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Romans chapter 4, verse one.
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 counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 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 imputeth righteousness without works, saying.
Blessed are they whose are iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. 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 then reckoned when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. For 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 unto 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 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.
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For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effects, because the law worketh wrath. For where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end, that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only witches of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written.
I have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as those they were, though they were, who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall I see be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an 100 years old.
Neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.
Chapter 5. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
And not only so, but with glory and tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience, experience and experience hope, And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per adventure. For a Goodman some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the Atonement.
His conclusion of chapter three we might read that verse 28. Therefore we conclude well, let me read verse 27. Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of.
Works, nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is this only for Jews that this applies because it was only the Jews that were under law?
He says he's not also of the Gentiles also. Yes, of the Gentiles also.
Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision on the principle of faith. It says by faith, thought is on the principle of faith. The Jews were on the principle of law in the Old Testament. Now they have to learn that the principle upon which they're justified has changed. It's not law anymore, it's faith.
Principle of faith.
Seeing it as one God, which shall justify the circumcision by or on the principle of faith, and the uncircumcision, the.
Gentiles through faith, they did not have to change a principle of their justification because they never had one. They were outside of God's sphere of blessing in the Old Testament. And so it just says through faith for them. And then that last verse, do we then make void?
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The law through faith.
God forbid. Yeah, we establish the law. Well, how do you establish the law? By faith.
The one that breaks it, the one that doesn't establish it, is the one that puts himself under law and breaks it and then says it doesn't condemn me. He's rendering null and void the law. But the one who by faith flees to Christ, realizing that on that law principle I'm condemned, I cannot.
Make it I cannot be justified and by faith in Christ.
I am justified. He really establishes the law. The law can only kill.
Condemn and curse the lawbreaker, so the one who by faith flees to Christ.
He establishes the law. He says yes, I cannot make it by that principle.
1900 years Jews were under law and they did not keep it. The law said to the Pharisees, the Lord said to the Pharisees, did not Moses give you the law? And none of you keepeth the law? Stephen said by the Spirit in Acts 7, you received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it. So what's what's our recourse?
Faith in Christ And when we flee to Christ in faith, we establish the law. The law is holy and just and good, but it's applies itself to a Sinner like me who cannot keep it.
My alternative, what the gospel gives me, is Christ as the object to rest upon. So we established the law by faith, not by putting ourselves under it, breaking it, and then saying it doesn't condemn me and it doesn't curse me, it does.
And there's so many, you talk to people and you say, how are you going to get to heaven by keeping the 10 commandments? Well, have you ever kept them? Well, no, but I'm trying. Well, it doesn't hold out blessing to the Trier, it holds out blessing to the one who keeps it. And no one has kept it outside of the Lord himself.
So faith is a new principle upon which we are justified, not the principle of works, but that of faith in Christ. And by fleeing to that we're really establishing that the law principle is in force. But I'm not under it now. It can only condemn me if I put myself under it.
What you're saying is that it's impossible then, to reconcile those two principles and seek to walk in both at the same time.
That is the law as per se and the law of faith. Those two things cannot be combined and lived in as a rule of life.
They mutually exclude each other, yeah.
And you can understand how then in the Jews mind immediately would come to well, what about Abraham?
What, what, where does he fit into all of this? And that's what this 4th chapter really brings out. And it's important to see because as we heard, I think it was.
Yesterday that.
Abraham received his justification.
Before law.
And before circumcision. And that's what the apostle developed strongly in this chapter.
So that Abraham then was not justified on the principle of works at all.
If he had the.
And we had something that could be justified by works. It would not be before God, would it? And that's an important thing to see too, that there is an aspect that James brings out that's important, and we don't want to leave it aside. That is, you might say, the smoke coming out of the chimney. I use that illustration. Sometimes you go buy a building and you see, and it's not your building and you can't go into it.
You can't really say whether there's a fire in the fireplace or not, but if you see smoke coming out of the chimney, that's the evidence that it is. And that's the side of things that I think James brings before us in Luke Chapter 7, the last incident reported there of the Lord in Simon's house. I think the Lord brings it out very beautifully.
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In order to prove to point to this woman.
In order to, I should say, give assurance to Simon that her sins had been forgiven, he points to her works when he talks to her, he does. He says thy faith is saved, thee go in peace. So there had to be the smoke coming out of the chimney in order to see what was going on inside you. And I cannot look inside the light. But if there is a justification by works.
Before men, and not be before God.
And I think that's very important. We need to understand that otherwise we get into a difficulty. We think that Paul and and James are writing in opposition to one another, which they're not. These are given by 1 Shepherd.
There's 3 words in the 4th chapter that really are one word in the original.
The end of verse three says Abraham believed God and it was counted.
Unto him for righteousness.
Or reckoned or.
Imputed The word is imputed issues in this chapter in our King James quite often Mr. Darby uses reckoned.
Considered to be so by God, and so it was counted unto him for righteousness, who counted it. So God did, God did. But it says in the second verse, if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, to glory before men, but not before God. That's what you were just saying to him.
Well, James said, show me thy faith by their works.
But that shows us the difference. I mean, God can see our faith, can't he? That's right, He knows whether I believe or not. He knew about Abraham's faith. He knows. And that's important because one look of faith saves the soul, doesn't it?
How blessed that is. But you can't see my faith.
But God can, and the faith is very important to God. God delights in that dependence we have in him.
Abraham's promises or the promises to Abraham?
Were unconditional. This is in the form of a question.
Abraham's.
Condition was unconditional.
He was given.
This free gift. Then the law comes along 500 years later and it condemns everyone, but the promises made to Abraham are fulfilled in Christ.
But in what way now is it unconditional?
Everything depends on the work of Calvary's cross. Even the work of Calvary's cross gives God a righteous basis to bless His earthly people and to fulfill these promises because it is no longer conditional. You know the new covenant.
Is not only.
New because it follows the first. That is the Sinai covenant. You know there are other covenants.
It's also new because it has a new character, you know, It is not at all dependent on man's doings, you know, and.
Just in connection with that, we as Christians are not under covenant, you know, but the new covenant that He will make with both the houses of Israel in the coming day is all going to be based on the work of the cross, and the blood of the new covenant is already shed. The Lord Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. We are blessed on the same basis.
As Israel, we come under the blood of the new covenant here. It's all sovereign great for us, and it will be all sovereign grace for Israel. And the cross gives God a righteous basis to do what he's doing. And when the high priest said that it was good that one died for the nation, you know, that was in view of the Lord Jesus dying.
So that God could bless them, you know, he prophesied, it says.
In making that statement, so Lord Jesus died for all of us, but in a certain sense he died for that nation of Israel, and that gives God a righteous basis to bless them.
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It's interesting, too, to notice that I don't want to get this over to James.
Particularly, but I do think it's important to notice this that.
The statement Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.
Comes long before the birth of Isaac.
He comes along, He just Abraham laid hold of that.
And God saw that and reckoned it him righteous.
But the specific.
Thing that James cites as what gave proof of that was offering Isaac upon the altar.
And so.
He says. You see?
There's the proof.
There is the proof that he had faith.
But all that time before that, didn't God see that?
And know it.
And value it. And I think that's such an important thing to understand that because they're not in opposition with one another. He was the same illustration, if you want to put it that way. The same people, Abraham.
And.
It is important to see that they.
God is talking about.
In Genesis 15, he's talking about the fact that when God made him that promise, he believed it.
How did anybody know that he believed it?
If you and I were standing there and we heard Abraham say that I believe it, how would we know that he believed it?
We wouldn't, would we? We wouldn't be able to say just like you walked by and you can't see the fire in a fireplace if you don't get into the house and see it. But.
There comes that moment when God says to take that one.
And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee. And we hear Abraham say, I, and the lad will go Yonder and worship, and will come again.
And we see Abraham lay that son of promise on the altar and lift the knife.
And I believe that Hebrews warrants are saying this that he in.
And his intention was going ahead with it.
Because it says he received him from the dead.
And a figure so that God knew he would have gone ahead.
That was an act of faith, wasn't it?
And there you see the evidence of his faith.
Now that justifies him, but not before God, but justified him. Before God was that faith within his heart.
It's important to see that the two instances that James cites, which is Abraham offering Isaac and Rahab the harlot.
Keeping the spies.
Would have been both of those acts would have been sinful acts.
Abraham's act would have been murder.
Take away faith and Rahab's act would have been treason against her country. Take away faith, but you bring faith in there. Those were both faith works. And that's what gave the value to the works is that they they were done by faith. And so James doesn't conflict with Paul at all. He just brings the the other side of the story. But both are correct.
Steve Brown used to say that Romans 4 is vertical truth and James is horizontal truth. Puzzled me at first, but the vertical truth is between the person and God up and horizontal truth is before our fellow man.
But I was looking at that fourth verse of the chapter. Now to him that worketh is a reward, not reckoned of grace.
But of debt?
And is looking at Revelation 5 where the song is Thou art worthy, for thou was slain, has redeemed us to God. If it had been reckoned of death, then God would owe it to us. We wouldn't owe it all to Him.
That's very important, isn't it? That in every case, no matter how you look at it, it must be the work of God by faith?
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Not anything that we could do to earn it.
In which way was Abraham offering up Isaac by faith?
I think it's important to stress that God had promised that He would bless him in Isaac.
And if he now ask him to offer a bisect, is he going to go back on his promise? He isn't.
Abraham knew that if he would be forced to offer him up, God would give him back to him.
And that's where the faithless manifested, because God is not going to go back on His promise.
It's a tremendous faith, you know, to.
See that demonstrated in that act?
And.
You know, it's so foolish from a human point of view, you know, to kill the one in whom all your expectations are. But God said, I'm going to bless you in here and through him and.
Abraham knew he would live up to it. Wonderful faith manifested.
Hebrews it intimates that Abraham was willing to go right through it and kill his son, but he had so much faith in God that he knew that if he did that.
What God could raise him up out of the dead?
Of the fact that Abraham did not have the scriptures that you and I have today.
Think about that. I mean we have all of the scriptures and especially the full Lord light of the New Testament. That was a real step of faith in order for him to do that. But we see that that he comes through and and God is glorified in that and and our God will not be any man's debtor. So he comes forth and he says, because thou hast done this and blessing, I will bless thee. And so and he got it there in the 22nd. The Genesis is so beautiful. How how he makes that wonderful.
He had the word of God from Genesis 15, didn't he?
When the Lord had told him, as Brother Franklin was suggesting, he told him he was going to have a son. That was part of the promise. And we know he failed in his faith, but the Lord still gave him a promise of the son. But he promised that he would have a sea and like the stars of the heavens from that sun. So you have the word of God that he was going to have descendants through Isaac. And then God says going off of that son on the altar.
Well, you have the word of God, didn't he to trust him? God had said that and he did that, didn't he?
Don't we have in Abraham also the patience of faith, waiting for a promise that God promised him? And then we had the energy of faith when he took that same one whom God had promised him, and he was going to offer him up according to the word of God that God had given him. So we see in him the patience of faith in his waiting.
And I think it's a good lesson for us. Many times God tells us something and we become impatient.
We said it doesn't happen right away, so we get a little bit ahead of God on this where it wasn't. So with Abraham, we waited. It was a long time. It was a patient, it was a patience of faith. But then when the time came, Abraham was told to offer up his son. Well, that was the energy of faith. Then he had to exercise that in a marvelous way. So those two points are clear with Abraham, aren't they?
Testimony of David is then reduced.
From the 32nd Psalm.
It's a wonderful testimony. Blessed.
As the first 7.
Blessed those whose lawlessnesses have been covered, who have been forgiven, whose sins have been covered.
Blessed to the man, the man to whom the Lord shall not at all and will stick with the word. Reckon Brother Chuck, may we, we'll stick with that word, or it's that way we don't get into a lot of other trying to define a lot of other words. Blessed is the man to whom he does not reconcile. And that must have been immense blessing to David after he went through the exercise.
And he tells you a little bit about that in that 32nd Psalm.
He had no basis of works on which to claim this blessedness at all. He had kept silence. His bones had waxed old.
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And then he makes the confection.
And the Lord sends a message to him that his sin had been put away.
What a joy that must have been to his soul and so he exalts with that man in the beginning of that Psalm and I believe that's you know, we we don't want to let me just say this without.
I trust saying too much. We don't want to say more than what Scripture says about what the Old Testament Saints laid hold of, but there are.
Some dramatic things that they did lay hold of.
And David may not have understood the basis on which God did that, but he understood the fact of it, didn't he? He knew that God had forgiven it.
He had had God's word for it, and in the 51St Psalm, as he pours out his soul to.
To the Lord he says, Wash me.
Watch me now. Did he understand that that was through the blood of Christ?
I don't think so.
But he knew that God needed to do a work.
And then he burst forth with that declaration in the 32nd Psalm that says.
Blessed or happy is the man whose sins are forgiven.
Whose transgressions? Whose lawlessness are forgiven? He knew the record. He knew what he would had gone, were done.
And he had had a deep conviction about it covering it up for a long time, it seems.
And actually physically suffering from the covering up of it. And then he confesses it and then it's all brought out in the open and, and God sends a message to him. You're forgiven. The Lord has put away thy sin.
How blessed that is to his soul. And so he declares that, but he does not set forth one thing of works as the basis of it. And that's what Paul is telling us here. He never set forth. He didn't say because I've done this.
And if you'll forgive me to put it this way, he's never said any Hail Marys or our Fathers who are done penance in any way.
He simply confessed, and the prophet system, the Lord has put away thy sin.
What a wonderful thing that was.
I just think we need to be understand how marvelous it was for for David to come that far in his statements.
He was a righteous man when he when this happened, it wasn't a Sinner. He had been born again, but he was guilty. He was guilty of sinning. He needed forgiveness.
That's the only time forgiveness is mentioned in Romans, I believe.
All the other times it's justification justified.
Made righteous, that the opposite of that is being condemned. I'm guilty, I need forgiveness, I'm condemned, I need justification. And that's mainly what Romans talks about. But the the sighting of David's case is a guilty man. He's committed a sin. It's a couple sins, in fact several sins.
Almost all of the law he broke in that one thing he coveted. He lied. He stole another man's wife. He committed adultery. He was a murderer.
There they are, there they are five of them. All of those he broke, he, he, he, he sinned, he was guilty and he needed forgiveness. And what is important to see the difference between Abraham and David, As it was pointed out, Abraham, it was before the law, before circumcision, David.
Sinned and did these awful things after the law had been introduced.
And that made it that much more serious.
You know, those who sinned without the law, they will perish without the law. But David now.
Had the law, you know. You have to even make a copy of it, as we have heard and should read in it every day. I doubt whether he did that.
Wonderful to tie all of these three events. Abraham was 2000 years before the Lord. David was 1000 years before the Lord.
Paul is 1000 years later and here we are 2000 years later enjoying the oneness of the Scriptures. And may I add to in connection with brother Dick's comment, when he covered up, you know, the difficulties and the distress of his conscience and soul is described, but when he opened up, then God covered up and I think that's also significant.
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Significant that the word covering is used.
In connection with one under the Old Testament.
You know, because that's consistent with the position that he was in. You know, they did not understand.
The atonement, the way we do, but it was covered, you know, no longer viewed as open before God, You know, God said, I'll cover it up. You open up, I cover up.
In verse one, I want to just keep moving. So in verse one he says, what shall we then say that Abraham our father, and he was talking to the Jews there that knew knew the Old Testament. Then he asked in verse nine he says, cometh this blessedness upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also? Now he's going to bring the Gentiles in. Or we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. When was it reckoned? How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision?
Or in uncircumcision, not in circumcision.
But in uncircumcision, and he received a 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 unto them also. Abraham was the father of the nation. He was the father of the faithful. But here he's cited by the apostle Paul as being the father of.
All those that have faith.
All those that will be brought into blessing by faith, that includes the Gentiles too now. And so he's bringing that out. And how that Abraham, the principle upon which Abraham was blessed was faith. And that's the way we're blessed as well.
Why would any rightly instructed Christian ever want to go back under that thing that Israel was under? It makes you wonder, doesn't it? It's not rightly instructed, no, it's right.
To do something with us. Yeah, Yeah, that's right.
There's a terrible curse brought in by the Apostle Paul in Galatians on any who would pervert that, any who would bring them under. In fact, Paul says, I wish they'd even mutilate themselves or cut themselves off who, who, who do that because that has that's destroying the very foundation of the gospel that I've been preaching to you.
And twice over he repeats that.
About.
Let them be a curse. Let them be a curse. It's a solemn thing.
I marvel sometimes I run into legalists sometimes who want to put you back under the law. And I, I think, don't they read Galatians?
Isn't it wonderful that the Spirit of God knew and prepared?
His people for dealing with that sort of thing in advance.
Could you read those verses, Brother **** ** chapter 2 of Galatians?
Why don't you read them, Bob? You mean chapter one, don't you? Well, I was thinking of the one in chapter 2, or chapter one was what I was reporting. Go ahead, read chapter one.
Although I referred to chapter 2.
In in a way, but it's chapter one that the verses I'm thinking about with a curse chapter one.
And.
Verse 8 and verse 9.
Well, verse six, he says, I marveled that you are so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of Christ, unto another gospel, which is not another, is not another good news.
But there are some that trouble you. And who would pervert the gospel of Christ?
And here are the 2 verses. But though we.
Or an Angel from heaven, for each any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you.
Let him be accursed.
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As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that you have received.
Let him be a curse.
Or the Christian is concerned.
In one Timothy, Paul says, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, pretty plain, but for the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly, for sinners. I believe what it's saying is that under the law it was to restrain the flesh.
Whereas the believer, as we've been hearing, is not in the flesh, although we have the flesh in US.
And so we have a new principle on which to live our lives. But he lists the things murderers and ************ and so on. That's what the law is for. Is that what we are? No.
Some such were some of you, but we're not that now. So the law has nothing for us in that regard as law. Now we know that there's the moral content of the 10 commandments, which.
We don't violate.
But as law, we don't, we don't keep them. In other words, when you go into the store, you don't remind yourself the law says thou shalt not steal. Do you ever do that when you go into the store? No, you just don't think about it. You're a Christian, you don't even think about stealing. But if you're under law, you'd have to remind yourself, I better not steal while I'm in here.
Wonder if I could make one more reference to David as the king.
We think of him in his position as the king.
And we think of his sin, and as we've been reminded, how he had broken the law.
To such an extent, and then in.
In the 51St chapter Psalm, he says.
And I'd like just like to read these verses.
And verse 16 of Psalm 51 Thou desires not sacrifice, else would I give it.
How delight is not in burnt offerings?
How hopeless.
His life must have looked at this point. How hopeless. But then.
We see this man who had failed and no recourse.
You know, in the law, no way could he ever approach God.
And there was no sacrifice, there was no way. But then he verse 17 of Psalm 51, the sacrifices of God.
Are a broken spirit.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God.
Thou would not despise and that hasn't changed and I believe.
Sometimes we find it very hard to.
To repent very hard to be upright, but here is a man and everything, even as a king.
They were totally hopeless, but yet he had it with any soul.
The realization.
Of something that God would come in if he was willing to go this far down. So in our lives are we ready to own our failure?
And this verse is very beautiful. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.
Broken and a contrite heart. Oh God, thou wilt not despise. And he won't do that today either, will he?
You might not feel like David did, but we need to know that God will hear our cry.
This curse you were talking about, so we understand what does mean what what is meant when Paul says let him be accursed, let him be damned?
Let him be sent to hell. I mean a strong language.
Very strong language at the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholic body that establishes doctrine, came together, and they considered all the recovered truth of the Reformation.
Rejected it all rejected it all the 2 cardinal truths that were that the Bible is all sufficient for the Christian doesn't need the authority of the church to back it up. And the second was we're justified by faith apart from works altogether. And they said anyone that believes those teachings are heretics and ought to be cursed. So they they pronounce the curse upon all of us in this room who believe what this book says.
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But they're under the curse of Paul. They're under the curse because they have departed from the grace of God and added works to it. Very solemn and serious thing. When you look over Christendom today, a large percentage of Christendom is under that curse.
Do you think that that that?
The Reformation really delivered him out from underneath the teachings of the Church.
They're still there, isn't it?
In the yes, yeah, well, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Overflow from they didn't get full deliverance from them.
And that's because, as Brother Barry said a moment ago.
We want to have a part. We want to have our part. I explained Grace to my Roman Catholic professor and he said, I, I don't like that, He says I want to do my part.
He didn't like grace because grace brings us in as incorrigibly bad. Nothing good in us, nothing we can contribute to our salvation. We we come in as unworthy, undeserving. What the object is, is to try to bring about.
Reunion, you know, bringing back together. But maybe, Chuck, you can tell us briefly what is really the problem in Galatians. You know, it isn't that they set Christianity altogether aside, right?
They don't, said the death of Christ aside. Isn't that correct?
Well, it was a question of law. Is the is the Christian under law or is he under grace? And this is what they take, what Paul takes up in Galatians. So in other words, they still allow that you're going to be saved through the work of the Lord Jesus. But then the law is the rule of life for the Christian. That's one of the earth. That is the error of Galatianism.
And that's why it is so bad, and we should clearly see that.
The law is not the rule of life for the believer, you know.
And after you're saved, you have to keep the law to keep being saved.
Christ did his part to get us in, and now we have to do our part to stay in. That's the principle that.
Is such It's deadly. It's deadly and it's been imbibed by many bodies in Christendom, isn't it?
Such a beautiful.
BUT of our chapter.
But.
Now comes the positive.
Just thinking about verse two in First Corinthians 16.
Those ones in Galatia, they were perverting the gospel of Christ. When it's just in our heads, you know?
Things and events, and sometimes the gospel is presented that way, but in First Corinthians 16.
Verse 22, it says there if anyone loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That same word that he was in Galatians. If anyone loved not the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the result of the gospel is, is knowing about a person that God wants you to bring into relationship wants to bring you in relationship with him that you would know him and you can talk about things and and doctrine and church and going here and going there and doing this and doing that.
But unless you know that person, you can't be saved. And if you know that person, you can't be that person as your savior and not love them. That's impossible.
So you have in those two things the person.
Not to know the person is to be accursed, to pervert the gospel of the grace of God is to be accursed because it denies the work of Christ. Give something, give some status to man who is, who is nothing but sin, and it's just totally falsifies everything, doesn't it?
And it clearly stated, you know, they came down from Jerusalem. It says certain of the circumcision. And what did they say except he be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. I'm quoting it. He cannot be saved. That's what they said.
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15.
Yeah, well, Galatians 3, he says. Oh, foolish Galatians.
And then he says to them.
Received ye the Spirit.
By the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
And what a solemn thing the just shall live by faith.
But the law is not a faith.
Definitely states that the law is not of faith. He can't put the boat together.
Laws works. If works. Law points me to myself.
Faith points me from myself to Christ.
That's the difference I like to.
Point out at the end of the fourth chapter.
Sarah and Abraham's body is mentioned.
And the faith.
And then resurrection is brought in at the very end.
Now in which way?
Is there a similarity we mentioned already?
That when he offered him up.
You know, he believed that God would give him back.
The Sun in resurrection.
But already when he gave him his son.
You know, that was a miracle.
Because both Abraham and Sarah were beyond the age of having children, but they didn't look at their body. If God said I'm going to give you Isaac, don't consider your body. So there again you have the truth of resurrection and then you have at the end.
Of that chapter, that it is not only written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed or reckoned, if we believe on him that.
Raise up Jesus our Lord from the dead. See how important it is to accept the truth of resurrection. He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
My.
Peace is based on the fact that the one that was in my place in judgment is now raised by the glory of the Father. The proof is given, the work is accepted. So how important?
What Abraham manifested in connection with even receiving.
The sun not considering his body.
Is likened unto us now, receiving the truth of Christ being delivered for us and being raised.
For our justification.
Abraham believed in the God of resurrection sorry I didn't hear you Abraham believed in the God of resurrection could bring life out of debt deadness of Sarah's womb considered his body dead, but he believed that God could could give life out of resurrection and that's the way the chapter ends If we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our fences and raised again for our justification we the faith at the end of.
Romans 4 is not in in Christ.
It's the faith in God is the God of resurrection, and he raised him from the dead that we might now be brought into.
A resurrection state of justification.
He was raised again for our justification in order to our being justified, and then how do we get it by faith? The next chapter says, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, but raised again for our justification.
That's a beautiful statement at the end of Romans 4.
I just wanted to say that in verse 20 of this chapter, and we shouldn't dwell on it at all, but I just want to point out that it our ordinary translation says he was strong in faith. That's not wrong, but it really the thought is that he was by exercising faith, he was strengthened in faith. And that's an important principle that when you and I exercise faith, we're strengthened in faith so that he believed God.
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In the 15th chapter.
When it came to the test in the 22nd chapter of Genesis.
Then he had gathered strength through the faith of the exercise previously. I just think it's important to notice that that the exercise of faith.
Strengthens faith.
Perhaps it was mentioned when the book was considered, but we have 3 expressions in these. In the third chapter we had.
Justified freely by His grace. Justified by grace and we have justified by faith, which is the 4th chapter.
And later on in the 5th chapter we had justified by his blood.
And I've enjoyed this very much. As to Grace, it's the source of our justification and it's from the Father giving the Son.
And justified by his blood from the Lord Jesus. That's because of his work. It's the basis of justification.
And justified by faith. Well, that's the operation of the Spirit of God in our souls to make us accept these things and believe these things and act in accordance with the conviction that he produces. So we see.
The Godhead occupied in the justification of the guilty one, the God had occupied in bringing us to faith, conviction, and having that object before us of the Lord Jesus.
Beautiful. I just want to add to that everything that God does is in Trinity.
Everything that God does, all three persons are involved, whether it's the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the salvation of the soul, on and on and on creation of the universe, all three persons are involved.
Beautiful to see that.
Can I ask a question? Was the Trinity involved in the giving of the law?
In the what? In the Giving of the law?
What's the point of your question? Well, the point of the question is where we have the Trinity coming out and giving us the wonderful bases in salvation in Christ, in contrast to the giving of the law. The Trinity wasn't involved there, or was it?
I'm just asking it as a question. I'm just asking for some light on it.
I would say it was because God gave it, didn't it? Didn't God give it? Who's God The Father, The Son, the Holy Spirit, right?
A part of God didn't give it, God gave it. And if God gave it, he's a Trinity.
But angels were involved. We've already quoted, and that's not the truth. That is not true of what we have in Christianity, you know, and we have that in Acts 7 and in Galatians. What is it, chapter?
You know where in the hands of a mediator.
You know, there's the angels I mentioned there, but that is not.
Stated in connection.
With what our brother has pointed out, you know when it comes to the work of grace and our being justified.
So.
There is a much more wonderful dealings of God in connection with what we receive and what the Jews receive.
A direct dealing, you might say, by God.
Instead of using the medium of an Angel.
If I could have two minutes to pass on a thought that I had in connection with all this, the vastness of the work in the 22nd of Genesis, it goes through what we have been considering.
The the act of faith in Abraham and taking up his son, and then when the substitute was found, you never hear another word about.
Isaac has just mentioned once.
For a long period of time to the 24th chapter where he finds where Rebecca enters into it. But in the end of the 22nd chapter, when you finish the story, suddenly there's a big change in what is being spoken about. And here is the first woman that is born that her name is mentioned.
Immediately following Abraham.
Going ahead to offer up his son, What a beautiful picture this is. Who is that woman? Why she's Rebecca and that's the church. So that's connected immediately in there with with the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross and here comes the birth of the church.
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And to setting aside of Israel.
In chapter 23, that's so important, we have the death of Christ in 22, the basis for the bride being gathered, but before the bride could be gathered.
The mother, a picture of Israel, has to be set aside, and then the servant is sent to fetch a bride. These are beautiful, humorous pictures in the Old Testament.
Therefore, going on to chapter 5, therefore, being justified by faith, that's your part and mine. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace with God.
The sin question has been settled. We enter into that, that peace. We know that that sin has been dealt with and removed, put away, and the, the the soul is at rest with God. He has peace with God. He knows the sin question has been settled, justified by faith, the principle. That's the way we lay hold of it. As Michelle was saying, the basis of it is the blood. The source of it is the grace of God.
And the means by which we obtain it is faith, beautiful justification. And it's it's the resurrection of Christ at the end of chapter four. He was delivered for our offenses. That's the cross raised again for our justification.
Some translations read because of our justification. That's wrong. He was raised again with a view to our justification.
In order that we might be justified, how do we get it? By faith?
The book of Acts is filled with the preaching of the gospel, and the resurrection of Christ is presented in every instance very forcibly.
If he's not risen, there is no salvation. It's it's founded on the work of Christ at the cross. But the resurrection is the proof that that work was accepted of God and approved of God, and it brings us now into a a new position before God.
And that's developed in the last part of Romans 5 and so on that.
We have a resurrection light. We took that up in an earlier reading, but this is this is the most beautiful verse, therefore being justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The sin question has been settled and we are at peace with God. Wonderful.
These two verses here one and two.
Since we say that this is a faith that takes the whole span of time in that first verse.
Considering it as to our past being justified by faith, that's considering all that we've been and we've done. It's all settled now by the cross of the Lord Jesus precious blood, and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's our present condition, our standing in the present by who? Also we have access by faith into this race where we stand. This is our present standing by faith, access into that grace. It's never going to change.
And our faith goes on. It rejoices in the hope of the glory of God. The future is coming for us.
Beautiful.
Romans 3 It says all have sinned, had come short of the glory of God. And here here's the one who had come short of the glory of God. Now he comes under the benefit of the gospel. He's rejoicing in the hope of it.
Couldn't possibly think that he could ever achieve it, but now he's got it as a hope.
It's very, very important to notice it does not say having made our peace with God.
That is a common thought that you hear people express constantly. Well, have you made your peace with God? We could never make peace with God.
That was made in Calvary's darkness, as the little hymn says, and I believe it's important to see that settled peace towards God, or with God is on the basis of what we have had brought before us in these readings.
That is the work that the Lord Jesus did.
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Is what gives us peace with God.
There's nothing in ourselves that would give peace with God. There's nothing in what we've done that would give peace with God.
There's nothing in any ritual that might be gone through that would give peace with God.
What gives us peace with God is through our Lord Jesus Christ, the work that He did on the cross of Calvary that He was, and that justification on the basis or principle of faith.
Don't ever talk about making peace with God. We couldn't do it. We couldn't do it. And I just want to add to **** **** the common expression is give your heart to God. Give your heart to the Lord.
The Gospel doesn't ask us to give God anything.
But to judge ourselves and to repent. He is the giver. We are the receivers.
Every good and perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, Thou wouldst have asked of Him. He would have given thee living water. It's God who is the giver. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable free gift. He does not ask a Sinner for his heart, or anything else from the Sinner. He says, My Son.
Give me thine heart that's that's with one who is in relationship with him. That's another matter. But he doesn't ask anything of the Sinner. He commands all men everywhere to repent and to take the place of a Sinner before God.
It was very common among us to hear people say give your heart to the Lord or ask the Lord into your heart. I mean ask the Lord into your heart. That's different.
Ask the Lord into your heart is different than asking a Sinner to give their heart to God.
Brother Jacobson from California, I heard him preach the gospel once and he commented on that.
He said, what does he want to do with that filthy thing? You know what Scripture says about the heart of man, But the fact is that he gives us a new heart. That's the truth of the gospel. And the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Spirit. That's why we can glory in tribulation and go through these things and patiently bear up because we are in the enjoyment of the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Well you know the Christian path is not always easy. There are tribulations and difficulties and we need to be patient. The story goes that a brother told his brethren, pray for me, I need more patience and a better and pray sent the brother tribulation.
Well, he said, I didn't ask for that. They said you forget tribulation workers patience. You know what, we all need that to some extent, do we not? Maybe some of us need it more than others, but we need it, you know, and strengthened with All might Colossians, patience and long-suffering not to win all kinds of victories.
But to be patient and long-suffering, we need that. And He wants to strengthen us. And then we're in the enjoyment of the love of God that is poured out in our hearts. We find that grace.
Already what you said about.
God asking us for something. I was thinking that the psalmist must have known something about that in the 116 Psalm it says.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?
And then he answers the question. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.
I want to make it clear, if you are a child of God, He does ask you for here.
He does say, My son, give me thy heart, but that's one who's in relationship with him. I'm talking about a Sinner that's lost.
I guess our time is up.
197.
Yes. And could we stand to sing it?
So we can begin with prayer.
Our blessed God and our Father.
Look up to the now and we would thank Thee above all things for the Lord Jesus, the only Savior of sinners.
And our God, we thank thee too, for the time that we could spend in this book of Romans over the past few days, which brings before us the foundation truth.
Justification by faith.
And Ohio, Lord Jesus, now the gospel is once again to go forth, the gospel of the grace of God.
And we just pray thee, our God, that thou will bless thy word here this afternoon.
The fact either we can.
Turn to those words in my word, which tells us, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.
And so our God, we pray that Thy word now will go forth in the power of Thy Spirit. We do pray that each one of us in this room would have a heart and ears were listening and taking in without us have for us.
So, our God, we just look to Thee for help. Pray Thy blessing upon Thy word, and we ask it in the precious and worthy name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
I'd like to read a couple of verses in John's Gospel, chapter 19.
John's Gospel, chapter 19.
And verse 33.
But when they came to Jesus.
And saw that he was dead already.
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They break, not his legs.
But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side.
And forthwith came there out blood and water.
I'd like to tell you a story. One time there was a little boy, just a little fella.
I don't know his name, but I know that he had a sister named Lisa.
At least it was a very sick girl.
In fact, she was so sick with this disease that if something wasn't soon done, she was going to die.
Well, it seems this little boy, he'd had this disease too, and he'd come through it all right. And so the doctors knew that in his body there had been that which built up antibodies against this disease.
And so they felt that if they could take some of this little fella's blood and transfuse it to his sister, that perhaps she might have a chance of living.
And so all the arrangements were made, all the equipment gotten together, the little boy and his sister Lisa, and everything was hooked up.
And they began to take his blood and pump it into his sister's veins.
Well, it didn't take very long before it showed in this little girl. It just seemed like life was being pumped right into her.
Her face got radiant.
And then they went over to see the little boy beside her. And you know, he had an awful sad expression on his face. He had an awful sad expression on his face.
And the doctor looked at him and asked him what the trouble was.
And you know, they came to ask that little boy before all of this, they asked him if he would give his blood to his sister. And he thought for a long time.
And he said I will give my blood to Lisa.
Well again I go back to where we were. They asked the little boy what the problem was and he just looked up at the doctor and he said will I start to die right away?
You see the little fella, he thought that they were going to take all his blood and give it to his sister.
But you know that little boy? He didn't know what to expect.
When they asked him to give his blood to his sister, he didn't understand.
But the Lord Jesus, when he came into this world and went to that cross of Calvary and shed his precious blood for you, he knew exactly.
What to expect?
He knew exactly what would happen.
Let me ask you why.
Why did that little boy, why was he willing to give up his life for his sister?
You know the answer as well as I do. It's because he loved her.
And why? Why did the Lord Jesus come into this world born in poverty?
Why did he tread a lonely and sorrowful path for 33 years in this world?
Why did he tread that path all the way to Calvary's cross and lay down his life for you and me?
And why did he shed that precious blood, that precious blood that cleanseth from all sin?
You know the answer as well as I do. It's because he loved you. It's because he loved you. Listen to what he says in John chapter 15. He says as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
And if you don't get hold of anything else in the next few minutes, I pray that you'll get hold of that.
That God loves you. God is love. It's his very nature.
You know, you've got an enemy of your soul, Satan. He's the enemy of our souls. And right from the very beginning of time, right from the very beginning of man's history, he tried to convince man that God really didn't love him. He tried to put a question in the mind of Eve, and he continues to do that this very day.
Yeah, hath God said he made her believe that God was holding the most important thing from her.
She believed his lie.
And that's what God is doing today to keep you from coming to the Lord Jesus. He's trying to get you to believe that God really doesn't love you.
Oh, dear friend, I like the way God puts it. You know Isaiah, he says. Can a woman forget her sucking child? That she should not have compassion on the son of her wound?
I've seen a lot of mothers here this weekend with little children and with babies, and I don't think there's a more beautiful picture of love than a mother and her little one. But listen to how the Lord finishes that verse. Yeah, they may forget, yet will I not forget Thee? Behold, I've graven thee upon the palms of my hands. He has those marks of love in His hands that he's going to have for all eternity.
Because he loved you. That he went to that cross of calamari. Don't pass up a love like that. Don't pass up a love like that. He loves you more than anybody ever could or anybody ever will.
If you don't know the Lord Jesus as Savior, you come now. You don't have to come up here. You don't have to come up to the front. You don't have to do anything. You can make the transaction right there as you sit in the seat, just like that thief on the cross. All he said was, Lord, Remember Me? And what was the answer of the Lord? Did he tell him he had to do anything? No. Did he tell him he was going to have to be baptized?
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It's the right thing to be baptized if you know the Lord, but that didn't save him. What was it? It was just a call of faith. And the Lord said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
And he'll give you the same answer too. Thou shalt be with me in paradise. Oh dear friend, He loves you like no one has ever loved you or ever will. He gave his life for you. Won't you come?
We're at the end of a conference.
We're soon going to go home.
Are you going to go out of here unsaved one more time?
God speaketh once. Yeah, twice. Yet man perceiveth it not. It was a year ago when I stood up here for a few minutes.
And the years passed just like that very quickly. And here we are again, one more conference.
One more set of meetings.
One more appeal to accept the gospel of the grace of God. You're going to walk out one more time because you know soon it's going to be the last one.
Very soon the gospel is not going to be going forth anymore.
The Lord is going to come and he's going to take everyone of us here who belong to the Lord Jesus. He's going to take us home.
And if you don't belong to the Lord Jesus, If you're not in Christ, as we've been having.
You're going to be left behind for judgment.
You're going to be left behind for judgment. I'm not sure it's God's word that declares this.
Don't go out of here once again unsaved.
You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved right now.
Well, in the Gospel of Matthew.
It says, when the Lord instituted that little feast of remembrance.
Says they saw me hymn and went out.
We're going to sing a hymn and then we're going to leave this place.
We're going to go back to our homes.
And we're going to have to live and face this world.
I trust that each one of us here has received that which will strengthen us and fortify us for the walk ahead if the Lord should leave us here for a little while longer.
I trust that each one of us, too, will be found building each other up in our most holy faith. In these last days, may we seek brethren, to encourage one another.
But we're going to go from this place and I trust that there won't be anybody that goes out unsaved.
Let's just sing a hymn together #67 in the appendix.
The perfect righteousness of God is witnessed.
In the Savior's blood.
Is in the Christ the cross of Christ we trace his righteousness yet wondrous grace in verse 4. The Sinner who believes is free can say the Savior died for me can point to the atoning blood and say this made my peace with God #67 can be sung to the tune of all happy day.
And mercy God.
Dispensers all.
Right.
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For me.
Just commend ourselves to the Lord.
Our blessed God and our Father, again we would look up to Thee with Thanksgiving in our hearts.
And above all things, we thank Thee for that unspeakable gift of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. We thank Thee to our God and Father for the past few days, and we've been able to spend time over Thy precious Word and find encouragement, find comfort therein.
And our God and our Father, we thank Thee also for the time of fellowship. We think of Thy word, which tells us of those who forsake the assembling of their cells together. And we're told not to do that, but so much the more as we see the day approaching. And so, our God, we thank you for the time we've been able to spend together encouraging each other in the things of the Lord. We thank you for blessing this weekend, our Father. And now as we look to thee, we leave this place, Our Father, we just pray that that will protect each one. We think of many on the highways traveling, and we just asked by safekeeping over each one.
But we do pray too, that everyone of us would take something home from these meetings, something that will encourage us, something that we can meditate upon, something, Lord Jesus, that will encourage us in these last days. But most of all, we pray that should there be anyone here that is still in their sins, that they would take away thyself, Lord Jesus with them. That they would take away thy salvation, that they might have it, that they might walk to please thee, that they might be able to look forward to that day when thou will return and call thine own to be with Thyself.