's all in vain. And that's true. That's true
right now. And that's our hope. So will you open your Bibles
with me for our scripture reading tonight to the book of Zachariah,
Zachariah next to the last of the old Testament prophets. And we'll begin reading in verse
six. Then he answered and spake unto me saying, this is the word
of the Lord. I'm so glad to be able to stand
before you tonight and say with great confidence, this is the
word of God. There's so many things in this
world that, that fall into the gray area. You know, things that
we're just not sure about. And when we stand to preach and
we stand, when we join together to worship, we don't have to
worry about all that. We're able to say with clarity
and simplicity, this is the word of the Lord. I was reading somebody
this past week and they made the statement, they said there's
one word There's one word that summarizes all of the Word of
God. It's not the word love. It's
not the word salvation. It's not the word redemption. It's the word Christ. Christ. He's the sum and the substance
of all the Word of God. So when we go to God's Word,
we're looking for Him. This is the word of the Lord
unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by
my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Not by your efforts, not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Now, Zerubbabel is a type of
Christ in this passage. Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying,
grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me saying, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house. His hands shall also finish it.
Thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you.
When God starts, he finishes. He laid the foundation in the
covenant of grace before time ever began, and he's going to
finish it in time and bring all of his elect to be with him in
glory. For who hath despised the day
of small things? We think about the redemptive
work of God. It's a glorious work. And yet, in any slice of time,
as is true right now, it doesn't seem like much. Seems like a
relatively small thing. Who shall despise the day of
small things? For they shall rejoice and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. With those seven,
they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through
the whole earth." He seeks out every one of his sheep. He knows
where they are. He's going to bring them to himself. Then answered
I and said unto him, what are these two olive trees upon the
right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered again and said unto him, what be these two olive
branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden
oil out of themselves? What do you think these two olive
trees represent? The whole of God's scripture.
the whole of the Word of God, the Old and the New Testament.
This is where the oil of gladness flows from into the gospel of
His grace. And He answered me and said,
knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no, my Lord. Then said He, these are the two
anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, We're thankful that we can come to this place and open
thy word and speak with confidence that this is the word of God.
Truly, Lord, if you don't meet with us, if your Holy Spirit
doesn't attend to your word and make it effectual to the hearts
of your people, then we won't be able to hear. We pray that
the oil of gladness would flow from thy word into our hearts,
and that the light of thy gospel would shine bright in the face
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would leave this place
crying, grace, grace unto it. For we ask it in Christ's name,
amen. Number 120 from the south back. My soul in darkness, death and
sin, was lost and all undone. I did not know my lost estate,
I could not see God's Son. But God, in grace and power divine,
stepped in to save my soul. His gracious purpose has prevailed,
and He has made me whole. My heart defied God's holy law,
refusing to be ruled. I would not hear the gospel's
call, this heart would not be wooed. But God in grace and power
divine, stepped in to save my soul. His gracious purpose has
prevailed, and He has made me whole. God would not lose his
chosen one, the soul redeemed by blood. His spirit broke into
my heart, and then I understood. But God, in grace and power divine,
stepped in to save my soul. His gracious purpose has prevailed,
and He has made me whole. But God, what blessed words of
grace, He broke my stubborn will. Throughout the great eternal
age, I'll chant His praises still. But God in grace and power divine
stepped in to save my soul. His gracious purpose has prevailed,
and he has made me whole. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to the fifth chapter of Galatians, Galatians chapter
5. It has been said that the remedy to bad speech is more
speech. And I agree with that. We have
been blessed to live in a country that has freedom of speech. The First Amendment of our Constitution
enables us and allows us to speak our minds and our hearts openly.
Sometimes that causes people to say some pretty bad things. But the solution to that bad
speech is not to take away the freedom of speech. It's to give
more freedom. The solution to bad speech is
more speech. Now I use that as an illustration
to say that the solution, the solution to those who would abuse
grace is not the law, but it's more grace. It's more grace. There are those who will hear
the gospel of God's free grace and the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they will come to the conclusion that that
gives them license to live in sin. And the temptation might be to
say, well, we need to restrain that behavior with some rules
and regulations. And that doesn't work. The strength
of sin is the law. The only hope, the only hope
that you and I have to not use our liberty as an occasion to
the flesh, the only hope that we have that sin would not reign
in our mortal bodies and that we would not obey the lust of
it thereof, is more grace. More grace. I want you to experience,
I want to experience God's freedom from the penalty of sin. I want
to believe with all of my heart. That what the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished on Calvary's cross was the complete satisfaction
of God's divine justice. And that there is no more fear
of wrath. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
There's no fear of wrath. There's no fear of hell. There's no fear of judgment.
to rest in Christ and to believe that he has satisfied God's justice. Oh, what freedom there is in
that. Now the heresy of Galatia, as
we've seen on many occasions, was that of progressive sanctification. The Judaizers came in behind
the Apostle Paul and they would have said, oh yes, The Lord Jesus
Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was and is the Messiah, and without
him there can be no salvation. But, once you've been delivered
from the penalty of sin, the only way to be delivered from
the power of sin is to be taken back to the law. And that's exactly what the Lord's
speaking to his people about. when he says in chapter 5 verse
1, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has
made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to Egypt. Don't
go back to the law. Now, the allegory that the Lord
gives us in chapter four to illustrate the two covenants has to do with
Hagar. Do you remember what Hagar's
land of birth was? She was an Egyptian. She was
an Egyptian. And the Lord makes it clear that
that covenant of works, that covenant of the law is like under
Hagar, which is that of Sinai. It was, well, we'll go back and
look at that in just a moment. But the old covenant, the old
covenant, the covenant of works is I will, if you will. And the covenant of grace is,
I will and you shall. I will and you shall. God has
established a covenant of grace for his people that gives them
liberty. And one day, those who are free
from the penalty of sin and those who find in Christ the freedom
the freedom from the power of sin that would keep them from
Christ. That's what sin does, does it not? The essence of sin
is that it keeps us from Christ. That's its power. There was a
time when you absolutely could not believe the gospel. And if
the Lord has broken the power of sin in your heart, He's enabled
you to come to Christ, to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So
therein is the power of sin. And I want you and I to be free
by God's grace. By God's grace, it won't be by
works, it'll be by God's grace, free from the power of sin, free
from that which would keep us from Christ. It's been said that faithful
preaching is showing God's people the way of salvation. showing
God's people the way of salvation. And that's exactly what this,
look with me at verse 24 of chapter 4. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage. There's the law, there's Hagar,
there's works. Go back to Mount Sinai and it'll
only bring you under bondage. There's no freedom in the law. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage
with her children. Oh, I don't want to be in bondage.
I don't want to in any way put you under bondage. I don't want
to be guilty of what the Judaizers were guilty of. I want you to
be free. And I do believe that grace cannot
be preached free enough. I believe that. And I know, I
know that there will be those who will, who will hear the doctrines
of grace and they will use them as a license to sin. But you know, there's nothing
we can do about that. Grace is for sinners, and those
who are attracted to grace know that they are nothing but sin,
and they're in need of more grace, lest this sin take complete control
of their members. Our Lord uses an allegory from
the life of Abraham. An allegory that we never would
have concluded to illustrate law and grace had the Lord not
given to us in his word. This is such a glorious picture
to those who can see it, but if the Lord had not revealed
it to us in this light, we would never have understood it. The
Lord speaks to his people in parables. He said to, the disciples
asked him one time, he said, Lord, why do you speak to them
in parables? He said, because it's not for them to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but for you. For you, it is to
know. In Matthew chapter 13, all these
things spake Jesus unto the multitude by parables, and without a parable
spake he not, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the prophet. I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter these things that
have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. The
secret of the covenant of God's grace, which delivers God's people
from sin and gives them liberty and freedom in Christ, can only
be brought by the Spirit of God. The natural man won't be able
to see it. And the Lord gives us these allegories and these
parables in order to illustrate the gospel for us. Might God
give us eyes to see? And when he does, the youngest
and most immature of believers see the simplicity of it. They
see the truth of it, and they rejoice in it, and they're able
to rest in Christ as their Savior. All that man has by natural ability
cannot comprehend the gospel. And yet I'm so thankful that
our Lord looked up into heaven and he said, Father, I thank
thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the
prudent and revealed them unto babes. lest you become as little
child you snarled in the kingdom of heaven. Suffer the little
children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of God. Oh
Lord, make me a babe. Make me one that's simple enough
to be able to receive your word and teach me by your spirit what
these allegories and what these parables mean. Two covenants. If we're to enjoy
the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, then we'll
have to find ourselves in the covenant of grace. Truth is,
there are but two covenants. Just as we saw the two olive
trees that brought forth the oil to the lamp, there are but
two covenants. There's the covenant of works
and there's the covenant of grace. And there's no gray area between
them. Either you're in one or you're
in the other. If you're in the covenant of
works, then you're under the bondage of Sinai. You're required
by the covenant of works to fulfill all the law of God. God won't
satisfy for anything less. He will not be satisfied with
anything less. He requires full obedience to
the law. If you're under the covenant
of grace, if you're to be found in Christ, not having your own
righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ, then you can rest in knowing
that He is the end of the law for righteousness, that He has
satisfied God's law for you, and that the law has been silenced.
It has nothing to say to you. These are the two covenants,
and the Lord illustrates it for us in chapter 4. Let's begin in the beginning
of chapter 4 and understand this in its context. Now I say that
the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant,
though he be lord of all. He's talking about a child who
is in the household, who is the heir of the estate. But as a child, he's under the
authority of servants, who aren't going to receive anything. but
he has to answer to them. Schoolmasters, that's what they
were, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed
of the father. When this child gets to a certain
age, what did Paul say? When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and revealed himself in me and called
me by his grace. When it's the father's time,
to bring this child, then he delivers him out from underneath
the governors and the tutors. Even so we When we were children,
we're in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made
under the law. He's not just talking about the
incarnation of Christ, he's talking also about when the father sent
the Lord Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel to
your heart. And showed you that he was born under the law, and
that he fulfilled the law. For you. Oh, there's my only
hope. If I've got to answer to one
jot or tittle to God's law, he's gonna find reason to judge me. To redeem them, not to attempt
a redemption, but to accomplish a redemption, to pay through
his precious blood the necessary price to purchase back Those
who were chosen in the covenant of grace. Those who were placed
in Christ. You know, what God did in eternity,
past, will be fulfilled in eternity future. And nothing in time can
change it. Nothing in time can change it.
We serve a God who is eternal. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Here's the covenant of grace.
The covenant of works is based on something I do. It's based
on my contribution in time. I'm in trouble. And because you are sons, God
hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Here's the spirit of grace that
cries out from the heart of those who've been given faith. Oh,
Father, have mercy upon me. I am a sinner. I can't measure
up to your law. I need a redeemer. I need one
who satisfied your justice and satisfied your righteousness.
I need a sin bearer. I need an advocate before thee.
That's what Abba Father is. We just, we cry to our Heavenly
Father. Wherefore, thou art no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Oh, to be found in Christ, to
be found in the body of Christ, the head of the Lord. You know,
Abraham had other children besides Isaac and Ishmael. Genesis chapter 25 tells us he
had at least six other sons by another concubine and you read
that chapter and he says he sent them all away and gave the entire
inheritance to Isaac. He gave it all to Isaac. But
in our passage, he's going to talk about Ishmael as being a
allegory, a type, a physical picture of a spiritual truth
that can only be received by God's spirit in the hearts of
God's people. All that was given to Christ
is enjoyed by those who are heirs of Christ. Those who are in the
body of Christ enjoy everything that the head enjoys. How be it then, when you knew
not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
You worshipped the idol of your imagination. You worshipped a
God that you had fashioned in your little idol factory that
was altogether as you were yourself. You created a God in your own
image. That's what we all do. We come into this world doing
that. Our children do that. Even those who are sitting here
hearing the gospel. Until the Lord's pleased to make
himself known to them, they've got an image of God in their
hearts and in their minds that's a false god. It's an idol. after that you have known God.
How do we know Him? He made Himself known to us.
We do know Him, but I'm so thankful that the Spirit of God inspired
the Apostle Paul to pen the next phrase, because I'm not always
certain of my knowledge of God. My knowledge of God is sometimes
foggy. You know, I think I know Him
sometimes, and I'm not sure. And then the Lord said, or rather
that he knows you. There's the hope of my salvation.
Not on how clearly I see him, not on how well I know him, but
that he knows me. That doesn't change. There's
my hope. How turn you again to the weak
and beggarly elements, where unto you desire again to be in
bondage? Why would you go back to the
law? Why would you go back to a God who required you to do
something? in order to be saved. You observe days and months and
times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labors in vain. Now I open this message by talking
about the power of sin in our lives and how the only hope we
have is grace. Only hope we have. And I'm reminded
as I read this verse and a verse that comes up in just a few minutes,
that the Apostle Paul, in dealing with the church at Corinth, had
to deal with some sins that were very, very grievous, gross sins
that were taking place in the church. And yet, in all the things
that he said to the church at Corinth, he never called into
question their salvation. He wasn't looking at their sin
and saying, you wouldn't be acting like that if you were really
children of God. He dealt with them and corrected them where
it needed to be, but he didn't use their behavior as a standard
of salvation. Now we've got a church who doesn't
seem to appear to have any behavioral problems in it, and yet they're
adding works to the gospel as the evidence of salvation. And
Paul says to this church, what's he say? I am afraid of you, that I have
bestowed my labor on you in vain. If you hold to this gospel, this
progressive sanctification, this measuring your salvation by how
you live and thinking that you can somehow prove your salvation
by your works, then you've never really understood the gospel.
and everything I've had to say to you has been in vain. You've
ruined grace. Brethren, I beseech you, be as
I am, for I am as you are. You have not injured me at all.
Now he's talking about, he's writing to Gentiles, he's talking
about being Jewish, and these Judaizers are coming in and saying,
well, you need to be circumcised, you need to put yourself under
the law of Moses, and Paul's saying, you know, I came to you,
I didn't insist upon my Judaism for you, and the rules and regulations
of the old covenant, I became as you are. And don't listen
to these men, for you know how though in the affirmity of my
flesh, I preached the gospel unto you at the first and my
temptations, which was in my flesh, you despised not nor rejected,
but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. He's reminding them of that time
when he came and preached the gospel to them and how they rejoiced
in the gospel and how they believed him to be a messenger from God. and how they would have done
anything for him, even though he had infirmities in the flesh,
which we could speculate on to no benefit to anybody. He's saying
that, you saw my infirmities and you would have helped me,
you would have plucked out your eyes for me, he goes on to say,
if you could have. And now, you're listening to
those who have contradicted everything I preached to you. and you're
embracing their doctrine rather than the gospel that I preach
to you. These Judaizers were accusing Paul. I was talking
to a brother recently and he had a conversation with a Jewish
friend and trying to share the gospel with him and his Jewish
friend became very angry. And he shook his finger in the
face of my brother, and he said, you hang all your hopes on one
man. On one man's testimony. No, he
wasn't talking about Christ. This Jewish man wasn't talking
about Christ. He said, you hang all the hopes
of your salvation on the testimony of one man. 2,000 years later, they still hate
the Apostle Paul. He was talking about Paul. He was talking about Paul. Can
you imagine the wrath that came against him in his lifetime as
a Jew who was preaching grace? And that's exactly what these
men came in behind, the Apostle Paul. And they were speaking
against him and against the gospel. Now Paul's having to defend himself.
Where is then the blessedness you speak of? Verse 15, for I
bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have
plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. I am therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth. They zealously
affect you, but not well. Don't interpret their zeal for
truth. They have a zeal for God, but
it's without knowledge. It's without knowledge. Zeal
is not truth. Now he goes on to say, it's good
to be zealous. Look at what he says. They zealously
affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude us that
you might affect them. In other words, he's saying they
would exclude me and my gospel. if they could win you over to
themselves. They're merchandising your souls
for their own profit. They're trying to get disciples
after themselves, not after Christ. So in the next verse he says,
but it is good to be zealously affected always. It's good to
be zealous. Be zealous. But be zealous for
the truth. Be zealous in a good thing and
not only when I am present with you. Don't be. Now Paul knew that if he showed
up, they would all, you know, swap sides. He said, I want you
to be zealous for the gospel now in my absence. My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed
in you. There's our hope, isn't it? Our
hope is that Christ will be formed in us and that we will find him
to be in all and find him to be all. that He is the sum and
the substance of the Word of God, Christ, the Messiah, the
one Son of God, in the full power of the Spirit of God, to accomplish
the work of God in saving His people. That's the message of
the gospel. I desire to be present with you
now and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you. I stand in doubt of you. Tell me
you desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Do you
not hear what the law says? The law says guilty. The law
says I require perfection. You can't keep the law. Tell me you the desire to be
under the law, for it is written that Abraham had two sons, the
one by a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. Now what's the
message of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar? God had promised them
a child, and from that child was going to be a great nation.
God's people were going to spread throughout all the earth, and
yet no child had come. no child to come. Abraham's 86
years old, Sarah's 75 years old, and they have no child. And so
Sarah suggests to Abraham, go into Hagar, have a child by her. We'll just, God, you know, we're
getting old, I'm past age now being able to have a child, so
let's just help God out a little bit. Isn't that exactly what
works gospel is we're just gonna help God out well you know God
needs us to put forth our efforts put forth our you know put our
two cents worth in and then it'll all work out and 14 years later
when Abraham was a hundred years old and Sarah was 90 years old
God comes to Abraham and tells him that Sarah's gonna have a
child within the next year, and Sarah laughs, and Isaac is born,
miraculously. And Isaac, when Ishmael, Ishmael
now, Abraham has raised Ishmael from birth. And Ishmael, the
scripture goes on to tell us, became an expert archer. Can
you see Abraham teaching his son, Ishmael? how to shoot a
bow and arrow. I mean, he just spent, you know,
it was his pride and joy, Ishmael was. And when Isaac is born,
Sarah tells Abraham to get rid of Hagar. And the scripture says
that Abraham was grieved. He was grieved. He didn't want
to send Hagar away. He didn't want to send Ishmael
away. That was his son. And so God appeared to Abraham
and God told Abraham, put out the bond woman and Abraham did
it. He didn't do it according to
the word of Sarah. Sarah is the, this, this verse
that we're about to read here was a quote from Sarah and God
had to come to Abraham and say, hearken unto the voice of your
wife, put the bond woman out and Abraham did it. The same
thing for you and I. I can tell you, don't be under
the covenant of works. You can tell your spouse or your
children, you can't satisfy the demands of God's law. But until
God speaks, until God speaks and causes you to put out the
bond woman and her child, you've been, you've been cuddling that
child since you were born. I mean, that child's precious
to you. You don't want to get rid of
him. Abraham had two sons, the one
of a bondmaid, the other of a free woman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh. After the flesh. Abraham and Sarah's attempt to
help God out. That's all we've got to offer.
And the flesh, the scripture says, profiteth nothing. Nothing. The spirit giveth life. The flesh can profit nothing.
but he of the free woman by promise. Oh, it was a miraculous birth.
God had promised Abraham many years before that Sarah was going
to have a child. And then God brought Abraham
and Sarah to their wits end. There was no possible physical
way for them to have a child. And then God fulfilled the promise.
He fulfilled the promise. Not the way he does us. Brings
us dry wits in. Brings us to the place where
we can't do anything. Lord, I can't save myself. I
can't keep the law. I can't believe. I can't do anything. Which things are an allegory. This is a spiritual message of
the gospel. And if the Spirit of God didn't
enable us to see it, we would never make the connection. between
Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, and Isaac, and the two covenants.
We just wouldn't do it. Which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. And this Hagar is Mount
Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and
is in bondage with her children. Now, Paul begins the book of
Galatians by saying, I didn't get this from man. This gospel
was taught me directly from God. For after the Lord arrested him
on the road to Damascus, the scripture says, Paul confesses
in his testimony, that God took him privately to Arabia for three
years. The only other place Arabia is
mentioned in the scripture is Mount Sinai. Who is most clear
on law and grace in writing the Word of God than the Apostle
Paul? Can there be any question that
the Lord, that the Holy Spirit took the Apostle Paul right to
the Mount Sinai and taught him the gospel in light of that fiery
mountain? Paul, that's not the gospel.
This is. This is. For these are the two covenants,
the one from Sinai, verse 25, for this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage
with her children. He's talking about that city,
Jerusalem, where these Judaizers had come from and trying to get
these Gentiles into Judaism, trying to make them Jewish converts. by getting them to circumcise
their children and put themselves under the law of Moses. This,
verse 26, but Jerusalem which is above, that new Jerusalem,
that holy city that we looked at in Revelation 21 and 22, that
comes down from heaven, comes down from God, Jerusalem, the
city of peace, is free. The citizens of it are free.
The gates are wide open all the time. They go in and they go
out and they worship God freely. They don't have to answer to
the law. They don't have to meet St. Peter at the gate and answer
some questions before they're allowed in. None of that. It's
a free city. For it is written, verse 27,
rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou
that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children
than she which hath a husband. That's us. That's the sinner. He's desolate. He's got nothing
to rejoice in. He can't birth the life of God
in himself. He can't do it. And he says,
rejoice, you that are barren, you that can't bring life to
yourself, rejoice. You have many more children than
she which hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. The children of promise. God
promised. when he established the covenant
of grace, before time ever began, that he would fulfill that covenant.
He would satisfy the demands of that covenant. That's what
David meant when he said, although my house be not so with God,
yet he's made with me an everlasting covenant. And what's the next
phrase? Ordered in all things and sure. So not only God established
the covenant, but he fulfilled the covenant. A covenant is agreement
between two people, is it not? God said, I'm going to make this
covenant with you, and I'm going to fulfill both sides of the
bargain. Both sides. I'm going to do everything. Man
won't have it. He'll go back to Sinai. He'll
put himself under the law in order to make himself feel like
he's made some contribution to his own salvation. Because the
covenant of grace gives to the Lord Jesus Christ all the glory
for our salvation. He purposed it. He fulfilled
it. He keeps it. This is all my salvation
and all my desire. But as then, Brian we were talking about this this
week, the more you grow in grace, the more you hear the gospel,
the more at odds you find yourself to be in this world, and the
more at odds you find yourself to be with the religion of this
world. And the more you hate them, and
they hate you, as far as the gospel, as far as their religion
is concerned. You just have nothing in common. But as then, he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. That's what Sarah saw. Sarah
saw Ishmael, you go back and read it in Genesis, Sarah saw
Ishmael treating Isaac badly. I don't know what he was doing,
but he didn't like having Isaac on the scene. He wanted, he didn't
want to share the attention of his father with this baby. And
as soon as Sarah saw it, that's when Sarah said to Abraham, put
the bond woman and her child out for she shall have no share
in the in the promise, in the heir of this child. Nevertheless, what sayeth the
scriptures? And this is what Sarah said, cast out the bondwoman
and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the free woman. That's exactly what Sarah said
to Abraham, and Abraham wouldn't do it until Abraham went before
the Lord, and the Lord said, hearken unto the voice of thy
wife, And Abraham did it. So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman, not children of the bondwoman, but
of the free, of the free. Grace, grace unto it. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that
You would bless Your Word, cause the oil of Your Spirit to flow
into our hearts. Pray that You would enable us
to set our affections on things above where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. That we would find Him to be
all our salvation. and all our desire. For it's
in his name we ask it. Amen. 107 in the Sopac Temple. Let's
stand together. Free from the law's great curse,
in Jesus we are free. For Christ became a curse for
us and died upon the tree. The rituals of the law And all
the law's commands Have been fulfilled in Christ the Lord,
Established by His hands. No covenant with the law can
now with us exist. Complete in Christ we stand by
grace, both free and ever blessed. No more the dread of wrath. no more constrained by fear. We worship and we serve our God
with gratitude and cheer. In Jesus we are free. In Jesus we are free. Free from all sin and from all
guilt. We live in liberty. We'll join the happy song. with all the blood bought throng,
and sing the praises of the Lamb, whose grace makes us his own. Thank you so much. Yeah, that's okay. I'm happy.