Good morning to everyone. Thank you, Andrew, for leading us. Appreciate that. Excited this morning. 

When I stand out here and get ready to come up to the pulpit, I often look at Philip's picture there and think about the time in India. And now I was looking at that, and I thought, well, here he is right here. So it's a pleasure to have you here. We appreciate the Lord's grace and blessing in bringing you to us. And we're looking forward to a report. 

I had such a tremendous, really life-changing time when Guy and I went to India and met Philip and preached and taught in some of those villages and saw what they do there. And we were encouraged so much because what they do is they go out and preach the gospel. And that's what we've been commanded to do. So it's very, very good to have you here. 

We're continuing our study in the book of Galatians this morning, and really a most fascinating passage of scripture. You'll remember that the context of this epistle is in the region of Galatia where Paul had gone preaching the gospel of Christ. And we saw last time that when he came to this region, the people gladly received Paul. And they gladly received his gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus alone. 

They had tremendous fellowship. Remember, Paul said they would have even plucked out their own eyes and given them to him if that were possible. And Paul spent time there teaching them. The churches were established. The believers were growing. They were running well, Paul says. And God was being glorified. 

But then legalistic Jews from Jerusalem came and began to preach to the people there a heteros, a different gospel, a gospel of faith plus works, desiring to place the believers under the law of Moses as a rule of life. And this caused a great deal of confusion and turmoil in the churches, so much so that in chapter 2, we see that even Peter and Barnabas were carried away with their hypocrisy and were not straightforward about the gospel. 

This was a very serious situation. And the essence of the issue was a clear distinction and demarcation between the old and the new covenant as an economy, as a way of life. Both schools here, Paul and the Judaizers, taught faith in Christ. They taught the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. They taught Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Jesus as the Savior from sin and death and hell. 

Paul taught that this salvation was supernatural, that it was by grace alone, that it is the work of God, the gift of God through faith alone and Jesus alone in what He accomplished on the cross. Paul taught that justification is a legal declaration of righteousness, whereby because of faith, God imputes His righteousness to us and our sins to Christ on the cross. 

He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. This is instantaneous at the point of faith. And along with this comes regeneration, the new birth. The Judaizers said, yes, you must have faith in Jesus. But there's a natural element to this salvation as well. You must do your part in order to be saved. You must keep the law of Moses and earn righteousness to some degree. 

Salvation is a sort of progressive justification, whereby we are working our way toward righteousness through the works of the law. Our brothers and sisters, this heresy has never gone away. And we will see in our text today that it still persists in the form of every legalistic, humanistic, man-centered, works-righteous religion of our day, particularly those denominations that name the name of Christ but deny Him by their doctrine. 

The problem was not just a false gospel in Galatia. This was bad enough, bad enough for Paul to announce a curse on anyone who would preach it. But this false teaching was also impacting the believers there. And the perverting of the gospel was troubling, was confusing them to the point that they were considering going back to the law and placing themselves under the bondage of the law as a way of life. 

Now, up to this point in the epistle, Paul has been abundantly clear and straightforward. He's been forceful with a righteous anger about the lies of these legalists and his concern about the effect it's having on the church. He has at length explained that we are justified by grace through faith alone. And he has also spent a great deal of time explaining that we are sanctified by grace through faith alone. The just shall live by faith. 

He takes Abraham as his example in chapter 3. These legalistic Jews would claim Abraham as their father and would claim salvation because of their physical lineage from Abraham. And we see Jesus deal with this in John chapter 8. Remember, the Pharisees came to him and were accusing him, and they claimed that Abraham was their father. 

Abraham is our father, and we've never been in bondage to anyone. And what did Jesus say? He said bluntly, you are not sons of Abraham, or else you would believe me. You are of your father, the devil, and his works you wish to do. And Paul expands on Jesus' words in places like Romans 2 and Romans 4 and here in the book of Galatians as well to show that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 

For Abraham believed the promise which God gave to him of a blessing to all nations through his seed, which is Christ. Thus only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham, not those who are of the works of the law. Salvation is by promise. That's what Paul taught us in chapter 3 and not by law. The promise was given to Abraham 430 years before the law even came to Moses. 

As we read through this letter, it is as if Paul is saying, how else can I make this clear? This is so vitally important. We must get this right. How else can I say this? Look at Galatians 2 at verse 16. Paul says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. 

Look at verse 19. Paul says, for I, through the law, died to the law in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 3.1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 

This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Verse five, therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 

Look down to verse 23. Paul says, but before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 

Again and again, Paul clearly states the truth that we do not come to life, justification, by the law, by any work, by any system or in our own power in any way. And we do not live this Christian life by any external standard, by any law, but rather by the power of the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ in and through us by grace, through faith. 

And in our text this morning, Paul's going to make one last attempt quoting from the scriptures, using a tremendous illustration to make this point clear, that we do not live under the law, that we are not under the law as a rule of life, that the law covenant must be cast out, abandoned, and we must not seek to live by the flesh, by our own power and law keeping, but by the Spirit of God, by His grace and power as we walk by faith, having been made free in Christ as He lives in and through us. 

This is an amazing passage, my friends. Complicated, but it has such rich meaning for us. Let's look at Galatians four, at verse 21. Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise, which things are symbolic. 

For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. 

For it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 

But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

I've given you five points on your outline. I'd hoped to preach a little bit shorter sermon this morning, Philip and Stephen, but it didn't work. And I actually had to just cut it off, so we're gonna get as far as we get and we'll pick it up next time. 

But five points this morning: 

1. Do you hear the law?
2. A divine illustration. 
3. Flesh versus spirit. 
4. Religious persecution. 
5. Cast out the bondwoman. 

Well, Paul's been clear, has been straightforward, has said it plainly. And now he's going to go deep with an Old Testament illustration in order to try to make his point clear and have the believers get this truth firmly fixed in our minds and hearts. And we need this. It's evident that we need this in the church even today. 

Individually, we have an ever-present tendency to turn back to some external means, some law for life in order to be righteous in our living. But for the serious Christians, those who truly desire to live a holy life, who love the word of God and the God of His word, who are seeking holiness in their lives, there's a great draw toward this kind of doctrine, looking to the law as some assistance, some means to holiness. 

And there's a great faction of the church today who have adopted as part of their system of theology the law of God as a rule of life as some sort of means to holiness. So we need this teaching. We need to cast out the bondwoman and live in the freedom for which Christ has set us free. Paul appeals to us one more time with a rather deep, complicated illustration, but it's going to set the gravity of his point in our minds. 

First, he says, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? And I wanna just go through some scriptures that we've gone through a lot lately, but they're so clear. I want you to think about them again, to renew our minds to them. He says, have you not heard the law? 

And I wanna point out again, in the context of each of these scriptures, we're going to quote now, that the moral law is mentioned specifically by example from the 10 Commandments in each of these passages. Yes, the ceremonial and civil law are included here. We saw Paul mention the days and feasts in our previous text, but the moral law is just as much a part of the old covenant law of Moses as are the others. 

First, let's look at Matthew 5. We haven't looked at this one actually, but we're gonna look at that one first. Those who desire to be under the law, do you hear the law? Matthew 5.20, this is Jesus teaching the Sermon on the Mount to legalistic Jews. 

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. That was a shock to those religious people. Just be like today saying you must be more righteous than the Pope or Mother Teresa in order to enter heaven. It's true by the way. 

Matthew 5.21, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hellfire. 

Look at verse 27, you have heard that it was said of those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And then verse 48, he summarizes this teaching and says, therefore, you shall be perfect just as your father in heaven is perfect. 

Jesus is preaching law to legalistic Jews, and he's trying to show them the futility of seeking their own righteousness through law keeping. At the end of that great sermon in 7.24, he says, therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, it says, floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it did not fall, it was founded on the rock. 

But everyone who hears these sayings of mine," what are his sayings? He's given us an expansion of the law, the far-reaching nature of the law. And he said, have you ever lusted? Have you ever been angry in your heart? Have you done these sayings of mine? Have you kept them perfectly? He said, everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand, and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, and it fell, and great was its fall. 

Those who seek righteousness through the law, those who are under the law, are building their house on the sand. If you do not do these sayings perfectly, completely, you are condemned. What you need is not law. What you need is Jesus. 

Paul said the same thing in Galatians 3, verse 10. He says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone, listen, who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. In Galatians 5, he says, if you choose to go that way, if you get circumcised and go back to the law, then you're a debtor to keep the whole law. Every jot and tittle. 

Galatians 3, verse 21, he says, is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law, but the scripture has confined all under sin. 

See, the problem isn't the law. The law is holy and righteous and good. The law is a reflection of God's character and nature. It teaches us about Him and who He is. But for us to keep it is not possible because of indwelling sin. The Bible has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 

He teaches us the same thing in Romans 8, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh because of the sin of man. What it could not do, God did. By sending Jesus, His Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. 

The point here is that the law is not the problem, it's indwelling sin. But to try to live righteously, to come to life, or even to live the Christian life by the law is futility because the law gives rise to the sinful passions in us to cause us to bear fruit to the flesh. 

Turn to Romans 7, 4, please. Romans 7, 4. Therefore, my brethren... He's talking to believers here. Therefore... He's talked in Romans 6 already about our union with Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection. He says, you died. In Romans 6, He teaches us that we died to sin. In Romans 7, He's teaching us that we died to the law. 

Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve. 

How should we serve? Isn't this the question? How does God intend that we live holy lives? How is it that God intends in the new covenant for us to live, to serve? He says we should serve in the newness of the Spirit. Now He could just say that. He could just say we should serve in the newness of the Spirit. Or He could say we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and the law. What does He say? 

He says we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. Romans 7, 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, You shall not covet. 

But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. I was alive once without the law. When he was Saul of Tarsus, he thought he was earning his righteousness through the law. He thought he was pleasing God in Judaism by keeping the law. Philippians 3, he says, According to the righteousness that's in the law, I was blameless. 

But then what did he say? Cast it all away as dung, not to have my own righteousness, but the righteousness which comes through faith in Jesus Christ. God's righteousness. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which I thought was going to bring me life, I found to bring death. 

Which commandment, Paul? Which law is it that we are no longer under that brings only wrath, that we've died to, that brings condemnation? The example he uses is thou shalt not covet. The law cannot bring righteousness. It can only arouse the sin in us. If righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 

Turn to 2 Corinthians 3, verse 2. Paul says, You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. 

And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills. 

What's the job of the law? To kill us. To show us our sin. To leave us without an excuse. To show us our need for a Savior and lead us to faith in Christ. The Spirit gives life, he says. But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 

And this is the point here, my friends. It's not that the law was bad, it's not that God had all that for a purpose, but we have moved on to a better, more glorious plan of God's salvation plan. We're in that time of the new covenant. 

For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. You're a minister of the new covenant by the Spirit, Paul, and you're not a minister of the old covenant law? Which law are you talking about? Which law is it that this is a ministry of condemnation and death? He says the law engraved on stones. 

I listened to another Reformed teacher this week, and the first thing he said, before he started this passage I'm preaching on this morning, he said, this, of course, does not pertain to the moral law. Well, how do you say that? Where do you get that? 

My brothers and sisters, it's so clear, it's so pervasive in the New Testament, teaching over and over again. We could go to 1 Timothy 1. What's Paul saying in 1 Timothy 1? He says, Timothy, down there in Ephesus, I want you to teach no other commandment but grace and faith, the gospel. Teach no other commandment because there's some down there among you who desire to be teachers of the law and they know not what they say. 

And then he says the law is not for a righteous man. The law is for murderers and adulterers. Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery. But the law is not for a righteous man because we now stand in grace and live by the power of the Spirit and not by the oldness of the letter. 

Do you want to live a holy life? I want to live a holy life. I want to be a witness to men. I want to bring glory to God. How does God say that we should do that? 

Even when He tells us, don't lie, right? Colossians 3. Why does He say don't lie? He doesn't just leave it out there like the church I used to go to. Don't lie, okay. He says don't lie because you have put off the old man with his deeds and you have put on the new man and you are being renewed in the Spirit of your mind. You died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. 

Lying is not consistent with who you are. That's the basis. Righteousness comes by Christ's life in us as we walk by faith. Do you hear the law? Try to keep it as a way of righteousness and you'll find only death and condemnation. You'll find the fruit of the flesh. 

Well next, we see in our text a divine illustration and this is so good. The law goes back to Abraham, to Sarah, Hagar, Sinai, and Zion. Go to verse 22 in our text. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondwoman and the other by a free woman. That he who was the bondwoman was according to the flesh, and the one of the free woman was according to promise. 

See the contrast again, just like he did in chapter 3. Law and flesh, or flesh and law are tied together in contrast with promise. Which things, he says, are symbolic. So he's going to make an illustration, an analogy here. He says these are the two covenants. What two covenants? The old and the new. 

The one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, out in the desert there, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children, but the Jerusalem above is free, which is mother of us all. That's a little bit confusing at first, isn't it? 

But there's a tremendous message here. You know, you're familiar with the story, God made a promise to Abraham of a great nation from his loins as the stars of the heaven, the sands of the sea, but Abraham had no child. Abram means father of one, Abraham father of many. His name was Abram, father of one, he had no child. In this promise was the promise of the Christ through his seed. 

As we've seen so clearly in Galatians 3, God made the promise to Abraham and Sarah when they were very old. In fact, when Isaac was born, Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old. So the promise was given, and Abraham believed. 

Turn over to Romans 4 with me, let's look at Paul, this is, you know, it's not hard to find some texts about Abraham. Romans 4.13, listen to the clarity of this passage. For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression, therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 

As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead," now listen to this, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who contrary to hope, in hope," he's 100 years old, he didn't waver to promise, and contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. 

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb, she could never have children, and now she's 90. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. 

This is another abundantly clear statement here in Romans 4, but the point in Paul's illustration in our text is that Isaac, the son of promise, came by supernatural grace. But there was a great deal of time that passed between the promise and the realization of that promise. And in that time, Sarah doubted, so much so that she convinced Abraham to have a child with her Egyptian slave, Hagar, and that child was Ishmael. 

Galatians 4.23, it says, but he who was of the bondwoman was according to the flesh, and the one of the free woman was according to promise. When Sarah doubted the promise of God, she sought to bring about the will of God through the works of the flesh by her own effort. Did you hear that? 

She sought by her own works, by the flesh, to bring about the will of God, rather than by His grace through promise. She sought to bring about the will of God through natural means, rather than God bringing about His will through supernatural means. And Paul says Hagar is Sinai in this illustration, is the law of Moses, the old covenant that represents bondage. 

And this is a state of Jerusalem now, Paul says, in his time, where the Judaizers had come from. In 2 Corinthians 3, that passage we just read, Paul says, to this day in Jerusalem, every time the law is read in the synagogue, a veil lies over their face. And this veil can only be lifted through faith in Christ. 

He says when the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is lifted. So here we see Paul make an amazing distinction between the old and the new covenants by way of illustration. We see the act of the flesh, the natural attempt to bring the supernatural will of God. Hagar, Sinai, the law covenant, bondage, condemnation, tied to the law of Moses, tied to the earthly Jerusalem in bondage. 

But Sarah represents the supernatural promise of God. Isaac was not brought about by the works and will of man, Isaac was a fulfillment supernaturally by the grace of God according to His promise. The seed of Abraham, the lineage that would bring the Christ. 

In verse 26 he says, but the Jerusalem above is free which is mother of us all. For it is written, rejoice, O barren, you who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the desolate has many more children she who has a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." 

This is where I run out of time to chase down Isaiah 54, but suffice to say it's a promise of the desolate giving birth to the nation of Israel. But notice what Paul says here, we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise. Here's the contrast, the supernatural grace gift of the promised Son, and through Him the Messiah is not by the flesh but by the Spirit, Isaac, the new covenant, the Jerusalem which is above and free. 

We get further explanation of this in Hebrews 12. Let's turn over to Hebrews 12 as we see the great contrast, the great divide between the old and new. Hebrews 12 18. He's encouraging the believers here to not become discouraged. That's what's going on just before this text. Don't get discouraged, don't be weary. 

He says, "...for you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore, for they could not endure what was commanded. And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling. 

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus. 

You have come to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." Notice verse 22, you may have never seen this before, I've kind of always in my reading this and studying it, I just kind of pass over that, not really sure what that's about. 

Verse 22, "...you have come to the heavenly Jerusalem." You have not come to Sinai, the fear, the dread, the holiness of God on display in contrast to the sinfulness of men. You have not come to the law of Moses that brings only wrath and condemnation and death and no righteousness ever. But you have come to grace, to freedom, to now live righteously by the power of the Holy Spirit in you because of your death, burial, and resurrection with Christ, your death to law, sin, and even release from the bondage of fear of death. 

You've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the Living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem. My brothers and sisters, do you see the contrast? Do you see the truth of the bondage of the law? And do you see the glorious truth of the freedom from law, sin, and death in Christ? 

That's where Paul's going here. And he says, the Jerusalem above is free, in our text in Galatians. We are not of the bondwoman, and that's why he says, cast out the bondwoman. 

I'd like so much to finish this message, to preach for two hours as I easily could in India, but I want to give Philip and Stephens this morning to share with God, or what God's doing in their ministries in the vast country of India with so many people that need the gospel. 

I want to just close with a summary, Paul's conclusion, and then we're going to come back and flesh out our other points next time. He gives us this divine illustration from the Scriptures to contrast the Law Covenant with the New Covenant, and his message is always the same to us. 

Galatians 4.28, we brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. That's going to be interesting. Nevertheless, what does the Scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. 

So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Now listen to his exhortation based on these truths to these believers in Galatia who are confused and going back to the Law. He says, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 

Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole Law. If you choose that way of life, if you choose that as your means of righteousness, then all you have to do is keep it perfectly. 

Romans 9.30 tells us they did not find righteousness. Why? Because they sought it by the works of the Law. The whole Law. The whole Law, Paul says. Here's the message. We no longer live according to the letter, but we live by the Spirit. God has made a better way. He's empowered us. 

And now the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin. The Holy Spirit guides me into all truth. The Holy Spirit imparts strength to my inner man and Jesus Christ lives in me and lives His life out through me. Cast out the bondwoman. Rather live by the Spirit. Focus on Jesus. 

Realize through the Word of God and the truth of your identification with Jesus who you are in Christ and what you have in Him. And then, my brother, my sister in Christ, abide in the vine. Look unto Jesus. Walk in the Spirit. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Know the Word of God. Reckon it to be so. 

Renew your mind to the great truths of the New Covenant. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I'm not talking about a let-go and let-God life. This isn't a passive. There's a lot to do in this Christian life. To believe, to trust, and to yield to His life. 

We are not passive by any means. There's a battle. But we must get the battle right. If we're fighting at the wrong point, we're not going to win. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, not fleshly. But we win by the supernatural work of God as we abide in Him and walk by faith. 

And in this life, the New Covenant life by the Spirit, we will see the fruit of the Spirit manifest in our lives. And the fruit of the Spirit, what's the first one? Love. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Love is the commandment of the New Covenant. Love is the Law of Christ. 

This is His commandment, believe in the Lord Jesus and love one another. And this can only come by grace, only by faith, as we believe God in His Word and trust Him to bring about His righteousness, His life through us, Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

We'll pick this message up next time as we see the wonderful truths of the supernatural life by God's grace. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, we're thankful for Your truth, we're thankful for Jesus, our salvation, and we're thankful for what You've done in us. Not only that we've been justified, that we have been released from Your wrath for our sin because Jesus took that in our place, but also that You have caused us to be born again to a living hope, that You have crucified our old man with Christ. 

We've died to sin, we've died to the Law, and now You live in us. And the very power that raised Jesus from the dead, according to Ephesians 1.19, is at work in us, and You are able, Father. We trust You, we believe You, we depend on You to work Your will out in our lives by faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.