Nov 15
28
Law Established
Romans 3:31 “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid:
yea, we establish the law.”
Faith does not add to salvation but through faith we trust Christ who is
our Salvation. We see the grace wherein we stand. Thusly, the law is not
made void but in every way established.
Faith establishes the law as the embodiment of God’s character. A
believer knows what the law of God requires thus seeing God as holy,
holy, holy. What righteousness!
Faith establishes the law in that the law finds natural man totally
unrighteous, unfit, incapable of approaching God. “…for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.” (Rom 3:20) Saving faith compares my deeds to what
the law demands, showing me my need of a substitute.
Holy law is a magnificent steed
Too many hands high
For me to mount and ride to glory
No matter how I try
Faith establishes the law as the witness to Christ’s perfect obedience.
Made of a woman, made under the law, Christ fulfilled the law in every
respect. The sinner saved by grace delights to hear the law declare
Christ righteous for He is our Righteousness.
Faith establishes the law as a witness that God is both just and
justifier. The law reveals sin in us and the wages of sin are death. God
can in no wise clear the guilty. But by the wisdom of God, Christ is the
spotless Lamb, set forth to be the propitiation through faith in His blood.
Faith establishes the law because the believer’s sincere desire is to
obey the law for the sake of Christ who loved us and gave himself for
us. Not that we might obtain a righteousness; our righteousness has been
obtained. Not that we might become holy; in Christ we are holy. But
rather, the true desire toward obedience to God in every believer is the
fruit of the Spirit with which we have been sealed. Because of all that
Christ has accomplished, God by the work of the Holy Spirit, writes his
law upon the heart of every believer. There is no longer a spirit of
bondage but a spirit of adoption, whereby we desire to be like Christ.
And thanks to the faithful Abba, Father in which we worship, one day we
will.
Clay Curtis
The law is lawfully used as a means of conviction of sin: for this
purpose it was promulgated (established) at Sinai. The law entered, that
sin might abound: not to make men more wicked, though occasionally and
by abuse it has that effect, but to make them sensible how wicked they
are. Having God’s law in our hands, we are no longer to form our
judgments by the maxims and customs of the world, where evil is called
good, and good evil; but are to try every principle, temper, and
practice, by this standard. Could men be prevailed upon to do this, they
would soon listen to the Gospel with attention. On some the Spirit of
God does thus prevail: then they earnestly make the jailer’s inquiry,
“What must I do to be saved?” Here the work of grace begins; and the
sinner, condemned in his own conscience, is brought to Jesus for life.
When we use the law as a glass to behold the glory of God, we use it
lawfully. His glory is eminently revealed in Christ; but much of it is
with a special reference to the law, and cannot be otherwise discerned.
We see the perfection and excellence of the law in his life. God was
glorified by his obedience as a man. What a perfect character did he
exhibit! Yet it is no other than a transcript of the law. Such would
have been the character of Adam and all his race, had the law been duly
obeyed. It appears therefore a wise and holy institution, fully capable
of displaying that perfection of conduct by which man would have
answered the end of his creation. And we see the inviolable strictness
of the law in his death, There the glory of God in the law is
manifested. Though he was the beloved Son, and had yielded personal
obedience in the utmost perfection, yet, when he stood in our place to
make atonement for sin, he was not spared. From what he endured in
Gethsemane and upon the cross, we learn the meaning of that awful
sentence, “The soul that sinneth shall die.”
John Newton
Purpose and Providence
Tommy Robbins
“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do
it.” 1Th 5:23-24
Divine Providence is the unfolding of Divine purpose in time. God’s
eternal purpose and providence is essentially and vitally connected with
the Lord Jesus Christ and His redemption of those whom He has loved with
an everlasting love and His bringing them to eternal glory. All things
in time are ordained by Almighty God to this glorious two-fold end; the
glory of God and the eternal good of the children of God – “And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose” Romans 8:28. Everything,
EVERYTHING! that transpires in time, from beginning to end, is concerned
with the salvation and preservation of God’s elect and His glory therein.
There is no person or no thing that He brings into existence that does
not move according to this, His great design. Every atom is under
subjection to Divine Omnipotence to the praise of the glory of the same.
We therefore confidently conclude without fear or trepidation that God
and His Christ is and will be glorified in all things and we, His
people, are saved with an everlasting salvation.
My brethren, be assured, every trial, every sorrow, every affliction,
every failure, every success, every joy, every happiness, is
meticulously attended by Divine Omniscience, Omnipresence and scrutiny,
to perfection – “Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it”.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the
express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His
power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high” Hebrews 1:3. May our God give us rest in
His blessed Son knowing that present and future history is charted by
unfailing love and certain success.
THE Promise of God
Maurice Montgomery
The promises of God, “said one man, “are like the clothes we wear; if
there is life in the body, they warm us, but not otherwise. Where there
is living faith, God’s promises afford warm comfort.” Thus we can say
with Luther, “Although I am a sinner, yet I despair not; for Christ, who
is my Redeemer and righteousness, liveth. In Him I have no sin, no fear,
no sting of conscience, and no fear of judgment. In Christ there is no
condemnation. I am indeed a sinner as touching this present life, but I
have a righteousness of God which is above this life, who is Christ my
Lord. In Him I rejoice.”
The Children of the promise.
Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the
glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of
God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.
Amen. 6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they
are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be
called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are
not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed.
The message of this passage of scripture is simple, clear and
unmistakable. The earthly nation of Israel are not God’s people. That is
plainly stated in verses 7 and 8. God’s people are called here the seed
and the children of promise and being a Jew does not make you one of
those. Only those who are chosen in Christ (the Seed) from before the
foundation of the world are God’s people. Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of
many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Galatians 3:29
And if ye be Christ‘s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according
to the promise.
All of the promises of blessing in Christ are made to the heirs of the
promise, not earthly Israel, but spiritual Israel. Nothing could be more
plainly revealed in the word of God. Many consider the earthly nation of
Israel to have some kind of divine protection and favor from God. Let me
be clear about this: If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ being a Jew
will not keep you from suffering God’s eternal wrath in Hell, and if you
receive Him, believe on Him, being a Gentile will in no way hinder you
from enjoying all spiritual blessings in Him. The favor of God is in
Christ, not in bloodlines or family trees.- Chris Cunningham.
A God You Cannot Satisfy, A Law You Cannot Keep . . .
I have tried diligently to preach God as He really is, to sinners as
they really are, and to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Mediator
between the holy God and sinful men, the all-glorious Redeemer who
accomplished, by Himself, the reconciliation of His people (II Cor.
5:18-21). I have tried, and shall continue to do so, to preach to you:
1. A God you cannot satisfy,
2.A law you cannot keep,
3.An obedience you cannot produce,
4.A righteousness you cannot produce,
5.A love you cannot give,
6.Sin you cannot get rid of,
7.A judgment you cannot endure,
8.A repentance you cannot produce,
9.A faith which God alone can give,
10.But … a Christ who fully satisfied God for sinners and who freely
saves the vilest of sinners. I urge you to look to Him, believe Him,
trust Him, and confidently commit your guilty soul unto Him. Simply hug
up to Him in childlike faith and trust, and all will be well with your
soul. In Him there is no condemnation.
Pastor Maurice Montgomery