Moving on to a new section, beginning in verse 13. And if it's God's will, I think we'll get through verse 16 this morning. However, it's one kind of line of thinking, but will require probably two or three sermons. But if you're able, I don't want to have you stand and sit down and stand and sit up, but for the reading of the word of God, I definitely want us all to stand if we're able. I'll be reading Romans chapter four, verses 13 to the end of the chapter. Hear now the word of God. For the promise to Abraham and his seed that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but rather through the righteousness of faith. For if it is those of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law works wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why It depends on faith. In order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his seed, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written. I have made you the father of many nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, so shall your seed be. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God. Rather, he grew strong in his faith, giving glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. That is why His faith was counted to Him as righteousness. Now, the words, it was counted to Him, were not written for His sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in Him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and raised for our justification. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. Oh Lord, would you work in us that we, like Abraham, would not only hear your promise, but trust in it, or better, trust in you, the giver of the promise. And Father, we thank you for the great and exceeding and precious promises we have this morning in the Lord Jesus Christ. Foremost of all, the fact that we can receive the blessedness of having our sins forgiven. Blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin. But Father, also the blessedness and the hope of this inheritance to which Abraham yearned and longed for and walked towards the hope of eternal life, a new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells. Father, I just ask even, as we've read this morning, that you would be working powerfully as you, according to promise, gave life to where there was no life, in the dead womb of Sarah, I pray, Lord, that there may be those who are dead in their sins this morning, you would speak, and you would grant life, that you would quicken the dead, that you would raise them up inwardly, granting faith and repentance, that the word spoken would not be foolishness, but would be life-giving. And so, Father, I just pray, help me as I preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to show the truth that your Word is applicable, it is relevant, it is food and manna for the Christian. And, O Father, I pray that for those who are languishing, as Pastor Nathan even prayed, for those who may have limp hands and feeble knees, that a Word in season would be good, that it would be life-giving, soul-encouraging, and sustaining. Father, I pray, lastly, that you would be pleased through the preaching of the gospel to exalt your Son. Lord, even as Paul said he had received the grace of apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of Christ's name, I pray that your word would enable and encourage obedience in us as we believe the gospel afresh, as we walk in a manner worthy of this gospel. You say the righteous are to walk, to live by faith. So Father, grant us faith. And when we hear your promise that we would honor you and glorify your son as we ought, we pray this in his name, amen. Please be seated. Well, we continue looking at the example of Abraham. He actually is the one that the entire chapter is looking towards. And the reason why Paul is doing this is because the Jewish nation and the Jewish people often would hold up Abraham sort of as the example of why we're blessed by God. We're like Abraham. He was a good guy. He tried his hardest, he got circumcised, and he kept the law. And what Paul keeps alluding to is the scriptures don't teach anything near that. And I always want to remind us, we have to be careful of sort of just repeating points that are even religiously made in churches. So often, when we're talking, we can say, well, we always grew up believing that, and we have to ask ourselves, but does the Bible really teach that? Does the Bible really teach that Abraham believed, or does the Bible teach that Abraham kept the law before he gave the law, or that he was right before God because he circumcised himself, or because he was just a good person who tried his hardest? And we always have to say, with Paul, what do the scriptures teach? You'll notice if you read this chapter, Paul keeps alluding to and finding that his justification, pun intended, for all of his teaching finds its source in the Scriptures. Well, it's no different this morning. He's going to appeal to the scriptures again. He's already taught us so far that because Abraham was justified by faith, that means that he was not justified by works. We saw that in verses 1 through 9. Last week, we saw that Abraham was not justified by circumcision, right? We saw that in verses 9 through 12. Well, this morning and for the rest of the chapter, we're going to see that Abraham was not justified by law-keeping, okay? Justification is apart from works, apart from circumcision, apart from law. Very simple. That's sort of our template and our guide for this chapter. And we need to remember that because when we're preaching the gospel to ourselves, to our children, to our neighbors, there's always going to be those who say, but what about this? And but what about that? And you, hopefully with Paul, will be equipped to say, well, what does the scripture teach? Does scripture say that God saves good people who try their hardest to live good lives? No scriptures don't teach that. Or does the scripture really teach that, you know, if we're baptized, that God will somehow look upon our baptism and then save us? Or if we go to church, does the Bible really say that? hopefully you'll be able to appeal with Paul to the scriptures and perhaps even to the very person of Abraham himself. He was kind of the guy for the Jews. You've got Abraham and David, interestingly enough, the very people Paul uses as Exhibit A and Exhibit B to show that if we are to be declared right, if we are to inherit the blessing, it is through faith alone, in God's promise alone, to the glory of God alone. So, verse 13 begins with the word for, and so Paul's continuing his argument. He's sort of switching gears, but he's still in the same argument, we're justified by faith alone. And he's still looking at this person, or the example of Abraham, but he's bringing in an important word this morning, it's the word promise. If you're a marker up of your Bible, you're going to be circling this a lot for the rest of the chapter. Because Paul is going to now show scripturally and logically that works and promise are mutually exclusive. You can't be saved by working and by promise at the same time. You can't be saved by works and faith at the same time. Do you see that? For the promise to Abraham What he's looking back to now is the promise God made to Abraham, if you're writing notes, in Genesis 12, and Genesis 15, and Genesis 17, and Genesis 18, and Genesis 22. What is God doing there? He's reminding Abraham repeatedly, here's the promise, here is the promise. which is why a good gospel preacher will always be reminding you of the promise. Why? Because like Abraham, you're prone to forget the promise. He gave Abraham the promise in Genesis 12. Abraham began to sort of forget that, and then he tries to take matters into his own hands when he goes down to Egypt. Or later on in Genesis 15, God reminds him of the promise in the very next chapter. He's trying to help God out. Or in chapter 17 and 18, when they laugh, Abraham needs to hear the promise repeatedly, and so do you, because it's only by the promise you will ever be saved. It's only by believing God's promise that you will ever receive the inheritance, the true blessing. So, God gave Abraham a promise. What is that promise? Well, let's look at it afresh. Go to Genesis 12, and here's the first giving of the promise, if you will. Now, if you were to read the previous chapter, you know God's about to do something wonderful through this person of Abraham, because he gives a generations in 1127. And we see that Abraham is a pagan, but God loves to save pagans. How will God save pagans? He gives pagans promises. Chapter 12, verse 1. Now, the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, from your land, from your kindred and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. You might say that Abraham was going not knowing. Here's the promise. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you, I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Okay, so he's giving Abraham a promise here. And this promise involves making Abraham great. He's gonna have a great name, he's gonna have many descendants, and he's gonna have land. And the best of the promises is that actually in, somehow in Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Not just Jews, but all the families. Chapter 15, God repeats the promise. Chapter 15, verse 1. Now that's going to be very important as we understand what the inheritance is. But God is saying, Abram, I know you're freaking out, I know you still don't have a son, but remember the promise. Believe it. And we've already seen that Abram took God at his word. He amended him. He believed him. And we saw in verse 6 that God justified him. He counted Abram's faith as righteousness. Look at chapter 17, verse 5. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham, father of nations. Av, father. Am, nations. Rav, many. Avraham, father of many nations. I will make you a father of a multitude of nations, and I will make you exceedingly fruitful. This is promise language. And I will make you into nations, and interestingly enough, he promises kings, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed. Now that's important, because Paul's gonna use the exact same language. That God made a promise not only to Abraham, he made a promise to Abraham's seed. And what is this promise? I will establish it throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring, or seed, the land of your sojourners, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. Keep going. Chapter 18, verse 18. Okay, here's already sort of a picture of the triunity of God and this messenger, this angel of the Lord. He comes down in the Lord's name, with the Lord's authority, speaking as the Lord himself. And he says, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation. This is the promise. and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." And we saw that the ultimate blessing that Abraham becomes to the world is this wonderful blessing through which Jesus comes and all the nations can be blessed by trusting in the seed of Abraham. Last one, Genesis 22. This is right after Abraham is willing to, as it were, give up his son, his only son, his beloved son. It's emphatic in the Hebrew, and it's repeated only of the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. And listen to this in verse 15. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham the second time from heaven and said, by myself I have sworn. Interestingly, you may have picked up justice used that language, and I'm going to hopefully use it as well. But here is God, this angel who is God himself. By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. And I will surely multiply your seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring, here it is, they shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your offspring, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Why did I read all that? Well, one, to sort of use up a little bit of your time so you don't think I'm just giving you a 15-minute sermon, but also because this is the Bible Paul is reading. And Paul is interpreting Genesis 12, and 15, and 17, and 18, and 22, and the rest of the Old Testament in light of Christ. This is the promise Abraham says that God... This is the promise God made to Abraham and to his offspringer, to his seed, that he would be heir of the world. But you'll say, but Pastor Ryan, when you read those passages in the chapters, it just said he was going to get the land. But what happens actually as we work from 12 to 15 to 17 to 18 to 22, we see kind of an unfolding. The picture is actually of... when you plant a seed, and then it begins to grow. It's the same tree, but it begins to grow, and it begins to, as it were, take on greater characteristics and traits. And that's what's happening with the promises, that God makes this initial promise to Abraham, and he's beginning now to allow it to bloom, and to flourish, and to expand. And Paul is reading his Old Testament rightly, saying that all the promises, 2 Corinthians 1.22, they find their yes and their amen in Christ. All these promises that God made to Abraham find their yes and their amen in Christ. And you'll notice in the last one that God promised the gates of all his enemies. He doesn't just say you're going to get the land of Canaan, right? The land of Israel, we would say. But actually, you're going to get it all. that you're going to inherit more than just a small little geopolitical area called Palestine or Israel, you're gonna get the gates of your enemies. And so Paul is asking the question to these Jews who knew their Old Testament or should have, well, how did Abraham get it? Did God say, okay, Abraham, try your hardest, keep a law I haven't given you yet, circumcise yourself, maybe then maybe you can have the promised land. No, it's the land of promise. And so Abraham's saying, when you read your Old Testament, he's teaching that the promise to Abraham and to Abraham's seed, that he would be heir of the world, it did not come through law. Now, this is important because Paul, again, is using chronology. We saw last week that the promise to Abraham came before circumcision, right? Genesis 15 is before Genesis 17. Well, Paul's doing the same thing here. Because the Jew said, okay, okay, we get it. Abraham, he believed the promise before circumcision. But wasn't he a good law keeper? Turn to Galatians 3 quickly, because Paul is using the exact same argument against this exact same tactics of the Judaizers, who just say, no, Gentiles, if you are to be right before God, you need things like working, or circumcision, or at least the law. And Paul is almost identical here. He's using the exact same argument. Chapter 3, verse 15. He says, let me give you a human example. Now, the word covenant carries the same idea as the word promise, okay? When two people get married, they make a covenant. But really what that is is a fancy way of saying we're making a binding promise. Paul says, to give a human example, brothers and sisters, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Right? Once you sign, you can't start adding conditions. Now, the promises were made to Abram and his offspring. That's exactly what he's saying in Romans 4. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring, or as I always translate it, and to your seed, going back to Genesis 3.15. And who is the seed? Is it Isaac? Not Isaac. Maybe it's Jacob who becomes Israel. No, says Paul. Actually, the seed is Christ. This is what I mean. The law which came, what does it say? It came 430 years afterwards. Circumcision came a couple decades after the promise. Paul says here in Galatians chapter 3 that the law of Moses came 430 years after the promise. How could Abraham keep that? Does he get resurrected 430 years? Is there some kind of weird time continuum? Saying it's impossible for Abraham to receive the promise by the law because the law came 430 years after him. Does that make sense? The Jews weren't reading their Bibles. They would listen to rabbis pontificate upon traditions, upon traditions, upon traditions, upon traditions. And Jesus says, by your traditions you've nullified the very command and word of God. And so be very careful. I hope that you guys put your nose in this book a lot. I hope you're studying it. I hope you're reading your Old Testaments. I hope you have reading plans. I'm not trying to be legalistic. But it's wonderful to see this wonderful thread all throughout Scripture that God loves to justify the ungodly who take God at His promise. And they don't add to His Word. They don't take away from His Word. They just simply believe it like Abraham. And so he says, this is what I mean, the law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified. That's the covenant of Genesis 15. Abraham believes, covenant ratified. And you can't change it, you can't add terms and conditions, right? You're buying a house, you both sign it, you can't say, well, I want you to throw this in. Sorry, buddy, you signed it. Okay, and that's what Paul is saying here. As it were, this covenant between God and Abram, apart from law, apart from works. And so it's ratified, it's signed, it's done. You can't add works to it. This covenant is predicated on a promise. And you can't sneak works into it. And that's important because humans love to sneak works into the promise. It's just human nature so that we can boast. But God designed this covenant, this agreement, that it would be by grace so that no flesh might boast in his presence, whether it's by works or whether it's by things like circumcision or religion or law. No. Verse 18, for if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise. That's a good proof text for Romans 4. You can't have it both ways, right? And the illustration that came to mind, it's not perfect, but imagine, right, there's one way you can hold on to law or you can hold on to promise. Now, this is not a good illustration, but our dog, she's always trying to put two toys in her mouth. And so she's got a tennis ball, and then she's got this other thing. And so she tries to do both, but to get the tennis ball, she drops the one and grabs the tennis ball, and then guess what she does? She wants the other one, but she actually has to drop the tennis ball. And that's what Paul's saying. You can't do it both. You have to choose. Are you going to be saved by law, or are you going to be saved by promise? You can't mingle them. Are you going to be saved by works, or are you going to be saved by faith? You can't mingle them. Are you going to be saved by what you do, or are you going to be saved by trusting what God has done? And Paul makes it unequivocally clear. You can't have it both ways. They're mutually exclusive, right? Light, darkness. You can't do it that way. And so Paul says, if you want to be saved by works, chapter 5, Christ is made of none effect to you. You have fallen from grace. He's not saying you lose your salvation, but he says if you're under law, you can't be under grace. We're going to see that in chapter 6. And he has to remind these Christians who are tempted to forget the promise. And like Abraham, though believers somehow go back and think that God will accept us if we kind of clean up our mess, if we double down or we try hard. No, Abraham was saved, he received the blessing, he will get the inheritance simply by trusting the God who raises the dead. No. The law serves a different purpose. Back to Romans 4. The promise to Abram and his seed, his offspring, that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law. Rather, it came through the righteousness of faith. Not one commentator, not one sermon I listened to dealt with this. And I'm a very unique individual, and I couldn't get past this. Why did Paul say this? Shaddai said that Abraham would become heir of the world, not through the law, but through faith. But why does he say through righteousness? Now, this is very important, because we studied this in Sunday school this morning. That if you are to dwell in a heavens and earth wherein God dwells, you must be righteous. Now, God's presence was typified, symbolized in the Garden of Eden. And we saw this morning that God created Adam and Eve morally righteous. We saw that in Ephesians 4.24 and Colossians 3.10 and 11. This is where you need to think, that if you want to inherit the new heavens and the new earth, here's my paraphrase, you need righteousness. You don't get new heavens and new earth without 100% perfect righteousness. That's why Paul says it. So the question is this, if you need perfect righteousness, how do you get it? Do you get it by law, or do you get perfect righteousness by faith? Not mostly righteousness. God doesn't grate on the curve. He's not like, all right, Anthony, you got 90%, but you're Dutch. Come on in. Just don't hit your head on the door. That's not how God works, and that's why Paul says that. That's interesting. I don't know why people... Abram gets the inheritance by righteousness. But what did we learn about Abraham in chapter 4, verse 4 and 5 and 6? Abraham was ungodly. Like the rest of humanity, Romans 118, he's ungodly, he's ungodly, he's unrighteous. So he can't get it by works because works can't earn us righteousness because we've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We all lack what God requires. We don't have that righteousness. Here's a verse that came to mind yesterday. It's a weird one, but it's in Psalm 10. It says, Yahweh is righteous and he loves righteousnesses and the upright shall behold his face. What is going on there? If you want to dwell before a holy God, you need a perfect righteousness. And the law cannot give it to you. So how did Abraham get this perfect righteousness? He didn't have the law. But I'll say this, even if he did, he wouldn't have got it. Because no one can keep the law. Because the law does one thing to us as sinners. It condemns us. It reveals transgression. It shows the knowledge of sin. So that's my little rabbit trail, but I think an important one. If you want the inheritance, if you want to inherit the world, you need perfect righteousness, right? People will say this. I think this was Kennedy and evangelism explosion. And when you're sharing the gospel with people, you can ask them, Why should God let you into His holy heaven? The Christian answer would say, He will only let those in who have a perfect righteousness. But this perfect righteousness is only attained by a childlike faith, by receiving righteousness. And that's the whole argument of Romans 3 and 21, all the way into Romans chapter 5. You don't get this righteousness by working. You don't get this righteousness by religion. You don't get this righteousness by law. You get it by faith. What a wonderful reminder. And I would ask you this morning, if Christ returned, or if you got in an accident on the way home, and you died, and you stood before a holy God, and he says, where is your righteousness? Are you gonna present to him yours, which he cannot receive? Or will you say, with the song we often sing, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness, my glorious robe, my righteous dress. My righteousness is Jesus Christ, and I have received that by taking you at your word, by believing the gospel. Kids, you need to ask yourself this. We're all gonna die. We're all gonna stand before a holy God, sitting on his holy throne, who has holy commands that we have unholy broken. And God demands perfection. And if you've broken one, you've broken them all. A perfect God demands perfection. Jesus himself said it. You, therefore, must be perfect, Matthew 5, 48, even as my Father in heaven is perfect. Light must dwell with light. In him, says John, there is no darkness, none at all. So I put it before you. Whose righteousness? The righteousness of law? The righteousness of doing? The righteousness of religion? Or the righteousness of Christ? And Paul says this in Romans 10, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to him who believes. Wonderful, isn't it? No more trying to earn righteousness by law-keeping. It's that little ditty that John Bunyan wrote. Run and climb, the law demands, but gives you neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings, it bids us fly and gives us wings. No longer are you trying to climb and claw your way up because you're no longer under law. You're under grace. And the realm of grace is simply a life of faith and receiving the promise afresh. Let me also apply this quickly. If you're in Christ, we're going to see, the inheritance is guaranteed, right? If the inheritance is by working, you're in trouble, because you can lose it. Can I have a good day? Yes, the inheritance is mine. You have a bad day? I'm in trouble. But if you're in Christ, and the Bible says nothing will separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we're in this realm of grace, Romans 5 says, that we've access into God's blessing by faith, it means that you are an inheritor. You have an inheritance, says Peter, that is undefiled, imperishable, and unfading, kept in heaven for you by the power of God, who threw faith. So you walk by faith, remembering the promise. How did Abraham walk? When he forgot his inheritance was in the heavens, he made lots of dumb decisions. I'm not a prophet, but I'll say this. You probably make some of your most foolish decisions, Christians, when you forget what your true inheritance is. So here's a great application. Remember, you have the heavens and the earth that are yours in Christ. And of course, I thought of Ephesians 1. And this is a wonderful prayer. Paul says, I've heard of your faith that you have in Jesus and the love which you have towards one another. I pray that the Spirit will give you wisdom and revelation. And he says, I want you to know three things. I didn't listen to the sermon, but Spurgeon preached the sermon I told Christine. It's the three what's. The three what's, or the three prayer requests of Paul for the believers in Ephesians 1. What is the hope of your calling? And the second is like unto it. What is the glorious inheritance of God for or in the saints? If you remember, your names are written in heaven, read Revelation, all these things Jesus promises a suffering people. Your inheritance isn't things of the world. I hope the sister, I hope she's here, but at Grace Group, on Friday we're working through Sola Fide, and we're doing prayer requests, and the sister was just saying, sort of when Filipinos come into Canada, they don't have a lot. And there's this pressure within the Filipino immigrant community that you need to get a house and a car. And if you don't have all these things, you're frowned upon or looked down upon. And so they get two and three jobs, and they just keep working and living and trying to accumulate. If only we, not only the Filipinos, but we would understand. We have it all. How differently would we live? If you knew, right? So, if you knew that you were going to inherit tomorrow a million dollars, how would that change your day, even though you have a cold, or it's cold outside, or you didn't have a great day? Knowing that tomorrow you get your inheritance, it changes how you live today. That's practical. Abraham, it's all yours. Something better than Canaan. Look as far as you can see. Let Lord have that. I got something better for you. I've got for you an everlasting city, a city with true foundations, whose maker and architect is God. And I think that changed how Abraham walked or lived. And I promise you this, that if you walk by faith and not by sight, if you keep your mind set on things in the heavens, Colossians 3, 1 and 2, it will change how you live on earth. I hate this saying, and I repudiate the saying of Moody with all of my heart. He says, those who are so heavenly-minded that they're no earthly good. I would flip it, and I would say, Mr. Moody, far too often we are earthly-minded and no heavenly good. And so keep your minds fixed in the heavens. And that's not just an all-millennial talking point. I know we get trashed for that, and it's not practical, like the postmales. No, no, no, no. When I understand this, it changes how I live. If you understood, you're an heir of the world. It will change how you live today. Well, let's keep going here. You get this new heavens, this new earth, the world through the righteousness of or that comes by faith. Verse 14. Paul's logic continues, for, if it is the adherence of the law, or literally, if you're reading the old King James, for it is, if it is those who are of the law, my paraphrase, those who are depending on the law, if it is those who are to be heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. And that, I'm just going back to the argument, you can't have it both ways. God said it's by promise. Therefore, it can't be by works. God said it's by promise. Therefore, it can't be by circumcision. God said it's by promise. Therefore, it can't be law. You can't have it both ways. And so, it's like our dog, right? If you drop promise to pick up law, then no longer is the promise in your hand. Sort of like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress, he was to keep that promise near his bosom and not to lose it, because that promise is the only way by which he can get into the Celestial City. And so just remember that. When you sin this week, not if you sin, you'll be tempted to somehow pay God back and be more religious. And at that moment, you need to remember the promise. The reason why you sinned is because you forgot the promise. The reason why you'll try to be a law keeper is because you'll forget the promise. And so remember the promise to keep you from sin, but also remember the promise after you've sinned to keep you from becoming a Pharisee. And so what's the admonition? Keep the promise before your eyes. And understand, even when you sin, As a sinner, how are you going to stand before God? How are you going to inherit the world? Not by trying hard after you sin. You don't come into the kingdom by trying hard, and you don't stay in the kingdom by trying hard. You're in the kingdom from start to last by faith. From faith unto faith. The righteous shall live by faith. What happens then? If it was by law, two things would happen. Faith would be null, and the promise is void. So, I quickly asked my wife before I came into the pulpit if she had her checkbook. Now this is, dinosaurs used to write these back in the day when they roamed the earth. A lot of young people have, do you guys know what a check, Kathariel, do you know what a check is? Checkbook? Okay, so what does this say here on the check here, Kathariel? You didn't bring your glasses? What does it say? It says void. Okay, and so, imagine I wrote a check and I gave it to you, Kathariel, but it didn't say void. It said, pay to the order of Kathariel Pirellis, and I signed my name on it, and I gave it to you, okay? This isn't the money, but if I say a million dollars on there, this is worth a million dollars. It's a promise, it's a pledge, it's a picture of a covenant. Here you go, Kathariel, but you have to just receive it. And if Kathariel receives it, receives the promise, trusts, he's a Baptist pastor, how can he have a million dollars? I got some sick side hustles, let's just imagine that. No, I'm kidding. And so this is basically what God does in salvation. He gives you a check and you receive it. You carry it close to your bosom, you enter into heaven, and you cash it as it were. And what Paul is saying, that if you try to add works to it, you void the check. And say you don't even know what the word void means. So imagine I have this check, I give it to Kathariel, and all of a sudden, an invisible hand writes void because you're trying to work for it, and you try to give it to Mr. Nathan. Will Mr. Nathan, Dutchman as he is, will he give you the million dollars this check says? No, he'll say, Kathariel, that check has been voided. That's what Paul's saying. I don't know if it's a great illustration, it's the only one I got, so you're gonna have to live with it, but that's what happens when we try to work And Paul says, when you believe me, Katharel, that I have this money, and then you cash it, right, Mr. Nathan gives you the money, it honors me, because you trusted not so much this piece of paper, but you actually trusted the name that has signed off on it. You trust that I have the funds, and you trust that I'm a man of my word, right? A promise is only as good as the one who gives it. And if you're in Christ, understand there's no void on it. Okay? And that's what Paul is saying, is the moment you start working for your salvation, you void promise. You can't be saved both ways. You have to choose. You can't sort of do it mostly God and a little bit me. It's either all of promise, it's all of grace, or it's all of works and all of law. And Paul has already shown us, it can't be by law. It can't be by works. It can't be by religion, because we're sinners. Okay? So just remember that. Remember, you're gonna be tempted, Christian, to somehow try to mingle faith and works. You're gonna be trying to mingle grace and law. And you can't mingle them. You can't mingle them. You're either saved by promise or you're saved by keeping. You're either saved by faith or saved by works. choose then this day which you will be saved by. I tell you, you can't be saved by works, or law-keeping, or baptism, or circumcision, or anything else. Verse 15. Why can you not be saved by law? Because law was never given to save, right? It's like the guy on the construction site. Like hammers, they're good for certain things, but they're not good for all things. The law is good for some things, but it's not good for other things. You have to follow the designer's instructions. And the law wasn't given to save. It can't. So what does the law do here? We already saw in chapter 3, verse 20 and 21, the law, reveals sin, right? It says here, you can't be justified by your works or through law, because through the law comes knowledge of sin. He says the same thing here. It's identical, okay? Chapter four, verse 15 is just another way of saying chapter three, verse 20, right? If you're a Bible note taker, you're putting in cross references, he's saying the same thing. Why would you repeat yourself, Paul? Because we need to keep hearing this. The law can't save, the law won't save. The law can only point us to Christ. For the law, you'll notice when I was reading this, the Yesvi says brings. I hate that, I don't like that translation. I don't hate it, I just don't like it. The Greek word is works. He takes the word ergon and he turns it into a verb. Her goods am I. And so what he's doing here is he says, law does work, but not salvation. That's why he can't be saved by works. Working only works wrath. It's a play on words, a little bit of a punnery. And so if you want to be saved by law, you're going to be sorely mistaken by what it does. If you are holding on to law, you're going to find out on Judgment Day that the law didn't bring you salvation. All the law does is bring wrath. And this was a confusing statement when I was a young Christian, so I want to explain it, because some of you are like, what is Paul saying? Where there is no law, there is no transgression. I was like, what? Was there no, right, was there no sin between Adam and Moses? Chapter five says the same thing. No, no, no, what Paul is saying here, and then every commentator I read, they were all unanimous in their agreement, is that the law, in the words of chapter seven, reveals sin to be transgression. The law reveals our rebel hearts. So here's my analogy, and I know Justice would be getting sleepy during the sermon, so I'd bring in a fishing illustration. So in Manitoba, when you go fishing, we go in boats in Manitoba, because the water's deep, and the picker like to be down, walleye like to be down in the cold water. Now, you know there's fish down there, but you can't see them. So there's this handy little gadget, Justice is writing on his Christmas wish list right now, it's called a fish finder. Now, the fish finder doesn't make the fish appear. The fish finder shows you under the water what's already there. Now, you can't see them. I wish I could look in the water and like, Justice, cast over there. But the fish finder reveals something that's already there, and that's what the law does. Sin is already there. There was sin, right? Adam transgressed. He sinned against the commandment we saw in Sunday school this morning. But for those who don't, say, have an explicit law, the sin is there. They just don't see it. Or the illustration that came to my mind now, and I'm still trying to grapple with it, is sometimes, you know, when you get your mail, we're old school, we still get our bills in the mail, and you'll say, City of Lethbridge. And right away I'm like, oh, which, is this utilities? Like, which is this? Because some of you know that when you get a City of Lethbridge envelope in the mail, it's photo radar ticket. Right, you ever seen those? They even got a picture of it. Yeah, that's my license plate. And so you get it, and you're like, I didn't know it was speeding, I didn't know it was a fifth, I didn't know it was a, there's like playground zones everywhere. I remember a couple years ago, Nathan, remember we were driving? Filthy guys, they added, it was a 30, and Nathan's driving, and it's like, oh, someone's taking our picture. And they changed it to 9 p.m. And say we didn't know they took a picture of Nathan. And he gets the check, and he's like, did Nathan speed? Yes. Did he know about it? No. It reveals something that's already there. And so you look at it, and you're like, oh, I have no excuse. I blame my wife. I'm like, where were you driving at that time on that day? She's like, I wasn't even home. So that's what the law does. Just remember, it's the fish finder, or it's the photo radar. The law doesn't make you sin, it shows you you're a sinner. Romans 7 is going to show that. Paul was covetous. Do you remember in Romans 7? And then he reads the law. Did the law make him covetous? No, it revealed. It revealed he was covetous. The law reveals we're rebels. Try it. We were at the candy parade yesterday, and so Beekmans, tell your kids, no candy! That's a law. And then all of a sudden now, what do those little ragamuffins wanna do? They want that cookie, they want that Twizzler, they want that whatever. The law reveals not only that we have sinned, the law reveals that we're sinners who love to sin, we're rebels. And so Paul is saying, why would you ever wanna be saved by something that just condemns you? No, the law brings wrath. The law reveals I'm a sinner, and it puts that ticket in the mail. And then the last illustration. I'm full of illustrations this morning. They're speeding ticket illustrations. So when me and Christina were dating, we were driving through Minnesota. And I've never driven through Minnesota before. So we're just driving through some redneck area. It's dark. And then the cherries come on, and he pulls me over. And he gave me a ticket. No warning, no mercy. He's like, do you know how fast you're going? I'm like, yeah, I was doing 65. Do you know what the speed limit is? I'm like, I'm from Manitoba. We're illiterate. I can't even read. I didn't say that. But what I was saying is, I've never been here. I don't know where all the speeding signs are. And I thought, I'm still bitter to this moment, so pray for me. I'm still bitter. He showed me no mercy. But that's a picture of law. I broke the law, and the law gives no mercy. So why would I trust in that unmerciful law and policemen? I didn't know. He still gave me the ticket. What would have happened if I tried to fight it in court? He has my license, he has me on the speed thing. I'm guilty. I didn't know I was guilty. All of a sudden, it's revealed that I'm guilty. I am not going to trust in things like that. I'm going to run to things like promise. And so that's all the law can do. For you legalists out there who want to somehow, you know, stand before God and say, I'm such a great law keeper. No, the law doesn't show you how awesome you are. It actually reveals how wicked you are. And you can read the same thing in Galatians 3. The law is actually a gift. We are wicked. We are sinful. And God gives us the law to show us that we're wicked and sinful. God gives us the law to show us we can't be saved by doing or being religious. The law shows us if we are ever to be saved, it's only by looking to the promise which God gave Abraham. The promise of a son. The promise of inheritance. The promise of salvation. And so that's what Paul says in Romans 4 and in Galatians 3. The promise is here, and all the law does is say, don't run to me, run back. The fish finder says, the fish are down there, go get them. The law says, the promise is out there, just believe it. Almost done. This is why we're not saved by law. Because promise comes before law, law condemns, and the law voids promises. This is great because you're going to run into lots of people. It's human nature to be a law keeper, to earn salvation. Every religion does it. Every single one. And so these are practical messages to help you, yourself, cling to Christ, especially after you've sinned, Christian, but also to share the gospel. This is radically different. This blew the minds of the Judaizers. It will blow the minds of your fellow co-workers and fellow co-students and your neighbors and strangers you meet. Verse 16, and we'll close here. This is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace. Okay, so this is Pilgrim's Progress. You remember when Christian and faithful, they take another path, right? They try to take an easier path, and they're transgressing or trespassing on land they shouldn't be, and there's this giant who catches them sleeping. If you've not read The Pilgrim's Progress, I wanna encourage you parents, read it with your kids. There's lots of reader's editions, there's lots of children's editions, but just follow me here. So Christian, Faithful they're on their way to the celestial city and they veer off the path because they lose sight of the promise you lose sight of the promise you'll veer off the path into transgression and sin and There's this nasty giant and he grabs them and he locks them up in the castle Despair and see her you're a Christians who believe the promise and they're in this sort of big birdcage and And giant despair wants them to off themselves, right? There's bones and skulls everywhere, and he's beating them with a cudgel. And they're there, and they almost lose hope. And then all of a sudden, something comes upon Christian's mind. He remembers something that has always been there. Does anyone remember this? It's something near his bosom, actually. It's near his heart. It's the... Who said, who said, key loud? Very good. Joe, keep reading it to your boys. Very good, Judah. It's the key of promise. I thought it was just for unbelievers. No, here are two Christians smarting under their sin, and they're locked away, and they're moaning and wishing they weren't alive. And they've forgotten the promise. And the key is faith. And what does Christian do? He takes that key, and it seems to open up the door. And that's a wonderful illustration for us. So imagine there's a lock, right? This is back in my day when we couldn't put codes in, but you actually had to put a key in the door and turn it. And you know when it's cold and you got like 18 keys on your chain, and you're trying to find, it's like, none of them work! One of them does. So imagine the lock is called Grace. And that lock has been designed for only one key. Okay? That grace, you can put in this key of circumcision, doesn't open, right? Put in the key of baptism, doesn't open. Put in the key of religion, doesn't open. The key of works, doesn't open. Every other key won't work. There's one key that God has designed to work with the lock of grace. That's the language here. The law brings wrath. And this is why the inheritance, the promise, salvation, justification, this is why it depends on faith. The law is designed for something. It's not designed to open the door of salvation. The law is designed to point you to the door of salvation. And the only key that will open it up is the key of promise, the key of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, which ought to be in your bosom, in your heart, and in your mouth, says Paul. So it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace. You're only saved by grace, Ephesians 2.8. It's through faith, but you're saved by grace, by God's gift, by what God has done in Christ, right? Chapter 3, this redemption is in Christ, whom God put forward, and it's received by faith, he says. And the only way for you to be saved by grace is through faith. You can't be saved by grace through works. You can only be saved by grace through faith. Now, here's where I want to close, because here's a wonderful application for two things, evangelism and assurance. Let's start with assurance. If the promise is guaranteed by works, you'll have no assurance. And there's lots of Christians who grow up in certain backgrounds, and they're always working, and they never have assurance. If you've ever read John Bunyan, he has an autobiography called Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and he wrestled with assurance. And he thought he committed the unforgivable sin, he blasphemed. As a human, he thought, there's no way God will forgive me. And he lived in turmoil. That burden got bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger on his back. And then all of a sudden, God in his mercy made the gospel clear to Mr. Bunyan. And here's a loose paraphrase of his own testimony from the book. And when God opened up his eyes and showed him that he was saved by faith, he says, then and there I realized that my righteousness is in heaven because my righteousness is Christ. And all of a sudden now, his righteousness wasn't on earth. His righteousness wasn't in him. It wasn't what he was doing. He could say with the hymn writer, not all my tears, Could my zeal no respite? No. Could my tears forever flow? Not even all of my feeling bad about sin. A lot of people think that's how they'll get saved. I just hate myself enough. God hates sin, I'll hate my sin. Then he'll let me in. That's not the key of promise. And so Bunyan, he had this hypersensitive conscience, and then it dawned on him. My righteousness is in heaven. And this righteousness is secured only by faith in God's promise, because salvation is by grace. And I'm not gonna go there, I wanted to, but I mentioned justice mentioning of Hebrews chapter six. And it's a chapter where the writer, perhaps Paul, is trying to give assurance to these Jewish Christians who are tempted to go back to the easy way. They don't like persecution for the sake of the name. And so he reminds them of God's promise which he made to Abraham. And he says that when we understand a couple of things, this promise that God made to Abraham and to his seed, to those who believe, it's like an unshakable anchor for the soul. And you need to understand that this promise that God has made has been signed by God himself. You could even say for, you know, vivid imagery, Christ himself has signed it in his blood. And so what is Paul saying here? The promise rests on grace, and because it rests on grace, it's guaranteed. So if I gave this check to Kathariel, this one here that doesn't say void, and it says a million dollars, and I sign my name, you're like, I don't think he's got that much money. Have you seen his shoes? It's like he took a marker this morning, and he colored over some of the spots. I did do that this morning. But imagine you know someone who has the money and they've signed their name, right? So I like this word guaranteed. I think the King James says sure, but I like the word guaranteed. It's a little better. Because the promise of salvation and inheritance has been signed by God himself who's made this promise, you can have assurance. You don't have to sign it, Kathariel. The one who signed it is good. He's put his name on the line, Hebrews 6 says. He made this oath in his own name. And if he doesn't make good on his promise, his name is to forever be blasphemed, which he will not allow. But since his name will forever be praised and he put his name on that promise, you can put your head down when you go to sleep. In the words of Luth, you can even sin boldly. After you've done unspeakable things, Christian, remember the only way you are ever saved is by God's promise, and He guarantees it to you in Christ. That's for your assurance. Remembering you're saved by grace and not works ought to bring you unspeakable assurance, because Christ never sinned. He always obeyed, and your righteousness is in heaven. Let me apply it lastly to missions. You don't have to go around preaching. You need to get baptized, you need to become religious, start coming to church for six days, you need a period of mourning, right? Some people preach that. You can boldly, confidently go to India, or to the Philippines, or to university, or to work, to irreligious people! Or you can go to hyper-religious people, and they don't need to become something first. Is that what the text is saying? Paul is saying, since it's on grace and not law, you can go to the lawless Gentiles. The Gentiles don't need to become lawful. They don't need to take on the law of Moses. Right? If they need to be saved by the law of Moses, that means they must first learn the law of Moses. But this text says here, since it rests on grace through faith, all of God's elect, all of his seed, Jew and Gentile, can be guaranteed. You can go and preach the gospel to the vilest of sinners or the most religious of sinners, and you can remember that it's by faith. You can preach the gospel, and people can be saved, that this salvation is guaranteed to all the offspring. to Jews who have the law, and to Gentiles who don't have the law. The law's not bad. The law's good. But the law doesn't bring salvation. The law is not the key. And so you can go to people who don't have the law, and you can say, here's the key. Here's the promise. Now, the law will point them, of course, to the promise. But this is wonderful. You should preach the gospel confidently, unashamedly, unreservedly. You don't pick and choose. That guy looks like he's religious, maybe he'll receive the gospel. No, go and preach the gospel to Jew and to Gentile alike. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. The law is not the power of God for salvation, but the gospel is. So, let me quickly apply it three ways by way of reminder. You get this promise, or you receive this promise by faith. The inheritance? By faith. If you're going to enter into God's holy heaven, it's only by faith. That should change how you live. You have an inheritance that no one can steal from you. Streets of gold, right? Unbridled joy, everlasting, right? Say with David in Psalm 16, if you're a Christian, the lions have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have. A beautiful inheritance. You might never be a millionaire, you might never be rich, you might be poor all your life, Christian, but that's not your inheritance. You have a far greater inheritance. Now live like it. How would you live if you knew you're getting your inheritance tomorrow? Honestly, think about that, right? Tomorrow I'm getting a million dollars. Well, I got something better than a million dollars. Two million dollars? No, even better than that. You have the promise of the world. Second application, I hope this gives you great assurance. You're saved by grace and you're kept by grace. It's wonderful. Run to the promise. Run to the promise, especially after you've sinned. And lastly, preach this promise, that there's no preconditions. You just offer the promise and tell people to receive it by faith. Okay, it's just a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful thing to share with others. Well, let's pray, and then we'll close with a song. I know it's gone a little bit long, but I trust that the Lord will use this message. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would you help us to walk by faith? to not walk by sight. Would you help us, who are of the seed of Abraham, even those who are, as it were, uncircumcised, pagans, Gentiles, would you help us to remember that this promise comes not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Thank you for the righteousness that you impute to all who trust in Christ. irrespective of their background or age or sex, irrespective of how much money they have or how moral they might be. Father, would you also grant us great assurance. And Father, lastly, I pray, would you help us when we're preaching the gospel not to tell people to flee to the cities of civility or morality. I pray that we'd be like evangelists and not Mr. Legality, that we would point people to the Lord Jesus Christ, because all Mount Sinai can do is doom, and all it can do is work wrath. And so, Father, we pray that we would flee from that and find grace in Jesus Christ. The law came by Moses. Thank you that grace and truth came in Jesus Christ our Lord. And Father, for those who are struggling with pain or maybe financial problems or struggling with discouragement, Father, I think of Luke 15. where the father said to the son, all that is mine is yours. Father, would you help us to remember that in Christ, we are joint heirs of it all. Would you help us to live accordingly, we ask in your son's most worthy and precious name, amen.