The Subtle but Serious Danger of Legalism - 08/07/2022

First Baptist Church Leominster

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You, who set the stars in their places. You who created the sun and the moon.

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You who gave us your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is he who has given us a great salvation.

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In this troubled world, Lord, we ask for your peace, your peace that's everlasting.

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We pray that not only for ourselves, Lord, but for all the countries in the world.

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May this be a wonderful revival in all the world,

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Lord. And now we ask that you would prepare us to hear the word preached and read and watch over us.

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We pray in Christ's name, amen. Amen. We send out our notes every

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Sunday morning. Of course, I haven't done so. Jason's been sending his out. And I didn't know until I got to church,

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Mark informed me that I sent out the wrong notes. I sent out the right PDF notes this morning, but I sent out the wrong

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Word file. So this afternoon, I'll send it out again to all the folks. We have 356 addresses,

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I saw them this morning, that we send those out all over the world.

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And so I'll correct that. It's our intention before long to begin preaching to the gospel of Luke.

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And I suspect it's going to take us a couple, three years to do so. And I'm thinking right now we'll probably begin doing that the week after Labor Day, maybe

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September 11th. And so I've got a few things we want to address between now and then. But I don't know.

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I may move that up and begin before long. But there are a couple issues that I want to address for us that I think would be helpful.

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And this is one of them, the subtle and serious danger of legalism.

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And so we'll begin today with the passage that we'll actually conclude today's message with, and that's

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Galatians 6 verses 1 through 9. Paul wrote, Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which

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Christ has made us free, and do not be tangled again with a yoke of bondage.

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Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

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And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

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You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.

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For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

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For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love.

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You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from him who calls you.

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A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you and the

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Lord that you will have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.

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For some weeks now, Pastor Jason has been preaching on the law of God as set forth in the

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Ten Commandments. And as such, he's emphasized the abiding authority of the moral law of God for Christians.

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And he's shown how we are to understand and apply God's law to our lives as Christians.

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And in doing so, he's rightly stated a number of times that we are not under the law of God as a covenant of works, but that we are under the law of God unto

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Christ in the covenant of grace. This is a very important matter, which must be understood and maintained by each of us.

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Whether or not one is right on this will reveal whether he holds to the biblical gospel of salvation by the grace of God, or he's abandoned the true gospel for another, which is a false gospel.

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And so I wish to clarify and expound on these matters today in the time that we have.

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Related to this, we will consider the nature and distinction of two great dangers to biblical doctrine of the grace of God, which are, of course, antinomianism and legalism.

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And in doing so, we will be attentive to the subtle manner that true believers can be deceived and diverted in their thinking about these matters, as well as the spiritual consequences for doing so.

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So may our Lord help us to know his word better, more clearly, that we would live before him in truth and holiness.

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This is an important matter. Let's first affirm, of course, what

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I trust that all of us understand, and that is the grace of God in our salvation.

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We don't want to assume anything but to affirm and substantiate the grace of God.

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So let's begin by saying a few words about the nature of God's grace in salvation. When we speak of salvation by the grace of God, we're asserting that God saves his people by his mercy and his free favor that he extends and bestows to guilty sinners through faith in the

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Son of God. Saving faith in Christ is exercised when the sinner, having been convicted and convinced of his guilt and unworthiness before God, comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

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That is, he trusts his salvation to be granted to him by God through Jesus Christ alone.

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In faith, the one coming to Jesus Christ surrenders wholly to him as his Lord and Savior. And so the believer becomes a citizen of the kingdom of God with Jesus Christ as his

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Lord, that is, his King. Every true Christian has Jesus Christ as his

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Lord. And upon his faith, God both pardons the true believer of all of his sins and also reckons that sinner, that believing sinner, to be righteous through the gift of Christ's righteousness that's credited to the believer.

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And so by God freely justifying the believing sinner, God qualifies him thereby to be regarded and treated as righteous before him, as righteous as Jesus Christ himself.

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That's how God regards you if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and entitled to receive all of God's blessings freely through Christ.

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God, of course, has promised salvation from sin and eternal life through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ and the atoning death of Christ on his cross that satisfied the justice of God that was against us respecting our guilt.

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And so the true believer is promised exoneration, in other words, salvation on the day of judgment when he will then be granted entrance into the promised eternal kingdom of God.

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This is what the Apostle Paul had written to Titus, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

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But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the

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Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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Eternal life has been promised to us, and therefore it's a basis of hope, of a certainty that one day we will be granted this freely through Christ.

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The biblical teaching or doctrine of God's grace must be understood and maintained. I might say that it is easily corrupted.

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That's what happened to the churches at Galatia. Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is initially brought to us by God's grace, and thereafter

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God sustains his people through his grace throughout their lives, until he grants them great grace at the coming of the

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Lord. Peter wrote of this, of this salvation, the prophets, the

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Old Testament prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching water what manner of time the

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Spirit of Christ who is in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow his resurrection, his glorification, and the glories that are conferred upon us through that.

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And therefore gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and rest your hope fully upon notice the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation or the second coming of Jesus Christ as obedient children not conforming yourself to the former lusts as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct because it's written be holy for I am holy.

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And so the biblical teaching regarding God's grace and salvation is a bedrock doctrine that we must understand and affirm but it's also under constant assault from the devil and false teachers and teaching.

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And I would venture to say that each of us in a measure are prone toward accepting this errant teaching of grace as we will show and therefore we must be on our guard and there are warnings in scripture given that we are to be on guard respecting these things and it's found these warnings are found throughout the book of Galatians.

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And so the gospel of God's grace and salvation is a matter that must be preserved and defended from corruption.

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Of course the word of God sets forth two great dangers to the biblical teaching of God's grace.

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Grace is attacked from two different approaches and these threats are antinomianism and legalism.

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So let's consider these the two major threats to the doctrine of God's grace and salvation first antinomianism or licentiousness.

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There are many who have perverted the biblical teaching of grace turning the grace of God into licentiousness in other words a license to sin.

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God's grace is falsely taught and wrongly believed to be a license to sin. This error sets forth

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God's grace as a promise of salvation regardless of how one lives as long as you believe the gospel.

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And so this is commonly referred to as antinomianism of course the epistle of Jude addressed this problem.

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Jude wrote beloved although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints for certain people have crept in unnoticed subtle the church didn't recognize them who long ago were designated for this condemnation ungodly people who pervert the grace of God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ.

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They deny lordship salvation and they pervert the biblical understanding of grace.

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This is a very common teaching today among evangelical churches and ministries

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I hear it all the time. Many think this way salvation is not by works but by God's grace alone apart from works it does not matter whether we sin or not sin for our sins have been atoned for by the death of Jesus Christ.

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Works do not contribute to the obtaining of our salvation therefore they are unnecessary it is thought.

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I'm saved regardless of how I live is the thinking of many who claim to be Christian and there will be many professing

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Christians on the day of judgment who will only then become aware that they had believed and lived according to a corrupt gospel not taught in the scriptures they'll be damned in their sins by the

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Lord Jesus many will be on that day according to Jesus in Matthew 7.

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We could say that the common problem that arises in all the forms of licentious grace is a misunderstanding of the nature of the law of God and how it relates to salvation in the life of the believer.

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Licentious grace is a denial of any role of the law of God in a believer's life.

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Licentious grace therefore is the error of anti -gnomianism anti meaning against gnomianism gnomos is a

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Greek word for law anti -law in other words they reject the authority and role of the law of God in their lives.

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Antinomianism describes a view of life that one can have Jesus as Savior and not as Lord how often do you hear that?

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Antinomianism or lawlessness is the spirit of the world antinomianism is in the church and it's present when people claim to be saved but choose to live in disregard in violation of God's law his commandments.

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Antinomianism wrongly believes that we are not under law in any way whatsoever they wrongly believe that because Christ died for us that we are no longer to look to or be governed by the moral law of God after all we're not under law but under grace the scriptures say.

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Some can live as Christians believing this error and still do somewhat well in the Christian life they don't show regard direct regard to the law but in their becoming born again the spirit has put his law in their hearts and so they keep the righteousness of the law although they do not do so by direct intention they're given new life in Christ but they have not been taught rightly and so they live as Christians by the

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Holy Spirit working through the new nature he's given them without a purposeful intention on their part to live by the rule of God's law and again this is very common but their wrong understanding of the

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Christian life does nevertheless have a negative impact on the way they make decisions view themselves and their relationship with Jesus Christ and it affects how they do evangelism and training in discipleship.

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There are others however who have this error who do not fare as well by not seeing that Jesus Christ rules over them according to God's moral law they are lax in their moral understanding and practice they lack a moral compass they do not have a moral voice in their families or among their friends and acquaintances some have taken their position so far they say there's no law upon us whatsoever as far as God is concerned rather there's only love and forgiveness they excuse sin in themselves and others and in time they may indulge in sin to excess they permit or excuse sin and others assuming it really doesn't matter after all because again we're not under law but under grace and as a consequence they fall into all manner of error and sin they justify their sinful behavior they believe that as long as they believe in Christ they may live in sin without consequences corrupting the biblical doctrine of God's grace turning into the licentious grace is a great danger to the biblical teaching of salvation by the grace of God and I fear a significant percentage of professing evangelicals have been taught this and believe this and their lives don't bear out the new life that is in Jesus Christ that's licentiousness let's consider the second great threat to biblical teaching regarding God's grace and it's the air of legalism and different forms of legalism first legalism is present when good works are viewed as meritorious and necessary in order to obtain or retain

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God's favor blessing Roman Catholicism would fall under this category second legalism is present when extra biblical demands are placed upon the believer or unbeliever in order to obtain or retain

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God's favor or blessing teachings not in the Bible but they are nevertheless advocated and imposed lots of cults do this it's legalism thirdly legalism is present when extra biblical requirements are imposed as a basis of fellowship with other believers unless you you know behave and live like we do and yet it there's standards outside the

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Bible you cannot run with us we won't run with you and then fourthly legalism is present when one trusts in its own ability to obey

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God apart from the empowering grace of God through the Holy Spirit stand back

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God I got this I'll take care of it that that's that's the spirit legalism

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Jesus said without me you can do nothing and sometimes it takes a while for us to learn that I want to give attention to legalism and Galatians just as Jude addressed antinomianism

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Galatians as well as Romans and also Matthew's gospel addresses the matter of legalism

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Paul had personally evangelized and planted churches in the region of Galatia he then left the area in order to evangelize communities westward in Asia Minor but after the

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Apostle had left the region false teachers arrived and persuaded the churches to embrace their teachings that were corruptions of the doctrine of grace and so Paul wrote this epistle this letter to confront and correct the churches of their legalism seeking to restore them to the truth of salvation by God's grace apart from keeping the works of the law and so let's read

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Paul's initial charge against these churches I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel not that there is another one but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you let him be accursed let him be damned as we've said before so now

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I say again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive let him be accursed the

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Apostle was amazed that these churches had departed so quickly and easily from the truth of the gospel that he had proclaimed to them and by which they had been converted to Jesus Christ now in these verses

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Paul does not precisely state the nature of the error that they had embraced but here he initially expressed his great concern regarding their error and the severe consequences for them if they continued in their aberrant belief and practice later he'd be very honest and candid with them that he was concerned for their salvation for their error was of such a serious nature he wrote in Galatians 4 my little children whom

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I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone for I have doubts about you he had doubts of their salvation he had been as an expectant mother waiting their birth when they first came to salvation in Christ but since they turned away now he's in labor pains all over again until he see that affirmed that Christ indeed is in them what was the nature of their error well these

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Judaizers had come into the Pauline churches of Galatia which were principally comprised of Gentile Christians and they taught these

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Gentiles that they must not only believe on Jesus Christ for salvation but they must also embrace and conform to the covenantal stipulations of the

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Mosaic Covenant the Mosaic law in order to be saved and so they added to Jesus Christ Christ plus works of the law they taught falsely that salvation was the result of faith in Jesus Christ plus performing works of righteousness the

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Mosaic law so understand that Paul writing these churches everybody in the church is still believed on Jesus Paul believed on Jesus they all believed on Jesus but the

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Galatians had added something to faith in Jesus Christ and there are a lot of professing

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Christians who do that and Paul's effort to restore the church is the truth he first defended the legitimacy of his apostleship and the gospel that he proclaimed to them

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Jesus Christ had personally called him to become his apostle and then

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Christ had revealed the Apostle direct revelation the content of the gospel he was to proclaim

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Paul wrote for I would have you know brothers that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel for I did not receive it from any man nor was

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I taught it but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ revealed it directly to Paul and then

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Paul stated the apostles of Jerusalem had early on examined him and his message as to his legitimacy they had endorsed and encouraged

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Paul in the content and the proclamation of his message and then from Galatians 2 15 all the way through verse 10 of chapter 6

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Paul gave a thorough defense of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith Paul argued that peace with God is obtained through faith alone for both

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Jews and Gentiles we ourselves are Jews by birth not Gentile sinners yet we know that a person is not justified that is brought into a right relationship with God by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ so we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by the works of the law no one will be justified

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Paul further reason that the

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Christian life is one of faith in Jesus Christ he asserted that the Christian died with respect to God's law and his union with Christ on his cross this was necessary in order that the

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Christian might live unto God through faith in Jesus Christ Paul wrote I've been crucified with Christ it's no longer

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I who live but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh

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I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness were through the law then

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Christ died for no purpose the churches of Galatia had nullified the grace of God when they began to look to the works of obedience to the law of God as a basis of becoming right with God and then beginning with Galatians 3 verse 1 the

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Apostle declared the justification through faith alone had replaced what was formerly damnation through law -keeping he rebuked them for their foolish abandonment of the gospel that they had formerly embraced

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Oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you you must be crazy being bewitched by these false teachers it was before your eyes that Jesus Christ would publicly portrayed as crucified let me ask you only this did you read receive the

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Holy Spirit the Spirit by works of the law or by the hearing with faith are you so foolish having begun by the

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Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh are you so foolish you think that you're justified by faith in Jesus plus works do you also think you're going to be sanctified by faith plus works did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain does he who supply the

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Spirit to you that's God and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith obviously it's through faith just as Abraham believed

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God and it was accounted to him as righteousness and so now Paul is calling upon the patriarch

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Abraham to substantiate his teaching of salvation by God's grace through faith alone and so after Paul mentioned

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Abraham he went on to show and argue that God had revealed his plan to save Gentiles through faith alone

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Gentiles who believed in Jesus Christ unto salvation had the same kind of faith as Abraham had and therefore they

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Gentile believers were Abraham's spiritual offspring even his children who are blessed of God with salvation if you're a

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Christian Abraham is more your father spiritually speaking than if you were born a

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Jewish person the promises of God to Abraham were through faith and they are to Abraham's children of faith whether Jewish or Gentile no then it's those who are faith who are the sons of Abraham and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the

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Gentiles by faith preached the gospel before the Abraham saying and you shall all the nation see

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Gentile nations shall be blessed in other words brought into saving favor with God so then those who are faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith one people of God saved through faith

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Paul declared that those who attempt to become right with God through keeping God's laws always fail in their efforts the

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Mosaic law does not justify those who attempt to keep it rather it confirms

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God's curse of judgment upon them for the guilt of their sin the law reveals sin the law does not make anyone righteous fallen people cannot be saved by attempting to be obedient to the laws of God no one can become right with God through what they do that's what he states in Galatians 3 10 and following for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse see they're relying on the obedience to the law rather than relying on Jesus Christ is life and death for it's written curse be everyone who does not abide in all by all things written in the book of the law and do them and it's evident that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by faith he quotes

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Old Testament to substantiate his teaching but the law is not a faith but rather the one who does them shall live by them you're required to obey in order to achieve or being obtained the blessing of God Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it's written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the

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Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith we're justified by God's grace through faith alone apart from works especially the works of the law now let's consider the two covenants we're moving in this direction because this is again so critically important you'd stand back and explain this the term covenant of course is found frequently in the

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Holy Scriptures I address this somewhat in the first sermon we did on the book of Malachi in the spring in the

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New King James version the word covenant is used in both Old and New Testaments on 313 occasions that's a lot of usages and although a number of these instances of the word covenant they're in the context of a covenant relationship between two or more human beings one man makes a covenant with another man frequently the word covenant is used to characterize

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God's relationship with mankind a covenant is an agreement a contract upon which a relationship is based and so it could be said that it speaks to the nature and basis of that relationship and so the essential idea of the divine human covenant is that God establishes the terms by which he the infinite and holy

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God will enter and maintain a relationship with finite and fallen man he has to come to us and he does so through covenant the concept of covenant is essential to a biblical understanding of how we may have a relationship with our

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God who has created us because of the great gulf between an infinite holy

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God and us finite sinful human beings God established the covenant as a means by which he could relate would relate to his creatures and so if we're to know

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God and have fellowship with God it would be my means of a covenant relationship delivered and defined by God himself we can consider this subject by looking at the article in our confession it is very precise and very thorough and it's in three paragraphs

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I believe first the distance between God and the creature is so great he's infinite we're finite he's holy we're sinful that although reasonable creatures do obedience to God as their creator yet they could never have attained the reward of life by some voluntary condescension on God's part which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant

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God has to initiate a relationship with fallen man and he does so through the through the concept of covenant secondly moreover man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall that was in the garden

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Adam and Eve it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace wherein he

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God freely offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ requiring of them faith in him that they may be saved and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life his

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Holy Spirit to make them willing and able to believe and then thirdly this covenant is revealed in the gospel first of all to Adam and the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman

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Genesis 315 and afterwards through the Old Testament by farther steps until the full discovery thereof was completed in the

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New Testament and it is founded in that eternal covenant transaction that was between the father and the son about the redemption of the elect even before creation and it is alone by the grace of this covenant that all the posterity of fallen

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Adam that ever were saved it obtained life and blessed immortality man being now utterly incapable of acceptance with God upon those terms on which

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Adam stood in a state of innocence a in other words there's no way in the world we can have relationship with God through our law keeping through the works we do

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God himself had to establish a covenant whereby he could bring sinners into relationship with himself we can summarize the doctrines set forth in these statements they're biblical the first paragraph declares that because God is the infinite creator and we are but finite creatures if we're to have a relationship with God it must be due to God himself coming to us revealing himself to us and establishing the terms of our relationship with him and this first paragraph also declares the obligation that all mankind have toward the

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Creator because he made them he requires of them obedience to him as their

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God but though every man has this obligation even if he could have been wholly obedient to God it would not have resulted in him having a relationship with God if God is to be known

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God would have to reveal himself to mankind he must establish the terms by which we could know and relate to him you can never discover

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God find God he must reveal himself disclose himself to you and then the second paragraph describes the great problem that we're totally incapable of relating to God due to the sinful condition that characterizes us we are under God's curse which renders us incapable and unqualified to do anything to remedy our sinful condition whereby we could be reconciled to God God himself however as graciously made a way by which sinners may experience life and salvation from sin through Jesus Christ and this is set forth in the covenant of God's grace in this covenant

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God has promised and committed to save his elect those God had decreed to be saved from eternity out of fallen humanity

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God creates in them the desire and the ability to have faith unto their salvation and then the third paragraph sets forth the nature in terms of the covenant of grace whereby

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God saves sinners and establishes a relationship with them it declares that God had first revealed this covenant of grace by way of his promise to our first parents after they had fallen into sin this covenant of grace was further revealed and explained through biblical history until the covenant of grace was finally instituted and established to the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and so this covenant of grace was the realization of God's decree that he purposed in eternity a covenant made between God the

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Father and God his son in eternity and although he's not mentioned here in the confession the

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Holy Spirit also was involved in this eternal covenant of redemption and so in the eternal covenant of redemption in eternity

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God decreed the covenant of grace within history whereby sinners are saved from sin the covenant of grace is foundational now of course when you read the

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Bible if you opened up a concordance of the Bible you'd find the word covenant in many places in fact many different kinds of covenants even between God and his people you know you've got the covenant

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God made with Noah and the human race the covenant God made with Abraham the covenant

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God made with with Israel through Moses covenant God made with David the promise of the new covenant in the province in the prophets and then the new covenant we have in Christ and so there there are a number of different covenants each of them however has been one of two types either covenant of works or a covenant of grace when we consider the biblical record of God's covenantal relationship with Israel two major distinct covenants are often emphasized

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God established his covenant with Israel through Moses and Mount Sinai in this covenant

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God constituted the ethnic Jewish people as the nation of Israel which was his favorite nation among the nations of the world and God made this covenant with the physical descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob entrance into this covenant was through physical birth and by the right of physical circumcision of the male child

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God required Israel to order its national and civil life according to the

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Ten Commandments in order for them to maintain and continue in a blessed relationship with God it was a covenant of works the

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Mosaic covenant is sometimes referred to as the first or the old covenant well under this covenant

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God promised either to bless or curse Israel based on its faithful adherence to the law of God the

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Ten Commandments and repeatedly we read in the Old Testament of God's warnings to his people that his blessing of them as a nation as his covenant people was contingent upon whether or not they obeyed

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God's law that's a covenant of works you obey God's law you'll be blessed you rebel against God's law you will be cursed that's a covenant that works

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God's blessing was obtained by law keeping God's curses would be upon them for their law breaking if they broke their covenant with their

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God he would remove them from the land that he had so graciously given to them and that's of course what happened in history but God promised to the

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Old Testament prophets that he would establish a new covenant with his people through Jesus Christ and this new covenant would not be like the covenant that God established with Israel on Mount Sinai where the

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Mosaic covenant was a covenant of works the promised new covenant is a covenant of grace and God gave details of the nature of this promised new covenant through Jeremiah Jeremiah 31 31 behold the days are coming says the

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Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel in the house of Judah and Jesus did that the night he was betrayed not according to the covenant

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I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt my covenant which they broke it won't be a covenant of works though I was a husband to them says the

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Lord but this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord I will put my law in their minds

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I will write it on their hearts in other words he'll give them the desire and the love for God's law and the intention and purpose to order their lives accordingly and then you have this covenant language

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I will be their God and they should be my people no more shall every man teach his neighbor or every man his brother say no the

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Lord for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin

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I will remember no more everyone in the new covenant knows the Lord as a

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Christian I don't have to come to you and say no the Lord you already know the Lord because you're in this covenant

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God has revealed Jesus Christ savingly to you now let's return to Galatians in which we read of these two covenants in chapter 4 here the

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Apostle compared and contrasted those who sought to be right with God through the works of God's law and those who believe salvation in the gospel of God's grace in other words those who attempted to relate with God through the covenant of works and those through the covenant of grace he sent forth the two ways of living before God as the two covenants by which

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God has related to people in history and so here's Galatians 4 verse 21 and following tell me you who desire to be under the law under the laws a covenant of works do you not listen to the law for it's written that Abraham had two sons

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Isaac Ishmael one by slave woman that would be Hagar the other by a free woman that'd be

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Sarah but the son of the slave was born according to the flesh Abraham had faulted of course and had that son by Hagar while the son of the free woman

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Sarah was by was by promise God promised Sarah would have a son now this may be interpreted allegorically these women are two covenants one is from Mount Sinai buried children for slavery she's

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Hagar now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia she corresponds to the prison Jerusalem for she is in slavery with her children but the

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Jerusalem above heavenly Jerusalem is free and she is our mother for it's written rejoice

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O barren one who does not bear break forth and cry aloud you who do not late who are not in labor for the children of the desolate one

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Sarah shall be more than those of the one who has a husband that would have been Hagar and then

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Paul makes the application now you brothers like Isaac are children of promise that God promised you to his son you're a child of promise but just as at that time he was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit so also it is now he's saying these false teachers are persecuting you with their false teaching and they're persecuting him to Paul but what does the scripture say cast out the slave woman and her son

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Ishmael for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman

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Sarah and Hagar had conflict with one another Isaac and Ishmael had conflict with one and it couldn't be resolved and so finally you know

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Sarah said get rid of them Abraham didn't want to do it he wanted to hang on to both God said no no you obey what

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Sarah advised cast out Hagar and Ishmael the two covenants cannot abide together works in grace because the works will corrupt grace and so the apostle was teaching that the covenant of grace and the covenant of works are two distinct covenants that cannot exist together if you attempt to obtain salvation by works you will be damned if you come to Jesus Christ in faith alone as your

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Lord and Savior you will be saved one cannot combine the two covenants to add the least work to faith in Jesus Christ is to relate to God according to the covenant of works

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Christ will not be the Savior of anyone who had something to be performed by the sinner adding to the work of Jesus Christ in saving sinners

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Jesus Christ alone his righteousness and what he did on behalf of sinners on the cross and yet this is the teaching that the churches of Galatia had embraced which had been promoted by false teachers who had opposed

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Paul and corrupted his teaching of the gospel and then in the last chapter of Galatians we come to that passage we read at the sir at the first he urged his readers to cleave to Christ alone in faith even as he set forth the dire consequences if they failed to do so stand fast therefore the

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Liberty by which Christ has made us free do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage trying to attain or achieve favor with God by by keeping the law of God is is a miserable existence because you can't do it and if you ever thought that you did you've become self -righteous you're damned in that too indeed

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I Paul say to you that if you become circumcised Christ will profit you nothing add anything to Christ and Christ is no longer your

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Savior you've corrupted grace well

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I believe on Jesus but also I'm trusting in the Virgin Mary to pray for me and help me Christ profits you nothing well

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I believe on Jesus but also my baptism saved me and washed away my sins Christ will profit you nothing

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I believe on on Jesus but also it's my love for Jesus and my commitment to him and my faithfulness to him

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Christ will profit you nothing Christ alone is in the covenant of grace

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I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised he's deader to keep the whole law if you just add even one thing you are obligated to keep it all you've got to live in perfection but even if you lived in perfection what about all the sin that you've committed thus far there's no salvation through the law and so he declared you've become estranged from Christ you who attempt to be justified by law you have fallen from grace for we through the

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Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith see we're looking for the day of judgment we're gonna stand in the righteousness of Christ and therefore that gives us hope for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision or uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love you ran well you did okay who hindered you from obeying the truth this persuasion does not come from him who calls you a little leaven leavens the whole lot you allow a little bit of works to get in and you're thinking that that is approving you before God you you you've allowed a little leaven in and it's not gonna go well for you so take note of the warning if one adds the least effort to faith in Christ one passes from relating to God according to the covenant of grace but turning one's claim of salvation to be based upon the covenant of works you've fallen into legalism everyone in these churches believed in Jesus Christ some people today think as long as people believe in Jesus Christ they're all true

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Christians not so you have to believe in Christ solus

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Christus Christ alone in order to have salvation through him those who adhere to the true gospel believe their salvation was secured to them through faith alone in who

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Jesus Christ is and in what he did on their behalf but those who added the requirement of works to the work of Christ forfeited any benefit of Christ they were as the son of Hagar Ishmael who had no part in the salvation that God had promised

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Abraham and his children of faith now let's bring it down to ourselves and we have to address this and forgive me for the time but this is important we must not think that we are immune to the danger of legalism that the

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Lord has set before us in this epistle legalism can creep into one's thinking quite easily and do so in a manner that's not readily perceived by us and I would suggest that the danger of legalism may be more acute for those who are reformed in their understanding of the

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Christian faith even more so than many Armenians why would this be well many

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Armenians are as we described at the first they reject the law of God and all its forms as binding upon Christians they've perverted the teaching of salvation by God's grace to mean that as long as you believe on Jesus Christ alone it doesn't matter how you live after all we're not under law but under grace their problem lies in licentious living they disregard the law of God and so while they claim to be under the covenant of grace they can commonly be as those

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Paul described to Titus they profess to know God but in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and disqualified in every good work but we who are reformed see the way of salvation in the nature of the

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Christian life quite differently we most certainly affirm as they do that were justified by God's grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone absolutely we know and affirm that God is freely and fully forgiven us of all our sins past present future and that God has reckoned us to be righteous before him due to the gift of Christ's righteousness to us but we also believe and take very seriously the

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Lord's will and our responsibility to become fully sanctified by the grace of God as we obey the

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Lord's will through life we know that our sanctification is as essential to our salvation as our justification our justification qualifies us for heaven our sanctification prepares us for heaven and so we understand and embrace our responsibility to live before God according to his laws as we are enabled to do so by the

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Lord Jesus Christ of the Holy Spirit and so we take to heart the passages of Scripture that contain promises and warnings that accompany the commands and instruction in Scripture I need to cite just a couple

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Jesus taught his disciples if anyone desires to come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and following that involves working doesn't it for whoever desires to save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake will find it for what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul see salvation is in the balance here isn't it we read salvation on the day of judgment will be granted only to those who order their lives at the

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Lord Jesus set forth who deny themselves wholly surrenders to his life to Christ and follows

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Christ regardless of suffering the consequences for doing so taking up the cross and then we read in Matthew 7 21 not everyone who says unto me

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Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of God in heaven see it's absolutely essential that we do the will of God in heaven we have to do the sayings of Jesus and here he's speaking about the

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Sermon on the Mount it's not optional we must do so or we'll be damned to do otherwise is to be as a fool building your house on sand it won't withstand the day of judgment we have to not only hear

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Jesus's words but we must do them we read of what characterizes true

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Christians in many places in which a holy life holy living is set forth is essential if you live according to the flesh you will die you'll be damned but if by the

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Holy Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live for as many as are led by the

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Spirit of God these are the sons of God it's important how you live. Paul wrote in Romans that God will bestow eternal life to those who live holy lives but those who refuse or fail to do so he will have indignation and wrath

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Romans chapter 2 God will grant eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good seek for glory honor and immortality it matters how you live we understand that the just shall live by faith faith isn't just what you believe but it orders how you live and so because we know these things are true and because we're fighting daily against Satan and sin to conform our lives to his word and because we know the outcome of the manner in which we live will have a great impact for us on the day of judgment we can very easily lose sight and sense of the foundation that we have in our justification before God through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone we begin to look more to the degree of nature of our own performance as Christians rather than looking to Jesus Christ alone for our salvation and this is why assurance of salvation can be a difficult matter to obtain and retain for a humble sensitive

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Christians who are seeking to do the will of God from the heart but what is actually occurring is that we've ceased to see our relationship with God based upon the covenant of grace in Christ for we have subtly and perhaps unwittingly added our own performance our own works to the equation in other words we have unwittingly assumed that our relationship with God is based on the covenant of works rather than the covenant of grace you see how easy it is to slip into that error and so you begin to have doubts about yourself you begin to lack assurance because you're no longer looking to Christ alone and your justification before God through faith in him alone rather you're looking to yourself and your performance and unwittingly and very subtly the devil has led you into thinking that you relate to God based on the covenant of works rather than the covenant of grace.

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I read a wonderful book a couple weeks ago written by John Bunyan the author of Pilgrim's Progress and it's entitled

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Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded. He wrote of the way which true

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Christians can falter and begin to think that their relationship with God is based upon a legal footing rather than on Christ alone and I just cited a couple things here just to give you a flavor of it.

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That man does bring himself under the covenant of works by gospel ordinances and other by living as a

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Christian when he cannot be persuaded that God will have mercy upon him except he do yield obedience to such and such a particular thing commanded in the word.

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See what he's saying? If you think God's not gonna have mercy on you unless you are obedient you've become a legalist.

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This is the very same spirit that was in the false brethren whose judgment was that unless such and such things were done they could not be saved.

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Secondly man may do things from a legal or old covenant spirit when they content themselves with their doing of such and such a thing as prayers, reading, hearing, baptism, breaking a bread or the like.

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I say when they can content themselves with the thing done and sit down at ease and content because the thing is done.

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In other words they think they they are they are congratulating themselves because they've been obedient to God as though that somehow secures

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God's favor toward them. That is a covenant of works not covenant of grace.

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For instance some men being persuaded that such and such a thing is their duty and that unless they do it

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God will not be pleased with them nor suffer them or allow them to be heirs of his kingdom and they from this spirit do rush into and do the thing which being done their content as being persuaded now they are without doubt in a happy condition.

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That's a covenant of works. Third that man doth act from a legal spirit who makes the strictness of his walking the ground of his assurance for eternal life.

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Some men all the ground they have to believe that they should be saved it is because they walk not so loose as their neighbors that they're not so bad as others are and therefore they they question not but that they shall do well.

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Now this is a false ground and a thing that's very legal and savers only of some slight and shallow apprehensions of the old covenant.

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In other words they're trusting in what they've done rather than in what Christ has done. And four this is a legal and old covenant spirit that secretly persuades the soul that ever it will be saved by Christ it must be fitted for Christ by his getting of a good heart and good intentions to do this and that for Christ.

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I say that the soul when it comes to Christ may not be rejected or turned off when indeed and in truth this is the very way for the soul to turn itself from Jesus Christ instead of turning to him.

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In other words we have to affirm as bedrock our salvation is due to the covenant of grace in Christ.

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It's who Christ is and what he did and has absolutely nothing whatsoever your salvation based upon what you do might do do do could do it's

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Christ alone. And so in all of our thinking and living and all our frustrations and failures and whatnot you always have to go back thank

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God my salvation's contingent on Christ who he is and what he did on my back and not because of what

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I do on his behalf. And so we'll conclude with this word and it is the hymn the words of an old hymn my hope is built on nothing less nothing more either nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness

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I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly trust in Jesus name when darkness seems to hide his face

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I rest on his unchanging grace and every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil his oath his covenant his blood support me in the whelming flood when all around my soul gives way he then is all my hope and stay the

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Apostle Paul wanted the Galatians to come to this place because they had turned away from him so quickly may the

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Lord not allow us to do so may we affirm Jesus Christ alone salvation is by God's grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone to the glory of God alone you and I cannot take any credit let's pray father thank you for your word help us to be right in these matters even as we certainly desire and attempt to live our lives in righteousness that is set forth in your holy law in your word our

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God we do not look to our obedience or even desire for obedience in any way to credit bring credit to us

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Lord or favor to bring your favor toward us but we look to your son who was able to do for us that which we could never do for ourselves to live on our behalf to work out a righteousness in his life that is credited to everyone who believes on him and his death upon the cross that fully satisfied your justice with regard to our sin help us each our