Well, as I've been telling you
in recent weeks, the scriptures testify of Christ. John 5, 39. You search the scriptures, for
in them you think that you have eternal life, and that's the
right thing to think because that's where eternal life is
laid out, is in the scriptures. These, said Jesus, they, the
scriptures, are they that speak of me, that testify of me. The scriptures, all this history
of that people, the Israelite people, the children of Abraham
and the ones that went before, the patriarchs. It's all to teach
us salvation because they testify of Christ, who alone is salvation. Salvation is nowhere else. Salvation
is only in Him. And how do they testify of Him? They testify sometimes in people. Joseph was a type of Christ. Adam, even we saw the first message,
was a type of Christ, testifying of the things of Christ, the
things to do with the salvation of a people through the person
and work of the God-man, the Son of God. Things testify of
Christ in the scripture. Things testify of Christ. Objects do. The brazen serpent
that Moses lifted up in the wilderness, how do we know it testifies of
Christ? Christ himself said so, to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness. Even so must Christ be lifted
up, the Son of Man be lifted up. Events, picture, testify
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The crossing of the Red Sea,
the event when Israel came out of Egypt. testifies of Christ.
The event when they crossed Jordan and went into Canaan testifies
of Christ. It all testifies of Christ. What's
all this about the temple and altars and sacrifices and priests? Everything that went on in the
tabernacle and then the temple after it testifies of Christ
and how God saves his people through the doing and dying of
the God-man. They all illustrate God's salvation
of his elect by sovereign grace. People will tell you that, well,
there are those that are quite extreme. They believe in this
doctrine of election. And there are some that are even
more extreme than that. They believe in this doctrine
of particular redemption, that Christ only died for a certain
number of people. But they say, you know, we're
all Christians. We all believe the same thing,
that Jesus' death saves whoever wants to be saved. That's not
what the scriptures teach. It teaches that salvation is
of the elect and none other than the elect. Who's the elect? A
multitude that no man can number. Where do they come from? Every
tribe and tongue and kindred in all ages. A multitude that
no man can number. How innumerable are they? Look
at the stars of the sky. Is any astronomer any nearer
to numbering the stars of the sky today than they were 200
years ago, 2000, not a bit. The more we see, the more we
know there is that we can't see. That's how infinite it is. And
God said the multitude of his elect will not be numerically
equal to that, but he said just as you can't number that, you
can't number those that are the elect of God. There will be a
multitude. When John had his vision, thousands and thousands
and ten thousands, it's speaking in poetic language about a huge
number, by sovereign grace. Saved not because of what they
have done, or what they have chosen, or any decision they
made, but because God chose. Jesus said, you did not choose
me, I chose you. People don't like that, do they?
The world Religion in the world doesn't like that. Oh, I am what
I am because I am on the throne of my life. I made the right
choice. No, God says, Jesus said to his disciples, you did not
choose me, I chose you. God chooses his people. Who was
saved in the acts of the apostles? Those that were ordained to eternal
life. Who's that? The elect of God,
chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world. according
to that salvation, that liberty in him that was given us before
the world began. And it's revealed, as Isaiah
says, it's revealed Precept upon precept. You know, you don't
understand everything at one go. You understand one thing
as a believer, you understand this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ, he's my all in all. That's it. That's
what believers believe. And at the absolute foundational,
irreducible level, that's what all believe. we see more light
as we look in the scripture and precept upon precept and line
upon line and in all these pictures testifying of Christ we see more
we see new aspects of the same fundamental truth of sovereign
grace and particular redemption saving his people even in events
and people that offend our sense of decency. You know, I mean,
as degraded as this society is, there's still a sense of decency,
isn't there? There's still a sense of social
decency. Now, think of the account we're
going to be thinking of today. Abraham and Sarah and Hagar,
Sarah's maid, Sarah's Egyptian maid, and Ishmael and Isaac. Think of them. you read it in
Genesis 16 and then you have to skip a few chapters and go
to Genesis 21 because there's all the stuff about Lot and Sodom
and Gomorrah and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but then
you come back to Genesis 21 where Isaac is born and you know Sarah
and Abraham were promised a son and they didn't have one and
they thought how's God gonna fulfill his promise and so Sarah
gives her maid to Abraham And Abraham has a son by Hagar, the
maid of Sarah, and calls him Ishmael. And he's 13 years old,
and then God fulfills his promise that a son will be born to Sarah.
And so they have this son, and now they have a feast, and we
don't know how old Ishmael is, but he's in his teens, he's 14
or 15 or something like that. And he mocks. And Sarah says,
send away that woman and her son. And they do. And you think,
how cruel. It's got all the ingredients
for the Jeremy Kyle show. Don't think for one minute I
spend more than, the only time I ever see it is when I go to
the dentist and it's on in the dentist's waiting room. I think
it's a vile program. And for any overseas that don't
know what it is, but it's this program where the most antisocial,
dysfunctional family issues are brought to bear in full public
gaze and things go on there which are just absolutely, I tell you,
this account is the sort of thing, when you read it at face value,
certain people would say, well, that's something for the... This
is Abraham and Sarah. It sounds like the Jeremy...
Send away this poor woman and her son. He must be got rid of. Abraham, you know, was the object
of God's grace. Abraham wasn't a good man in
the sense that in his flesh he was good and he chose God. Not
a bit. He was chosen of God. He was in a family and a people
in Ur of the Chaldees of idolaters. And in that situation God called
him. God called him out of that situation. Where was I? You know, I could
say, what situation was I in? God called me by the gospel of
his grace. He believed God. Why? Because he was good? No,
God gave him the gift of belief, which he didn't give to others.
If you believe, why do you believe? God gave me the gift to believe.
God gave me the sight to see. He followed. When God said, come
here, He went. He followed. He went to Canaan.
He left his home. He left everything that was comforting
to him and reassuring to him. He left it. You know, oh I haven't
got many friends. How many friends do you think
Abraham had? He left his home. He left his society. He left
everything. He went to where God told him to go. And all the
time he was such a good man. No he wasn't. He was a sinner.
We read of him lying. Well, telling an untruth for
his own. You see, in a sort of a way,
Sarah was his sister, so he said he didn't really lie, in a sort
of a way. I don't know how, you have to look at the genealogy.
But she was his wife, and he didn't want to get into trouble
with those that he went to, and he told a lie, effectively. Say
she's my sister, and Terrible things nearly happened
as a result. But through it all, he was kept by God. And this
man, as we saw last week, knew Christ. Abraham knew Christ. Yes. Abraham knew Christ. He rejoiced to see the day of
Christ. Is that what Christ said? Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. He rejoiced to see his day. Like
Moses testified of him, Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ.
What have you seen Abraham? They said you're not yet 50 years
old. And yet you say, he said before Abraham was, I am. This
was what Jesus said. How did he see Christ? We saw
it last week. Melchizedek met him. Who was
Melchizedek? Well, there'll be debates and
arguments, but I'm absolutely sure this was Christ. Whether
in type or reality or what, vividly, Christ appeared in the type of
Melchizedek to Abraham. And in that, Abraham knew the
justification of God. He knew what it is to be justified
before the law of God, before the justice of God. Abraham the
sinner knew what it was to be justified before God. He had
the symbols of the communion service, even then, thousands
of years before Christ instituted them. Thousands of years before
Paul told us what he'd received from the Lord, the bread and
the wine. Why bread and wine? speaking of the broken body and
of the blood that must be shed if justice is to be satisfied
for sinners. A Messiah must come who is God
as a man in a body like the children have a body and his body must
be broken and his blood must be shed. Why? To pay the price,
the debt of sin to the law of God that his people might be
justified. Abraham knew about justification
and Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
But despite all of this experience of grace, he's still a man. and he's still in the flesh.
And what does flesh do? Disbelieves God. Doubts God. And so, think for a few moments
about this son that was born, Ishmael. Sarah and Abraham had
followed God's leading, and they'd gone to Canaan, and they'd been
in Canaan for 10 years. And Abraham was 86 years old.
And Sarah was 76 years old. And there's no son born to them.
And God had promised them, I will make of you a great nation. But
there's still no son. 86. and 76. 86 and 76. This is after the flood. People
don't live to 900 years old. You know, they're getting on.
They're well past the age by which anybody should have had
any children. They're well past it. Abraham 86, Sarah 76. God's
promised. How are we going to do this?
And Sarah had a maid who was an Egyptian called Hagar. God's
promised us, but it's not happening, is it? How long do we have to
wait? It's not happening. Maybe he
doesn't mean literally. No, he doesn't. No. And so in
unbelief, and impatience, and in fleshly rational reasoning,
it isn't going to happen, is it? It can't possibly happen.
I know what we need to do. We need to give God a helping
hand, is what they said. And so Sarah, I don't know what
say Hagar had in this, but I imagine in those days not a lot. Sarah
gave Hagar to Abraham. And Abraham had a child with
Hagar. Hagar conceived. Hagar became
pregnant. And oh, what prowess she had
in this. Ah, she the maid had conceived,
Sarah the mistress, the matriarch, she couldn't conceive, but Hagar
had, and she despised Sarah, and it was the beginning of troubles,
and Sarah sent her away, and God told her to go back, and
she came back, and then in Genesis 19, verses 17 to 18, you can
look at this afterwards, at age 99 The promise of Isaac was repeated. No, no, no. Sarah will have a
son. And you'll call him Isaac. And
in Isaac shall the promise be fulfilled. How? How is it going
to happen, says Abraham? Now 99 years old, 13 years have
gone. The son, Ishmael, is 13 years
old. And Abraham says, oh, that Ishmael
might live before thee. Oh that it might be Ishmael,
now come on, I've got a son, it's Ishmael, and God says no,
not in Ishmael. He's the son of the bondwoman,
but the son of the free woman is the one in whom the promise
will be fulfilled. And in Genesis 21 we read of
the birth of Isaac. So Abraham's a hundred years
old, and Sarah's 90 years old, and rationality says, oh come
off it, fairy stories or what? This is the work of God. This
is the promise of God. With men, things are impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And why was it like this? Because
God chose it to be this way. To illustrate his salvation.
To confirm his salvation. And in Genesis 21 and verse 9,
Abraham gives a feast for Isaac. But Ishmael, who must have been
14, 15, 16 by now, he mocks. And Sarah says, this has gone
on long enough. This has gone on long enough.
Abraham, we must get rid of Hagar and that son. And it grieved
Abraham. I'm sure he loved Ishmael. He
knew he was from his own loins, from his own body. And he was
being told by his wife, whom he loved, to send her away. And send Ishmael's mother away
with, cast her out. Why? Because the two cannot live
together. It was grievous to Abraham. But
it had to be done. And so he did as Sarah said.
And Hagar and Ishmael were sent away. Now religion doesn't understand
this. The world doesn't understand
this. It seems so cruel. It seems so
heartless. That this poor Egyptian servant
woman with her teenage son, who was the son of Abraham in truth,
should be sent away. Because the two couldn't live
together. Scripture isn't telling us how to treat our neighbor
in this account, in this passage, This is not moral rules for how
we should treat people born under our roof, of course not. It's
illustrating the gospel. What is it saying to us who believe? What is it saying? The key is
this, the scripture itself. What's the best commentary on
the scripture? The scripture itself. What's the best commentary
on Genesis 16 and Genesis 21? It's Galatians chapter 4, which
tells us what it's really about. Galatians chapter 4, it's an
allegory, it's an allegory. This verse 24 of Galatians chapter
4, talking about Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the free woman, which
things are an allegory? A story, a reality told in pictures. It's like an analogy of something
that is true. It's an account to illustrate
eternal truth. These represent, these are the
two covenants. The one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar, and then he goes on, verse
26, but Jerusalem above. The other one represents Jerusalem
above, which is free. You see, the Gospel answers the
question that Job posed, how should a man be just with God? That's what the Gospel answers.
There's a question, how should a man be just with God? And the
Gospel answers that question. And all the Mosaic law that was
given, and all that happened at Sinai, when the law was given,
and the people trembled before the man, it all defined the measure
of divine justice. the measure of how holy holiness
really is. It made sin clear. That's what
it was given for. That's what the law was given
at Sinai for. Men knew what sin was, but it
had become clouded, so God gave the law clearly to define strictly,
absolutely clearly what was sin. Sin is the transgression of the
law, so the law was given at Sinai to make plain what was
sin. And there, at Sinai, in the law,
God displayed strict justice. Strict justice. Absolutely. He portrayed atonement for sin
in all the laws that were given in Leviticus, about a substitute
dying in the place of sinners, and shedding blood for the sins
of the people, looking forward to the Messiah. And they looked
forward to the Messiah, even the Samaritan woman. who didn't
dwell in jerusalem with the jews for the jews had nothing to do
with the samaritans and when jesus met the samaritan woman
at the well she knew what was needed she knew that messiah
must come and when he comes he will tell us all things i said
jesus that speak to you i am he what an incredible claim you
know he boldly to that woman she knew messiah had to come
how many in these days know that to be right with God there must
be a Messiah. I daren't leave this life and
go into eternity on my own without a Messiah. I daren't in myself,
you know we think we've been thinking about the First World
War and you know when we think back at it now we think how appalling
it must have been to be one of those soldiers in the trenches
and they're going to be told the whistle's going to blow and
they've got to go over the top of the trench and run towards
each other and I'm sure whether it's in the British trenches
or in the German trenches I'm sure the feelings were exactly
the same. Sheer, sheer screaming terror
at what they knew was coming because as they went up over
that rampart into no man's land they went into a hail of machine
gun bullets that they knew would very, very quickly kill one or
two out of every three of them that went over that top. And
you know, think about that feeling. That's what it's like to go into
eternity, bearing your own sins with no armor to protect you,
with nothing to cover you, with no defense against the hail of
the judgment of God that will come against you. That's what
it's like. Think of that, think of that,
please think of that. So that's what the law laid down,
but then Galatians 4 verse 4 tells us, I love this verse, that when
the fullness of time was come, because he had to come in time,
God sent forth his son, made of a woman, what does that tell
us? He was 100% man, he was fully man, he was made of a woman,
made under the law, subject to his own law and justice as a
man. To redeem, what does that mean?
To buy back, to pay the price of, to buy back, to pay the debt
of those that were under the law and couldn't pay their own
debt, that we, his people, might receive the adoption of sons
he's talking about his people those that were ordained to eternal
life to be the sons of God and because you are sons God has
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba
father Christ came and why did he come he came to fulfill everything
that the law required he came to fulfill it he was right why
did he perfectly keep the law he perfectly kept the law because
he was the righteousness of God He was the embodiment in a human
body of the righteousness of God. That's why he kept the law. That's why he was subjected to
the law, the gaze of the law, tempted in all points as we are,
yet without sin. He was perfect under the law's
scrutiny. And he was found to be a perfect
substitute. You know like they examined the
lamb, the Passover lamb for 14 days? It had to be without blemish
and without spot and so did he before his own law. He couldn't
be a savior if anybody could have accused him of sin. He couldn't
be the savior of his people if he'd been found guilty of any
sin. He was found perfect under the scrutiny of the law and therefore
ready and fit as a substitute to bear his people's sins on
the cross of Calvary. to satisfy divine justice for
his people. Why did he do that? That his
people who were sinners might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And the Galatians, these Gentiles
in Galatia, had believed that gospel. They'd had whatever form
of heathen religion it was, it was works religion. It was I,
my standing before the God of eternity depends on what I am
when I die. You look at the fundamental teaching
of Islam, it's that. Your standing before Allah depends
on how well you have lived. And they have all sorts of made
up rules about how you should live, and all the rest of it.
It's complete fallacy. All of religion that calls itself
Christianity, that is false, has the same idea. It's what
you do, it's what you choose that gives you favor with God.
You know, even the ones that sound. I'll just do a little
bit of a plug. You might have got the email
about the new focus latest edition. Well read it, read the leader,
Peter Meany's leader. Very, very good. Absolutely spot
on. Most of what calls itself reformed
Calvinistic Christianity these days actually is peddling falsehood. It's peddling what is effectively
Arminianism, hidden in a cloak of so-called Calvinism. And it's falsehood. No. Christ
made his people the righteousness of God in him. Paul preached
that gospel. The Galatians, from whatever
false religion they came, they believed that. They believed
it. They believed the gospel of grace.
But then, false teachers came in. Judaizing teachers came in
from Jerusalem. They taught, yes, your gospel's
all well and good, but we need some law works as well, because
to be truly accepted by God, you know, the Jews have been
the people of God, and they had the right of circumcision, and
they had the temple rites, and the sacrament, oh, and the feast
days. Do you keep the Feast of Tabernacles? Oh, really? You
don't keep the Feast? Oh, you need to keep the Feast
of Tabernacles? Do you keep the Feast of the Passover? Look,
I know you believe in Jesus, but you really do need to do
all of these other things. And you're not really properly
a Christian. You're not really properly saved
unless you do all of these other things. What was Paul's reaction
when he heard that this is where they'd move to? Look at Galatians
chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1 and verse
6. He's amazed. I marvel I'm staggered
that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ and to another gospel, another set of so-called
good news, which isn't good news because there's only one. There'll
be some that trouble you, these people coming in telling you
that you need other things other than the gospel of the grace
of Christ. They would pervert the gospel of Christ. Look at
what he says in verse 8. But the we don't care who we
are. The Apostle Paul that came and
preached this. Should it be that I ever come to you or even an
angel from heaven and preach anything other to you than the
gospel that we preach to you, let him be accursed. You might
not have heard that correctly. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
you have received, let him be accursed." Paul was absolutely
clear this was a damnable situation in which they were. Anything
which adds anything to the finished work of Christ and the gospel
of his grace perverts that gospel, destroys that gospel. You cannot
have that gospel as the pure, free grace of God that saves
his people from their sins and add anything to it. Anything
you add to it. Oh, we're only adding good works
to it. No, don't, because you'll poison it. One drop of poison
is all that it needs. You'll poison it. So what is
it then about the law? What was so bad about the law?
You forget what the purpose of the law was. Galatians 3 verse
24 You know this verse well. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. We don't stay at school, do we?
I mean, you know, they say your school days are the best days
of your life. I'm not too sure about that, actually. There are
all sorts of respects in which I look back, and there were good
times and there were bad times, but You grow and you mature and
don't worry Ariane, soon school will be a thing of the past and
you grow up and you get beyond those days and you become free
from the rules of that place. I've told you this before but
I think it's a good illustration. I know Don Faulkner tells a very
similar one. But when I was at primary school, it was Mr. Wynne
Stanley with his cane, and he used to cane us on the hand.
And then there was, when I went to grammar school, there was
Mr. Willett and his much more ferocious cane across the backside. And he could wield that cane
with significant skill. And I have to tell you, when
I was at Heversham Grammar School in the 1960s, If there was one
man above all others who I was terrified of, it was Guy Willett,
the headmaster of Heversham Grammar School. And I, along with most
other people, were terrified of him. Because of the testimony
of those that had fallen foul of his justice and had experienced
the cane on their backsides. It was a terrifying experience.
But then we got to 18 and we left school. And I wasn't scared
of him anymore. Because his rules didn't apply
to me anymore, not a bit. When I was 21 or 22 years old
and he was still there as a headmaster of a school, I don't know if
it was the same one, I think he'd moved on, but never mind. Do you think
he could have caned me then? Of course not. He would have
been on a charge for breaching the justice of the land. Absolutely
not. That was just, Paul likens the
law in terms of grace as the schoolmaster to bring us to the
position of grace where we're free from those rules. Do you
desire to go back to it? Look at verse 21 of chapter 4. Paul's talking to them about,
you know, they're slipping back into this legalistic spirit and
they're trying to mix works with grace and he says, tell me, you
that desire to be under the law, you that have listened to the
Judaizing people coming in saying you need to be circumcised and
you need to do this, that and the other, do you not hear the
law? Do you want to go back to school
with those? I certainly don't want to go
back to that regime. Not at all. You who desire to
go back to school, don't you remember what it was really like? And you know in the law of God,
the rules of God, there was no getting away. God requires perfect
obedience. Perfect. You can see that. Turn
back to chapter three, verse ten. For as many as are of the
works of the law, are under the curse. You want to subject yourself
to law works, you're under the curse, for it is written, Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law, to do them. Cursed! Cursed! Everyone! You've got, you know, there are
those that say, you're saved, you're justified by grace, but
we need to add sanctifying law works with the laws, the believers'
rule of life, to make us additionally sanctified. What they say is, God doesn't
expect perfect obedience. They say, we know this, they
say but, you know, a sincere attempt will be good enough for
God. But none of them can show you
anywhere in the scriptures where God says a sincere attempt is
good enough. A sincere attempt is not good
enough. A sincere attempt is completely
not good enough, for cursed is everyone that continueth not
in most things sincerely, no, all things written in the book
of the law, to do them perfectly, constantly, all the time. They
don't hear what it says. You who desire to be under the
law, do you not hear what the law says? There's death and there's
judgment coming. We've all got to stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. Do you think that your sincere
best efforts will do? God says no. Everything, perfectly. Are you ready for that? No. Absolutely not. In your flesh,
there's only one place to be. And that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just as there was in the days of Noah, there was only
one place to be. to survive that judgment and
that was in the ark the one place with those eight souls that was
the only place to be so he tells us what's this account of Hagar
and Ishmael and Isaac and Sarah and Abraham all about verse 22
it is written that Abraham had two sons the one by a bondwoman
the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise.
Which things are an allegory? For they represent the two covenants."
Two covenants. The whole world, hear me clearly
on this, the whole world, The whole of humanity, all humanity,
that's everybody you know, without exception, lives under one of
two covenants. There are only two covenants
that concern death and eternity, and your state in eternity. Only
two. And the whole world, whether they call themselves religious
or not, lives under one of those two covenants. And they're represented
by two sons, the two sons of Abraham. Ishmael, was the son
who was born of the flesh, was the child of the bondwoman, who
was in bondage, she wasn't free. Isaac? was born of promise, the
promise of God. Not by the will of the flesh,
but by the promise of God, of the free woman. It's an allegory.
It's a picture story. It illustrates two covenants.
It illustrates verse 24. Mount Sinai is that which is
represented by Hagar and Ishmael. Mount Sinai. And what does it
produce? It says it gendereth to bondage. It produces bondage, not freedom. Bondage. And it speaks of Hagar,
where it says Agar, that's the Greek, for Hagar, the Hebrew.
Verse 25, For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, which answereth
to Jerusalem. It corresponds to the Jerusalem
of Paul's day, which is in bondage with her children. It's in the
bondage of Judaism, of Phariseeism. It's in bondage with her children.
Why is it in bondage? Because the law of works, the
covenant of works, which was given to Adam before he fell,
was do this and live, but fail and you shall die. In the day
that you eat thereof you shall surely die. Cursed is everyone
that continues not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. Where are you? Are you accountable to God, the
judge, for your sinful nature? Are you waiting for the storm
of judgment to fall as it did in the flood? Or are you, verse
26, in Jerusalem above? Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the mother of us all. This is what Isaac represents.
This is what Sarah represents, the free woman. Are you in Jerusalem
above? Are you there? Like Isaac, children
of promise, heirs of God, you cannot mix them. You cannot have
all of the blessings of grace topped off with our best efforts
of sanctifying law works, which is what so many people falsely
think. The scripture doesn't teach it.
How does it illustrate it? Send away the bondwoman and her
son. For the bondwoman, the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.
Oh, not even a little bit? Oh, isn't it good to share? No!
Not in this respect. This is why it's an allegory.
This is why it had to be done. You must get rid of them. They
cannot live together. You cannot mix law and grace.
There are two covenants of life. The law, the covenant of works,
says, promises life. It says do this and live. But
then we go on to learn we cannot, for it's weak through the flesh.
For there's none righteous, no not one. Not a solitary one of
us. The other covenant is the covenant
of grace. And it didn't involve man, fallen
man, it involved the persons of the Godhead, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And in that covenant, this was
the message. Do this, O Christ, and your people
shall live. And why is that a better covenant?
Because it doesn't depend on man. It only depends on God,
and God is infallible. Through divine intent, God's
purposes cannot fail, and the two are incompatible. The law
leads to Christ, but once you're there, cast out the bondwoman
with her son. The law is not the believer's
rule of life. We cannot add anything to grace
and still have grace. Bill used to use this illustration,
which I think is the best one I've ever heard, that you've
got a glass of perfectly pure water that's refreshing and good
and wholesome. And that's like the covenant
of grace, the covenant of work, the covenant of the grace of
God, and it's good for you. And somebody comes along with
a bottle of poison and a dropper, and that's the covenant of works
and says well look I'll only put one drop in the glass you
know there's thousands of drops of good in there I'll just put
one drop of this in the glass would you drink it? Of course
you wouldn't absolutely not for one drop would poison the whole
one drop of works covenant poisons the covenant of grace. That's
why the bondwoman must be cast out. You cannot add anything
to it. The law identifies sin and condemns, but it can never
remove sin. Listen to, I'll try and finish
quickly, I've just got a few scriptures and then we'll finish,
but 1st Timothy chapter 1 verses 8 and 9. The law is good, what
is it, is the law bad then? The law is good if a man use
it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is
not made for a righteous man. What does that mean? Who's righteous?
Those that are made the righteousness of God in Christ. Those that
are his people, his believing people, the law isn't made for
them, but for the lawless and the disobedient and for the ungodly
and for sinners and for unholy and profane. When it replaces
grace to any degree, the message of scripture and of this allegory
is cast it out. Believers those that are in Christ
are not under law but under grace. Romans 6, clear, couldn't be
clear, where do you get that from in the scripture? It's clear
as the nose on your face, we're not under law but under grace.
Listen to Romans 3 verses 20 to 22, by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is
the knowledge of sin, that's what it's for, shows us what
we really are, but now The righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
made known, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. What's
he saying there is that this righteousness of God without
the law was even written by Moses in the books of the law, in Genesis,
in the account of Abraham and Isaac and so on. That's what
he means, witnessed by the law and by the prophets. Even the
righteousness of God, not by law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ. For it's Christ coming, and his
faithful work that saves his people from their sins unto all
and upon all them that believe and that's the sign those that
are the beneficiaries of it believe it we're not sanctified by law
but by grace oh i remember once speaking first time i was ever
asked to speak at a church years ago and i spoke on 1 corinthians
1 30 which says christ is made unto us wisdom from god and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. And they didn't mind me saying
wisdom from God or righteousness or redemption, but boy did they
hit the roof when I said that Christ was our sanctification.
Because they believe that we are our own sanctification according
to the works of the law. No, we're not. We're not ruled.
We're not sanctified by law, but by grace. We're not ruled
by law, but by grace. And I could, for the sake of
time, I won't, but if you read Galatians chapter 3, verses 1
to 3, he says, if you've started in the Spirit, are you now going
to be made perfect by the works of the law? Of course not. We're
not ruled by the law, but by grace. What rules us? You know what they say? The law
is the believer's rule. Who says that? You go to the
Metropolitan Tabernacle and listen to the summer school of theology.
It's the continuous theme that the law is the believer's rule
of life. What does the scripture say? Titus 2, 11 to 14, for the
grace of God, the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath
appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly." What is it that
tells us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world?
It's the grace of God! that brings salvation. That's
what teaches us to do that. That's what teaches us to look
for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great
God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people. What makes us zealous for good
works? The grace of God makes his people zealous for good works.
We're not motivated by law, do this and you will be rewarded.
Do this and you will be punished. No, we're not motivated by law,
we're motivated by grace for the love of Christ. 2 Corinthians
5.14 For the love of Christ constrains us. Are you a believer? or a legalist. By nature, in
your flesh, you're a legalist. We all are. We all are. The whole
world is. Whether it calls itself atheist,
Islamic, Catholic, whatever it is, we're legalists by nature
in the flesh. But by the Spirit of God, by
the Spirit of God, we believe the Gospel of God's grace. What
motivates you? Law or grace? Law or grace? What motivates what we do, how
we live? Law or grace? How do we who believe honour
this law of God that is good? How do we honour the holiness
of God? By sincere efforts? To keep it? In the flesh? No. No, not at
all. Romans 3.31. Do we then make
void the law through faith? God forbid. Yea, rather, we establish
We establish the law by faith, by faith. It's by faith in Christ
who is made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption that we honor the law of God. But the two cannot
sit compatibly together as your rules of life, absolutely not.
Verse 30 of Galatians 4. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So
then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the
free. Could Paul be clearer? You see, he's using the allegory.
We mustn't, we mustn't try to mix works and grace. We mustn't
try to mix law works for any measure of Improvement with God,
with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in which we're complete
in Him. We're complete in Him, says Paul
to the Colossians. You are complete in Him. Look
at the first few verses of chapter 5, and with this we'll finish.
Don't worry, I know I've gone on longer than usual. Stand fast,
therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, of legalism. Behold, I, Paul, say to you,
that if ye be circumcised, just one little thing, surely that
won't matter, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. Christ is become of no effect
unto you. Whosoever of you are justified
by the law, ye are fallen from grace. The liberty of the free
woman, represented by Sarah and Isaac, stand fast in that liberty
in Christ, not in bondage. Beware of one drop of the poison
of legalism in the gospel of Christ's grace. Because if we
allow it, if we submit to it, Christ, it says, will be of no
effect to us. So stand fast in Christ.