Alright brethren, let's turn
to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is the most important message
that I've ever preached to you. I pray God to give you an understanding
heart and a willingness to believe. Now Paul declared the utter uselessness
of man's wisdom in preaching the gospel. He spent Most of
the first chapter declaring that. And he declared the uselessness
of man's works. And he declared that the power
is in preaching Christ and Him crucified. Christ the wisdom
and the power of God. Now look at what Paul says in
verse 1. And I, now according with that revealed purpose of
God, He says, and I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God. He said, I followed that charge
that God gave me. I didn't come to you with wisdom
of words. I didn't come to you trying to
trying to take the offense out of the cross. I didn't come to
you trying to tweak God's Word a little bit, just to put it
in my own words to make it more palatable for you. He said, I
came declaring unto you the testimony of God. The testimony of God
is the Gospel. It's the witness of God. And
it's the witness of God concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. the witness of God. That's the
testimony of God. Christ said, the Father Himself,
the Father Himself which has sent me, hath borne witness of
me. He's given a testimony of me. That's what the whole Bible is,
is the witness, the testimony of God and it's all concerning
His Son. You imagine the pride Imagine
the pride of a sinner comes claiming to preach the Word of God, and
yet he comes and in his pride and his audacity, he tries to
take God's Word and imagines that he can preach it and tweak
it and take something out or add something and do a better
job that way than what God says he can do through His Word alone.
Listen to this. The Word of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. And listen to this. How is a
man made to preach that Word? How is he made to just preach
Christ and Him crucified? The psalmist said, after thy
lovingkindness." He's speaking to God. "...quicken me after
thy lovingkindness, so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth."
You see, God gives a determination in the heart of His people. It's
the determinate purpose of God from eternity. He gives this
in the heart of those He calls. And when He gives it, He does
it through the preaching of Christ in Him crucified. And He makes
us determine to know nothing but Christ in Him crucified.
Now look, we see it in Paul in verse 2. He said, For I determine,
I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ in
Him crucified. Now that's our subject, our determinant
message. Christ and Him crucified is the
one message that God's preachers and God's people declare and
that we want to hear because Christ and Him crucified is all
the counsel of God. This is the one message that
we declare, the one message we want to hear declared. Christ
and Him crucified because Christ in Him crucified is all the counsel
of God. Later in Ephesians, in 1 Corinthians,
Paul says, I preach this everywhere in every church. And it's Christ
in Him crucified that Paul was referring to when he told the
Ephesians, I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel
of God. He was saying, I've not shunned
to preach Christ in Him crucified. When we know Christ by God's
grace, we know Christ crucified, we know all the counsel of God.
Christ, His person, the Son of God, Christ and why He came,
sin of God, to lay down His life for chosen sinners, Christ who
accomplished their redemption on the cross, Christ who is risen
again and reigning right now over all things in this earth,
Christ who is going to deliver up the kingdom to God. Christ
in Him crucified is all the counsel of God. It's everything God has
to say about Himself, everything God has to say about His salvation,
everything God has to say about His glory is Christ in Him crucified. Why would we preach anything
else? Why would we? Now, first of all,
let me address a common mistake among men. Lost sinners. They go to the Word of God, they
approach the Word of God looking for something they can do to
save themselves. That's what they think the book
is about. Looking for something they can do to save themselves. Christ said that's their problem.
He said this, search the Scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life. You think you have eternal life
in the Scriptures. He says, but they are they which
testify of Me. And you will not come to Me that
you might have life. Turn over to Luke 24. Luke 24. And hold your place in Luke 24.
We'll come back here in just a moment. In Luke 24 and verse
27, this is that Emmaus road and Christ opens the Scriptures.
to two of His disciples. And look what He says to them
in Luke 24-27. Beginning at Moses, the first
five books of the Bible, and all the prophets, the whole Old
Testament, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the
things concerning Himself. Now look at verse 44. And He
said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you
while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled."
And He's talking about by Christ. All things must be fulfilled
by Christ, which were written in the Law of Moses. What's left
out of all things? Nothing. Now, which of the scriptures
does he leave out here? He says, all things which are
written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
Psalms, it's all concerning me. I have to fulfill it all, Christ
said. You see, Christ is the key of
knowledge. To understanding everything God
has to say, Christ is the key of knowledge. That's why Christ
said, woe unto you lawyers. He was speaking to men who go
to the Old Testament and they preach law, and they bring sinners
under the law, and they try to tell sinners they can be saved
by the law and by their doing. He said, Woe unto you lawyers!
He said, because you've taken away the key of knowledge. They're
not preaching Christ, they're preaching works. You've taken
away the key of knowledge and you've not entered in yourselves.
How do you enter? Christ said, I'm the door. I'm
the way. I'm the truth. I'm the life.
You've not entered in yourself. And you've hindered those that
would enter, Christ said. Christ is all the counsel of
God. He's the key of knowledge. Now, when He saves a sinner,
we come to the Scriptures seeking Christ and Him crucified. When
we read the Scriptures, we're looking for Christ and Him crucified.
Because He's our comfort, He's our salvation, He's our everything,
He's our constraint. We're looking for Christ and
Him crucified. And that's who we want to hear
preached in the gospel. Now, secondly, I want to show
you that Christ is all the counsel of God. He's all the counsel
of God. He's what God's declaring and
the only thing God's declaring. He's the key to understanding
all the Scriptures. First of all, you can jot these
down if you want. First of all, it's only by the
preaching of Christ and Him crucified that we understand and believe
the eternal counsel of God. It's only in Christ and Him crucified
do we understand the eternal purpose of God. Nothing makes
sense till the end. Nothing. We don't even understand
why this world exists, why we're here, what the point of church
is, what the point of preaching is. We don't understand anything
till we understand Christ and Him crucified. Then we know what
the eternal counsel of God is. Now in Isaiah, God said He declares
the end from the beginning. He didn't leave anything out.
He declared the end. What the end results going to
be, and he declared it from the beginning, and he said, all my
counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure. That's what
God said. And then we read in Hebrews,
the scripture says, all the works were finished from before the
foundation of the world. Now how can that be? How can
that be? That all the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. It's because God chose His Son. And God trusted all the works
to His Son. And God left nothing in the hands
of sinners. And God did it. He trusted Christ
to glorify God in the salvation of His people, chosen sinners. Now, in Ephesians 1.11, the Word says this, In whom?
In Christ we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to. Here's the origin, here's the
beginning right here. We were predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. And here's why. That we, sinners
saved by grace, that we should be to the praise of God's glory. Now, who is this God? God who
first trusted Christ. Well, can you show me another
scripture to prove that that's saying that God first trusted
Christ? In John 13, verse 3, it says,
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His
hands. He went to the cross. That means
He knowing that God the Father had trusted Him with all the
work of redeeming His people. That's why He went to the cross.
That's why He went to the cross. You see, in our flesh, when we're
just coming to the Scriptures and getting religious on our
own, we don't like to hear the doctrine of election. We don't
like that doctrine. But that's something that took
place before God even made a grain of sand. But election glorifies
Christ. God chose Christ. And the reason
God chose a people to save in Christ is one reason. Chief reason. To glorify Christ. To glorify Himself and glorify
His Son. That's why God did it. Listen
to Isaiah. He said, Behold My servant, whom
I uphold, mine elect. Talking about Christ. I put my
Spirit upon Him, he said. And we know from Scriptures in
Isaiah, he said, I put my Spirit upon Him without measure. And
he's talking about Christ. The branch is going to come out
of Jesse and out of David. And he says, I put my spirit
upon Him. Here's why I did it. He shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not fail till He has
set judgment in the earth. That's how the works were finished
before the foundation of the world. That's how God declared
the end from the beginning. He trusted the work to Christ
and Christ cannot fail. He shall not fail. Predestination,
that's something else that we don't like in our flesh. You
know why we don't like these things? You know why folks won't
preach this? You know why they use wisdom
of words to skirt around it and not preach it? They want glory. Man wants glory. He wants praise. He wants to do the choosing.
He wants to be the chief author of his destination. Well, I got
news for you. Good news for a sinner. God chose
His people and God predestinated His people. And you know why?
The same reason He elected a people in Christ. Same reason He chose
Christ and elected a people in Christ. He did it for the glory
of His Son. Romans 8 says, Whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. That's why
He predestinated His people, for the glory of Christ. Election! Why did he choose a people? He
says in Romans 9, the purpose is that salvation might not be
of works, but of him that calleth. So that God gets the glory. That's
why we preach God's eternal purpose and we preach God's electing
grace and we preach God's predestinating grace. You know how we preach
it? We preach God's eternal counsel by preaching Christ and Him crucified
in whom all the counsel of God was settled from before the foundation
of the world. We preach eternal election not
just as a doctrine to try to make people believe election.
We preach election as Christ who God chose and in whom He
chose a people to glorify His Son. We preach predestination
to declare the glory of Christ to whom His people are going
to be conformed, that Christ might be the firstborn. And see,
when God reveals Christ in you and makes you behold Christ's
person and Christ's work and what He's accomplished, then
the light of the glory of God is shined on these doctrines
and then you rejoice that God gets all the glory. Christ gets
all the glory. And you love it. You love it.
Now secondly, we preach Christ crucified because Christ is the
counsel of God concerning the fall. Christ is the counsel of
God concerning our sin. He's the key to understanding
what took place in the garden. Now in Romans 5.14, if you want
to look there, it's very important, Romans 5.14, In the last part of that verse,
it says this, Adam is the figure of Him that
was to come. Adam is the figure of Him that
was to come. We are told in 1 Corinthians
15.45 that the first man Adam was made a living soul and the
last Adam, was made a quickening spirit. Christ is called the
last Adam. Now why is that? It's because
Adam is a picture of Christ. Adam was made after the image
of Christ in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
And so Adam is a picture of Christ to come. How so? Well, Adam was
the only man of himself. who was righteous
and holy. The only other one is Christ
the last Adam. Righteous and holy, of himself. Everybody else, sinners. We came
for sinners. All right? Adam was given dominion
over all God's creation. Imagine that. He had dominion
over everything that God created. Christ, the last Adam, has been
given by God dominion over all things in heaven and in earth.
He has the dominion over all things. You see, we understand
something of who Adam is and what Adam did by Christ. That's how we understand Him.
And then listen to this, Adam represented all who would be
born of Him. That's a figure of Christ. He
represented all who shall be born of Him. All who He redeemed
and all who shall be born and saved by Him. There's only two
men in the world. There's Adam, the first Adam,
and the last Adam. And you and I are either going
to be found in that first Adam or the last Adam. If we leave
this world, never believing on Christ, rejecting Christ, rejecting
this Gospel, we're going to be found in Adam and we're going
to be condemned to hell forever. But if God brings us by His grace
to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in Christ,
we'll be found in Christ the Lord and we'll be saved into
His eternal glory forever. That's what the scripture says.
As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And consider
that disobedience and that obedience. And Adam, for the sake of his
bride, Now, he did this in disobedience
to God. But for the sake of his bride,
seeing her in sin, he plunged himself into sin. That picture
is Christ. Christ, in obedience to God,
for the sake of his bride, his church, his people, seeing us
in sin, he plunged himself in sin that he might lay down his
life in our place and make us the righteousness of God in him.
You see that? You learn this by looking at
Christ. So by Christ and Him crucified, we know why sin entered
the world. You ever hear people say, well,
I just can't believe God because why would He let all these terrible
things happen? And most of the time they say,
why would He let bad things happen to good people? Well, we know
from the fall. We know by Christ and Him crucified
why God let sin enter this world. He did it to glorify Himself
in the person of His Son, in the salvation of a chosen people. That's why He did it. And He's
been ruling over everything just like He ruled over everything
in the garden. God was not out of control in
the garden. The devil wasn't doing anything on his own in
the garden. He was doing just what God determined before to
be done. And we know that now. How? Because we've been given
the key of knowledge. Christ and Him crucified. Now
thirdly, preaching Christ and Him crucified,
God declares His counsel concerning His own glory. This is how we
know God's counsel concerning God's glory. You know, this is
the missing note. This is what people aren't declaring
right now in the world. Most people in most churches
believe God's glory is His love. But according to what, when God
showed His glory to Moses, according to the glory He showed to Moses,
God's glory is His grace and His justice. It's His mercy and
His truth. That's God's glory. Because God's
holy and righteous. Now let's look at it in Exodus
33. Turn over there. We just sang about this. He hideth
my soul in the cleft of the rock. He put Moses in the cleft of
the rock. Picture Christ. And that's where
He showed Him His glory. We're saying here that we see
all the counsel of God's glory in Christ. Scripture says, God
shines the light into our heart just like He spoke light in the
beginning. And He gives us the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. That's where we see God's
glory. And here's the glory we see. Look at Exodus 33, verse
19. God said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before thee, and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,
and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now, is that it? Just God's going to choose whom
He will? Well, God's going to choose whom He will. That's His
glory. To be gracious to whom He'll be gracious. To be merciful
to whom He'll be merciful. If there's something else included
in His glory, He won't do it at the expense of justice. He
won't sweep our sin under the rug and let His law be trampled
upon and let His just character and His holiness and His righteousness
be counted as just worthless. He won't do that. He won't do
that. Look at Exodus 34 and verse 6. The Lord passed by before him
and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and
sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." You see grace
and truth? You see grace and justice? Now
this is the glory of God that He showed. God will be gracious,
and He'll be gracious to whom He will be gracious, but God
will have His justice satisfied. His justice will be satisfied.
What does that mean? Well, the Scriptures are crystal
clear that we've all sinned. That means, brethren, that every
person in this world will be slain under the justice of God. Everyone will, even those God
saves by His grace. Everyone shall. How can we die
to justice and be saved by grace? How can that happen? There's
only one way. Only one way. Christ and Him
crucified. It's Christ come and laid down
His life in the room instead of His people, in the place of
His people, dying under the justice of God. Look at Romans chapter
3. This is God's glory. This is the gospel. You can't
even preach the gospel if a man don't preach it. Look here. Here's
what I'm saying. He put Moses in that cliff to
the rock. That's where you're going to
see God's glory. In Christ. And here's what he
did. He declared the grace and the
righteousness of God. The mercy and the truth of God.
In Christ. Listen to this statement. In
Christ. God. In Christ. On the cross,
God both slayed His people in justice and forever redeemed
His people from the law, making us the righteousness of God in
Christ. He did those two things in Christ
on the cross. He slew us in satisfied divine
justice and He forever delivered us from the law, making us the
righteousness of God in Him. Look at Romans 3.25. This is
why Christ came. Christ was born to die. Look
at Romans 3.25. Whom God hath set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in His blood. To declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins. To declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins. That's why Christ came. Look
at verse 26. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness. What is it? That He might be
just. His law is satisfied. He poured
out justice on Christ in the place of His people. So His people
have died to the law. that he might be the justifier
of him that believes in Jesus. It's God who justified us. If
we're justified by Christ, that means the law can't ever say
another word to us. That means the law can never
say another word to us. Look at this now. Where's boasting
then? It's excluded. There's the rub
with sinners. There's the rub with sinners.
Boasting is excluded. By what law? By what principle?
By the law of works? No. By law of faith. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Listen to the Psalmist. I'll
hear what God the Lord will speak. Don't you want to hear what God
the Lord will speak? I don't care what a man has to say. I
want to hear what God the Lord will speak. For He will speak
peace unto His people. He will speak peace unto His
people. And He will speak peace to His
saints. But let them not turn again to
folly. Let them not turn to themselves
and to their boasting and to their glory and trying to come
to God by themselves. Don't let them turn back to that,
He said. He says, surely His salvation, it's His salvation,
is nigh them that fear Him. It doesn't mean if you fear Him,
His salvation will come near to you. It means you're going
to fear Him when His salvation comes near you. That's why we
fear Him. His salvation comes near. And
here's why. That glory may dwell in our land. Whose glory? Not ours. His. That we might not glory
in our flesh, but that we might glory in Him. And what's that
glory? Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. That's the glory of God. You're
not going to find that in preaching works of men. You're not going
to find that in preaching morality to men. You're not going to find
that in preaching the law to men. There's one place that's
going to be declared. Christ and Him crucified. Christ
and Him crucified. And the man that won't preach
Christ and Him crucified, he won't preach the righteousness
of God. What do you think God's going to do about that? He'll slay that man. One day
He's going to slay that man. He's going to answer for the
blood of all those to whom He preached. Now look here. Here's the fourth thing. All
Old Testament Scripture, therefore, because we know these things
now, now we understand by Christ that all the Old Testament Scriptures
and all the New Testament Scriptures All the Scriptures is God bearing
testimony of His righteousness. And by His righteousness, I mean
Christ and Him crucified. That's what the whole book is
declaring. That's His counsel and it's Christ and Him crucified
in all the Scriptures. And that's how you understand
the Scriptures. Look back up at Romans 3.21. Now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested. That means without your doing
the law, it's being witnessed by the law and the prophets.
What's that? That's the first five books of
the Bible and everything following it. Everything in this book is
bearing witness of God's righteousness. Well, what's God's righteousness?
Even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus
Christ. The single message of the whole
Bible is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It's declaring Christ crucified. That's the message of the whole
Bible. That's the counsel of God. That's the Word of God.
That's the testimony of God throughout the Scriptures. Now, concerning
the Law, he said all things must be fulfilled written in the Law.
That's the first five books of the Bible written by Moses. Christ
clearly said, Moses wrote of Me. So we don't go to Moses'
writings in the first five books and try to find life by our hand,
or try to find something we can do. We go there to see Christ. Isn't that what we've seen so
far? In the garden, He's the seed
of woman, promised by God. He's the one pictured in those
innocent Those innocent lambs that were slain were by God took
the coats of their skins and covered Adam and Eve's nakedness.
Who did we see in Abel's lamb that he offered? The blood that
he came with? We saw Christ. Who do we see
in Noah's Ark? We saw Christ. Who do we see
in the birthright and in the firstborn? That's Christ. Who
have we been seeing in Joseph? Christ. Christ. And then we're going to come
to the Passover lamb. And we're going to come to the
tabernacle. We're going to come to the high priest and the altar.
And we're going to come to the scapegoat and the spotless lamb
of atonement. We're going to come to the mercy
seat. We're going to come to the furniture in the tabernacle.
We're going to come to the curtains in the tabernacle. We're going
to come to the tabernacle itself. Every bit of it is Christ and
Him crucified. I can show you that Hebrews 9.9.
It says, which was a figure. A picture for the time then present. Verse 11 says, But Christ became
a high priest of good things to come. That's what that thing,
all that figure was showing was good things to come. Christ,
the high priest of good things to come. By a greater and a more
perfect tabernacle. not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." He succeeded. He succeeded. None of those sacrifices
succeeded in putting away sin. But Christ did. Christ did. The same is true of all prophecy.
Now listen to this. You know what sinners use prophecy
for. They try to use prophecy to try to figure out times and
seasons and how the world's going to end and when it's going to
end. That's not why God gave prophecy. Christ said, think
not that I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I came
to fulfill it. That's why the prophets were
given. He came to fulfill it. People go to Revelation and they
think that's the revelation of seasons and times and all this
mysterious stuff. If you just read the title of
the book, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ. And everything
it's declaring has already happened. And what's left is going to be
fulfilled by Christ just like the rest is. And then the psalm. He said everything that's in
the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms is concerning me.
Some of what's written in the Psalms is concerning David. He
experienced some of that. But it's Christ speaking and
it's all speaking of Christ. Every bit of it. Psalm 1 speaks
of the blessed man who does no sin and who will enter into God's
presence. That blessed man is Christ. Just
like Psalm 22 is Christ on the cross. Just like Psalm 22 at
the end is Christ on His throne in glory sending forth His gospel
and working in the hearts of His people. Just like Psalm 23
is Christ the Good Shepherd. Everything in the Psalms is Christ.
Now go back to Luke 24.44. I want you to see this. This is so important. Christ said in verse 44, All
things, Luke 24, verse 44, he said, all things must be fulfilled which were
written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning
me. And then he opened their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And that's what he's
still doing through one message, the message of Christ in whom
crucified. Now watch this, and this is what he said unto them.
Thus it is written, thus it is written, and thus it behoove
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day,
and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in
his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. He is saying it
was written. It behooved Christ to lay down
His life on the cross. It behooved Christ to rise again.
It behooved Christ to send forth this gospel and call out His
people, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified, because that
is what everything written in the Old Testament declared that
He would do. That is why. That is why. Christ
has come forth doing everything God said He would do from the
beginning. Now, that's why we preach Christ
and Him crucified as reigning on His throne in glory. Now,
I'll be brief here, because we've been preaching on this a lot,
and we've been seeing it a lot in Isaiah, and we're going to
see it again in Isaiah. But Christ the Lord is the one
who sends the preacher. Christ, our God, our Savior,
the Spirit of God, He's the one that preaches the Word in His
people. Christ is the one who sends forth
the Holy Spirit. He said, I'll pray the Father
and He'll send forth the Holy Spirit. And He makes this Word
effectual in our hearts. He guides you into all truth.
He won't speak of Himself. He'll speak of Me, Christ said. And Christ the Lord makes His
child do His will. Where do you get that, Clay?
It's God that worketh in you, both to will and do of His good
pleasure. Ain't that who Christ is? He's God, the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. And He works in His people making
you to will and do of His good pleasure. It's Christ who preserves
His people. He sends forth the Spirit and
seals you once you've believed. It's Christ who's going to resurrect
His people when we die. It's Christ who's going to glorify
His people. What I'm saying is salvation
is of the Lord. That's what we preach when we
preach Christ in Him crucified. Now, one last thing. Turn over
to Galatians 3. Galatians 3. What about works? Everybody in
the world wants to know about works. What about works? What
about my works? Listen to me carefully. No work
is good and accepted of God until of God Are you in Christ? And of God is Christ made unto
you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption so that you cease
glorying in you and you glory in the Lord. That's the only
time God's going to accept you is in Christ. That's the only
time God's going to accept anything you do is in Christ. The only
way. Outside of Christ, the plowing
of the wicked is iniquity with God. It's sin with God. You mean
the plowing? Yeah. But in Christ, even plowing
is righteous and holy before God. Everything the believer
does is righteous and holy in Christ the Lord. Now look at
this. Jesus said this is the work of God that you believe
on Him whom he sent. That's the work of God. Sinner,
believe on Christ. That's the work of God. Cease
from your works and believe on Christ. Rest in Christ. That's
where all the work of God's finished. Now look at this in Galatians.
Until a man's brought to repent from all his works, from trying
to twist God's arm and get God indebted to him, from trying
to gain a reward from God, to try to repent from mixing grace
and works, until he's made to repent from that and to believe
on Christ and rest in Christ, God won't accept anything he
does. God won't even hear his prayer. But when he's brought to Christ,
look at this, verse 11. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it's evident. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith. It's just not of faith, brethren.
You can't try to come to God obeying and keeping the law and
trusting Christ. It can't be done. The law is
not of faith. You either believe Christ and
are justified entirely by Christ, or you can come by the law. And
here's what you've got to do if you come by the law. The man
that doeth the law's got to live in it. Got to perfect it. Got to do it for you. Perfect.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone hanging on a tree. Well, does that mean that believers
that are born of Christ and given faith in Christ, does that mean
we are not under the law anymore? Look at Galatians 3.23. Before
faith came, we were kept under the law. Shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster,
and the word is, until Christ. Because the law never did bring
you to Christ. Christ brought you to Christ. But it was until
Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith
is come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. For you're all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now you see,
listen to me. You don't learn obedience by
the letter of the law. You know where you learn obedience?
By Christ. That's where we learn obedience.
How do you learn to forgive? Be ye kind one to another, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. That's where you learn to forgive. How do I learn how to
be a loving brother, love one another, follow God and love
one another as dear children, even as Christ loved us and gave
Himself for us? How do I learn how to give? I
need to go over there and look at the law. It says you give
ten percent. That's not where you learn how to give. Christ
who was rich became poor that through His poverty you might
be made rich. That's where you learn how to
give. You see what I'm saying? Everything's taught us by Christ,
not by the letter of the law. Now look down at Galatians 4.9.
That's why Paul said this. Now, after that you've known
God, or rather are known of God, I'll turn you again to the weak
and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to be in bondage.
Look at verse 17. These preachers are zealously
affecting you. Oh, they create a lot of zeal
in folks. People are zealous, going all
over the world, doing all kind of works. Look at what Paul said,
but not well. They don't zealously affect you
well. Here's what they would do. They would exclude you from
Christ that you might affect them, that they might glory in
what they made you do. They got to report to their higher-ups
of what they're doing and what they're building and what they're
creating by all their twisting of God's Word. But they ain't
created nothing. They built an outward shell of
a church, but they ain't created a real church. Only Christ can
do that, and He does it through the preaching of the gospel.
Tell me ye that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear
the law, Paul said? So look at Galatians 5. Here's
where he misses it. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. And be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, if you go back to the law in any
regard, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, or every man that is trying to
come to the law by tithe, or every man that's trying to come
to God by not committing adultery, or every man that's trying to
come to God by putting away his idols, or anything that you're
doing to try to come to God by your works, Paul said, he's a
debtor to do the whole law. For Christ is become of no effect
unto you, whosoever you are justified by the law, you've fallen from
grace. Well, preacher, what's this have to do with our works?
Look right here. Now, He's told you to stay away
from the law, the letter of the law, your legal works, and you're
trying to gain God's favor by your works, that legal motive
of the heart. Now, here's the true motive.
We, through the Spirit, That's the only way we do this. God,
Christ, sin and the Spirit. Through the Spirit we wait for
the hope of righteousness. We're going to be made perfectly
righteous one day. And we wait for it by faith.
By faith. The work of God is that you believe
on Christ. Now watch this. For in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision.
You know where you get that? Back there in the Law. Back there
in the Old Covenant. He said neither being circumcised
according to that old covenant or not circumcised according
to that old covenant. That old covenant don't have a thing to
do with this. But look, but faith which worketh by love, that's
new covenant. That's everlasting covenant.
That's God's grace in Christ. Believers don't need a law to
make us obey Christ. We only need Christ himself.
and His great love for us seen at the cross. Faith which works
by love. And that's the only holy motive
of the heart that God will accept. The moment if you've done anything
that's not in faith, it's sin. You do anything that's not constrained
by the only motive being the love of Christ, God won't accept
it. But what Christ through the Spirit
constrains us to do, behold in Him, God loves it. He'll accept
it, for Christ's sake, in Christ. Isn't it amazing? Preachers try
so hard to get folks to be obedient. Try so hard to get folks to walk
in good works, and they're doing it by preaching works. And the
only message that will make a sinner obedient is the message of Christ
in whom crucified. Because that's the only message
God will bless. And that's the only way you and I are going
to be made obedient. The only way. Now, seek Christ. Seek Christ. Make it your determination
to know Christ and Him crucified. May God make us turn off the
TV and turn on a sermon. Turn off the worldly books and
open His book and seek to know more of Christ. This is the only
knowledge that will never be taken away. The honors of this
world, the vanity of this world, anything this world has to offer
will soon fade when you die. But this knowledge right here
of Christ and Him crucified will be with us for all eternity if
God blesses it to our heart. In Him is hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. That's why Paul said, all that
stuff I used to put my confidence in, I count it done for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ. Isn't that true? I want Him.
I just want to know Him. I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Amen.