Get the words to that song in
the handbook. And then. It's amazing that that
song's even in our hymn book. Worldly pleasure, all forsaken,
all the things I've surrendered. That's a great hymn. A lot better
that way. Before I get into the message,
just a thought. I was thinking when John was reading that passage
from John chapter four, something that just keeps coming over to
me quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. When the Lord said
to them, He that's without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her. I have no doubt, I have no doubt
that he was talking about that particular sin. Not just sin
in a generic sense, but that particular sin. And it kind of
reminded me of what I've been thinking. It's never right to say, there
go I, but for the grace of God. Because I'm saying, by the grace
of God, I'm not like that. And the fact of the matter is,
that's me. That's you. And that statement,
there go I, by the grace of God, is the exact same thing that
the Pharisee said, God, I thank thee. that I'm not as other men
are. He gave God the credit. He was
a Calvinist. But his hope was in what he was
that somebody else was not. And like I said, I don't have
any doubt in my mind that when the Lord made that statement,
let him that's without sin among you cast the first stone at her,
he's talking about that particular sin. That was free. I've entitled this message Law
or Promise. Verse 18, for if the inheritance,
and that inheritance is spoken of in Romans chapter 4, 13, as
the promise that he should be the heir of the world. That's
what that inheritance is. All that is given to every believer
for Christ's sake, the riches of the universe, an inheritance
that really cannot have a number put on it. It cannot be valued. It's infinite. And it's for every
believer, the inheritance. The heirs of whoever the richest
man in the world is, is but a pauper. compared to this inheritance. Now, if the inheritance be of
the law, if it's given in response to some act of obedience you
performed, then it's no more a promise. But God gave it to
Abraham by promise. if the inheritance be of the
law, if it's given to you because of your personal obedience. If there is some condition you
must first meet, some hoop you must first jump through, or you'll
not get it, if any aspect of this inheritance is dependent
upon mere you doing something, I don't care what it is, I won't
have it unless I fill in the blank. I don't care if it's at
the beginning, an act of my will. I don't care if it's in the middle,
me making myself more holy through my acts of obedience. I don't
care if it's at the end, somehow I getting a greater inheritance,
a greater reward because of my personal obedience on earth.
If the inheritance be of the law, then it is not of God's
promise. Doesn't have anything to do with
God's promise. But God gave this inheritance to Abraham by promise. And that word give is derived
from the word grace. It's freely gave, freely gave. And I like that, don't you? Romans
8.32 says, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us? all things. That's the word used. It's the giving of grace. He
freely gave Abraham this inheritance simply for this one singular
reason. He promised he would. That's
it. He promised he would. This is
the promise Peter was speaking of when he spoke of those exceeding
great and precious promises. God gave this promise, promised
this inheritance to Abraham simply because that's what he wanted
to do. Look back up at verse 15. Law
or promise. Does God give you what He gives
you and bless you with what He blesses you because of something
you've done and you've earned it or simply because He said
He was going to do it? Now look in verse 15 of our text.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men. I'm speaking in common
language that every one of us understands and experiences.
Though it be but a man's covenant, I'm going to compare this to
language that we can all understand and that we've all experienced.
Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man
disannuls or adds thereto. Now he's talking about covenants.
We live in a world of covenants. Every time you go into the store
and purchase something, it has something to do with a covenant.
They've said if you give this amount of money, this piece of
property is yours. That simple. A will is a covenant. Your last will and testimony. You will. I'm going to will everything
to Aubrey. Now, she can't make any requests that
I do something different. I'm doing this because I want
to. I will it to her. Now, she doesn't ask me to do
it. I just do it and it's done. That's
a unilateral covenant. That's the covenant with me making
the conditions. There are other covenants. You
go to the bank and they agree that they will loan you so much
money for so much interest rate for so long. And you know, if
it's confirmed, they can't during the middle of that period all
of a sudden up the interest rate. They can't do it. That would
be breaking the covenant against the law. When you come up and
purchase something and it said $5 and they said, well, we've
changed it to $10. They can't do that, can they?
Once the covenant has been agreed upon, even in human terms, we
respect that covenant. We live in a world of covenants
and pacts and agreements. Now, sometimes they're between
two parties. If you do this, I'll do that.
And sometimes it's just the person saying, this is what I'm going
to do and this is what's going to be done. Both covenants are in the Scriptures. There's the covenant of works.
If you do this, if you obey the law, I'll do that. I'll be giving you a glorious
inheritance. And then there's the covenant
of grace. I'm gonna do this. Therefore,
you get it. Because I'm doing it. The covenant
of works and the covenant of grace. Now Paul says, I'm speaking
after the manner of men, verse 15, though it be but a man's
covenant, Men do this all the time, yet if it be confirmed,
no man disannulls or adds thereto. Now, verse 16, to Abraham and
his seed were the promises made, the promises of God. Now, notice
he says, he saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and
to thy seed, which is Christ. You see, the promise was actually
made to Christ. It wasn't so much made to Abraham, it was
made to Christ, and Abraham gets the benefits of it. But when
God made this covenant with Abraham, he said, Abraham, look at the
stars. Can you count them? No. So shall thy seed be. He didn't say it will be this
way if you do that. He said, this is the way it's
gonna be because I said it. And Abraham believed God. He simply believed what God said. You know, one, covenant I like
to think, an earthly covenant, that pictures, and Paul says,
I'm talking about the covenant of men. One earthly covenant
I like to think of that was made, that was unilateral, that was
unconditional, that was made by somebody, and there it was,
was the Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1st, 1863. And it read like this, all persons
held as slaves are and henceforth forward shall be free. Don't you like that? It was just
an announcement. All of a sudden, you're free
because of the Emancipation Proclamation. You are no longer a slave, and
you never will be again. Now that's the way God's gospel
works. You're set free because God set
you free. That's why. Now, Abraham and his seed, not
seeds plural, but seed, this is speaking of Christ himself,
was the promise made, and it looks something like this, this
covenant of grace, this promise God made with Christ. Let me
quote this scripture to you. You're familiar with it. John
6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Now there's the covenant. The
Father gave him a people, and this people's salvation was conditioned
upon Christ saving them. It really is that simple. I'm gonna give you a people,
and here's your responsibility. You keep the law for them, and
you pay for their sins. You be their surety. Just like
Judah said of Benjamin, I will be surety for
him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. That's
what my Redeemer said of me as my surety. And he came into this
world, and he kept the law for me. And he took my sins and my
sorrows, and he made them his very own. He bore the burden
to Calvary and suffered and died alone, but he was raised from
the dead. He accomplished my salvation. Now, verse 17, and this I say,
that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ The law
which was 430 years after cannot disannul that it should make
the promise of none effect. Now what covenant? Well, the
covenant that was given to Abraham. In thee, here it is, in thee
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. That's called
the gospel. The seed that came through him.
All nations shall be blessed through him. Now, when that covenant
was made, actually the law didn't come till 430 years later. And
that law can't disannul that covenant that was made. You see,
that covenant was actually made before time began. And the law
cannot disannul. The law that says, if you commit
adultery, we just read of, you'll be stoned. The law that says,
if you steal, you'll be stoned. The law that says, if you disobey
your parents, you'll be stoned. The law that, all the things
we can say that the law says. That law cannot disannul this
covenant of promise that was made with Abraham. Now, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? I love thinking
about this. Well, the devil says, I can lay
something to his charge. I have witnessed him breaking
your law, and as a matter of fact, I made a pact with him. He said, I'll give you my soul
if you'll give me what I want. And I said, I'll do it. And I've
made a pact with him. I can lay something to his charge. You know what God's reply is?
He never was yours in the first place. That pact he made has
no validity because he's always been mine. I've always stood
as his surety. No one can lay anything to the
charge of God's elect. Verse 18, four, if the inheritance
be of the law, if heaven and the glorious blessings of God
be according to my obedience to the law, then it's no more
a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. You've heard that saying, God
said it, I believe it, that settles it. No, no, no, no. God said
it, that settles it. If God decreed my salvation,
saved I must be. Solomon said, there hath not
failed one word of all his good promise. Now promise or law is
another way of saying works or grace. Why was Abraham saved? We'll turn to Romans chapter
four. God gave it. God gave the inheritance
to Abraham by promise. Now look in chapter four, Romans
chapter four. You know, Galatians is simply
the recovery of the gospel. The gospel is defined in the
book of Romans and it's recovered in the book of Galatians where
the Galatians were losing it. And he's bringing out the exact
same things he said in Romans in a briefer way. But look what
he says here in chapter four. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. but
not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was candid unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward, the inheritance, not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
In other words, if you do something, God owes it to you. He's paying
you. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, His faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputes righteousness without works, without any acts
of obedience on their part, simply because he wills to do it, saying,
Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. How cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness,
how was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. Abraham wasn't even a Jew yet.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of
the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might
be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised,
that righteousness might be imputed to them also. and the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham,
which he had being yet uncircumcised for the promise," here's that
word, for the promise, that he should be the heir of the world,
was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through
the righteousness of faith. For they which are of the law
be heirs, Faith is made void, and the promise is made of none
effect, because the law worketh wrath. For where no law is, there's
no transgression. Therefore, it's a faith that
it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but
to that also which is the faith of Abraham, who is the father
of us all. Now, why was Abraham saved? Because
of the promise of God. Turn for a moment to Titus chapter
1. Verse 1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, the
acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, in hope of
eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised. When? before the world began. That's when this promise was
made. Before the world began. Now God promised everybody that
has eternal life to his son. This promise was made before
the world began. Before there was time, before
there was matter, when all there was was God. according as he
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. That's when this promise was
made. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. I want to look at some scriptures
about this promise. God gave it to Abraham by promise. Verse 18. 2 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 18. Well, let's look in verse 17.
When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things
that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh that with
me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? Yes and no to the
same thing? Inconsistent, contradictory?
But as God is true, our word toward you is not yea and nay.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay,
but in him was yea, for all the promises of God in him are yea,
and in him, amen, unto the glory of God by us. Is the blood of Christ really
enough to make me without sin before God? Well, the message of human religion
is, well, yes and no. Yes, it is if you fill in the
blank, but not if you do not fill in the blank. That's yay
and nay. Is salvation really all of grace?
Well, of course it is. Yes, salvation is really all
of grace. But even though it's all of grace, if you don't fill
in the blank, you won't be saved. I don't care how you fill that
blank in. That's yay, nay preaching. And I despise it. Is the blood of Christ really
all that's needed to make me pure before God? Yay and amen. Is salvation really
all together by the grace of God? Yay and amen. You see all the promises of God
in him are what? Yea, and amen. God gave it to Abraham by promise. Not yea, nay. Yea, and amen. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
8. Verse six. But now hath he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant which was established on better
promises. You see, the promises of grace
are better than the promises of works. A whole lot better. Verse seven, for if that first
covenant, the covenant of works, the covenant conditioned upon
your filling in the blank, had been faultless, then should no
place have been sought for the second. Now, the covenant of
do and live, it was faultless or it was not faultless for this
one reason. It couldn't save under any condition. It could
not save. It was doomed for failure. Look in verse 19 of chapter 7.
For the law made nothing perfect. Didn't do anything for anybody.
But the bringing in of a better hope did. Now, verse 8 of Hebrews
chapter 8, for finding fault with them, God found fault with
them. He saith, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, when I'll make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah. not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Now
that sounds like a pretty good deal, doesn't it? For God to
take you by the hand and lead you out of Egypt. That sounds
like a pretty good deal. But God found fault with it.
Why? because they continued not in
my covenant. It was up to them to continue
in it, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. Now, if God took
you by the hand and brought you right here to hear the gospel
and gave you a completely clean slate, what good would it do
you? What good would it do you if it was up to you to continue?
It wouldn't do you any good at all. Not even for a second. Verse 10. For this is the covenant
that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts. Now, understand, when he says,
I'll put my laws, plural, he's not talking about the Ten Commandments. As a matter of fact, Romans 2.15
says the Ten Commandments are already written in everybody's
heart. Everybody in this room, knows
the law in their heart. You know, people want preachers
to tell them how to live. You already know how to live.
You do. You already know how to live.
I already know how to live. Everybody's got the law written
in their heart. We're born that way. Let me,
let me hold your finger there in Hebrews 8 and look at Romans
2. I want you to see it with your own eyes from the scripture. Verse 14. For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law... They've never even seen the Bible.
They've never even seen a copy of the Ten Commandments. Never
even seen them. God didn't give it to them. When
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things
contained in the law, these having not the law are law unto themselves,
which show the work of the law written in their hearts. And
here's what they do. Their conscience also bearing
witness. Whenever they break the law and
their thoughts, the meanwhile, doing one of these two things,
accusing or excusing. That's how they all deal with
it. They either have an accusing
conscience and feel guilty and so on, or yet they try to excuse
themselves and vindicate themselves and say, it's really not my fault.
I was put in a position where I was forced to do this. And
so everybody already knows how to live. It's seen in Scripture. Now back to Hebrews chapter 8. For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts.
Now, I think it's really neat in the New Testament. There are
six laws given in regeneration. These are called the laws of
the new nature. I preached this message before,
but let me give these to you. And this is what God writes in
the heart. First of all, there's the law
of sin. The law of sin. You can read
about it in Romans chapter 7. I find a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. The law of sin, which is
in my members. Now, it takes a new nature to
see this. It takes a holy nature to see
this. You have to be born again to be able to see that everything
you do is sinful. Everything. Do you have this law of sin? If you have a new nature, you
do. And God's written it in your heart. And then we read in Romans
9 of the law of righteousness, you've got something in you that
can't be satisfied with anything short of perfect righteousness. The only way your conscience
can be satisfied is if you have perfect righteousness, even the
righteousness of Christ, and you can't be satisfied with anything
else. It's called the law of righteousness. And then we read
of the law of faith. You cannot not believe. It's
a law within you. Oh, you have the unbelief of
the old nature, but that new nature cannot not believe. It can't do it. Try to not believe.
Try to not believe that Christ is not enough. Give it a shot.
Say, no, He's not. You can't do it, can you? You
can't not believe. You can't not believe that salvation
is of the Lord. You can't not believe that Christ
is all you need. It's impossible for you. The
law of faith. And then there's the law of liberty,
spoken of in James chapter 2. Do you know a believer must have
liberty? If you put me under bondage,
if you put me under works, I can't deal with it. I can't handle
it. I don't want it. Don't put me
under bondage. I have to have the freedom, stand
fast in the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free. And
then there's the law of love. As in James 1, the royal law
of love. You can't help but love God.
And you love Him as He is. You love Him in all of His glorious
attributes. You love His sovereignty. You
love His justice. You love His holiness. You love
His grace. You love His love. You love His
power. You love His wisdom. You love
His immutability. You love His eternality. You
love everything about Him. And you love His people. It's
a law written in your heart. And then there's the law of Christ.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, can't you relate with that? Overcome. Restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear
ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now God says, I'm going to write
these laws in their minds, and I'm going to put them in their
hearts. It's called the laws of the new nature that every
believer possesses. And then he says in verse 10,
the latter part, I will be to them a God, and they shall be
to me a people. Don't you love the I wills and
they shalls of the Bible? I will be to them a God. If God
be for us, if God's a God to me, man, I got it made. I'm in
good shape. I mean, I'm going downhill. God's
for me. Who can be against me? Nobody
can. You don't let somebody believe
that God's for them and they'll take on the world. They really will
if they believe God's for them. He says, I'll be to them in God,
and they'll be to me in people. Look in verse 11. This is the new
covenant. He says, and they shall not teach
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know
the Lord. For all shall know me from the least to the greatest.
Now, nobody's going to have to teach
you to know the Lord, because you'll know it. Because he's
going to make himself known. And you know, when he makes himself
known, you know what you do? You trust him. Anybody who knows
Him trusts Him. They might not understand all
He's doing, but you don't need to understand what He's doing
because you know it's Him doing it. And you trust Him. You trust Him. You rest in Him. Somebody says, when I get to
heaven, I got a lot of questions I'm going to ask God. Well, I'm
not real sure you'll be getting to heaven. That's not the right
attitude. No, we trust him. We trust him. Everybody who knows him trusts
him. You can't know Him and not trust
Him. If you don't trust Him, you don't know Him. All shall
know me from the least to the greatest. I'm going to be their
teacher. Somebody says, God's trying to teach me. Now, wait
a minute. God doesn't try to teach. He doesn't try to do anything.
Whatever He does is done. That's Him. All shall know me
from the least to the greatest. He says in verse 12, For I will
be merciful. And that word is propitious.
I will be propitious to their unrighteousness. That means I'm
removing my reason for anger through the propitiatory sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their sin's gone. I mean, it
ain't fair! It's gone! That's why he says, Their sins
and iniquities I remember no more. There's nothing there to
remember. Now that's salvation by promise.
Now which is better? Can't you see where this is better
promises? Better promise established all. Infinitely better. While you're in Hebrews, look
in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 23, let us hold fast. Let us hold
fast the confession of our faith without wavering, without unbelief,
for he is faithful that promised. He is faithful that promised. Second Peter chapter three. 2 Peter chapter 3. This is one
of the canons of the Arminian, but we're going to turn it back
around and look at it for what it really means. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long suffering to usward Who's the usward? That's every
believer. That's who he's writing to. Believers. Read 1st and 2nd Peter and you'll
see. He's long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. And you know what? None of them
will perish. And every one of them will come
to repentance, because he's not willing for any of them to perish. And you know what? None of them
will perish. You see, he's not slack concerning his promise
the way men are. You see, I think that scripture, therefore
it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end that the
promise might be sure to all the seed. Now let me close with
this thought. I try to put myself in David's
place. David, the man after God's own
heart. I love David. I've loved going
through David and Bible study on Sunday mornings. I mean, I
just love David. The more I love the Psalms, love
David. But I try to put myself in David's
position when he's dying. Don't you reckon if you were
dying and you had done what David had done, you'd think about it? David saw Bathsheba bathing. He sent his
servants to get her. He horribly abused his power
as king. He could do this. Brought her into his house. Caused
her to be with child. and then tried to cover it up
by getting her husband in. And you read the way Uriah conducted
himself through all this time. It was so honorable. So honorable. And so when it didn't work for
him to get him to go in to Bathsheba, he had that man killed in premeditated,
cold-blooded murder. Can a believer do something like
that? Yeah. Yeah. And then he tried to cover
it up in such hypocrisy. And you remember the story when
Nathan came to him and said, Thou art the man. And he said,
I've sinned. He said, But the Lord hath put away thy sin. But
you think, he'd be thinking about that on his dying bed. Or perhaps
something that happened even more recently. Because of his
pride, he had Israel numbered without the atonement. And that's
what was so bad about that. He had them numbered without
the atonement, without any reference to the atonement, just a population,
just a census to see how big we are. And God killed 70,000
people as a result of his pride. You reckon he might have thought
of something like that? Or you reckon he might have remembered
when he was a young 17-year-old boy running straight at Goliath
with that sling and killed him and saved all of Israel all by
himself? or the mighty victories that he wrought, or the sweet
psalmist of Israel. But yet he says this on his dying
bed. Here's all he's got to say. Although
my house be not so with God. And his house was a mess. I sometimes wonder if he's talking
about this house. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, a covenant
that was made before time began. And David said of that covenant,
It's ordered in all things. All the details are worked out.
And it's sure. It can't fail. And you know what
he said about this covenant? He said, this is all my salvation. Is it all your salvation? And it's all my desire. It's
the only way I want to be saved by that eternal, everlasting
covenant in Christ. Now, if the inheritance were
of the law, no hope for me or you or anybody
else, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. And Lord,
we confess this is all our salvation and it's all I desire. And Lord,
how we thank you for the exceeding great and precious promises of
the gospel. And Lord, take this word and
bless it. For your glory. And our good. And speak according to thy will.
In Christ's blessed name we pray, Amen. What do you got Dwayne?