Can you hear it? Is it working?
Okay. Right. And that's recording now. Okay,
turn back then to Galatians chapter 4 Galatians chapter 4 and the
title of this message is two covenants the same message two
covenants the same message you know Mankind is by nature very
religious all around the world. Mankind is very religious. You
know when the Apostle Paul got to Athens and there were the
Greek philosophers there and he was wandering through the
streets and he saw all of the temples and shrines and the idols
and the statues and when they brought him to Mars Hill to give
a reason for what he was doing and what he was saying, he said
to the men of Athens, I perceive that you are very superstitious,
you're very religious, for I see idols everywhere and one to the
unknown God, Him whom you worship without knowing, Him I declare
to you. You see, they're just like men
and women today, very religious. All religion, doesn't matter
what you call it, Islam, Catholicism, doesn't matter what the name
that goes with it, whatever it's called, is all about fundamentally
what you need to do what I need to do to be acceptable to God
or to the God of that religion or the gods of that religion
it's about what you need to do but the gospel of Christ the
true gospel that is the theme of this book from cover to cover
the gospel of Christ is about what God in Christ has done Not
what you must do, what God in Christ has done to make sinners
acceptable to God entirely without contribution from those sinners.
Acceptable to God. Michael, do you understand that?
Acceptable to God with no contribution required from you. That's what
it's about. That's what the Gospel is about.
I remember 20 years ago, 1988, hearing Henry Mahan preach this
up in Ripon. First time we'd met the man,
we'd heard him on tape, but the first time we'd met him, What
a gracious man he was, because the gospel of Christ makes men
and women gracious. And we heard him preach four
or five times in that week. And I remember Christine saying
again and again, but it's too good to be true. This is too
good to be true. It sounds so good, surely. You know, they say if something's
too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true, and therefore
it's false. But not in the case of the gospel. The gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is true, even though it sounds too good
to be true. You see, Christine had been brought
up in Baptist religion. We'd even been to Reformed Baptist
Calvinistic churches. But we'd never heard before that
your salvation is complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. That in
Him you are complete. Because every other religion,
be it Calvinistic or what, said you've been given a leg up onto
the stakes of eternity and now it's up to you to live this way
and to not do that and to do this and to keep going there
and not rules and regulations but the gospel of Christ is what
you are in the Lord Jesus Christ gospel light floods your heart
when you hear that message You see that you need wisdom from
God and righteousness to be acceptable with God, and to be sanctified,
to be holy, set apart from this world, and to be redeemed, to
be bought with a price from the slave market of sin. And you
see it in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is made unto us wisdom
from God. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. What a glorious truth. The Galatians
had heard that message. Paul had preached it to them.
They'd embraced it. He called them brethren. He was
sure that they had believed that gospel. But you know, there's
a problem with mankind. We have such a tendency to revert
back to works religion. You know, there's a proverb.
It doesn't sound very nice. You know, the scriptures never
hold back. The scriptures are nowhere near as squeamish as
we are. But there's a proverb, chapter 26 and verse 11, and
it says this. You might have seen a dog do
this. I hope your new little dog isn't doing this yet. But
he says, as a dog returns to its vomit. Our dog, you know,
used to be sick and it used to go back. I mean, it's really
unpleasant, isn't it? But you know, it's an observation
that they do that. and you wash the pig you know the dirty filthy
pig you give it a good scrub down so it's nice and pink and
gleaming and what's the first thing it wants to do go and roll
around in the dirt again it wants to go and get back in there the
proverb says this as a dog returns to its vomit so is a fool who
returns to his folly Mankind is so prone to return to folly. The Galatians were foolish. Oh
foolish Galatians says Paul in chapter 3 verse 1 because you've
returned to your folly. Your folly is the folly of idolatrous
religion which thinks that there's something that you need to add
or something that you need to do. They were returning to the
folly of law works religion. Now I've told you a number of
times and I'll keep repeating it. What is the difference between
those good things that are the fruit of the spirit that we're
going to see when we get into chapter five what is the difference
between those and law works law works you're doing law works
if you think it makes you more valuable in the sight of God
that's a law work fruit of the spirit is what you do anyway
because of what you are Fruit of the Spirit is the things that
you do that conform with the glorious gospel and truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you do it because you are
one of those trees that produce that fruit. But a law work, you
think, ah, I need to do this because I need to be counted
a bit better by God. And therefore you think you have
to do them. Or you think you have to stop doing other things.
The motivation is completely wrong. What you think of them
is completely wrong. Anyway, Paul goes on and he gives
a plea, a pastoral plea in those verses 12 to 19 or 20, 12 to
20 and I'm not going to spend time, there's an awful lot that
we could say about these verses but I'm not going to spend time
looking at them because I want to move on but I will paraphrase
what it says and you go away and read them for yourself so
that you get the message you see because although the Word
of God is designed and inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach us
truth. You know there's an old saying in the catechism about
scripture being written by holy men, men set apart, but they
were still men. They were still people and their
character came through. And you read it and you know
you listen to a piece of music and I can listen to a piece of
music I've never heard and I can say That sounds like Brahms,
because it's got his signature written all over it. And there's
bits of scripture that sound like the Apostle Paul, even if
he doesn't say it. It's got his signature written all over it.
The characteristics come through. And the characteristics that
come through here are the characteristics of a loving pastor. You see,
he sounds as though he's rebuking them, calling them foolish. being
quite strong with them, telling them that he's amazed about them.
How are they turning from the true gospel away to what they're
believing now? But it's from the heart of a
loving pastor. He loves these people as if they
were his own children. He loves them in that way. You
know, there's things that you will do for your own children
that you just well there's some people can do things for children
that they've never come across and that's a tremendous gift
but most of us there's something you know if it comes to that
situation where it's a case of put your life on the line you
will do it for your own children and this is the plea of a loving
pastor and he says this this is my paraphrase of these verses
12 to 20 why would you not follow my teaching he's saying to them
why would you not follow my teaching you know me You know my motives. I was with you for all that time.
You know my motives. You know my afflictions. We were
united in the gospel. You heard even the voice of Christ
from my lips. You bore my burdens. The burdens
I had in the flesh, we don't know what they were. Maybe it
was blindness in some form. It seems that it could well have
been. You bore my burdens. But these Jewish teachers have
come in and seduced you and turned you against me. So now, because
I tell you the truth about the gospel as I always did, you treat
me like your enemy. You treat me... we're in competition
with these Jewish teachers. It's as if we're having to start
all over again, he says. You make me doubt whether you
ever really grasped that pearl of greatest price, which is the
gospel. He says, verse 20, I would like
to be present with you now and change my tone. for I have doubts
about you you see there's a pastoral plea and he says this to you
and me and to anyone who would drift from the single-minded
devotion to Christ and leaning on him and the gospel of his
grace alone well then he comes back to the argument and uh...
it's another angle he's coming at the same argument but he's
coming at it from another angle so let's come back to this debate
this is the question Is the gospel all of grace? Absolutely free. If it's of grace, it's free.
You know, Paul says in Romans, the difference between grace
and works is the difference between gifts and wages. Wages are not
grace. Wages are what you earn. Gifts
are gracious. They're freely given. They're
freely received. There's no debt. There's nothing
involved. Is the gospel all of grace or
do we need to add law works to be properly acceptable to God.
Do you know there's a phrase that I've heard people say, Oh,
so-and-so's a better Christian than me. Do you know that really
worries me, when I hear that? That really worries me. Because
in the Lord Jesus Christ, no Christian is a better Christian
than any other, because how can you be any better than complete
in Christ? Where's your faith? Where's your
trust? Where's your rest? If it's in
Him, the issue of who's the better Christian, is this one a better
Christian than that one? You're complete in Christ. That's
what you're measured in, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
God views you, in the Lord Jesus Christ. We must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. You're either going to appear
on your own merits, or on His merits. I want to appear on the
basis of His merits. I want to be found in Him. not
having my own righteousness, but that which is by the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ." Notice I didn't say it the way it is
in the New King James Version. It's the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that he did all that was necessary, that
makes me righteous, that gives me the righteousness I need.
So the question is, are there things I need to do to make me
more pleasing to God, to make me sanctified? You see, this
is true, it's undeniable. There are many today who try
to bring Christian believers back under the bondage of the
law. They sound like they're saying this anyway. They try
to bring them back under the bondage of the law whilst professing
to trust Christ as their Savior. And they profess to sincerely
live by the law. They say, yes we're justified
by Christ but now we're under an obligation to sincerely live
by the law of God to the best of our ability. but you see there's
a problem when it comes to the law to the best of your ability
is never ever ever good enough the best of your ability is never
good enough when it comes to the law look at verse 21 he starts
the argument like this tell me you who desire to be under the
law you who desire to follow these Jewish teachers trying
to bring you back into bondage tell me you who desire to be
under the law Do you not hear the law? Have you not heard the
law? Have you not read the small print
that's in the law? Have you not read what it's really
saying? Have you not heard what the law really demands, all of
it? Not just the bits you choose
to hear, not just the Ten Commandments, you see there are those who say
the Ten Commandments are the believer's rule of life. No they're
not, it's much wider than that. It's the whole of scripture.
the whole of scripture not just the Ten Commandments but all
of the Mosaic Scriptures and even those Ten Commandments that
people say that they live by as their rule of Christian life
What about the fourth commandment? Do you know what the fourth commandment
is? Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And so they
say, Sunday is the Sabbath in its Christian form. Therefore
we will do no work, we will not do this, we will not do that,
but we still let electricity into our houses because we live
in the 21st century. And we've got to eat, so we'll
still cook some lunch and well, we've got to get to church and
well, we'll still get the car out of the garage and go in the
car to church and you read the Mosaic law the man who would
pick up sticks on the Sabbath day was to be stoned to death
for profaning that Sabbath law because that Sabbath law was
a picture you see if you're not resting in the Lord Jesus Christ
if you're not resting in Him it's spiritual death that's it
Outside of a rest in the Lord Jesus Christ is nothing other
than spiritual death. And that's what those seemingly
harsh stipulations are meant to say to us. Outside of a complete
rest in the Lord Jesus Christ is spiritual death. But in Him
is life. I came that they may have life
and have it more abundantly. To know you the eternal God and
Jesus Christ whom you have sent and this is life is what he says
so you see we must hear what the law says Romans 3 19 says
this now we know that what things so ever the law saith it saith
to them who are under the law all of us by nature by birth
that every mouth may be stopped because you haven't got anything
to plead in in defense you're guilty and all the world may
become guilty before God 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 what the law does it shows us what
we're really like against the holiness of God the law does
not minister life so adding it to Christian faith it does not
minister life 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 7 let me
just turn this up for you chapter 3 and verse 7 if the ministry
of death written and engraved on stones was glorious he's talking
about the giving of the law the tablets of stone at Sinai it
was a glorious thing but note what he calls it the ministry
of death that was the law the ministry of death, why? because
the soul that lives by them shall do them you see its purpose was
to demonstrate as we've already seen the impossibility of earning
acceptance with God by law works and therefore as a teacher to
drive us to Christ who alone is able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by him so you see these people and we've
got them today all around us in all of our churches saying
you must add law works to faith in Christ in order to be a proper
Christian these people while professing to love and honor
the law and oh they're vehement for it They really are. You get
the wrong side of them. They're vehement for it. They'd
string you up. They'd throw you in prison. If
they could order the laws of the land to do it, they'd have
people who preach like I do locked up in jail. They would do. They
profess to love and honour the law, but they actually destroy
its message. Because do you know what the
message of the law of God is? And this is why I called it two
covenants, the same message. The message of the law of God
is this. salvation by Christ alone. That's
what it is. Not salvation by law works. It
so much shows the impossibility of being right with God by law
works that the message of it is salvation by Christ alone
because we know that all scripture declares redemption, grace, and
salvation by Christ from start to finish. You go every page
of this book, you look for it, you'll see that message, redemption,
grace, salvation, electing grace, the sovereign love of God in
a Redeemer. He's on every page of this book,
in every account, in every story. You read the book of Esther.
I think it's a book in which there isn't even a mention of
the word God and yet the whole thing demonstrates sovereign
grace. God's sovereign grace of redeeming
a people, of saving them by the strength of His own arm. you
know the verses I often quote John 5 39 Jesus said this to
the Pharisees you search the scriptures the law for in them
by the law you think you have eternal life these are they which
speak of me those disciples on the Emmaus road beginning at
Moses and the prophets the law the law he expounded to them
in all the scriptures the things concerning himself and we could
go on and so then Paul comes to verse 22 and he gives an illustration
from the law about law and grace about how do you get right with
God is it by the grace that is in Christ alone or do you have
to add law works to it we have to interpret scripture in the
light of other scriptures that's right the most weird sects they
always get off on one scripture and they take it to extremes.
There's a verse at the end of Mark's gospel that talks about
picking up serpents and not being bitten. And so there's a sect
in the United States of America where they fill the room with
poisonous snakes and they pick them up and they get bitten by
them. And just because they've taken one verse completely out
of context and misapplying it and lots of them end up getting
bitten and die as a result of snake bites. You know, they're
stupid things. You must interpret scripture
in the light of scripture. Now, these two verses, let's
read them, verses 22, sorry, three verses, 22 to 24. For it
is written, you see, he says, don't you hear what the law says?
Now, in the law, the five books of Moses, in Genesis, in chapters
12 and 16, 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 according to the flesh. and he of the free
woman through promise which things are symbolic or an allegory as
the authorized version says which things are symbolic for these
are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gives
birth to bondage which is Hagar and then he goes on and it's
verse 26 before you get the second half and the other which is Jerusalem
above which is free you see Holy Scripture shows us how to interpret
that story of Abraham and his two sons. You see, without what
is written here in Galatians chapter 4, the Holy Spirit inspired
Paul to write these things. Without that being there, we
could read Genesis 16 through 21, you know, those chapters
about Ishmael and Isaac and Hagar and Sarah, and we could read
it as little more than an ancient episode of EastEnders, just like
a biblical soap opera. that the Holy Spirit shows us
what it's really about shows us what it's really teaching
you see the two women both bore sons to Abraham one was born
of a bondwoman that was Hagar and the child Ishmael was born
of the will of the flesh and the other Isaac was born of a
free woman Sarah the wife of Abraham and he was born by the
promise of God not by the normal workings of the flesh because
they were so old Abraham was nearly a hundred Sarah was 90,
90 years old when Isaac was born to her this is what the scripture
says one was of promise one was of the will of the flesh and
these are an allegory, these are symbolical of the two covenants
now this is important to learn God deals with us as people,
men and women only in covenant relationships His promises are
given in covenants. And a covenant is a promise that's
made upon the fulfillment of stipulated conditions. And there
are these two covenants. The covenant of works and the
covenant of grace. The covenant of works was initiated
in the Garden of Eden. When Adam was told he could eat
of all of the trees of the garden, eat all of their fruit, but of
the tree that's in the middle he must not eat. And it was a
do this and live covenant. which was fulfilled all those
years later when the law was given on tablets of stone to
Moses and all of the other stipulations that were given to him it was
initiated in Eden and it was do this and live and that's the
covenant of works the covenant of law and then there's the covenant
of grace and that's called the new covenant every time we celebrate
the Lord's Supper we remember the new covenant in his blood
that was initiated not after the other one But in eternity,
before time, before the beginning of time, it involved the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The first one was a covenant
between God and man, do this and you will live. The covenant
of grace was between the persons of the Trinity, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And it's a covenant that says
this, Christ has done all. The Father chose a people in
Christ before the foundation of the world. The Son came into
time in history to redeem a people. Born under the law to redeem
those people that they might receive the adoption of sons.
And in time, in each life of those people, when they're born
they grow and the Holy Spirit comes and makes them alive. So
that you who were dead in trespasses and sins are made alive, are
quickened, by faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift
of God and yet men and women by nature prefer law to grace
or they try to add law to grace and you know there's no mixture
possible at all just we'll look at the passage briefly that we're
going to start on next week chapter five and the first four verses
look He says to them, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which
Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the
yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that
if you become circumcised, if you add this law work to the
redemption that is in Christ, Christ will profit you nothing. Again, I testify to every man
who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole
law perfectly. And you know what you must do?
Continue in everything. Cursed is everyone who does not
continue in all things that are written in the book of the law
to do them. Once you start out ever so slightly down that path,
you're obligated to keep it all. You cannot mix the two. There
is no mixture. So then, how does Abraham and
his sons illustrate this fact that you cannot mix law works
and grace. God had promised a son to Abraham. God had promised that there would
be a seed and in that seed would be the seed, capital S, who is
Christ who would come to redeem his people and it was on the
basis of the works of that seed who would come that Abraham was
counted righteousness for he looked to that by faith that
God gave him and Abraham and Sarah were old And as far as,
you know, what we always do, we say, well, God's promised
such and such a thing, but we're getting on, it's not going to
happen, is it? We must do something about it. No, wait a while, wait
a while, and they waited and nothing happened. And they thought
God needed help to fulfill his own promise. You know the story. And so Sarah said, look, we're
getting so old and God's promised a son, maybe he meant that you
ought to have my handmaid Hagar and have a son by her so you
take Hagar to be your second wife as it were and you have
a son by her and God will fulfill his promise that way and so they
did and Ishmael was born Ishmael was born to Hagar into the household
of Abraham and Sarah and all the time that boy was in the
house and I'm not making any racial, racist comment whatsoever
it's just a fact of the scripture all the time that that boy was
in the house there was unceasing pain and trouble as long as he
was there and so it is so it is unceasing pain and trouble
for all who attempt to add law works for all who think they
need to be a better Christian by adding good deeds to what
they to what they believe so that they're more acceptable
with God all who attempt to add law works to the finished work
of Christ look what it says in verse 24 it gives birth, it gendereth
is the authorised version word it gendereth to bondage this
law works thing it brings you back into bondage you're never
free from it it's always on your back you can't get free from
it because you can never satisfy it enough it gendereth to bondage,
gives birth to bondage, it enslaves It frustrates all who seek to
follow it. It never lets you off the hook
because it keeps saying to you, nagging at you, cursed is everyone
who continues not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. But then read the next verse. It's quoted in Galatians
3. We saw it before, you see. Verse
13, but Christ has redeemed us, brought us back from the curse
of the law because He became that curse for us in bearing
our sins. Cursed is everyone who hangs
on a tree that the blessings of Abraham might come upon those
who believe. You see, he perfectly fulfilled
the law. He established righteousness.
He obeyed it perfectly. He is the covenant head of his
people in whom were counted righteous. He bore the sins of his people
exactly. He bore them all exactly, every
single one. If you're His child, every single
sin that you've ever committed or ever will commit, He bore
them in His own body on that cross. He paid for them, every
one. There's none left for you to pay for. He satisfied divine
justice. His offering was accepted. How
do we know? He raised Him from the dead. He ascended to glory. He's there now. He's the firstfruits
of His people. If you're in Him, because he's
risen from the dead because he's ascended on high you will ascend
on high everything he is his people are counted in him and
salvation is accomplished to the uttermost this Jerusalem
above is free not bondage it's free there are such glorious
gospel benefits that come from it look at verse 27 it is written
This is why we read Isaiah 54, because this is a quotation.
Those 10 verses at the start of Isaiah 54. 53 is all about the death, the
redeeming death of the substitute Saviour. And the results of it,
the fruits of it are this. Rejoice, O barren, and you who
do not bear. You know, that which you would
never think of, the world around in general of Gentile sinners,
break forth and shout, you who are not in labour for the desolate
has many more children than she who has a husband." This is speaking
of, in prophetic, poetic language, it's speaking of gospel blessings
that are still true in our day. Though we live in dark days,
there's so little spiritual light in the hearts of men and women,
there seems to be so little consciousness of the eternal God and yet, God
is speaking still. His word is still clear. There
are means by which that word is getting out to the world around
in ways that we wouldn't have thought possible even 20 years
ago. And now people up and down the land are able to listen to
the truth of the gospel clearly preached. Oh, a great blessing
is this, that a local company of people is given a man to preach
the gospel of grace to them. That's a tremendous blessing.
that the light of the gospel shines in a place but through
the internet that light can shine all over the country now all
around the world and there are gospel blessings resulting from
this I just want you to turn over to Hebrews chapter 12 to
see a bit more very briefly just as we finish about this Jerusalem
above which is free this Jerusalem above which is free and the difference
you see if you start in verse 18 of Hebrews 12 verse 18 where
the writer there and I'm inclined to think it's Paul as you know
he says this for you have not come to the mountain that's Mount
Sinai that may be touched and that burned with fire and to
blackness and darkness and tempest and to the sound of a trumpet
and the voice of words so that those who heard it begged that
the word should not be spoken to them anymore for they could
not endure what was commanded if so much as a beast touches
the mountain it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow and so
terrifying was the sight that Moses said I am exceedingly afraid
and trembling Moses the friend of God exceedingly afraid and
trembling that's Mount Sinai that's Law Works religion bondage
but you have come verse 22 you have come to Mount Zion this
is the New Jerusalem the city of the Living God the heavenly
Jerusalem to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven to God
the judge of all to the spirits of just men made perfect those
who've gone before us believing this truth who've died and gone
into the presence of the Lord they're included in that the
spirits of just men made perfect to Jesus this is whom you've
come to to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the
blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel
oh what a difference complete in Christ accepted in Christ
or do we have to add things to make us acceptable to God Will
you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting your eternal soul to
His keeping, on the basis of what you see that He has completed? You see He's done it all. You
see that there's nothing left to do. You see that He cried
on the cross, it is finished. You see that the temple veil
was rent in two. You see that He rose from the
dead. You see that He's ascended on high. It's completed on your
behalf. Will you look to Him? and trust
your soul to Him and not look to yourself and the things that
you must add to what He has already done because if you do if you
try to add things you will destroy them Christ will profit you nothing
well let's sing our closing hymn now which is number 535 535