Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. The message this morning is going
to come from Galatians chapter 3, but I would like to begin
in Psalm 119. If you would like to turn with
me in your Bible. We're going to begin in Psalm
119 and I want to ask this question. What do we think of God's law? What do we think? of God's law,
God's commandments. How do we feel about the law
that he has given us in his word? How do we feel it relates to
us as believers? What about the law? What about
the law? Well, look with me right here
in Psalm 119 verse 97. David said, Oh, how love I thy
law. I love thy law. It is my meditation
all the day. He said, I love the law. Verse 113, he said, I hate vain
thoughts, but thy law do I love. Love thy law. Verse 163. He said, I hate and abhor lying,
but thy law do I love. The law condemns lying. And David
said, I hate lying. And I love thy law. Verse 65,
165. He said, great peace have they
which love thy law. and nothing shall offend them
great peace have they that love thy law now can we say all of
that with david can we say that with him i love thy law i love
thy law turn with me now to galatians 3 if we can say that with david
i want to show you something over in galatians 3 and this
is our text Galatians 3 verse 10, we'll begin the text. And this is the apostle Paul
writing to the Galatians. And he said, for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. That's what Paul said. All right, now, based on what
we have just seen, both of these men say. Who should we believe? Who should we believe, David
or Paul? The question is, what about the
law? What do we think of the law?
We heard what David had to say about it. And we heard what Paul
had to say about it. And who should we believe? Which
one of those two men should we believe? Which one is telling
us the truth, David or Paul? David said, great peace. Have they which love thy law,
great peace, that's what he said, great peace. Have they which
love thy law? Paul said, as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. That doesn't sound
like peace to me. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. Which one is telling us the truth?
Which one of those two men? Here's the answer. Both of them. Both of those two men are telling
us the truth. Are they contradicting each other?
We heard what one said, we heard what the other one said. Are
they contradicting each other? The answer is absolutely not. Absolutely not. Not one word
in this verse, in this book, contradicts another word in this
book. Not one verse of scripture contradicts
another verse of scripture. David said, He loved God's law. He said he loved the law, but
let me show you something in Psalm 51. Psalm 51, David said
in Psalm 51 verse one, have mercy upon me. Oh God. Have mercy upon
me. Oh God. Now, why was David crying
out for mercy? It's because he said in Psalm
143, hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness, answer me
and in thy righteousness and enter not into judgment with
thy servant. Enter not into judgment. with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. That's what David said. He said,
I love your law. Oh, I love your law. It's good
and it's right and it's holy and it's just. But David knew
he needed mercy. Because he knew that no man living
shall be justified in the sight of God. According to the law. He knew that there is nothing
that a man can do. Absolutely nothing that a man
can do on this earth to justify himself in God's eyes. That's
what David is saying right there. Nothing. There is nothing that
a man can do to justify himself in God's eyes. If I could make
one thing very clear this morning in this message, that's what
I want it to be. There is nothing that a man can
do. Men and women come to learn something
of their sin and they they realize that they need forgiveness for
what they've done and they need God's favor. And so they decide
they need to start making things right. They need to go do some
things to. Make things right, but there's
nothing that a man or a woman on this earth can do to justify
himself or herself before God. If a man tells you, now you're
going to need to do this and need to do that, that man's lying
to you because there's nothing a man can do to justify himself
before God. Now in Psalm 51, David went on
to say, have mercy upon me. Oh God. Mercy. That's what I need is mercy.
According to thy loving kindness. According unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, he said, blot out my transgressions. That's what I need. I need you
to blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. That's my only hope. Wash me
from that sin. And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions."
David said, I love your law. I see what it says. And I acknowledge
that I've disobeyed it. What about us? Do we acknowledge
that? Do we acknowledge that we have
disobeyed God's holy law? He said, I acknowledge my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear
when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity. Made that way, he said, I was
shaping in iniquity and in sin. Did my mother conceive me? I
was conceived. In sin. Conceived in it, I began
in sin. What he's saying is sin is not
what I've done. That's what he's acknowledging
to God. Sin is not what I've done. Sin is what I am. It's
what I am. I am that. Because I'm a son
of Adam. Adam was the first man that God
made. Adam sinned. And all in Adam
have sinned. All. Every soul on this earth
is in the same condition with Adam. Every soul on this earth. And David said, my only hope
before you right now is that you'll have mercy on me. That's
my only hope. And that's my only hope. And
that's your only hope is that God will have mercy on us. And as David said, purge my sin
in your blood. That's my only hope. Purge me,
wash me. And I'll be clean. David said,
I acknowledge how good and how holy and how right your law is. What about us? Do we acknowledge
that? The law is good. The law is right. The law is holy. Every child
of God, every believer says, Lord, I love your law. I love
your law. And I acknowledge that it's holy
and it's right and it's just and I acknowledge that all I've
done is sin against it. I acknowledge that. I see what
it says and I see that that's not what I have done. And I also acknowledge that sin
against your law is all that I can do. That's all that this
sinful flesh can do because it was conceived in sin. It is made
of sin. Sin is not what I've done. Sin
is what I am. So I'm begging you for mercy.
I am begging you for mercy. Now, if you look with me back
at the text in Galatians 3, Verse 10, the Apostle Paul said, for
as many. He said, for as many as many
centers. Those who were conceived in sin.
And came forth speaking lies. And they walk this earth with
no ability to do what's good and right. That's me and that's
you and that's every man and woman on this earth. He said
for as many. are of as many as are of the
word of means it translates by the means of for as many as are
by the means of as many as seek redemption and seek acceptance
seek God's favor by the means of the works of the law And that's
a lot of people, a lot of people seek God's favor and seek redemption
and seek acceptance by the means of the deeds of the law, the
works of the law. Well, this is what the law says,
and this is what we have to do. And if we do this, God will be
happy with us. He said, as many as seek those things by the means
of the law, that doing and obeying of the law. They are under God's
curse. To me, that is a that's a bold
and shocking statement. That's what he said, as many
as are of the works of the law. They're under the curse. Now,
what is that curse? The answer is death. Death, God
said to Adam. He said, Adam, in the day that
you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. That's the consequence for
sin. In the garden, man died. Man died. Ever since then, in
Adam, all die. All die. No matter how much a
man tries to do and do and do, no matter how much, he will never
cannot ever, cannot ever get himself out from under that curse. Cannot ever, no matter how much
he tries to do, the more he tries to do, the more under the curse
he is, the more he tries to do. Now, somebody is going to say,
why, why are you saying that? Why is that? No matter how much he does, no
matter what kind of person he is, no matter how good And right,
everybody thinks he is and he thinks he is. Why would you say
that? Well, Galatians 3 verse 10 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. Did we understand what that just
said? as many as try to obey the law. Every law that's written, everyone
that continue with not in all things. All things. You and I did not make this truth. We did not decide what the truth
will be. We just declare it. That's all
we do. We declare God's truth. This
is what God says the truth is. For each law that he has given
in this book. Every law, how many laws are
in the word of God? How many laws could could I couldn't
even begin to start counting them? Every law that he's given
in this book in order for God to be satisfied. And this is
vital information for every man and woman to know. In order for
God to be satisfied, With our work of that law, he said, if
you do these things, you'll live. That'll hold true. That will
hold true. But in order for God to acknowledge
us as having kept the law, we have to perfectly obey the
law in deed, in thought, and in motive of the heart. Not just
deed only. deed, thought, motive of the
heart. If there are, and I believe there
are many more than this, but if there are 10,000 laws in this
book and we keep 9,999 of them and we break just one, just one in
thought, just in thought, it's the same thing as though we've
broken all 10,000 of them in God's eyes. Same thing. The end of verse 10, he said,
it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law. All of them, all
of them. All of them, that rich young
ruler, you may know the story of that rich young ruler. He
came to the Lord and he said, what must I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord gave him some laws.
He gave you some things. And that rich young ruler said,
all these have I kept from my youth up. What he was saying
to the Lord was, I'm not a sinner. That's what he was saying to
him. All these have I kept from my youth up. I'm not a sinner.
You know what he did at that exact moment in time when he
said that, do you know what he did at that very moment in time?
He called God a liar. That's what he did. First John
1 verse 10 says if we say that we have no sin. And that's what
that man said. If we say that we have no sin. We make God a liar. And his word
is not in us. If that's what we say, his word
is not in us. It is impossible. It's impossible
for a man to justify himself before God. It is impossible. Look with me. If you have your
Bible there, make sure you look at this verse with me. Chapter
four, Galatians chapter four, verse 21. It says, tell me ye
that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the law? Do you
not hear the law? Ask a person. This will be a
common answer. Go out and ask a person, why
do you believe in your heart, why do you believe God will accept
you into his eternal glory and kingdom? When that time comes,
why do you believe he will accept you in? If that person says,
well, I believe it because I have tried to be a good person all
my life. I've tried to do what's right
by others. I've tried to be fair. I've tried
to be generous. I've tried to be a help to people. I've just tried to be a good
person. And I believe I've, I've done enough. I believe he'll
be happy with me. And I just, I just believe he'll
accept me in. Verse 21 says, You who desire to be under the
law, you know, he said, you be a good person and you do right
and you be fair and you honor your father and your mother and
you don't steal and you don't commit murder and you don't commit
adultery. You who desire to be under the law, do you not hear
the law? Do you not hear the law? Do you not hear what the
law is saying? Do you not hear how strict the
law is? Oh, David said, I would love
to keep your law. The apostle Paul said the same
thing. Oh, I'd love to keep it. But I see how strict it is, I
hear how strict it is, and that's what he's asking right here,
do you not hear how severe the punishment is for not keeping
all of the law indeed in thought, in heart? Over in Matthew, chapter
five, Our Lord illustrated this. He in Matthew 5 verse 21, he
said, you have heard that it was said by them of old time,
thou shalt not kill. Don't commit murder. That's the
law. Don't kill. He said, and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment. God will deal with
that person. He said, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry
with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment
just whoever's angry somebody will say well you're not supposed
to kill now the lord jesus christ himself said let me explain that
law to you murder starts in the heart the heart murders and then
the mind and the deed comes afterward and he said he's looking on the
original motive of the heart. That's where murder takes place.
Verse 27. You've heard it was said by them of old time. Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Don't commit adultery. That's
the law. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman
to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in
her heart. People can be so proud of themselves. I've been faithful
to my wife. The Lord said. This law applies to the thought
in the heart. all the way into the thought
and the heart. He actually said in verse 29, it'd be better for
you to pluck your own eyes out. Then to look on a woman to lust
after her. And then go stand before God.
And if a man did pluck his eyes out, it wouldn't do any good
because he still has a mind. He still has a heart. There's
no hope for man in the flesh. No hope at all. Well, if there's
no hope for man in the flesh, then what hope do we have? What
hope does a sinner have who has no ability to justify himself
before God? What hope does that sinner have?
Look with me, if you would, at Romans chapter eight. Romans
eight, verse three, it says, and this is such a wonderful
verse. It says, for what the law could not do in that it was
weak through the flesh. Now the law is not flesh. I'm
flesh. You're flesh. The law was not
weak itself. We were weak in the flesh. We
could not keep the law. The law demanded it. We could
not fulfill it. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own son. in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit." Who is he talking about? Who
did he do this for? God sent his son because this
flesh couldn't do it. God sent his son in the flesh. A body hast thou prepared me.
And he gave his son to redeem a people from their sins. Who
did he do it for? Verse one says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. That's who he
did this for. When believers say that Christ
is their only hope, they mean it. They mean it. When believers say Christ is
all, not Christ plus my deeds of the law, Christ is all, they
mean it. They mean it. Back in Galatians
3, if you look with me back at the text, Galatians 3 verse 10
says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one 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,
it is evident. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. That's evident. For the just
shall live by faith. Faith in what? Christ alone, the work that Christ
came to accomplish and accomplished, what he came to do and what he
finished. Verse 12 says, and the law is
not a faith. The man that do with them shall
live in them. If a man wants to cling to the
law as his hope, Well, then he's going to go meet God based on
his deeds. But if he's clinging to Christ, he's going to go meet
God based on Christ's deeds. And verse 13 says, 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. The Lord God made his son to
be that sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. That's what redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Does that settle it? Final question of the message.
Does that settle it? Christ came, Christ redeemed
on that cross. Does that settle it? Well, verse
13, 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. What that says is, that's it.
That's it. It is settled. Christ finished
it. Christ accomplished the salvation
of his people. God's Spirit coming to a sinner,
a sinner that was chosen in Christ and causing that sinner to believe,
that's the sinner's receipt. That's his evidence of his redemption. May God give that to us. May
he cause us to cry out to Christ, You're my only hope. Till next
week, may the Lord bless His Word to our hearts. You have
been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message, or to hear other messages of sovereign
grace, log on to our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m., and 6 o'clock
p.m., Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next week
for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.