All right, take your Bibles now
and turn with me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians. Galatians chapter 3. We look
in verses 10 through 14 this morning. The scripture says,
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 in the sight of God is evident. For the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith, but the man that
doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Now Paul in the previous verses
has set forth as God intended the eminent type of every believer,
Abraham. Abraham is an eminent type of
every believer in Christ. And Paul proved that the salvation
of Abraham was through faith. Just as I read to you earlier
in Genesis, it says Abraham believed God. And what was this? And it,
righteousness, was accounted to him. It was accounted to him
through faith. And his faith, why did Paul use
Abraham? He could have used Moses. He
could have used a whole bunch of the other patriarchs. Why
Abraham? Why is he an imminent type? Because
Abraham was before the law. He's proving the point that the
law has nothing to do with the salvation of God's people. Obedience
to the law is contrary to faith. And so he uses Abraham because
Abraham, the covenant of the law, was 430 years later. It was even before circumcision
that this was given to Abraham, this promise, this blessing of
salvation. So that all who are justified
before God are justified. How? How are we justified? We are justified by the faith
of Christ. This is vitally important. The
faith of Christ. It was His righteousness then
that was given to us. Therefore, it is accounted to
us as righteousness. His righteousness. And when we
believe on Him, believe on Him, we have this righteousness. We
are blessed then with Faithful Abraham You're blessed with faith
now in verse 10 Paul again turns to those who would profess to
be justified by Christ and then finish by the law Finish this
justification by their obedience to the law And I want to speak to anyone
looking to the law looking to their obedience to the law. This
text is written specifically for them. Listen, we are all
in the flesh tempted. We're all tempted by this to
try to, we want to see something. Isn't that right? You want to
see something. You want to see some kind of evidence. Isn't
that what Abraham asked in Genesis 15? He said, how shall I know
that this is going to be so? He was looking for evidence.
Well he didn't say, well Abraham, you know, you're going to live
differently. Here's going to be the evidence, you're going
to live differently. You're going to stop sinning and you're going
to start doing better. Now that's evidence, that's not
what he said. The evidence of this is the crucifixion
of Christ. The evidence of my righteousness
is not my obedience to the law or my goodness. The evidence
of my hope is Christ. It's all Christ. Now listen,
you who believe, and I know this for a fact, that we do not desire
to sin. That's just so. The new nature
doesn't, but the old nature, that's all he wants. That's all
he wants. Therefore, you cannot do what
you want to do. But you take a believer that's
doing well, you see a believer and he's a moral man, he's a
good man, And you put him against somebody else who believes in
a false religion, is a moral man. He's a good man. Well, which
one's saved? How can you tell? Can you tell
the difference between them by their moral character? No. The
difference is Christ. That's the difference. It's Christ
and Christ and not the law. Listen to you who would be under
the law. Listen to it. For as many as, I don't care,
How many as many as as many as if it be one or all the earth
as many as. Are of the works of the law,
listen. They're under the curse. I don't care who you are, you
want to be under the law, you're in his curse. That's plain language,
isn't it? It's simple. You may misunderstand
what he said. And then he said, well, it's
not just me saying it. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law. Listen to them. Not just lip
service. Oh, I love the law. I love it.
You can have all the sincerity of wanting to obey the law. It
doesn't matter if you don't do it. If you're under the law on
any means, any measure, you are compelled to do it all. And cursed are you if you don't. Speaking to anyone who desires
to be under the law on any measure to bring them closer to God.
You think obeying the law makes you closer to God? If you do, you're on the curse
of law. You're seeking to be accepted
by God based on your obedience. You think that it's going to
complete what Christ has done. You're under the law. You're
fully, completely, wholly under the law. To all who would begin
by faith in Christ and finish by the law as their rule of life,
you are under the law. You can say I'm not all you want
to. But if you undertake to obey
the law in any measure for any part of your salvation, you're
under it. Listen, the Church of Galatia
had one law they were trying to obey. Just one. This whole
book was written based on one law they were trying to obey.
Circumcision. That was it. And this book is intended as
a warning for us. Because listen, your flesh desires
a law. It just does. You know how to fill these seats?
If I just start preaching law, because men love it. They love
rules. They love regulations. Why? Because
it puffs them up. They get to say, look what I
did. See that? Preacher said, don't do that.
I didn't. Oh, he did. You see, it only
puffs you up. It doesn't help you. He said
this, you're under the curse of the law. Anybody want to be
under the law? He didn't say you're under the blessing of
the law. You're under the curse. Why? Because you didn't do everything
contained in the law continually. You're under the law and not
under grace. As many as are of the works of
the law, for any reason, any measure, you're under the law
and the full weight and responsibility and curse of the law is upon
you. If you fail in one point of the law or miss one mark by
one sinful thought, one sinful motive, you are cursed. The law, friend, is not a it's
not a pick and choose. You don't get to pick and choose
which laws you think you can obey. It's an all or nothing
principle. If you fail in one thing, you
are cursed. You're cursed. That's what Paul
said. If you be circumcised, Galatians
5 and verse 4, Christ shall profit you what? Nothing. You see how this is an all or
none principle? You're either under the law or
you're under grace. This is the point. So then I
have this question. You who are saved by grace, why
in the world would you ever want to go back under the law? Why? If that's true and it is. Why
would we return to the deeds of the law? Look what he says
in the next part. But that in 11, but that a man
is justified by the law on the side that no man is justified
by the law on the side of God is what? That's evident. This is basic theology, basic
understanding, spiritual understanding. Isn't that the first thing you
learned? That's the first thing I learned
is I couldn't save myself. No matter what I did, no matter
how I tried, no matter what law I took, I was only cursed. That's
the first principle, it's evident. You know that if you're a believer,
you know that. So why in the world will we?
We won't. We can't. We have no desire. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified. And to us who are taught of God,
we trust in Christ. This is just evident. This is
just plain, so clearly seen that all are quickened by the Spirit
of God to life and faith. God told us that the law, by
what law we should live. This is evident to us because
we do have a law. We do have a law. This is the
next section of that verse. Look at verse 11 again. We're
not justified by the sight and the law. We ain't going to go
back over there. Well, how do we live? What's our law? For the just shall live by faith. Was that it? Yep. I just don't I think men want
more. They just got to have more. But
for you who are believers, this is enough. It's enough. Christ is enough. Christ is enough. And so we live by faith. I like
it. This says, as it is written,
you know, he's talking about the law and the curse of the
law is written. You know, when he says that,
he it's an exclamation point. This is the end of our argument
is written. God doesn't unwrite anything.
We we we God doesn't use erasers We do we write something in about
a week later said man every time I go over old messages. I look
at that and Scratch that out that whoo. Oh, nobody heard that
God doesn't do that when God writes something. It's written
forever Anybody want to be under the law anybody you're under
this curse it's written But there's another thing written. As it
is written, the just shall live by faith. You who are justified,
you are justified by Jesus Christ. How do you live? By faith in
Jesus Christ. That's how we live. The law cannot
apply to our justification before God on any level. It never did,
it never could be the means of our justification. Why? Because
from birth we were sinners. We had already disobeyed in Adam. There was no hope for us to obey. We were born dead. You put a dead fish in a river,
where is he going to go? Downstream he cannot do anything
else when you put a baby in this world. What is he gonna do like
a dead fish? He's gonna flow to see it. He's
gonna see it because that's what he is. Well, we are by nature
We can't do anything else and the law friends Paul says the
law is spiritual The law is spiritual and What
the law demands of us we can't provide it demands that a carnal
man be spiritual. I You can't. It's impossible for
you to be spiritual. We are, Paul said, we are carnal,
sold under sin. So you see that the law demands,
is there anything wrong with what the law demands? Well, of
course not. The law is perfect. But we being weak through the
flesh, that's the problem. And so we see this, that we are
not justified by it. And so now the spirit is quickened
us and given us a new nature. What is the? What is the desire of this new
spiritual nature? It is simply this. It is simply
to believe on Christ. It is simply to trust Christ.
To live by faith. I think you see it in Hebrews
10. Hebrews 10 verse 38 says this. Now the just shall live
by faith. I like repetition. The just shall live by faith.
But here's the opposite of that. But if any man draw back, what
does he mean by that? Well, he's drawing back from
what from faith. He's drawing back to the law.
That was the temptation of the Hebrew believers to which that
letter was written. If any man draw back to the law,
if any man go back to the law, To live by the law. That's what
he say. If any man go back to live by
the law. God said this my soul shall have no pleasure in you
But here's our hope we are not of them that draw back You believer
you want to go back under the law Do you want to go back under
the law God forbid We are not of them that draw
back to perdition, but of them that what? Believe. We are of them that continually,
perpetually believe. Believe to the saving of the
soul. The apostle shows how this wonderful
justification, now in our text, he shows how this wonderful justification
was accomplished and what it means. what it means to live
by faith. First thing I note is this. Spiritual
life has nothing to do with the works of the law. Spiritual life has nothing to
do with the works. Remember, we covered this last
Sunday in these five rhetorical questions Paul asked in the first
section of this book. If you look at verse two, he
said, only this would I learn. He received you, the spirit,
by the works of the law, by hearing of faith. How do you receive
the spirit? Was it by your obedience? Was it by the power of God through
the preaching of the gospel that you believe? And this is and so then in look
at verse 12, look at verse 12 now. He's telling us this, that
our spiritual life wasn't wasn't didn't come by the law. Why the
law is not of faith. The law is not of faith. It's a very plain and clear words
here that the law and faith cannot mix. It cannot be mixed. If you are under the law, it
is not a faith. What are you saying? How will
you receive the spirit? I received it through faith,
not the works of the law. And so then these two are diametrically
opposed to one another. The spiritual birth, the spiritual
walk of every believer is only by faith. But if any man who
takes to the law as his rule of life, it is not a faith. In
that just obvious, if you're trying to obey the law, look,
you're producing something, aren't you? You're producing something
that can be seen, that can be felt. And then what you begin
to trust in what you see and what you feel, which is not of
faith. We're all prone to this. Now
listen, let the legalist rage all he wants to. The law is not
a faith. Let him, let him stomp his foot. I've had men stomp their foot.
I've had men get real upset with this. They don't like to hear
this. Let him boast about his faith
all he wants to. Let him rail against us as antinomians. We're not. I don't care what
they call us. We're not lawless, we have a law. It is this, the
just shall live by faith. Legalist says, that's too simple.
Man, you have a bunch of sinners running around out there. If
you don't put the law on them. I got that in the bullets and
I thought that was great. Frank Tate wrote that article about
taming the lions. He said, I've seen some lions
up there, you know, at the zoo. He said, how do you tame them? You tame them with a whip and
a chair. And that's what religion does. They put a whip and a chair
to you. They say, ah, stop sitting. Keep you tamed. When God changes
your nature, you don't need a whip and a chair. You know what tames
us? Love. The love of Christ constrains
me. And how are you going to see
the love of Christ except through faith? These two are intertwined
together. You don't need to whip us. Man,
I whip myself enough. I'm constantly loathing myself. I don't need you to do it. The
love of Christ. The law is not of faith. I don't
care what men say. If you want to walk by the law,
you're under it. You're cursed. Just don't walk that way. Just
live by faith. While you're sitting in there
in that chair right now, if you're looking to Christ, you're obeying
the law. You're obeying His law. Not for
your justification. You're obeying it because of
your justification. It doesn't say that you should
be justified by walking by faith. That's not it. You walk by faith.
The just those who are already justified. How do we walk by
faith? This is the result. Faith is
not the cause. Faith is a result of our justification. Walk by faith. Secondly, the
law says do. Verse 12. The law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live continually, perpetually,
constantly in them. You want to obey the law? Okay,
you've got to do it all the time. You don't get to just have a
break. There's no break. You see why the law is a burden? Was the law a burden to Christ? It wasn't a burden to him. It
was natural. He did. He naturally did those
things that he wrote. He wrote those things. And then
when he came in, as well, he just naturally did him. And you
know what? It caused a lot of pain. It caused him a lot of
hurt of those around him. But he could do nothing else
but honor the law. You and I, on the other hand,
can do nothing else but dishonor it. And so trying to take that
law back on yourself, all you'll do is dishonor it. All you'll
do is condemn yourself. That's it. Paul said in verse 18 of chapter
2, he says, if I build again the things, I destroy it. And
if I go back under the law, the law to me is dead. Now if I try
to rebuild it, if I try to rebuild it, what am I going to find?
I'm a transgressor. That's all I'm going to find.
That's all you're going to find if you try to piece the law together.
You'll find this, that you're a transgressor. That's all I
can tell you. Cursed. Because the law says do. He that
doeth That's a present perfect tense. Has done, is doing, and
shall do. You've got to live by them constantly. See, the religious are all about
doing. How many billions of dollars
are spent doing? And what actually is accomplished
for the good of the souls of men? Nothing. They may give you
a house that's good for the body, may give you food that's good
for the body. They give you clothes that's good for the body. But
what is all they're doing really do for the soul? Nothing. Faith cometh by what? Hearing
and hearing by the word of God, nothing wrong with what they're
doing, nothing wrong doing good. The problem is it doesn't help
anyone spiritually. They blindly imagine they should
be accepted with God by their religious zeal, by their sincerity,
by their best efforts and doing good to others. They vainly think
the law, they take the law in pieces. Isn't this true of legalists? They take the law in pieces.
They try to find the law that they're most capable in their
own eyes of obeying. And they set that one up there. You know, that strikes me with
what the Lord said to that that man, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? He said, what set the law? He
says, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with he
waxed eloquent, didn't he? Just with that one, he loved
the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul and mind and
strength body. Oh, yeah. And love your neighbor
as yourself. Which one do you think he thought
he was most capable of? Loving the Lord God, you know, because
that can't really be proved. I mean, it just can't, you know.
He can say it and he can get men to believe it. But then the
Lord said, look, if you ain't doing that, you ain't going to
do that one if you ain't done the other one, which is love
your neighbor as yourself. And, you know, he did. Lord showed
him he was one thing. I like that one thing thou lackest. You know what it was? righteousness. That's what he lacked. He lacked
Christ. He said, this is the one thing
you're missing. Me. Me. I'm the only ones ever did that.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbors
yourself. I'm the only one. So thirdly here, who all who
then take to do one thing. One thing in the law, you are
to live in them continually, continually. You must completely
be under the dominion of the whole law. And by doing so, you
live under the just sentence of the law, curses everyone that
continueth not in all things. Again, religion likes to piece
it together. Well, if you read any theological
books, you'll read these, the law, when you read the law, it'll
say, OK, this is the dietary law. OK, right there. Not going to eat pork. Bunch
of other things you can't eat. That's an act. Then they say
this is a sacrificial law. So these are all the lambs and
the birds and all the things you got offered to God. That's
what is under law, sacrificial law. Then there's then there's
the law of the leper. And then there's the law. Then
there's the moral law. Right. So they divided up and
they say, OK, well, we can't sacrifice anymore. So that's
really, you know, According to reason, right, man's reason.
We can't do that, so obviously God doesn't want us to do that
part of the law. Well, surely, surely now I'm
under grace, I can at least eat some pork. So that just, dietary
law is not very important, right? I mean, we don't have any high
priests, so we really can't pay, tithing to people is really important,
because they can understand 10%, and that's all they give, right
there. You understand that? And then they say, well, the
only thing left for us is like the Sabbath and tithing and moral
law. See what they did? They divided
the law. They said, well, we're not going to do these parts.
We'll do these parts. Where do you find that? Where
do you get to pick and choose which part of the law you want
to obey? You don't. Listen what James
says. Whosoever shall keep the whole
law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. You got
that? You want to be under the law.
You better have a blood sacrifice and you better have a high priest
to offer it. Well, I'm obeying the Ten Commandments. So what? You've already failed. It just is astounding that anyone
would desire to go back under that thing. If God has made you
free by Christ, why? Paul said in verse chapter 5
and verse 1, Let us stand fast therefore in the liberty. Stand fast. Why? Because you're
going to be attacked by the legalists. You will. You eat the wrong thing, you
drink the wrong thing, and what they're going to... Look, sinner,
I'm obviously better than you because I didn't do that. Regardless of them, stand fast
in the liberty where Christ had made you. Who made you free?
Who made you free? What does it matter what other
people say? Who made you free? Christ has made us free. And
be not entangled. That's what it is. The law entangles
you, it binds you, it constrains you, it curses you. Don't be entangled with that.
See the great contrast then of those who live and stand fast
in the perfect liberty of Christ. all our justifications by Him. And we have received this justification
through faith and have been set free. I know that these progressive
sanctification folks, they like to go to 2 Corinthians and they
use this a lot, I've noticed. They just go right to this text.
You don't even read what goes before it, but they go right
to this text. No, say this. Well, we all with an open face
beholding in the glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into
the same image from glory to glory. See, there you go. You
go, you get holier from glory. You're you're glorious and you
get glorier. That's not what the text is talking
about at all. He said, Look, the law has a glory. OK. but the law is the instrument
of death. What he's saying is we went from
that glory of the law, which is death, to the same image of
Christ. We went from glory, now the law's
glorious. Anybody not say that? I mean, we all say the law's
glorious. Nothing is wrong with that law, it's glorious. Matter
of fact, Moses, it was so glorious when he received it, they couldn't
even look on his face. How much more glorious are we
made in the image of Christ? See how much more glorious it
is? It's not talking about progressive
holiness, it's talking about I'm done with that glory, which
is an instrument of death, and I've been made in the same image
of Christ. And see now, because of this,
because we have been made in the same image of Christ, Because we've been set free. We are free indeed. If the sun shall set you free.
You shall be free indeed. What are we free from? Listen
to me, you who are in Christ, you're free from the guilt of
sin. Isn't that exactly what the law
does only condemns you? Thou shalt not lie. You might feel good about that.
Feel good about how you have not lied in the last three seconds. All it does is condemn me. That's
all it can do. But Christ has set me free from
the guilt of sin. How is that possible? Look at
this in verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law. If anybody deserves to be cursed,
it's me. But I have been set free from
the guilt of sin simply by this. He bore the curse. He bore my sin in his own body
on the tree and suffered under the full measure of God's justice. I didn't skirt the law, I was
saved through the law. By Him. He is my representative. Through
the law, He saved me. He did what I could not do. And He suffered what I could
not suffer. He endured, He redeemed me. He bought me. He freed me from
my guilt. In those days, Jeremiah 15 verse
20, in those days and at that time saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. And
the sins of Judah and they shall not be found. For I will pardon. them to my reserve. I'm free from the guilt of sin, free from the curse of the law.
Secondly, I'm free from the dominion of sin. And what does this mean? When I first heard that, when
I was first saved and really understood something about the
Lord, I thought that, you know, it would get better. Well, I'm
free from the dominion of sin. Shoot, I'll be able to just overcome
every sin now. That's not what it means. That's
not what it means. It means this. Before, you were
unable and bound so that you could not and would not come
to Christ. Sin had dominion over you. You
were not capable of believing. The just shall live by faith.
You were not capable of living by faith. You were bound, but
now... Believer, is there anything you
can do but believe in Christ? When you hear His name, does it not strike a chord of
love, mercy, pardon, grace and power. You think of His blood
and His righteousness. You know who I don't trust is
me. I have no confidence in me. I have every confidence in Him. You know why? Because I'm free
from the dominion of sin. I'm able now to serve Him, to
love And thirdly, one day, stand in this liberty, one day we shall
be free from the presence of sin. This is something unimaginable. I've never been free from the
presence of sin. I don't know what that's like,
but it's got to be glorious. Our sister went home to be with
Christ this last week and she now knows what it's like to be
free from the presence of sin. This is the promise of God that
though while we walk in this world we have this struggle with
the flesh, we are constantly at war, one day we will put off
this mortal and put on immortality. We will put off this corruption
and put on incorruption. That's the only way to get into
heaven. You can't have it with corruption. You can't go with
this body. It's got to be changed. And so then believer, we are
free. Jesus said this, I am the door.
If any man enter in, he shall be saved and he shall go in and
out and find passion. You're free. You're free to go
in. You go in. to Christ. You're free. You realize
there's no no limitations for your access to God. No restrictions. You're free. You come in any
time. Any time. Would the God we'd come more. I'm sure we would have a lot
less pain if we came more. But you're free. I keep thinking
of that picture of John F. Kennedy at the desk, and then
John F. Kennedy, Jr., he's under the
desk, the Roosevelt desk there, playing with his toys. Can you
imagine anybody else could do that? Think anybody, even one
of the generals, you think he can crawl under that desk? Only a son. You're a son. You're my son. is a way of college. He is welcome at my home anytime. Not a burden. Not a burden to
me at all. How much more so with your father?
You're free. Free to come in. Find protection. Find shelter. Find comfort. Find refreshment. Come in. And
listen, you're also free to go out with him. Remember the sheep,
they come in, but they also go out to feed. We go out and we
experience then all that we came in for. We go out and experience
it freely. You had any grace this week.
God give you grace. God give you mercy this week. That because you were obedient.
That why he gave you that. No. No. He gave it to you because Christ
made you free. He paid the price. Why would anyone desire to go
back under the law of sin and death? It's astounding. Christ has redeemed us. He made
a curse. Here's that word is written,
curses everyone that hang on the tree. And he did this that
the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. What is the blessing of Abraham?
What is this that we receive? Righteousness. Abraham believed God and it was
accounted to him for righteousness. So it is with everyone walks
by faith, you who believe. You have the same blessings of
Abraham. I was Abraham's blessing giving after or before the law.
Before. So what does the law have to
do with it? What did the law have to do with
Abraham's justification? Matter of fact, what did it have
to do with his sanctification? Huh? Nothing. Nothing. And so when God, he said, how
do I know? Genesis 15, he said, how do I know? That's true, God.
He said, well, you take those sacrifices, you cut them open,
and remember, he showed him a picture of Christ. That's how it's so.
Therefore, listen, the just shall live by faith. Period. But if you desire to live under
the law, you've got to live under the curse. Full weight and measure
of the law continually. Don't get to pick and choose.
You take the law as a whole. But I warn you, all you're gonna
find is a curse. You won't find a blessing. Only through Christ
is the blessings. And we receive them simply by
faith. So how does a believer live? How you live? What's your rule?
You want the law? Take it. I'm sorry, you ain't
gonna find nothing there. There's freedom in Christ. Now stand fast in Christ. Stand fast. Don't be tempted. And this book's written because
we are tempted. And if you find somebody that's
like that, don't point your nose down at them, that's not the
purpose of this. The purpose is to remind them. Because these believers, they
were in danger and Paul had a heart for them. I have a heart for
people like that. I'm sorry. I long for them just
to simply rest. Stop trying to obey that law. It's just an error and you can't
do it. Impossible. Never admitted. It's evident,
not justified by that. Simply by Christ. Oh, I pray God, help us with
this. Just teach us. Just teach us. Let's stand and be dismissed. O gracious Father, help us for a moment to bask
in the glory of Christ, to stare in wonder at Him who
was crucified, redeeming us from the curse. And because of His victory, let
us see that we are free from its curse. We're free from all
sin and death. And we live by faith under the
grace of God through Christ. Help us to continually live this
way, always looking to Christ as all our hope and evidence
of our salvation is in Him. Forgive us when we fail. Oh,
we fail. And I'm so glad it's not my merit,
but Christ's that saves. Bless these. Teach us in our
hearts and minds. And I ask you to do this in Christ's
name. Amen.