Alright, in Jeremiah chapter
7. I've entitled tonight's message,
Repentance and Reformation. Repentance and Reformation. And of course the repentance
that we're going to be talking about is true Holy Spirit wrought
God-given repentance that reaches the heart and that comes from
the heart. We're not just talking about
outward show here. That's the problem with Judah
in Jeremiah's day. Outward show. Religion without
heart. Religion without truth. Religion without grace. And most of all, and this covers
the whole thing, religion without Christ. Think about that. And then when we talk about reformation,
we're going to be talking about real reformation of heart and
life, not just again, not just ceremonies, not just joining
a group, a religious group, not just turning over a new leaf,
but that which God works by His Spirit as he brings a sinner
to see his sin and drives that sinner to christ and that's what
we're going to be talking about now this is the beginning of
the third message that jeremiah that god gave jeremiah for the
people of judah commonly this is called the temple message
the temple message because God told Jeremiah, he commanded Jeremiah
to go and stand at the gate of the temple. Now there were more
than one gate into that temple. There were about seven gates
and some scholars believe that Jeremiah delivered this same
message seven times at each gate. He may have. It certainly deserves
repeating. But either way, God commanded
this prophet this true prophet of God, this man who had the
word of God, the truth of God, to go stand at the temple gate
and while the people on various occasions, special occasions,
were entering into the outer gate of that temple of Solomon,
coming in to worship God, he commanded Jeremiah to stand there
and loudly proclaim to these people, their sinfulness, their
depravity, the fact that God did not accept their worship
and their efforts and that God's wrath was coming upon them and
that right soon. And I thought about this as I
read through not only this chapter but the chapters that are after
this because they all fall into about this same category. What
if God were to command me to go stand in one of the large
centers of worship in this town where the gospel is not preached,
where a false gospel is preached, stand at the front door and as
people were going in, proclaim to them that they're lost and
their worship is not acceptable to God. In fact, it is an abomination. How do you think they would look
at me? Well, they'd say, this man's crazy. They'd probably
call the sheriff. Thank the Lord he's a member of our church. But he may have no choice, according
to the law. But that's basically what's happening
here. And the thing about it is you know that this man Jeremiah,
this was not in him by nature. It's not in any of us by nature.
This is the spirit of God that gave him the spiritual fortitude
and fiber to stand up in the midst of so much opposition.
And I'm going to show you that opposition in just a moment.
And tell the truth. Like the Apostle Paul told the
churches of Galatia, am I your enemy? Because I tell you the
truth. Well, Jeremiah, look at verse 1. The word that came to
Jeremiah from the Lord, from Jehovah God. This is God's word. Jeremiah is not just giving his
opinion. He's not holding some kind of
a religious round table here. He's not sharing with others. on opinions and
religious thoughts. He's preaching with the authority
of God, right here, as an ambassador of Christ. That's what Paul said.
Every true minister of Christ who stands in a pulpit or behind
a lectern or wherever he stands preaching to people the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Jesus Christ is an ambassador
for Christ and carries with him that authority. And that's why
we have to be very, very careful not to spout forth our opinions
up here. Now, I know there are times we
come to a verse where even believers might disagree on a particular
interpretation, which either interpretation does not damage
the gospel, because if any interpretation denies or challenges the gospel,
I'll tell you right now, you can throw that interpretation
out. It's no good for me or you. And sometimes we have to say,
well, this is what I believe this means. But I'll tell you
what, we have to be so careful. And sometimes it's not easy.
The Word that came to Jeremiah, God revealed this to him. And
then, verse 2, God gave him the place. Here's where you're to
deliver this message. Not in a cave somewhere. Not
under a bushel. The light hidden under a bushel
doesn't do anything for people. But right in the heart of Jerusalem,
at the center of their religious activity, that's where he was
to deliver this, stand in the gate of the Lord's house. Now
that temple, you know what that temple was. It was the Lord's
house. That temple was the permanent
fixture that God commanded and allowed
and enabled Solomon to build for him, which was patterned
after the tabernacle. Its whole purpose was to house
the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, behind that veil,
that inner chamber, where only one person one time of year could
go on the day of atonement the high priest and you know all
of that was a grand and great and glorious picture and shadow
and prophecy and type of the lord jesus christ who is our
great high priest our one and only high priest our eternal
high priest unchangeable who is able to save to the uttermost
them that come unto the father by him christ who is our lamb
our sacrifice The blood of the Lamb, it's His blood that made
payment and atonement and reconciliation for us, satisfied the justice
of God, brought in that everlasting righteousness that was set up
before the foundation of the world because He was the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. That's what this temple
is all about, you see. Christ is our mercy seat, the
seat of all mercy, our propitiation. There's no mercy outside of Christ. The blood bought mercy seat.
He's everything. And that whole temple... Just
like the tabernacle now, even though the tabernacle was not
as grand and as big as this temple of Solomon now, but it had the
same, listen, listen, it's kind of like this, you know, somebody
says, well, this person can preach better than this person, but
if they both preach Christ, they can't preach a better savior.
And that's what that little old tabernacle now, that little old
tent, It pictured the glory of Christ just like Solomon's temple.
That's what it was all about. That's why it was built. It was
built to center around and house that holiest of all, that mercy
seat. And he says you stand at the
gate. Now there was a gate. There were several gates, but
there was a gate that the people entered in and they came into
the outer court. the outer court and then as you know only the
priest could go into the holy place where the table of showbread
and the candlestick and the laver was. But out in that outer court,
you remember there was the brazen altar, that's where the animal
was sacrificed, that's where the blood was shed. Caught in
the basins and they took it in. Every bit of it, that's a picture
of Christ in his church. And they were told that. Now,
this is not secret. I know we have a greater, clearer
revelation of all these things in the New Testament, but it
was still revealed under the Old Testament. Christ said that.
He said, Moses wrote of me. Moses was the one to whom the
instructions for the tabernacle were given. Moses wrote it down. Inspired verbally. and inherently
by the Spirit of God. And Christ said in John chapter
5, Moses wrote of me. Abraham, even before Moses, he
said he rejoiced to see my day. Saul was glad. So, here he is
in the gate of the Lord's house, the Lord's house. And he says,
you proclaim there, look at verse 2, proclaim there this word,
this specific word, not your opinion, Not what, don't add
to it, don't take away from it. But here's the word and here's
what he says, hear the word of the Lord. That word hear there
means a whole lot more than just physical hearing. All right? That word hear, it means to heed
the word. It means to take it to heart.
It means to obey that word, hear the word, hear the word of the
Lord. This is Jehovah's word, God's
word. All ye of Judah, the covenant
people of God. See, this is addressed to the
covenant people of God. And he says, all ye of Judah
that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. This is
addressed to the covenant people of God as they entered the temple.
for one purpose to worship to worship so we're right away we
know that Jeremiah is addressing these things to a religious people
a religious people and it kind of reminds me of our Lord in
his earthly ministry his public ministry when he addressed the
people of his day that's what he was doing addressing religious
people When we preach the gospel, I
think about on television, we get letters, right? And it's
always from religious people. And we hope and pray they know
something. They hope and pray they know Christ. They know the
way of grace. And then what does he say? Now,
here's the message. Verse 3, thus saith the Lord
of hosts. Now that title, remember what
the Lord of Hosts means, that's the invincible God. Literally
what it means is the Lord of a great army. Some say, translate
it like this, the Lord of the angel army. And that's okay,
but what he's talking about, this is a title of God that indicates
that no one can stand against him and win. No one can defeat
Him. His will will be done. This is
a sovereign God, Creator God, the God of providence, the God
who works all things after the counsel of His own will. That's
what the Lord of hosts means. Man cannot stay His hand or say
unto Him, what doest thou? He's God. So this is the word
that's coming down from a sovereign ruler who cannot be defeated,
whose word always accomplishes the purpose for which it's given
out. He's the God of Israel, he says.
That's the God of those who prevail with God. And you know the story
of that. But here's his message. He says,
amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell
in this place. Now, to amend your ways, that
word amend, that means repent. Repent. And amend your ways and
amend your doings, that means reform. Change. Repent and reform. Repentance
and reformation. That's what this is all about.
You need to repent and reform. What's the problem? Well, the
problem has already been stated. And it's been stated several
times even in this, up to this first part of Jeremiah. The problem
was stated back in Isaiah's day because they had the same problem
then. Let me just read it to you. Isaiah chapter 29 and verse
13. Listen to this. Isaiah said it, God said through
Isaiah, for as much as this people draw near me with their mouth
and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart
far from me and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of
men. What was their problem? Christ
quoted this in Matthew 15 in verse 8 when he said, This people
draw nigh unto me with their lips, but their heart is far
from me. That's the problem. It's religion. They had religion. You know, religion can be the
greatest blessing that God ever bestows on a people if it's true
religion. The religion of God's grace in
Christ. True religion. Heart religion. But religion can also be the
greatest curse ever brought upon a people. Religion without truth.
False religion. Now what is false religion? It's
idolatry. Religion without grace. Works
religion. That's death. Religion without
power. That's just outward show. Religion
without heart, ceremony. Religion without Christ, no salvation. That's the greatest curse because
it gives people false security, a false refuge, a refuge of lies. That same chapter where that
verse I just now read in Isaiah 29, right before that in Isaiah
28 and 29, that's what he's talking about, people who are founded
in and settled into a refuge of lies, religion without Christ. You see, there's no salvation
for sinners without Christ. And any and every religion, though
it may, listen, though it may improve men in the sense of their
walk in this world and getting along, it will always end up
in death. It's actually deadly religion,
isn't it? I started to title this message
deadly religion. But he says you need to amend
your ways. What were their ways? It was
the way of self-righteousness. It was the way of religious pride.
It was the way of presumption. They presumed upon the goodness
of God. That word amend there in verse
3, you know what it means? It means to make glad. It means
to rejoice. It means to do good. It means
to deal well with, to do well. It's the same word. Turn back
to Genesis chapter 4 with me. That word amend, it's an interesting
word. Look at Genesis chapter 4. You
know the story of Cain and Abel. Now, remember Jeremiah, he's
talking to people at the gate there while they're coming in
to worship God. Well, think back on Cain. Now,
here comes Cain to worship God, to seek God's favor and God's
blessings. And what does he do? He brings
his best efforts, his best works. That's what his fruits of the
field represented, his best works to God. And then here comes Abel. And Abel, he comes to worship
God. He's seeking God's favor and blessing. What does Abel
bring? He brings the blood of the Lamb. Abel comes before God
not in righteousness of his own, but in Christ. That's the difference. Cain was rejected, Abel was accepted. Why? Because you cannot be accepted
before a holy God, justified, declared not guilty and righteous
based on your works, no matter how good they appear. But Abel was accepted because
of Christ. He was accepted in the beloved.
Just like you are and I am. We who know Christ. But look
at Genesis chapter 4, look at verse 7. Here the Lord is speaking
with Cain and he says, If thou doest well. That word well there
is the same word over here in Jeremiah 7 and verse 3, amend. Same word. If you amend your
ways, Cain, you'll be accepted. And if thou doest not well, if
you don't amend your ways, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee
shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." And what
he's talking about there is how sin's lying like an animal ready
to crouch on Cain. And the thing about it is, what
he's saying, what is it to amend your ways, Cain? It's to do like
Abel did. Come before God pleading the
blood and righteousness of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and repent of your own works and love your brother. Amend
your ways and your doings. Look over at Isaiah chapter 1. Look at verse 16. This is about
a hundred years before Jeremiah. And it's the same problem. Isaiah,
he prophesied in Jerusalem too. And he says in verse 16, now
you know in Isaiah 1 how he talks about their worship was an abomination
to God. Remember he said, to what purpose
is your sacrifices when you come to appear before God? He said,
I've had enough of it, I'm full of it. And he says in verse 16,
wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings,
from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well."
Same word as amend, learn to do well. How's a sinner going
to learn to do well? Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 13,
he asked this question, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can
the leopard change his spot? Then how may you who are accustomed
to doing evil do good? How's a sinner like me or like
you? How are we going to learn to
do well? There's only one way we can learn it, and that's to
be taught of God through the gospel of His grace in Christ
Jesus. And He says, Seek judgment, relieve
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now,
let us reason together. Sayeth the Lord, though your
sins be as scarlet, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall
be as wool. How's that possible? How can
a sinner be justified before God? Through the blood of the
Lamb. The righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ who was made sin for us. Look back at Jeremiah
chapter 7. Now he says, amend your ways
and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place. In
other words, what he's saying is their worship will be accepted.
He's talking about the temple there. In other words, if you
come the right way, in the right spirit, under the right truth,
you'll be accepted. For what is the right way, the
right spirit? It's to come as a sinner seeking
mercy, begging for mercy, a mercy beggar. saying God be merciful
to me the sinner. I have no hope, I have no right,
I have no acclaim upon any of the blessings of God. I must
have Christ. I've got to have a mediator.
I've got to have, as Job said, an umpire, an advocate. He's
got to be both God and man and one person. That's what that
temple taught. That's what the priests were
to teach the people. They didn't. They were lying
to the people. That's what the prophets said. Unto us a son
is given, a child is born. He's got to be the Son of God,
the Messiah. It's got to be the blood of the
God-man. It's got to be the righteousness
of God. That's what that whole thing
is about. I've got to have a high priest. Not after the order of
Aaron, but one greater than Aaron. Only Aaron typifies him. I've
got to have one who's eternal and unchangeable, holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. One who is both God and man who
can die for my sins. That's what I've got to have.
That's the right way. That's the right and the right
spirit. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. Nothing can save
me. No one can save me but He who
is God in human flesh. My works and my efforts to save
myself and to earn or deserve God's favor are an abomination. They're dung, Paul said. They're
refuse. Put it out on the trash heap,
the dung heap of man's highest attainments in religion. And
God says, I will cause you to dwell in this place. You'll be
accepted, accepted in the beloved. But look at verse 4, he says,
trust you not in lying words. That's false gospels. That's
false security. That's false blessings. And here's
where they were trusting. Now notice this, he says, trust
you not in lying words, saying the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Now you know what they
were saying, don't you? They were saying, Jeremiah, how
can you say God is against us? How can you say God is displeased
with us? How can you say that God's going
to destroy this place? The temple's here. We've got
the temple. God wouldn't do that to us. We've
got the temple, the temple, the temple. It's here. They trusted in the temple. Not
in the Lord of the temple. Think about it. And that's the
nature of all false gospels. That's the deceived heart. What
do people trust in today? They trust in the church. They
trust in their decision. They trust in their baptism.
They trust in their works. But they don't trust Christ. Somebody said, well, how can
you say I'm lost? I've gone to church all my life. That's the
same thing as saying the temple, the temple, the temple. And let
me tell you something. If you've gone to church all
your life where the gospel is preached, you ought to thank
God. But if you've heard the message of that gospel, you won't
be trusted in the fact that you've gone to church all your life.
You'll be trusting in the Lord of your life, the Lord of glory. Those false preachers in Matthew
7, 21, what did they trust in? We preached in your name. We
cast out demons. We've done many wonderful works.
Is that what you trust in? Oh, no. Trust in Christ, the
Lord our righteousness. That's the difference. The Pharisee, remember he said,
I thank God I'm not like other men. I thank God I'm not an extortioner,
an adulterer. He was both. But he trusted in what he thought.
Now here's Satan's subtlety. Think about this. He trusted
in what he thought God had enabled him to do. And that's just as
bad. Trust Christ and Him crucified
and risen. Period. That was the message
of that temple. And they missed it. Trust Christ
alone. Trust the Lord of glory. And
then look at verse 5. He says, for if you throughly
amend your ways and your doings. Now that's thoroughly. You see, men by nature have no
heart for God. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. And though we can be religious,
and though we can reform outwardly, and put on a vain show. The only hope for any of us is
to be throughly, thoroughly, by a miracle of God's power and
grace, changed. And that change is called regeneration,
the new birth, conversion. That change that reaches the
heart and that works out in our doings so that we serve the Lord. He says in verse 5, if you thoroughly
execute judgment between a man and his neighbor. Now he's talking
about judgments that are done at the gate of the temple there.
Civil judgments. He says in verse 6, if you oppress
not the stranger, that's the foreigner, the fatherless, the
orphan, the widow, the woman that's left destitute. That's
who he's talking about here. and shed not innocent blood in
this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt." Idolatry. Now, all of these things that
he mentions, let me just say, you know, he mentions a certain
class of people, and you know, it's common that you'll hear
this when he's dealing with Israel and Judah in their idolatry.
That in their self-righteousness, they will neglect Those who are
in greatest need of help, they'll neglect them. For example, he
talks about the stranger, the foreigner. Really, what he's
talking about, there's somebody who's being cast out and rejected. The fatherless, the orphan. Back
then, they didn't have orphanages. They didn't have welfare. They
didn't have anything like that. These children were just left
destitute, and the widows too. Remember Paul addressed that
in the churches, the New Testament churches that if there's a widow
then her family is to take care of her. But if she has no family
then she becomes the ward of the church. The church is to
take care of her if she has no family. Because back then they
were left destitute. And that seems to be a problem
in every generation and the reason is because men by nature have
no respect to those from whom they can get no gain. You know, when we want to win
friends and influence people, we just don't go to the destitute,
do we? We just want to get them away
from us. That's human nature. And even in false religion, when
men become charitable, and they can now, they can. I mean, there's
been foundations and charities that were raised in the name
of false religion. Don't ever kid yourself. Why
does man do that? Because he thinks by that he
can earn something from God. he can earn God's favor. But the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace in Christ teaches us this, that God has
no and is no respecter of persons. And he saves God, now listen
to this, God saves sinners without gaining anything at all from
the sinner. Now somebody says, well he gains
glory, but that's in himself. God is glorified in the salvation
of sinners, but that's all his work. That's not because the
sinner is contributing anything to God. And such people like this that
he lists here, and I believe that there was some oppression,
some ill dealings, and neglect of people like this physically.
I believe it was there, and listen. They needed to repent of that
and reform their ways of that. But I believe the reason that
these are so prominent in these areas is because they represent
the kinds of people that God saves by His grace through Christ. Strangers. What was I before
God brought me into His family? I was alienated in my mind by
wicked works. That's what a stranger is. I
was a foreigner to the family of God. And He saved me. What was I? I was an orphan.
Actually a child of Satan, you could say it. But orphaned. Satan
does not love his children. He doesn't. He doesn't care for
his children. They're just notches on his gun. That's all they are. We were
fatherless in our minds now. You understand what I'm saying?
God was taking care of us all along, but we didn't glorify
God and worship God. We were like a destitute widow
out in the hinterlands with no hope and no help. And we were idolaters. What great
pictures of salvation by Christ. And we didn't earn or deserve
the least of God's favor and blessings in any way. And when God brings a sinner
to see that, he puts in that sinner a heart to love. Love his brethren. You know the
nature of true repentance. Now he's talking about this repentance
and reformation. Now listen. The nature of true
repentance and true godly reformation is what? It reaches to the heart,
doesn't it? It's a change of heart and mind. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Scripture says. What is that?
That's with the heart, the inner man. That's the regenerate man
or the regenerate woman, newly born of God. Having been given
life from God, indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that with the
heart, with the mind, with the affections, with the will, the
inner man, that person, that person reaches out and clings
to Christ. A sinner. It's a change of God's. Do you know that's what repentance
really is? Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 14, how we are turned from
dead works to serve the living God. What did we serve before? Ourselves, our idols. It's a
change of grounds. Upon what ground do I expect
God to save me and bless me and keep me and bring me to glory?
Whereas before it was something else, now it's Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. God forbid that I should glory.
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then there's
a change of ways, whereas before I was intent on trying to establish
my own righteousness before God, now I've been brought to submit
to Christ as the only righteousness I have before God, and to follow
Him in the ways of righteousness. This repentance and reformation
from the heart, and who changes the heart? Man doesn't. God does. This is a work of God where His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in them. It issues
forth in the obedience of faith and love and gratitude. It's
repentance from sin, all sin. All sin, the sin of our worst
thoughts and our worst behavior, but it also realizes that their
sin in our best. And we must repent of that too.
But now look at verse 7, I'll close with this. He says, He
says, Then will I cause you to dwell in this place in the land
that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Now, that's the land
that he gave, promised to Abraham and gave to the children of Israel.
And that again speaks of that conditional covenant. The conditional
covenant that they were under, that land. He says forever and
ever. Now you know, some people say
well that means that the nation Israel, the physical nation of
Israel will possess that land forever and ever. Well you know,
even those who say that know and agree that there's coming
a time when this world is going to be what? Burned up. Now do you think it's all going
to be burned up except that one little parcel of land over there? No, it's going to be burned up
too. So why does he say forever and ever? Well, let me ask you
this. If Adam had not fallen in the garden, where would Adam
be today? He'd be in the garden. But he fell. If Israel had obeyed
the Lord, where would they be? They'd be right there where they
were always. In that land. But they didn't.
And I know we have a hard time with things like this. You know,
we say, well, why did God make these statements if He knew they
were going to fall? Let me tell you something. What is God doing
in this whole thing? What is His message here for
us, for them back then? What is it? Well, He's simply
saying this, as long as they obeyed, they were going to be
in that land and they were going to be blessed, but they failed.
Why? You want to know why? Because
like all of us, they're sinners. They're sinners. Look over at
Jeremiah 26. I want to show you this. Now,
Jeremiah, he's standing at the gate of the temple. He's giving
out this message. Amend your ways. Change your
doing. Amend your doings. Well, what
happened? Did the people listen? We'll
show you next week right here in Jeremiah 7 but or next this
Sunday in Jeremiah 7, but look at Jeremiah 26 I want to show
you something This is basically the same message in Jeremiah
chapter 26 and look at verse 8 It says now it came to pass
when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord
had commanded him to speak unto all the people that the priest
and the prophets and all the people took him saying thou shalt
surely die we're going to kill you Jeremiah that's what that
means verse nine why hast thou prophesied in the name of the
Lord saying this house shall be like Shiloh that's that's
for the next message but you know Shiloh that's where the
ark of the covenant was at one time and the people thought that
kept them safe they trusted in in that physical ark not in Christ
whom it And the Philistines come in and destroyed them and took
it. They're saying, why do you say we're going to be like that?
And this city shall be desolate without inhabitants. And all
the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the
Lord. They didn't believe him. They didn't follow the Lord.
They failed. They were like those that Christ
spoke of in John 3 and verse 19, where He said, this is the
condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. What was He showing? Why did
God do all this? You see, it doesn't make sense
to the natural man in his mind. Well, why would God say, promise
this, when He knew it was going to fail? Well, what was the purpose
of it? Turn to Romans chapter 5. I want
to show you two verses here. Romans 5, what was the purpose
of it? Why was Israel established as
a nation at Mount Sinai? Why were they given that land?
Why was all this stuff done, all this prophecy, all these
types, all these pictures? It's summarized right here, verse
20 of Romans 5. He says, moreover the law entered
that the offense might abound. It was given to reveal the sinfulness,
the depravity, the impotence, the failure of man born of Adam. But he says, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. And then turn over to Galatians
chapter 3. Look at verse 16. Now the first
promise of that land and the eternal nature of a covenant
was given first to those people through Abraham. But he wasn't
talking about the old covenant when he was speaking to Abraham
back in Genesis 15. Now there were some fulfillments
in that physical way and there were some promises made. But
I'm talking about the everlasting covenant that he promised Abraham.
That wasn't the old covenant. Look here, verse 16 of Galatians
3. He says, Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.
He saith unto seeds as of many. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ. And he says, And this I say,
that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul,
that it should make this promise the promise of none of the...
In other words, the promises that God gave specifically to
Israel did not cancel out the promises that God made to Abraham
that were in Christ. So he says in verse 18, For if
the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But
God gave it to Abraham by promise, verse 19, wherefore or why then
serveth the law? Why then did God give 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 medium. It was added because of transgressions. Now God commanded Israel, Judah,
to amend their ways, and he said, if you do, then you'll receive
the blessing. Why did God do that? To set forth
before the eyes of men the impossibility of sinners being saved and blessed
under a conditional covenant. Because what's the nature of
the new covenant? God didn't say, now if you'll
repent and reform, I'll give you this under the new covenant.
No, you know what he said under the new covenant? He said this,
let me read it to you. He says, I'm going to put my
law in their inward parts. I'm going to write it in their
hearts. And I'll be their God and they'll be my people and
they'll not teach every man his neighbor saying, know the Lord,
for they shall all know me. from the least of them unto the
greatest of them, saith the Lord, and I'll forgive their iniquity,
and I'll remember their sin no more. That's the nature of the
newcomer. That's unconditional towards
us. It's all conditioned on Christ, you see. That's why God did all
this. It's His wisdom. It's His power. It's His glory. You see, repentance
and reformation from the heart are the gifts of God to His people. gifts of grace through Christ.
All right.