Good morning. We're going to be in Galatians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. When you read the epistle that
Paul wrote to the Galatians, you're faced with the question
that we ask ourselves, would I dwell with God? dwell in his presence and will
I be accepted of God and be a partaker of his inheritance? And the answer
that those who are given faith by the Spirit of God, the answer
to that is then believe. Believe the true and living God. Believe him now by faith and
live in that faith which your God has given to you. And the
reason why the Lord teaches us this is because the natural man
thinks that we obtain favor with God and that we live with our
God and gain life, spiritual life with our God through the
things that we do, through the works of the flesh. And so the natural man tries
to satisfy that hope that I will live with God, that God will
be merciful and gracious to me, that God will save me is by the
good works that he or she does. The natural man looks to our
works for favor with God. But the word of God teaches us
that to live with God, To be accepted of Him, to stand in
His presence, we must be justified of God. We must be justified
by the Lord. Now, to be justified, what does
that mean? It means that we are holy, as
God is holy. It means that we're perfect,
as God is perfect. To be justified with God means
that we're righteous, as God is righteous. Because God only
declares a man or woman justified who is righteous. If we're not
righteous, He doesn't declare us righteous. He doesn't impute
righteousness where there is no righteousness. Now look at
verse 6, Galatians 3, 6. Abraham believed God and it was
accounted or imputed to him for righteousness. And so the Lord
is telling us that you who would be justified with God, there
is a way of righteousness, there is a way to be declared righteous. There is a way in which we are
made righteous, but that way is contrary to the natural man. It's contrary to our flesh. You see, the natural or carnal
man thinks that by my doing, I am made righteous. By my doing,
I'm declaring my righteousness. By the things that I do is what
makes the difference between a sinner saved and a sinner lost. But the word of God teaches us
that which is contrary to the natural man. That which is true
according to the word of God is that he makes a man righteous. He's the one that reveals righteousness
in his people. And so, for a great many in this
world, they're trusting their own works for their righteousness. And for many, that means religious
good works. That I must put myself in religion
and I must follow some religious way and that is what makes me
righteous. But the truth is, it's not our
works. It's not even religious good
works that make us righteous. It's not what we do that is salvation,
or that obtains us or earns us salvation. In fact, in Romans
3 verse 20, it says, Therefore by the deeds of the law, and
that's what the majority of Christendom, the majority of people who call
themselves Christians, they think it's by the deeds of the law
that we are righteous. And Paul says, wait a minute,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified,
declared righteous in God's sight. Why? Because by the law, we have
the knowledge of sin. The law is declaring to us that
we are sinners. Because when you see the law
rightly, and you see yourselves rightly, your own heart, your
own mind, your own works, you see, I fall short of the glory
of God. I'm coming up short of His perfection
and holiness. I seem to do some things well,
but I offend over here in these points, and therefore I've broken
the whole law. And I'm not making myself righteous. I'm heaping upon myself curses
for my breaking of the law. I'm not I'm not righteous before
the true and living God. And so salvation and righteousness,
these are not something that men work and gain for themselves
by their works, by their doing. These instead, salvation and
righteousness, are spiritual blessings that are given to us
by the grace of God revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ. Our God freely gives us salvation. He freely blesses us with righteousness
in and by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So our God reveals
this to us. He makes it known to us. through
the preaching of the gospel. He's revealed true righteousness. He reveals the way of salvation
and the way of righteousness through the gospel that exalts
before us, that holds up before our eyes the crucified Lord and
Savior. who willingly gave His life to
put away our sins, to wash us by His blood, to make us righteous
in Him by giving us His Holy Spirit, whereby we hear what
our Savior has done, whereby we hear what our Lord has done
for us. And through that preaching, God
manifests in you that are His. He manifests that you are His
children through faith revealed in you, through faith which God
has given to you so that God is declaring them that are His.
because they believe the Word of God. They believe that God
has provided salvation. They believe, God, that in Christ
and in Christ alone, I am righteous to stand before God. I'm accepted
of Him. I am holy by the Lord Jesus Christ,
set apart for His use by the Spirit of God. And so he reveals
it, he makes it manifest in us. And that's what we see in Romans
1, verses 16 and 17. There it says, where Paul says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I'm trusting what
God has declared to me through his son, Jesus Christ, that he
is my righteousness, that the blood of Christ is sufficient
to save a sinner, even me. Even me, in all my wickedness,
in all my unrighteousness, in all my filth and trespasses and
iniquities before God, even I am cleansed by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, I'm not ashamed
of that gospel. I'm not looking for another righteousness.
I'm not looking for my works or looking to my works or boasting
of something that I have done. My boast is of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For he is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek, because there's no difference. Every one of us who
are saved are saved through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. from faith to
faith. God's revealing in you them that
are his because they believe. That's the revelation. It's the
manifestation that I am a child of Abraham, a child of God. God's
given me faith just as he gave to Abraham. As it's written,
the just shall live by faith, by faith. And so that's how our
God sets us free from the bondage of this flesh, the bondage of
our sin and death, the bondage of the yoke of religion, trying
to work a righteousness for ourselves. We're set free through faith. And that's what I've titled the
message, Set Free Through Faith. We're delivered by the faith
which our God gives us in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're delivered
by Christ and we behold that deliverance and we receive that
deliverance and believe that deliverance through the faith
which he gives us in Christ. So our Lord makes it clear to
us in his word that if we would be holy, if we would be righteous,
if we would be forgiven, if we would be accepted of God, If
we would be justified by God, then be like Abraham, believe
God. Believe God, just like Abraham
believed God. And that's what it said there
in Galatians 3.6, even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted
to him for righteousness. God imputed, that man is righteous. because he believed God. And
God was testifying that he is righteous by revealing faith
in Abraham. That was the distinguishing mark.
Abraham wasn't looking to his works, he was believing what
God had declared to him. And so Abraham believed the gospel
which the Lord Jesus Christ declared to him in that day. It says in
Galatians 3.8 and the scripture, and the scripture, the word of
God, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. The spirit knows the mind of
God, and the spirit reveals to us the mind of God. And so the
Lord preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee
shall all nations be blessed. Through your seed, Abraham, That
is the Lord Jesus Christ ALL. will all the nations, all the
families of the earth, from all the families, from all the nations,
the tongues, the tribes, and the nations in the earth, they
shall be blessed. My people shall be blessed through
the Lord Jesus Christ who shall spring from thy loins, from thy
seed. He is the seed of promise. Now, we looked at this last time
when we were looking at Galatians Sorry, Genesis chapter 12, verse
3. Genesis 12, 3, when the Lord
said, I will bless thee that bless you. I'll bless them, rather,
that bless thee. And I will curse them that curse
thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. And
in that, God declared grace to Abraham. Not for anything that
Abraham did. Nothing that Abraham did made
him special. God made him special because
God chose him out of all the peoples to be gracious to him,
to bless him, that through his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ would
come who is the salvation of his people. And Abraham believed
God. Verse 7, Galatians 3, 7 says,
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. And so we saw that those who
are of faith like Abraham, they're blessed of God in that they bless
Abraham. They say, Abraham, I believe
God just like you believe God. I rest in the promise of God
declared to you. That's blessing Abraham. And
it shows that we are blessed of God. And those who say, no,
no, I'm justified by the works of the law, by my doing, they
curse Abraham and testify that they are under the curse of God
because they don't believe. unlike Abraham who believed God.
And so you that believe the promise of your God that it's by the
Lord Jesus Christ and him alone that I am saved and justified
with God, you're blessed with faithful Abraham and you testify
that you are the children of Abraham. by that faith which
God reveals in you that believe. And so faith believes God, and
it trusts him who said in John 640, this is the will of him
that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun, and we see him
to this day by faith, everyone that seeth the sun and believeth
on him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. And we believe him who spoke
that word. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ
who is the one who is our resurrection. He's our power. For he has raised
us up even this day by faith. and given us a demonstration
of his power and glory in us, which believes him who spoke
these words, saying, look to me, trust me, believe me, and
you shall be saved. You shall not be ashamed, but
you shall be raised up in that day when I return for my saints,
my purchased possession. I'll raise you up, I'll lift
you up. You shall not remain in death. that you're mine and you're my
child and you shall live forever with me. To him, Peter said,
give all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, forgiveness
of sins. All your sins are forgiven by
the Lord Jesus Christ. All your sins are put away. There's
nothing to be ashamed of in Christ. He's done it all. He's provided
life to you freely and grace. How do I know if I'm His child?
You believe. You that believe Him and trust
Him, having no other hope of salvation, no other hope of righteousness,
but Christ and Christ alone. You do testify. God's revealing
in you, making manifest in you that you are His child because
you have no other hope of righteousness. And the faith of Christ beats
down and puts down the foolishness of this mind, the foolish vain
ideas of this flesh that rise up in us thinking that there's
something we can or should or must do. And Christ says, no,
no, you look to me, trust me. And we find that we're His workmanship
and His grace. so that when we do something
in the name of our God, it's because we are justified, not
because we're hoping to be justified. We trust him, we believe him,
and that's his manifestation of grace. So then, verse nine,
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. You that believe Christ, believe
the word of God, and testify that I am a child of Abraham.
God has blessed me and given me this faith and hope in his
son, which the prophets all testify to, that I am forgiven through
the blood of Christ. Thanks be to God. But there's
many in religion who have an appearance of faith, they have
an appearance of holiness, they have an appearance of righteousness,
but all that they have is an appearance. just a shadow of
that which is not real. They're not trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ. They're trusting their own works
of the law. And so those that are of the
flesh, there's nothing spiritual about them. It's all fleshly
works. It's all the operation of the
flesh. They don't have the spirit of
God. They don't have eternal life. They don't know the truth.
There's no light in them, and they don't know the way of salvation. They don't know the way that
God is provided. Because they hear of Christ,
they think of him, but they think little of him. Because they think,
now I've got to go and get to doing. I've got to go and justify
myself before God. In verse 10, Galatians 3.10 says,
for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. They are not children of Abraham. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. They're in bondage. They're shut
up to the grace of God. They're dwelling in the pit,
the pit of this flesh, the pit of corruption. They're corrupted
even now. And all their works are defiled
and full of wickedness because they're trusting in their works
for their righteousness. A man boasts of his will, of
his free will, of what he's done, but all they are is just bouncing
around in the pit of corruption. They're free to do what they
want, and what they do is to glory in self, they work in idolatry,
they work trusting their own works and what they do in the
name of God. They think that is their salvation. And the Lord tells us this flesh
has no part in spiritual, heavenly things. Only God produces life. He gives the spirit whereby we
are regenerated, whereby we're born again, whereby we're given
that spiritual life that we don't have from our parents, that we're
not born with in Adam. This flesh is corrupt, this flesh
is sinful, this flesh is vile, and the one who turns us and
delivers us from the bondage of this flesh and the corruption
of our dark ways trusting in them, or even making excuses
for them, or thinking that these things don't matter. Our Lord
delivers us from all of that by His blood, by establishing
us in the hope and faith of the redeemed, by trusting the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So He gives life. John 3.8, the
wind bloweth where it listeth where he wants to go. The wind
bloweth where it wants to go, and thou hearest the sound thereof. movement in the trees and the
leaves and blowing things across the lawn, thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that's born of the Spirit, so that the manifestation
of His grace is faith and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you will love Him, and you will love your brethren, and you will
trust Him, and you will do good works, all because Christ is
in you, because you love him, because you are justified, and
you have been set free from the bondage of sin and death, not
to labor in those things under fear and doubt and worry and
misery, but because you have the hope of eternal life which
is revealed in the children of Abraham who trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so man who trusts his own
works brings himself under the curse of the law. Because the
law requires that we do, that we get to doing, and that we
keep on doing, and never cease to do. And so that's what the
law requires, that we do, do, keep on doing. And you better
do every part of the law perfectly. Because once you offend in one
spot, you've broken the whole thing and brought yourself under
all the curses of the law. And so as many as are of the
works of the law, Paul said in verse 10, again, they are under
the curse of the law. They're testifying, I'm of the
works of the law, and therefore under all its curses too. And
so Paul was quoting from Deuteronomy 27, 26 when he says at the end
of verse 10, It's written, curse it is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. And so while man is busy doing
his works of the law and busy doing his religious good works
and thinking that these things save him, he's really just heaping
on his head curses and making the pile of our debt that we
owe righteousness to God He's making that debt greater and
greater and greater and committing more works of unrighteousness. And so Paul countered that in
Romans 3.19 when he said, now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. The law is good. There's nothing
wrong with the law. The law declares the righteousness
of God. The law shows us the exceeding
sinfulness of our sin. Didn't Adam just take a bite
of the forbidden fruit? What's so bad about that? Oh,
no, no. In biting that fruit, he broke
all the law of God. And we see his rebellion to this
day. in this heart. In our own heart
we see what rebels we are, how disobedient we are, how worthy
of condemnation and wrath we are because we're sinners. And
we've done that which is wicked. And we see the progression of
our wickedness and vileness and the working out of hatred and
cruelty and the coldness and the wickedness of man because
it's in our own hearts and in our own minds. And God declares
the law to show us that no, we didn't just bite the forbidden
fruit. No, we broke all the law of God
and became rebels and were defiled in our minds and corrupted. dead
spiritually, and can't turn that around. We can't work a salvation,
we can't work a righteousness, because everything we do just
continues to declare, I'm not trusting God. I'm not hearing
what God has said. I'm just plowing ahead in my
own righteousness, which is just filthy rags and not pleasing
to God. And so our God is teaching us
in his word. He's showing us the truth. He's
showing us the law, not so that we save ourselves by the law,
but to show us that it's God who makes the difference because
we are defiled and we've fallen short. It's God who is gracious
to whom he will be gracious. Lord, be gracious to me. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And that's
how he manifests, that he is gracious to you, because you
trust in Christ and him alone. Galatians 3.11 says, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident,
for the just shall live by faith. And so our God declares the gospel
to you. He's gathered you together to
hear his word of peace and reconciliation and how he is gracious to sinners.
And you that believe testify that God is gracious to you.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that, that faith, not
of yourselves, not of this flesh, that faith is the gift of God.
whereby you believe and you trust Him. And so those who are justified
by God and Christ, they live upon the faith of Christ. We
live upon the faithfulness of Christ in fulfilling all the
will of God perfectly. And for us, we live upon His
faithfulness. And we live upon that faith which
He's given to us that looks to Him and believes Him and trusts
Him. And so Paul wrote it this way
in Romans 8 verses 9 through 11, so that ye are not in the
flesh, but in the spirit. If so, be that the spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
spirit of Christ, he's none of us. He's none of us. And you
won't believe Christ. If you don't have the spirit
of God, you won't believe Christ and rest in him. But if Christ
be in you, this body is dead because of sin. You're not going
to see this flesh turn all these things around and get things
right and work perfect righteousness. We still feel the burden of sin. We still feel the pushings against
the new man and the work of Christ in us by the old man of this
flesh. His flesh is dead because of
sin, but the spirit is life. because of Christ our righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.
That is to come we shall be made like unto him for we shall see
him as he is when he returns by his spirit that dwelleth in
you. And this resurrection power is
declared in you even this day by the faith which is revealed
in you that looks to the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is the resurrection power of God working in you, overcoming
all your sin, overcoming all your doubts, overcoming all your
works of iniquity which you've done and your flesh still walks
in to this day. He overcomes it all by the blood
of Christ, whereby you continue to believe him, because the new
man cannot sin. You cannot stop believing. You can't turn away in the new
man, because the new man can only believe Christ and sins
not, because it's born of Christ and it's incorruptible. And therefore
you believe the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe him who said, trust
my son, look to him. I've provided him for your righteousness.
And you can't not believe because that is born in you of Christ. It's of his seed and he cannot
doubt. He cannot turn from Christ and
apostatize from Christ. We believe him and continue him
in the face of all this corruption, in the face of the wickedness
around us and the wickedness within, we trust Christ. Within
this flesh, I mean. We continue to trust Christ in
the new man, overcoming all the opposition of this flesh, because
God is our God. And Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And so this salvation
is shown to us against the backdrop of this vile flesh. And Paul
writes in verse 12, And the law is not of faith, but the man
that doeth them shall live in them. Now, there's three things
which Paul is declaring to us in verse 12. Three things that
show us our inability to save ourselves so that we're not charmed
by the foolish arguments of the flesh. There's three things.
First, we see that the law is not able to produce a righteousness
in us. The law can't make you righteous. The law declares what you are.
And in the flesh, we're not righteous. We're not worthy of eternal life. Why? Or what does he say? The
law is not a faith. It's not a faith. We need a spiritual
salvation. Paul said, the law is spiritual,
but I'm carnal, sold under sin. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The law declares the truth of God. The law declares the
righteousness of God. I'm the problem. My flesh is
the problem. I'm weak and unable to save myself
and to turn things around. And so we see only God can produce
salvation. God is the one who creates the
sons of God. God's the one who takes the stones
and causes them to cry out and give glory to God. God's the
one that takes this adamant stone of a heart, this hard heart,
and removes it and puts in us a heart of flesh that is a heart
born of the seed of Christ that hears and believes God and is
turned from his wicked ways, as Ezekiel wrote. Second, the
law requires doing. The law isn't satisfied with
your hearing. The law isn't satisfied with you acknowledging and saying,
yeah, that's the truth. The law isn't satisfied with
you believing that that's the truth. The law requires doing,
and doing exactly as the law lays it out perfectly in every
point, in every jot, and in every tittle. It's the man that doeth
then. doeth them, that does them. And
religion's all about doing. That's what religion does, but
religion comes up short. You cannot fulfill it perfectly.
Whereas faith is all about believing God's promise in Christ. Paul
said in Romans 4, verses 5 and 6, to him that worketh not, to
him that's not trying to obtain a righteousness by his works,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, His faith is counted
for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. We believe and rest in Christ
and trust that Christ works in us and that he is producing what
he will. that fruit of faith and hope
and joy and love and forgiveness and kindness and faithfulness
and gentleness with one another. He's the one that turns us and
bears these fruits of righteousness in us whereby we glory in him
who is faithful and kind to work his will in us and to turn us
from ourselves and trusting ourselves. It's all of him. And then finally,
in verse 12, we see the realm of man's works. He shall live
in them. In other words, you that are
of the flesh, of the law, the works of the law, you are under,
you're living under the curse of the law because you're trying
to work a righteousness by this flesh, which can never be. which
can never be. And so there's no liberty in
that. There's no liberty under the
yoke of the law because it's about doing, it's about doing
it perfectly without fail in any way. But faith delivers and
our savior promises to deliver his people out of the bondage
of death and out of the bondage of the yoke of the law, because
we are dead to the law in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said to
him, to our Savior, the porter, the Holy Spirit openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out, out of bondage. out of the prison of
darkness, out of those things which defile and cannot save,
and he brings us into the kingdom of light and liberty and the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says, as for thee also, by
the blood of thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out
of the pit wherein is no water. He delivers us out of that hoping
and trusting in the free will which cannot save us. the hope
of man, the hope of his flesh which cannot save. He delivers
us from that and sets us free in the liberty of the sons of
God who believe, like Abraham, trusting the word of God, that
Christ's blood is sufficient for me. That thou mayest say
to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in darkness,
show yourselves. Come into the light. We are sinners
who cannot save ourselves. That's not what God's looking
for, is perfection from his flesh. He's looking to the Lord Jesus
Christ and all who come into the light of Christ, trusting
him, have nothing to fear. There's no shame. Trust your
savior. Trust your God. Rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ. They shall feed in the ways and
their pastors shall be in all high places. Because that's where
the just live. That's where the just dwell and
feed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him, brethren. He blesses
you that trust him. The very trust you have is his
blessing for you. So I pray he continue to stoke
that fervent faith and hope that you have, not in yourselves,
but in Christ, and that he bless you there in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. All right, brethren, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your
grace. We thank you, Lord, for the righteousness
which you've provided for us in your Son, Jesus Christ, not
because we've earned it, not because we've made ourselves
righteous, not because we've done anything to earn your salvation,
but because you are glorified. It's your power. It's your grace.
It's all of you through your son, Jesus Christ, revealed in
our hearts. Thank you, Lord. Bless your people
this day. Fill our hearts with the hope
and the joy that is given to your saints who believe you and
trust you and rest in your son. It's in Christ Jesus' name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, brethren, let's be
dismissed for 15 minutes. So that means we'll start about
7 after the hour, 7 or 8 after the hour.