Okay, I want to go back to Galatians
3 verses 13 and 14 again at least for one more message And let
me read those two verses and then I will begin Before I even
read the verses though. I'll give you my title Abrahamic
blessing guaranteed by Christ And I say that based upon these
words. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. In these Two verses, just these
two verses, Paul expresses the gospel in most solemn words. Words which denote Christ's personal
connection to our redemption. And what I mean by that is, and
I don't mean in any way, before I say what I'm gonna say, let
me preface it with this, I don't mean in any way to belittle the
physical sufferings and mockery that Jesus Christ experienced
at the hands of men. But no doubt, according to at
least what I've read from some who have studied Roman history,
there have been thousands crucified and severely beaten within an
inch of their life, so to speak, and hanged on a cross. Here's
what it is. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. The prophet Isaiah
had already told us, told the world, so to speak, that God
would make his soul, not just his body, but his soul, that
immaterial part of him that, and I don't know how to even
say this, that human, immaterial part of him that God had created
through an act of the Spirit of God in the womb of the Virgin,
a true living, breathing, feeling man. And he was made a curse
for us. And the scripture clearly foretold
this. I'm not going to go back and
read it, but I'll give you the verses. Of course, you may have
a reference if you have sinner references. According to Deuteronomy
21, 22 through 23, that Moses made it clear that that person
who's hanged on a tree is accursed of God. That's the phrase in
the Old Testament. is accursed of God, not just
accursed of men. Yes, they seen him as a cursed
thing. Most of the people there just
seen him as just another common criminal. Maybe on more religious
grounds based than anything else, but even that didn't matter,
because he was just a common criminal to most folk. But he
was accursed of God. I do not know what that is like.
I do not. nor does any still living, breathing
human being. I don't care how much they are
suffering. And I use as an illustration
of that, as I watch TV and you'll see the commercials or the advertisements
for like the cancer center for the crippled children's hospital,
the Shriners. And you see some of these little
fellas suffering. And sometimes the tears just
kind of well up in my eyes to see what these little fellas
and these families are going through. But they still have
not been forsaken of God. As Henry Mahan once put it, something
along this line, every breath you take this side of death is
one less breath you'll take in hell. I can't explain all that. According to Paul, Paul is still
on the same subject and right up until the end of this letter,
he never lets go of this subject. That just, that just dawned on
me just several months ago as we began going through this series
of studies. that this is the one letter where
Paul basically hammers on one thing and one thing only. In
some places, he mentions a few other things, but they are, in
a sense, just inconsequential, but just a part of the conversation
that has been brought to bear. He keeps hammering on this. Christ,
not law, redeemed us. And most would agree with that.
But in word, only, not in deed and not in truth. Christ, not
law, redeemed us. And so doing, Christ guaranteed
the blessing of God promised to Abraham. Now, these hucksters,
these tricksters, like Earl used to say, the ones that perform
the proverbial religious shell game with you, they've practiced
their answers to many of the objections. They know what to
say when you respond from the scriptures, but their answers
are never from scripture. It's always some logical or reasonable
thing. The salvation we are experiencing
today in this day is the same exact salvation that Abraham
experienced. It is no difference. Different,
not at all. Again, Christ, not law, redeemed
us. And Christ, in redeeming us from
the curse of the law, and Abraham knew nothing about the law. He, along with all of humanity,
had by God the law in their hearts, but our hearts are so corrupt,
we don't know it by the letter. We only know it in principle.
And we understand that there are some things that are wrong,
there are some things that are right. But none of us, by nature,
agree upon what those things are. The law then come along
and say, well, here exactly is what's right and what's wrong. But that's all it ever did. That's
all it ever did. For instance, and let me read
you, you know this, it's familiar, you don't have to necessarily
turn to it. Now we know that what things
whoever the law saith that saith to them who are under the law
that every mouth be stopped and all the world may become guilty
before, now but notice, guilty before God. not guilty before
themselves, not guilty before one another, not guilty in their
own conscience necessarily, but they are guilty before God. God
has the right to say, I gave you this. and you did not see
its true meaning. But look, therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But then the religionist,
the legalist comes along and says, okay, then you cannot know
what sin is apart from the law. That's not what that says. It
says by the law is the knowledge of sin, but it does not say by
the law only is the knowledge of sin. It just says, by the
law is the knowledge of sin. Now, if you don't see the difference
in that, then you're right on the precipice of being able to
be persuaded one way or the other, one way or the other. You see,
again, let me just, before I go any further, let's just consider
six facts from our text. This is not my message itself,
this is just Things that I'm gonna state clearly and we'll
see it from the text. So six things. Our Redeemer is
a person. And I know we say this with all
six of these things. We've tried to say them here
for years, over and over and over again. Our Redeemer is a
person. Our text says so. Christ hath
redeemed us. But the context of this book
would let me add this. Christ only. hath redeemed us. Right? Christ only hath redeemed
us. Our Redeemer is a person. The
second thought, our redemption was accomplished. Christ hath. You hear the emphasis. Christ
hath redeemed us. He did not make it possible for
us. I'm saying, he did not make it
possible. He did redeem us. He did not make redemption available. He did. He hath redeemed us. The third thought from our text. Our redemption had this precise
particularity. Now it had other precise particularities
as well. I'm not denying those, but I'm
saying in our text, our redeemer is a person. Our redemption was
accomplished. If we are redeemed, it's already
done. but it's already done. And I
said our redemption had a precise particularity. Christ hath redeemed
us from, from, from, when you've redeemed something, And it's
going to be an oversimplification, I'm sure, but when you redeem
something from, that means it was in one place, or at least
under a certain authority, and you brought it out from under
that one authority, and brought it to another authority, or under
another auspice. Our redemption had a precise
particularity. Christ hath redeemed us from,
from the curse of the law. And where's the curse of the
law manifested? In what we do or do not do. The works of the law cannot be
separated, oh God help us to remember, the works of the law
cannot be separated from the curse. If you're under the law's
works, you're under the curse. The only way to not be under
the curse is not Christ redeem you from it, and then you go
back under it. It's to be redeemed from it. Fourthly, our Redeemer was our
substitute. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. I heard a preacher give, and
others have, of course, use a very good illustration for this. And
it's a scriptural, it's not something he'd come up with. When God told
Moses to make something for the people of Israel, remember, many
of them had been bitten by serpents, and they were dying. I mean,
they were in the throes of being poisoned by these poisonous serpents. And God told Moses to make something,
to put it on a pole and put it up so that everyone that was
bitten, and I don't have the time to go into the truth of
that, you had to be bitten first. The pole and what was on it was
of no value if you wasn't bitten. But if you were bitten, you could
look to that pole and what was on it. And you know what happened?
The poison went away. The swelling. Y'all, you've seen
probably pictures of snake bites and just that swelling. They
have a word for it. And then the flesh can start
to rot, Joe, after a certain time from certain kinds of snake
venom. But what was it that God told
Moses to put on that tree? The very thing that bit them.
A serpent. A brazen serpent. Christ was
made to be what? The very thing that was our problem. Sin. Sin. Folks, that is a most solemn
word of the gospel. The gospel's not just God loves
the world, now won't you believe in Jesus. As Rolf Barnard said,
he said, there's not enough gospel in John 3, 16 to save a flea.
And Henry Mahan said the first time he said that at Pollard
Baptist Church, said people's jaws had dropped open. He said
the gospel is as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
on him should have everlasting life. He said John 3, 16's testimony
about the gospel. And that's the truth. That's
the truth. So again, remember, our Redeemer
is a person. And I'm putting it, and nothing
else. Our redemption was accomplished.
Christ hath redeemed us. As I have been fond of doing,
that lets me say, it lets me rest. Now I don't
always, But when I begin to be troubled,
now I'm talking about being a believer for many years, and I begin to
place myself under persons or things, and I begin to feel guilty,
when God is pleased to once again give me a glimpse of that Redeemer,
that substitute, hanging on the tree, being made to be the very
thing that is my problem, I again can say, I can rest. I can rest. A Redeemer is a person. Our redemption
was accomplished. Our redemption had this precise
particularity. Our Redeemer was our substitute. Christ being made a curse for
us. Fifthly, our redemption had an
ordained goal. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us that In other
words, in order for. You can put it that way. In order
for the blessing of Abraham that it might come on the Gentiles
and you, I'm amazed, I am now, I didn't used to be, amazed by
these commentaries that they like to concentrate on the might. And they use it in the sense
in which the word might in our day is maybe so, maybe not. That
is not the context of what Paul is saying here. This is so that
God Almighty in his holiness might do this. As Scott Richardson
used to say, before God could ever save a one of us, he had
to do something for himself before he did something for us. He had
to satisfy his holiness and his justice. God could love us all
he would, but unless the son suffered and died as though he
were the sinner himself, hanging there as the sinner, a holy God
could have never redeemed us. This is the amazing thing that
our brother Isaiah again said concerning God. He's a just God
and a savior at the same time. That's amazing. That's astounding. I mean, we have governors, and
we have had, and do have presidents. They can just pardon somebody.
But they can't take care of the real problem. Christ took care
of our real problem by being made to be the problem. And when
he did, God the Father turned his back on him. Again, that,
the blessing of Abraham. I don't have more than Abraham
has. I am right there with him. I have the same person he had.
I have the same salvation he had. Total, free, reigning grace. I was just like Abraham in my
own Ur of the Chaldees. And God said to me, get up and
get out. and I didn't even know where
I was going. Tommy, you didn't know that years
and years ago when you left New Jersey, God was sending you to
a certain place. You didn't know it, but he was
sending you. Get up and get out. Get up and
get out. So then, Verse nine of chapter three,
so then they which be of faith are blessed right alongside of,
with. With faithful Abraham. Don't you let anybody, when you
begin to talk about these things, say, but Abraham, they ain't
no but, it's and Abraham. We're experiencing the exact
same salvation. As a matter of fact, this covenant
was made to Abraham, how? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. What needs to be added to that?
Nothing to the person who's been born of God, but everything to
the person who is still unregenerate. And they'll pick and choose what
they think needs to be added. Circumcision. Circumcision. Paying your tithes. listening to the elders and do
what all the elders say to do. Join in the church, be baptized,
whatever. You go on down the list, keep the Sabbath. I mean, we even have denominations
that some are based upon baptism, some are based upon the Sabbath.
There is no end to our legalism in the flesh. Now if we were perfect legalists,
we'd all agree upon the whole law, but we don't do that. We
pick and choose even amongst the law what we really like and
what we don't. And you notice when most of these
legalists begin to give you the law, they don't really give you
the law, they give you their experience. Where they have been,
what they've been through. I used to be a drunk and God
sobered me up. But they don't tell you about
how they lie and cheat and steal at work. and they just got off
the booze, hmm? Yeah? Breaking the speed limit,
honey. They'll criticize you for one
thing, and then they got that heavy foot down, breaking the
law, huh? Come on now. Well, that don't
really matter. Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? Our redemption, now here's the
sixth one. Our redemption assured. Now, it's here. And I just, I don't wanna say
noticed. Sometimes you see things like, well, I just noticed that.
No, all of a sudden God turned the light on. What's really the
fact? Our redemption assured union
with God. Is that in our text? Yeah, it is. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Do you see that? Now, when I
said our redemption assured union with God, that's true, but it
was an act of God toward us, not an act of us toward God.
Yes, we did it by faith, but he supplied the faith that brought
it to pass. I got nothing to boast of. Like
Charles Adams Spurgeon said, you got 10 beggars out, broke
beggars, not a penny in their pocket. And you say, the person
who has a penny is the one I'm going to supply them for the
rest of their life, all of their food, all their clothing, all
their housing, but ain't none of them got a penny. But you
got a penny, and you give it to them. You've promised to do
what? Supply the man that has the penny.
But you had to supply the penny yourself. Why? Because we're
beggars. God don't save us because we
beg him for it. We beg him for it because he
is saving us. God puts you in that trouble
first. You know why he continues to
put us in that trouble? Because we've become pretty cocky
and confident if he didn't. We've become proud of grace. While all along we're saying,
I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. But you
can say it all you want with this. It's got to be real by
experience down in here. What was it that Tim James once
said about humility? The believer, And I'm not gonna
get this right, because I had to go all the way back and find
the message to start with, and then find the place where he
said this. But as long as, when it comes to the believer in humility,
it's kind of like this. When we say we are humble, we
know we're really not. We know we're really not. He
said, but when we say we're not, we think we really are. You know what that is? That's
our flesh. And you're right, Tommy, it don't quit. It don't
quit. It don't quit. Why? Because God
is pleased even in this life for us to be constantly forced
by Jesus Christ to run to Christ. Over and over and over. What was it that drove Abraham
to God? No law. Now, you could say, well,
the get up and get out was a law, if you wanna call it that. But
you know what it was? It was an enablement. And enablement. And when God gives a law that
he intends you must obey, he gonna enable you to do it. He
gonna enable you to do it. And aren't you glad? You bunch
of thieves out there, whichever one, have you stole that eraser
when he's in the third grade? Huh? You seen that little sub-ditty
that one of your third graders had? Boy, when they turned her
back, things in your pocket, huh? All right, things in your
pocket. Aren't you glad that grace doesn't
say thou shalt not steal? Because if grace demanded that,
you'd go to hell for just that. But grace says let him that stole
steal no more. Do you see that? But what about
the stealing? Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He died a thief
on that cross. Is that what your problem was? We'll
look at it later. We'll go into it now. All of
us have one now. Not everybody steals stuff. And
I know, Tommy and I talked about this the other day, you know,
we rob God of his glory. That's all true, but the law
means thou shalt not steal. Isn't that what it says? Not
everybody pilfers stuff, but there's one sin we're all guilty
of, not believing on the name of the Son of God. Everybody's
guilty of that one. We're born guilty of that one.
And as soon as we begin to get a little bit of self-realization
about us as we grow up, we manifest it clearly. We may not say the
words, but we sure do the acts of it. I will not have that man
to reign over me. And that's what every child is
doing when they rebel against their parents. Because God ordained
the authority of their parents over it. When they say, I won't
listen to you, They're rebelling against the authority of God. Somebody says that's law, you
bet your bottom dollar it is. Aren't you glad God Almighty
don't save you based upon the fact that you honor your mother
and your father? Huh? Just because some of us may have
bought a Mother's Day card and a few flowers, that ain't honoring
your mother and your father. We'll just stop there right there.
Our redemption assured this union that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit. Who is that? Christ Himself.
Because the Holy Spirit is called what? The Spirit of Christ. The
Spirit of Christ, right? It's called the Spirit of God.
He is called God the Spirit. It's said in all these different
ways. Why? Because He's God. He's God. Now let's look at that. Now,
in other words, it's assuredly this is what Paul is saying.
I got three more things I want to give you. This will be my
actual message. What I intended, let me put it
that way. What I intended, God intended more because more came
along later. It's Christ, not law. It's a
God-given faith, not law. As we will see, it's promise,
not law. I love it when he says, is the
law then against the promise of God? He did not say, is the
promise then against the law? Because the promise came first. Right? The promise came first. The law was, Paul put it here
somewhere, you help me, 430 years after. Do you see it? You see, the promise came first. God willing, we'll look at that
more later if we're all still alive and the Lord hadn't come
back yet. And if he does, if he kills one of us, you won't
worry about it no more. You ain't gonna worry about, boy, I sure,
man, I wish I'd have got to hear Walter's message the next coming
week. You'll be enthralled with Christ.
You ain't gonna worry about what Walter's gonna say down here.
And if the Lord returns, none of us will worry about it. I'm
sure I won't be taking these old yellow handwritten notes
to glory with me and saying, Lord, where was I wrong and where
was I right? Isn't that the way people, I
mean, I remember Henry talking about one preacher, he actually
heard the man say it, he said, when I get up there to glory,
I think it was Henry, maybe it was somebody else, but when I
get up there to glory, I'm gonna go to the Apostle Paul and I'm
gonna sit him straight on a couple things. Really? Boy. That's not confidence. That's
presumption. Remember, it's Christ, not law.
It's a God-given faith. It's not law. It's promise, not
law. Somebody says, you're against
the law. Yeah, when it comes to these things. Yeah. Now we will look, wherefore then
serveth the law. God willing, we'll look at that.
We'll look at exactly why was the law given. What, thus saith
the Lord about it. Don't add in to any of it. I'll
give you an illustration of it. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. So you can't know nothing about sin unless you know the
law. That's just not so. When he has
come, the spirit of truth has come, what's he gonna reprove
the world of what? Sin. Why? Because they've all
stole, because they're all drunks. No, because they believe not
on me. You don't have to know nothing
about the law. If the spirit of God shows to you, you, your
sin is not believing Jesus Christ, you're in good shape. Because
he don't do that for everyone. But I'm jumping ahead. Remember,
it's Christ, not law. Faith, God-given faith, not law. Promise, not law. It is substitution,
not law. The law talks of substitution,
but it never provided one. Did you ever think about it? It never provided one. Even the
things that it provided were only figures, shadows, and types.
They couldn't really do the job. They were just pointing to him
who did do the job. Substitution, not law. Redemption,
not law. So consider these three facts.
Turn to Acts 2, Acts chapter 2. Now there's so much here,
and I don't mean for this to get into, in this series, do
messages on the personal work of the Spirit of God. Because
I want to stay directly with, notice Paul just mentions this,
and then Joey just kind of moves on. He kind of comes back to
it in chapter four, but he mentions it and moves on. Because again,
what he's dealing with is what? Christ, not law. God giving faith,
not law. But I want you to think about
it. Let's read it, then I'll make my statement. Acts chapter
20, or Acts chapter two, I'm sorry, verse 32. Now listen, this Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Now, of course, you
realize this is Peter's gospel message on the day of Pentecost.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. I don't understand
that. But once he was exalted, Joe,
he received the promise of the Holy Ghost. Now Paul says about
the Abrahamic prophecy, let me read it again, I'll misquote
it. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. Do you see it? Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost. You see, we didn't believe and
then God just gave us the Holy Ghost. That's the way people
teach today, don't they? Right? Even some Calvinists do. You believe God will give you
the Holy Ghost. That's not how it goes. Exalted and received
of the Father, the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed
forth this. Do you see that? Christ. Christ. Now there's an argument as was
this a one time thing and we simply are by regeneration and
conversion born into it? Or is it something God does for
each individual? I don't know. I've tried to study
some of that and I'm not gonna enter into that argument or that
fight because I don't know. I just know thus saith the word
of God. Look, we'll look at another that
appertains directly to us as well here in a moment. Again,
therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, that's talking
of Christ, right, no doubt about that, and having received of
the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, that's still talking
about Christ, he, that's Christ, has shed forth this which ye
now see and hear. Do you see it? Hmm. So you don't believe down the
Holy Ghost. You don't believe up the Holy Ghost. You don't
believe him into you. Who's the giver of the Holy Ghost?
He's the one that received the promise of the Spirit. Whatever,
however other avenue or whatever, Joe, I don't even know how to
state it here. I didn't try to write it down precisely, because
I don't know how to state it precisely, to be honest with
you. If you have the Spirit of God because you believed in Christ,
because Christ gave him to you. That's what I'm trying to say.
Now look at another, turn to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians
chapter one. So remember, our Redeemer sent
this promise. this thing of the Holy Ghost,
that we might what? Paul puts it in Galatians in
our text, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit. And
again, I'm not. The Old Testament saints, the
disciples, during the earthly ministry of the Lord, had the
Holy Spirit with them. They were still regenerated.
I had a long discussion over the internet years ago with a
fella, and he was trying to make some difference between the saints
in the Old Testament and saints in the New Testament. They were
regenerated, else they were lost. They had to be given spiritual
life, else they would have been as rebellious as anybody else
that never believed. But we know from the scripture
that our Lord said concerning the spirit, to the disciples,
he's with you, but he shall be in you. Okay, with that in mind,
with that in mind, remember, our Redeemer sent this promise.
Likewise, he's the promiser. Secondly, this promise is to
all who believe the gospel of Christ. It's not just to those
disciples at Pentecost during the day of Jerusalem. I have
proof from that, Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, and I'm gonna
start, as Paul, with a new sentence, we might say, in whom, that's
Christ, of course, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. You
don't even remember all the sins you've committed as well as I
don't remember them all. We have some we've committed,
we're not even aware of them. There's probably been many of
us, all of us probably have committed some here this morning as we
were gathering to worship, praying to God to be with Joe and Paul
and Walter and be with me while I listen, huh? but have the forgiveness of sins
according to the riches of his grace. Wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, he's not just letting it slide.
All justice has been satisfied. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed wherein himself he didn't even consider us in
the matter. I know in religion, that election,
predestination, all that stuff, meant God kind of knew what would
happen in the future, who would believe, and he chose who would
believe. No, he purposed all this out in himself. that in
the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.
One of the ways to know God Almighty's done something for you in grace,
does that make you happy or does that make you mad? That's simple. Does that make you happy or does
that make you mad? That we should be to the praise,
we? That we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ, that is God first
trusted him. God did. in whom ye also trusted
after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. So he's talking about the exact
same thing Joe were talking about, he was writing about in Galatians
chapter three, verses 13 and 14, right? If you believe, listen
to me now, Listen to me, if you believe
through the preaching of the gospel. But no other way. But no other
way. Well, I don't know if there's
any gospel around when I believe. You didn't believe by the power
of God. God ordained, it pleased God, it made God happy. This
is just what God gives God, that happiness down in his soul. Tommy, it was fun for God to
do it that way. It made him happy. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them. But preach what? Not just anything. But Christ
crucified. Go back and look at the context.
First Corinthians chapter one. Now, I done kinda passed it up
for a moment, didn't I? Let me turn back to it. I wanna
read it all. In whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, and it is specific, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest,
the guarantee, Is that what I used in my title? That's the word
there, earnest, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. God, God made himself the guarantor
of this thing. And that's what Paul will go
on to say. And let me just give you, I gotta jump ahead on this
one. Verse 19, wherefore then serveth
the law. It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. So
there was a time for the law to end there. Right? That's what
it says. 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. Now I'll give
you that little preview of that. That's on down, we still got
a lot, we still got a few messages before we get to that. In the
law, the deck's stacked against us, transgressors. A mediator
is when you have two parties that have trouble, that have
an opposition, and you bring in a go-between to bring the
two together. The law doesn't do that. It was
ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, and a mediator's
not a mediator of one, but God is one. You see, when God gave
the law, he stacked the deck against us. And you hear what
I said? He stacked the deck against us.
The law is not, if you'll do this, I'll do that. No, God said,
thou shalt not. Thou shalt, and we do not. And we do not. Now think about
this, here's the third thing. Remember, our Redeemer sent the
promise. This promise is to all who believe, and I said, the
gospel of Christ. Let me tell you something. A
man or a woman is not truly converted until they give up that old conversion,
that old religion, that old so-called gospel. That's what it means
to believe. I've told you this before. That's
what it means to believe with all your heart. It means to finally
see all those other things for what they are, what Paul called
them, D-U-N-G. Joe, I didn't see that right
at first. But it didn't take long, I began to see that all
of that profession I'd made in religion, all of those progress
I'd made in religion, it was D-U-N-G. But here's the third thought.
Paul reveals that the receiving of the Spirit, though not directly
revealed in the Old Testament, as ever given to Abraham specifically. Now you see what I'm saying?
It's in the Old Testament, the promise of the Spirit would come.
But Paul reveals that the receiving of the spirit, though it's not
directly revealed in the Old Testament scripture to Abraham,
other than possibly, and I've looked at every commentator I
had, the good ones and the bad ones, Joe. I looked in my center reference
for reference. Couldn't find it anywhere. The
only thing I could gather is this. But let me say before I
read it, it doesn't matter. What Paul said is absolute truth. God gave it to him. So it was
included. The promise of the Spirit was
included in the Abrahamic covenant whether God mentioned it directly
to Abraham or not. That's what I'm trying to say.
But here is one possibility. This is just thought, I'm not
saying thus saith the Lord. Now let's listen to it. After
these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. What's your great reward? That
city he was looking for? No, God himself. Do you see it? Now, I'm not saying that was
where God, but he did tell Abraham, I am your shield. I am your great
reward. Joe, that desired haven that
God brings all of his people to is a person, not a place. That desired haven for them was
not where they were intending to go. They were going somewhere
else. But when that storm hit and the
pancake, they were glad to find that desired haven. Do you see the difference now?
You see, Christ is our reward. Jack, if he never does anything
else for me, if my health just begins to deteriorate, if my
job fades away and I get laid off and I just struggle monetarily,
he showed me his son in the gospel. I have more than most folks will
ever have. Though they be the richest people
on earth. You understand what I'm saying?
If you believe me, to have that, just an old sinner, a believing
sinner stand up here and just say words from the Bible and
that to so grip your soul that now you see Jesus Christ and
you just can't get him out of your heart and mind. Even sometimes
when you try, somebody, you'll be at work, you'll be working
and not thinking about religion or anything, just doing what
you're doing, and you drop a dish and it busts all over the floor.
And you think, oh, Christ ordained that. Something stupid as a dish,
right? Somebody throws your tea away,
out of the car. God is in control of everything,
and he's doing it in the person of his son. Isn't that what Paul
told us, told our brothers and sisters at Colossae, right? Look,
Colossians chapter one, verse 16, for by him, look at the context,
you'll see it's Christ, for by him were all things created that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible or invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him. And for him, God has his use
of everything. Even the wrath of man shall praise
him. The remainder of it, he'll restrain. Right? And for him,
and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. They're held together. Who gave
those people the breath and the larynx and the tongue to say,
crucify, crucify? Who did that? Christ himself. Huh? Ellen, he was in charge
when he was hanging on that tree. He was in charge. Those people
that were, those people that drove those nails in his hand,
the crown of thorn to whipping him senseless, beating him, spitting
on him, mocking him, he was in charge. They were his servants as he hung on that tree. But
he didn't do it for all of them. He did it for us. Somebody says, you must think
you're special. I am. But not in me. But because God chose me in his
son. And therefore when God sees his son, he sees me. He sees you. So again, remember,
it was included in the Abrahamic promise. And of course, Paul
kinda alludes to this thing, and I don't have time, I'm not
gonna deal a lot with that. We probably will when we get
to chapter four. I said we probably will when
we get to chapter four. Look, concerning what Paul said
of the Israelites, remember, but they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel, but concerning the Israelites, Romans 9, verse
four, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth, what's the first
thing? The adoption. And if you wanna find out what
that means, go look at Galatians chapter four this evening, and
you'll see, what is the adoption? The giving of the Spirit of God,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And that's what it goes on to,
and God willing, we'll look at it later. My brothers and sisters,
God sent his dear Son, and the Son redeemed such a cursed people
as us. He became what we were. We were
the cursed people. You didn't even have to hang
us on a cross for us to be accursed of God. Our union by our parents,
though they may have been fully legally wed, when they conceived
us, we was shapen in iniquity. Shapen in, born in sin. God sent his dear son, and his
son redeemed such a cursed people as us, but notice, being made
a curse for us. This wasn't just some distant,
Joe, it wasn't just he had to take a beating from some men
and malking, and then now we could be saved if, no. He had
the Father turn his back on him himself. Guaranteeing that we
would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The law of God did none of this. Do you hear me? The law of God
did none of this. Submit to Christ, not law. Follow Christ, not law. I'm stopping, holler at me if
you know anybody, I don't care. When I first heard that from
somebody that was from this place, it hurt. It hurt. Then I got mad. I ain't glad
yet, but I got mad. That's tongue in cheek. I now
see it was all the purpose of God Almighty. He wasn't after
me, he wasn't after you. He's after God's Son. He's after
God's Son. Submit to Christ, not law. Follow
Christ, not law. Live and walk in Christ, not
law. And when you find yourself easing
over back toward the law, just say, nope, God turned me the
right way to Christ. Somebody says, you must hate
the law. Oh, no, I love it. I wish I could keep it. But I
know I cannot. Therefore, I do not try. Now,
I want to preface that. Every time I have, Ellen, I failed. When I said today I'm gonna love
my neighbor, I may not say it in those words, but today I'm
gonna show love, real, true love to my neighbor. That's the day
I'll go off on him in a Walmart for no reason at all. For no
reason at all. All I gotta do is say something
to you the wrong way. Live and walk in Christ, not
law. Leave the law where it is for
us. And we read it last week. We
may look at it more later. And you can read it in 2 Corinthians
3, verses 7 through 11. Leave the law where it is for
us, done away in Christ. It's glories, done away. Thus saith the Lord, not Walter
Pendleton. Done away.