with you if you will turn with
us to the New Testament book called Galatians, the book of Galatians. Now, I hope I can read all of
chapter 3 in the book of Galatians. Perhaps this book of Scripture,
above all the others in the New Testament, speaks to the circumstances
of our day from beginning to end, and the third chapter is
certainly not any behind the other chapters in this book. Galatia is a province, not a
city. Therefore, it is addressed to
the churches of Galatia. How many there were in all, nobody
knows. But Paul makes it plain that
this is who it is to whom this letter is sent. Now the problem in the churches
of Galatia is that certain Jews from Jerusalem have come to these
congregations under ulterior motives to tell these
believers in these churches in Galatia that they must not only
trust Christ and serve Christ, but they must also acknowledge
Moses and allow the men to allow themselves to be circumcised.
And this whole letter tells them That one act of circumcision
or any other deed that you must do or whatever difficulty you
must overcome, anytime there is an if put on salvation by
Christ alone, then we have a mixture that is deadly to the soul. And
that is what Paul is writing about in this book. I would venture
to say Of all the churches that I have any personal knowledge
of, the problem in those congregations could be met in this one book
of scripture. But if it's like it was when
Betty and I went to our home church in 2006 for that big 250th anniversary
celebration, Lord, if I'd have known what they wanted me there
for, I'd have never went. Rivenbarks down there, this is
lower Sampson County, Rivenbarks down there are thick as fleas.
But I know something they didn't know. They're stingier than anybody
else I know. So they didn't make a bunch of
money. The church may seat about as many as this one. This whole
left side was full of nothing but low-down Rivenbarks. And over here, Maybe 15 people
all together. Nobody had a Bible. There was
a little thing that came down out of the ceiling. There was
a screen coming down behind me, and there's your responsive reading. That's it, you know. That's poor
religion. Poor religion. They had time for everything
except the preaching of the gospel. I stepped in that pulpit at fourteen
minutes until twelve o'clock. And about five after, after I
noticed a bunch of people getting up and leaving, I just stopped
and said to the pastor who was sitting right where Johnny Tindall
is sitting right now, I said, Brother Pastor, I said, at home
I get more time than this to preach. I knew what he was going
to say. He couldn't say anything else. He said, take all the time
you want. So I finished up about 1225. Galatians 3. O foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has evidently been set forth crucified among
you. Paul himself carried the gospel
to these people. This only would I learn of you. Did you receive the Spirit by
the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? It cannot be
by both. Each one is mutually exclusive
of the other. Are you so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things
in vain, if it be yet or still in vain? He therefore that ministers
to you, these people that have come to you claiming to preach
Christ and work miracles among you, Just like the ones on your television
that are fake, but it looks real. Did they do this by the works
of the law or by the hearing of faith? Even so, Abraham believed
God and it was accounted, that word is also imputed, unto him
for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham? And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen, namely people like us, the Gentiles,
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In you shall all nations be blessed. This was before there was ever
any such thing as the Ten Commandments. So then, they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham, with believing Abraham. For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." If
you think there's one thing we have to do in order for God to
save us, we are cursed. Cursed. Ah, but preacher, we
have to bring faith. Ah, but dog, if that's so, faith
has to bring us. And it doesn't come from us.
Christ is both the author and finisher of faith. Verse 10, For as many as are
of the works of the law are what? Under the curse. What curse? The curse of God.
Eternal damnation. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continues 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,
or the righteous, shall live by faith, and the law is not
of faith. But the man that does them, that
is, the requirements of the law, shall live in them, and since
he cannot keep let alone the Ten Commandments, we can't keep
one of them. Therefore, this phrase at the
end of verse 12 would be altered to read, The man that does them
not shall die in them. This is serious business. This
is the difference between life and death. And I'm not talking
about this life. I'm not talking about the physical
life. I'm talking about the life of our soul, spiritual life.
Verse 13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Now, if you truly understand
what the law is and what it does, and how impossible it is for
us to keep it, then this statement should indeed thrill you to death. Christ has. He's not done His
part, now waiting on you to do your part. You don't have a part.
I know you've heard it said that if you will take the first step,
God will take the second one. And if that's true, let's just
go play golf or go fishing. Because there ain't no hope for
any of us. But that's not true. It is not true. I don't care
how many preachers say it. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangs 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.
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's
covenant. Yet if it be confirmed, no man
disannulls or adds thereto." I'd like to add a footnote to
that. There are plenty of people who've left wills, and those
wills have not been carried out because of some family feud or
greed on the part of some, and they don't like the conditions.
Not this covenant. Not this one. As a matter of
fact, I'm thinking about putting one more line on our wills, I
don't know what Betty will do, but I know what I want to do.
If you object to the terms of this will, you are hereby excluded. If the person dying wishes to
convey what is theirs to someone else, who are we to tell them
what they can do and cannot do? And this is doubly true in regard
to this matter in this chapter that is before us. Though it be, verse 15, but a
man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, if it is duly notarized
and recorded, no man disannuls or adds thereto. Whatever it
is, it is. and it cannot be altered. Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. Do you believe
in the verbal inspiration of the Bible? Do you believe every word in this
book is the one that is supposed to be here? It goes further than that. In
this verse, It even requires a word to be singular or to be
plural, one or the other. And it's the word seed, S-E-E-D. So let's read it like it's written,
and this is the correct way. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He said not, and to seeds as
of many, But as of one, you mean Abraham has only one descendant? No. Listen, we're not talking
about his physical, how many cows and sheep and all that kind
of stuff he had. That's immaterial. We're talking
about the souls of men. That seed? is only one, and the last phrase
of verse 16 says, and to your seed which is Christ. Christ is Abraham's seed. I think it is in John 12. John
informs us that Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced. And I know
where he was when he saw it. He might have seen it more than
once, but I know where he saw it one time. It was on Mount
Moriah when he was about to put the knife in his only son and
sacrifice him as an offering to God, believing God would raise
him from the dead. But instead, the angel restrained
his hand, and there caught in the thicket was a ram, and that
ram was sacrificed. Abraham named that place Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide himself
a sacrifice. And lo and behold, he has. Christ
is that one sacrifice. Verse 17. In this I say that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, that
is, in regard to Abraham and in Christ, the law which came
430 years later, the law cannot change
the first covenant, the first testament, the first will. That
it should make the promise of non-effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to
Abraham by promise. What purpose then, wherefore,
what purpose then serves the law? How come we've got the law? It was added because of transgressions
till the seed without an S, the seed should come to whom the
promise was made, And it was ordained by angels in the hands
of a Mediator. And that Mediator is the one
Mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now a
Mediator is not a Mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law
then against the promises of God? God forbid! Now listen, there's nothing wrong
with the Ten Commandments. They perfectly declare to us
the mind and purpose of God. But look at this statement. For if there had been a law given
which could have given life, eternal life, spiritual life,
verily, amen, righteousness should have been by the law.
But the scripture has concluded, verse 22, all understand that
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. Everyone who is in Christ is
made a believer by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit. But, verse 23, before faith came,
we were kept under the law. Before faith came, we were kept
under the law. Shut up unto the faith which
should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster
And I leave out the italicized words to bring us. It doesn't
bring us. The law does not bring us to
Christ. God the Holy Spirit brings us
to Christ. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. What does the word schoolmaster
mean then? It's not teacher. It is the truant
officer that enforced attendance. You remember that coming up?
If you didn't show up at school, somebody was going to get in
touch with your parents or somebody to find out where you are. I
don't know that that's still done very successfully anymore. But this word, schoolmaster,
is to make sure that we enroll in the school of Christ, which
is the school of grace, which is undeserved mercies, unearned
blessings received from Him. Let's read it again. Wherefore,
the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ, that we might be
justified by faith. But after that faith is come,
we are no longer under a schoolmaster. What does that mean? Believers
are not under the law. Christ has honored that law infinitely,
infinitely more than all believers put together could ever do. After that faith is come, we
are no longer under a schoolmaster. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ, and this is not physical baptism, this
is baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ. It is a spiritual
baptism. As many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise that
God made to Abraham. A promise that Abraham believed
God is able to keep. Alright, goodness me, I've already
put myself in a bind. I don't have time to go into
all the details about what I'm about to say. I hope you can
grasp what I'm saying from a very few words. Whatever God requires of us, He must, in grace and mercy in
Christ, give us, or we ain't never ever, I know there's some
double negatives back to back, we ain't never ever going to
have them. God is the giver, and the poor
sinner is the receiver. And Christ is the one through
whom these blessings flow. God gives what He requires. And I'm about to tell you some
things that God requires. And if God requires it, and if
God in Christ performs it, then He absolutely certainly will
accept it. And we'll be on good standing
with God. Even though we're still poor
sinners. Here's the first thing. You can
find these words in, I'm not going to ask you to turn, in
John 3.7. Our Lord speaking to Nicodemus said, Nicodemus, you
must be born again. We must be born spiritually similar
to what we were born physically. But this is a spiritual work. It is the work of God the Holy
Spirit. Here's a sign that was not far
from here some time ago. It said, unhappy? Start over. Be born again. I mean, you birthed yourself
the first time, didn't you? No, indeed. And neither can we
do it the second time spiritually. This is the operation of God
in the soul. Billy Graham wrote a book, How
to Be Born Again. That is the dumbest book ever
published. It's pure idiocy. The first thing that God requires
of you and me is to be born again. If you'll read carefully the
material of this book, the Bible, and find you a preacher somewhere
that's got enough backbone to tell you the truth, God will
show you how this comes about. I pray it might be yours if it
isn't. The second thing that we must
do, God requires this of us, and God gives this to us. The
Bible speaks of repentance and faith. We must repent and we
must believe. Both of these things are beyond
our ability to carry out. I'll show you that real quickly. Let's go back to our left to
the book of Acts. the Acts of the Apostles to chapter
13, and I'm going to read you, I think, three verses out of
two places in this chapter. The first one is in Acts 13, 38 and 39. Now listen,
we're talking about repentance and faith. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, this God-man, Christ
Jesus, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." Alright,
next verse 39. Here's the dynamite. And by Him,
by Christ, all that believe. Now why doesn't it say, all that
believe? By Him. It puts the emphasis
on Christ and not on ourselves. By Him, by Christ, all that believe. Who believes? All that Christ
gives the gift of faith to. I wished I had 15 minutes on
this one thing. All that believe are justified
from all things. from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. One more verse, Acts 13. Let's
jump all the way over to verse 48. Paul has been preaching in
this town or city, and he's encountered quite a bit of resistance. And
so the Jews began to boycott. He first starts out by going
to the synagogue, And if they give him the invitation, he'll
preach. He reads Scripture and preaches. The only Scripture
they had, you know, was the Old Testament at that time. So in this particular case, the
Jews have got everybody that is anybody in that city to protest
against Paul and Barnabas. So we get to verse 48. Listen carefully, please. And when the Gentiles heard this,
that Paul was turning from the Jews to the Gentiles, they were
glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And then this phrase. as were ordained to eternal life,
did what? Believed. You mean to tell me that these
people that believe the gospel, who follow Christ, are people
that God knew in old eternity and gave all those people to
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come and redeem us? Yes, indeed,
I do. That's called the everlasting
covenant, the covenant of grace. The same one that David referred
to on his dying bed. Although it be not so with my
house, yet God has made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things. And sure, this is all my salvation
and all my desire, even though God make it not to grow. As many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Third thing, the Bible tells
us that we are to seek the Lord while he may be found. But the same Bible tells us in
several places, hey, we might catch one or two of them. Let's
see. Oh, I lost my train of thought. That's terrible. Oh, I got it
back. I saw it here on my paper. Excuse
me. Romans, just to your right. One book. Just one book. Romans
chapter 10. If all you people get those electronic
things, you could just keep up, you know, with no sweat. Romans chapter 10. Verse 20. Now, Romans 10 is gospel
from one end to the other. I can't tell you when I first
discovered this in my Bible, but if you had told me it was
in here, I wouldn't have believed you. My old religion didn't like these
things, and therefore we never talked about them, we never read
them, we never preached them, nor believed them. Verse 20, Romans 10, but Isaiah,
I just keep the Old Testament spelling and let people pronounce
this however they want to. I just think if you know Isaiah
from the Old Testament, you'll recognize his name in the New
if I use it. Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that ask not after me." Who is this talking? It is the Lord
Jesus. Now there is a problem. There
is another verse in one of the Gospels that says, we are to
seek the Lord while he may be found, and then some without
that little provision, but here's the secret. Here's the secret.
How do you reconcile these two? How do you reconcile them? Alright,
let me get this right. You'll have to trust me on this
one. You can look it up, whatever you want to. 1 John 4.19 says,
we love him, that is, we love God. Why? This is the next word
now, because he did something. What did he do? Because he first
loved us. We are the ones who react. The triune God is the one that
acts. You understand? This statement
in 1 John 4.19, we love him because he first loved us, is a fundamental
principle when understanding the gospel, so that it teaches
us this purpose in regard to Romans 10, verse 20, where the
Lord purely says that He must seek us and we don't seek Him.
If He doesn't do this, we never will seek Him. But His seeking
and coming to us in grace is so powerful that it's irresistible. It cannot be resisted. If that
is not true, that God's grace is irresistible grace, then how
are you going to explain all these people that are supposed
to be in heaven and they ain't there? Well, the gospel couldn't convince
them. I almost said a dirty word. That's utter blasphemy to say
that God cannot cause a sinner to will to come to Him. Our will
is not free, though most people and preachers say it is. Our
will is directly tied to our own nature, which is a sinner
from head to foot. And therefore, that will will
not bring us to God or to Christ. It must be the doing of God alone.
But I'm telling you, He does it without breaking his stride. There's nothing he can't do. Then there's this matter of holiness. I should have told you to mark
Galatians, but I'm going to go back there anyway, whether you're
there or not. It's alright if you're not. The fourth thing
that we must do that God requires of us and God in Christ gives
us by His grace. We must be holy. How holy? As holy as God. Anything less than that is not
holiness. Verses 10 through 12 in Galatians
3 gives us this in a most direct fashion. For as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone that continues 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 or
the righteous shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that does them tries to keep the law to please God
for His acceptance. He shall die in that attempt. Verse 13, here it is, Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law. If you're in Christ,
if I'm in Him, you can't change what God has
done in Christ. and in grace. It is unalterable. It cannot even be changed. Not
one single iota. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangs on a tree. Now, I need your memory to work
on it. This one is partly referring
to what we just read in Galatians, but there's a more powerful illustration
of it in the Gospel accounts. The fifth thing is this. We must
perfectly obey the law. We must do it through our substitute,
but it must be done. God's law must be honored because
it is a representation of Himself. There's a fellow in the Gospel
accounts, you can find this in Luke chapter 10, he's a, it's called a lawyer if I remember
right in that one, it might be a different Gospel that has the
lawyer, but the word lawyer there is not lawyer in the normal sense
of the word that we use it in our day. Of course, I know a
lot of lawyers that I think are probably lower down than this
fellow, but that's neither here nor there. But this man is a
lawyer in his knowledge of the Old Testament. I mean, they could
tell you the shortest verse, the longest verse, the verse
that's dead center in the middle of the Old Testament. All such
stuff is this. which is totally worthless and useless. But this
man is intent to, it says that he came to Christ to tempt Him. That is, to embarrass Him, to
cause Him to look bad in the eyes of people that were witnessing
this scene. And so he said, Good Master,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? Now there's a deadly word
in that sentence, in that statement, in that question. It's the word
do. And that's the poison in today's
religion. If the preacher tells you that
you have to do something in order for God to do something for you,
he ain't getting that out of this book. No, he's not. He's preaching it straight out
of hell. That's all it is. That's all it is. So this man
said, Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life. What does the law of God require
of me? Now remember, our premise is
that God must give what He requires. And in Christ, His blessed Son,
He has certainly done that. So, our Lord says to this man, how do you
read the law? He said, you must love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all
your soul, with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
And the Lord said, you have answered rightly. You've answered rightly. But the man wasn't content to
leave it there. And he dared not touch the first
half of that statement. But the one about loving his
neighbor, he said, well, I'm just paraphrasing now, he said,
well, who is my neighbor? Like that's hard to figure out. And our Lord turned and gave
him the parable of the Good Samaritan. And by the way, the Good Samaritan
is Christ. You must perfectly obey the law
in your Redeemer, in your Substitute, in your Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let me give you an illustration
on what it means to love your neighbor. I mean, if you expect
him to get rewarded of God, how well do you have to love your
neighbor? Here it is. In a church in Tennessee some
years ago, on a Saturday night, A teenage boy had gotten permission
to drive his mother's car, and two or three hours later, she
got a call from the hospital asking her to come there and
to identify this body that they perhaps might be her son. And all the way there, she kept
saying, Lord, please don't let this be my boy. And over and over and over again,
she made the same request. And she saw her pastor at the
hospital. And the first words out of her mouth was, how could
she be so selfish? If it's not her son, it's some
other mother's son. Now, if I ain't mistaken, that's
called grace. Grace. I'm just going to give you these
things and not deal with them this morning. The sixth thing
is you must perfectly satisfy divine justice. And I'm here
to tell you, only Christ and His blood can do that. You must also have a perfect
righteousness before God. If we are to have
that, Christ must give us that, and He does. There are like seven
or eight places in the Old Testament where you have words that begin
with Jehovah and a hyphen. And one of these words is found
in Oh my goodness, my brain is gone. Jeremiah 23.6, which these
hyphenated words are titles of Christ. And this one is perfect
for what we're looking at, a perfect righteousness. It is Jehovah
Sid Canoe. T-S-I-D-K-E-N-U, which means,
The Lord My Righteousness. Christ, Our Righteousness. And then in chapter 33 of Jeremiah,
in verse 16, and it changes just one little word. It says, She
shall be called Jehovah, Our Righteousness. You know what
that is? That's the body, the bride, the
church of the Lord Jesus. If that's His name, and I'm in
Him, that's my name. Well, that's enough.