Galatians chapter 3. We'll pick up in verse
9 or 10 here. But before we do, let's ask the
Lord to bless us this morning. Our Father, we are thankful to be here this
morning. We are thankful for the desire to be here, that you
have put it in our hearts, that you've given us a new heart,
a heart to love you with, a heart to desire thy presence, a heart
to worship. Enable us, Father, this morning
to give unto you the glory due unto your name. Enable me to
rightly divide the word of truth enable me to communicate the
Gospel this morning out of Your Word, by Your Spirit. And our
Father, we thank You. Oh, how we thank You for the
many blessings You've given us in this life, the temporal blessings
we have. But more than anything, we thank
You, Father, for the spiritual blessings that You've given us
in Jesus Christ. that you sent your son into this
world to redeem us from the curse of the law, that he came into
this world to work out a perfect righteousness, and in him, in
him, and may we realize this day by day, that in him we are
complete. We need to add nothing. We are
complete in him. Bless our children this morning.
Bless us. This congregation, this local
church here, Father, bless us with spiritual growth and grace
and the knowledge of Christ. And what we pray for ourselves,
we pray for our children throughout this world. In Christ's name
we pray, and amen. The lesson this morning is justified
by faith according to the promise that God gave to Abraham and
his seed, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And us in Christ, whatever
God has given to Christ and promised to Christ in that covenant of
grace belongs to us also. That's why we need to learn of
that covenant. You know, before I heard my pastor,
Henry Mahan, I never heard of a covenant of grace. I never
heard it. I didn't know there was such
a thing. I just heard that Jesus Christ died for sinners and He
wants to save you. I didn't understand the covenant
of grace. I didn't understand. Listen,
I didn't even really understand that the 33 years of His life,
Him living on this earth, was as necessary as Him dying on
that cross. Because those 33 years is my
righteousness. As well as him dying on that
cross under the penalty of law, a penalty of God's law to put
away my sins. But I needed those 33 years.
I need his righteousness. Because as I was saying to Tommy
yesterday, it's through his righteousness. Now get this, this is comforting. to a bunch of sinners, is comforting
the sinners, that through His righteousness, God's grace reigns
on us continually. It doesn't rain on us because
we're good, because we do good, because we've changed our ways,
we've changed our habits, we don't do this and don't do that
no more. God's grace reigns through the
righteousness of that man, Jesus Christ. And that's why He forgives
us day by day and cleanses us. Now, in verse 9, Paul says, so
then, and you'll have to go back and read the rest, the earlier
part of it to catch up. But so then, they which be of
faith are blessed. They're blessed with salvation.
They're blessed with justification. They are blessed with righteousness.
You know, most people, when it's sad, but so much of those who
call themselves Christians, when they think of blessed, they think
of health, wealth, don't they? That's what they think of. They
think of this temporal life. But when you, who've been born
of God, when you think of being blessed, you're blessed with
spiritual blessings, the things that you need to stand in God's
presence. Justification. We've been blessed by justification
in Christ, His righteousness, all that we need. So then they
which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now it
says here in verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the
law, those who depend Those who depend on the law for
justification, they depend like that rich young ruler said, all
these have I kept from my youth up. Well, those who depend on
it for justification and salvation before God are really and actually
under a curse. Isn't that sad to think that
you're being saved by something that's actually cursing you?
that you're being saved by something, and then you stand before God,
and you're going to find out that that law that you were hoping
in, that law that you were keeping day by day, you thought you were
keeping, is going to actually stand against you in judgment. That's what Paul's pointing out.
This is why it's so important you do not go back under the
law in any way, shape, or form. Period. In no way, shape, or
form. Because if you do, you're under
a curse, the law curse. And listen, that's the only curse
that there is. The only curse there is, is a
law curse. Nobody can put a curse on me, nobody can do that. But I tell you what, if I'm under
the law, I'm under God's curse. It's a curse, it's not a blessing,
it's a curse. But now listen, here in verse
11, it's very clear It's very clear that no one is justified
by the law. No one is cleared of guilt. That's
what it is to be justified, to be cleared of all guilt. No one
is justified before God by the law for the just, he says here,
the just, those who are righteous and upright before God, they
shall live by faith. They don't live by doing, they
live by believing. by believing. You know where
this scripture was given? This statement was given? The
just shall live by faith? It's not a New Testament doctrine.
It's an Old Testament, Habakkuk, or Habakkuk, however you wanna
say it. If you're listening to English
people over in England, they say Habakkuk. That's the reason
I said that. But here I say Habakkuk. It's written over in Habakkuk
2.4. I was reading John Trapp a little bit this morning, and
he said that, to paraphrase it, they were concerned that when
they went into captivity in Babylon, how were they going to live?
How were they going to live? They can't do the sacrifice.
They can't do all these things, the ceremonies. They can't keep
all that. How are they going to live? And Habakkuk says this,
by faith, by believing God. by believing God. The just, the justified, they
live out their lives day by day by faith. You know, faith is
not just for when you die and you stand before God. Faith is
for day by day. We trust God. We trust Him. We trust Him to take care of
us day by day, don't we? I'm not, now listen, I'm not
a doomsday prepper. I'm not hoarding up food, and
I'm not putting stuff up in the pantry, and I'm not doing those
things. I know someone that is. That's the reason I'm saying
this. They're doomsday preppers. These
people call themselves believers. They call themselves believers,
but they're hoarding up stuff because of this so-called doomsday. The just don't live like that.
We don't live like that. We live by faith. As I was telling
Vicki, we was talking about this yesterday, I think it was, this
situation, we was talking about it. And I said, you know, God
fed Elijah with a raven. And then another time he sent
him to a poor woman. He didn't send him to a rich
person that had a lot of money and then could feed him, take
care of him. Sent him to a poor woman. And she said, well, all
I got's this, this barrel, this one oil, this little bit of oil
here, that's all I got. And she said, but you know what?
Let's use it. Let's just use it. And you know,
that never ran dry. It never ran dry. It would do It would do us good,
and I know that the Lord knows what will do us good, but it
would do us good that everybody, for at least one time, be broke.
That you'd just be flat, be broke, and you'd have to actually depend
on God. You'd actually have to, you and I, you and I would actually
have to pray, give us, Lord, our daily bread. Now that's not hoarding things
up, is it? That's not filling the pantry up for that doomed
day that's coming. Give us, Lord, our daily bread
is for today. I'm not gonna worry about tomorrow,
it may not come. And if it does, God's already
there. God's already there. Waiting
on me, so to speak. But the just shall live by faith.
But now the law, listen, the law, verse 12, the law is not
of faith. The law doesn't require faith.
The law doesn't even mention faith. The law never asks you
to believe God. The law says, do this or you're
going to be condemned. You're going to die. It's either
do or die. That's it. That's it. It has
nothing to do with faith. The law says those who practice
are the ones who live. Those who don't are the ones
who die. See, the law, Paul's saying this, but to these Galatians
and to us, he's saying to us, the law has
nothing to do with faith. It has nothing to do with circumcision
or keeping the ceremonies. The law doesn't recognize that.
It just recognizes obedience. You know, when the police officer
pulls you over for breaking the speed limit, he doesn't say,
do you believe that? Do you believe that speed limit? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that's good? What's it matter what I believe about that speed
limit? The only thing that matters is obedience. That's law for
you. Now that's law. And this is what
Paul is pointing out to them and to us in that day. But he
says here in verse 13, but Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ hath redeemed
us. He has purchased us, listen,
from the curse of the law. The law owned me. The law owned
me. The law had claims on me. If
you go out here and you commit a crime, the law has claim on
you. It's coming after you. It's coming
after you. But Christ has redeemed us from
the curse of the law that was after us. That law that said,
the soul that sinneth shall surely die. He redeemed us, purchased
us from the law, from that curse. Being made a curse for us. Oh, I tell you, the power of
Christ crucified, He was made a curse for us. In other words, He took my curse. He took our curse. For it's written, Cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. And I believe it's saying this,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree for his crime. Not talking about someone innocent
hanging there on a tree, talking about someone who's committed
a crime. That person is cursed under the law. The law's not
gonna say let him go. The law's not gonna say let him
go, I found a ransom. But here's the good news of the
gospel. Jesus Christ has purchased us
from that curse. Now don't go back under it. Run
from it. Run from it as fast as you can
and as far as you can. You run from salvation by works. You flee to Christ, the city
of refuge, who is salvation by grace and all grace. Now he says here in verse 14,
now listen, verse 13, Christ has purchased us from the curse
of the law for this purpose. Here's the purpose of Christ
being crucified, in order that through Christ the blessing of
Abraham might come on us. He purchases from that curse
that the blessing of justification, the blessing of righteousness,
righteousness was imputed to Abraham, it was accounted to
him, that the blessing of righteousness and justification and full salvation
in Christ might come to us Gentiles. For 4,000 years, our ancestors
in the flesh did not have what you and I have. for 4,000 years. There was only one nation. There
was only one nation that had the gospel in type and in picture. There was only one nation that
was fenced in by the law. And this is what he'll talk about
when he says, it was our Tudor. Israel was fenced in by the law
to preserve the truth, the gospel in type and in picture until
the Messiah came, until Christ came. So the purpose of Christ crucified
was to put away this curse that you and I could enjoy the same
blessing that Abraham enjoys right now. Right now. That you
and I could receive the realization of the Spirit, the promise of
the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ. Now Paul's going to give here
a human example. Something we can grasp. and get
a hold of. And he's going to tell us there
in verse 15, he's going to use this covenant, this will and
testament. And he's going to say, he says,
brethren or brothers and sisters, he says, because he's writing
to the whole church, those in Christ. I speak after the manner
of men. I'm going to speak in terms of
the way we deal with one another in this life. Even though our
last will and testament, We know what that is, the last will and
testament. It's a covenant made by a human,
a person. Let's say your parents have made
a last will and testament to you and they've signed it. Nobody,
he says, even a human will in Testament, you know this, and
this is all the way back then, nobody alters it once it's signed,
once it's ratified. Nobody alters it. Nobody in the
family alters it. It's it, that's it. He's saying
that's it. When it's signed, it is legally
binding and nobody can modify it. Nobody can, you know, I got
four sisters and two brothers, and mom and dad made a will.
None of us can open that up and say, I'm gonna change this right
here. No, you can't do it, it's illegal.
It's illegal, it won't stand in court. Now, this is a good point he's
making. The covenant can't be altered,
even a human covenant. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. He's saying here in verse 16,
"...the promises in this covenant which were decreed to Abraham
and his seed." The promises were made, and He
says not, that is God says not, "...and to seeds as of many,
but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ." These promises
which were made to Abraham, and ultimately we know this, we know
that these promises were made to Jesus Christ the
seed, through whom all nations would be blessed, was made to
him in a covenant of grace before the world was." We know that. But here he's saying that these
promises which were made to Abraham and his seed, not only to the
Lord Jesus Christ, but to all who are in Christ. These promises
belong to us in Christ. And this I say, in verse 17,
that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law which was 430 years after, it cannot, listen, this law which
came 430 years after the promise was made, cannot set aside the
promise. It does disannul the promise.
He's speaking here of a covenant, a will and testament that was
made before the law was ever given. Before that law, that
covenant of works was given to Israel, he said there was a covenant
before that. Now in the New Testament, he
calls it the New Covenant. But that covenant was established,
and listen, it was established not on law. It was established
on a promise. It was established on a promise.
You see, that covenant of works that was between God and Israel
was established between God and Israel. We'll see this as we
go along here. It was given in the hands of
a mediator, Moses. It was given to Moses, and then
Moses gave it to the children of Israel. See, God used an intermediary
when he gave the law. When he gave it to the children
of Israel, he used a mediator. It was given to Moses. Moses
gave it to the children of Israel. Now here's the point, now stay
with me. Here's the point. The promise that was given to
Abraham was not given by a mediator. In other words, when God gave
the covenant to Israel, it was a covenant between God and Israel,
and if Israel obeyed, they held up their part, God held up His
part. You had two parties here, and both parties holding up their
part. But when God gave the covenant, this covenant of salvation, this
covenant of grace, when it was given to Abraham, listen, it
was given by promise to God. It had nothing to do with Abraham,
you do this and I'll do this. Remember, God said, you keep
my words and Israel said what? Israel said, we will. They said,
we will do it. Abraham did not say, I will do
it. Abraham said, I believe you. I believe you concerning the
seed and concerning all nations being blessed through his seed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Israel operated under
a covenant of works. And when you read the Old Testament,
they are always being punished, aren't they? You can't read the
Old Testament. I've been reading through it.
Every time you turn around, they're in trouble. Every time you turn
around, they're in trouble. Every time you turn around, thousands
are being killed. I was just reading the other
day where Korah and the sons of Korah, the earth opened up.
Thousands were killed. There's just thousands killed
all the time when you read the Old Testament because of that
covenant of works. God said, I'll bless you. I'll
bless you. You do this and I'll bless you.
You don't do this and I'm going to curse you. And he did. But when he spoke to Abraham,
and this is the beauty of the gospel, it doesn't rest on me. It does not rest on me doing
anything. It's a promise. It's by promise. God said, I
promise, I promise. I'm going to bless all nations
through you, Abraham. I'm going to bless all nations
through your seed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those that are
saved in Christ are blessed with faithful Abraham. They're blessed
with him in Christ. But the blessing is based on
a promise. It's not based on anything we say, do, or think. It's like this. If I say, Doug,
I'll build you a house. If you will do this and do certain
things, I'll build you a house. But now if you don't do that,
then I'm not gonna build you a house. But if I say, Doug,
I promise you, I promise you, I'm gonna build you a house.
It has nothing to do what Doug does. It has nothing in any way,
shape or form, because it's based on my promise. And God keeps
his promise. And God ratified that covenant
with an oath. God's swearing to Abraham, I
will. I give you my word. I will bless
you. I will save you. I will justify
you. I will keep you in your seat,
and your seat will be blessed. You know what Abraham said? Well,
it just says this about Abraham. Abraham believed God. That's
it. That's it. And all of that, all
of that happened 430 years before the law was given. The law wasn't
given till 430 years later. You need to go ahead and read
the rest of this because I'm not touching on every verse, but
the law wasn't given till 430 years later. And that law that
was given 430 years later does not, it does not invalidate the
covenant of promise. All it did, now let me get back,
let me find my place here, I want to show you something before
I quit. In verse 18, for if the inheritance
be of the law, well then it's no more of promise, it's not
by promise, it's either one or the other, it can't be both and
it's not a mixture of both, it can't be. But God gave it to
Abraham by promise. Why then was the law given? Why? It was added. You see, it
doesn't replace. There's a big difference. It
doesn't say that the law replaced the promise. It was added because
of transgressions that you and I might understand what sin it
really is. Paul said, I had not known covetousness
that it was sin, unless the law said, Thou shalt not come. I
wouldn't have known that. The law was given to reveal sin,
to convict us of sin. That's why it was given. It was added because of the sinfulness
of men till the seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, should come to
whom the promise was made. You see, that promise was made
actually to Christ before the world began. It was actually
made to him. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a... I've
already mentioned this. It's not a mediator of one, but
God's one. Is the law against the promises
of God? Does it stand in opposition to
God? He says not at all. Not at all. Because if life could
have been by any law that God had given, He would have given
that law. But God did not, now listen, God did not give the
law for anybody on this earth to seek salvation by. He gave
it to reveal sin. You say, the Ten Commandments
are our rule of life. Well, you're going to hell if
that's so. If the Ten Commandments is your rule of life, you're
going to perish. Because you're not breaking soon
as we get up in the morning. If there'd been a law that could
have given us life, then righteousness would have been by the law. But
the scripture has concluded all under sin. The scripture says,
and the scripture here may mean the law, the writing, you know,
the law written on the tablets, or it may mean the whole word
of God. But I tell you this, the whole word of God concludes
everybody's a sinner. None good, no, not one. Is that
what it says? You say, well, I am. Well, you're an oddball
out because Scripture says you're not. The Scripture has concluded
all, every human being on this earth under sin for this reason,
that the promise by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ might be
given to them that believe. That the promise of justification,
righteousness, salvation might be given to them that believe,
no matter whether you're a Jew or Gentile. But before faith came, now you
can write over this, I've got it written over in two places,
in verse 23 and verse 25. But before Christ came, before
Jesus Christ came, we were kept under the law. We were fenced
in by the law. Shut up unto faith, which should
afterwards be revealed. But we were, the Jewish nation,
The Jewish nation was kept under law. They were fenced in by this
law of types and ceremonies. The moral law of truth. They were fenced in by it. No
other nation had this. But all this, the ceremonies,
the types, the pictures, they all pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But they were kept and guided by that until Jesus Christ
came, until faith came. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster."
Paul's saying that the law that was given to the Jewish nation,
it was a schoolmaster to them. It instructed them, it guided
them. In other words, they could not
go outside. They couldn't mingle with other nations. This law,
listen, this law that was given to them kept them from idolatry. Of course, You know, in different
times, they did fall into idolatry, but the law kept bringing them
back. God would chase them and kill them and bring them back
in the line. But this law kept them fenced
in until Christ came. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. One day, listen, they was offered
no sacrifices, I hope you're getting this, because it was
a blessing to me. One day they were offering the sacrifices,
the Passover, and they were doing all this, and all of a sudden,
all of a sudden, the Lamb of God walked into town. The one
that the pictures and the types of ceremonies, all that was pointing
to, finally he came. There he is. Now we don't need
the schoolmaster no more. We have the master. we have the
Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that Christ has come,
after that faith has come, that's Christ, after Christ has come,
we are no longer under the schoolmaster, we don't need it no longer, it's
fulfilled. He fulfilled the righteousness of the law, the demands of the
law were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. And because of that, you are
all now the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It doesn't
matter if you were Jew, Gentile, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, you're a child of God. And it's not by any law, it's
by faith in Christ. For as many of you as have been
baptized, this is a spiritual union speaking of into the Lord
Jesus Christ, you have put on Christ. You are conformed to
the image of Christ. The law does not conform you
to the image of Christ, but the grace of God by the Spirit of
God conforms you to the image of Christ. In love, joy, it's
not talking about outward appearance, it's talking about that inward
character. Now in Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male or female. Here's what it's saying, just
to simplify this, all distinction is gone. All distinction is gone. For ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. Whether you're a male or female,
whether you're bond or free, you're all one, you're equal.
You're equal in Christ. And if you are Jesus Christ,
if you belong to Him, then are you Abraham's seed. You're the
true seed of Abraham. It's not that whole Arab world
over there, nor all the Jews who came out
of Abraham, and those who came out of Esau. That's not the descendants
of Abraham. I mean, they're officially descendants,
but they're not the spiritual descendants. You are. You are. We are the true circumcision,
which worship God in spirit and have no confidence in the flesh.
We are the sons of God. And if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise, not
according to any law that was ever written down for you to
obey. Isn't that good news? I'm telling
you, if salvation were by A law that said if you can run so fast
from point A to point B, then you can have all the blessings.
Well, what if you can't run? But I tell you what, there ain't
a person on this earth, by the grace of God, that can't believe. I can't run faster than you.
I may not be able to do this or that. You may not be able
to do this or that. But by the grace of God, we can believe
God. It doesn't matter if you're laying flat on your back, crippled,
never been out of the bed, bed fast. But doesn't that put us
on equal footing? You don't measure bed fast, you're
the healthiest person in the world. If by His grace you can
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, all the promises of the covenant
of grace belong to you. All right.