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Listen to Rick Beaudry, Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bremerton, teach the Word of God cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Be edified and built up in your faith with solid Bible teaching. New episodes on Mondays in the Pacific Standard Timezone.
Galatians chapter three verse 15 through 22. Would you please stand with me as we read God's holy word together? I love that you guys are truthers, that you love the truth more than your very lives, and, that there's no compromise in you. It's fun to fellowship with you. Alright.
Verse 15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men though it be but a man's covenant. Yet, but if it be confirmed, no man disannulse or adds there too. Now to Abraham to his seed where the promises made and he say it not into seeds as of many, but as of one into thy seed which is Christ. And this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before as of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect.
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore, then serveth the law. It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God?
God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture has concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Father, we thank you for your holy word. And Lord, we pray that you'd be our teacher.
We pray that as we, Lord, invest and be endures of your word, not hearers only, that our lives are built upon the strong foundation of who you are. Not upon sand, not upon a slippery slope that when the trials of life come exposing that we're just hearers, not doers. Lord, let us be uncompromising. Cause us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds today, that we'd be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. Help us, Lord.
Change us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Would you please be seated? Paul has proven from the Old Testament scriptures that our justification and sanctification are a free gift from God.
So what do these words mean? Justification is righteousness. Just as if I've never sinned. My standing before God, there's now therefore no condemnation of those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So God sees you as he looks at the ledger, the the credits and and the debits or whatever.
The credit is paid in full from Jesus. The debit, been washed out. All your sins have been blotted away just as if you've never sinned. You're never going to give an account to God as a believer for your sins. Your sins have been cast in the East to the West no more.
So don't fear. Don't let the devil condemn you and point you to the pit of hell. The devil's a liar. Your sins have been placed upon Jesus. He that knew no sin became sin that you and I might receive the righteousness of God that's found in Christ Jesus.
Sanctification made holy. There's a positional sanctification where God sees you already as holy, but there's a progressive oh, that word. There's a progress or a changing from glory to glory into the image. There's a growth, a maturity of sanctification. So we don't get saved and have the position as as righteous, and then go and trying to work it to make ourselves better as we're caught in this old, edemic nature still.
We got a new nature. In Galatians five, we'll see that new nature, the life of the spirit, fighting with the flesh back and forth back and forth. And we don't take the flesh and keep the law, and that make me better. No. By faith, the same way we got saved.
By faith, the same way we rely upon the holy spirit to transform and change. So it's love, not the law. The letter of the law kills. But the love that we have for Jesus brings us to a higher place of living in that we don't wanna break his heart. But we don't lose our salvation.
So God's transforming and changing us from glory to glory in the image of his son. We're growing in the grace and knowledge of him, and both are a free gift from God, a promise of God to all. So like Abraham who simply believed. So Abraham believed and it was imputed, again, an accounting term, it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Does it mean he reached a place of sinless perfection?
No. When he goes into Egypt, he lies to the pharaoh. Hey. She's just my sister. And then later, he in chapter 16 of Genesis after 15, there's a ratification.
16, he's he's like in Gerar, the area of the Philistine. He lies again. A lapse of faith. What what precipitated? What caused that?
A famine? A financial reversal. So now we're gonna go back to Egypt, which is the world. We're going to go to a foreign country to seek out food. And in order to get that food, we're gonna have to lie.
We're gonna we're we're gonna jeopardize Sarah and the rest of the the group, you know? So we see Abraham in Hebrews 11, there's no mention of any of that, but we're reminded he's just like you and I. So his salvation is imputed to him for righteousness by grace through faith alone. He came to know Jesus and receive salvation the same way Adam and Eve did, the same way you and I have, is by grace through faith alone. Always has been.
Not the keeping of the law. And we grow in the grace alone. So we go through those trials. We fail, maybe, or we pass the test. If we fail the test, we gotta retake the test, you know?
Bummer. So Paul will now answer the Judaizers. Who are the Judaizers? Those Jews come down from Jerusalem who are imposing upon these Gentile believers by and large in the area of Galatia that they have to keep the law, that they need to be circumcised, that they need to keep the 600 they need to become a Jew to be saved. Not only that, but they need to keep the law to become better, to become more righteous.
So Paul is rebutting this. The Judaizers are rebutting salvation by grace and faith alone, contending that the promises given to Abraham were annulled by the giving of the law to Moses. So Paul will now prove the superiority of the promise and the inferiority of the law. Now the word promise or promises in our text here this morning found seven times. And so four reasons, you note takers, four reasons the promise of God is superior.
Number one, a superior principle. Notice verse 15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men though it be but a man's covenant. Yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulse or added there too. So even in the human realm, if you make a covenant with somebody, an agreement, a contract, you promise to do something, I promise to pay you a thousand dollars a month on the first, you can't arbitrarily change that.
It's an agreement. And that's what God's saying. Jesus said, let your communication be yay yay or nay nay. Jesus said, read my lips. It's by promise.
Why do you think you can change God's word? Who thinks they can make up their own bible and say women are pastors today? Where do you get off doing that? Who gave you that authority? You're gonna you're gonna degrade Paul and say he's a misogynist puke, you know, he hated women?
You're gonna have to go through a whole sorts of circular reasoning and such to violate the word of God. Those are simple simple things that keep us secure in knowing that we're following the word of God no matter how much the pressure in the culture today. Just crazy stuff. Hey, Christians smoke pot. Hey, Christians drink like the world.
Hey, Christians are committing fornication just like the world, but we're gonna redefine love. We're gonna we're gonna say love wins. We're gonna light up the White House, say love wins. Gay lesbian lifestyle. We've accepted it.
We're gonna legislate it. In fact, we're gonna give them preferential treatment and privileges because they're so hated. Everybody's hating them. Hate speech. But Jesus said, let your communication be yay yay, nay, nay.
You go with what's right. You go with what's wrong. When God makes a promise to Abraham, and that problem that promise is is is prophesied to the future, what God's gonna do through Abraham, when the law comes along later, four hundred and thirty years later, nobody's gonna change it. So we understood how unprincipled, how illegal it would be to change a human contract, so agreements between men are binding. Even presidents.
So Obama or Trump, nobody can arbitrarily say, you know, this is so tragic, Charlie Kirk being shot by a three zero one bolt action sniper rifle or whatever. Or when they get all excited about an a k 47 or an a r 15, you know. We gotta get rid of a r fifteens. We gotta get rid of these weapons. Well, then right there, right before Charlie was killed, the guy just had a knife and slit that girl's throat, and nobody intervened, and nobody consoled her, prayed with her, helped her.
Everybody's focused on Charlie. He's a big name. Who who who's this woman? Why why would somebody do that? What did the murderer use?
A knife. How did Cain slay Abel? A rock. In communities where the weapons are removed, murder is still murder. It's in the heart of man.
So your second amendment, government can't infringe. They can't annul it. They can't take it away. It's an agreement. It's in stone, man.
But if you don't understand that, if you don't stand for it, then not only that, but all your other all your other God given inalienable rights shall be taken from you. Your God given inalienable rights are not privileges derived from the government. They're God given, inalienable rights. The government would like to make you think that it's privileges. We're gonna take away your driver's license if you say anything bad about Charlie Kirk.
One of the senators is wanting to bring that legislation out. We're gonna slap your social credit score. You can't go on Alaskan cruises till you quit talking like that. Better be smarter than that. Better be a lot smarter.
You can't arbitrarily. You president are not a king. Your power is a limited power. The powers of government are chained to the constitution. It's a constitutional republic.
And you can't arbitrarily Obama say, the voters twice got it wrong about marriage. I'm gonna decree that marriage is open to whatever you want, animals, anything. No limit on merit. Not just men, women, men, men, women, women, children, and animals. As you live like animals.
Now you're destroying the sanctity of marriage, the very bedrock of the family. You wanna destroy the family devil? Yeah. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants the people that are thinking about getting married not wanna get married.
Less and less children being produced. Families are the bedrock of society. Gods are the one that define the family. So no president can come along, even a king come along and arbitrarily defy God's word. King Nebuchadnezzar found out, is this not great Babylon which I have built?
He's eaten grass for seven years. Until he finds out that the most high rules over the affairs of men. You can't change the agreement. You can't change the constitution in that way. Just arbitrarily annul the second amendment.
So the same present principle that binds the agreement of men makes the promise of God unalterable. You can't alter it. The promise is permanent, binding, unchanging, and shall not be infringed upon. I like that word. Ain't that a word that's used in the second man?
Can't be infringed upon. Shall make no laws. So when God makes a promise, his immutable character what do we mean by immutable character? That he changes not. What if God changes mind about you?
What if he says, you know, I don't I don't I made a mistake in saving you. I decided you're going to hell. You Americans, I've made a mistake about you, human beings. I'm a little tired of this experiment. I'm gonna go off another galaxy, another universe, another group of people that are more worthy.
I'm gonna make some different type of creation that will love me. That isn't the mind to heart of God. That's a heart of man. That's the guy that says, hey. Will you marry me?
Then a few short years later, maybe twenty, twenty five, maybe ten, maybe two, you change your mind. We got married too young. Well, God's not like that. He's not changing his mind, his love for you. His love for you is an everlasting love that changes not.
Nobody's gonna be able to convince him to not love you, to not finish the work that he started in you. You can count on his promises. You can take it to the bank no matter how unfaithful your dad was to you, no matter how unfaithful your mom or your husband, your wife. Betrayal is brutal. Brutal betrayal.
But God will never betray you. Jesus looked at Judas and said, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? He's given Judas a chance. He's given Judas a chance to repent. At that moment in the garden, when Judas is betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and Jesus knew that he'd do it, he's still giving Judas a chance to repent.
Friend. He calls him friend. He loves us with an everlasting love. Nobody can come along. The devil's trying.
The devil's trying to use the letter of the law to condemn us. The devil's trying as much as he can to eradicate the nation of Israel. The devil tried to eradicate Jesus, killing all the babes of Bethlehem. You know? The devil comes after the word of God, trying to undermine people's faith, but not God.
That's not his work. That's not him. That's not his personality. His immutable character guarantees there will be no changes. It is impossible for God to lie or to change his mind.
Four reasons the promise of God is superior. A superior principle, secondly, superior, It's personal. This is a personal promise that God made directly with Abraham. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, and they say it the not, and to seeds, plural, as of many, but as of one. And to thy seed, is Christ's seed, singular.
So the promise is personal. God's own son is involved. God gave a promise to the woman to Adam and Eve, Genesis three fifteen. That part of the curse would be that Adam would work by the sweat of his brow, that Eve would bring pain forth in childbearing, but God gave them the gospel in Genesis three fifteen in that the seed of the woman, the virgin born son of God. The Isaiah seven fourteen, Emmanuel, God with us.
The Isaiah nine six, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Genesis three fifteen, the seed of the woman, his heel be bruised. Yeah. He's gonna go be crucified. But he would crush the serpent's head.
He'd spoil all principalities and powers. He'd triumph over them. So when God brings his promise to Abraham, he's letting Abraham know, hey, the messiah's gonna be a human being. In Hebrews one, he's not of an angel. He's not the angel Moroni or any of them.
He's a human being. He's not an angel. God, the second person of the trinity is gonna incarnate. He's gonna take on the form, Philippians two, the form of a man. He's gonna tabernacle in John chapter one.
He tabernacled among us. It's a tent, a temporary abode. But yet he was tempted in all points like we, and yet without sin, he's the son of man. He's identifying with you and I as human beings. And the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham is gonna be a Jew.
From you, Abraham, all nations of the earth are gonna be blasphemed. Well, what kind of you know, person's he gonna be? Well, he's gonna be a man. Is he gonna be Roman? Is he gonna be African?
Is he gonna be a Spaniard? What's he gonna no. He's gonna be a Jew. I'm gonna bring forth a people that I can bring forth the Messiah there from. And Abraham, in thee, from your loins, all nations of the earth are gonna be blessed.
So if you're antisemitic like Augustine or Martin Luther, you're in a bad way because your Messiah is a Jew. But he's the son of man. He's bearing the scars of Calvary. He's representing you and I. He's the last Adam.
And Abraham has the blessing of knowing that the messiah is gonna come forth from his loins, and not with Hagar, but he'll find out later, we should know, through Sarah. It'd be a miraculous conception. So personally, promise to bless Abraham through his only begotten son, the seed of the woman, the son of man will come through Abram and become a Jew. And so then he's gonna narrow it down when Abraham and his descendants, he'll reconfirm this promise of the Messiah through Isaac, not through Ishmael. Through Jacob, not through Esau.
That he would be through the kingly line, the tribe of Judah, as Jude as Jacob would have twelve twelve sons. And the Messiah would narrow down in his descendancy through the royal line in Matthew one, through his stepfather Joseph, the royal legal line, but his race as a human being in Luke chapter three as a man coming forth through Mary's lineage. In the curse of Jeconiah Koniah in Matthew one, he comes through the the racial line as a Jew through the line of Mary as a human being, all the way back to Adam. We got a lot to build our faith on. I'll tell you that.
Four reasons the promise of God is superior. It's superior principle, it's personal, and thirdly, it takes precedent. Verse 17. This I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after cannot disannul that it should make the promise in none effect. So the promise came to Abraham four hundred and thirty years earlier, six hundred and forty five earlier to Abraham.
Before the law came, the law came as the children of Israel spent four hundred years in Egypt. And as they came out of Egypt, they're redeemed by the Passover lamb. They're baptized under Christ as going through the Red Sea. They come into the promised land, and God brings forth the law. Years later through Moses.
But the promise made preceded. It came to Abraham by promise, not by law later. By precedent. So the promise was given before the law and is therefore superior because of the precedent. The promise was given to Abraham then to Isaac then reconfirmed to Jacob.
And so the law was given four hundred thirty years after Jacob or six hundred and forty five years after Abraham. In Isaiah fourteen twenty seven, for the Lord of hosts has purposed and who shall disannul. That's a keyword, annul. Who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
This is God's doing. Four reasons the promise of God is superior. Superior principle, personal, it takes precedent. And fourthly, it's prophetic. Verse 18.
For if the inheritance of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. So God promised to give Abraham an inheritance. In Genesis 15, God appeared to Abram, changed his name to Abraham, father of many, but God came to him in chapter 12 and let him know that his kids, that the descendants would be as the stars of heaven. But the emphasis here is seed singular upon the messiah, and he's gonna ratify this covenant with Abraham in chapter 15 here. He's gonna tell Abraham's like, you know, who's the heir?
I don't have any children yet. He's in chapter 15. I don't have any children yet. And who's gonna be the heir? This Eliezer, this one that's born in my household, this servant?
So you as a as a as a leader like like, Abram, Abraham, if you don't have sons to pass on your inheritance, then the heir would be the servant, the uppermost, you know, the steward within the within the house, within within your home. And so he's asking the question, should Eliezer is Eliezer? No. God says, one born of your own loins is gonna be your heir. And so how do I know?
He says. And so God tells Abram, alright, go out and get a she a she lamb, or excuse me, a a she heifer, three years old. And go out and get a she goat, three years old. Go out and get a ram, three years old. Go get a a turtle dove, and get a turtle dove, and what was the other bird?
And lay them down. Cut the cut the animals in half, set them apart, and lay the birds down. And it got toward the end of the day, and Abraham was tired because these other birds were coming and trying to eat the sacrifices there and all. And Abraham fell into a sleep, and God passed through. He walked through to ratify that promise while Abraham was sleeping.
You can read about in Genesis chapter 15. He says, fear not Abraham, I'm thy shield and I exceedingly great reward. And Abraham said, Lord God, what would thou give me seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abraham said, behold to me that was given no seed. And so you get these promises, but no completion of those promises.
How long have you been waiting for what God has spoken in your heart? Have you waited twenty five years for God to fulfill the promises he gave you as a young bride, as a young husband? Have you waited ten years like David to become king as you're being chased by king Saul? Have you waited thirteen years like Joseph going into prison at 17, being sold into bondage by your brothers at 17 and not seeing the fulfillment of those promises that God had given to you among your brothers till you're 30 years old, the type of Christ. In many cases, we have to wait.
We have a hard time waiting. We're so impatient. And Abram's been waiting. He's grabbed by the Lord when he's 75 and Sarah's 65. And he's about 86 years old now, and he's starting to panic.
And God is ratifying this promise, ratifying this covenant with him. And it's so amazing to see human nature in chapter 16. God goes to all this link prophetically to let him know you're the man. I mean, even change your name from Abram to Abraham, father of many. You don't see it yet, son, but it's not through Eliezer, One that's gonna be born of you.
And low one born of my house is mine heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir. But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And so ratified this promise, ratified this covenant, ratified while Abe slept. It's a done deal.
Keep believing. Keep trusting. Keep waiting upon the promises of God. God's word is yay and amen. He keeps his promises unto us.
Genesis 16, what did unbelief build? What did unbelief bring? And Ishmael, his wife Sarah says, hey, let's help God out. And Abraham's like, yeah, let's help God out. And they came out of Egypt with what?
They came out of Egypt with Lot. He went down into Egypt with them. Would Lot come out of Egypt? A taste for the world. Pitched his tent towards Sodom.
Wound up in Sodom. Would Abraham and Sarah come out of Egypt with gifts? One of which was an Egyptian handmaid, Hagar. And she says, go into my handmaid, Hagar. Let's help God out.
God needs some help. We've been waiting a long time. Hasn't happened yet. Are you trying to help God out? God need your help?
Is anything hard for God? Maybe God's emptying you. Maybe God's making you old. May maybe God, not me, but you. Maybe he's making you to where it's impossible that he gets the glory when he does move and act.
So they bring forth Ishmael. There's a thirteen year silence. Now if you're Abraham, a man of worship and you're building altars everywhere you go, sweet fellowship with God. The silence of God for thirteen years is deafening. And then in Genesis 19, there's three guys walking into camp.
One is Jesus, two are angels, and the angels are wondering about Sodom. And Abraham's gonna negotiate if there'd be 50 righteous, if there'd be 45 righteous, you know? Would are you willing to kill the wicked, the righteous with the wicked, you know? If there'd be 10 righteous, I'll I'll I'll spare Sodom and Gomorrah. But the real issue was, Abe, this time next year, Sarah's gonna conceive and bring forth a child.
Oh. Yeah. Right. You know what? We're past menopause.
We don't hope in things anymore. We're like the homeless. When we get our hopes up, we go through PTSD because we've been we've been so there so many times, and then it doesn't work out. So we've quit hoping. We're content.
We're satisfied with just living under the radar. But here you are in our camp, telling us something that if if we believe and we get excited about, are you really gonna do it this time? Not that he promised before and didn't do it, but in our anticipation, in our time frame, in our clock, we keep thinking he should have done it already. But God's timing is perfect, and we gotta wait for that timing. So hard to pray for your prodigals.
So hard to pray for the kids, and year after year see them not responding. But God's timing's perfect. God's gonna complete that work that he's begun. We cannot give up. We cannot give give up praying for them.
Even though it doesn't generation decades have gone by, Lord. Decades of praying. Don't give up. I'm at work. I'm at work.
I'm still at work. Okay, Lord. And the next year, this time next year, Abe, when you're 100 and Sarah's 90, she's gonna bring forth a son. He's gonna fill your tent with laughter. Call him Isaac.
Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. No. And Isaac shall thy seed singular be called. The messiah is gonna come through Isaac's loins. He's gonna be a Jew.
Then through Jacob, not Esau. Ratified as he slept. Keep believing. These all died in faith, Hebrews eleven thirteen. They all died in faith, not receiving the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
What was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob looking for? A city whose builder and maker is God. They were strangers and pilgrims here the world didn't satisfy. They were looking for the Messiah. They were looking future for the seed of the woman, the Messiah.
And that faith that they had in looking future was imputed to them for righteousness. Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day looking future, and he saw it and was glad. Paul says in Galatians here that the gospel was before preached unto Abraham. The same way to Adam and Eve. The same way to Enoch who walked with God and was not.
The same way to Noah. All these patriarchs, all these believers, Old Testament saints, you and I are gonna meet one day when we go to heaven. And you and I, the righteousness that Abraham possessed, that he received, is the same righteousness you and I have at looking back to the cross. Jesus died upon Calvary. He was crucified, buried, raised from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the father, and he's coming again.
And that belief that we have, calling upon the name of the Lord, is imputed to us as righteousness. By grace through faith alone. Abraham saw the seed of the promised Jesus afar off. He embraced the prophecy, the promised seed, his inheritance, and Isaac shall thy seed be called. So we've seen four reasons the promise of God is superior.
Now, notice, three reasons. You thought those four point sermon, didn't you? Thought you get to go. Oh, he's gonna he's gonna be done. No.
We got three more. Three reasons the law is inferior to the promise. Number one, inferior in purpose. Verse 19 a. Wherefore, then serve at the law.
It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promises promise was made. So two parts. A, given to condemn, to make all men guilty before God. So why was the law given? To stop every mouth, to condemn every single person, to show every single person God's standard is perfection.
The law, the letter of the law kills. And you men, you women in your marriage, if you're using the letter of the law in your home against your husband, your wife, your children, then you're a tool of the devil. Because the devil's the accuser of the brethren. It's real easy. The devil doesn't need to lie about me.
The devil can use the law to condemn me. I do not measure up. In me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing. Nothing. If I'm looking within, there's nothing good about me.
My heart, Oprah, my heart, follow my heart. Well, heart's deceitfully wicked above all things. Who can know it? Only God knows my heart. Can't trust your heart.
Can't trust in your own righteous. Your righteousness is filthy rags before God. Well, what can I trust in? Not yourself. Not in somebody else.
The only person you can trust in is Jesus. So the letter of the law kills, but the spirit gives life. So what we do is when we blow it as a person within a family, within a culture, within a community, The holy spirit convicts us, and we confess we agree. We go to our kids and we say, you know, that display of anger, that was ungodly. And I'm sorry, I blamed you.
I'm sorry about that. See, the spirit gives life. I agree. I allow the holy spirit to cause me to be transparent enough to admit to my children, because I'm mister proud, that I too am a sinner. And then it's the love, that connection of love to Jesus that binds us together.
And the devil doesn't get the victory as the prosecuting attorney to point out fault. And then if I go to first Corinthians 13, I learned that love doesn't keep score. People can abuse you, they can slap you in the face, they you're like the big old dog that the kids jump on and pull their ears. You don't even feel it. You're a loving dog.
You have a good nature. You love those kids. And that's how love is. You're strong enough in love to allow a certain degree, maybe a great degree of disrespect, of sin against you because you love them. And so the law is given to condemn, to make all men guilty before God, added because of transgressions, he says.
Secondly, it's given until the seed should come. So it has a temporary function and purpose. You remember Jesus said, it is finished. What's finished? The fulfilling of the law.
All 613 precepts from the time that he was born to the time he was crucified, Jesus never sinned. Which of you convicts me of sin? He said to his enemies. Now that must have been a crazy household to grow up in. He's got brothers and sisters and everybody.
This guy never does anything wrong. Always doing the right thing. Tempting in all points like we, because this human body, this frailty, he's in this human body and he knows the the nuances of this body, what it's wanting to do and think and and the whole thing. If you be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. That body's raging wanting food.
It has an impulse for food, craving food. All I gotta do is use the free exercise of exercise of my deity as God and cause these stones to be made bread. That's a no brainer. That's easy. Well, I'd make the best bread out of those stones.
But he'd be sinning, wouldn't he? And Satan's tempting him. He's appealing to his natural faculties, to his natural desires to eat. And Jesus quotes the scripture to combat the lies of the wicked one, the temptation. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
And Satan says, well, I know the bible too. I'm gonna quote Psalm 91. I'm gonna take you up to the temple up top here, and why don't you jump off here because Psalm 91 says, he'll give his angels charge over you unless you dash your foot against the stone. And Jesus goes back to the scripture and says, it is written, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God. Him only shall thou serve.
So he's tempting Jesus with, you want some popularity? Jump off here. Be a circus performer. Do some things that'll draw the crowd. And then he appeals to his pride.
If you be the son of God, he takes him up on a big mountain. If you bow down and worship me, remember the devil is not God. He's a fallen angel. Isaiah 14, Lucifer wants to be as God. That's the lie within the garden to Adam and Eve.
You can be as God, you'll never die. That's the lie in second Thessalonians two, where they reject the truth, they're given over to the strong delusion that they would believe. They, the people upon the planet during the tribulation would believe the lie, and that is you can be gods. The antichrist is gonna be killed, dropped to the ground, and raise himself from the dead, lying signs and wonders, and the whole world's gonna give over after him, believe in the lie that they too could live forever. Don't be deceived.
Jesus said, as Satan's trying to give him a shortcut, you don't need to go by way of the cross. You don't need to go by way of suffering. You can have your best life now. Where have you heard that before? The pit of hell.
You bow down and worship me and I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. And the little g god of this world, the prince, the power of the air, the usurper, the one that took that that federal headship away from Adam, he could deliver. Who's behind the kingdoms of the world presently? The little g god of this world. The principalities, the powers of Ephesians six.
And Jesus again goes to the scriptures. It is written written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God only, and only him shalt thou serve. Begone, Satan. Jesus would rather wear the crown of thorns and take the cross to redeem you and I, than to take a shortcut for an empty crown, an empty kingdom. So inferior in purpose, a temporary function, Jesus said it is finished, Tetelestai paid in full.
He would go to the cross. He would pay for our sins. He would allow the law that condemns all of us to be placed upon himself. Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. This cup of wrath that's gonna be poured out upon me as a sinner.
As he that knew no sin became sin. And God pours out his wrath on his son as a pro big word, propitiation, which means a substitute. God's going to pour his wrath upon him so he doesn't have to pour it out upon you. And his payment of your sin and my sin is imputed to the account, to your account as righteousness. His righteousness is imputed to us.
That we receive the righteousness of God that's in Christ Jesus. Three reasons the laws inferior to the promise, inferior in purpose. Secondly, inferior in presentation. The second part of nineteen nineteen b. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Verse 20. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. So the promise was given directly to Abraham by God. No mediation. No second or third party involved.
The law was given by God, first of all, to angels in Deuteronomy thirty three two. And David, in Psalm 68 verse 17 described how these angels received the law and then gave it to Moses. So third hand. But God is one. He met directly personally with Abraham.
Now first Timothy two verse five, those of you in the Catholic background, you don't need a mediator. You don't need a priest. You don't need a pastor. You don't need somebody to mediate between you and and God. God illustrated that at the cross of Calvary when the veil of the temple was rent in two.
Big curtain that kept everybody out. The high priest could go beyond that curtain once a year on the great day of atonement of Yom Kippur. And he'd have to prepare himself, and they'd put a rope around his ankle in case he didn't prepare himself. Because if they heard a thud in the holy of holies, they'd have to pull that old boy out because nobody else could go in there. And he had little pomegranate bells around his robe.
So he's in there. And he's not doing Krishna Krishna. He's not doing that. But he's in there, and they hear the the bounce of those bells as he's bringing in the blood of sprinkling upon the goat and and sprinkling there at the judgment seat. But the veil is rent in two open, which spells access.
We can boldly come before his throne of grace, not judgment, to find help in our time of need. Don't you love it? Don't you love it? There's one mediator between God and man. The man Christ Jesus, the God man, who gave himself a ransom, a ransom, the price paid to redeem you and I out of sin, death, and hell for all to be testified in due time.
Romans five verse one, being justified, already completed action, justified, it's already done, being justified by faith. We have peace with God. We know the peace with God, and we know now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. First and foremost, we're enemies of God. We need peace with God.
Jesus brought peace. My peace I give unto you. 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 the hope of the glory of God. So Jesus has blazed a new and living way. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes to the father but by me. Three reasons the law is inferior to the promise. Inferior in purpose, inferior in presentation. Thirdly and finally, don't you love that? Inferior in power.
Verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture has concluded all, circle that all, all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
So Romans three twenty three, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Verse 24. All means all means all means all. Nobody slips through.
All have sinned. Everyone's guilty so that salvation can be a free gift. A free gift. By grace, God's grace is unmerited favor toward us. So the law is powerless to save me.
In actuality, the problem is not the law. The law is holy. The law is good. The problem is me. If if god could have made a law to save us, he'd have made a law to save us.
But as soon as we see it said, all the trees of the garden you may freely eat, there's something inside of me that says, I wanna eat from the tree I'm not supposed to. So when I choose to eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil, all bets are off. I couldn't even follow one instruction, let alone 613 instructions. Just don't eat of the tree of knowledge and good and evil, and you guys will be fine. You walk in the garden with me every day.
You're there you can't blame your mom or your dad. Eve, you don't even have a belly button. How are you gonna blame anybody? You know? But we do.
We wanna blame. Our kids wanna blame us. We wanna blame. Playing the blame game. When the problems of the man in the mirror, the problems me, in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing.
Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? Only Jesus. It puts me into a corner. It puts me where I have to stop my mouth. There's no other way out.
I can't make myself better. There's no one step, two steps, three steps. There's no psychology. There's no program. There's no reforming me.
I have to be born again. I have to be a new creation in Christ Jesus. I can no longer be body and soul. I gotta be body, soul, spirit. It's gotta be a work of God's spirit.
And it's gotta be a free gift because I can't produce. I can't bring it. On my best day, I can't bring it. The law is powerless to save me. The problem's me.
I couldn't even keep the most basic command. The law exposes me and you. We're all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them to believe. What must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer cried.
Believe. What is the work in John six that we can do that we be save ourselves? And Jesus said, this is the work that you believe on him whom he has sent. Believe. Trust in Jesus.
Put your faith and trust in him. He is the promised seed. He's the God man. He's the son of man. He's the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth.
The laws for the proud to stop every mouth. The promise for the humble. God knew you couldn't keep it. God knew your frame that he fashioned you from the dust of the ground. He knew what you're capable of, and and it wasn't righteousness.
You find it very easy to sin, to violate his law, to turn against him, to be rebellious, to be obstinate, to be hard. It's a work of his spirit as you're softened, as you're brought to the place of being undone. I'm a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips. I can't do it, God. Who shall deliver me from this body of death?
Oh, wretched man that I am, in Romans seven. And then you get into chapter eight, and you're free. The life of the spirit. There's now therefore no condemnation. The devil in Revelation 12, the accuser of the brethren, he's always accusing.
Don't be a tool of the devil using the letter of the law to accuse everybody. All those fingers are pointing back at me. My sin looks really bad on you. I recognize my sin on you, and I'm gonna project my sin on you so that you think I'm righteous, that I would never do what you're doing. It's a game we play.
The mirror of God's word stops every mouth. Every mouth. We cry out for forgiveness. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Jesus, the promise seed, has promised to save sinners.
But he can only save those who have looked in the mirror of the law. You say, look in the mirror of the law today, Man, I'm I'm guilty. You go to a church where you're convicted, not condemned. You're not being condemned. You're going to a church that convicts you.
People write to me and they call me and they say, you don't candy coat it at all. Why should I? I'm like you are. I'm a sinner. We don't need to lie to ourselves or anybody else.
Just admit who we are. I'm a sinner saved by grace. Now it doesn't give me license to keep sinning. I don't like the bumpers, you know, sinners, what is it, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven. It's like a license to sin everywhere.
No. Be holy. Be perfect. Be godly. Be above the crowd.
Live a life of sanctified sanctification separate from the world. I have to be like the world. In the mirror of the law, and they confess that they're undone. That undone, I see I see in Isaiah six, the the closer you and I get to God, do you know what we discover? The greater filth that represents us.
If I go into a dark room with you and I compare myself to you, I'm feeling pretty righteous. I'm a pretty good guy. But you take in Isaiah six, and the Lord appears, and his train fills the temple. And Isaiah says, man, I'm undone. I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Or you're like John in Revelation one, and the Lord's appearing to you. Anybody that's had the Lord appearing, Peter says, away from me from a sinful man. They drop to the ground. Because the glory of who God is, the brightness of who he is, exposes my darkness. That's why the unbeliever hates for the Charlie Kirks to expose him.
They want darkness of John three. Their deeds are evil. They don't wanna be it's like it's like it's like when Jesus is there at Gadara, and the two are there demon possessed. And the the demons are crying out, have you come to torment us before our time? They know their destiny.
It's like it's like at Sodom and Gomorrah when the two angels come to visit Lot, and they don't like being exposed. Why are you here? Leave us. Leave us. Why are you here?
That's the shriek of the demons. That's the shriek of the demoniacs. They don't like the light to expose their darkness. Their deeds are evil, and they love darkness. And then you come into the room, and you don't even know why they they don't like you.
It's the brightness, the countenance, the smile, the look in your eye, the brightness of who you are. And that's why the devil wants to snuff out that brightness of your children. The devil wants to take that glisten in their eyes made in the image of God, that innocence, and destroy them. It's so sweet to walk with Jesus and know all your sins are forgiven, that there's no condemnation, that we failed, that we're in need of forgiveness, we're in need of Jesus. The promised seed who promises to set the captives free, to bind up the broken hearted.
He promises peace. He promised joy. He promises love. He promises tribulation. Woah.
Let's get that out of there. That doesn't fit in the promised jar. Tribulation? In this world, you will have tribulation, pressure? Is it getting harder to be a Christian?
We're talking recently about the myriad of people that we're hearing about that are committing suicide, ending their lives. Human beings in our culture under a lot of pressure. And Jesus said, you will, Christians, you will have tribulation, pressure. But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. He says, my peace I give unto you, not as the world give I unto you.
Not the world's peace. My peace, a quality, the life of the spirit in the midst of the tribulation, midst of the storm. I'm gonna give you a peace. And Paul describes that peace as a peace in Philippians four that surpasses all understanding. You can't you can't reason it.
I should be falling apart right now. I ran out of my gummies. I don't have any more liquor. I don't have any more joints. How am I gonna cope?
My coping mechanism has been, I just keep buying on Amazon. That's what makes me feel good. I don't have any more money. How am I gonna cope? Shut your phone off.
Spend time with Jesus. And watch how his peace that surpasses all understanding guards your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. If you wanna go crazy in the head, just allow all the looping of the media, the social media play with your head. You're gonna be loony, Looney Tunes. That's what they are, Looney Tunes.
You need a time of rest, a time to sit at his feet, a time to reassess who you are and what's really important. He promises his spirit. He promises eternal life. He promises to come again. He is the promise seed, the author, and the finisher of our faith.
It's impossible for him to lie. Can we count on him? Is he really coming for his church, his bride? Is the rapture really gonna happen? Is he really going to fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel that he's made through Abraham?
Really? Is he gonna rule and reign for a thousand years like he promised? Or should we interpret those passages in the bible as allegorical, symbolic? Is it literal? Is it real?
Is it really gonna be a temple, a millennial temple in Ezekiel 40 through 48? Is there really going to be a temple in the tribulation period in Daniel nine that the antichrist in Matthew 24 that he goes into? Is there really gonna be an antichrist? Is there really gonna be 10 toes and 10 crowns and 10 kings? Technocrats maybe?
A globalism, a global government, a global economic system where nobody's gonna be able to buy or sell without a mark of the right hand of their fort. Is that really gonna happen? How could that possibly happen? Is Jesus coming again? Can I count on him?
It is impossible for him to lie. Jesus keeps his promises. Do you believe in him? Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? What's the public consensus in the colleges and media?
Who is Jesus? And then he narrows it down to you and I. Who do you say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ. Thou art the son of the living God.
And Jesus said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. I say unto you that you are Peter, your little stone. And upon this rock, this massive rock upon myself, I'm gonna build my church and the gates of hell not prevail against it. Are you a part of his church? Do you know the lamb slain before the foundation of the earth?
He knows you. He says that you didn't choose him, but he chose you. And these are day that you should bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. Here, my lord, use me. Are you willing to be used?
Are you willing to speak up, to speak the truth and love to a world that's perishing no matter if they like you, no matter if they're plotting to kill you, hate you, incarcerate you, are you willing to be the one that stands up and speaks the truth in love? For God, so loved. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for your love, Lord.
Thank you that you invaded our lives and revealed yourself unto us. As we were going astray, as we were headed toward hell, Lord, you intervene. You took the time. You brought people that were willing to take the time by the power of your holy spirit to proclaim the gospel, to preach the gospel, to teach, to to instruct, to preach, to disciple us, to help us understand, to discern between our left arm and our right arm, between up and down, between heaven and hell. Lord, you gave us the reasoning faculties in the natural, but in the spiritual realm, Lord, you opened our hearts and minds.
You took the scales off our eyes. We were once blind, and now we see. Lord, you saved us. And we praise, and we worship you, and we thank you, Lord, for the relationship that we have with you. That you haven't given us the spirit of fear, but of power of love and a sound mind to reason with the culture, to call the culture to repentance, to call the lost under yourself.
The promise seed that Jesus keeps his promises, that you fulfilled 300 promises, 300 prophecies in your first coming. And Lord, you continue to fulfill your word. You continue to fill the prophecies. We're living in a time, Lord, of just pregnant prophecies bursting forth. Lord, open their eyes.
Help them to see, Lord, that you don't want to be their judge, that you came as their savior. You died in their place. While your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed, as you continue to pray this morning for your loved ones, as you continue to pray and cry out to God, if the cry of your heart is, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. If the cry of your heart is, Lord, I wanna get right with you. If you don't know Jesus, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, just lift your hand up.
We wanna lead you in prayer this morning. We don't want you to go away from here separated from God's love. That's what death means, separation. You're separated from God. He wants to be one with you.
He wants to draw you ever closer. Anyone here this morning, just lift your hand up. We wanna lead you in prayer. Anybody listening on Facebook or whatever, just pray along with us the lines. Dear Lord God, just thank you so much for sending your son Jesus to die on the cross for me.
Thank you, Lord, that he took the punishment. He took what I deserved upon himself as your wrath was poured out upon him. Lord, I turn from my sin and I cry out, God, be merciful to me a sinner. Come into my heart and life. Transform, change me, make me new.
The bible says, as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. Jesus said, all that come to me, I'll know why is cast out. He's promising. He's not gonna reject you. He's not gonna throw you away.
And no man can come unto me except the father which has set me and draw him. God is drawing you even now. God wants you to know him. He wants to come into your heart and life and make you new. He promises to wash away all your sins.
He promises to make you new. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away, and all things are become new. In Jesus' name, amen.