Brethren, if you will, open to
Galatians chapter 3. It hasn't happened yet, but in
the next year or 10 years or 20 years, I'll get the question,
does that man want to stand up in front of them people and tell
them again that all of creation, all mankind is dead spiritually
and that Christ is all? I hope so. That's my hope. That's our hope. It's the only
hope we have. It's heavy on my heart this week
as I study this message that could be the first time someone's
ever heard this. Could very well be the last time
someone hears this. Could be the last opportunity
I get to preach this. So that message doesn't change.
What's needful doesn't change, does it? Let's look here in Galatians
chapter 3, beginning in verse 10. Galatians 3 verse 10, 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, this is
evident. It 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 blessings
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
In this text, there's three points that I have, three divisions.
The fact that men and women born through Adam's flesh are cursed
is not a light matter. Something to be taken seriously.
The fact that Christ redeemed a people completely, totally,
and forever is not a light matter. We're to take that seriously.
And the fact that through Christ becoming a curse for his people,
He gives us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We're blessed,
aren't we? That is not a light matter. We
should take that seriously. The first thing we'll look at
is that all are cursed. Galatians 3.10 says, for as many
as are of, that they are from, that's where they reside, of. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. If you're coming from that law,
if you're looking to that law, we're under the curse, the curse
of the law. 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. What does that mean? If a person looks to the law
of God for redemption, they are indebted to keep the whole law
and they're cursed. If they look to the law of God
for justification, they're indebted to keep the whole law and we're
cursed. If a person looks to the law
for sanctification or perseverance, being kept, they're indebted
to the whole law. They have to keep the whole thing
and they'll be cursed. Turn over to James chapter 2. James chapter 2 and verse 8. If ye fulfill the royal law according
to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,
ye do well. That's what we're supposed to
do, isn't it? But if ye have respect to persons,
ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all. If we return to those mountains
where God's law came from. We're responsible to perform
the whole law perfectly. And that's from conception, throughout
our whole life, our entire lives, and in death. The whole time
we have to stand in perfection in His law. What are those laws? Is that the Ten Commandments?
Yes. That's also all the Levitical laws. There are 613 Levitical
laws. And all the precepts in the New
Testament are required to keep all of it. And we can't be conceived
in sin. We cannot have Adam as our father. David wrote, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. To be perfect
in the eyes of Almighty God, we can't have Adam as our father. I was in a biology class, and
there's a type of DNA in the mitochondria of a cell, the power
plant of a cell. These younger folks may remember
better, but there's a type of DNA in there that's only from
the mother. In all people, it comes from
your mom, and they traced it back to one woman. Imagine that.
And a guy asked me, the teacher said, why do you all think that
everybody on earth has this DNA inside this little tiny cell
in every cell in our body that's only from the woman, from the
mother? Why is that? And I just blurted
it out. I said, what? That way Christ
could be born of a virgin. He'd be fully man and still fully
God. And I, I didn't go over too well in that class from now
on. They didn't ask me to leave, but it was close. That's how
he was born perfect of a virgin and still be totally man, but
still be totally God. We don't have that. Our father's
not. is a flesh and blood. It's not
a miraculous conception. I was conceived by a man. But
if someone turns away from Christ and to the law, they not only
have to obey all of it, but they have to agree with it. I've done
some things in my jobs in the past. I've completed them. I
completed the task the way that I was asked to do it, but I didn't
agree with it. I didn't want to do it. things working on a
vehicle or something. I don't think that's what should
be done, but that's what the law said it had to be. So I had
to put a catalytic converter on or something like that. I
didn't agree with it. Deuteronomy 27, 26 says, Cursed be he that
confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. We have
to not only do it, we have to agree with it and say it's right.
Thanks be to God. In that verse it ends with, And
the people shall say, Amen. Does it seem that according to
Holy Scriptures that man is in need? Can I satisfy God with what I
do? No. I'm in need of saving and
someone must do it for me. Back in our text or in Galatians
3 verse 11, that no man is justified by the
law on the side of God It is evident. It's plain. That's clear. We can't keep this law. For the
just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. How can we have
hope? If we can't obey this law in
utter perfection, I'll die. I'll die in judgment for eternity.
I have a debt of sin I cannot pay. Persons truly made to see
that the Holy Spirit's working in them to show them that what
hope will they have? Psalm 130 says if thou Lord should
smarkest iniquity. Oh Lord who shall stand? That's
the first thing we're brought to see in verse 4 says but there
is forgiveness with thee Why for what purpose he says that
thou mayest be feared that Lord may be honored Lord's merciful
and he's honored by keeping his justness and justifying. He's the just and the justifier
for his namesake. I want to hear more about that.
I want to know, I want to know how that works. How can, how
can I be made just? How can I be reconciled to God?
How can I be allowed to enter into his presence? I know it's
clear. I can't do it. Paul comforts our brethren here
in Galatia. by preaching Christ to them. He tells them what sinners
are. We're guilty. We're cursed under
the law. He tells us what Christ did and
he tells us how effectual that was, how well he got the job
done. There in Galatians 3.13, we're all cursed, but God elects,
his elect people are redeemed. Galatians 3.13, 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. Christ
redeemed us. He saved us. He converted us. He liberated us. He did, not
man and not the law. Christ did it. Christ did it
through fulfilling that law, didn't he? The purpose of the
law is not to show us what we need to do. It's not to give
us good guidelines to live the best life or whatever the teenagers
are saying nowadays. It is to show us what sin is.
It's a mirror. When we stand and we look at
those laws, I say, I can't do that. I can't complete it. I can't fulfill it. Someone has
to do it for me. It not only shows what I can't
do, it shows me what Christ did do. gives me a glimpse at that
majesty. As Bob said this morning, that
veil is lifted back just a little bit. We see him in part, don't
we? We see through a glass dimly.
We get to see an idea, a glimpse of what he accomplished. Paul wrote, therefore by the
deeds of law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. It just shows us what we are.
That's how we know We are in an eternal mess. We are helpless. That mirror shows us that. Someone
wrote this, four things about the giving of just the Ten Commandments.
That seems to be a focus in my generation, the Ten Commandments,
when people think of the law. Four points. One, the law was
given in stone. It was unbending, unchanging. There was no yielding in it. It couldn't be bent. It cannot
be changed. Secondly, the law was given by
the hand of God. He inscribed it. He chiseled
it out on that stone with his finger, didn't he? To show us
that God is the one that required it and he's the one that will
enforce it. And that man has no part in it.
Man didn't make the rock. Man didn't chisel it into it.
The Lord did, didn't he? And he's the one to keep it.
The law came in the presence of God. There was lightning,
smoke of the mountain, thunder, blast of a trumpet. And that's
to crush any sense of self-righteousness or false claims. The holiness
of God will expose any pretender. Fourthly, the law of God was
given through a mediator. It was given through Moses. To
show us that the law itself provided no way to approach God except
through a mediator. Israel asked Moses and said,
we can't talk to God. You go talk to him for us. And
then after you talk to him, you come back and tell us what he
said. We need somebody in between us and God, don't we? The law cannot bless. It can
only curse. The law can't forgive. It can
only condemn. And the law cannot cleanse. It
can only reveal sin. But thankfully, Thankfully, Christ
fulfilled the law for us, didn't he? Mark read this morning out
of Matthew 5, Thank not that I am come to destroy the law
or the prophets. He didn't come to abolish it
or get rid of it. Christ said, I am not come to destroy but
to fulfill. He came to fulfill them. Turn
to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42 verse 21 says the Lord God the Father,
capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, the Lord is well
pleased for His righteousness sake. What's His righteousness
sake? Who's our righteousness? Christ
is, isn't He? What's His namesake? We saw it in Samuel and one other
place. Christ is His namesake, isn't
He? The Father is well pleased for His righteousness sake. He
will magnify the law and make it honorable. Christ will magnify
this law and make this law honorable to us. Knowing that those that Christ
died for aren't under the law, do we ignore it? If I know that
the Lord made this law honorable and He magnified this law Himself
and that I'm dead to the law, Because He took that curse from
me. He became that curse. Do I ignore it? Do I just go
out and rob banks and do anything I feel like? God forbid. Do we sin more that grace may
abound more? God forbid. Paul was clear on
that, wasn't he? What does a new man want? That
new man, that new life He's given in me. I want to be made like
Christ. Do you? That's what we will be.
I want to be conformed to His image. made holy. I want to be able to worship
Him in pureness and truth as He deserves to be worshipped.
And I want to be without sin. I can't imagine that. We just
talked another night. There'll come a day I won't have
sin. I can't even grasp that. That's because it's woven throughout
me. That's who I am, isn't it? Do you feel that way about the
Lord's law? Do you ignore it or do you find it gracious and
wonderful. David wrote in the Psalms, Make
me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. He
delighted in the commandments. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is
the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his
commandments. Those that delight in the commandments
are blessed. In another place he said, The
law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and
silver. So there's a curse and there's
a delight. Paul talks about that law being
a curse to us. We're under that law and we're
cursed. David says that he delights in the law. Is that contradictory?
Does that not go together? Paul wrote this in Romans 7 concerning
his old man and that new man in him fighting, warring against
each other. He said, But I see another law
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So when So then with the mind
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. There's a battle going on. There's
a part of me, and I can't understand how that's the same consciousness.
The same one that hears a wonderful message, hear Christ exalted,
that's still me. And I'm like, oh boy, that's
wonderful. Someday I'll get to be with him.
And then ten minutes later, I'll be in the deepest mirey pit,
I'll dive head first in that cesspool of sin, and that's still
me. How are we woven together like
that, that new man and old man? Some people disagree with that.
And our brother Chris Cunningham said, nobody believes that there's
two natures in a man until they have two natures. And I thought
that's a pretty good explanation, isn't it? And a war happens all
the time. You go to sleep, there's a war
going on. You go to eat dinner, there's a war. 24-7 until that
war is over. It never leaves us. But we see that Christ fulfilled
that law, but how has he made a curse for us? How did he become
that? Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. 2 Corinthians 5 and 19. It says,
"...to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation." He gave that to Paul and those
apostles. When we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's
stead, be reconciled to God. This word of reconciliation,
being reconciled to God, how did that happen? For what cause
did that happen? Verse 21, for, because, he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Our Savior was made sin
that I might be made righteous. How are we made righteous? Did
we do it? No. Christ did it, didn't He?
He just said so. How are we made holy? Perfect. How is a new nature
put in us? Is that something we do? No.
Christ gives it to us, doesn't He? Who gets the glory for that? Will man be lifted up in heaven
because he chose Jesus? Because Christ did most of the
work and then man retched a little higher on his accomplishments. If you sent one of your children
to die for another person, especially someone that did not deserve
it, beyond deserving, would you be happy about that person bragging
how well they did and what they deserved and all that? Of course
not, would you? We can think through those easy
things and understand it. Neither will the Holy Trinity.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit will
not share glory with anybody. Turn over to Revelation chapter
5. Revelation 5 and verse 9. And they, that's the saints in
heaven, and they sung a new song saying thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and
has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and
tongue and people and nation. We deserved an eternity damnation. We were cursed. We had a debt
we could never repay. Christ took that wrath for each
child that was given to Him. For everyone of God's elect,
everyone put in Christ's hands, He took that wrath of all the
sins of that person and swallowed it. He consumed it. He bore that
punishment for us. We were at war with God. Our
hearts were enmity. It was hatred against God. And Christ reconciled us to the
Father. Turn over Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14. Ephesians 2.14 says, For he is
our peace who hath made both one and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us, between man and God. having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
and ordinances. For to make in himself of twain
one new man, so making peace, and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. Once the Lord makes us see that,
once He shows us that on that cross He slain the entity, He
killed that hatred that was in me, we praise Him alone, don't
we? I had no part in that. I'm the benefactor. I just showed
up and received the benefit. Once the Lord makes us understand
what Christ achieved, what do we tell men and women? Do we
tell them they need something to do? complete these actions. You have to go back to this law.
You have to tithe. You have to baptize. You have
to do this. You have to do that. You have to get 10 people to
church once a month. Now, of course we don't, do we? Look
over in Jeremiah 33. I'll make you turn a little bit
today. It's good to read it. Jeremiah 33. Verse 6, Behold, I will bring
it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto
them the abundance of peace and truth, and I will cause the captivity
of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build
them as at the first. And I will cleanse them from
all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and I
will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned. and
whereby they have transgressed against me." You see there, it's
not the law that we're transgressing. It's God's law. He says, you've
transgressed against me. You've sinned against me. It's
against His person, isn't it? Jeremiah 33, verse 9. And it
shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before
all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good
that I do unto them." They're going to hear the good that the
Lord did for us. And they shall fear and tremble for all the
goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it. Did Judah and Israel do that?
Did they procure that blessing to themselves? They stand up
and take what was offered? No, the Lord gave it to them.
They received it because he put it in them. We tell people what
the Lord's done for us. We are witnesses. You know how
you witness? It's not going out and riding
a bicycle and knocking on people's doors. If I saw a car wreck and
the police came, I would tell the police officer what I saw.
I would be a witness. And if I went to court, I'd be
a witness. I would just tell what I saw. What do we do for
Christ? What do we do for this gospel? We tell what we've seen. We tell what we've experienced.
As he told John the Baptist disciples, go tell what you hear and see.
Go tell him. That's all we do. We just tell
the truth of something we've experienced, haven't we? We were
cursed. Christ redeemed us. He became
a curse for us. And that's blessed. We are blessed
as a result. God's elect are blessed. There
in Galatians 3.14, it says that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Paul includes himself
with those Gentiles, don't he? There's no difference. He's just
a child of God. That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Redemption involves more than
just taking away the curse, making it possible for blessings to
come. Redemption brings the blessings with it, the blessings of Abraham. What were those blessings of
Abraham he was talking about? It's twofold. Paul was referring
to Genesis 15 when it says, And he brought him forth abroad and
said, Look now towards heaven and tell the stars if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. God told Abraham, said, look
up at that night sky. You see all them stars? That's
how great your seed's going to be. How many spiritual children
you're going to have. Genesis 15, 6, and he believed
the Lord. First off, he believed the Lord.
Secondly, and he counted it to him for righteousness. Abraham
was made to believe God, and because of that, because the
Lord made him believe Him, He made Him righteous because of
it. We know we're cursed. We see that through that law.
We see Christ redeemed for us. And through that, He has given
us life. He has given us the faith, His
faith, to believe God. And we are made righteous. Christ
made me to believe God. And the Lord said, He's righteous.
Do you believe God? If you do, if you believe Him,
you're righteous in His eyes, as you are. When you believe
God, when He said that we are cursed by His holy law, when
we believed Him, when Christ said it is finished, it's completed. And when we believe Him, when
He says you're righteous, that's when we're made righteous. He
gives us those things, don't He? Believe on Him today and
you won't be ashamed. You won't be embarrassed. You
won't be let down. And you will not perish. He shows mercy to
those who come begging for it, don't they? To those that believe
Him. And if you are His, He'll make you believe. He'll give
you the belief and He'll give you the righteousness that comes
with it. I pray we can look to Him. If
you haven't looked to Him before, look to Him today. If you've
looked to Him for a long time, Look to Christ. The message doesn't
change, does it? I'm in need of a place to look.
I'm in need. I need to look for help. And
He's the only help I have. So, I pray the Lord keeps us.
Let's pray together. Father, thank You again today
for Your Word. Remind us often, Lord, what need
we have, how cursed we were. Remind us how filthy our natures
are. And often, Lord, turn us to Christ. Remind us of His majesty, His
ability, His worthiness to be worshiped. Let us worship Him,
Lord. Give us ears to hear of Him. Give us a heart to rejoice in
what He's accomplished. Don't let us look to ourselves.
Keep us always pointed to Him. It's in His name that we ask
it. Amen.