Abraham, you know who he is if you're a student of God's word.
In order- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph-- then we jump to a time after the memory of Joseph had been forgotten and yet his descendants lived on and we are brought to Moses.
(Exo 1:7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.)
We know Moses as the one who delivered the Israelites from Egypt and received the Royal Law from the hand of God, the Ten Commandments. Yet, we have to realize right now, if never before, that those Ten Commandments existed BEFORE Moses! Yes, I said they existed BEFORE MOSES!
Abraham knew these laws of GOD! ADAM knew these laws! Yes, I said ADAM knew the Ten Commandments! Mankind was created to KNOW the Moral Law of God! These laws were WRITTEN ON OUR HEARTS! Sin produced a shroud upon our hearts. Satan's shroud seeks to keep us from recognizing the laws of God written on our hearts. From Adam to you and to all after you, the law of God is there, written on your heart by God at creation from the moment you were conceived. Because Satan's shroud seeks to obliterate God's moral law from our hearts, God had to give mankind the moral law written in stone, by His own finger. The shroud of Satan was embraced by so many because mankind's bent towards self-serving, not God serving, not the serving of others. Still today mankind has Satan's shroud covering their hearts, to the point they have discarded the moral law on so many levels. Many have accepted the moral law, only to pick it apart choosing the parts they desire to believe and live, while doing away with other parts entirely. Satan uses this sort of deception so perfectly on mankind that the majority of those who choose this way truly believe they are serving the Lord. The whole royal law of God, the full Ten Commandments in their entirety are written on our hearts and the shroud of Satan can only be removed by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to reveal them there. Jesus WILL remove that shroud, but only if we let Him! Don't let Satan mislead you into thinking those Ten Commandments did not exist before Moses, and that they don't exist today, they are fully binding from everlasting to everlasting. They are the essence of our God! The law of LOVE in its purity. God is love.
May the Lord bless and keep us in HIM now and forever! All through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR now and forever! Amen!!!!!!!
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'CHAPTER IV. STEPS OF THE FAITH OF ABRAHAM
Continued…
Abraham kept the law of God, even all his commandments. After speaking of the fact that all nations were to be blessed in him, Paul adds:--
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ." Gal. 3:13, 14.
In this scripture we notice these points:
1. Christ does not redeem us from the law, but from its CURSE; and the curse falls only on the transgressor. Therefore all who have an interest in the redemption of Christ, are amenable to the law of God, and are transgressors of the law. Christ came to call sinners to repentance.
2. This redemption is in order that the Gentiles, or all nations, may receive the blessing of Abraham. And this again proves that the curse of the law rests on the Gentiles. Some affirm that the Jews alone are amenable to the law, which is utterly absurd. All men are sinners; all have gone astray; when the law speaks, every mouth is stopped, and all the world stand guilty before God. Rom. 3:9-19.
Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
Rom 3:16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:
Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
And we learn further in the scripture quoted, that they who are under the curse of the law, that is, who are transgressors of the law, cannot receive the blessing of Abraham. He received the blessing solely by faith, and no one can receive the same blessing except by faith.
Christ alone can redeem any from the curse, and therefore faith in Christ alone can constitute us children of Abraham, and heirs of his blessing.
The same law that Abraham kept, was afterward declared to Israel at Sinai.
The covenant with Abraham embraced these two main points, namely:
1. The promise of the land to him and to his seed.
2. The promise was given to him because he kept the commandments of God.
In other words, the promises were conditional, the condition being the law of God. This we also find stated in the sacred record, as follows:--
"Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; and hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance." 1 Chron. 16:15-18.
In these verses the foundations of the Abrahamic covenant are presented in brief. First, the condition; the law which he commanded to a thousand generations. Were this intended to mark a definite period, but a small part of it is yet expired; but it is probably indefinite, merely expressive of a vast or unlimited period. Secondly, the promise of the land, the lot of their inheritance. The law, the word commanded, is essentially distinct from the promise of the land. One is based upon the other. There is in the whole Bible but one "covenant commanded," which the Lord calls his covenant, defined as follows:--
"And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:12, 13.
But here comes the objection, almost constantly persisted in, that this law was given to the Jews, and therefore we have no concern in it. But we have already seen that the word commanded to Abraham and Isaac was confirmed to Israel for a law, even an everlasting covenant. And the Scriptures give us complete, and of course the correct, views of the relation of those things
committed to the Jews.
This law was indeed given to the Jews, and so were the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, new as well as old (Jer. 31:31-34), and the service of God, and the promises. Rom. 9:4. For of a truth, "salvation is of the Jews." John 4:22. This was the advantage accorded to Israel, "that unto them were committed the oracles of God." Rom. 3:2. And the apostle further shows that their unfaithfulness and unbelief could not make void or of no effect that which was committed to them, for otherwise, how shall God judge the world? For he shows that it is when the law speaks that every mouth is stopped, and all the world stands condemned before God. Rom. 3:3-19. God had aforetime given the "lively oracles" (see Acts 7:38) by which he will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil. Eccl. 12:13, 14. Let
us not slight those sacred oracles because they were committed to Israel, for Christ himself was of Israel according to the flesh. Rom. 9:5; 1:3; Acts 2:30.
Rom 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh
Act 2:30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne
But the things that were given to the Jews were not for them alone, neither were they original with or to the Jews. The new covenant was given to the Jews, and we must receive it through them; but it was given to Abraham long before their time. Gal. 3:17.
Gal 3:17 And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
Christ came of the Jews; but he was promised to the fathers, to Abraham, and to Adam from the beginning.
Paul says that the service of God was given to the Jews; but it was given to many others before their day. The law was given to the Jews; but every item of it was given to the patriarchs--yes, to all the world, before it was given to the Jews. As before said, man's moral nature was given in his creation, and the moral law is but the complement, the necessary accompaniment, of his moral nature. Therefore the law was planted in the nature of man, and revealed to the head and representative of the race in the beginning. And thus Paul says, that the nations who had not the written law given to them as it was given to Israel, might yet do by nature the things contained in the law, because they had "the work of the law written in their hearts." Rom. 2:14, 15.
Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
In this same chapter the apostle shows that the secrets of men shall be judged by the same law of which he was speaking; the law in which the Jews rested, and in knowing which they knew the
will of God. Rom. 2:17-23.
Rom 2:17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Rom 2:18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Rom 2:19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Of course we make a distinction between the moral and ceremonial law. To deny this distinction because the Scriptures do not use these terms, is not an argument; it partakes more of the nature of a cavil. The word probation is not in the Bible; shall we therefore deny the existence of the fact? The terms moral, morality, moral obligation, moral character, and moral agency, are not in the Bible; but who would argue from this that we do not correctly use these terms? There is a wide distinction between moral and ceremonial or positive law. Moral law is fundamental or primary; positive law is secondary; having no force nor meaning without the primary. Take the law for the offering of sin-offerings: When an offering was brought to the priest it indicated that sin had been committed. If sin had never entered into the world, no sin-offerings would have been required. The offering was made necessary in order to forgiveness. So the relation is easily traced to its foundation. The offering indicated that sin had been committed; and the existence of sin indicated the pre-existence of the law; for sin is the transgression of the law, and where no law is there is no transgression--no sin. Hence the law of sin offerings was given because another law, of another nature, had been violated. If that other law had never been violated, no sin-offerings would ever have been offered. The same principle is recognized at the present time, for those offerings were types of gospel facts. If sin had never entered into the world, there would have been no gospel; the gospel has the pre-existing law for its basis. Take away the law, and the gospel would be a nullity. It would be an offer of pardon without conviction. Thus it is easy to see that antinomianism is as absurd as it is unscriptural. Look at the sermon of Peter on that Pentecost after the resurrection of Jesus. His message to those who were convicted of sin-was this: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts. 2:38.
To be continued…
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