The working out of faith (Quality: Poor)

[0:00] We are going with a dog start from the Whistle to the Ephesians, chapter 6 and verse 16.

[0:14] Whistle to the Ephesians, chapter 6 and verse 16. And above all, taking the shield of faith, by which we shall be able to thank all the highly guards of the Lord.

[0:34] We spoke this morning from the experience of the Apostle Paul and the Ephesians to the Galatians, and how he stood the test those days when we read in the second of Galatians, preaching the gospel of Christ amidst too much criticism and the evil work of men seeking to undermine it.

[1:14] Her mind has been tossed to and fro with regard to scriptural illustrations of the use of this gracious shield of faith.

[1:26] Christ who had thought of the lesser people, and that's how this was worth it, who lived and acted and died in faith, and what that faith was, and what it meant to them.

[1:46] But then, as we said this morning, her mind was more directed to this epistle.

[1:57] Through these Galatians, we read the second chapter this morning and the third this evening. We find the Apostle dealing with a matter of grave concern for him with regard to the gospel and the reception of it.

[2:17] Those who came in privately or privily to spy out the security of the church. And how he did what he taught others to do, he took a firm stand, enabled by the grace of God, to entire and dignified and gracious man, the gospel that he preached.

[2:44] And we concluded with those thoughts which he expresses in the last verses of the second chapter, I am crucified with Christ.

[2:57] That himself, his previous life thought, all that he had been as a circumcised Jew, a learned Jew, a Jew of renown, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, all that got crucified.

[3:16] What he once trusted in had been completely removed. Now the gospel of the grace of God in its freedom and liberty has been shown in the finished work of Christ crucified.

[3:33] So that this was a medical check and no wonder that he emphasized it as he did. And made such a firm point of this, so much so that the elders, James, C. 1 and John, perceived the grace of God in it.

[3:59] And to them it was an illuminating experience. These godly disciples who had been with Jesus, now saw the work of Jesus in the life of a man they once knew as a persecutor.

[4:19] And therefore the change in his life and his manner of life and now in his preaching, as he tells the Galatians, they glorified God in me.

[4:37] And therefore there was no pride on his path, but a real statement of fact. Very lastly the case is this, with every believer, a radical and a complete change from those old things that have passed away.

[5:02] The old Lord's circumcision was one of them. And this was the point in contention now. And this is what crept into the church as a bone of contention.

[5:19] He stood alone to be captive Fendi and to declare. In this therefore he used the shield of faith.

[5:32] He was faithful. And in being faithful, his own faith was in such perfect exercise that he could face anyone.

[5:49] Whomsoever it was, he says in his second chapter, made no matter to me. not a question of persons, not even, as I said this morning, of beloved Peter.

[6:07] It was the truth. The sacrifice was made and the truth maintained.

[6:18] It is little wonder that the epistle to the Galatians has been such a volume of profound proof and yet accessible proof.

[6:32] Now this evening we want for the Lord's help to come a little further with regard to this one example because there are so many that it would be foolish and it is my mind directed in that direction to attempt to bring to your mind half a dozen people.

[6:57] One case in the Lord's hand that you go home and ponder over and read for yourselves will be ample to see the wonder-working exercise of a God-given shield to protect the man and to protect his ears and what why he uses it and from whence he draws it namely the Word of God.

[7:33] This is his only defense his faith in the Word of God stands out boldly. He doesn't say if, but or maybe he says even as our Father pamphlet he quotes from various ancient documents all of which we have and he refers to this great patriarch of the father of the faithful who even the Jews had to admit was the friend of God.

[8:17] This shield therefore is beautifully made from the Word of God and how the church of God has used it thanks to the fiery darts of the wicked first the fiery darts of Satan then of Satan's agent I strongly denounce the error of creature righteousness this morning and I do it again at the evening of the ability of man to save himself which is a total and complete fallacy but a fiery dart there is no such thing as an offer of salvation we have the example before but the minute character first of all of this argument that the apostle makes is in this third chapter where he speaks of the scripture foreseeing the scripture foreseeing verse 8 that God would justify the heathen that's us in us

[9:37] I at through faith preach before the gospel the same word as he has in the second chapter the gospel of the grace of God that the scripture foresees what a remarkable authority this puts upon the scripture as if the scripture as it stands before here in back of white foresees of course it doesn't mean it means the author of the scripture foresees that God will in time not in the day that he spoke to Abraham of course but in time it foresaw and we are witnesses to this that it has come to pass

[10:37] I say what a shield this is isn't it it is not an uncertain guide or a defense scripture foresees God would justify the heathen through faith preach before the gospel or the good news or the welcome news or the tidings whatever view we may take of the word or the faith through paying in Abraham paying unto Abraham in these had all nations declared and this was Paul's great book as the apostle to the temple it was his credential God had spoken years before the scripture foresaw it he knew nothing about it as a student of the scripture

[11:45] Jesus Christ was nothing to him as a student before God met with him he didn't understand Abraham's true particular he had no inkling of what was bound up in the life of Abraham as a type until God showed him then it was to age it was the age of spirituality and the age of human logic and reason and there was none able to stand before it because to this end that God used him beautifully qualified and equipped him so that he comes to us the gospel comes to us by bringing this shield what set the world it is in

[12:49] Isaiah to the law and to the testament if they speak not according to these it is because there is no light in them thus the scripture stands as a sure defense and you may think as I can of many scriptures which have abundantly confirmed this but here is a beautiful example of one overlook the scripture foreseeing therefore we too would stand upon this gracious ground of wielding the shield in protection from the fiery darts that so minimize the scripture they burn it up I mean spiritually they destroy it these fiery darts these oh do you believe them or do you believe something else these arguments of man can

[14:06] God be just and yet send people to heaven is he a jealous God and all such terrible criticisms of the almighty how can he lovingly save some and leave others and all these arrows and fiery darts from the devil's armory are nothing new they have done their foul work and they are doing it again and are doing it that the stand is to be made in defense of the gospel of the grace of God and these examples are right to the point God and he comes not only to the fact of Abraham's early history the foreseeing or foreknowledge of God as revealed in the scripture but he also comes to that great fact of the seed of

[15:21] Abraham here he brings forth what has never been brought forth before which is a further evidence of his divine inspiration a further comfort to the church of God in seeing that which has never been revealed before the Lord Jesus himself though he knew it let this as he let other truth be expounded by his servant in later days and this is one of them he said not as the apostle seed but a seed as a one now unto Abraham and his seed seed seed seed where the promise is made verse 16 he said not unto seeds full as to many but as of one and to thy seed then he seals it tightly to this word which is

[16:47] Christ and what a divine action is this what a shield of defense seed what is the import of this then that in Isaac shall I save the cause I said this morning that even godly Abraham did not have the shield in the right place tied he was at times struck by the fiery darts of the devil I quoted the case of his wife Sarah how he denied her and through unbelief and mistrust of his god asked her to call him his sister his brother so that he might pass by any danger rather than that he fell into it but there is another great point in which he found and that is with regard to his two sons that was

[18:08] Isaac and Ishmael the promise was that he should have a son and that in his old age and Sarah laughed as any woman would do when she heard her decorations there to her now this was a very to impossible possibility now in the mind of God we can see by faith through the teaching of the scripture what was bound up in this seemingly strange incident that was that through Hagar her hand maid Abraham had a son before Isaac son and that son's name was

[19:11] Ishma that was a matter of history for centuries that was perfectly legal sinless in those days these two sons became the great point of controversy there was no Isaac appearing promise was not fulfilled it seemed to Abraham that he must put his own hand to him he did and brought himself into terrible cover and poor Abraham as well so that what lay in the womb of the scripture for so many many years the apostle now brings to light to refute the fact that there is a chosen people in a chosen seed singular and not plural not universal salvation but particular redemption which is the whole point of his writing to the

[20:37] Galatians who sought to mingle their own works with those of Christ except to be circumcised you cannot be saved but he says therefore he comes down even to a letter that's a letter S to convert the plural to the singular mighty work this well worth our time and attention and prayerful consideration here he stands alone there's no John or Peter or James to say well look here Paul it says saved they didn't see this not that they lack divine teaching but God deserved it for the moment when it will pierce the sharpness and be of the greatest use and history has clinched this matter that just shall live thy faith and as

[21:55] I said this morning it was this word this very word that illuminated the dark monkish mind of Luther when he was striving for salvation by words and when he saw the night and which led to such a reformation and a revolution in his own life and another man raised up with equal determination to defend the scripture by faith in faith and no how else and how wonderfully did it oh that God has set his seal outside of the scripture that we mustn't go too far outside there's enough inside to keep us fully occupied oh that these to the sons to pave an anxiety there was the unborn

[23:10] Isaac the promise still there in Isaac till they see it be called then there arose that jealousy between Sarah and Hagar to the result that Hagar was turned out cast out Paul quote cast out the bond woman and her son two must go together and she is cast out cruelly it seems to us sent out into the desert with a pitcher of water and when the water is used there she lies and the child dearly died until God spoke to her out of heaven and showed her nearby a well of water not a mousous feast mark you but life giving water and that poor woman with that her weakly dying child was revived but God went so close in this matter as to so that had he without his hand and not spoken from heaven

[24:32] Hagar would never have been able to say to go thou God see it me and that was a well of night for that poor woman this now was preserved and as you know he became a race of past and it now comes to the time of gospel declaration where the Lord is pleased to bring this to the mind of his servant and he uses it to the utmost of it that God's blessing and that the nations in all nations can fear through faith and faith and in one mediator as he says

[25:33] Jesus Christ above all taking the shield of faith now put put yourself in Abraham's position and listen ponder the utmost confidence of his faith he had to go back centuries he had to depend entirely upon the word of God it is true God illuminated it to faith but there is no voice that can condemn the exposition of God's servant called on the question of the two sides glory of this blessing lies here the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel of

[26:41] Abraham and that gospel has been preached but there has been a branch in it there has been the legal and the spiritual he then makes this whole point of the death of Christ the crucifixion of Christ that it was a cursed death cursed death Christ died under the curse at solemn curse of God you've just been singing thy wrath is terrible to bear the 90th psalm written by Moses has this question in it who knoweth the power of thine anger and swiftly speaking there is only one person that knows the power of

[27:47] God's anger and that is Jesus Christ when he bore that anger in his own sinless body and was made sin who knew knows him and it was to him so terrible because he was so pure the utter extremes that met in this awful pouring of divine anger upon Christ certified too clearly that Jesus alone knows and all that that word means the power of God out now this is cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree look at the faith on the negative side of this matter that the apostle had he could have covered this over men would say today well don't bring up that we don't want to hear that side of it frighten people away that's what we want to do so that they are brought into trouble and convicted they won't go away once this happens but the truth as it is in the letter of course will affect that

[29:24] Christ was made of curse and none will be appended in this whose eyes are open to the future of the glorious faith now this is a shield of defense and it is impervious to fire it out from the devil nothing can penetrate it and not one with this defensive shield of faith in the fact that Christ died for the ungodly if ever he lost they cannot be deceived by such a blessed gospel as this he then brings in the law this law that was

[30:28] I said this morning the whole point of issue let's have law and gospel let's have liberty and freedom and let us have a little strictness with it no it is either law or either gospel they are never to mix the old figure was the garment of the Jew that he was never to wear linen and wool together and either as a believer permitted through graves to mingle his own works with the works of Christ if you know anything of the sinful nature of all and any of your works you will heartily embrace the gospel of God's righteousness unmingled with yours if I want to put a thread on it and so

[31:36] God will be glorified he then having brought this matter to a head he comes over later in this chapter another figure all of which is of faith the law was our school master to bring us to Christ that is in verse 24 the law was our school master to bring us out of Christ that we might be justified by God another understandable illustration and time proving the strength of the shield of faith that the law had its place it wasn't abolished or something passed by it was of use in its right place and that was to conflict a broken law under and in the spirit can lead to a broken life and this is where the remedy comes in so that for this

[32:56] Paul points as the school master disciplined instructive and how wonderful again this is any man knew what a school master was as regards the law he did it taught him the plague of his own heart that all the world he says in the Romans might be guilty before God this holy law of God all of sin come short of the glory of God none that do it good though not one now this school master then the door felt in the conscience brings us in guilty way and if it were left there it would be a terrible matter and it does leave many there many are brought to a sense of their guilt but not to a sense of their relentless death too too late like the five foolish virgins the parable door was shut oh rest not in the work of the law in your conscience guilty and excellent to be held but read the 51st psalm and see there what it leads as I quoted from the hymn we sang this morning with faith and repentance all was fine and so true therefore the law has done its work or will do it to bring us to

[34:54] Christ that we might be justified by faith now this is a vital matter I suppose more has been written on this doctrine than any other justification by faith this gracious God sent field to be wielded to those who feel temptation but I must come to these arrows because they are aimed at the believer who will go and no believer is excused Satan does not say well I'll let that one go he doesn't matter I'll let that young girl there go she doesn't matter he he strived to take any and it follows that if one believer can be lost so may all these arrows are found by these kept taken is this true is this true is the believer justified holy and solely by the righteousness of Christ or is it and you know what are contentious there have been over this great sacred savoury

[36:32] God but what does it mean it means discipline helplessness guiltiness it means the publican's prayer it means David's prayer it means empty hands and worthiness all that is entailed in the lessons of a broken rule but the remedies have had and after that faith is come we are no longer schoolmaster now this means if I can come down to the ordinary incidents of every day and night some of us will be glad when we hold these years of age to get away from the schoolmaster literally

[37:33] I mean we thought we got the world at our feet we felt the liberty that we were going to enjoy we weren't going to have any more discipline and no more instruction and in our ignorance an absolute folly of the plan into the world world but oh what a difference when we got into the world realized our immaturity our ignorance and the things we didn't know and the things that others knew much to our and lost love it is no new thought when it comes to the gospel and this schoolmaster being finished with that is the law we are no longer under the law and this is a very blessed use of the shield this is the golden shield the liberty of the gospel got to sin do as you like break away break from all bounds and through all bounds or on the other hand to feel a deeper sense of earnest desire to follow this blessed head this new master christ christ which of the true is it is it a liberty to sin how the fiery darts will say yes it is the enemy will come in and say if you believe that well then it means to say that you can sin as you like you have here in the last chapter of the

[39:42] Galatians a list I ought to call it a catalogue really of sins works of the flesh are manifest adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife seditions heresies envying murders drunkenness revelings and such like Paul runs out of this scripture and such like those verses in the fifth of Galatians we are later reading are these the things that we delight in and play yes well we will swim in these this will be the rest of our life for these are things we have dread what did you sing in your hymn just now and much

[40:46] I feel that in some short temptation I should fall you feel in your heart the danger of some of these things I won't mention any one in particular there they are you can't escape these some of them are these the things that you want to live in or are these the things that you fear will one day take hold of but go on proof of the spirit is love joy peace non-suffering gentleness goodness pain here comes pain meekness temperance against such there is no rule on this ground therefore he takes his stand this is the shield the justifying righteousness of Christ the complete honouring of the law of God and that that law is not now the believer's rule of life he has something of a far higher and more noble character than his love he would not sin against his gracious

[42:16] God freely deliberately keep me from sinning he cried may not breathe me but can't you go no no more no more not into these things but I walk again says the believer his shield is protruded against the fiery glass and he has them oh yeah he feels these aimed at him especially the ones that aim at the weakest top he dreads he trembles at the thought of such as these that they come that he doesn't move his shield on one side and say that he fiery darts welcome does he now this is the fear of

[43:20] God in active exercise the grace of God all come out of one name and that is grace and it stands as the shield of faith over all above all the shield of faith against the fiery darts of the wicked now this illustration therefore I set before you today from the epistle to the Galatians as being a vital one in your life and life and faith will stand securely behind these groups and no others and here she will be protected and preserved and finally gathered at the end so that the text stands so beautifully clear stand therefore oh foolish relatable who have bewitched you a parallel to you the arrows the fiery dark went into them just the same as they did into

[44:49] Abraham and he doubted God's word put his own hand to the matter and said no I'll have a son and son he had begged that Ishmael might live before God but no said God in Isaac shall thy seed be called so also the emphasis now is placed upon this that it is the gospel of the grace of God Christ and him crucified of which Paul said that he was not ashamed the Lord help us to add our little might and say neither of us faith and even neither o the other any than ment that the other things you you you you