Galatians chapter 3, and look with me if you would
at verse 10, this is where we pick up. Galatians 3 verse 10,
it says, for as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse. 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. Now here's my question. Who should
we believe? David or Paul? Who should we believe? Which
one of those two men are telling us the truth, David or Paul?
Which one? David 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. So which one is telling
the truth? Both of them. Are they contradicting each other? Absolutely not. David said he loved God's law. He loved God's law. But let me
show you something in Psalm 143. Go with me back over to Psalm
143. Psalm 143, if you see the heading
right under the Psalm, it says, A Psalm of David. This is David
saying this. And verse 1, he said, 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, For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. No man. There is nothing that
a man can do on this earth to justify himself in your eyes.
That's what David just said. Let me show you what he said
in Psalm 51. Turn with me over there. Psalm 51 verse 1 says, Have mercy
upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness. According
unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For 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, and in sin did my mother conceive
me." What he's saying is, sin is not what I have done. Sin is what I am. It's what I
am. I am that because I'm a son of
Adam. That's the reason. And every
soul on this earth is the exact same thing. The exact same thing. And David said, my only hope
before you right now is that you'll have mercy on me by purging
my sin in your blood. That's what he's saying to him.
That's my only hope. I acknowledge how good, I acknowledge
how holy, I acknowledge how right your law is. And I love it. And I acknowledge that all I've
done is sin against it. I acknowledge that. And that's
all I can do. So I'm begging for mercy. I'm
just begging for mercy. Now go back to Galatians 3 with
me. Galatians 3 verse 10, the Apostle
Paul writes, For as many, as many sinners, those who are conceived
in sin, those who came forth speaking lies, and they walk
this earth with no ability to do what's good and what's right
because there's none good but God. Verse 10 says, For as many,
As are of, the word of translates by the means of. That's what
it means, by the means of. As many as seek redemption and
seek acceptance and seek God's favor by the means of the works
of the law, the doing of the law, obeying the law. They're under God's curse. Everybody
who's trying to do that is under God's curse. What is that curse? Death. It's death. God said, Adam, in the day that
you eat thereof, thou shalt surely die. That's the result. That's the curse. In that garden,
man died. And ever since then, in Adam,
all die. All die, no matter how much a
man tries to do. Doesn't matter how much a man
tries to do. He will never, he cannot ever get himself out from
under that curse. No matter what. Why? No matter
how much he does. Why is that? No matter how much
he does. Verse 10 says, four. He said they're under the curse.
Four. It is written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. Now, I don't make the truth. I don't make the truth. I did
not decide what is the truth. All I do is declare it. That's
all I do. And this is what God says is
the truth. This is what He said is the truth. For each law that is given in
this book, and I couldn't imagine trying to count them. We have
the Ten Commandments. That's one chapter of one book. That's not even the whole chapter.
I couldn't imagine trying to count them. But for each law
that He's given in this book, In order for God to be satisfied
with our work, satisfied with our work in these laws that he's
given, in order for God to acknowledge us as having kept the law in
his eyes, we have to perfectly obey that law in deed, in thought,
and in motive of the heart. And if there are 10,000 laws
in this book, I'm sure there's more than that, but if there
are 10,000 laws in this book, to keep 9,999 of them perfectly
in deed, in thought, and in motive of the heart, and to just break
one of them in thought, just in thought, not in deed, Not
in motive of the heart, just a quick, you ever had something
go, you know, what are you doing? Where did that come from? Get
out. You ever had that happen? Just slip up on you, just one
thought. In God's eyes, you've broken
the whole law. The whole thing is broken. And the end of verse 10 says,
for it is written, is everyone that continueth not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do them." 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,
didn't he? He gave him some laws. And he said, all these have I
kept from my youth up. You just gave me good news. I'm
not a sinner. I'm not a sinner." And do you
know what he did at that exact moment in time? When he said
that, you know what he did? He called God a liar. That's what he did. 1 John 1.10
says, if we say that we have no sin, we're calling God a liar
and His word is not in us. That's what it says, His word.
So it is impossible for a man to justify himself before God.
It's impossible. Look with me at Galatians 4 verse
21. 421, it says, tell me, ye that desire
to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Do you not hear
the law? You ask a person, why do you
believe God is going to accept you into eternal glory, into
His kingdom? If that person says, I believe
it's because I've tried to do good deeds. And I had a dear,
dear man to me, a man who does not know the truth, tell me this
not long ago, and it broke my heart. As I heard the words come
out of his mouth, it broke my heart. He said, I just believe
if you try to live right and you just try to be kind to others. I've tried to do extra for people. I always give them something
extra. You know, I obey the Ten Commandments
and I try to do the things the Bible tells me to do and such
on and so forth. And I believe I've done a good
enough job for Him to, you know, accept me into His kingdom. Verse
21 right here says, Do you not hear the law? Do you not hear
the law? Do you not hear how strict the
law is? Do you not hear how severe the
punishment is? Look with me over at Matthew
5. Matthew 5.21 says, You have heard
that it was said of them by old time, Thou shalt not kill, and
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But
I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without
a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. The judgment. Verse 27, you've heard it was
said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery, but
I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after
her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And
this is what he actually said in the next verse, verse 29.
He said, it would be better for you to pluck your eyes out than to look on a woman, lust
after her, and then go stand before God. That's what he said.
All right, now let me ask you this question. What hope do any
of us have? What hope do any of us have? Any of us. What hope does a sinner
who has no ability to justify himself before God have? Turn with me to Romans 8. Romans 8 verse 3 says, for what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh. And what that means is
because our flesh was too weak to keep the law. The law couldn't
get us there because our flesh was too weak to keep it. Verse
3, it goes on to say, 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
is he talking about? Who did he do this for? Verse
1 says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ. Every soul in Christ. When we say that Christ is our
only hope, we mean it. I mean, we mean it. We mean it. Some people say that and they
don't mean it. You believe Christ is your only
hope? Yes, sir. And I know He's my only hope
because I try to do good to my neighbor. Try to give a little
extra. Try to obey those Ten Commandments. When we say that Christ is all
We mean it. That's the difference. I mean,
we mean it. We put a period after that. Like
Job said, after I say that, I think I'll put my hand over my mouth.
I think there's nothing else to say. When we say that it's
Christ alone, we mean it. We mean it. Now go with me, if
you would, back to Galatians 3. 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. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith. Faith in what? Christ alone. That's it. Christ alone. The
work that Christ came to accomplish and accomplished. Verse 12 says,
And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. In order for a man to do the
law, that man has to live the law in every fiber of his being.
Deed, thought, motive of the heart. Live it. 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. What does that mean? It means
he hath made him to be sin. Can you enter into that? I'm
going to tell you the answer is no. He made him to be sin for
us, the one who never knew any sin. All of a sudden, can you
imagine? I don't even believe it's right
to say it this way, but can you imagine the horror when that
sin was laid on him and pressed into him of what he experienced? He made Him to be sin for us,
the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the, you know,
God is a righteous God. All righteous, it's who He is.
You want to talk about His character and His attributes and who and
what is God? God is holy and God is righteous. And He made Him to be sin for
us, the one who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. That's amazing. That is amazing. Well, is that it? Does that settle
it? 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, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. That's it. There's no more to
the story. That's it. That settles it. That finished it. God's Spirit
coming to a sinner who was chosen in Christ, when God's Spirit
comes to that sinner, that is the sinner's receipt. That is
the sinner's proof. That's his receipt. That's what
he holds on to for his redemption. God's Spirit comes Christ redeemed
the sinner, and in time, God's Spirit comes to that sinner,
and he cries to that sinner's heart, paid in full, paid in
full, paid in full. Here's your receipt. I've come
to bring your receipt. Paid in full. Nothing added to it. Nothing can be taken from it.
Nothing can be taken from it. It cannot be ruined. I cannot
ruin it. It's done. It's done. Salvation is mine. It's done. Romans 8 verse 16 says, The Spirit
beareth witness to our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then we're heirs. We're joint heirs of God and
joint heirs with Christ. I believe this right here is
a good scripture to end on. Go with me to Colossians chapter
2. Colossians 2 verse 9. It says, dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him." I mean, you're
complete. In a minute, we're about to sing
a song that says, "'Tis done, the great transaction's done.
I am my Lord's and He is mine. Nothing can ruin it." All right,
you're dismissed.