In the gospel, God has made promises
with his people, wonderful promises, tremendous promises, great promises,
promises of blessing, promises of grace, promises of salvation,
promises of an inheritance to come, eternal and everlasting,
promises, promises of what he should do, promises of what he
has done in saving his people, regardless of what they have
done, regardless of what they will do. regardless of their
sinful state by nature, regardless of their transgressions, in spite
of all that they are and all that they have done and all that
they can or will do, despite their natural corruption, despite
their rebellion, despite their waywardness and their wickedness,
God has promised to his people that he should save them. that
He should save them, that He should wash their iniquities
away, that He should cleanse them with the blood of His own
Son, that He should justify them, that He should declare them righteous
with the very righteousness of God, that He should look upon
them in the person of His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and
say, in Him, He is well pleased. well pleased with him and well
pleased with that people in him. In him he looks upon his people
in Christ and sees them as perfect, as pure, as a pure bride for
his own beloved son. He looks upon them in Christ
with love, with mercy, with grace, with adoration, He looks upon
them and sees not one blemish in them. He regards not one of
their sins. He sees not one of their transgressions. He sees nothing but righteousness. Oh, what a tremendous gospel
this is. And what tremendous promises
are contained therein. How wonderful, how amazing, how
incomprehensible that God should be able to look upon a people,
a company, a nation, a multitude in His Son, who are children
of wrath, just as all other men are, descended from Adam, rebels,
sinners, wicked, vile, who have unclean hearts, how He could
look upon such as these, such perhaps as you and me. How he
could look upon the hardest of hearts, the hardest of sinners,
the most wayward, and forgive their every transgression. How
he could look upon them and view them in his Son as righteous.
How he could save them freely. How he could do this for those
so undeserving, those so deserving of his anger. of His judgment,
of His wrath. What a tremendous gospel that
He should forgive and save them. And what a tremendous gospel
that it should rest upon this promise of what He should do.
Promises that God made in old times, in ancient times, to the
patriarchs, to Abraham, the ancestor of the faithful, the father of
the faithful. Promises that he made way back
thousands of years ago to Abraham. That he should, of the lines
of Abraham, of the descendants of Abraham, the spiritual, not
the physical descendants, that he should of Abraham bring in
a great multitude, a great nation, into a great land, a land of
inheritance. That he should in that land bless
them. forevermore. Promises made which have been
kept absolutely. There is not one
promise which God has made in the gospel which he has not fulfilled. There is not one promise which
he has made in the gospel which he has not brought to pass. There
is not one promise which he has reneged on. There is not one
promise which is conditional upon your doing this or doing
that. For if it were, then all would
be lost. But all the promises have been
brought to pass. For the promises of the gospel
are entirely, entirely unconditional. They find their fulfillment in
the Godhead. They find their conditions not
with what man should do, but entirely regarding what God would
do, what God the Son would do, in doing the will of the Father,
in coming into this world, in being made a man, in heading
for the cross, in being crucified upon the cross, in hanging upon
a tree, in being cursed upon that tree, that he should take
away the sins of his people, and bring in for them the righteousness
of God, that the blessing of Abraham might come on them, Jews
and Gentiles, through Jesus Christ, and that they through him might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. This is what God has brought
to pass in the gospel, all of which conditions are fulfilled
by him. and as such promises made to
his people which are unconditional with regard to them. They have
nothing to do to earn this, nothing to do to keep this, nothing to
do to merit this. All that they have done would
set it far from them. All that they have done has earned,
has merited the wrath of God for eternity to come. And yet despite all that they
have done, God says unto these, I will bless thee. I will make
thee great. I will bring in an inheritance
for thee. No matter what thou hast done,
my son, you are perfect. What a gospel. what an encouragement
for the believer or an encouragement for us as we enter a new year
as we pass from the old and go into another year and we look
upon that which might come to pass and we see a world around
us full of fury, full of anger, full of malice, full of treachery,
full of sin, full of opposition to the things of God, full of
opposition to this gospel. We look to the future and wonder
what may be, we wonder what may come to pass, we wonder whether
we may pass through good days or bad days, through trials and
troubles, or through pleasant pathways. We wonder what might
be and sometimes as we look to the future it's a looking with
trepidation when we look with the natural eye. But in the gospel
there is set before the eye of faith, there is set before the
eye of the believer. These promises, these promises
of grace, these promises of blessing, which will never, ever fail. God has promised to save His
own. He has promised to bless them.
He has promised to lead them forth by the right way. He has
promised to lead them into an everlasting inheritance which
shall not fail, which shall not be removed, which shall not be
taken away. And He has fulfilled these promises
in the sending of His own Son into this world, that they will
surely come upon His people. The promise of the Spirit would
surely come upon all those for whom Christ died, all those whom
He saves through faith. This will come to pass. What
an encouragement as we look ahead to know that this God that promised
these things to Abraham, that brought these things to pass
for his people in those days, that brought these things to
pass for the people in the days of the coming of Christ into
this world, when Christ was born in Bethlehem, when the shepherds
and the wise men came to worship, when Anna looked and beheld the
child, when Zacharias beheld him, when Mary had those promises
made unto her and Joseph her husband, when all these things
came to pass, when the disciples were called by Christ and followed
Him, when the apostles, having seen Christ crucified, saw Him
risen again, when they went out to preach the gospel by the power
of the Spirit, All these things were fulfilled, all these things
came to pass. And the same God that brought
them to pass then, continues to bring these promises to pass
upon His people today. The Spirit is still sent forth
in the Gospel, He's still sent forth to His people, He still
comes upon those who are quickened unto life by the preaching of
the Gospel, those lost sheep who are gathered into the household
of faith. he still comes, he still comes
in power, he still comes in saving power, he still comes with everlasting
life, he still comes with salvation, he still comes with grace. What
promises, what a gospel, what encouragement. And in the latter part of Galatians
chapter 3, As Paul continues his discourse regarding the errors
that had come into the churches at Galatia, regarding the gospel,
and regarding the relationship between the gospel, which contains
such promises as these. and the old covenant and the
law of God and the former rituals and rites of the old covenant
as it was given to the Jews. As he continues to discuss these
things and to show to the Galatians that they are no longer under
the law, that they are delivered from the law by the body of Christ.
that they walk by faith in the gospel, looking unto Christ alone,
that righteousness does not come by the law, but by faith in Jesus
Christ. that they through the law are
dead to the law that they might live unto God that they are crucified
with Christ nevertheless they live yet not them but Christ
live within them and the life which they now live now as believers
they now live in the flesh they live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved them and gave himself for them. As Paul sets
these things before them and declares unto them that the faith
they have today is the same faith which Abraham had in former days. The gospel they believe today
is the same gospel that Abraham believed 430 years before the
giving of the law. As he sets these things forth
he reminds them in the latter part of Galatians 3 that faith
rests in the promises, it rests in the gospel not in the law. The law is not of faith. The
law does not demand faith, it does not require faith. The keeping
of the law, walking by the law, is not a pathway of faith. And it is not the pathway for
the man of faith, the child of God, those born of faith. It is not a pathway for those
to walk in, for they are to walk by faith. The just shall live
by faith, he says. then it is evident that they
are not justified by the law in the sight of God and it is
evident that they do not live by the law, for the law is not
of faith. But the law says this, the man
that doeth them that doeth the works of the law shall live in
them. The man that doeth the works
of the law shall live by the law, not by faith. Those who are under the law live
by works. by works rendered by their strength
and their obedience to the law. But those quickened of God by
the gospel are those who in God's sight, in Christ, are just. They are righteous before God,
not because of anything they have done, but because of what
they are in Jesus Christ. For in him the righteousness
of God is theirs. and as the just, as the righteous,
they live by faith. And faith looks not to the law,
not to the works of the law, not to the commandments of the
law, not to the rule of the law. Faith looks entirely unto Christ
in the gospel. Faith rests in the promises of
God in the gospel. The law is not of faith. Righteousness, that by which
man is declared just before God, that which is vital to salvation,
for there is no salvation without righteousness. Righteousness,
our great need, is found not in the law, but in the gospel,
exclusively in the gospel. Paul says I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. Therein, in the gospel. You may say, but surely the law
speaks of righteousness. Yes, it does, but it brings none. It demands righteousness of those
who have none and those who can render none, but it never ever
manifests it. all it does for those who are
under its rule is bring to the surface their sin. Put a man
under the law and you won't see one spot of righteousness, you'll
see plenty of self-righteousness, you'll see plenty of self-delusion
that he walks righteously before God but all you truly see from
him is sin. You see his pride bubble up to
the surface in how he thinks he keeps the law when he does
not. You'll see his pride of how he is before God, how he
thinks he stands before God, when in reality in God's eyes
his righteousness is as he sees them, or as filthy rags. The law merely discovers his
sin. As Paul writes in Romans, Therefore
by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's
why it was given. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. But in the gospel
there's a contrast, for in the gospel there is righteousness.
As it says, but now, now in the gospel, in the manifestation,
in the revelation of the gospel, in the coming of Christ, in his
making his gospel known, in the gospel, objectively in the gospel,
in what Christ did in the gospel, now in the gospel the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. is not made known by the law,
it's not even made known through Christ's keeping of the law.
Though it is true that in the gospel and in his lifetime he
unlike any other certainly did keep that law, he was righteous
what is seen in the gospel is the righteousness of God that
overwhelming transcendent righteousness which fulfills all the law's
demands but goes way beyond them for the law merely regarded man
as he is in this world and his conduct before other men and
his relationships between him and God and other men as a man
But the righteousness of God which is manifested in the gospel
is that righteousness which is in the Godhead. that wonderful
eternal glorious heavenly righteousness which Christ brought down from
above as he the Son of God was made man and walked as a man. He brought in this righteousness
freely for his people. Now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested apart from it on another principle. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets they pointed to its coming, they spake of it
but it came in the gospel in Christ. Even the righteousness
of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe. Here is righteousness, here is
the promise fulfilled in the gospel. The legalist can see righteousness
in no place other than in the law. And this lies behind the
deception, the foolishness, the bewitching which came in at Galatia. The legalists, those who are
taken up with the law, think that the law is the definition
of righteousness. And that where there is righteousness,
there is law. And where the law is not, there
is no righteousness. So if you speak of being under
grace in the gospel and delivered from the law, not under the law,
to these alarm bells sound, for they cannot comprehend that righteousness
could be found in any other place. To them the gospel must lead
you back to the law for righteousness. To them the gospel is merely
that means by which God blotted out our sins. But for righteousness
he must lead us back to the law for to them the law is the definition
of righteousness. Where there is law there is righteousness,
where there is no law there is sin. But here they are blinded. Here
they do not see a right for the reality is that under the law
there never really was righteousness. The law demanded righteousness
and it witnessed of righteousness but that righteousness comes
in the gospel. The law pointed to the gospels
bringing in of righteousness. There never was righteousness
under the law it is only in the gospel. This is vital to see. Righteousness
is in the gospel. Righteousness comes another way.
It comes without the law, as Paul has said in Romans 3. Now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifest. It's manifested
in the gospel. It comes through faith. Christ
brought in the righteousness of God when he suffered upon
the tree in the place of his people, when he took their sins
and their sins and their sin was judged according to God's
own righteousness and in judging it was blotted out that the curse
might be taken away and that righteousness might be brought
in and that the promise might be
fulfilled. For where righteousness is brought
in and set to the account of those that look for it, God justifies
such a people. And the promise is brought in
of an inheritance to come, which cannot be taken away. It's all
in the promise, it's all in the gospel. The gospel itself brings
in the righteousness of God. It is not merely a step to be
added on to the law or a precursor to be going back to the law to
bring in righteousness in practical daily living. No, the gospel
brought in righteousness and it maintains righteousness through
the spirit of God's work in the heart of the believer. Righteousness
is exclusively in the gospel, not in the law. Righteousness
comes through faith. In Romans 10 Paul speaks of the
righteousness of faith in contrast with the righteousness demanded
by the law or the works of the law. There is that righteousness
which only comes through faith, through the gospel. The law is not of faith. And
the law has nothing to do with this righteousness, which is
brought in through the gospel. This comes in through the promise.
The law is not of the promise. Faith is of the promise. Faith
believes and rests in the promise. It looks entirely to God for
the fulfilment of the promise. But the law and the works of
the law rest in self and in our fulfilment of the works of the
law. The law sets man to render obedience,
the man that doeth them shall live in them. But faith simply
looks outside of ourselves. to the one who has fulfilled
the promise. The law is not of faith. That's
what the law is not. The law is of doing, not believing. It is of works entirely. It is
entirely to do with man's keeping of it. You may ask, well why was the
law given then? Fear it is not to bring in righteousness.
Why was it given? What does it serve? Paul answers
the question in verse 19. Wherefore then serveth the law?
Was it given to bring in righteousness? Was it given as a rule for those
who have faith to live by? No, it was added, it was added
after the promise had been made. It was brought in 430 years after
God promised to Abraham that he would bless him. After the
promise of the gospel had come, after faith had been given to
Abraham to look to the gospel, to look to the coming of Christ,
to believe on Christ. After the gospel had come, after
faith had been promised to Abraham, The law was given 430 years after,
after his descendants, the children of Jacob, children of Israel
had been taken into captivity in Egypt. After they had spent
hundreds of years in captivity and were eventually delivered.
Then only then was the law given. Hundreds of years after this
covenant, after this promise was made unto Abraham. hundreds of years afterwards. And the law, though given afterwards,
cannot disannul, it cannot alter the promise, it cannot set the
gospel aside. And it was never meant to, nor
was it meant to be added to the gospel, nor was it meant to be
a rule of life or a rule of righteousness for those who were given faith
in the gospel. It was added for this cause,
wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions,
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. Until
then. It was added, it was given to
show man his sin. And it was given to show him
his sin, until the seed should come to whom the promise was
made. Now what does this mean till
the seed should come to whom the promise was made? It means
of course until Christ should come. It was added until Christ. It was added until faith in Christ
comes. Historically the law was added
from that day when God gave it by angels through Moses to the
children of Israel to prove them and to demonstrate their sin.
It was added historically they were put under that covenant
until that time years later when Christ was born of Mary. born
of a virgin, born of the Holy Ghost, when he came, when the
seed, the promised seed, that seed promised under Abraham,
that descendant, that child of promise should come. to whom
the promises pertained. It was added historically until
that he should come, when he should come into this world to
fulfill all the promises, to bring in righteousness in the
gospel, to bring in the fulfillment of the new covenant of grace,
and to deliver his people from under the old covenant of the
law, from under that covenant of works, from under the ministry
of condemnation, from under that law which slew them. It was added
historically until that day, but when Christ had come, Jews,
Gentiles, all those of faith, were delivered from the law,
delivered from the old covenant, delivered from all its rituals
and rites, delivered from its rule, delivered from its condemnation,
to live by faith in Christ. But secondly, it was given until
faith should come, until the seed should come, spiritually
speaking, in our own experience. We are under the law, as it were,
from the day in which we are born under its condemnation. It's put above us to demonstrate
our sin until such a day, that the Spirit of God should bring
faith into our hearts, until such a day that God should by
that law so slay us and condemn us and convict us of our sin,
that he brings us to our knees before him, that he brings us
to the foot of the cross, that he brings us to cry out for mercy
and deliverance, and he brings us to see Christ. He brings us
to behold the One who has delivered His people from their sins. Thou
shalt call His name, Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. When we're given faith to see
Him, when faith comes, then we're no longer under that law. That
law is described towards the end of chapter three here as
a schoolmaster, a schoolmaster under which we're under for a
time until faith should come. The scripture have concluded
all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. But before faith came we were
kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
when we've been brought to Christ, when God gives us faith, when
he opens his eyes to see who he is and what he did and what
he did upon the cross, when faith is come we are no longer under
a schoolmaster, no longer. We're delivered from it, we're
brought out from under it. It's no longer above our head,
it's no longer sounding out its curses and condemnation against
us. We're no longer under the schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus, not by works, not by the law,
but by faith in the promise. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be
Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise. When faith is come, you are no
longer under the schoolmaster. It couldn't be clearer, could
it? Paul couldn't be plainer. There was the law, it was given,
it was given for a reason, it was given to show you your sin,
it was given because of transgressions. It was given for a time, it was
a schoolmaster under which we were all under, to show us our
sin, to show us that all are under sin. But when Christ has
come, when faith has come, we're no longer under the schoolmaster.
It's done its work. The law was added after the promise
was made unto Abraham. Paul asks, is the law then against
the promises of God? Is it contrary to it? God forbid. If there had been a law given
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. But the law could not bring life,
and it could not bring righteousness. Only the gospel, only the fulfillment
of the promise could. For all under the law are under
sin. to shut us up to the coming of the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ, which should be given unto all those that believe.
How should this promise be fulfilled? How should those locked under
the sentence of the law, locked under its condemnation, locked
under its judgment, how should those convicted of their sin
under the law, how should we, if we know our sin, if we know
what we are, if we feel the law's sentence sounding out against
us, if we feel God's wrath sounding out from heaven above against
our sin, How should we escape this law? How can we, when we
are sinners, when we have broken its every command, how can we
be delivered to walk by faith alone? How can we, as those under
the law, be brought to be the just who live by faith alone?
How can there be a deliverance in this way? One way and one
way only, through the coming of that promised seed. through
the coming of Christ and through what Christ would do when he
laid down his life in the place of his people. Paul sums this
up succinctly at the beginning of the portion we read. He says,
the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. it is written
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The law is not of faith it just condemned us, it demanded our
perfect obedience, it demanded that we do all of its commands
perfectly every day every moment from our birth until our death
every moment of our life And not one of us has. We've broken
its every command every moment and every day. But the promise
of the gospel promises that there should be a blessing, the blessing
of Abraham which should come upon the people of God through
Jesus Christ. That they might receive the promise
of the Spirit of God, that the Spirit of God should come and
bring life, that he should bring life into those who are dead
in trespasses and sins, that he should bring life, breathe
life into their hearts. that he should come and dwell
in their hearts, that he should lead them forth by faith, lead
them forth in the ways of righteousness. Well how can this be? Only if
one should deliver that people who were bound under the curse
of the law, if one should deliver that people from the curse of
the law. And that promised seed that one
seed, not many as Paul points out. The promises were not made
to many, not made to Abraham and his seed as though the seed
was many people, many seeds, many descendants, it was made
to one seed, to thy seed which is Christ. And the reason for
this is that all the fulfillment of the promise is found in Him. If it were to cede then it would
regard us all individually and people would understandably think
that everyone has something to do. but it's taken away from
all of us and it's all placed, all the fulfillment of the promise
in the gospel is placed in one, in Christ. He has done it all. There's nothing for us to do.
He has delivered his people from the curse of the law. And he's
delivered them from the curse of the law. And he's brought
in the fulfillment of the promise. He's brought in the righteousness
of God for his own. He's washed them clean by being
made a curse for them. Oh, what an awful truth. What
an awesome truth. That Christ should redeem us
from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us. For
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That
babe born in Bethlehem that babe of whom the world has heard this
past week, the world over, whose name has been on the lips of
many, came not simply to be a babe, came not simply to be a great
teacher, came not simply to establish a religion and to speak wise
words, but he came to be nailed to a tree. He came to be made
a curse. He came to die. And he came to
die for through that death was the only way in which his people
should be delivered from the curse of the law. He turned not
from it. Born in this world, made a man,
born under the law. He put himself under the law
that he might be judged by the law, that he might be cursed
by the law, that he might be condemned by the law, not for
his sin, but for the sins of his own. He came to die. He headed all his years towards
Jerusalem. He headed with the cross in sight. He headed towards it with it
in his gaze every day of his life in this world. He knew what
would come to pass. He knew the awfulness of it.
Not simply the painful suffering, the natural physical suffering
which he would undergo. but the dreadful suffering of
being made a curse. Having the wrath of God poured
out upon him, having the hand of God struck out against him,
being crushed and bruised and broken, being made a curse. He hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He was made sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He was made sin,
and in being made sin, He was made a curse for us, for us who
believe. Oh, have you seen Him? Have you
beheld this One, this Seed, this Promised Saviour, this Glorious
Son of God, this Glorious Saviour, this Glorious Man, this Wonderful,
Wonderful Saviour? Have you seen Him crucified for
you? Have you seen Him made a curse? Have you seen Him hanging on
the tree? For if you have, If you have,
if God has given you that faith to look unto Him and Him alone,
if God has caused you to behold Him suffering in your place,
suffering for your sins, suffering for your sin, taking upon Himself
your guilt, taking upon Himself the condemnation due unto you,
if you have seen Him there in your place, looking upon you
in love, suffering the death that you
should die. If you have seen him there, then
faith has come. The Spirit has come unto you.
God has opened your eyes to see. and in Him you will see your
redemption, in Him you will see your salvation, in Him you will
see the promises fulfilled, in Him you will see the seed come,
the promises fulfilled, the grace of God made known, mercy manifested,
righteousness revealed, salvation brought in, salvation accomplished,
in Him you will see the inheritance brought in, in him you will see
your all. When faith has come you are no
longer under a schoolmaster, no longer, no longer, you're
in Christ. And faith looks nowhere, nowhere
but unto Christ alone, both now and in the coming days, now and
evermore. Now and in all things. Faith rests, trusts, leans, finds
its all in Christ. What a Savior, what a promise,
what a gospel, what a salvation, and what a sure and a certain
hope for those pilgrims who journey through an evil and a dark and
a barren land, looking for a heavenly, looking for that inheritance
to come, looking for that which will bring in that promise which
finds its fulfilment in Christ, that eternal glory. What hope
and encouragement for the child of God as he embarks on another
year in this world, as he continues on his journey, looking not to
himself, not to the law, not to works, but looking by faith
to Christ and Christ alone. Praise God. Amen.