Under Arrest
(No. 2402)
INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S DAY, MARCH 3, 1895.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING MARCH 3,
1887.
"Butbefore faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the
faith which should afterwards be revealed." Galatians 3:23.
THIS is a condensed history of the Jews before the Gospel was fully
preached to them. Before the clear and plain revelation of the way of
salvation–that is to say, before Jesus Christ, Himself, actually
appeared among the sons of men–the Hebrew nation was put under the
tutorship and governance of the Mosaic Law. So far as salvation was to
be obtained by it, that Law was a total failure. It did not make the
Jews a holy people–whenever they reached any point of excellence, they
soon went back from it, for they were bent on backsliding. Whatever the
influence of that blessed Law might be supposed to be, the actual net
result was very poor, indeed, for, when Christ came to the chosen
people, they were in a most miserable condition, and there was no hope
for them at all apart from the promised Messiah. They were shut up to
the alternative of receiving Him, or else being put away as a nation
for a long time of banishment and exile. This, indeed, they have
actually endured through their rejection of the one and only Savior.
I am not going to preach at this time about the Jews, but I want to
show you that the history of every soul chosen of God is very like the
history of the chosen nation. I have heard of masses of crystal which
assume certain forms and, if they are split up, again and again,
however small the particles may be, the same crystalline shape
remains–the crystals are still of one form! So, if you take a nation
as a mass, its spiritual history will be found in each individual and
often every experience of that individual will still bear the same
shape and outline. I take this text, therefore, as being, I am sure, a
picture of myself. Before faith came, I was, "kept under the Law, shut
up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed." And my
impression is that this is the history of all the people of God, more
or less. We are not all alike in every respect. We differ greatly in
certain particulars, yet the main features of all the children of God
will be found to be the same–and their Christian experience will
resemble that of the other members of the Lord's family.
So I shall leave the text as a matter of history of the Jews and use it
as the life-story of many here present! Perhaps while I am explaining
the experience of the child of God, there may be some, here, who are
passing through the darker stages of that experience, who may gather
hope from that fact and say, "I see that my spot is the spot of the
Lord's children. Possibly, my soul-trouble, being like theirs, may be
producing in me the same result as it produced in them." And thus, I
trust, while I am speaking, some may be led into a clearer light and
may even come into the full light of God's reconciled Countenance!
There are three things that I am going to talk about as the Holy Spirit
shall guide me. The first is, the unhappy period–it was long ago with
some of us–the unhappy period "before faith came." Secondly, I shall
describe the custody we were in at that time–"we were kept under the
Law, shut up." That is where we were when the spirit of bondage was
holding us in captivity "before faith came." Then, thirdly, I shall
have a little to say upon the revelation which set us free–"the faith
which should afterwards be revealed."
I. First, then, I have to say something about THE UNHAPPY PERIOD.
"Before faith came." As I said just now, this period was long ago with
some of us, but it was not so far back with others of you, "before
faith came."
We remember, some of us, when we had no idea of faith. We were, in a
measure, religiously inclined, and in a certain way, sincere and
devout. As a matter of duty, we went to Church, or we went to the
Meeting House, and we felt easy in our mind because we had been there.
As a matter of duty, we read our Bibles and, sometimes, we felt a
pleasure in getting through the chapter–perhaps we had all the more
pleasure if the chapter was not a long one! We did not object to family
prayer–it may be that we had been used to it from our childhood. The
less we had of it, the better we liked, it but still, we kept to it,
although it was always only a matter of duty.
As to saving faith, we had not an intelligent idea of it. Our notion
was that good people would get to Heaven and that we must do our best
to make ourselves fit to be in that holy place. We had a great many
shortcomings and failures, no doubt, but in some mysterious way we
fancied that all would get rectified and we would be all right if we
were only sincere. Many still seem to imagine that it does not matter
what persons believe as long as they are sincere, nor what they do so
long as they are conscientious in doing it. That was our notion, but as
to any idea of there being a faith peculiar to God's elect, a faith
which saves the soul by linking us to the Savior–if anyone had talked
to us in that fashion–we would have said, "Yes, that is, no doubt,
orthodox teaching–we have heard that Martin Luther taught that
doctrine at the time of the Reformation, but what he meant by it, we
have not the slightest idea!" We did not know. We had not formed any
idea of that which, had we known it, would have been the chief joy of
our minds and hearts–in that unhappy period we had no idea of faith.
Some of us used to hear the Gospel. Some of us did not. But, whether we
heard the Gospel or not, "before faith came," we did not know what it
was. I have no doubt that I heard, hundreds of times, such texts as
these–"He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." "Look unto Me
and be you saved, all the ends of the earth." "As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:
that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." But I still had no intelligent idea of what faith meant. When I
first discovered what faith really was, and exercised it, for with me
these two things came together, I believed as soon as I knew what
believing meant. And then I thought I had never heard that Truth of God
preached before! But, on looking back, I am persuaded that the Light of
God often shone in my eyes, but I was blind and, therefore, I thought
that the Light had never come. The Light was shining all the while, but
there was no power to receive it–the eyeballs of the soul were not
sensitive to the Divine beams!
Perhaps some of you did not hear the Gospel, for it is by no means a
difficult thing to attend a place of worship year after year, and yet
not hear the Gospel. I am sorry that it should be so, but I know that
it is so–there is a great deal of preaching that may be edifying to
Christians, a great deal that is morally excellent–but the way of
salvation by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is often regarded by
the preacher as a Truth of God too elementary to be introduced to the
notice of a congregation so intelligent and so experienced as the one
he is privileged to address! This is a great mistake for any minister
to make. The Lord's command to Moses was, "With all your offerings you
shall offer salt," and His injunction to all His servants, now, is,
"With all your teaching, preach the simple doctrine of faith in Christ
Crucified." I delight to cry, with the Apostle Paul, "God forbid that I
should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," and it is my
constant joy to preach that simple doctrine of, "Believe, and live."
"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." But whether
people heard the Gospel or did not hear it, I know that it has often
been the case that "before faith came" no idea of what faith is had
penetrated the soul! Much was heard about it, but nothing was
understood. Much, in some respects, was understood about the doctrine,
but faith, itself, was still unknown.
And, beloved Brothers and Sisters, as it is that before faith comes we
have no idea of it, and we do not understand it, so we have been
puzzled to think of what it could be when we have seen it in others. We
have heard of others, we have read of others and the most of us have
seen others who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. And we have wished that we could do the same. We have looked upon
their experience as some extraordinary secret, some marvelous mystery,
some special manifestation–and we have said to ourselves, "We can
never reach that height on which those people stand." So we have
continued our Chapel going, our Bible reading and so forth, under the
notion that faith was something quite impossible for us.
We have thought of it as if it were some precious diamond that kings
and queens might buy, but it was not for poor people like us. Though we
have been told over and over again, that–
"There is life for a look at the Crucified One," we have said, "Yes,
life for a look, ah, yes! No doubt that is true, but I cannot look."
And so we have still turned away from the one hope of salvation!
Perhaps we have been still further pressed by some earnest spirit and
the Truth has been made as plain as a pikestaff, yet we still could not
think that the speaker really meant what he said–there must be some
strange mystery at the back of it all. We asked ourselves–"How do
people obtain faith? Of course, it is simple enough to those who
understand it, but as for us poor souls who do not comprehend it, how
can we get to know what it means and how can we obtain it for
ourselves?" That was the puzzled condition in which we were "before
faith came." We were just in that kind of state, so that, even when we
wished to believe, it seemed to us as if it was something altogether
beyond our reach.
There was also a time with us, dear Friends, when "before faith came"
in its healing and comforting power, a measure of faith came to wound,
cut and kill. We saw our sin, we felt our need of a Savior and we
believed so far as this–that Christ was a Savior, that He was the
Savior, and that He could save us. But our difficulty was like that of
the woman in the crowd who tried to touch the hem of Christ's
garment–how could we get in contact with Him? What could we do to be
saved? Oh, the many times that I have wished the preacher would tell me
something to do that I might be saved! Gladly would I have done it, if
it had been possible. If he had said, "Take off your shoes and
stockings, and run to John O'Groat's," I would not even have gone home,
first, but would have started off that very night, that I might win
salvation! How often have I thought that if they had said, "Bare your
back to the scourge and take 50 lashes!" I would have said, "Here I am!
Come along with your whip and beat as hard as you please, so long as I
can but obtain peace and rest, and get rid of my sin."
Yet that simplest of all matters–believing in Christ Crucified,
accepting His finished salvation, being nothing and letting Him be
everything, doing nothing but trusting to what He has done–I could not
get a hold of it at all! I might truthfully say that I have known many
who, after years of what I think was very sincere and earnest hearing,
still remain just the same, apparently willing, but really unwilling to
believe! They wish to know the way of salvation–and the road is open
right straight before them–yet they no not experimentally know the way
of life, the only way by which a man can be eternally saved! I am
speaking, at this time, I do not doubt, to many who are still in that
fog, still bewildered, and knowing not which way to turn, albeit that
from this platform there sounds forth that clarion note and nothing
else, "Look to Jesus and live! Believe in Him. Trust in Him and you
shall be saved at once, yes, saved eternally, from the moment that you
have done with self and, by faith, have laid hold on Christ!"
Why is it that people do not believe? I suppose it is, partly, because
they are so proud. You, my Friend, have a proud notion in your head
that there is, after all, something due from God to you! In truth,
there is nothing due from God to you but that He should let you perish
in your sin–that is all He owes you! You have so sinned against Him
that if He should, at this moment, cast you into the lowest Hell, it is
all that you have any right to expect! And He will have you know this
and make you feel it before He will speak a word of blessing to your
soul. You are too high and mighty to be saved as you are–you must come
down from that lofty position. This, then, is one reason why men do not
"believe and live," because they are too proud to be saved by simple
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Besides, salvation by believing seems so strange, so amazing, so
contrary to the usual run of human opinion and, in addition, it is so
spiritual that the natural man rebels against it. If it were but a
carnal thing, something to be done with the hands, or performed with
the feet, we could do that–but the spiritual action of believing, the
action which honors God by taking salvation as the free gift of His
Grace and mercy–we cannot bend our backs and stoop so low as that! The
fact is that it is difficult because it is easy! It is difficult
because there is no difficulty in it and it seems obscure simply
because it is so clear! There is nothing for you to do, O lost Sinner,
but to yield yourself up to your God and accept His Sovereign Mercy
which He freely gives you in the Person of His dear Son! Still, though
I have said all this so plainly, you do not believe me–you do not yet
understand what I mean, unless you have been taught of the Spirit!
That, then, is how we were in the unhappy period "before faith came."
II. Now I want to show you, in a few words, THE CUSTODY WE WERE IN.
"Before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up." The word for,
"kept," means that we were arrested and given in charge, or that we
were taken under the care of a garrison. The Ten Commandments of God,
like ten armed legionaries, took us into custody and held us fast.
"Before faith came, we were kept under the Law." How was that?
When the Spirit of God began to deal with us, we found that we were
always within the sphere of Law–we could not get out of it. We woke in
the morning–there was the Law right in front of us. All during the
day–there was the Law right before our eyes. If we went to sleep at
night–there was the Law–we were everywhere under the Law. We said,
with David, "Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee
from Your Presence?" When once we recognized
God and realized the fact that we were His creatures, there came into
our startled conscience the remembrance of the universality of Law!
I remember that experience and how I thought of what was said of the
old Roman empire that, under the rule of Caesar, if a man once broke
the law of Rome, he was in prison everywhere! The whole world was one
vast prison to him, for he could not get out of the reach of the
imperial power–and so did it come to be in my awakened conscience!
Wherever I went, the Law of God had a demand upon my thoughts, upon my
words, upon my rising, upon my resting. What I did and what I did not
do, all came under the cognizance of the Law–and then I found that
this Law so surrounded me that I was always running against it! I was
always breaking it! I seemed as if I were a sinner and nothing else but
a sinner. If I opened my mouth, I spoke amiss. If I sat still, there
was sin in my silence. I remember that when the Spirit of God was thus
dealing with me, I used to feel myself to be a sinner, even, when I was
in the House of God! I thought that when I sang, I was mocking the Lord
with a solemn sound upon a false tongue! And if I prayed, I feared that
I was sinning in my prayers, insulting Him by uttering confessions
which I did not feel and asking for mercies with a faith that was not
at all true, but only another form of unbelief! Oh, yes, some of us
know what it is to be given into custody to the Law! Perhaps some here
are now in this condition without quite understanding it.
At that time, when I was in the custody of the Law, I did not take any
pleasure in sin! Alas, I sinned, but my sense of the Law of God kept me
back from a great many sins. I could not, as others did, plunge into
profligacy, or indulge in any of the grosser vices, for that Law had me
well in hand! I sinned enough without acting like that. Oh, I used to
tremble to put one foot before another, for fear I would do wrong! I
felt that my old sins seemed to be so many that it were well to die
rather than commit any more! The Law of God, when it gets a man into
its charge, makes him feel just like that.
Then, I could not find any rest while under the custody of the Law. If
I wanted to sleep a while, or to be a little indifferent and careless,
then some one or other of those Ten Commandments roughly awakened me
and, looking on me with a frowning face, said, "You have broken me!" I
thought that I would do some good works but, somehow, the Law always
broke my good works in the making. I fancied that if my tears flowed
freely, I might make some recompense for my wrongdoing, but the Law
held up the mirror and I soon saw my face all smeared and made more
unhandsome by my tears. The Law of God shut me up in all directions and
would not let me rest anywhere when I was under its custody.
Then, also, the Law seemed to blight all my hopes. I hoped this and I
hoped that–but then the Law said, "Cursed is everyone that continues
not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them."
And I knew I had not continued in all those things, so I saw myself
accursed, turn which way I might! I had offended against the justice of
God! I was impure and polluted! And I used to say, "If God does not
send me to Hell, He ought to." I sat in judgment upon myself and
pronounced the sentence that I felt would be just. I could not have
gone to Heaven with my sin unpardoned, even if I had had the offer to
do it, for I knew that it would not be right that I should do so–I
justified God in my own conscience while I condemned myself!
One thing I found concerning the Law, that it would not even let me
despair. If I thought I would give up all desire to do right and just
go and drown my conscience in sin, the Law said, "No, you cannot do
that, there is no rest for you in sinning. You know the Law too well to
be able to sin in the blindness of a seared conscience." So the Law
worried and troubled me at all points–it shut me up as in an iron
cage–every way of escape was effectually blocked up!
I am talking now, not only of my own experience, but also of the
experience of many another child of God. I will tell you one or two of
the things that shut me up dreadfully. One was when I knew the
spirituality of the Law. If the Law said, "You shall not commit
adultery," I said to myself, "Well, I have never committed adultery."
Then the Law, as interpreted by Christ, said, "Whoever looks on a woman
to lust after her has committed adultery with her, already, in his
heart." The Law said, "You shall not steal," and I said, "Well, I never
stole anything." but then I found that even the desire to possess what
was not my own was guilt! The spirituality of the Law astounded me!
What hope could I have of escaping from such a Law as this which in
every way surrounded me with an atmosphere from which I could not
possibly escape?
Then, as I have already reminded you, the Law informed me that I was
cursed unless I continued in all things that were written in the Book
of the Law, so that, if I had not committed one sin, that made no
difference if I had committed another sin, for I was under the curse.
What if I had never blasphemed God with my tongue? Yet, if I had
coveted, I had broken the Law. He who breaks a chain might say, "I did
not break that link, or the other link." No, but if you break one link,
you have broken the chain! Ah, me, how I then seemed shut up!
Then I remembered that, even if I kept the Law perfectly, and kept it
for ten, twenty, or thirty years without a fault, yet if, at the end of
that time, I should then break it, I must suffer its dread penalty!
Those words spoken by the Lord to the Prophet Ezekiel came to my
mind–"If he trusts to his own righteousness and commits iniquity, all
his righteousness shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he
has committed, he shall die for it." So I saw that I was, as the text
says, "shut up." I had hoped to escape this way, or that way, or some
other way. Was I not "christened" when I was a child? Had I not been
taken to a place of worship? Had I not been brought up to regularly say
my prayers? Had I not been an honest, upright, moral youth? Was all
this nothing? "Nothing," said the Law, as it drew its sword of fire!
"Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the Book of the Law to do them." So there was no rest for my spirit,
no, not even for a moment.
What was I to do? I was in the custody of one that showed no mercy
whatever, for Moses never said, "Mercy." The Law has nothing to do with
mercy! That comes from another mouth and under another dispensation.
But before I turn to that other point, I would like to say that if any
of you are passing through all that I have been describing, do not be
at all discouraged! I rejoice that it is so with you, for this breaking
down of the idols is the way to set up the true God in your heart! This
cleaning out of your refuges of lies is a blessed work of God who loves
you, though He seems, now, to be dealing out to you the blows of a
cruel one! This is the way in which He is severing you from your
deceptions, freeing you from your delusions so that He may bring you to
His Truth and to Himself! That is my last point.
III. THE REVELATION WHICH SET US FREE–"We were shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed."
Now let me tell the story. It was on a day, never to be forgotten, when
I first understood that salvation was in and through Another–that my
salvation could not be of myself–but must be through One better and
stronger than I. And I heard–and oh, what music it was that the Son of
God had taken upon Himself our human nature and had, by His life and
death, worked out a perfect salvation, finished from top to bottom,
which He was ready to give to every soul that was willing to have
it–and that salvation was all of Grace from first to last, the free
gift of God through His blessed Son, Jesus Christ! Oh, the melody of
that doctrine! "But I have heard that lots of times," says one. Have
you ever heard it at all? "Why, I heard you say it just now!" Again I
put the question–Have you heard it? It has passed your ears, but have
you ever heard it? Have you ever caught the meaning of it?
Then I had this vision–not a vision to my eyes, but to my heart. I saw
what a Savior Christ was–Divine as well as Human! I saw what
sufferings His were, what a righteousness His was. I saw the fullness
of Christ, the Glory of Christ, the Love of Christ, the Power of Christ
to save to the uttermost, them that come unto God by Him!
Now I can never tell you how it was, but I no sooner saw whom I was to
believe than I also understood what it was to believe and I believed in
one moment! As much as if it had never been revealed to any mortal man,
or written in this blessed Book, it was revealed to me by the Spirit of
God that I, guilty wretch as I was, was then and there to fall at those
dear feet that once were nailed to the Cross, and to take Jesus Christ
to be my Lord and Savior–and that the moment I did so, I would be
saved!
I did take Him as my Savior and I am saved! And I come to tell you,
again tonight, the reason why I took Him for my Savior. To my own
humiliation, I must confess that I did it because I could not help
it–I was shut up to it. That Law-work, of which I told you, had
hammered me into such a condition that if there had been 50 other
saviors, I could not have thought of them! I was driven to this One–I
needed a Divine Savior–I needed One who was made a curse for me to
expiate my guilt! I needed One who had died, for I deserved to die. I
needed One who had risen again, who was able, by His life, to make me
live! I needed the exact Savior that stood before me in the Word of
God, revealed to my heart–and I could not help having Him!
And, what is more, I cannot help still having Him as my Savior–I am
shut up to it! I think I have told you of an American Brother who sat
in one of the pews behind me, one Sunday night. When I went out, I said
to him, "What? You, here again?" He said, "Yes, it is 20 years since I
sat in this pew. I wondered if you would remember me." I said, "Oh,
yes, I do remember your face right well!" He said, "You are still
hitched in the old place, I see." "Yes," I replied, "and if God spares
you to come in another 20 years' time, and I have not gone to Heaven,
meanwhile, you will find that I am hitched in the same old place, then,
too!"
I have nothing to tell of but Christ Crucified! Nothing to say to the
sinner but, "Away, away, away from all other confidences, to Him whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation for sin!" I want the Law to shut
you right up to this one course. If a man were to ask, "Why do you go
out of the Tabernacle by the right hand door?" it would be a very good
answer if you had to say, "Because all the rest are bricked up." That
would be a valid reason, would it not? You had no choice in the
matter–and that is the reason why we come to Christ–because we have
tried, and proved, and known that there is none other salvation, for,
"there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must
be saved." The Law has shut us up to this one road! It has stopped up
every other opening and gangway–and we are driven to stand here, and
say–
"You, O Christ, are all I need More than all, in You I find."
Now, if there are any of you who have gotten into that position, I am
right glad of it! This proves that you are God's child! He has chosen
you, He loves you, He has given His Son to save you! Take the Lord
Jesus Christ to be everything to you and go on your way rejoicing!
"Before faith came," you were shut up, but you were shut up to faith in
Christ! And now you have that faith, you are shut up no longer, you
have received the liberty with which Christ makes His people free! Go
home and enjoy it–and if you meet any other poor soul shut up as you
were, tell how you came out to liberty! Do not be satisfied to go to
your bed, tonight, without having told somebody of how the Lord Jesus
came, dressed in garments dipped in blood, and with His pierced hands
broke the bars of brass and cut the doors of iron in two–and set your
soul at liberty, and said, "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your
transgressions and, as a cloud, your sins." God bless you, for His dear
Son's sake! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: GALATIANS3.
Paul, writing, to those changeable Galatians, who had so soon deserted
the faith, says to them in this chapter.
Verse 1. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, that you should
not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently
set forth, crucified among you? Paul does not compliment them on being
a very "thoughtful," "educated," "cultured" people–he does not care
one atom about that matter but, because they had forsaken the simple
Truth of the Gospel, he says, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched
you?" Those are hard words, Paul! Why did he not say, "Who has led you
forward into more advanced views?" Not he! He calls it witchery, the
work of the devil, and it is nothing better–and the wisdom of it is no
better than the trickery of some old witch. If you take your eyes off
Christ, it must be witchcraft that makes you do it! There is such
glory, such beauty, such perfection, such wisdom, such divinity in
Christ Crucified that if you turn from that sight to anything else, no
matter how scientific and learned it may be, you are foolish, indeed,
and somebody has "bewitched you."
2. This only would I ask of you, Received you the Spirit by the works
of the Law, or by the hearing of faith? They had gone off into
legality. They were trying to be saved by ceremonies and by works of
their own. "Well," asks Paul, "how did you receive the Spirit–the
Spirit by which miracles were worked among you, the Spirit by which you
spoke with unknown tongues–the Spirit which changed and renewed your
hearts? If you did, indeed, receive Him, did you receive Him by the
works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?" There was only one reply
to the question–the Spirit came to them as the result offaith!
3. Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh? If the very beginning of your religion was
spiritual, a work of the Spirit received by faith, are you now going to
be perfected by the flesh, by outward rites and ceremonies, or by
efforts of your own?
4. Have you suffered so many things in vain? If it is yet in vain. You
had to struggle and endure much contention within your own spirit to
get upon the ground of faith at all–are you going to throw all that
away? Is all the experience of your past life to go for nothing and are
you now going to begin on a lower and baser platform?
5. Therefore He that ministers to you the Spirit, and works miracles
among you, does He do it by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of
faith? He knew that they must reply that it was faith and not the works
of the Law, that gave those miraculous powers!
6. Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. That is the old way, the way of faith! It is not here
recorded that Abraham did anything, though he did much, but the one
thing that was "accounted to him for righteousness" was this, that he
"believed God."
7. Know you, therefore, that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. Not this nation or that, as Anglo-Israelites might
say, but those that are offaith–these are the children of Abraham!
Abraham is the father of the faithful, the Believers, and Believers are
all the children of Abraham! Race has nothing to do with this
matter–an end has been put to all that. God is not the God of the
Jews, only, but also of the Gentiles, and here is a new race whose
distinction is not that they were born of blood, or of the will of the
flesh, or of the will of man, but by the will of God! This is the token
by which they are known–they believe God and it is accounted to them
for righteousness–even as it was accounted to Abraham!
8. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, in you
shall all nations be blessed. That is the Gospel! And we are blessed by
it, because we believe in Christ, and so become the children of
believing Abraham.
9,10. So then, they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse. All the
people in the world who think themselves good. All the mere moralists.
All those who, however amiable they may be, however excellent and
religious they may be, are trusting to be saved by good works, are all
under the curse, as surely as the drunkard, the liar, or the swearer is
under the curse!
10. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all
things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them. That is all
that Moses can say to you, and all that the Old Testament can reveal to
you. Apart from faith in Christ, all its rites and ceremonies, all its
Laws and precepts, if you are resting in them, can only land you under
the curse because you cannot continue in all things which are written
in the Book of the Law to do them! You have not so continued thus
far–you will not so continue–and nothing but an absolutely perfect
obedience to the Law could save a man by the way of works! And as that
obedience is not possible, we come under the curse if we come under the
Law.
11. But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God, it is
evident, for, The just shall live by faith. Here Paul again quotes from
the Old Testament Scriptures–"The just shall live by faith." Even the
just man lives by faith! Then how can you, who are not just, expect to
live in any other way?
12. And the Law is not of faith, but, The man that does them shall live
in them. The very spirit of Law is the spirit of works and, as life
only comes by faith, it cannot come by the works of the Law, for they
are not of faith! Now comes the Gospel, clear and bright, like the sun
rising out of a thick fog!
13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a
curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a
tree. Here is Substitution–what else can the words mean? Christ hung
on a tree for us, bearing our curse, in our place!
14. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Christ was made a curse for us that the blessing might come upon
us. He took our curse that we might take the blessing from His own dear
hands and might possess it forever!
15. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men: Though it is but a man's
covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no man disannuls, or adds thereto. A
covenant is a covenant–whatever happens, it cannot be altered–it
stands, though it were only made by men.
16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not,
And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to your seed, which is
Christ. Quoting from the Old Testament, we may believe in the absolute
plenary Inspiration of that Sacred Book because the Apostle founds an
argument upon the singular of a noun having been used rather than the
plural!
17. And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God
in Christ, the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years later,
cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect. Is not
that splendid argument? The Covenant was made with Abraham that God
would bless him and his seed. Well now, 430 years later, the Law was
given on
Sinai, but that could not affect a covenant made 430 years before! The
argument goes to prove that the Covenant of Grace is not affected by
any Law of rites and ceremonies, no, not even by the Moral Law, itself!
The Covenant made with Abraham and his seed must stand–the seed
signifies those who believe, therefore, the Covenant stands fast with
Abraham and all other Believers.
18. For if the inheritance is of the Law, it is no more of promise: but
God gave it to Abraham by promise. All through the Book of Genesis, it
is promise, promise and promise! Isaac was an heir of the promise and
Jacob was an heir of the promise. In fact, Isaac was born by promise
and Ishmael, the elder brother, did not inherit the blessing because he
was born after the flesh. They who believe in Christ are heirs
according to the promise! Now, a promise takes us out of the region of
Law.
19. Why, then, serve the Law? What is the use of it?
19, 20. It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should
come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is
One. The Law had its uses, blessed uses. The Law should be used for its
own purposes and then it is admirable–it is Divine. Take it out of its
own proper use–make it a master instead of being a servant–and it is
something like fire, which, in your grate, will comfort you, but if it
masters you, it burns your house and destroys you!
21, 22. Is the Law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid: for
if there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the Law. But the Scripture has
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that believe. It shuts you all up as in a
dungeon, that by the one and only door offaith in Christ you might come
out into a glorious liberty!
23, 24. But before faith came we were kept under the Law, shut up unto
the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Therefore the Law was
our schoolmaster–This is an unfortunate translation! It should be,
"The Law was our pedagogue." That was a slave who was employed by the
father of a family, to take his boy to school and bring him home,
again. He often was also permitted to whip the boy if he did not learn
his lessons well. "The Law was our pedagogue"
24, 25. To bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We
have outgrown him! God has given us power, now, to go to Christ's
school, ourselves, joyfully and cheerfully! I remember and I daresay
you do, also, when that pedagogue whipped us very sorely! I am glad
that I am no longer under his power.
26,27. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. You set forth that Truth of God in your Baptism–you then
confessed that you were dead to sin– and declared that you were risen
again in Christ to newness of life. Whatever you had to do with the Law
before, you were dead and buried to it and to everything but Christ!
28, 29. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you are Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise. That settles the question! If you belong to
Christ, you are the children of Abraham! Come, then, and, without the
least hesitation, claim all the privileges that belong to Abraham's
seed! If you have come under the promise, enjoy its blessing, and do
not go back to trusting in rites and ceremonies–or in works of your
own performing–but live a life of joyous faith in Jesus Christ your
Lord!