All right, Galatians chapter
three again. Now before I read the verse that
is my text, and it is just one verse, let me make a few statements,
read a couple passages. You won't have to turn to those
passages, but before I give you my, before I read my text and
give you my title, I want you to think about this. With the
souls of the unconverted at stake, And with the spiritual health
of believers at stake, truth is paramount. I mean, it's paramount. This thing of salvation, of being
saved, and I don't like the phrase or the word get saved, but even
getting saved, as people state today, They think it's just you
kind of believe in Jesus, you try to live the best life you
can, you ask God to forgive you when you sin, and you just, you
know, you get to go to heaven. Has nothing to do with it. It
has to do with truth. Truth. God has never converted
not one single soul through error, through lies, never. He may send
someone to a place where nothing but lies are being preached,
And that one person is the only one with some truth, but he'll
send the truth to a person. So again, with the souls of the
unconverted at stake, and as we see in our epistle, the one
we've been reading or studying through, with the spiritual health
of believers at stake, truth is paramount. Now you don't have
to turn to this, I'll just turn to it quickly and I wanna read
this. But this statement is made by
our brother Solomon in Proverbs. And I'll read you the verse in
just a moment. Listen to me. This thing of the souls of the
unconverted is at stake. Think about it. Proverbs 16,
verse six. By mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged. And by the fear of the Lord,
men depart from evil. By what? Mercy and truth. But God never shows mercy at
the expense of the truth. But where God's truth is, somewhere,
to someone, he will show mercy. He will show mercy. But also,
I mentioned about believers. Now, just hang on. Let me turn
to the passage, because I want you to hear the words, not be
busy turning as I'm reading it. Think about with the souls of
the unconverted at stake and with the spiritual health of
believers at stake. Listen to Psalm 40 and verse
11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let
thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. God don't just start us out with
the truth. And then we just get to the end,
whichever way we can. This is the whole thing. This
is why Paul is so up in arms when he wrote this epistle to
these churches of Galatia, because the truth had been abandoned. He went on to say in this letter,
as God willing, if we're here long enough, we will see, am
I your enemy? Because I tell you the truth, now the truth
I don't wanna say sometimes, the truth always hurts when we
don't have it in the forefront of our mind. Now if we're already
thinking about it, God's blessing us in it, then we feed on it,
it's nice. But when we're thinking about
something else and all of a sudden, the truth comes up, it hurts. Now the question is, does it
hurt so bad that it causes you to leave where the truth is at?
Or do you just lick your wounds, as we say, and keep on going?
Keep on going. You know, I remember, as Earl
used to say, most so-called churches are places where people gather
together to congratulate one another on how good they are.
And that's what they do. That's what a lot of them do.
But on occasion, on occasion, God in his holy word, he gives
us a choice morsel of a brief simply stated fact That sets
a precedent now. I'm not talking about reading
something and it catches your fleshly Intrigue I'm not talking
about that kind of thing There are a lot of passages that
something maybe I am not real familiar with I know I've read
it because you know, it's kind of read through the Bible as
we say But you know, there are things that and they kind of
intrigue you you know what I'm saying? But I'm not talking about
that kind of thing I'm saying that on occasion, God in his
holy word gives us a choice more so of a brief. I'm not talking
about necessarily just a few words, though it may be that.
It may be a long sentence, but it's usually always one sentence.
One sentence, simply stated, a simply stated fact, and it
sets a precedent when we hear it read. And then when God enables
us to really hear it. Okay, you understand the difference. When we hear it read, and then
God allows us to hear it, then this phrase, it sets the landscape
to fact so firmly that it wafts this aroma of truth into the
air for everyone who has a nose to smell it and say, man, that
smells good. Let me give you just a couple
examples before we look at our text. And let me read this one
because I know I'm going to confuse, I don't confuse it, but I start
off quoting a different verse. Here it is. For as by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. You think about that? For as by one man's disobedience,
many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. That sets a precedent. Sets a
precedent. Isaiah 53 10, just the first
part, I'm not gonna turn to it. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. Think about that. It pleased
the Lord to bruise him. Here's another one, let me turn
to it. You hang tight in Galatians chapter three. Now listen to
what is written by John the Apostle in the book of the Revelation,
chapter 13, and the first, chapter 13, and let me find my spot. Okay, here it is. Verse eight.
I know there's a larger context, but listen. All that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. Now listen to this phrase now.
Whose names are not written in the book of life are the lambs
slain from the foundation of the world. That's astounding. That sets
a precedent. Though many have read that, read
that, they read that verse, write commentaries on that verse, and
then they'll read that and say, now it doesn't mean what it sounds
like it's saying. Or it doesn't mean this. It means
exactly what it's saying. It's saying that whoever's names
are written in the book of life, they were written from the foundation
of the world, based upon the Lamb slain. God is not writing,
not before, from. From. Because what happened before,
we don't know a whole lot about. But it says from the foundation
of the world. That lets us know this, that
God did not start writing the Lamb's Book of Life when men
began to be saved. God had already had their names
written before the first one was saved. That's why it's necessary
to quote the exact same. Not come up with your own phrase.
Let me give you one more. Colossians, like I said, don't
turn to it, just think of this. Colossians chapter one, in the
last part of verse 18. Now this is just a small tidbit
of what I'm talking about. That in the speaking of Christ,
that in all things, Christ might have the preeminence. That's astounding. You see, Jesus
is not up at the top of the list with a very small group of other
things that are at the top of the list. He alone is at the
top of the list. He alone. Now here's our text
for this morning, Galatians chapter three. This is for me, one of
those astounding, just brief statements that says a mouthful
in just a few words. Verse 12, Galatians 3, and the
law is not of faith. If we have ears to hear and eyes
to see and hearts to perceive, that answers all the questions
about the law. When it comes to the salvation
of a soul, I'm talking about from eternity to in time when
Christ died, and in time when God regenerates and converts
the soul, and as God preserves that soul by His mercy and His
truth, and He preserves that person all the way unto glory. This precedent stands, and the
law is not of faith. Do you see it right there? God moved this man, our brother,
our apostle, to write these words. And the law is not of faith. There are some things that the
law is. And we will look at that, God
willing, when we get down to the verse, wherefore then serveth
the law. We'll look at that. But there
are some things that the law also is not. Okay? Are you with me? Are you
with Paul now? Think of this as Paul's writing
this to me. Paul's writing this to me. So our verse is, and the
law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them, that's the
works of the law, the deeds of the law, shall live in them. So my title, I think, should
be kind of clear. The law is not of faith. The law is not of faith. Now
although the phrase here is in the negative, it screams a positive
about God's free grace in Christ. You understand what I'm saying?
Although it's set in the negative, he's talking about the law and
what it's not. But if you're under its works,
you gotta live in it. You got to live in it. He's already
stated that, right? For as many as are of the works
of the law, it's everybody, they're under the curse. Because the
law demands complete, absolute, full-time, always obedience. Always. And the law is not of
faith. So that's my title, my subject,
you might say. The law is not of faith. And
although this phrase is a negative, it screams a positive about God's
free grace in Christ. Because it is of faith. That is, it consists of, it has
to do with, it is surrounded by faith. And where did faith
begin? Not when you and I believe the
gospel. Faith had no beginning. It's as eternal as God himself,
for it is a fruit of God himself. The same epistle tells us that.
See, faith is, we sing a song, creating faith in him, that's
the phrase. No. Now we sing it, and I'm not
gonna raise a big fuss if we sing it and sing those words,
but God don't create faith in us. How does the book say? He gives faith to us. God never created anything that
is his perfection. It simply is. Most people that are professed
Christians thinks that at best, at best, faith's something, or
at worst, I'm sorry, at worst, faith's something we come up
with, we kind of muster up. God gives us the ability, every
man has the ability, it's kind of up to us to kind of muster
it up, or at best, they say faith is what God creates in a man
or a woman. No, faith is what God gives you. Faith is what God gives you.
The law, but Paul says here, the law is not of faith. Consider
just four thoughts this morning. Now turn to Roman chapter seven.
I want you to, if you would, if you're following, you don't
have to, but if you're not, listen to the words. Listen to the words. Just four thoughts this morning.
Now I have two passages I want to read from when I make this
statement to show that what I'm about to say is thus saith the
Lord. It's not my opinion about it. The law deals solely with our
corrupt flesh. Think about that. The law deals
solely with our corrupt flesh. Now I'll repeat that before I
read these verses, but think about this. And Paul mentioned
this as he was preaching about us having a new body. Do you
understand that's all we're going to have when we get to heaven?
Different than what we have now? We're not gonna have a new nature.
I was always under the impression years and years ago in religion
that when I get to heaven I'll have a new nature and a new body.
No, you already got the new nature. It's already in you. It's called
a new man created in righteousness and true holiness after the image
of him that created him. I'm just gonna have a new body
for it to dwell in. Do you understand that? Huh? Do you understand that? The law
deals with our flesh. And I don't mean just this. This
is bad because of what's down in here that's bad. The old man. The Adamic nature, as some men
put it. Now, got no problem with that.
Look at what Paul said in Romans 7. And verse five, for when we
were in the flesh, well I thought, ain't we still in these bodies?
You're not talking about just the body. Talking about this
old self, the old man, the endemic nature, the old me, if you will.
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were
by the law. Do you see that? Which were by
the law. Now the law didn't cause the
sin, sin existed before God even gave the law. But what's the
law do? It excites it in us. And yet
you got people turn around and say we need to preach the law
to get them to force men to Christ. If the preaching of Christ don't
force you to run to Christ, then the law ain't going to. If the
beauties of Christ himself preached and proclaimed doesn't drive
you to him, the law ain't going to. Mm-hmm. He said we often think now we
may experience something but our experience don't matter until
it coincides with this I'm not saying you don't have experiences
and You're convinced of that you experience this but that
don't make it right because you experienced it What makes it
right is what God says? the law never drove any of us
to Christ and Christ woos us to Himself. The law may make you dead afraid
if you don't have Christ, but it don't drive you to Christ.
Apart from the message of Christ, the law makes us nothing more
than self-righteous Pharisees. Israel had the law for hundreds
of years. Did it make them flee to the
Messiah? No. I'm saying the law deals with
our corrupt flesh. Why? For when we were in the
flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did work in
our members to bring forth fruit unto death. It's like that proverbial
dead possum on the road, and in the middle of the winter,
you don't pay no attention to him. He's swelled up and he's
just as rotten as he would be in the middle of the summer.
But in the dead of winter, because of the cold, you drive by him
and you don't even know he's there. But what happens in the
heat of the sun? You smell him before you even
see him. Now don't you? But is the sun the problem? No,
the possum, the dead possum's the problem. But what extensuates
it? What makes it come out? That
hot sun burning down. And that's what Paul's talking
about right there. One more verse, same letter, chapter eight. Listen to what Paul said. You
see, folks, we all by nature have it wrong. I don't care if
we're brought up under the truth. Those of you who've been brought
up under it for years, for years. Some of us have been under it
for years. We still have everything wrong by nature. We still have
everything wrong by the flesh. Even, Joe, if it's ever so slight,
we'll twist the truth away from its straight way. Listen to what
Paul wrote, and now into what we call chapter eight, verses
seven and eight. Look at what he wrote. Because the carnal mind, now
we're talking about what he's talking about, the flesh, that's
what he's talking about. For the carnal mind is enmity against
God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. Now the law ought to drive
everybody to Christ when they hear it. But if they're carnal,
it will not. Do you see that? If they're carnal,
it cannot. Why? Not because the law's bad. But because the carnal mind is
enmity against God, look at it, because the carnal mind is enmity
against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So that means after God saves
me, my carnal mind, the old mind, the old me, the old man, never
begins to conform to God's law. So then they that are in the
flesh, that's where their existence is, that's all they have, that's
all they are. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. And what's the first thing to
pleasing God? To believe. To believe. Without faith it's impossible.
Please God. So, Jack, that's where we start,
is believing, faith, right? What I'm saying again is remember,
the law deals solely with our corrupt flesh. Now if God ever
hammers that into our minds, where we can kind of grip a hold
of it, then it'll start, I'm not saying we'll never begin
to curve away, but it won't be long, we'll say, whoa, wait a
minute now, that does not jive with us, saith the Lord. and
you'll come back. He'll bring you back. Here's
the second thought. Turn to Romans, well, you're in, you should,
well, Romans chapter eight, if you're turning, you're still
there. First, again, remember, the law deals solely with our
corrupt flesh, but here's another one. Remember, the law is not
of faith. Thus saith the Lord. Now, you
either believe it or you don't. Now, you wanna argue with me?
Go ahead, I'm not gonna argue back, because thus saith the
Lord. The law is not of faith. And I'm gonna try to bring this
to a head here in a bit. But first, the law deals solely
with our corrupt flesh. Secondly, the law exposes our
corrupt flesh, but it does absolutely nothing for it. Chapter eight
and verse three. Now look at what it says. Not
how we can make it fit what we've believed, what we've been raised
up to think, no, for what the law could not do. Do you see that? We see the negative of the law's
not of faith, here's something else the law can't do. One, it's
not of faith, here's what it can't do. for what the law could
not do in that it was weak through the flesh. Do you see that? But
don't try to say, well, okay, yeah, the law's not at fault,
but the law's still called here what? W-E-A-K. Yes or no? Huh? For what the law could not do
in that it, the law, was weak through the flesh. Am I telling
you the truth of what Paul wrote or not? That's what I'm giving
you, right? For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, what's the answer? Well
then, God's need has changed the flesh. Now remember, in the
flesh, no man can please God. It's not the flesh is not subject
to the law of not God, neither indeed can it be. What's the
answer then? God sinned in his own son in
the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. Do you see that? Now, as I've
been studying this and I'm preaching this, I know you may, Walter's
got a hold of that. Maybe you do, maybe you don't.
But if you do, no, I don't have, because I forget that so quick. I get that for so quick, because
I find myself trying to bring my flesh into line. And you're fighting a losing
battle, because God said so. God's not afraid to tell us the
truth. Well, that'll make men give men
license to sin. Okay, fine. But if God intervenes,
it'll stop. You hear what I said? Because
men will twist what? The truth. What men are actually doing is
not just telling the truth, they give them the phrase of the truth
and try to water it down to where it helps them feel better about
themselves. Feels like they're doing a little
more for God. Every time you try to make your
flesh be better, you're fighting a losing battle. It took the death of the Son
of God to conquer that demon, that problem, that issue. Don't think you can do it. Don't
think I can do it. Now folks, I'm not afraid just
to tell you the truth. Tell you the truth. So remember,
the law deals solely with our corrupt flesh. I gave you two
passages. There are more, but I don't have enough. all day
long. Secondly, the law exposes our corrupt flesh, but it does
nothing for it. Paul gave the example, and I
love that example. It's kind of like illustrated
by the x-ray. The law will show you what sin
is. It'll say, that's a sin. To take something that's not
yours, that's a sin. To even want something that's
not yours, that's a sin. Okay, the law will tell you that.
It's like that x-ray. The law can show you the problem,
but it can't fix it. It takes a doctor to fix what
that x-ray finds, don't it? Some kind of medicine or an operation,
something. But the x-ray just, at best,
exposes it, but it don't always. Has every x-ray always worked? Let me tell you, my preaching,
if I do preach the law, It never works. Unless I tell the truth
about it. Now if I tell the truth about
it, God will use the truth about the law for the benefit of his
people. Okay, for the benefit of his
people. And we'll look at that later. Now we're looking at the
laws not of faith. Later we'll look at, well why
was the law given, okay? So again, the law exposes our
corrupt flesh but it does nothing for it. Now turn to Colossians
chapter three. Colossians chapter three. I want to make the third point
here and then we'll look at the proof from the word of God. I'm trying to establish what
this phrase Paul uses, the law is not a faith. I'm establishing
this precedent from the scripture about the law, our flesh, what
we really are in and of ourselves. How bad we are. That song we
sang, ruined, ruined sinners. When something's ruined, what
do you do? Throw it away, yep, you get rid
of it, just discard it. God ain't let us even do that,
is he? He don't provide us a way, a
system to work through, a step one, two, three, here's how to
discard the flesh. We're gonna look at it here.
Remember, the law deals solely with our corrupt flesh. The law
exposes our corrupt flesh, but it does nothing for it. Grace
leads the affections to Christ and never seeks to mold the flesh
to positivity. It simply says mortified. Mortified. Mortified. Don't try to make
it better, kill it. And it's not a one-time thing. It's a everyday constant battle,
a constant fight. Let's look what God says about
it through our brother Paul. Colossians 3, a little bit lengthy,
but let's look at it. If ye then be risen with Christ,
isn't that the question? Am I really risen with him or
not? That's really a question. I could preach on that for a
long time. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Now, what sits at the right hand of God? Christ. Nothing else. John lets us know
that. From that chapter you was reading
from, Paul, what's at the right hand of God the Father in heaven?
One thing, Jesus Christ alone, okay? If you then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above. Why does it say things
then if it's in one person? Because he is full of so many
things. His majesties are not just a
couple. They're wordless. In this state
in which we are now, I can't explain them all to you. I can't
even mention them all to you, let alone explain them all to
you. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things,
what? Above, not on things of the earth. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify, therefore. Do you see it? Not sanctify. Neither God, nor me. Now listen to what I'm about
to say to you. Neither God nor me sanctifies the old man or
its members. God will never sanctify the old
man. We'll just lay it down and drop
it. We already got the new man. We just won't have to battle
with the old man anymore when we're in our new bodies. We already
got everything we're ever gonna have as far as that's concerned.
It's not one day I get to heaven, I'll have a new, no, you already
got it. The problem is we're so dull of hearing and seeing,
we often can't tell the difference between old man and new man. And we'll take the fruit of the
spirit in the new man and give credit to the flesh for it. Now what? I've done it. I've done it. Or take the fruit
of the Spirit and try to, because something didn't seem to work
quite like I thought it would, when that thing come about, that
fruit of the Spirit come about, and say, well, that must have
been the flesh. You ever done that? And you say, but there's
no, preacher, you're just kind of leaving me hanging in limbo.
I know, distrust Christ. That's where you're at. Apart
from Him, you're in limbo. And if God lets you go, You gonna
perish. Either side. Either side, I don't
care whether you're a conservative or a liberal, they're both gonna
send you to hell if you're not in Christ. If you're not in Christ. When Christ, who is a life, shall
appear, then she also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. And some of them are really
obvious. Okay? And Paul deals with fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. You don't have to build a little
statue. Just coveting something means you're an idolater. I mean,
I remember, I gotta stop and give you this. I remember Clay
Curtis, listen to him preach a message. It was recorded, of
course. But he was preaching, and he
was preaching on being content. And he mentioned this about how
covetousness is idolatry. And he said, just the other day,
I walked down into the basement of the church building, and there's
that brand new microwave in a box, still unopened, in the church
basement for the new one for the kitchen. He said, boy, I
sure could use a new microwave. He said, the old one wasn't broken
or nothing. I just looked at it and said, boy, it'd be nice
to have a new micro. Why? The old one's working. We're
idolaters by nature. The flesh just oozes with it. And then we worried and said,
I want that one. I'd like to have one like it. Now, they used
to teach us that kind of stuff in Sunday school. Don't
say I want, they teach us this. I remember, don't say I want
that one, say I'd like to have one like it. It's the same thing. That other like it one's not
yours to start with. But that's the kind of stuff
they used to teach us in Sunday school. For which thing's sake the wrath
of God cometh upon the children of disobedience, in which ye
also walked some time when ye lived in them. Now it's still
there. So you gotta what? Mortify it.
Mortify it. And I use the illustration, it
may not be the best one, but just like numb it. You bang that
arm long enough, you know, and it becomes numb. It don't take
long, what happens? The bruise begins to heal, feeling
begins to come up right back. That's why it's constant. This is not if you have mortified,
but mortified. It's in the continuing tense.
Keep on mortifying. into which you also walked sometime
when you lived in them, but now also put off all these. Here's
something not quite always so detectable. Anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one
to another. It's like Don Fortner once said,
here's the illustration. Well, that gal there, she's a
flirt. She's a flirt. Well, I'm just
a people person. Oh, really? Oh, really? Is that
the way you put it then? Sounds a little better than I
flirt, too, don't it? You understand? That's the way
we do. That's the way our flesh does. You know? Well, that person,
boy, they're just frugal. They're tightwad. But now me,
I'm a steward. I watch over what God gave me. Lime out one to another, seeing
that you've put off. And the word, you check me, it
means to lay aside. Not that you can totally get
rid of it, like throw it in the dump, be gone with it. No, lay
it aside. But you know what, it'll crawl
right back up on you. Of course, we got all these,
look at all these members. And this is just a partial list. You know what I'm saying? lie
not one to another. Seeing you put off the old man
with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him, that created him. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. It can't get any plainer
than that, can it? And yet my old wicked flesh will
twist every bit of that. So remember, the law deals solely
with our corrupt flesh. The law exposes our corrupt flesh,
but it does nothing for it. Grace leads the affections to
Christ and never seeks to mold the flesh to positivity. Grace
says kill it, kill it, kill it, keep on killing it. In one place
to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, what did he say? I beat my body
and keep it under. He's not talking about what's
that called, Joseph. Yeah. I'm not talking about beating
yourself that way. In other words, I have to keep
making myself recognize the flesh is as active in me today as it
ever was. And don't try to make it better.
Just beat it down. Beat it down. Beat it down. And you know what? God doesn't
give us a recipe to do that. He just says, do it. Huh? Because you know what we do with
the recipe? we'd put too much vinegar in it. Or we'd chalk
her down with sugar. Now wouldn't we? We'd make it,
if we had the recipe, we'd twist the ingredients to make it feel
a little, cause mortifying your flesh hurts. Because you are,
to a degree, you are mortifying you. Ego, that's tough. You know the only way we can
do it? By the grace of God. By Him working in us both to
will and to do of His good pleasure. Here's the fourth one. Now, you
go back to, or if you're still in, Galatians chapter three.
Remember, the law deals solely with our corrupt flesh. The law
exposes our corrupt flesh but does nothing for it. Grace leads
the affections to Christ and never seeks to mold the flesh
to positivity. Grace says just kill it, kill
it, kill it. Now since the law, not just the
flesh. The law is not of faith. Is that not what our text says?
And am I abandoning even the context here? No, because Paul's
keep on hammered against the law for any kind of righteousness
before God. And if a man's a righteous man
in God's sight, how can he not be sanctified? A holy God says,
here's a righteous man, but he ain't quite sanctified. Or he
ain't quite sanctified, how can he be a righteous one then? Now in my sight, maybe, but not
in God's sight. He sees the whole. He sees it
all. Now since the law, not just the
flesh, since the law is not of faith, that means it has no part
of it, no part with it. It can't be mixed up. Right? The law, and the law is
not of faith. My flesh says, but there's got
to be some out there. No, there is no out. The law's
not of faith. And you could say, period. Period. But if that's what you want,
you better do it. You better do it. Now that's
a paraphrase. So since the law, not just the
flesh is not a faith. Of course the flesh is not a
faith, right? But he says the law is not a
faith. And Paul got this from the lawgiver
himself. The lawgiver ought to know, right? Right? since the law, not just
the flesh, is not of faith. Then the law plays no part in
the free, full, eternal salvation of God in Christ. It's right here. For as many
as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is
written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that
no man is justified by the law and the sight of God, it is evident
that just shall live by faith. And the law plays no part in
that. That's what he just, and the law's not a faith. Now have
I left the context? Now here's the one, I know this
is familiar, turn to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter two, I know
you know this. Same thing, since the law, not
just the flesh, is not a faith, then the law plays no part in
the free, full, eternal salvation of God in Christ. Ephesians two,
verse eight, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, right? But what about our actions? What
about them? What about our doings? For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
If God left it up to us trying to keep the law, we'd never walk
in one. not one, because there is not
a just man upon the face of the earth that doeth good and sinneth
not. Even when God's working in us,
both the will and the do of His good pleasure, the flesh is still
right there. And it's acting too in some way. It's acting too in some way.
Because we are His workmanship. This is created in Christ Jesus. The Creator never says to the
creature, how do you want to be? The Creator does what? Forms, molds, and they take that
pot, you know, a little lump of clay and they go make a pot?
The pot don't make itself, Joe. It don't help the potter. The
potter does it. The potter does it. For by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. Now here's
an example. How did God then save Abel? How
did God then save Enoch? How did God then save Noah? How
did God then save Abraham? How did God then save Sarah?
It certainly wasn't with the help of the law. Now was it? They had no law. Did God make
it now more difficult? By giving the law? No, the law
simply exposed the real problem which God has solved. See? Which God has solved. Turn with
me to Hebrews 11. Now I want you to know that,
or not know, I want to point out to you that these people
I've just given you as an example were pre-law. They were before
the law was ever given and God saved them by His grace. How?
By faith. Right? Every one of them said,
by faith, by faith, by faith, by faith. And then it says, these
all died in faith. But he's not finished with the
list. Why? Did the rest of the list not
die in faith? No, they all died in faith. But
even these before the law, they started and lived and died, hell,
by faith. Do you see it? But then what
about those who begin to be under the law? Ah, look at it. Hebrews
chapter 11. Let's look at verse 32. Now, look at it. Verse 32 of
Hebrews 11. More of these same people. Okay,
more people. And what shall I more say? For
the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of
Samson and of Jephthah. Ever went back and read about
old Jephthah? Do you remember the account of Jephthah? He gave
God the glory and he said, the first thing that walks out of
my house, for a victory, and the first thing I'm gonna do,
first thing that comes out of the door of my house when I go
home, I'm gonna kill it and sacrifice it to you. Guess who walked out the door?
His daughter. Guess what Jephthah did? The children sacrificed her to
God. Go back and read it. The scripture
mentions his name. I'm not trying to bring that
up to give you license to kill a kid, although I know sometimes
they probably need it. If you could do it to them and
bring them back, it'd be all right. Now that's just Walter speaking.
Of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets,
look. who through faith, and I'm gonna
add not the law, who through faith did what? Subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness. Now don't try to, they did what
was right. Do you see that? They subdued
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the
mouth of lions, faith. Nothing but what? Faith. Do you see that? Somebody says
you're putting a tall order on faith. No, God did. Aren't you
glad he gives it? Didn't leave it up to you to
kind of come up with the right kind to get you this? Quench
the violence of fire. Escape the edge of the sword.
Out of weakness were made strong. Wax valiant in fight. Turn to
flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised
to life again. Do you see that? Just by what? Nothing but pure old unadulterated
God-given faith. But others were tortured. It's not always, the life of
faith is not always this, what we call, what we see as positivity,
is it? No, he goes on and says this.
And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they
might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trial of cruel
malkings and scourging, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain
with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented. So
faith don't take you up on the top of the mountain always. It's
hard to breathe up there sometimes. You kind of lose your mind when
you get up there. The oxygen ain't flowing. Sometimes
God brings you right down to the bottom. Why? To show you
that the gift he gave you is real in you. Because if it's
not, you know what you're going to do, don't you? You're going
to ski, daddle, and run. And if you do, it means it wasn't
really of God. Because these all what? Died
in faith. They were up, were stoned, sawn
asunder, tempted, slain with a sword, wandered about as sheepskin,
goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world
was not worthy. You see that? They wandered in
deserts and in the mountains and in dens and caves of the
earth, and all these haven't obtained a good report. How? Through faith. through faith,
receive not the promise, God having provided some better thing
for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. God
made them wait on us. And we're waiting for the end,
aren't we? And my beloved brothers and sisters,
when God wraps this all up, we're gonna look back and say, that
was nothing. It's a fact. The sufferings of
this life are not even worthy to be compared, not even compared
with the glory that'll be revealed in us. I wish I could explain
that to you to where you could just take a big deep breath and
feel comfortable for the rest of your life. But faith doesn't
design for us to stay comfortable all the time. We're not always
subduing kingdoms. We're not always working righteousness,
are we? But by faith, we do. Yes, sir. Because who guides faith? Who
gave it? Christ did. Yes, sir. Look at
the next few verses. Christ did. He's the author and
finisher of it, right? Yes, sir. So he'll make sure
faith seeks its source, him, all the way to the end. So let
me put it this way. My brothers and sisters, it's
OK to just believe God. And I mean that. And when I say
that, I mean that. Just believe God. But because
we're so prone to say, I do believe God. No, I said, just believe
God. So let me put it this way. It's
okay to just believe God and reject, reject law righteousness. Because Paul said this, not having,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith. God, make me believe. Heavenly Father, strengthen us
by your word. Sanctify us by your truth. And
Lord, as we partake of this table, may it be that we are truly mindful
of Christ in his name. Amen.