Thank you, ladies. Now, if you would, take your Bibles, and I want you to go to the last book of the Old Testament, that being the book of Malachi. And I want you to go to the last chapter of Malachi and the last verse. So we're going to the very end, the very tip end of the Old Testament.

Now here's my subject. It is Cursed but Blessed. That's the title of the message, Cursed but Blessed. The last verse of Malachi chapter 4, Malachi being the last writing prophet, He speaks of our Lord and he says, He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The Spirit of God arranged the books of the Bible and arranged that Malachi would be the last writing prophet And the Spirit ordained that the very last word that Malachi would write, the last word of the Old Testament, would be the word curse. That's not a happy word. That's a very severe word.

Because you see, the Old Testament has to do with the old covenant of works. The Lord said to Adam in Genesis the second chapter, of every fruit of the tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the fruit of the tree of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, lest ye die. That's the promise of the curse. The curse is death.

Now that covenant that God entered into with Adam was magnified when we get to the book of Exodus chapter 20 when God gave His holy law. And those thou shouts were not suggestions. They were edicts, they were laws given by God to the Jews. And basically it consisted of this, obey me and live, disobey me and die, disobey me and you're cursed. You're cursed.

And so when we get to the end of the Old Testament, we're reminded there's no blessing to be found in God's law. That's what we take away from this. God's law cannot bless a sinner. It finds us all guilty. The law of God, if rightly understood, shows us how sinful we are, that we lack goodness. There's none that doeth good, is what this book says, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not one.

The law of God was given not as a means of salvation, but the law of God was given to pronounce us as guilty before God. And therefore being guilty sinners, we're worthy of the curse, the curse. And anybody who's seeking to obey God, thinking that you'll be okay if you do that, Know this, you cannot keep the law of God really at all and certainly not perfectly.

And those who look for personal obedience as a means of salvation, know this, if you think, if I'll be a good person, I'll do the best I can do, I'll try to live right, I'll avoid the trappings of immorality or drugs or evil living or whatever it is. Those of you who think that way, you need to know this, you're under the curse. Because there is nothing that you can do, hear me now, there is nothing you can do that can impress God Almighty.

Contrary to what people may have told you, and maybe preachers have told you, you're not a good person. The Bible, God's holy law has pronounced us all guilty. And therefore being guilty, we're under the curse. And what is the curse? Death. Death.

Now, that's how the Old Testament ends. Because you see, in the Old Testament, God gave His holy law, and there was everything at Mount Sinai to fill the people with fear. There was the thunder, the lightning, the ground shaking, the Mount Sinai smoking. Everything was to fill them with fear and dread. And even the Israelites understood they could not deal with such a God who had that kind of power. And they said, Moses, you intervene for us. We need you to speak to God for us. We don't want Him to come near the mountain. We don't want to even approach God upon the basis of any supposed goodness that we have.

See, go all the way through the Old Testament, and there are many pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ. He set forth in the Old Testament as the Lamb, as that one who would be offered to God for sacrifice. But over and over again throughout the Old Testament, we read about the sinfulness of all men, not just Israel, but Jews and Gentiles.

And then the Holy Spirit inspired Malachi to write his prophecy. And the Holy Spirit said, end your prophecy, end the Old Testament with this word, this powerful word, curse. It ends with a curse. And if you think that Almighty God will show favor to you, or receive you, or welcome you into heaven upon the basis of any good thing that you've ever done, you, my friend, are still under the curse.

Now, turn one page, at least in my Bible it's one page, to the book of Matthew, the first chapter. And in the very first verse, we have the announcement of one who is going to come forth from God, who will bear the curse for his people. And so while the Old Testament ends with a very sad word, curse, curse, the New Testament begins this way, Matthew 1.1. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Oh, what a blessing from God! is this gift of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, that word was given to identify the work that he would do. Because Jesus means, as it says in Matthew 1 21, thou shalt save his people, or he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus is the Savior. That's what he was gonna, that's his mission. His mission is to deliver His people out from under the curse of a broken law. His name is Jesus. That indicates His mission. That's why He came. He came to save. He didn't come to try and save. He didn't come to put forth an effort to save. He came to save His people from their sins. And He did just that by His substitutionary death upon the cross of Calvary.

Now while the name Jesus indicates His mission, the name Christ indicates His identity. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God. So while the Old Testament ends with a rough word, a judgmental word, a word that exposes our guilt, It ends with curse. The New Testament begins with a blessing. And the blessing is, there would be one to come who would be born, born of a virgin, live a life of obedience, And He would save His people from their sins by His sacrificial death upon the cross of Calvary.

Under the Old Covenant, under the Old Testament, there's the curse of the law. In the New Testament, the New Testament, the New Covenant, the covenant of grace, which was formulated before the world began. And in that covenant of grace, our Lord Jesus was appointed to be the savior of sinners like us. So here's a great contrast, you see, with the Old Testament ending with curse and the New Testament begins with the greatest blessing that could ever be given. And that's our Lord Jesus Christ.

And then over in the fifth chapter, and I read these Beatitudes to you, here the Spirit of God in recording our Lord's first recorded message. He preached some before this, there's no question about that. But here is His most lengthy sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, and this draws a strong contrast to that word that ended the Old Testament, curse. Because here our Lord Jesus pronounces blessings. You see, we all deserve to be cursed. No one deserves to be blessed. You would not dare pray, Lord, bless me according to my faithfulness. Why, if that were true, you wouldn't be blessed at all.

The Scripture says that actually the blessings that we received during this lifetime were of old, as old as eternity. Because we were blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. When God chose a people unto salvation, what a blessing to be chosen of God. When God ordained the means whereby the curse would be lifted, how could the curse be lifted? We can't lift it because we can't get rid of our sins, but God could get rid of our sins, but only one way. through the cross death of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing!

So here's the contrast. The Spirit of God who inspired Malachi to write his prophecy, who inspired Matthew to write what is the first gospel narrative of the New Testament, Here's curse and blessing. Aren't you thankful there's blessings for folks like us? Blessings not at all attached to or dependent upon anything we say, do, or think. The blessings that come our way come through the sovereign free grace of God Almighty. And the only way the curse could be lifted was for somebody else to be cursed in our stead. That is somebody had to die and suffer the equivalent of all the wrath of God that all of the people of God would suffer forever.

Turn with me now, and like I told you a while ago, I'm not gonna do an exposition here of the Beatitudes, but you've read about all these, blessed are these, blessed are those, blessed, blessed, blessed, nine blessings here. The Spirit of God, purpose that Matthew would write about the blessedness of sinners in Christ, just as he inspired Malachi to write of the curse. So now go to the book of Galatians, if you would. And by the way, and I'll just touch on this. When Matthew writes, he is instructed by the Spirit of God exactly what to write. And he begins, and obviously I'm not going to read these verses because I've already had to go to Galatians chapter 3, but Matthew chapter 1 announces the genealogy of the Savior.

And then the birth of the Savior, that's in chapter 1. The Holy Spirit had Matthew announce, the Savior has come. He sets forth his genealogy. He's the son of David, the son of Abraham. We can trace his genealogy back to the prophecies of the Old Testament. In the second chapter of Matthew, Matthew is led to record the fact that some wise men came from the East. It doesn't say three. We presume there were three. Most commentators say it was three, but we don't know that for sure. But they came seeking the king who had been born in Bethlehem. Good news. What a blessing.

And then we get to the third chapter of the book of Matthew. And Matthew records for us that the Lord Jesus was baptized. He submitted to baptism. He wasn't a sinner. So baptism is not given to wash away sins. Water can't wash away sins. It can wash away dirt, but it can't wash away the filth of our hearts. And in Matthew chapter 3, we have the Savior submitting to baptism. And then we get to the fourth chapter of Matthew and we find that this king that is come, he met Satan head on head or eyeball to eyeball, as it were, and defeated him with the word of God. You see this one who is the blessing come down from heaven, he had to be able to defeat our arch enemy, his arch enemy. He had to defeat the evil one and he did that using the Word of God. And then at the end of Matthew chapter 4, we find the Savior preaching. And then in chapter 5, 6 and 7, chapters 5, 6 and 7, we have His Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the Savior Himself blessing people. Who can pronounce blessings upon sinners but God Himself?

Well, how did he lift the curse? Because that's what he came to do. Well, Galatians chapter number three tells us. Galatians three, look at verse 10. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. You say, well, I'm trying to live a good life to please God. You're under the curse. You're under the dominion of the curse. Watch it. For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, not just most of them, in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

So I'm trying to keep the 10 commandments. Well, bless your heart, really you can't keep them all. Because the law of God and the Savior goes into this in Matthew chapter 5, later in Matthew chapter 5, He gives us a very clear understanding of the law of God. The law of God not only touches what you do, It touches what you think. It not only touches your actions, but it touches your motives. And when you consider that the law of God examines everything about you, even your thoughts, then you have to say, I'm guilty. I'm guilty. There's no hope for me in my works.

Romans 3 says, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, pronounced righteous, innocent, saved. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. We may justify and we may say, well, boy, she seemed like a nice Christian woman to me, because look what a nice life she lives. But I can't see your heart. God looks on the heart. We look on the flesh, what people do. God looks on the heart. And this curse Hear me now, we can't do anything about it. Isn't that something? We're cursed. We're cursed. And that which is due us is death. For the wages of sin is death, the curse. Romans 6.23 says that.

So am I going to perish? Must I live and die under the curse? Is there no hope? Well, look at verse 11, Galatians three, but that no man is justified by the law by doing By obedience and the sight of God, it's evident. It's evident to anybody who reads the Bible with some degree of understanding, it's evident. For the just shall live by faith. The justified live by faith in Christ Jesus. The law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them.

Now here's the answer. See, I've said before, you're cursed and blessed. But we can't bring blessing out of the curse. We can't eliminate the curse. But somebody came for that reason to do away with the curse. Christ the Savior. Verse 13, for Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Well, how did he do that? Being made a curse for us, he was made a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hath on a tree. That's right out of the Old Testament. And our Savior was hung on a tree. He was nailed to a tree. He was cursed of God. I can't explain that. I can't tell you how that happened. I only know it did happen. During three hours of darkness, God cursed Him. He bore the curse. He was made a curse for us. He died himself that all of his guilty people would never die. And that's the good news. So, well, we'll die physically, yeah. But we won't die eternally. And even that physical death is called a sleep. We sleep in the Lord Jesus. transferred all of the sins of his people over to his son. And he bore them in his own body on the tree. And the holy God cursed him. God cursed him. He died under the wrath of God. He suffered He agonized on the cross, not only from the physical torture that he had received, but he suffered in his soul. And then after three hours of darkness, the Savior said, it's finished.

You know what that means? No more curse. That's what that means. For everybody who believes Christ Jesus, do you believe Him? I will tell you upon the authority of the Word of God, no curse for you because He was cursed in your stead. For whom was He cursed? The elect of God. For whom was He cursed? Every soul for whom He prayed in John 17. For whom was He cursed? All for whom He died. all for whom He said, it is finished. For whom was He cursed? All who are led by the Holy Spirit to cast their cares, their sins rather, their salvation, their souls, to cast their all upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can tell you upon the assurance of the Word of God, you're not cursed.

See, this is the only way. The substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ that took care of the curse. Now to some people, to me, and to everybody who believes in the Lord Jesus, that is really good news. You see, there is therefore now no condemnation, Romans 8.1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." You know what? Could I just paraphrase that for you? There is therefore in Christ no curse. It's impossible. No curse to those who are in Christ.

Now, why did He do that? Look at verse 14. that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. You know what that means? He was cursed so we could be righteous. So God, the just judge of all, could pronounce us righteous. Righteous, that means just, justified, innocent, free. Having our sins been put away by the sacrifice of Christ.

So I gave you as my title, cursed, but blessed. But right in the middle, there has to be another word, redeemed. Cursed, Redeemed. And then we're blessed. But we're blessed in time because we were really blessed in eternity. According to the purpose of God.

I trust that God will teach you the truth of what you've heard this morning. because most people don't understand the message that you've heard. Cursed in the first Adam, in his fall. Blessed in the last Adam, Christ Jesus.

All right, let's sing a closing.