As we sang that last hymn, The Cleansing Wave, spoke about that fountain that is open. I could not help but think when a believer or a worshiper in Israel went to the tabernacle, went into the courtyard of the tabernacle, the first thing that a person would be confronted with is blood, blood, the altar, the brazen altar, the blood of the sacrifices which was, the sacrifices were slain, the blood was sprinkled on the altar and blood poured out at the base of the altar. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. I mentioned that Sunday, the fact that we sing about his blood, we speak about his blood, and by God's grace, I hope we will continue to do so, and I trust that we're trusting in that blood. The substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which saves his people. Now, if you will, let's turn back to Galatians chapter three. And the title of my message tonight, I'm taking from the last three words in verse 20.

God is one. God is one. Now, you and I, we know from the Word of God that there is only one true and living God. Though, as the Apostle Paul said, though there be gods many. That is, gods that are the manufactured gods of men and women. But there's only one true and living God. who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the one God is immutable. He changes not. And that's the reason I chose this as the title to my message, God is One.

The God of the Bible, the same immutable God who gave his promise of justification by faith to Abraham and then gave the law of works through Moses at Mount Sinai is the same God. And it's inconceivable that God of infinite wisdom would give his promise to Abraham and then give a law which contradicts that promise. The blessing of Abraham, that is justification as we saw last week. Justification by faith, eternal life.

It must be all of grace or it must be of works. According to what the apostle wrote in Romans chapter 11 and verse 6, he wrote, and if by grace, then is it no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace? Otherwise, work is no more work. They cannot be mixed, grace and works, in this matter of salvation, in this matter of being declared just or righteous with God. It must be all of grace or it must be all of works.

Grace is such a wonderful, truth that is revealed to us in the Word of God, that the One God is a God of all grace, the Apostle Peter tells us. And salvation is by grace, we know that. And that's what the Apostle is dealing with. in writing this letter to the believers in the churches of Galatia. Well, I've divided my message into three parts as we look at these last verses here in Galatians 3, beginning with verse 15 and going through the end of the chapter.

First of all, a covenant. And if you have a Bible which has a marginal reading, then you see in verse 15 that before the word covenant there is that little number and you look in your margin and you see that it could be translated testament. The same word, the same Greek word is used for both testament and covenant in the New Testament. Sometimes the translators use the word testament, sometimes they use the word covenant. Well, let's read these few verses, beginning with verse 15 again. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant or testament, his last will and testament.

Yet, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or added thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, the testament that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect.

For if the inheritance be of the law, It's no more of promise. In other words, if it be of works, it's not of grace. It cannot be both. It has to be one or the other. It either has to be of grace or of works. It either has to be a promise or of the law.

The first thing I call our attention to in these verses is the apostle uses the term brethren. Brethren, now remember in the first verse of this chapter, he started off, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? He believed that this was true of them. The New Testament epistles are written to men as they profess to be.

It doesn't mean that every person in a local church like the church at Rome or the church at Ephesus or Thessalonica, that every person who was a member of that church was a believer. We know the Lord Jesus Christ had 12 disciples and one of them was a devil, and it would be unusual that all of the members of any local church are saved, but they profess, these people in the church, they profess to be saved. This man, I shouldn't say this maybe, but let me say it anyway, this man that's running for senator for the state of Texas, He's a member of a church, Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, and he follows this pastor as you will hear him quoting scriptures and explaining what the word of God means. You're talking about a wolf in sheep's clothing?

That man, I don't see how any believer can be deceived by him. But anyway, speaking about the fact that these people profess to be believers in these churches, I'm not saying that they all truly were, but they all professed to be believers. Well, in that church, they had an atheist, an atheist professor, I believe, at the University of Texas who wanted to join the church and freely admitted, I don't believe any of this. I don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. I don't believe that he rose from the dead. I don't believe any of that, but I want to be a member of the church, of this church, where this man is a pastor and where that man is a member that wants to be our senator.

Well, wouldn't you think the preacher would say, well, that just can't happen. To be a member of our church, you must profess to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that you must have repented of your sins and have faith in him. But no, this man, this so-called preacher is willing to let him be a member. And on this, this is just one of the many heresies that this guy preaches or teaches there. But the Presbyterian, you know, the Presbyterian church, they have a hierarchy and they did question that. The hierarchy did question allowing an atheist to be a member of the church. But they came to this conclusion.

Well, just put him on the list of those who are waiting to be members of the church. Don't say he's really a member, just put him on the list of those who are waiting to be members. That's sad, isn't it? You take the Westminster Confession of Faith. There was a time when every man ordained to be a pastor of the Presbyterian Church, he had to agree that he believed in that confession of faith, which is very much like the old Baptist confession of faith with a few exceptions. where we've come, and yet people tell us we're in the midst of a revival. That's strange to me. But Paul addresses these people, although he began this as this chapter is divided, oh foolish Galatians, but he addresses them as brethren recognizing, I believe, that they were true believers, but they had been somewhat bewitched or deceived or mistled by these false teachers who had come in. Among them, they had listened to them, and no doubt they had to some degree embraced what they were teaching, that they insisted that faith in Christ was not all that is needed to be justified, to be a believer, a child of God.

Yes, faith is important, but you must also add the works of the law. He uses this example, and I would imagine as in our day, in that day, a man's will, this is something that was common knowledge, that a man makes out his will, his last will and testament, his covenant, and he makes certain stipulations there as to how his property is to be divided among his heirs, and then he dies, you can't change that will. That just can't happen. No, it's been sealed by his death.

And this is what the apostle is saying, that God made a covenant with Abraham, made a covenant with him. Now, several times in the book of Genesis, we know when God dealt with Abraham, some believe that this time period here, this 430 years, doesn't necessarily go back to the time with Abraham, but the time with Isaac and the time with Jacob also is included there. Because the same covenant, the same promise was given first to Abraham, then to his son and to his grandson. And they shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, and your seed, and the one that is promised.

I want you to look back at one of these times in Genesis chapter 15. This may be the time that Paul is referring to because we see a covenant as normally a covenant was made. When two men made a covenant, and you will see this in the book of Jeremiah, it speaks about cutting the covenant. And what it refers to is that when men would make a covenant, they would take an animal and cut it in two, and then they would pass between the two parts of the animal. And that would be a covenant, a contract. Well, notice here in chapter 15, God speaking first to Abraham.

After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed.

And lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, this shall not be thine heir. But he that shall come forth out of thine own bow shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven, tell the stars if I'll be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be.

And notice, and he believed in the Lord. And he, that is the Lord, counted it to him for righteousness. How was he justified? By faith. He believed God and God counted it to him, reckoned it, imputed it to him. Not his faith, but the righteousness of Christ. Yes, he was promised to come at that time. But still Abraham believed in the Lord. All right, let's read a few more verses.

And the Lord said unto him, I'm the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, take me an heifer of three years old and a she-goat of three years old and a ram of three years old and a turtle dove and a young pigeon.

And he took unto him all these and divided them. Divided them, these animals, he divided in the midst and laid each piece one against another. But the birds he divided not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abraham drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And lo and horror of great darkness fell upon him.

And he said unto Abram, know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out with great substance, and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation, They shall come hither again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, with Abram. So it's interesting that only a symbol of God passed between these pieces. Abraham, as I said, when two men would make a covenant, both men would pass through. But here, only that which represented God passed between. So this was a covenant made by God with Abraham and his seed, not seeds, as the apostle points out here in our text.

Now, the thing is, once that covenant is made, it cannot be altered. That's what Paul is insisting upon. And as I said, in Hebrews, I believe it's chapter nine, he uses the same writer, I assume Paul, uses this example again of a testament, a man's testament. Once he dies, once that man dies, his will cannot be changed or altered.

God gave this promise to Abraham when he believed God. Not by his works, but by his faith. Now, if you look back here, I want to point out three things about this covenant here in our text. Galatians three. First of all, it contained promises. And in verse 16, this covenant contained promises now to Abraham and his seed where the promises may.

The promises, what promises does this refer to? Well, I believe it refers to those promises that God made in Christ in the everlasting covenant. You know what they are, read about it in Jeremiah chapter 31 and verse 31, but they're all summed up in that one statement. They shall be my God, my people, and I shall be their God. That's the promises. It included justification, it included all the blessings of God, the new birth, forgiveness of sins, Notice the second thing Paul tells us, it was made to Abraham and his seed, singular, his seed. That has, of course, respect to Christ. And the third thing, it was confirmed by God in respect to Christ. This is what I see here.

So knowing that God is one, immutable, Then the law, here's my point, the law, and he's telling these people now, they've come among you and they're bringing in the law and teaching you, you've got to obey the law. Well, just remember this, that the promise was given 430 years and God has won. It's inconsistent to believe now that he gave a law which would supplant His covenant promise. All right, let's go on.

How, Paul anticipates the question, no doubt, well then what's the purpose of the law? Why did God give the law then? And so I've got as my main heading here, how did the law serve and for how long? How did the law serve and for how long? Well, first of all, what law is he talking about?

He's talking about the law that we many times refer to as the law of Moses, the Mosaic law, the law which was given to Israel on Mount Sinai, at Mount Sinai through Moses. Moses served as a mediator there and the law was given through him to the nation of Israel.

It consists of three parts. There's that moral part. There's ceremonial part and the civil part. This was a law given to a nation, just like our nation, our state that we live in, there's laws, civil laws we must obey. God gave a law. It's only one law.

And this is where I think people have problems. They say, oh, that ceremonial law is done away with. And surely it is. Surely it is. When Christ died, those pictures in that ceremonial law were fulfilled in the death of Christ. But you can't extract part of the law. No, the law was the law. It was a whole. That's the reason James said, if you offend in one point, you're guilty of all.

So this is the law we're talking about here. And it was A law which consisted, as I said, of moral, ceremonial, and civil rules and laws to the nation. Well, here, that's the law we're talking about here. Well, how did the law serve? Well, I see in this passage, Paul tells us in three ways.

First of all, if you notice in verse 19, it was added because of transgressions. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. It was never given as a way of justification, but it does show the nature of transgression. It does show what sin is. And it also declares a penalty for sin, which we know the penalty is death. The law is not against the promises of life.

Remember the law was given to fallen men and women. Remember that. When God gave this law, he was given this law to men and women like you and I. Fallen men and women. He wasn't giving this law to holy men and women, sinless men and women, but he was giving this law to men and women like us who have a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. It was never given to give life. No, it does demand complete, an absolute love to God and to mankind, to our neighbor as ourself.

And as sinful men and women, we know that we're all guilty of breaking that law. That's the reason it was given. It shows that we are all under sin, under condemnation for sin. You see, there's only two Places a person can be when you think about it, he's either under condemnation or he's under justification. And the law shows us that by nature we're under condemnation. Why? Because we do not obey the law perfectly.

The second thing he tells us in verse 23, it shut us up under faith. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. We were shut up under the law. It shut us up, or as the apostle in Romans chapter 3 tells us, that the whole world, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God. The faith here is the faith of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher. We were shut up till faith came.

The law convicting us of the impossibility of being justified by our obedience shuts us up to faith in Christ. It's either perish or believe in Christ. It's either be lost eternally damned or be saved through the person and work of another. The faith that reveals a savior who died in the place of sinners and who provides a perfect righteousness to all who trust in him. And a third reason the law was given, it was our schoolmaster, verse 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster.

Now I'm sure you've heard before that this word which is translated schoolmaster, the Greek word is a pedagogue. A pedagogue. What was a pedagogue? A little bit more than a teacher. We have several teachers here tonight. This pedagogue had more responsibility than a mere teacher has. A pedagogue was usually a slave himself.

And he was entrusted, a young boy, the master would entrust the raising, the taking to school and making sure the boy was a student and studied. And yes, he even practiced discipline when it was necessary. And so that's the thing about a pedagogue, a little bit more than a teacher. And as the apostle tells us here, this pedagogue where for the law was our pedagogue to bring us. That's what a pedagogue would do.

He would take the student to school. That was part of his responsibility to lead or carry the, make sure the young boy went to the schoolhouse and make sure he studied. And sometimes he even exercised physical discipline on the lad. Now the law, that's how it serves us. It's a schoolmaster, a pedagogue to bring us to Christ. You take the law off. If you just read the law, the law of God, thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt not. Well, what are we? I'm guilty. I'm guilty. That's what the law convinces us of. We're guilty.

If we use the law rightfully, the apostle Paul said, not to rule our life, but to show us our need of a Savior. Yes, a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. But notice here, I said, what was it used for and for how long? Notice in verse 19, we read, wherefore then serveth the law, it was added because of transgressions till, you see this? This seed should come to whom the promise was made. Now who is this seed? It's Christ, isn't it? Abraham's seed in whom all the nations, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Only one savior. Yes.

And it served as it served the nation of Israel till when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross. When he cried, it's finished, that old dispensation came to an end. It came to an end. People have asked me, well, if you don't live under the law, then how do you know what to do? Follow Christ. That's what we're to do. As he walked, so are we to walk. How did Abraham, how did Enoch, he walked with God, we know that. He didn't have the law, not the law that was given on Mount Sinai. After that faith has come, verse 25, until Christ the object of faith came, that's how long that law, that old dispensation, I like to call it, that old dispensation was ended by the death of Jesus Christ.

All right, let me just hurriedly go over this last point. Jew and Gentile are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. In this church, it was a Gentile church for the most part, but I'm sure there were some Jews there as well. But Jew or Gentile, makes no difference. There's only one way of salvation. There's only one Savior. Let's read these verses, verse 26.

For you are all the children of God by faith, by faith in Christ. You're not children of God by faith in Christ plus the works of the law. You're not children of God by the works of the law. You are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ.

Now that's not water baptism. You know that. That's not water baptism. That is being baptized by the Spirit. It's that baptism that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4 when he says there is one body and one spirit as you are called and one hope of your calling. one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all.

There's neither Jew nor Greek. These are the things, these three things are the things that Jewish people naturally gloried in, boasted of. I'm a Jew, I'm not a Greek. That's what they boasted him. I'm a Jew. I'm not a Greek. I'm a free person. I'm not a slave. And I'm a man. I'm not a woman.

They thank God. We've got that one prayer that Gil quotes, you know, when a Jew would pray. And that's one of the things he thanked God for. First of all, he thanked God he was a Jew and not a Gentile. He thanked God that he was free and not a servant. And he thanked God he was a man and not a woman. Well, what does Paul say? Forget about all those distinctions. You're one. every child of God, you're one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. I pray the Lord would bless his word to us here tonight.