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[0:00] Another in this series of Chronology, Ethnicity, and Transition. I would like you to please turn to the book of Romans, chapter 3.

[0:15] And in Romans, chapter 3, we'll be looking at verses 19 through 31.

[0:35] Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.

[0:56] Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

[1:08] But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

[1:20] Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith.

[1:54] This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed.

[2:08] For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

[2:22] Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works?

[2:34] No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

[2:47] Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.

[3:01] Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

[3:12] Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be. On the contrary, we establish the law.

[3:24] Just an absolutely amazing passage of Scripture. And it is so amazing and so beneficial.

[3:40] We cannot bear the thought of anyone coming to Grace Bible Church and not understanding what is involved in that. We are laboring to make as clear as we can the great distinctives that in many respects set apart Grace Bible Church and other Grace churches from a lot of churches that may not be considered Grace churches.

[4:04] So what is it that makes Grace so special? Well, this is what we are trying to communicate. And once you get a real handle on it, you will understand and appreciate it more than you ever have in anything that I can think of.

[4:21] It is just... Well, let me put it this way. If you are not absolutely overwhelmed and amazed by what God has done in His grace, you just don't understand it.

[4:42] I can say that quite confidently. If you did not stand in awe at this concept, but it just kind of floats over your head so that the most you can do is say, well, I'm sure that's a very good thing.

[4:58] If that's the most you can do, you just don't understand it because once you get a handle on the grace of God, it gets a handle on you and you have an entirely different perspective about everything.

[5:14] So the passages under consideration today, and I want to preface our Scripture exposition with a few remarks. I call them propositions, things that I'd like you to keep in mind as we move on through the text and we'll be looking at the Scripture sheet that you were given this morning that has content in it from Galatians.

[5:36] So the passages under consideration today contain the most significant breakthrough material in all of history for all of the human race, and it is all predicated upon the death, burial, and resurrection and what that accomplished.

[5:54] Bottom line is this. What we are talking about now is more important than anything else. Period. More important than anything else.

[6:05] Period. And I say that without equivocation or without fear of contradiction. And that in and of itself ought to mean that we just do the best we can to give it our undivided attention.

[6:18] Tragically, so much of what you will be hearing is lost on the majority of humanity worldwide in general.

[6:29] And even more tragic is the reality it is lost on much of what is called the Christian community. After 2,000 years, this is what we have to admit.

[6:43] Why is this? It is the old law and grace issues that is so powerfully spelled out by the Apostle Paul and so powerfully rejected at the same time.

[7:02] But if it is such good news, why is it not readily received as such? Well, by some it is. And these are called grace believers.

[7:16] Some see and embrace this dynamic almost upon receiving their salvation. Others, like myself, do not come to see and understand it until sometime after having come to faith in Christ.

[7:33] We can all be grateful that one need not fully understand the grace of God in order to be saved by it. Isn't that wonderful?

[7:43] You don't have to know this doctrine through and through in order to appropriate its benefits. Matter of fact, I am convinced that just probably every person who comes to faith in Jesus Christ comes out of spiritual ignorance.

[8:00] We just don't know much at all. And blessed be God, you don't have to know much to be a recipient of God's grace. I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes from John Newton who gave us that hymn, Amazing Grace.

[8:19] Interviewed late in life, feeble as he was, John Newton said, I am an old man now and there are many things that I cannot remember.

[8:33] But I do remember two things in particular. One is that I was a great sinner and two is that Jesus is a great Savior.

[8:44] So, the beauty of it is you don't have to have all of your theological, doctrinal ducks in a row and be able to cross all the T's and dot all the I's before God will have anything to do with you.

[8:58] He comes to us in our spiritual ignorance and nakedness and makes available to us the most precious gift that anyone could ever receive, salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[9:12] It's just mind-boggling. Mind-boggling. Some of you, probably most of you, are not nearly old enough to remember this, but some of you who have sufficient years on you can well recall the days and I'm thinking now when I was seven or eight years old.

[9:38] This was during the war. This was not only before colored television. This was before television. And the family would huddle around the radio.

[9:50] It's an old floor standing about that high, you know, and it was the pride of the family. And every evening after the evening meal, I can see my mom and dad just as clearly as anything.

[10:06] And I would be right there with them and we would be huddled around that old radio listening to the world news, particularly the war news.

[10:18] And I can still hear the voice of some of the commentators. Gabriel Heater. You ever heard of him? H.V. Coltonborn.

[10:29] Drew Pearson. Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. Walter Winchell. And the boys were fighting in Europe and in Asia.

[10:46] And every day we listened for the casualty count and how many planes were shot down or how many enemy planes were shot down and all the rest of it. And everyone just sitting there huddled around that radio.

[10:58] And one of my favorite announcers, I do not recall because I had a lot of favorites. And when you're a kid, eight years old, you know there's a big war going on on the other side of the world and who knows who's going to win that thing.

[11:10] It was kind of scary. And I think it was, if it was either Gabriel Heater or H.V. Coltonborn, I don't know which one. But he started out his broadcast, of course, when he could say it legitimately.

[11:22] Ah, there's good news tonight. And boy, everybody's ears would perk up because he was going to give some kind of favorable thing that had happened by way of the allies or something that had been taken or a city that had been captured or a battle that had been won or something of that nature.

[11:40] And everyone always listened up. There's good news tonight. And I want to tell you that when it comes to the grace of God, there's good news this morning.

[11:52] And it's better than anything you can hear about any old war that man might be involved in. This is a conflict of the ages and what God did to resolve it is just absolutely amazing.

[12:05] So, we told you in the previous message that when Paul the Apostle began preaching the good news of salvation and acceptance before God, he had a hard sell.

[12:19] It is still a hard sell. Why should such good news be hard to find eager acceptance? Why would not people stand in line to hear it and embrace it?

[12:33] Essentially, it does sound too good to be true. It did then and it does today. Why is that? For Paul and his preaching the grace of God, he had to deliver it against the backdrop of the law of Moses in which the Jewish people were deeply embedded.

[12:59] And you will recall, and I hope you never forget, that the chief complaint that was leveled against the Apostle Paul by his own fellow Jewish countrymen was this.

[13:11] He teaches against the law of Moses. And Moses got the law from God 1,500 years ago and we have lived by it and we've received it in Sinai after we came out of Egypt and we have lived by it and all of the ordinance that were established and the sacrificial system and all the rest of it, we have labored intensely to keep that and everything that went along with it and all the 633 commands that are found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

[13:49] And we may safely conclude that because God is eternal, the law that he gave is eternal and is never going to go out of style.

[14:01] And here comes this renegade guy who used to be on our side and was persecuting the right people. Now he's preaching the stuff those people that he persecuted were preaching.

[14:15] That's crazy. Obviously, the man has had some kind of a psychological nervous breakdown or something. Some quirk has happened, but we know one thing. God cannot be in this because he's teaching against the law of Moses.

[14:31] Well, in a way he did and in a way he didn't. And I'll explain that later. And that's part of what makes part of the book of Acts difficult to really get a handle on. Because the Jews were really steeped in the law of Moses.

[14:47] And like I said, they dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's and it was very, something taken very, very seriously. And this guy comes along and he says, what God has is available to the goyim.

[15:06] Can you believe that? He is saying what God has available is to dispense to the goyim. That's the Jewish name for Gentiles.

[15:18] The Gentile dogs. Not a very complimentary term, not intended. Also called the uncircumcised.

[15:28] How can God possibly have anything to do with that? You know what? This man is dangerous. He before thought that Jews who believed in Jesus were a cancer growing on Judaism.

[15:46] Now he is part of that cancer. And he needs to be eliminated. And some of these Jews got together and they made a vow among themselves. Everybody agreed?

[15:57] Okay. Got this? You agree? You're going to buy this? Are you in? Can we count on you? Okay. And the agreement was nobody's going to eat or drink anything until we kill that man.

[16:11] And there were several who signed on to it. Now I don't know whether they ever actually made good on it or anybody died of starvation but they were pretty serious about that. So entrenched were they in the law of Moses.

[16:23] And part of their thinking was this. The God who gave the law of Moses who is well he's the eternal God. What does that make the law of Moses?

[16:34] An eternal law. The idea that the law could ever come to an end is ridiculous. God who gave it is eternal and the law that he gave is eternal and it will always be in force.

[16:47] And remember on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 when Jesus chided the two disciples who were downcast because of the resurrection because of the crucifixion of Christ and they didn't know that he was resurrected and they didn't know the one they were talking to was none other than Jesus himself.

[17:06] And Jesus said oh you foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had written. Ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?

[17:19] The Messiah has a two part mission. One is to suffer. He's a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, smitten, afflicted of God, chastised, chastisement of our peace is upon him.

[17:34] That's the smitten, that's the suffering Messiah. But the other part is a conquering king. The first time he came as the Lamb of God, the second time you can forget about that Lamb stuff, he's coming as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

[17:53] And it will be decidedly different. But they didn't see that. Now if they had really paid attention as they should have to all that the prophets have written, they would have had to have dealt with Jeremiah 31 and verse 31.

[18:11] Wherein Jeremiah says, and this was written approximately 500 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. and Jeremiah said, the days are coming, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with them before with their fathers, which they broke.

[18:39] But this new covenant will be one where I will put my law in their hearts and they will be obedient in a way different from their ancestors. So there's going to be a new covenant.

[18:51] What does that mean about the old covenant? Well, it means it's going to be displaced. It's going to be updated. The old covenant that involved the law of Moses, sacrifice of animals and all of the rest of it, the feast days, the Sabbath and all of that Judaism, that's all going to be set aside and it's going to be replaced with a new covenant.

[19:14] So the old covenant, and this is what the book of Hebrews, is all about. The old covenant is going to be defunct and the temple worship and the sacrifice of animals and all the rest, this is what the veil being rent in the temple was all about.

[19:29] That old order, the old covenant had come to an end and when Jesus died on that cross, he fulfilled what he said the night he was betrayed. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[19:43] And after the fact, they would understand that. So we've got a transition that is taking place between the old and the new and the Jews are not picking up on it.

[19:57] The apostle Paul is largely because it had to do with some of the abundance of revelations that Paul had been given by the risen Christ about the old covenant, about the new, about the grace of God, about the Gentiles and all the rest of it.

[20:13] But this was selectively revealed to Paul. It wasn't given to the whole population. It was revealed to Paul and he was charged with the responsibility of going out and preaching this.

[20:26] But he's going to be preaching to a group of countrymen who are still embedded in the old and what he's going to have to say regarding the new is just totally unacceptable.

[20:38] That's what we're dealing with. That's part of the confusion of the book of Acts. And there is no book in all of the Bible that is responsible for so much division that exists in Christendom as the misinterpretations of the book of Acts.

[20:59] If you're a Pentecostal, you just quite naturally have a fixation with chapter 2 and the Pentecostal experience the speaking in tongues and all that accompanied that.

[21:12] And that's a very logical conclusion. And I certainly cannot fault the Pentecostal people for coming to that conclusion. I feel bad for them because I think they have missed a bigger picture.

[21:25] But they focused on that and that's what spoke to them. And others pick up this and pick up that and take something else from the book of Acts and we end up with what we've got. And there is so much division that hinders the cause of Christ.

[21:38] And I want to inject something here that I cannot give you a specific chapter and verse for it but it is involved very deeply in ways that I wish I understood better.

[21:51] And that is satanic involvement. Now I'm not one of those that wants to blame everything on the devil. I'm not into the what's his name?

[22:02] Flip Wilson, the devil made me do it, all of that stuff. You know, like I've said, we don't need any help from the devil to do stupid, mean things. We can do it out of our own flesh.

[22:13] But I am satisfied that what Paul said in writing to the Corinthians is one of the least understood and underrated passages in all of Scripture.

[22:25] When Paul said, if our gospel be hid, it is hid or veiled to those who are lost, listen to this, whose minds.

[22:37] The mind is your thinking processes, your thinking, rational, reasoning ability. It is your processing of material and the conclusions you reach.

[22:51] That is through your mind. And Paul says, the God of this age, Satan, has blinded the minds. the ability to think and reach logical, sane conclusions.

[23:06] He has impaired that. I don't understand how and I don't know to what extent, but you may be sure he is involved. And he has his fingers in so many pies and of course he's incommunicado.

[23:22] He's not going to reveal himself or show himself. And this is one reason that a lot of people even deny his existence because you ever see the devil?

[23:34] Can you prove there is a devil? Of course not. He would be out of business overnight if you could. Everybody would be warned. Everybody would be on guard. Everybody would be suspicious. No, no, no. In fact, as I've said, he has done such a good con job on humanity that many are convinced he doesn't even exist.

[23:53] And brother, that means he's got safe travel and he utilizes it. And he infects and impacts human thinking and reasoning processes.

[24:05] And I can't escape the idea that he does some of his best work among some of the best and brightest.

[24:18] I think Satan is right now having an incredible field day in Western America and Europe universities and colleges.

[24:32] And these kids come out of there with this head full of this well, you know what I'm talking about. Where do they get all that? They get it from their professors and from their teachers who buy into all of this stuff.

[24:46] And we have to live with it and deal with it in public. And it is taking a toll on all of humanity. It is erroneous thinking that leads to erroneous actions that produces erroneous conclusions.

[24:58] And the end result is disaster. But that's what the master adversary is all about. It's, I call it the D's of the devil. Deception, disease, depression, destruction.

[25:12] That's what he's all about. And he is so slick and so professional the way he does it, people don't even know they've been had. You remember the movie, The Sting?

[25:24] Remember that? Great movie. Robert Redford played in it several years ago. But the idea was when you, when you, as a professional con man, when you take advantage of this, in this case it was the bad guy, so everybody can sympathize.

[25:40] He had it coming anyway. When you take advantage of this bad guy, who actually ends up getting conned himself out of a whole bunch of money, the thing that was so delicious about it was that they not only conned him, but he didn't even know he had been conned.

[25:58] That is slick. And you know something? That's exactly the way the adversary works. He has people doing his will. He influences them with his thinking, and they don't have a clue that they've even been touched by it.

[26:15] So who's going to be on the alert against that? Nobody. He has smooth, free sailing. And the scriptures make it quite clear. Now, why does God do this?

[26:26] Why does God give him that kind of ability? Why does God give him that kind of power? power? This is part and parcel of the conflict of the ages.

[26:38] This is a created humanity of individuals made in the likeness and image of God up against the machinations of this evil one who is determined to unseat the Most High.

[26:52] God and he is all about that and he is hard at work and he is making enormous headways. And do you know what, can you imagine what the media would make of this if they heard me saying these kind of things?

[27:12] It would be the joke of the day. I mean, they would think that that was so weird and so funny and so ridiculous and so outlandish and this guy calls himself a preacher?

[27:24] They wouldn't buy it. They wouldn't even come close to buying it. They'd laugh you out of town. Well, Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.

[27:40] You see, Satan and his evil plans couple beautifully with the fallen intellect that we all have as individuals. When Adam and Eve, our first parents, disobeyed God and fell as a result, we would call it a moral and spiritual fall, when they fell, everything about them fell.

[28:08] Everything. Their body and their mind and their intellect and their thinking process. And I know it's a record that I've been playing and replaying and I will continue to do so because I am confident how much of a negative contribution this makes to the whole thing.

[28:25] And that is, we think with a skewed intellect. We do not think aright. Our thinking is wrong.

[28:37] We are given to wrong thinking and wrong conclusions and wrong actions. Listen, does that have anything to do with explaining the way the world is? Do you think maybe there's a connection?

[28:52] You better believe it. It's sticking out all over. That plus the deception that the adversary throws into the mix, maybe it's a wonder we're succeeding to the extent we are.

[29:06] Listen, the deck of a fallen world is stacked against you. And this is why I think the scriptures, particularly in the latter days, make so much of the concept of he that overcomes.

[29:28] He who is able to see this, understand it, get behind it, get above it, and respond properly to it. That's the overcomer. But we don't have a huge population of overcomers.

[29:42] we've got a bigger population of underachievers. And they contribute to the problem, and Satan just feeds it, and feeds it, and feeds it.

[29:52] And so it is with this thing called the gospel of the grace of God. There isn't anything that the adversary absolutely despises more than the grace of God.

[30:05] And the reason is simple, is because that is God's highlight. that's the thing that leads to God's glory, is his grace.

[30:16] And Satan absolutely despises it. And there aren't any people that he despises more than grace people who propagate this stuff.

[30:27] love. I think every child of God has a bullseye painted on their back, and we are in Satan's crosshairs.

[30:38] But, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. So like the song said, what have I to fear? What have I to dread? Standing on the everlasting arms.

[30:51] Wow. What he has provided us with is more than sufficient. So, let's get back to this now. For believers today, preaching the grace of God must compete with the backdrop of the performance-based idea of salvation.

[31:11] This is what the devil sells. You'll go to heaven if you're good enough, if you're work enough, if you do the right things and go to the right places and give the right money and attend this and attend that and people are huffing and puffing and trying harder and harder and they have no idea of what grace is.

[31:31] Because, listen, doesn't all of life work on the performance base? From the time you're in school, you start the first grade. Good work provides good marks, approval of your teacher.

[31:48] And it's that way through life. And when you get a job and you go to work and you please your employer, it's your performance that counts. And that's the thing that's going to provide the bonus.

[31:59] If you do good work. So we are in this thing, you've seen the little gerbil in the wheel going round and round and round. That's exactly where a lot of people are in trying to make it and trying to be good enough.

[32:14] And like Andy Stanley says, since nobody's perfect, how good is good enough? How good do I need to be? Well, I don't know if I'm good enough, so what do I have to do? I have to try harder.

[32:25] I have to pray more. I have to give more. I have to, and there's no security and no assurance there because you never know if you've done enough. Because salvation is based on performance and that is related to quantity.

[32:44] quantity, how much? As opposed to quality, what kind? It's a systemic problem.

[32:55] This infects all of humanity because this is the way we naturally think. This is the way life works. So when it comes to gaining your approval with God, it works the same way.

[33:07] Only you have to produce more, you have to work more, you have to work harder and longer and etc. and even then, you can't die in peace because you don't know if you've done enough.

[33:19] Isn't that something? That is crippling. That's what religion will do for you. It's only Christ and his grace that sets you free from that garbage.

[33:31] But listen, what I'm talking about, this is the popular stuff. This is the stuff that people will not approvingly of. But when you tell them there is nothing that you can do to make yourself acceptable to God because Jesus has already done it and all you can do is put your faith and trust in him as your substitute.

[33:51] Bah. That's too easy. That's too simple. But that's the gospel. That's the truth.

[34:04] And it does sound too good to be true. But it is true. The more entrenched one is in a belief system, the more they are under its hold, that becomes their security blanket, although it's a very incapable one.

[34:20] It is much harder to unlearn and reject a previous belief than it is to embrace a new belief. And this is, I'm convinced, a main reason why children are a lot easier to come to faith in Christ.

[34:37] They don't have a bunch of baggage. They don't have to unlearn a bunch of junk. They never took it in. They haven't lived long enough. A child can be just innocent and trusting and open.

[34:50] Unfortunately, that also makes them vulnerable to untruth as well. But when Jesus said, let the little children come unto me and forsake them not for such as the kingdom of heaven, and then he said, except you become as a little child, you shall in no wise enter in.

[35:10] And there he was talking about the kingdom concept, but the principle is across the board. And what is it that is so special about a little child? It's a child has a heart and mind that has a tendency to believe what a person of authority tells them.

[35:31] That's exactly what God wants from us. He is the person of authority, and he just wants us, like a child, to believe what he says about these things that really matter.

[35:43] So we are to have, we are not to be childish, but we are to have a childlike faith and confidence. Children, children, they just naturally have a confidence in mom and dad because they've been there for them, they care for them, they protect them, they feed them, they clothe them, they shelter them, they become their refuge, they become their all in all, and whatever mom and dad tells them, they just tend to believe because they have confidence in that authority.

[36:22] That's what God wants from us. This subject of the grace of God that we've already read something of from Romans 3.

[36:33] I want to spend the rest of our time with the sheet that I provided you. This is taken from the 26th translation New Testament and it has to do with the subject of law and grace in this particular section where the Apostle Paul is writing to the people at Galatia and he is spelling out some things of critical importance and it has to do with the burning issue of that day.

[36:58] Law and grace. And what purpose is either and how do they function? So if you will look at your sheet at Galatians chapter 3 in the upper left hand corner, we'll just have to jump in here because, and by the way, this translation, if you look at the bold print that each verse begins with, that's the King James version.

[37:23] and versions beneath that are in addition to just provide a little different way of saying the same thing, but with maybe a few different words so that if one doesn't grab you, another will.

[37:38] And this is taken from the 26th translation New Testament. So we're just going to jump in and begin explaining some of these things. It is just amazing stuff. Verse 12, look at the top of the page.

[37:50] The law is not of faith. The man that doeth them shall live in them. Now Weymouth, that's the translation right below that, renders that just a little different.

[38:01] And Weymouth says, and the law has nothing to do with faith. Oh, okay. Now there is where a clear-cut distinction needs to be made.

[38:12] And Weymouth, in his translation, made it clear. The King James says, the law is not of faith. But that doesn't communicate as clearly, at least to me, as does the phrase, and the law has nothing to do with faith.

[38:27] These are two entirely different entities. It teaches that he who does these things shall live by them. That's what the law does.

[38:37] And then he says, the law, however, does not rest on faith, but on works. He who does them shall live by them. That's Norley's translation.

[38:48] And Philip simply renders it, and the law is not a matter of faith at all, but of doing. In other words, to be obedient to the law doesn't require anything of faith. You just jump through the hoops.

[38:59] You don't have to have your heart in it or anything else. You just meet the prescribed things, whatever they are. That's the law. You satisfy the demands of the law. And then in verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

[39:20] And that, of course, is speaking of Christ. The 20th century New Testament right below that says Christ ransomed us from the curse pronounced in the law by taking the curse on himself for us.

[39:35] For scripture says cursed is anyone who is hanged on a tree. And then Knox renders it. From this curse invoked by the law, Christ has ransomed us, by himself becoming for our sakes an accursed thing.

[39:52] We read that there is a curse on the man who hangs on a gibbet. So that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

[40:08] And here I want to make an insert of my own because I think that word faith is often too nebulous and not really understood. Actually the word faith and belief come from the same Greek root word.

[40:25] Pistuo is the verb form and pistis is the noun form. Pistis is the faith and pistuo is the verb and it has to do with exercising action but it doesn't say faithing it just says faith but I just don't think that connects but the word believing does and if you read this this way that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith that's true but I would render it that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by believing that's it just by believing that is making a mental assent a mental agreement a mental commitment Knox renders it that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham was to be imparted to the Gentiles so that we through faith might receive the promised gift of the

[41:30] Spirit and there I would say that we through believing might receive the promised because the word faith think about it now the word faith means so many different things to so many people doesn't it it's a nebulous term and for some people faith just means well you just hope that everything is going to work out all right or you just try to like a little seven year old boy in Sunday school when the teacher asked him if he could define faith and he says yeah faith means that you're believing something that isn't not a biblical definition of faith that's a definition of incredulity we have good reason to believe what we believe and it isn't a matter of believing something that you know isn't true and then he says God's purpose is therefore plain that the blessing promised to Abraham might reach the

[42:31] Gentiles through Jesus Christ and the promise of the Spirit might become ours by believing by faith brethren I speak after the manner of men he's saying now I'm talking right now I'm talking to you just like an average Joe that's what he's saying I will take an illustration from everyday life or I am going to use a human illustration let's take an argument from common life though it be a man's covenant now here I'm going to give you an illustration of how this thing works Paul says though it be but a man's covenant now he's talking about a contract deal that is entered into by two men this is an everyday kind of business transaction that everyone is familiar with all right Paul is saying let's use this as an example here we're drawing up a contract between two men it is a man's covenant yet if it be confirmed no man disannulleth or addeth thereto and all that means is when the covenant is drawn up and the party of the first part signs off and agrees to it and the party of the second part signs off and agrees to it then it is a binding contract after the deal is done one of those two cannot come back and say hey

[43:54] I don't like this paragraph I want to change this no no no no you can't change it it's a done deal it's signed it's sealed you can't change it you've already agreed to this this thing is in stone that's the point that he's making here though it be but a man's covenant yet if it be confirmed agreed to signed off on no man can disannull it cancel it or add thereto to it it's what we call a binding contract so he says in verse 16 the bold print now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made he did not say and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ so God told Abraham way back in Genesis 12 to you and your seed shall all the world be blessed and he used seed in a singular word seed not seeds he's not talking about

[45:04] Abraham's descendants Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the twelve tribes and all of the Jews that are coming no that's not what he's talking about at all he's talking about one seed and that one seed is Jesus he is of the seed of Abraham and the 20th century New Testament says now it was to Abraham that the promises were made and to his offspring it was not said to his offsprings as if many persons were meant but the words were to thy offspring showing that one person was meant and that was Christ and the new English Bible renders it pretty much the same way and this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot disen all that it should make the promise of none effect the argument that he's making is this look when was

[46:08] Abraham given that promise well it was approximately 2,000 years before Christ was born so when was the law given the law of Moses Sinai and all of that when was that given well not until about four or five hundred years later Abraham Isaac and Jacob were dead and off the scene and gone when the law of Moses was given that's an important point to keep in mind here because this is part of the argument that he is making the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ the law which was 430 years after cannot disannul in other words the covenant that God made with Abraham was binding and there is nothing that could come along later that could cancel it the promise because this is not in the category of a covenant that can be broken this is why we say it is an unconditional covenant my point is this an agreement already confirmed by

[47:25] God cannot be canceled by the law which came 430 years later so as to cause the promise to be set aside verse 18 is the top of the page for if the inheritance be of the law it is no more promise but God gave it to Abraham by promise what did the law have to do with the promise God gave to Abraham nothing nothing at all that's the whole point he is saying God gave the promise to Abraham and it was not altered or changed by the law and what you Jews are doing you are focusing upon a promise that was given 400 years of focusing upon the law that was given 400 years after the promise was given and you are saying that that law supersedes the promise that God gave him and it does nothing of a kind you missed it entirely and that was precisely what was at the base of the

[48:25] Jewish opposition to Paul they were convinced that he was teaching against the law and what Paul is saying is listen what I am teaching goes back hundreds of years before the law was ever given that's where the Jew that opposed Paul was so derelict in their thinking and in their conclusions so much of a mission and how did they make this misunderstanding you reach these conclusions by using a skewed logic a warped intellect and you know something your intellect and my intellect in and of ourselves tends to be just as skewed as theirs we did not escape the skewed intellect we Christians are capable of reaching the same kind of erroneous conclusions through erroneous thinking that they were hundreds of years ago we are no better than they so our salvation lies in the information that we have available to us that enables us to counteract the fallen intellect so that we set our opinions our ideas our concepts we set those aside and we give preference and deference to the word of

[49:43] God and allow the scriptures to correct our erroneous thinking because we all have plenty of it so where then serves the law what's the purpose of the law why do we have the law why was the law ever given it was added because of transgressions the law was intended to be what shall I say a depressant an obstacle the law was given because of transgressions and that meant that if people would be responsible to the law and obey the law the transgressions or the sins that they were committing would have opposition and would tend to be limited or at least less than what they would be without the law because if you don't have a law if there is no law there's no transgression you can't have a transgression unless you have a law so the law was given but I want you to notice and you've got that circled in your sheet

[50:52] I circled it on mine wherefore then serveth the law it was added because of transgressions till till what is that all about that involves chronology transitions the law till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and who is that seed that's Jesus wow 20th century new testament says the law was a later addition to make men conscious of their wrongdoings and intended to last only till the coming of that offspring to whom the promise had been made so what happens then to the law when that offspring comes the law is kaput over and done with that's the very backbone of the

[51:54] Judaistic religion and it comes to an end and I am satisfied that the rending of that veil in the temple was the end that was kaput for the law the law served its purpose and its purpose is past it's over and done with now you are not under law you are under grace matter of fact you never were under the law under the law of Moses but the Jew was and now we are under grace it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator and that's speaking of Moses now a mediator verse 20 is not a mediator of one but God is one is the law then against the promises of God God forbid and here's the punch line I wish everybody understood this for if there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law that's it if there were ever a law given that could result in giving someone life then righteousness is obtainable by keeping the law but it isn't and it never has been this was a major sticking point in the whole first century this is why we are going to read later when

[53:23] Paul makes his third missionary journey and comes home to Jerusalem this is this is listen this is 20 years this is 20 years after the resurrection of Christ when Paul comes to Jerusalem for the last time he is called into an assembly of his Jewish brethren who are believers they are Jewish believers and they say to him you see brother Saul how many Jews there are who believe and the one who was telling him that was one of them and Paul recounted what God had been doing to the Gentiles and how people had been coming to faith in the Jewish Messiah and they were related to hear it and they told these Jews fellow Jews of Paul fellow believers in Jesus as the Messiah said to Paul you see how many thousands there are of Jews who believe these are believers and then read on the next line and he says and they are all zealous for the law are you kidding me zealous for the law 20 years after the renting of that veil in the temple and they're still hung up on the law what's going on there what it they put

[55:04] Paul in a very precarious situation they said look if you're going to have any influence even with these believing Jews we've got a situation coming up where four men are going to be taking a vow and of course that's all in connection with the law and they have heard they have heard that you are teaching against the law of Moses and they're ready to dump you now what you need to do to repair your image before these people you need to agree to put up the money for them to take their vows and go through the procedure and all the rest of it and that will convince your fellow Jews that you are not teaching against the law of Moses what in the world is a man to do you know he could have said what a lot of Christians think he ought to have said nothing doing

[56:08] I'm not going to sign off on that the law is dead it's defunct I'm not going to resurrect that baby that's something that's in the past and I'm going on it's all about grace some think that's what he should have done but he didn't he said okay if that's if that's what they require if that's what it needs and later he's going to say something that I think is kind of explanatory you know listen I am satisfied that nobody nobody other than perhaps the Lord who preceded him lived under such precarious situations and faced such incredible opposition and conflict as this man Saul of Tarsus and it was even prophesied because God said when he talked to

[57:12] Ananias to go lay hands on him so he received his sight he said for I will show him what great things he must suffer suffer and he suffered them and Paul is later going to say I found myself in some real trying predicaments so all I could do in an effort to reach people to the Jew I became as a Jew to the Gentile I became as a Gentile that I may by any means save some some think that he just caved listen you've got to know this man better than that he didn't cave out of some concern about his own personal safety he scrapped that a long time ago he was convinced that whether by life or by death it doesn't make any difference to me just so long as

[58:24] Christ is glorified in this body I suffer the loss of all things and I count them but refuse that I may win Christ Paul didn't cave out of some fear for his life good grief he laid it on the line every time he turned around but what he did was he condescended to meet their demands in an effort to be able to reach them and I think that's what he meant I became as a Jew he could go into the synagogue he could eat a Jewish meal with them he could preach to them and the essence of his preaching to the Jew was Jesus the Messiah was sent from God Israel rejected him crucified him God raised him from the dead that was his message to the Jew but I don't think for a moment that Paul went into the synagogue and said all right all you people all you Jews listen up circumcision you can forget it you don't have to keep the Sabbath you don't have to keep a kosher diet you can forget all that stuff because that's all passe you know what it was it was but why unnecessarily rankle everything when you can just stick to your guns and preach the basic thing and let those other things wash out as time goes on and I think that's exactly what he did so what have we got here we've got the law and the

[59:46] Jews observing it and demanding it and requiring it and we've got the gospel of the grace of God that Paul is preaching to the Gentiles telling them you don't have to be circumcised you don't have to keep the Sabbath you don't have to do any of those things those were all given to the Jew for you Gentiles salvation is by grace and grace alone and what have we got here we've got both messages side by side on two tracks in the land of Israel and going abroad now can you not see dear friends the basis for a lot of confusion and that's exactly what was taking place so Paul is going to reach all kinds of opposition and conflicts largely because of the transition and the transition is so important it is the updating of the message and the message that they had been operating under was the message of law and it was the message that involved the kingdom and it was preached by Peter and the twelve and it was a timely message and they were right on track for preaching it but now the time had come for the transition and there was to be a change and guess who slips off the scene in about

[61:03] Acts chapter twelve or thirteen guess who you don't hear from anymore at all Peter Peter he's gone well who's there what's what's happening Paul Paul is taking up a new message and Peter's message and that of the twelve apostles was for Israel and Israel exclusively Paul's message is for Israel and the Gentiles and all the rest of the world is that not an update or what it's a huge update and we are so grateful for it would you pray with me please our father we trust that what is in many ways a difficult concept to grasp but yet it is so important and what is on our heart is that the importance and the understanding of it be on the heart of these dear folks so that they can simply enter into an appreciation for what you have done and how you brought it about the transition that's involved the people involved the time involved all of these things are critical for this period of time that encompassed thirty years that has produced so much confusion in our own

[62:22]  Christian faith thank you for being able to examine the text being able to look at the distinctions that are made and being able we trust to draw some conclusions and we know that what we have presented is certainly not flawless but it is subject to the frailties of human thinking like all the rest and we simply ask that what has been offered and derived from the spirit of God will be sealed to our hearts anything that may have been untrue or of the flesh we simply want it to pass away and come to naught thank you for these dear folks and for the truth that you put before us trust that we'll be able to use it as a building block for the future in Christ's name amen