All right, turn with me if you would this morning over to Jeremiah 31. What did he say? Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31, and we're gonna look at, actually I'm gonna read three verses that are all correlating together here. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. And then we're gonna look at a couple of places in the New Testament where this verse is actually quoted and then also reiterated a couple of times. Jeremiah 31, verse 33. It says, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and right in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. Now look with me if you would at Romans chapter 2. I'm sorry, put your hand at Romans chapter 2 and turn with me to Hebrews 10. I'm going to come to Romans 2 next. Go to Romans 10. I'd like to read Romans 10 verse 16 first. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 16. It says, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, that I will put my law into their hearts and in their minds will I write them." Okay? Now, there's a different direction I could go on these verses in talking about the Spirit's teaching. Matter of fact, back in that passage in Jeremiah 31, we find the very next verse, 34, It talks about them all being taught of God. So the fact that God puts his law in their heart and in their minds, that is, to me, speaking of, and me and Chase was talking about this last night, I believe the Holy Spirit sometimes will teach and put things in our minds and that Later we come and we find it here. I was telling him about eternal vital union. The Lord began teaching me eternal vital union, although I couldn't take you to a scripture and point that out. I couldn't expound it, really declare it, but there was all the elements of the eternal election, the eternal aspect of being the seed of Christ and Him having a generation of His own, opposite of the physical seed, the spiritual seed, all these things of being in Christ Jesus, all those things the Lord taught me even though I didn't know it here and I never heard anybody ever preach on those things, didn't know that the term eternal Bible union even existed, but yet all of a sudden then I found there were people that were teaching something called Eternal Bible Union, and whenever I began to read their sermons on what they had written, and everything, it's like, yeah, that's exactly what I've been thinking, but didn't know it, and then, of course, seeing the verses that they used pointing to that, and then going into now, those verses all of a sudden had a different ring to it, because of how it all tied in with Eternal Bible Union. Well, I think that's what some of this is talking about, is the law written in the heart, but that's really kind of not what I want to get at this morning, But it says here, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and into their minds will I write them. Now go back to Romans chapter 2 and let's look at verse 15. It says, I'll start at verse 14. For when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, These, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the means while accusing or else excusing one another." So we see that the work of the law is written in the heart. Now, the question I was going to ask this morning and everything is, What law is written in our heart? These verses, what law is it talking about that's written in our heart? I think the major assumption that most people have is that it's talking about the Old Covenant law, the law of Moses, the moral law. Now, everybody else wants to excuse the ceremonial and the civil and all the the other laws, but they'll say, well, the moral law and the Ten Commandments, yeah, that's still intact, and that's the law that God writes on our hearts, but all those other laws. But nowhere in Scripture do we find that the law of God is ever divided up into sections where there's a moral law, there's a civil law, there's a ceremonial law, There's these Ten Commandments and they stand separate from... No, it's all the commands of God that He has given in the Old Covenant are all one set of law. And what a lot of people assume is that God writes those laws into our hearts and therefore we keep those laws because God writes it in our heart and so we try to keep those laws. But, brethren, at least have you examine what the scriptures teach about that Old Covenant law. And then re-ask the question after you do that. So let's look at a few things that the Bible tells us about the Old Covenant law. Now, remember, we have an Old Covenant law that was given in the ordinances that God had given to Israel, and Israel was the only ones who was given that law. The Gentiles didn't receive. In fact, we just read that. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, they didn't have the law of God given to them. They did not have the things of God commanded to them in the Old Testament. But I think there's a New Testament connotation to this because even as the New Testament came, the New Covenant came in with John the Baptist and the preaching of the New Covenant began with John the Baptist and then with Jesus and the apostles And the apostles in the first churches, as they were laying that foundation, before it spread out from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria, before it got to the other ends of the world and started going out into the Gentiles, the Gentiles didn't have the new covenant law either yet. They still hadn't received the new covenant law. So the Gentiles had never received the old covenant laws. It was never given to them. The ordinances of God was never given to them. The new covenant, During the time period until Paul started going out to the Gentiles, they did not receive the New Covenant laws either. So we have the New Covenant laws, we have Old Covenant laws. Well, the assumption is that the laws that God writes on our heart is those Old Covenant laws. But I would push that it's the New Covenant laws that God has wrote on our heart, not the Old Covenant laws. And the reason for that is because of the overwhelming evidence that the Scripture teaches about what the Old Covenant is to the child of grace who is the new covenant child. The new covenant child is not the child of the Old Covenant. We are not the physical Israel. We are the spiritual Israel. The physical Israel was given the physical laws of God for a physical outward show that would show them that they were unable to keep those laws, that they were unrighteous. However, the new covenant laws is given to the spiritual Israel of God and it is a spiritual work of God that they can't perform themselves, that only God performs and He faithfully performs that within His people where they do keep that law 100%. They do keep righteousness 100% because they have a surety that has stood for them and that that work of obedience, that work of faith, that work of righteousness is theirs because it has been imputed to their account. And that person, that seed that is within them comes from that spiritual seed which is perfect and it cannot sin. And so the physical Israel could not keep the law, yet the spiritual Israel cannot break the law. Because it's spiritually worked. by God Himself. And we've talked about that before, and I even mentioned last week, or the last time we had preaching, I mentioned that the able ministers are the ones who preach that message, the message of faith and not the message of the law. But let's look at a few things about the law. Now, just on the outset, let me say this, and I'll reiterate what Paul says. I'm not saying that the law is bad. The law is good. and it's good for what God had intended it for. The law was never, ever, ever, ever intended to make anybody righteous. God didn't give the law so that somebody could take that law as a list and say, okay, I'm going to do these things so that I would be pleasing to God, be accepted by God, and be preserved by God. That was never the intent of the law, but that's what everybody in the world seems to think the law is for. That's what almost every church that's out in this world is preaching today is that those old covenant laws are given to us so that we can see that, feel that, love that, and get out and do that. And therefore, we're keeping up. And let me just say something. I was thinking about this last time when me and Chase was talking about some of these things. A lot of people look at justification and they say, yeah, justification is a one-time thing. We are justified by the finished work of Jesus Christ. I believe that there is a legal work that Jesus did and that legal work is the grounds and the basis for God's declaration of righteousness on all of His people. But whenever we are walking in this life and we are trying to keep the law for acceptance pleasing Christ, to stay in right with God. We used to call it, growing up in the Armenian church that I grew up in, and the thinking that I had before, is, you know, we have to stay right with God. You better get right with God. You gotta stay right with God. Well, what does that, again, what are we saying when we say that? I mean, words mean things, right? Whenever we say, well, you better get right with God, what does that mean? I gotta get justified. Being right with God means justified before God. So my daily walk, I have to keep in steps with God. We used to say, man, you got to stay prayed up. What does that mean? I'm confessing my sins, making sure that I'm repenting of my sins, keeping away, staying on the straight and narrow, whatever it is that you want to say. I'm walking a pleasing life to God. in my obedience. That's what we're saying whenever we're sinning. Now they call it sanctification. This is a progressive sanctification thing that we're progressively becoming more and more holy and less and less sinning, right? And so they're saying that that's what they're doing. Well, in effect, what they're saying is I am walking to stay justified before God by my obedience. So justification isn't just a one-time legal work that Christ did to those who believe that there is a progressive obedience and a righteousness that comes by trying to keep the law, what they're saying is that my daily adherence to this law is what is keeping me justified before God. It's justifying who I am. I'm justified as a child of God because I'm keeping this law before God. But let's look and see what the law says about that, okay? Let's look at what scripture says and let's not worry about what theologians say and what confessions and creeds say about the law and all the lawmongers that are among us. Let's look and see what the scriptures say. Look with me if you would, and I'm sure all of you know one of the main places that we want to go is over to Galatians, but turn with me if you would over to Galatians. We know the Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to what? Please God, right? We've talked about that this week, didn't we? Without faith, it's impossible to please God. So if man has not been given faith, and remember, this is what man that Andrew was talking about the other day, the Bible also teaches that all men do not have faith. That means every one of us. None of us have faith. Faith is something that is not inherent in the natural man. Now, he has a natural faith, and we've talked about this quite a bit, and I don't want to rehash it too much, but we have a natural faith If I lean on this, it's not going to fall over. I have faith that this is going to hold me up. I have faith that when I get in my car, it's going to drive me across town. I have a natural faith on things. I may have a natural faith that Brother Larry is going to be kind and gentle to me all the days of my life that we're together. Don't bank on it. Don't bank on it. And vice versa. So we have a natural faith. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about faith that receives the Gospel. Faith that believes outside of ourselves that we can produce any kind of righteousness. A faith that looks to Christ alone and receives His righteousness as your righteousness. that believes like what Abraham did. He saw that Christ was his righteousness, and he looked away from himself and anything that Abraham could ever do, and he looked at what Christ would do for him, and that is what he believed as his righteousness. The natural man can't do that. That's what's given to us. It's a gift of God, and God gives that to every one of His elect children. Now He gives it to them in His time period. There was a point in time that I went that God didn't give me that faith. I was leaning on my own understanding, leaning on the arm of flesh to keep the laws and to do religious things. It wasn't until God revealed His Son in me that I began to see I can't do this. There's no way that I can keep the law. And then it was revealed to me that Christ has kept the law on your behalf and his righteousness is your substituted righteousness. And that righteousness is what God is looking at and does. And your righteousness doesn't mean anything to him except for dirty rags and filthy rags and wood, hay and stubble. So it wasn't until then that the Lord revealed that. Now, whenever he did, And He gives me faith to believe that faith is what pleases God. And it pleases God because it's His own work. It's not my work. It's not me who reads a bunch of scripture and builds up my faith so that I can get out there and do a lot of good things for the Lord. do a lot of religious activities, be a great person and all like that. Now, I like those type of people and I hope all y'all are like that. I mean, I'd rather have somebody nice and like me and be kind and considerate and all that kind of stuff than, you know, throw rocks at me and all that kind of stuff. But this faith is something that is given to us. It's the work of God and therefore it pleases God because it is the fruit of who He is. He is actually faith. and it's a fruit of Him. And so, without faith, it's impossible to please God, but all men don't have faith. So we are beholden to God to give us that faith. And the Bible is clearly, and teaches us very clearly, that He only gives this faith to His children that He has chosen from the foundation of the world, that He has given to Christ, and that are Christ's children. Now, with that being said, look at verse 12. It says the law is not of faith. So if the Bible says that without faith it's impossible to please God, then that's telling us it's impossible to please God by keeping the law. By trying to keep the law. By your attempt to keep the law, Everyone says, well, I know that, but at least if I try to keep the law, God's going to be pleased with my efforts. I'm sure I'm not going to be perfect. I'm sure it's not going to be all the time. But God looks at the heart. God knows my heart. I've heard that a lot. God knows my heart. Yeah, He sure does. He knows it's desperately wicked above all things. It's deceitful. It's evil continually. That's what your natural heart is, yes. He knows your heart alright. And unless He gives you a new heart, then you're going to continue to think that that evil heart can produce good fruit. But it's not until you're given a new heart that you realize and rest in the fact that good fruit will be gifts that God gives you and produces in you, and there's nothing that you can do to produce that fruit on your own. So, he says here, the law is not of faith, but rather the man that doeth them shall live in them. The man that doeth the law shall live in them. Is there any man that doeth the law? One. Besides him, is there any man that doeth the law? So if there is a man that doeth the law, they'll live. But no man can do the law. So no man's going to live by the law. So we don't live by the law. There's no way we can live by the law. So anyone that tells us that the law is our rule of life, they are contradicting what Scripture says. Scripture says that the law does not give life and the people of God do not walk by a rule of law. They walk by something else that's a rule of faith. Because faith is what pleases God, not the attempt at law keeping. He says here, he says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So Christ was made a curse because we ourselves had the curse of the law, or the condemnation of the law. The curse of the law is the condemnation of the law. What's the condemnation of the law? Well, the combination of the law is if you break the law, you die, right? The wages of sin is death, and every one of us can't keep the law. Now, where does that leave us? If none of us can keep the law, and the wages of sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, where does that leave us? It leaves us all guilty before God. There's not one person in this world that from Adam clear down till now, that can please God. So if you want to say that God has written the law in our hearts and we live by what He has written in our hearts, and you're talking about the Old Covenant law, well, the Old Covenant law can never bring us to please God, and living by that We will not please God because those who live in the law, and living in the law is keeping it 100%, then we'll live. But if we can't keep it 100%, then we die. So if your rule of life is to live by the law that you think is written in your heart, which is the old covenant, then brethren, you're not going to please God, nor are you going to continue to live because it will bring death. Now, we're going to come back to Galatians here in just a little bit, but I want to look also at Romans 5 and verse 20. Romans 5 and verse 20. It says, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now, you guys heard me preach this before, that the context of Romans 5.20, everything before that, is Adam's sin. This is not talking about necessarily the law that was given to Moses. Now, I believe that that's part of it, because I believe anything in the Old Covenant whether it be the law that you give to Adam, the law that you give to Noah, the law that you give to Moses, whatever, all that Old Covenant do and live things are all wrapped up together. But yet in direct context here is Adam's transgression, the law that God gave Adam, do not eat of that tree. In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Don't eat of that tree. Because in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now that's the sin that God is talking about. And I appreciate the fact that the Holy Spirit gives that as the starting point here instead of going to the Law of Moses. He came back all the way to the very beginning to the very first law that was ever given And he said the reason that that law was given, so any law that's ever been given by God to man was given for a purpose. And the purpose for that law is that the offense might abound. The law is there to increase the transgression. The law is given there to increase the transgression or to magnify the transgression of man. It's to show our Sinfulness. Adam, created of the earth earthy, created natural, without the Spirit of God, perfect in what God created him for. God created him as that first Adam, so that sin and death might come in through that one man. God created him for that purpose. Therefore, when God looked upon Adam after He created him, He said that he was very good, not that he was very holy or very righteous or very sinless. He said he was very good, meaning that that purpose for which God had created him, He had created him exactly the way He wanted him created in the image of God. He created him, therefore, the type He created him there for the purpose of bringing sin and evil into the world, sin and death into the world, so that Christ might be uplifted as the Savior and glorified through that. So, the offense was always purposed by God. Adam's sin was purposed and ordained of God. I know a lot of people don't like that talk. We've talked about that all the time around here, but people out there don't like to hear the fact that God has foreordained sin and evil, or predestinated sin and evil. They think that that makes God some thing that the Bible doesn't say He is. They make Him out to some theological argument that God is the author of sin. But, not to get off too far, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. The purpose of the law was to magnify or to bring forth, to manifest the evil and wickedness and the intent of the heart of man and his inability, the capability of man to be able to do righteous. Man is utterly devoid of righteousness. And the law came in to expose that But listen, the only ones who actually feel that are the children of grace. When God has given them the heart and the mind to know the things of God, the spiritual things of God, they feel their inability and their inadequacy and the hope that they have is not in themselves anymore, it's in Christ because they know there's no hope in my flesh. And so that was the purpose of the law. The law came in so that the offense might abound, or that the offense might be made magnified, that the people of Adam cannot keep God's law, so there needs to be a Savior that can save them, that will save them, that is righteous. There is one and only one who is righteous. It's God displaying His righteousness to those who are unrighteous. That's the reason that the law came in. Not to make you holy, but to expose your unholiness. It's not to make you righteousness, but to expose your unrighteousness and to magnify the righteousness of Christ. That's why the law came in. Never as a to-do list for us to get out and do. To keep Him pleased. To stay in right step with Him. To stay in good graces with Him. That's what it never was there for. So if God wrote the law upon the hearts, why would He write the law that only magnifies our sinfulness? He's not going to write that law upon our hearts. Look, if you would, while you're there in Romans, back in chapter 4, and look at He said, because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. The law worketh wrath. The Bible says that by nature we are children of wrath. You notice that in that passage of Scripture, it says that we are children of wrath, not under wrath. The Reformed people take that verse that There's a period of time where we're under the wrath of God, God hates us, God is displeased with us, and until we believe and have faith and then are justified because of our faith, then God removes that wrath and now we are loved by God. But brethren, that's no different than what the Arminian teach. The Reformed people are just as messed up in their theology as the Arminian is. No, the Bible teaches that God loves us with an everlasting love and that we were never under wrath because the Bible says that we were not ordained under wrath. We were not ever under God's wrath. Ever, there never was a time. You say, well, you're telling me we're not sinners? No, I'm not saying that. We were sinners. We are sinners. We continue to be sinners. But we have never been under God's wrath. God has never looked on us in wrath Because Christ is always, before the foundation of the world, stood as our surety. Yes. God, man's hands can't touch that. But the reformers want man's hands to still touch something, even though they claim sovereign grace, even though they claim predestination and election, they still want man's hands to be on a little bit of something. But God's pure, free grace is outside of man, because it all was done, the works were done from the foundation of the world. Christ stood as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. All of our works were, we talked about this also last night, decreed of God. If God decreed the end from the beginning, then that means everything from the end all the way up to the beginning, everything in between has been decreed of God. Nothing can change because God is immutable. Everything that has ever happened in this lifetime and ever will happen in this lifetime, God has decreed those things and it's finished from before the foundation of the world because time ain't going to change anything. Man's not going to change God's mind, man's not going to change God's purpose, and man's not going to change and overrule God's providence in bringing those things to pass that He said that I will bring to pass all that I have pleasure in. that all that I've declared, all that I've done, I'm going to bring that to pass. You can't stop that, man. You can't stop God. And so all these things is there to show God is there. And it says here, it says, because the law worketh wrath. Well, what does that mean? The law worketh wrath. Well, the law worketh wrath in us. The law worketh wrath in us. If we go to keep the law, we cannot keep the law. We are deserving of God's wrath. And that continual attempt to think that we can procure something righteous that God will accept only builds more wrath upon our heads. If I continue to say my righteousness in this or my righteousness doing this or my righteousness doing this is going to please God and God's going to accept that, God's going to say, all right, you did good. All that's doing is heaping more wrath upon my head. It's like whenever Jesus talked about those going out and making those Jewish proselytes and everything. He said, you're only making twofold the child of hell. These people are thinking that they're coming in under this religious tent, and they're coming in, and you're telling them that if they'll do all these law-keeping things, that all you're doing is causing the transgression to increase, because you're giving them hope that they have a righteousness before God in doing these law things. Well, that's what it's talking about here. If we continue to believe that we, by working the law, is pleasing to God, all we're doing is increasing the transgression and therefore it's working wrath on us and not grace. Every time you try to keep the law to please God or for justification before God or for sanctification before God or continual acceptance, all those things, The only thing you're going to receive is wrath because you can't keep them. Look at 1 Corinthians if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And look with me if you would down to verse Verse 56. It says the sting of death is sin, but it says the strength of sin is the law. Now, do you want that law written in your heart? Do you want that law written in your heart? The law that is the strength of sin? Brother, I think whenever we look at things a little more biblically, and think of things more in the light of the New Covenant, and especially when we put Jesus Christ at the center of everything, not in the outskirts, not in the wings, not in the background of, oh yeah, well, everything's about Jesus, but no, whenever you really put Jesus in the middle of everything and as the focal point of everything, there can never be a me, myself, I, what I do, what I can do, what I try to do, what I hope to do, it's never about... That's why Paul said, we don't lean on the arm of our own understanding. We don't lean on the arm of the flesh. We don't learn and lean on the wisdom of men. Why? Because those things are temporal. Those things cannot please. Those things are of the flesh. And some people, they only equate the things of the flesh as evil, immoral things. But listen, the things of the flesh are anything that we try to do to be accepted of God. We've talked about this before. The Bible says that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It doesn't say our unrighteousnesses are as filthy rags. It says all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The Lord, and whenever He said, depart from me ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you, the things that they brought forth and presented to Him were not immoral, wicked, evil things in man's eyes. They were calling Him Lord, Lord. They recognized Him as being Lord. They, or at least their lips professed Him as Lord. The Bible says their lips professed it, but their heart was far from it. But they professed Him to be Lord. They casted out devils in His name. They did all these wonderful works in His name. That's not wicked and immoral people out here, the drunkards and the pedophiles and the, you know, adulterers and adulteresses and all the people that's out here. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about the very bests, plural, that we do. The goodies that we do. It's all those. And so, whenever we look here, it says, the strength of sin is the law. The law, whenever we are given a law, it's only there to expose, you can't keep this. I've told the story a lot of times, whenever my kids were little, Flora would bake some cookies, she might bake, their kids are off playing in the other room, Don't have a clue Lori's baking cookies. She bakes some cookies and they sit in the kitchen and those kids run around. Maybe they pass by those things 15, 20 times and never know anything's there. But as soon as Lori says, hey, I made some cookies, but you got to stay out of that until after dinner tonight. You know what the first thing that happens? Immediately, you can see the wheels moving in her head. And before you know it, you see them in there trying to sneak the cookies. Before the law came in, I was alive. But when the law came in, I died. So what did the law do? The law brought death. The law slayed your apostle Paul. The law came in and exposed the evil intent. When the law came in, the evil intent of going against my wife, disobeying my wife, And the evil intent of sneaking and deceitfully taking what they said was not to be theirs was in their heart. But it wasn't until the law came in that it was exposed. See, the deceitfulness, the sneakiness, going behind our back and doing it and then lying about it. Did you take a cookie? There was five cookies here, now there's only four. No, I didn't do that. The lying, that's the deceitfulness. That's in the heart, but it wasn't until the law came in that it was exposed. It was already there. That's why it's saying here, the strength of sin is the law. While you're there in Corinthians, go to the second letter to the Corinthians. Look at chapter two. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and look at verse 6 with me. Sorry, brother. I was thinking that that was a different verse, but that's not the verse that I was wanting to read. Go ahead and turn to Romans 8 then. We'll just kind of forget that one. I don't know what I was thinking. Late night, early morning. Romans chapter 8, verse 2. This is for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. So the law is a minister of sin and death. The Bible says that the law killed 2 Corinthians 3.6. Who hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. The letter of the law, keeping the letter of the law, killeth, because no man can keep it. There will be transgression. can always count on. I know some people say that they think that they are keeping the law. And they're just deceived. They're blind. They're blinded to that. They're blind to their inability. But it says here that the able minister is one who is the minister of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. So that's what we're saying. That's what I was trying to get across in that message on able ministers. To get up here and preach to you to keep the law, and to give you moral lessons that you need to get up and keep. And I was telling you guys the illustration of me going to that Christian bookstore and seeing all those rows and rows of Christian self-help on how we can be more pleasing to God if we'll just do this. 10 Steps to Christian Maturity. We used to have that little booklet by whatever that little organization used to be. I can't think of it now. 10 Steps to Christian Maturity, how to get right with God, how to walk, how to keep the law of God, and all these things that I've seen in the past. But anyway, here, an able minister is going to be a minister of the Spirit and not the letter. If we're an able minister of the Spirit, we're going to be teaching you about what's pleasing to God is what is walking in the Spirit. We don't walk in the flesh. If we walk in the flesh, we are going to mind the things of the flesh. And the things of the flesh, again, are not always immoral, evil, wicked things in the lives of men. Walking by the flesh is walking in the confidence of the flesh. Walking in the confidence that the flesh is accomplishing something before God. That's walking in the flesh. But to walk in the Spirit is to walk trusting in Christ Jesus, to walk by faith. Now, look back into Romans chapter 7. We'll find there that the law also is a... Romans chapter 7, look if you would. It says, For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit under death. Again, I want to ask, do you think the law that's written on the hearts of God's children is the old covenant law that does all these things? So what law is it then that's written on our hearts? I mentioned earlier, I think it's the law of faith. I think it's the law of faith that is written on our hearts. So if you would, I quoted it earlier, but I just want you to go ahead and read this. Hebrews 11, 6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a reward of them that diligently seek Him. That's not a condition, by the way. Men read into that a condition. There you go. Those who come to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. You've got to believe those two things. God is who He is and that He is the rewarder if you diligently seek Him. They believe that's a condition. But it says, without faith it's impossible to please Him because he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." This is talking about the character of a person who is a child of grace. A person who is a child of grace who is walking by faith believes that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Not because they sought him, but whenever we seek God, And whenever we seek God, what does he mean by that? Whenever he says, seek and ye shall find. He's not talking about keep the law, keep in right standing with God. Whenever he says, seek and ye shall find, he said, seek for me. Seek after me. Look to me, look unto me. Seeking righteousness, because you know you don't have it yourself. Right. Seek it after me, not in your own flesh. Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden. and I will give you rest." See, he's saying you're finding that there's no rest in this law keeping. There's no rest in this continual struggle to be righteous and you continually know and your heart is exposing your unrighteousness because your heart has been made flesh. No longer the heart of stone. I have pulled out of the heart of stone. I have put into the heart of flesh and caused them to walk in my statutes. But the statutes there again, even isn't talking about the law in the Old Covenant, it's talking about the New Covenant statutes. To walk by faith. And whenever we, by faith, receive the report of that we are unable, but Christ has provided everything that we need, there's where the wreck. Because listen, brethren, to the true children, now again, to the religious zealot out there, to them, Going out and doing all this work is something. They think they're doing it. They think they're accomplishing something. They think God is being pleased by all their religious efforts. But to the child of grace who has really been given to know their sinfulness, their depravity, the continual work for righteousness always comes back to their heart exposing them as unrighteousness. And there's that constant unrest, that constant burden of sin, that constant burden of unrighteousness that we are. And that's where the rest comes when Christ gives us to believe the Gospel that He's all I need. I love that song. He's all I need. He's all I need. We don't need anything else. We don't need to look to ourselves, we don't need to look to a lifestyle of conformity of this and that and this and that. We trust that not only has He provided us a righteousness that God has accepted, but He also is working in us to will and to do His good pleasure and that all the works that God has ordained for us from the foundation of the world will be done in us because it is God who works in you to will and to do His good pleasure. It's God who is doing the work. And they are His works. Therefore, I can't produce them and I can't hinder them. God's doing that work. Again, God is performing His works that He has declared the end from the beginning. He is performing those works. And those works, I can't rush it. I can't stop it. I can't speed it up. I can't increase it. I can't make it better. I can't be more joyous, more loving, meek, I can't be more, I can't be nothing. As Paul says, what makes a thief different? It's Christ. I am that I am. Why? Because of Christ Jesus. The things that I do, I don't want to do the things that I do. But then I do the things that I don't want to do. Well, who's doing that? It's not me. It's not me because what is working in me is sin. In the flesh, it's sin. no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I live not by my own work, my own effort, my own flesh work. But I live by what Christ has done and the faith of Christ and what He has accomplished on my behalf. And that God has accepted and has justified me before Himself, who is the holy judge, who is righteous, who is not a judge that turns the blind eye or takes a little money under the table or anything like that or has some sort of political aspirations in another direction. No, God is a righteous judge. And if God says what Christ has done on my behalf is all that is needed, There's where the rest, the weary burden goes away because I'm no longer trying to work for anything. I'm resting that work has already been done on my behalf. Look if you would at Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10. Back to Galatians again. I know we're kind of jumping back and forth and back and forth in some of these, but sorry, I was just having a thought process at this moment. In Galatians 3, in verse 10, I'm going to read a few verses here in the third chapter. Galatians 3, look at verse 10, it says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law." That's why I said the law encompasses everything in that Old Covenant. Because whenever this was written, there was not a New Testament yet. So the book of the law is everything that was given to them in that Old Covenant law. But it says, "...cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are in not just your onesies and twosies that you want to pick out, your favorites, not just the decalogue, not just the ceremonial, not just the, you know, no, it's all. He says, but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just are those who are justified, the elect of God, the children of grace, the child of grace, the brethren, they shall live by faith, not by law. It says right here, no man is justified by the law, the just shall live by faith. The just is not going to try to live by the law, because they know that their justification doesn't come by the law, it comes by Christ. Therefore, they live by faith in what Christ has done for their justification. They don't find their justification in any works that they do, whether it be before conversion, after conversion, whether it be before quickening or after quickening, or to get quickened. They don't believe any of that stuff. What do they believe? They believe that Christ has done it all already. It's accomplished work. And matter of fact, while Christ did come in time and accomplish the ground of that justification in time, the declaration of it was before time. And if God, Chase said this last night, if God declared it before time, then that declaration, because see, the Reformers say that God doesn't declare us justified until we believe. I think if you read, I think everyone here would agree that I'm not misrepresenting the Reform position on that. The Reform believe that we are justified by our faith in time, so God doesn't declare us righteous until we believe that God has declared everything before the foundation of the world. And if He's declared it then, that means the declaration of righteousness on every child of grace was declared before we ever was made in Adam. Before Adam ever was created and ever brought sin and death into the world. That's why people say, well, I don't understand how someone can be justified before they've ever sinned. I presume it would be justified because justification is a declaration of righteousness and an acquittal of sin and all that stuff. God declared that this was, and that's why the Bible is congruent. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin. God hasn't imputed it to him. That's why we've never been under wrath. because sin never was imputed to us even whenever Adam sinned and even whenever Michael Smith personally sins, that sin has never been imputed to me because before the foundation of the world it was already imputed to Christ and declared justified. I've been declared justified before God. That's why in Ephesians it says that He chose us in Christ Jesus, before the foundation of the world, that we might be before Him in love. How can God love us from everlasting? Because we've stood in Christ from everlasting. And because we've been in Christ from everlasting, we've been justified of all future sins that we will ever commit. Why? Because God did not impute sin to His elect. The only people that had sin imputed to them was the non-elect. The non-elect had sin imputed to them. The sin of Adam was their sin. They had their own sin. But to us who actively sin because we are also of the seed of Adam in the flesh, and we actually sin, yes, we are guilty of sin. We are condemned under the law as sinners. But yet the law cannot be over us because we were never imputed to sin. It never was laid to our account. It was definitely our account, just like Christ's righteousness. I've never personally had righteousness, but Christ's righteousness has been laid to my account. Well, the same thing with sin. I have personally sinned, but my sin has been never laid to my account. Christ never sinned a day or an inkling in His life, but yet all the sins of His elect was laid to His account. He didn't actually sin, but He was imputed that sin. I've never been righteous, but it was imputed to me. My sin has never been imputed to me because it's always been imputed to Christ Jesus. That's why I stand in love before God from the foundation of the world, because He has only seen us in a justified state in Christ Jesus. He can look on sinners before they're sinners and love them. He can look on sinners after they're sinners and love them. And He can look on sinners after they know that they are sinners and continue to sin even though they know their sins have been taken care of. They continue to sin anyway clear until the day that Jesus comes. And until the body of sin is removed and we are given the full inheritance where we receive a body that cannot sin and therefore our body will catch up with what our imputed spirit has already had right now, a justified, non-sinning, incapable of sinning and we will therefore be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus who in spirit and in body knows no sin. We ourselves will be spirit and body, know no sin. We'll be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus. Now, I want you to note something there in Galatians chapter 3. I'm just about done. It says, verse 22, it says, But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin for a purpose. The reason that God put us in Adam, that one lump, and brought us forth in Adam to show us as a people of righteousness by faith, showing faith in Christ Jesus out of the same lump that everybody else doesn't have faith. The reason that God did this is that the promise might be given to them that believe. It says, but the Scripture hath concluded all under sin. So every one of us has been put under the law in the flesh, and all of us have been made sinners in Adam. And that's physically. That's naturally who we are. We've been concluded under sin. But there was a purpose here. But the Scripture has concluded all under sin. that the promise might be given to them that believe." Now notice I skipped a little section there. That's kind of a comma. That's kind of a little added phrase of clarity there describing something. But you'll notice if you take that little section and just kind of pull it out for just a minute, you can read the sentence as it would have naturally flowed if you didn't add that little section there. that the promise might be given to them that believe, but the question is, how is the promise given to them that believe? Is it because you believed? No. That's why the section was added in between those two phrases. The how the promise is given to them that believe is by faith of Jesus Christ. You see that? I hope I didn't make that muddy. whenever we read it, but the Scripture hath concluded all in a sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. We think that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ in us doing the work might be given to them who have faith in Jesus Christ. See, it's saying something redundant, but that's not what the text is bringing out. It's saying that the promise that's given to believers, and not because they believe, but because they've been given belief, because of the children of grace, it's a group of people. It's an identifier. God is identifying us as believers, because there's only two groups of people, those who believe and those who don't believe, right? We are believers. But what is the cause of us being given the promise as believers? The faith of Jesus Christ. It's by the faith of Jesus Christ that the promise is made sure. See, it's again, outside your hands. God didn't give it for you to tinker with and try to fix and try to make right. No. It's taken out of your hands the promise and the belief And the faith and the trust and everything else of walking by faith in the works of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ. And it's not the faith of Jesus Christ imparted into you so that you can work it out. It's the faith of Jesus Christ that He Himself personally procured for you, that the promise is given to you And now you believe that promise because you're within that group of people that he did this for. I hope that wasn't too muddy. And lastly in chapter 6 we see, if you remember, this whole letter that Paul has written in Galatians from the very beginning to the very end is talking about living by faith. And it is a condemnation or it is a diatribe against the Judaizers who was coming in and saying that you must keep the law of Moses for salvation. Not just circumcision. I hear a lot of Reformers say, well, it also says about, it's just talking about circumcision. But if you look in Acts, whenever Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and started complaining to the apostles up there saying, hey, you're going to have to get a handle on these Judaizers that are coming down here. out of the church up here who are still believing that we're under the law and telling the Gentiles that they have to keep the law of Moses. Whenever you look in Acts chapter 15, you see that council, whenever they come together and talk, they say that we must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. Not just circumcision, which was the command to Abraham, but also the law of Moses. They were saying we have to keep the law of Moses. Paul is saying that is not the Gospel that I received from Jesus Himself. I didn't confer with men. I was given it to Him by Jesus Himself. That's how he began the letter. The whole entire letter is a thesis and a treaty upon faith is the life of the believer, not law working, not law keeping, not law walking. And so he ends this in chapter 6, in verse 16, and as many as walk according to this rule. Now some want to come back and say that it's talking about the end of verse 15, being a new creature. Now that's part of it. Being a new creature definitely has some bearing on this because you can't walk this walk that it's talking about unless you are a new creature. But Paul is referring back to the whole treaty that he just has done in the first six chapters. He's talking about walking by faith. The walk that he is talking about here, as many as walk according to this rule, the rule he's talking about is not the rule of the old covenant, but the new covenant rule of faith. As many as walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy and upon the Israel of God." Who is the Israel of God? The spiritual children of God who worship in spirit and in truth and not the letter of the law. As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them. God doesn't speak peace to those who are walking in the law. Why? Because there's condemnation. The only thing that's in there is condemnation. So brethren, this is what I say. The law that has been written on the heart of the children of grace is not the old covenant law of Moses and everything in the Old Testament, that we're to walk by that, that God caused us to want to do all those things. No, the law that God writes in our hearts is this new covenant law of faith. And as many as walk according to that, peace be upon them. Not only peace between them and God, but peace within their hearts. Listen, I'm telling you, we were talking about this last night. When a child of grace is given to know the Gospel and to know that Christ has done everything for them and everything, what an assuring thing that is. What a comforting thing that is. What a relief that that is to the mind who knows how sinful we are. And brother, that's why the Bible says that there's peace upon them. But those who are not, there is not peace on them. There's a constant work. And you just talk to those people who believe that they have to keep up some sort of a religious walk before God, and you talk to them, they're going to get all over you. You mean to tell me you can just do it without doing this or doing that or doing that? You just don't do nothing? You're just there? See, it gets them riled up. Why? Because there's some anxiety that, I have to be doing something. I have to be doing something. That's not peace. They think they are living under peace, but that's not peace. That's actually turmoil. That's living in anxiety. That's living, wondering and knowing, am I doing enough for God? Am I pleasing enough for God? Have I confessed all my sin before Him? Am I being forgiven of this or that? Have I forgot something? Am I doing enough to do what God wants me to do? Am I following His little path? Am I walking in God's will? Or have I strayed off His path and went some other way? Which direction should I go? All these things. That's not living in peace. Living in peace is to live your life knowing that God has done everything for you as far as salvation is concerned, and that every event in your life is being ordained of God, and He is bringing you through all these things. He's bringing you through everything that you're going to experience, everything that you're going to know, everything that you're going to learn, everything that you're going to believe and hold true. He's in charge of all that. And true rest is just, okay, I'm trusting that you're doing that. What do I know? What's the doctrines that I hold and know? Well, I'm trusting that the Lord's teaching me because He said He would teach His children. That He would send His children or His Spirit to teach His children. He's going to guide me and lead me because He said that He's the Good Shepherd and He will lead His children. I'm just trusting that He's doing that. Well, what about this? You didn't do this and you didn't do that and you're not doing all this. So you're telling me that Christ isn't leading me? Christ isn't working in me to willing to do His good pleasure? I mean, I either believe the man out there, or I believe God. Let God be true in every man alive. See, if God says that it's His work and He's doing it, if God says that I'm the one who's going to do all these things for you, if God is the one who says there's nothing that you need to do because my son did it all, But I trust Him. He says there are as many as walk according to this rule. Peace be on them and mercy. But it's only upon the Israel God, and that's not the physical Israel God. That's the spiritual Israel God. That's those who are in His spiritual kingdom. He's their spiritual King. He's their spiritual Head. He's their Savior. They're looking unto Him, and the finisher of their faith. They know who their Savior is. They know who their Lord is. And it's not juxtaposed like the MacArthurites like to do. You can make Him your Lord, but not your Savior. Therefore, you've got to keep up this resemblance of law keeping so that you're making Him also your Lord, not just your Savior. He is your Lord and your Savior, whether you keep all those laws or not. But just know you're not keeping them, even when you try. He's still your Lord and your Savior. If I would have to look at myself and say, am I keeping the law to the point where everyone out there knows that Jesus is my Lord? In its greatest expression, I'm never going to be looked on as anything. People gonna look at me, I mean they already do look at me and say, you know, who is this guy? You know? But more importantly, my conscience will never be able to live with that. My conscience will always condemn me before God. So praise the Lord for the gospel. Anybody got a question or anything you'd like to add? I'd say the Judaizers today are just saying, yeah, Jesus did it all, but you still got to repent and believe. And they turned that, just like circumcision, they turned to faith and repentance into a work of man. And actually, I'm not against repentance or faith, but my believing in repentance doesn't make a difference. I repent and believe because he did it for me. They end up, so, I would say if you're repenting and believing to be saved, you don't understand the gospel. I do believe, but it's not believing, I believe because He died for me, not for Him to have died for me. Yeah, they make repentance and belief the hinge pin upon which salvation is waiting to turn. You know, salvation is here, He's done all He can for you, and he's offered it to you, and now he's invited you to it, but you have to repent and believe, otherwise he won't give it out. I want to save you. I'm not gonna give it to you unless you do repentance and faith, baptism, church membership, whatever. It's a gift, but you gotta receive it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, well, and that's... Not accept it. Well, I heard that my whole entire life. I used to preach that, actually. You know, even though you have a gift, you still have to reach out and receive the gift. You have to take it. There's something you have to do. That gift is just gonna sit there unless you take it, right? The Bible doesn't talk about receive in that. Receive in the Bible is a passive thing, not an active thing. So, you guys heard me give the illustration. I can go and punch Zach in the eye and give him a black eye, and Zach's received a black eye from me. He didn't do anything to get it. He received it. It was a passive thing on his part. The active things on my part, faith, belief, repentance are passive things that the Holy Spirit gives to his people that we don't do anything for. And Father, we thank You once again for the beautiful message of the Gospel. We thank You for the glorious work of our Savior. We thank You for the Word of God that testifies of all that He has done for us. It will be His. Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit might testify to us even this morning of the glorious work of Christ on our behalf. And that our sins and all of our wickedness that we ever will procure in this lifetime in this flesh has been eradicated by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Father, we're so grateful for the gospel. We're thankful for what Christ has done. Lord, we never would have devised a salvation like this because our natural mind would always tend to look to what we can do for you. But we're thankful for the gospel of what has been done. It truly is finished. Lord, help us to continue to rest in that. By your Spirit, may we find joy and peace and comfort in the work that Christ has done on our behalf. Father, for all your children that are out there that are still, that you have not revealed yourself to them in this capacity, Lord, we pray that they might find peace and comfort in the Gospel. and that they might turn from those false Gospels, the very Gospel of the Judaizers of do and live and acceptance through activity. But Lord, we pray that You might give them, even today, the grace to believe upon You, to trust upon You. Lord, we pray for all those who have trusted upon You, that You by Your Spirit might also lead them to profess Christ and baptism Lord, to be a member of the church and to edify and to build each other up. Lord, what a precious thing you've given to us here. Not too many places have a church and a witness of Christ. And we pray for all those brethren that are out there. Lord, we just pray that you'd continue to edify them through the means that you've provided for them. Lord, we ask that you would just be with us even As we go our way today, that you might keep us and that you might encourage us, keep us safe as we go. And we might gather together again. And we anxiously wait for you to come and to bring us home to be with you. We thank you again for this service. We thank you for the brethren that are here. And we ask that you bless it all in Christ Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.