and complete dependence upon
the Lord for all needed help this evening. Once again, I wish
to direct your very prayerful attention to Paul's epistle to
the Galatians, chapter 3, and by way of text, verses 21, 22
and 23. Paul's epistle to the Galatians,
chapter 3, verses 21, 22, and 23. I shall just read them through
the once, but so as we may ascertain the immediate sense, I'll read
from verse 17. In this I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the Law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise
of non-effect. For if the inheritance be of
the Law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And
it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a
mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid! For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily, righteousness should
have been by the law. But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed." It was Augustine who said, that faith was to believe those
things which we do not see. But the reward of faith is to
see those things which we believe. Now, we have before us here in this
epistle Once again the Apostle setting things straight in the
most direct manner. It was interesting when I was
preaching up at Northampton some months ago there was quite a
rare volume of William Gadsby's in the chapel library of his
sermons and I had to pick one up and reading through the language,
he was so straight and direct amongst these things and it raised
a few smiles. Afterwards, as I read out the
quotation, people wouldn't stand these things today. Well, they
don't stand them, do they? They stop you from preaching. That's
usually what happens. But dear Saul, if we're to follow
in the path of William Gadsby and in the path of the Apostle
Paul, we'll set these things straight. If you go out of this
chapel tonight in a fog, in respect of the Law and the Gospel, I
have failed. I have failed. Dear soul, what we have before
us is the difference between Law and Gospel, Faith and Works,
Grace and Moses. It's as simple as
that. It's as simple as that. Revisiting
the context for a moment, we must deal with some of the issues
and some of the textual matters that men throw up against us.
Read very deliberately from that text in verse 17, which speaks
of 430 years. Now, the liberal will say, ah,
but it wasn't 430 years, was it? Well, it was 430 years at the
time of writing that the children of Israel had been delivered
from the hands of Egypt. And that was the reason why the
Apostle wrote as such, the promise coming through. But the promise of deliverance,
was that not typical of a greater promise? Surely, it must be. It must be. For we see here these
truths coming to pass. We spoke this morning of a spiritual
seed. And this is what we have. But of course in those Old Testament
days and the promises given to Abraham the people were looking
forward. Were they not? They were looking
forward to the Christ that would come. And of course, in chapter
4 of Galatians, we read from verse 4, "...but when the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
under the law." Note this, "...to redeem them that were under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, to redeem those who were under
the law. Now the first rhetorical question
in our text sets the position of the law very clear. Is the law then against the promises
of God? It wasn't as though the law was
frustrating the promises of God. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
It was illuminating them. It was illuminating them. What
does the moral law set forth? It sets forth the very character
of God. It sets forth His very essence,
His very being, and His holiness, His righteousness, It sets forth
to us, man in his right place. When we read the moral law, if
we see these things with spiritual eyes, what do we see? What do
we see? Well, the Apostle describes it
as the sentence of death. The moral law is the ministration
of death. What does the Apostle say? For
if there had been a law given, which could have given life,
thoroughly righteousness should have been by the law. You see, the law is not made
for a righteous man. It's not. It's made for the unbelieving, for the
rebellious man. for the law breaker. What are the moral laws for?
And thus, my, my, my, my, my, this is what sets us out poles
apart from reformed doctrine. We're not reformed. We're not.
We're strict Baptists. If a man or a woman says to you,
are you reformed? You say, no, I'm a strict Baptist.
Because We've never been in the Church of Rome, for a start.
But secondly, our position on the moral law is distinct. It
is distinct. The moral law's purpose is to
condemn. And that's what the moral law
does. We'll see that in a moment. The law was not made to give
life, but to kill. You see, the old Puritans, did
they not speak of a law work in the conscience? That's what the work of the Lord
in the soul initially is. It's a law work in the conscience.
You won't hear men speak like this today. They don't want it.
But this is the reality. This is what the Lord does. The Spirit uses the moral law
to condemn, to condemn, to condemn. And that's what's forced upon
us. Now, the second question we may rightly
ask here, is who is under the moral law? Who's under the moral law? But the Scripture hath concluded
all under sin, and that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe." Now, concluded all under sin. Now let's define for a minute
what it is to be under sin. A couple of weeks ago, I spent all of one day, till about
five o'clock the following morning, discussing who was under the
administration of Moses. And you might raise your eyebrow
at that, and perhaps rightly so. But there's a reason for
it. Because we have to ask ourselves,
and there was a reason why I very deliberately read from Paul's
epistle to the Romans in chapter 3. Because we see here, in verse
19, now we know that, "...what things soever the law saith,
it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped
And all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. First of all, we have to define
what sin is. Sin is transgression of the law. I say that because there are
those who would say, well, the moral law only came to Moses
and the Jews. It's got nothing to do with us.
We're held to a different standard. We're held to the standard of
the Gentiles. And they get that from the previous
chapter when it speaks of those being without law and so on.
And being simply condemned by what the human judgment is of
right and wrong. Now, it is true to say that man
inherently has an awareness of right and wrong. He knows it's
wrong to butcher his neighbor. He knows it's wrong to steal.
There is an awareness of that to a point. But the Lord holds every man
up to his righteous standard. He doesn't judge one man by one
standard and one man by another. That's what we do. Because we're
partial. We're partial. We are. I know
sometimes we might do our best to be objective in that sense.
But we are partial. It's human nature. You go into
the workplace. You have these discussions every
day. You get on better with some people. More than others. You're
harsher with some and lighter on others. That's our nature.
That's how we are. We have to admit it, whether we like to
or not. We have to admit it. But that's
not so with the Lord. It's not so with the Lord. And thus, what is it that condemns
a man? Now, the average evangelical
will tell you, well, he's condemned because he doesn't believe. That is not true. It is not true. What does the wise man say? Let's
hear the conclusion of the whole matter. The whole duty of man
is to fear God and keep his commandments. And keep his commandments. You see, we're not condemned
because we don't believe. We're condemned because we've
broken the law. And thus been creatures of the
Earth, we will always, always, always attempt, in the beginning, to contribute
something. That second hymn that we sang
by Samuel Medley, who was a strict Baptist, as you know, in Liverpool,
it's almost autobiographical, isn't it? it speaks of his experience
when trouble like a gloomy cloud gathered thick and thundered
loud he near my soul has always stood his loving kindness oh
how good he speaks of experience you see of how in the beginning you see
our attitude to these things is well I'll do better I'll do better but you see the
Lord in this law work holds the soul up to God's holy standard
and he sees he's fallen short he's fallen short for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God This is how we are. The Scripture hath concluded
all under sin. But you see here, there's a dividing
point, isn't there? You see, the Apostle's ministry
was a divisive ministry. The Lord Jesus' ministry was
a divisive ministry and there was a division because of Him. A faithful ministry will be a
divisive ministry. It will sift. It will sift. It's not up to me to sift. I'm not one of these who likes
to sit in judgment, actually, on people's spiritual state.
Whether they've made a profession or not. That's not my business. It's not my business. We stand
on the doctrine. and hold to that. The doctrine
separates every bit as much as experience does. But here we
can see that there is a division. Because there are those who are
aware that they are under the moral law, by way of conscience, and those
that are not. It was pressed upon me the other
week, I need to be telling men that they're sinners. And God will deal with them.
Well that's true but that's not what he meant. What was really
meant was that I should be pressing you to make a profession. And
I'm never going to do that. I'm never going to do that. Some
of you may be aware of Mr Rolf Barnard. He was a well-known
free grace preacher in the USA. And somebody came to him and
said, Mr Barnard, do you believe I've made my profession? Do you
believe I'm a true Christian? He said, I don't know. Come back
and see me in 30 years. You see, he that endureth to
the end, the same shall be saved. The same shall be saved. Do we know? Do we know that we've
broken the law? Do we know that Mount Sinai looks
upon us and breathes death upon our conscience and upon our soul? You see the moral law comes to
us and it says pay what you owe, pay what you owe. You won't escape. You won't escape. You see this is an effectual
calling isn't it? And the Lord deals with a person.
He sets the law in their conscience. You won't need me to press you
to make a profession. You'll have the law of death
upon your conscience. And you'll say, Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! But you see there's Something
else here. How does the hymn writer put
it? But Calvary speaks of gentler things. That the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now here, we have a two-fold
division. Because we have the faith of
Christ and we also have faith in Christ. The two are quite
distinct. In the previous chapter, in verse
16, the Apostle explains this, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ, Even
we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. You see, and here we must enter
into controversial matters. because we must speak of the
personal humanity and deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ was
perfect obedience. See, the Lord Jesus did not have
saving faith implanted in Him in the sense you and I do, because
He was perfect. He was the God-Man. It was simply
that perfect obedience to the will of the Father. What did
He say? If it could be Thy will, let
not this cup pass over me. There were so many instances
within the New Testament and within His life. We see that
faith going before Him, in perfect obedience unto the Father. But you see all these things,
remember this, All these things he undertook in his humanity,
indwelt by the Holy Ghost. Contemplate upon that for a moment. Because without that, you and
I would have no hope. We'd have no hope. Because perfect
obedience to the Law includes perfect obedience in
every respect and to the will of the Father, the faith of Jesus
Christ. Such perfection! Such perfection! If it were not so, we would not
have a perfect substitute. For there must be one who obeyed
the law, in perfect obedience, And here we see that manifestation
of his faith. Now, what glorious truth we read. By the faith of Jesus Christ
that might be given to them that believe. And again we come back
to this point. We mentioned it this morning.
We must mention it here. We find it within our text again.
Faith is not the cause of our salvation, it is the effect. It is the effect. You are not
saved because you have done something. You are saved because of the
work done in you and for you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what we see here. So you
say to me, Oh, Mr. Robinson, are you saying that
we're passive in the work of salvation? That's exactly what
I'm saying. But it's not without exercise.
This isn't some dry, abstract doctrine that we preach. This is something that happens
to you. Oh, and dear soul, you'll be
anxious in your soul and mind to know these things are yours. You'll need to know they're yours.
But they're not the response of some half-hearted, yea and
nay, free offer. No. It's better than that. You might say, oh this is hyper-Calvinism.
Dear soul, this is the Gospel. What did James Wells say? Moderate
Calvinism is for moderate sinners. And is a moderate Gospel. Dear
soul, I'm not a moderate sinner, are you? I'm not a moderate sinner.
We need one to take the matter up for us. And here we see what
a glorious truth by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given
to them that believe. There's a great deal of difference
between somebody giving you something and somebody offering it to you. And thus here we see This is
the experimental exercise of it. Leading into verse 23. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law. Shut up! Unto the faith which
should afterwards be revealed. Kept under the law. You see,
there's no escape, is there? There's no escape. You look to
this man, you look to that. You look to this person, you
look to that. But you see we can't settle with
those things. Before faith came we were kept
under the law. This is this ministration of
death upon the conscience. Shut up! Unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Truth is always a revelation. It is always a revelation. The
mercy is this. Nobody can take these things
from you. Nobody will take these things
from you. And thus, faith sees Christ as
our substitute. This is a personal application
of faith. Substitution. That necessary
work we spoke of this morning. Christ in our room instead. Don't
get involved with the people who say, and we find some of
them in our denomination. They do exist. There's no such
thing. as knowing we're right. There's
no such thing as to know that the Lord has brought us from
death unto life. Now it is true that we do not live in the glory
and in the liberty of it all the time. I'm actually quite
suspicious of such people that claim to do so for the most part. But dear soul, we need to know
these things We need to know these things and we can know
these things by faith. When the Lord reveals faith what
do we see? Well it would be negligence of
me if I did not say unto you that we are dead unto the law
but alive unto Christ. You see here, we have one greater
than the Law of Moses. We have the Gospel. We have the
Gospel. And if we do not live in, and
if we do not live for the Gospel, then there is something desperately
wrong with us. Desperately wrong with us. And
the whole spirit of the matter changes. Dear soul, because we're
under a higher law than the moral law. We're under that great administration
of the Gospel. Simple matter as to whether we
live in it or not. Take this very day in which we've
been found. This is the Lord's day. You've
come to chapel tonight. have you come to chapel with
gritted teeth thinking I've got to listen to him again and I've
got to come to this chapel and hear these harsh doctrines preached and I better not look too out
of place or do we come saying oh this is the Lord's day this
is what we've been looking forward to this is the one day we can seek
rest for our souls as well as our bodies where we can live
and see that sweet foretaste of what is to come this is the
closest we come this side of glory to meeting in this unique in
this peculiar way. The Lord's people coming together.
Heavenly glory is spoken of as a city. Where the Lord's people
are found. Where they worship the Lord in
uninterrupted bliss. Oh, it is the eye of faith. enable
us to see these things. And we seek the favour and the
blessings of our souls in this manner. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. He's speaking here to this church
at Galatia but more than that He's speaking to His church at
large. this Church of Galatia that was made up of all sorts
of people Abraham's seed Christ's experiential spiritual
seed but you know in conclusion we
would also notice this He says, for as many of you as
have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. If you notice here, faith is
intrinsically linked with putting on Christ. Putting Him on. This is putting
Him on by open profession. Now here I would say this, Don't
get involved with those who will throw you into the baptismal
pool. It will end in tears. It will
end in tears for you, and it will end in tears for the church.
It always does. But if the ministry speaks to
your soul, if we haven't had a hand upon it, and I don't know
where you are, I don't. I wouldn't profess to. But we feel prompted to speak
these things even this evening. We don't read anywhere in the
New Testament of a long gap between saving faith and putting one
on by open profession by baptism. Such has been the practice on
some occasions But it's not the New Testament order. It's not. So, we have to examine ourselves as to whether we be in the faith. You see, it doesn't say, it doesn't
speak of any particular standard even, does it? But what do we
read? If thou believest, thou mayest. You know, somebody wrote to Mr. Popham
and asked him if one had to have the full assurance of faith before
being baptised and the answer was excellent. He said no. No. But if thou believest, thou mayest. And this is hear what we see
not under the schoolmaster any longer but under a better testament
and that's where the gospel will bring us if I put you back under
the law tonight I'll put you into bondage there's no question
about that If you want to read of such a
ministry, read Edward Blackstock. He'd sat under legal preaching
for years. But when he heard Mr Gadsby in
St George's Road Chapel, it was such a liberty. It was
such a liberty. He said, all my life I'd been
told that it was my duty to believe that the moral law was the believer's
rule of life and I had Moses with his rod and every week I
got a further beating because I'd not done my part and it sank
me lower but you see Calvary speaks of gentler things doesn't
it? Calvary speaks despite what we are, not because
of what we are, but despite what we are, the Lord deals with us
graciously. He deals with us kindly. He sets
the eye of faith in and upon us. Wherein, we have to say, before faith came, we were kept
under the law shut up to the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. True religion is a revelation. I'm not speaking of a strange
aberration here. I'm speaking of a revelation.
What does the gospel always reveal? It always reveals the person
of Christ in everything that he is. Everything. His humanity,
his deity, his substitutionary atonement, everything that he
is. Oh, that in all things he might
have the preeminence. Dear soul, how about you? How about me? Thank you.