Now, we've been in Galatians for several
of our meetings of late, maybe the last four or so, not four
Sundays necessarily, but the subject matter of this letter
has to do with several congregations in a province in Asia Minor known
as Galatia. So hence the letter is titled
Galatians. And the problem in those churches
that Paul and Barnabas, being used of God, had planted in one
of their missionary journeys Yet there are persons sent from
Jerusalem on purpose to tell these people that believing in
Christ is not enough. You must also be under the law. And the particular obedience
that they were requiring of these persons was circumcision. But
now the law comes in several forms, and it is not distinguished
by the by the word that complements the actual word law. For example,
the word moral law. The word moral, as I told you
Wednesday night, is not even so much as in our Bibles. Not
one time. Now, you can call it that if
you want to, and it won't hurt my feelings a bit. I may once
in a while call it that. But that ain't because it came
out of the book. Do you understand? God's law is God's law, whether
it is the law of sacrifice or the law of ceremony or the law
of dos and don'ts, namely the Ten Commandments. So the wonder
of the book of Galatians, as Paul has brought us chapter by
chapter through it, and the issues that he confronts these people
on and the statements that he makes to them, when you get to
chapter 4, It is a brand new ball game. We learned something
in this chapter that if it were not in our Bibles, we could not
ever know in ten million years. You know why? He calls the birth
of two of Abraham's sons, one by the name of Ishmael, who was
born to Hagar, Sarah's servant, and don't think you wouldn't
do such a thing. My goodness, we use all kinds
of stuff like this to help God, you know, get the job done. Well,
thank you very much, He don't need your help or mine. And I
mean that, not so much as a fraction of an ounce. God is God. He does as He pleases. Every
day that rolls by on every inch of this globe and all the rest
of the universe put together. He doesn't need our help. But
I'll tell you one thing, we need Him. We need Him. And Paul declares in this fourth
chapter of Galatians that this story about Sarah and Hagar and
Ishmael and Isaac is What's the word? Just lost it. Allegory. We would have never thought this. I mean, how many hundreds and
hundreds of persons are described in the Old Testament, and this
one beget this one, and this one beget this one, and it goes
on and on. And never mentioned about any of them being an allegory.
Oh, but this one is. So I want to read you that and
how it comes to pass in Galatians chapter 4. Now I say that the heir, as long
as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be
lord of all. He may stand to inherit his father's
fortune, but as long as he is a child, He can be playing out
there in the yard with some other kid and you can't tell him apart. He looks just like the other
kid, you know, in many respects. But he's under tutors and governors
until the time appointed of the Father. Now let's bring this
to the human race. Even so, we, Paul calling himself
and the Galatians, And therefore we can call ourselves in this
statement, even so we when we were children were in bondage
under the elements of the world. And we might add under the elements
of false religion. There is not a town, not a county,
not a city anywhere in this world without plenty of representatives
of this kind of religion. in bondage under the elements,
the base elements of the world. But when the fullness of the
time was come, when God said, it is time, look what happened. In the fullness of time, I got to find my place. Okay, verse 4, but when the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his Son. Now catch this. Without this, he couldn't do
anything for us. He's made of a woman. He has no human father. And you know why. Because if
Adam had been his father, he would be a sinner just like everybody
else. In order for him to be wearing
human flesh without sin, it must be the seed of the woman. Made of a woman. Here's a strange statement. Made
under the law. Our Lord came, made subject to
the law of God, the law of sacrifice, the law of ceremony, the law
of rendering obedience to the Ten Commandments. Why did he
do this? It's not because he needed anything.
Oh, but he did it for his people. He did it for his people. As Curtis so wonderfully brought
out in our Bible class this morning, Christ's obedience is our righteousness
that is imputed to us. We could never be righteous any
other way except in Him. Not only made of a woman and
made under the law, but to redeem them that were under the law. Well, what members of the human
race are under the law? Every last single one. No matter
our race, no matter our country, no matter what century we live
in, none of these things matter. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. And without a miracle of grace,
we'll leave this world in the same shape. And we'll never see
the glory of heaven and the greater glory of Christ's face, to redeem
them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. All of God's family, all of Christ's
elect are adopted. Adopted. Every last one of them. Adopted. Verse 6, and because you are sons, well, how long have the Lord's
people been called sons? Before the world began? In that
covenant of electing grace in old eternity? When our Lord put
the souls of all of His adopted sons in the hands of our Lord
Jesus Christ? Because you are sons. Now, you've got to hear this.
Not in order to become one, but because you're already one. God
sends forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying,
Abba, Father, or Father, Father. Those are the people that can
call God their Father. This whole world thinks he belongs
to them, but when you hear them talk and refer to him and anything
about Christ and his sufferings and death and the gospel of Christ
that is to be preached, they have no time or interest in those
things. God is too good to send me to
hell. He is not too good to kill his
Son to redeem sinners. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Wherefore, you are no more a
servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Howbeit, when you knew not God,
you did service unto them which by nature are no gods. And the
leading category among these gods that are no gods at all
is one named Jesus, but it's a little J, because he can't
do anything unless you help him. And that is not the Christ of
the Bible. You know that and I know it.
It took me a long time to find it out. I was a lying creature for too
many years. Wherefore, you are no more a
servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Howbeit when you knew not God, you did service unto them which
by nature are no gods, but now, after that you have known God,
or rather are known of God, how turn you again," referring now
to the Galatians or anyone else who is thinking of adding something
to Christ, how turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements? Whereunto you desire again to
be in bondage, you observe days and months and times and years." And Paul says, I am afraid of
you. Afraid that what seemed to be
like a sound conversion is no conversion at all. He doesn't
actually say that now because he keeps reminding them that
he has better hopes for them. I am afraid of you, lest I have
bestowed upon you labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as
I am, for I am as you are, and you have not injured me at all.
You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel
unto you at the first, and my temptation, my trial, which was
in my flesh, in his physical body, namely his eyes, we think. You despised not, nor rejected,
but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus." Where
is then the blessedness you spoke of back then when we first met
and I first preached Christ to you? For I bear you record that
if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own
eyes and given them to me." Whatever eye disease Paul had, it obviously
made his eyes to protrude much further out of his face than
normal. They would have been glad to
give him one of their eyes or both of their eyes. Am I therefore
become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Now, that's a
statement that needs careful pondering for a long time. You can go to just about any
church in this county this morning, and the preacher is going to
tell you how nice you are, how wonderful you are, and how God
is so blessed to have you serving Him, and all such Tommy Roddy's
that. Verse 17, they zealously affect
you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you that
you might affect them, but it is good to be zealously affected
always in a good thing, not only when I am present with you. All
right, here we are. Verse 19, my little children. of whom I prevail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you
now and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you." He
has not drawn his conclusion yet. He is standing in doubt
of them. He lets them know that they are on dangerous ground. Tell me you that desire to be
under the law. Do you not hear the law? This book tells us in umpteen
places that human beings cannot keep the law of God. Not any
of it. Not any one of the Ten Commandments. For it is written, here's the
allegory, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid,
the other by a free woman, namely his wife Sarah. But he who was
of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free
woman was by promise, by promise. Now why did Sarah and Abraham
concoct this notion that they could help God give them this
son, that every day that passes by is another day over, and they
are well beyond the years of childbearing? Ah, but Isaac is
a son of promise. So they attempted their own selves. to produce a son, Isaac, Abraham,
and Ishmael, and God refused that son as the promised seed. It would destroy the whole gospel
as far as being a beautiful type and representation of it. But he, verse 23, he who was
of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free
woman was by promise. Here is the actual word. Which
things are an allegory? For these are the two covenants.
What are the two covenants? The covenant of law and the covenant
of free and sovereign grace in Christ. Which one is the oldest? Oh, well, the covenant of grace
was before time ever was. The law came 430 years after
this experience with Abraham. For these are the two covenants,
the one from Mount Sinai which genders or leads to bondage,
which is Hagar. I know it says Agar, but I like
to use the word we've already encountered many times in the
Old Testament. Plus, it matches my clothes. I got a Hagar suit
this week. Thank you very much. And if it
weren't so warm in here, I'd put it on. This covenant of the law, the
one from Mount Sinai, produces bondage for this Hagar, verse
25, is Mount Sinai. She represents
the mountain on which Moses was given the Ten Commandments. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia and answers to Jerusalem, which now is. When is this is? It's this exact moment that Paul
penned these words. But it's been that for a long
time and it's still that. It is in bondage, which now is in bondage with
her children. But Jerusalem, which is above,
spiritual Jerusalem, is free, which is the mother of us all.
That is, of all believers, not all people. For it is written,
Rejoice, you barren that bears not. Break forth and cry, you
that prevail not. For the desolate has many more
children than she which has unhusband." False religion can make a thousand
converts a day if they get off their lazy butts and get to work.
Because it doesn't take anything miraculous. There's no new birth
involved. There's no God descending and
blessing men with who He is, who His Son is, what Christ has
done, and who He's done it for. These things are all missing.
I don't know how it is where you live if you live a great
ways off, but I know how it is here in this county in which
I live. Preachers pretty much tell people
what they want to hear because they've found out they can stay
there as long as they want to, and when they want to leave,
they'll go up the ladder. That ain't serving God. That's
serving the devil. And you tell them I said so. Verse 28, Now we brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. Believers in our Lord
Jesus Christ are the children of promise. But as then, he that
was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit,
even so it is now. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. They could not get along. They
could not both live in the same house. Nevertheless, what say the scriptures? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. Now, that does not mean for the
preacher to take a heavy hand and go grab somebody by the collar
and drag him out the door. There's a whole lot better way
to get rid of false believers, and all you've got to do is preach
Christ and Him crucified. That's all it will take. I guarantee
you. They can't stand a month of it. So then, brethren, We are not
children of the bondwoman, but children of the free. Now turn to John's gospel. I might beg for one exception
to this rule, but I'm planning not to ask you to turn to anything
outside of the gospel of John. Got a deal? The first passage to which I
want you to turn, well, I'm not there yet. Let me take care of
my introduction and then I'll come to that, all right? We're
already behind the eight ball. In the 19th verse that we just
read, it said, Till Christ be formed in you. Paul was worried
about these congregations. These Judaizers had come in and
poisoned the gospel with keeping the law of Moses. And those two
things don't mix. There's a phrase in verse 19,
it says, till Christ be formed in you. It is the greatest mistake
that we can ever make. to neglect self-examination and
the seeking on our part of the Lord. Now, I know you can seek
till the cows come home, but you ain't going to find Him until
God's seeking for you. If it weren't for lying creatures,
you wouldn't be trying to seek Him anyway until you had some
influence from above to awaken us to our need Now, my wife has printed me out
some scriptures that I need, and here's one I want to read
to you at this point. I'm not going to tell you where
it is until I finish reading. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them that manure dung, that I may win Christ, and be
found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable unto his death. My, what a statement is that
on the part of Paul the Apostle. We are, according to Peter, to
give diligence to make our calling and election sure. And he promises
us, therefore God promises us through him, for if you do so,
you will never fall. Never fall. Now, just between
us. If you're really in grace, you
can't fall from grace. How come? Because however you
got there, God did it. And this book says that whatsoever
God does, it shall be forever. He don't do nothing that ain't
forever. Now, if that ain't Harnett County language, I don't know
what is. Oh, how we need to be cautioned
against religious presumption. Let me call your attention. I need your memory. I ain't got
one, but I need yours. In Matthew 26, we have a record
of the Lord Jesus celebrating His last Passover meal since
He was born into this world. since he began his public life
and ministry. I forget which gospel has the
fourth one, but I believe it's the same one. I know it's the
night before he was crucified, so it has to be this one as well.
But John has two or three of these in a different year, but
he's keeping the law. He's earning that perfect righteousness
because of perfect obedience. They are seated at this table,
this Passover meal. And when the Passover is over,
the Lord Jesus takes the bread and wine and institutes the Lord's
Supper. And then he makes a statement
to all twelve of these apostles. Yes, Judas is present. He said,
one of you is going to betray me. You reckon Peter said, Lord,
is it John? No, it says, down to the last
man. Every one of them said, is it
me? Is it me? That ain't normal human nature,
ladies and gentlemen. Normal human nature would be,
well, I'm not surprised about him. I suspected him the whole
time. You know how that works. It works
in all kinds of places and all kinds of ways. That scripture
reference, by the way, the other one was Philippians 3, 8 through
10, but this one that I referred to as an illustration is Matthew
26, 21 and 22. All right, here's the second
thing by way of introduction. The end, the goal, the purpose
of all true preaching is to bring the sinner to the feet of Christ
in godless sorrow. And it takes more than a preacher
to accomplish that. If God does not take up our words
and prosecute you with those words, you can hear it a million
times and still go to hell. To the feet of Christ in godless
sorrow for sin and genuine God-given faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul told the Colossians, Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And that's the only hope there
is. Christ dwelling in me. Every time I look in the mirror,
I ain't never been able to see Him. envy. You understand? We are apt to presume. Third thing in the introduction. Salvation, God's salvation, and
a living union with the Lord Jesus is more than just getting
religion. The Pharisees in the New Testament
had plenty of that. And it didn't serve them too
well. It made them proud and arrogant and considering themselves
to be above anybody else. And if you were poor enough or
a foreigner and they even got a few inches within you, they
had to go change garments and bathe themselves. Contaminated. It will take more than believing
in one God The devil himself believes that, and he trembles. It will take more than turning
over a leaf. The Sadducees had that. It will
take more than orthodox or sound doctrine, because the Apostle
Saul of Tarsus had that. He was right proud of it. And
if you spoke against it, he is coming after you. But he made
one trip too many on the road to Damascus, and Christ came
and conquered him. And he was never the same after
that. Alright, let's see if we can
find some scriptures here now. My first one is in John chapter
3. And I made a mistake there, that's
not the case. I got too many notes, I know
that. Let me talk to you about salvation
for just a moment. And turn to John chapter 1, instead
of 3. Curtis covered this quite well
this morning, this 12 and 13th verse of John chapter 1. I'm sorry, he covered John 3,
and so I just want to mention that instead of pursuing it very
far. But in verse 12 of chapter 1
of John, as many as received him, gave he power or authority
to become the sons of God, Even to them that believe in his name,
which, I prefer the word who, were born. How does a person
get to be in Christ? He's born. He's born not of blood. Our ancestry does not help us
when it comes to dealing with God Almighty. How good a Christian your mama
or your daddy or your aunt or your uncle, your grandmother,
your grandfather were, doesn't cut any ice. Not at all. Not only is it not of the blood,
it's not of the will of the flesh. Preachers say, if you're willing,
God will save you. That's the whole problem. We
aren't willing. And the God he's talking about
ain't the real God anyhow. Nor of the will of man. Nobody else can will this salvation
to you. You can have all the prayer chains
that you can line up for a ten-mile stretch, and it ain't going to
have anything to do with anything. Just not a thing in the world
but religious presumption. I've been there and done that.
So have many of you. Salvation is more than making
a profession. Profession is nothing. It's easy. But that's not what it's about.
That's not what it's about. It is true that the work of salvation
lies first in our Lord's receiving sinners. He received us from
the Father, and He was made, Christ was made, our surety in the covenant of
grace. He is the one who guarantees
the note. He received our nature as a man
with a human body, sin accepted without sin, therefore he became Our representative. You can find language like this
in Romans chapter 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 and several other scriptures
that deal with this particular subject as Christ as our representative. Our Lord Jesus received our sins
by imputation, and therefore, He is our substitute. He stood
in our room place instead. He stood before His Father, before
the holy law of God, before the damnation that was promised to
all of these people that Christ represents. He was their substitute. Therefore, God put him to death
instead of his people. He received us as we were drawn
by the Holy Spirit and taught by the Father. There is an expression
in our Bibles in the New Testament that has these exact words, the
called of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you one thing,
when he calls you, you're coming. Yes, sir. As old Brother Richardson
used to say it, against our will, but with our full consent. That's
how it is. That's exactly how it is. It is also true that the believing
sinner does, in fact, receive Christ as his Lord and as his
Savior. If I do not know Him as Lord,
I will not ever know Him as Savior. He's first of all King. He's
God. Still wearing human flesh, He's
God. And then He's a Savior. The modern
day preacher says you can have either one. You can wait on letting
Him be your Lord. You can just have Him first as
your Savior. That ain't so. That is totally false. Now, the second text is the one
Curtis has already done, but if you'll turn to John 3. Now,
this ought not hurt your arm, you know, just one page or two,
something like that. Now, when you get as old as me,
it probably will. John chapter 3, a fellow from
the Jewish religion who was a member of the Pharisees and a member
of the governing body of the Jewish religion, a fellow by
the name of Nicodemus. He visits the Lord Jesus at night,
and I personally think that's because he didn't want anybody
to see him or see where he went. He's trying to keep this thing
under wraps, we would say. In the third verse of John chapter
3, verily, verily, amen, amen, I say unto you, except a man
be born again, he cannot see, let alone enter the kingdom of
heaven. It can't be done. We must, we must indeed be born
again. And this ain't something you
can do for yourself. This is something God does, the
triune God does. Oh, how glorious it is indeed. Changing my name won't make me
a child of God. Changing my clothes won't make
me a child of God, I must have the nature of God created in
me. And Curtis got this verse this
morning, 2 Corinthians 5.17, Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature or a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things are become new. That, my friend, is regeneration. How glorious and wonderful it
is. We must become a new creature
and receive the life and Spirit of God in the person of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. All right, the third thing. This
time we go to John 7, just a little further away. John chapter 7,
verse 38, salvation is more than believing a doctrine. It is a
life-giving experience. And in this verse 38 of John
chapter 7, our Lord If I remember right, this is
another Passover. It is in verse 37, that great
day of the feast. Jesus stood and cried, if any
man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink. And here's what
I'm looking for in verse 38. He that believes on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly, out of his innermost being,
shall flow rivers of living water. And who is that water? Our precious
Lord Jesus Christ is that water. Oh, my. One more scripture in
my Bible that's just on the left-hand page and that was on the right.
John 6, verse 63. I want you to put it beside that
one, John 7, verse 38. John 6, verse 63. It is the Spirit that quickens,
the Holy Spirit, that is, that quickens. The flesh does what? Nothing. The flesh profits nothing. Well, preacher, you know it takes
an unbelievable amount of power to make a sinner come to Christ
and believe and trust in Him forever. Yeah, I know, and here's
how it is. The words that I speak unto you
Not the preacher speaking now, God in Christ speaking. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. John chapter 6, a little bit
earlier than this, salvation is more than form or
ceremony, it is feeding Spiritually, on the blood and body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's on this table when
we have communion. Unleavened bread and wine. Alright, let me read it to you.
Verse 53 in John chapter 6. Let me preface my reading of
these two verses with just a little reminder. If you've been here
very long, you already know this. When we're born the first time
into this world, we have only one nature, and that's a human
nature. And it's a fallen, sinful nature. It's incurable. So when a person is born again,
he is given entirely a new nature that he never had before. Now
that's not all fun and games. We've still got that old one,
too. And according to this book, they're always struggling with
each other. The natural man and the man in Christ, which is the
spiritual man. Now let's read these two verses.
Verse 53, John chapter 6, Then Jesus said unto them, Amen, Amen,
I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his blood, you have no life in you. And these Jews
who had only one nature, and not two, And that nature was
their human nature and not the divine nature. Whoso eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I'll raise
him up at the last day. And these people went bonkers. You can finish reading the chapter,
but they just went nuts. How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? Until you're born again, you
don't understand this kind of language. It makes no sense whatsoever. You can't reconcile the two things.
And that's ever been the case. It's the case when Christ is
speaking in John chapter 6, and it's been the same since old
eternity and the new eternity to come. That's just simply how
it is. A man dead in trespasses and
sins doesn't know anything. I mean nothing about grace, about
the gospel, about God, about Christ, and even more importantly,
about himself. He doesn't realize what a sinner
he is. And if he ever does, he'll count himself to be the chief
of sinners. John 15, I'm trying to get there,
in verse 5. John 15, 5. Salvation is more than an isolated
experience. It is abiding in God, in Christ
Jesus. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in
him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, what can
we do without Christ? He tells you right here, nothing. All we can do is stumble and
fall and make blunders, confuse people and ourselves. Lord, help
us. Save us from ourselves, goodness,
as well as from sin. Finally, salvation is more than
knowing a creed of doctrine. It is nothing less, one chapter
to your right, John 17, it is nothing less than knowing God. And here it is, in a short statement,
as beautiful as it can possibly be, John 17, verse 3. These are the words of our Savior
in His true high priestly prayer, and this is life eternal. What is life eternal? that they might know you, our
Lord speaking now, that we might know God, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom you have sent. That's the only way. Christ is life everlasting. He's always been God in this
everlasting covenant of grace. You can't be God and not be forever. God can't get worse or better.
He's ever the same. He's changeless and unchangeable. Yet people make all sorts of
crazy deductions and reasonings I told you about that character
that, well, he's my relative, that really makes him a double
character, but his preacher had said there were
some things that Jesus Christ didn't know. And he was kind
of upset about that, probably not for the right reason, but
anyway, he wanted to know if I thought that was true. And I just simply asked him a
question. I said, is Jesus Christ God Almighty or not? If He is, He knows everything. The Bible calls it omniscient.
He knows everything. And He never forgets anything.
And He's always the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.