Look with me to the book of Zechariah
chapter 5. Zechariah chapter 5. We're in
the midst of studying the record of the Holy Spirit concerning
the night visions that God gave to the prophet Zechariah to give
to the people of Judah in his day as they returned from their
captivity of 70 years in Babylon. and were commanded to rebuild
the temple of God, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the
covenant, and to reestablish the worship of God in the land,
and then to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. And in this chapter
five, the first four verses, that's all we're gonna deal with
tonight, deals with the sixth vision of Zechariah. It says
in verse one, then I turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked
and behind a flying roll. Now that's a roll of paper, papyrus. It's a scroll. I've entitled
this message, The Flying Scroll. And he said unto me, verse two,
what seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying
roll. The length thereof is 20 cubits and the breadth thereof
10 cubits. And then said he unto me, this
is the curse. that goeth forth over the face
of the whole earth." Now remember we read in Galatians chapter
3 and verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are
under the curse. That's the message of this flying
scroll right here. We read where Moses just now
reading to the reading the law again, the second record of the
law to the children of Israel before they went into the promised
land. He said, I set before you life
and good, death and evil. I set before you blessing and
cursing. There's blessing and then there's
cursing. Well, this here is the curse,
he said, that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth,
not just to one group or one race or one nation but the whole
earth. This is the cursing. And he says,
for everyone that stealeth shall be cut off, literally that means
they'll be washed away, they'll be cleansed away like dirt. That's what the picture is, they'll
be cut off as on this side according to it, that is the scroll, one
side of the scroll, And everyone that sweareth shall be cut off,
shall be cleansed away. As on that side, according to
the other side of the scroll. So this scroll was written on
both sides. I think about that seven seal
book and revelation that was written on the front side and
the backside, you know, so this, in other words, there's no wasted
space here. There's no wasted words. And
I like that because that's the way the scripture is. I know
there are passages of scripture, and if you've ever taken the
time to read the Bible through, you ought to do that. You ought
to set it up. I mean, there's nothing wrong with setting up
a schedule like that. I read Brother Jim Byrd's bulletin,
and he prints that, and I thought about doing that. I might do
that, start in the new year maybe, you know, where you read so many
chapters a day. And that's not bad. I mean, you
know, you say, well, I don't want to get into a routine. Well,
why not? What other routine are you in? You know, you don't want
to miss that show. You know, that's a routine, you
know, and that's worthless. But read the scriptures, see,
and read it all the way through. And when you come to certain
passages of scripture, you might wonder, well, you know, why is
that there? You know, I don't, but you know,
in reality, there are no wasted words in God's word. Everything
that's there, the Bible says, the Word of God, Paul told the
Corinthians, he said, everything that's in the Word of God is
inspired by the Holy Spirit and was written for our good. Now
we may not see it at the time, and that's okay. But, and it
may take, I read commentaries and I listen to messages and
people help me to understand these things. I don't just come
up with these things on my own. This comes from study and I bring
them to you. So this is not a wasted effort
here, you see. And so he says, everyone that
swears shall be cut off as on that side, according to verse
four, I will bring it forth. saith the Lord of hosts, there's
that Lord of the great army, the invincible God. So nothing's
going to stop this, that's what that means. Man cannot stand
against this. And it shall enter into the house
of the thief, that's the one who steals, and into the house
of him that sweareth falsely by my name, that's the swearer,
And it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall consume
it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." In other
words, that person who lives there is going to be consumed
and everything in his house is going to be consumed. He's going
to be consumed just like the wood and the stone of his house.
So that's what the sixth vision is about. Now that sounds kind
of negative, doesn't it? Talking about a curse. The message
of Zechariah so far, these eight visions, you know, Zechariah,
he started his whole prophecy out with a call to repentance.
And of course, we know that man by nature, we by nature don't
like calls to repentance because we just by nature do not see
that we have really anything that much to repent of. as far
as the issues of salvation are concerned. I mean, we may have
some bad habits or bad thoughts that we know we need to change,
but when it comes to salvation, we just don't like the preaching
of repentance until God, the Holy Spirit, enters in and gives
us the mind of Christ, brings us to see our sinfulness. Isn't
that right? But then after that call to repentance,
Zachariah's visions have been very positive. They've all been
pictures and prophecies, symbols of the glory of God and His grace
in Christ Jesus. But here in just four verses,
this sixth vision, all it talks about is a curse, consuming those
who are under the curse. But this message, these visions
here now, you can't just take them individually. They're all
really, they all go together. even though there are eight individual
visions, given in one night, but the whole message has to
be... You see, what I believe is really
coming forth here is the fact that preachers cannot pick and
choose what they want to preach. I had a fellow tell me one time,
he said, I'm not going to preach anything negative. I'm just going
to preach things that are positive. And I told him, I said, well,
you're just not going to preach the Bible, fella. I don't have
the privilege or the authority to pick and choose what I preach.
And if you want to summarize the ministry of the gospel in
the Great Commission, 50% of it is negative, isn't it? He
that believeth not. Now, it's not that we enjoy preaching
about cursing and curses. That's a sad subject. When you talk about people under
the curse of God, Oh, I'd much rather spend all my time preaching
about how God blesses His people in Christ, and that's so, and
I do spend a lot of time preaching that. But you can't hold back
the truth, and that's what I believe is being shown here. There is
a curse. My friend, there is the reality
of sin. They asked that, there's a fella
out there in Texas who's got a, they bought a big stadium
or coliseum, they got a church now, and he's real popular on
TV and writes all these books. And a reporter asked him one
time, said, why don't you ever preach about sin? And he said,
well, why would I want to preach something so negative? Well,
the thing about it is sin is a reality. It's a reality in
the lives of the whole world. And it's a reality in the life
of a believer. That's why I'm preaching on Sunday
mornings about the warfare, the flesh and the spirit, fighting
sin. We're in a warfare! And you can't ignore the enemy
in a warfare. If you ignore the enemy, what
happens? Defeat. So, Zechariah is bringing this
forth. This whole message, the message
of all the eight visions that Zechariah gets and gives, is
one of hope and salvation. There's no doubt about that.
But here's the key, that hope and that salvation can only be
found in Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. It's message to
any and all who reject Christ is nothing but death, damnation,
cursing. I'm telling you, without Christ,
Without the blood of Christ, without the righteousness of
Christ, without the grace and mercy of God in Christ, you have
nothing in this life or the next but cursing. And that's so. And that's what this vision is
about. There's no hint of mercy and grace in this vision alone.
There's only justice and judgment and the curse that goes forth
over the whole face or over the face of the whole earth, this
vision of the flying roll or the flying scroll. And it's a
vision of truth that all men by nature deserve damnation and
death. Now that's right. Even us believers
in ourselves, in our own works, we deserve nothing but damnation
and death. That's all. Well, what exactly
is this flying row, verse one? Then I turned and lifted up my
knives and looked, and behold, a flying row. Well, you know
how they had writings back then, and they were papyrus, that paper
made out of that plant, and they would write on them, and then
they'd roll them up. They usually had a piece of wood on each end
that you could hold them for, and they rolled them up. Something
like what the Ethiopian was reading out on the desert when he was
reading Isaiah 53, he had a scroll. He had that scroll open. Well,
that's what this is. This is a flying scroll. This
is one that flies. Like a flying book, you might
say, but it's rolled up. And it's a scroll that represents
the Word of God. That's what this flying roll
is. It's the Word of God. Ezekiel spoke of it in the same
way in his prophecy. You can find that in Ezekiel
chapter 2 and chapter 3. You can read that sometime. But
he talked about the roll and in Ezekiel, he was commanded
to eat and digest the roll, the scroll, the word of God, and
then give it out to the people. Much the same that John on the
Isle of Patmos was commanded in the vision that he was given
in Revelation 10. We read about it last Sunday
morning in our Sunday school where he was commanded to take
the word of God, the gospel, what was called the little book.
And any book back then was like a scroll, like a roll. And he's
commanded to eat it. And he said, it'll be sweet to
your mouth, but it'll be bitter in your belly. The bittersweet
gospel. There's a sweetness in the gospel. And that's the grace
and the mercy of God to a sinner in Christ. Oh, how sweet the
sound of Jesus' name in a sinner's ear, in a believer's ear. How sweet the sound of his name.
And we can talk about that sweetness, and it is sweet to our taste,
but there's a bitterness, too, because not only does that message
of God's grace in Christ meet the need of sinners who are seeking
mercy and grace, salvation by grace, it also condemns the whole
world because it says that anybody who doesn't have Christ, anybody
who's not found in Him is under the curse. That's the bitterness,
and that's what brings on the persecution. of the world. Men hate the gospel life because
their deeds are evil. The preacher's wisdom comes from
this flying scroll, the Word of God. It comes from the Word
of God as it is in Christ. The preacher's authority comes
from the Word of God as it is in Christ. Our rule of faith
and practice as believers is the Word of God as it is in Christ. We can never get away from it
and should never get away from it. It's our life. This word
that we see written before us is the most precious possession
that we have. And if we love it, and learn
it, and grow in it, and that's a continual thing now for all
of us now, not just for me, but for all of us, then we know by
the power of the Holy Spirit it's been written on our heart.
The word of God written on our heart. Isn't that something?
It's a flying scroll here He says, a flying row, because it
flies all over the earth, spreading the truth. Again, this is not
isolated to one group. Even though Zechariah was a prophet
to Judah in his time, this message, in one form or another, and to
one degree or another, was to be over the whole earth. Look
at verse two. It mentions the dimensions of
this row. He said unto me, what seest thou? And I answered, I
see a flying row. And then he talks about the dimensions.
The length thereof is 20 cubits and the breadth thereof 10 cubits.
Why are its dimensions important? It's 30 feet long and 15 feet
wide. That's what that was, approximately. Well, the dimensions of this
scroll were exactly the same as two things in the Old Testament.
It is exactly the same as the temple porch called Solomon's
Temple. You can read about that in 1
Kings chapter 6. Solomon's porch. And that porch,
see? And what happened on that porch
normally? Well, that's where the law of God was usually read
to the people after Solomon's temple was built. So it was kind
of like a place of, well, it was a place of worship, but it's
where the law of God was read, on that temple porch. And then more importantly, it
was the same exact dimensions of the holy place of the tabernacle. feet long, 15 feet wide, that
which contained the candlestick. Now we read about the candlestick
in the prior vision that Zechariah had over here in chapter four,
the golden candlestick. So we're staying right in the
same theme, you see, it never changes. And in that holy place
of the tabernacle, which was the exact dimensions of this
scroll, you had the candlestick, you had the table of showbread,
you had the altar of incense, all of that, you can read about
that in Exodus chapter 26. And what does this teach us?
Why are these dimensions so important? Well, number one, this teaches
us, and listen to this very carefully, that all the dimensions and boundaries
and measurements and standards of God's word are set by God
himself, not by man, not by preachers, not by denominations. You know,
people say, well, you know, you think you have the only truth
or the only one who has the truth? No, but I don't think we're the
only one who has the truth, but I believe this is the only truth. Now that's so. That rule is set by God. This
is God's rule. This is God's word. This is God's
authority. It's not set by us. It's not
by set by some council or synod. It's not set by any church leader
such as the Pope or Ellen G. White or whoever you want to
think about, or Joseph Smith. When they set their standards,
they're going against this flying scroll whose dimensions are set
by God. And they show themselves to be
false prophets. You see, Zechariah, he was He
was given this vision of a standard whose dimensions were set by
God. We cannot pick or choose. We cannot ignore any part of
God's work. And when men go on their own,
even believers, they'll go outside the dimensions of the word of
God, and they'll always go wrong, always. But here's the second
thing, and this is the most important thing, I believe, for this vision
here. Both Solomon's porch and the
holy place were points of entry into the very presence of God.
That's what they were. They were points of entry into
the presence of God, to commune with God, to worship God, to
serve God, to be accepted with God, to have fellowship with
God. Think about that. And that's
what this flying scroll represents. What he's talking about is something
to do. something to do with the boundaries
and the dimensions and the requirements that God has set for entry into
his presence, for communion with God. Now, when men and women
ignore those dimensions that God has set for entry into his
presence and communion and fellowship, what do they have left? Cursing. Not blessing, but cursing. Nothing but dead. Look at verses
three and four. Now that's what verse three and four talks about.
This flying scroll. What is the message of this vision?
What is this scroll exactly? Well, he says, then said he unto
me, this is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole
earth. And then he talks about breaking
the law. For everyone that stealeth shall be cut off on this side
according to it, and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off
on that side according to it. I'll bring it forth, saith the
Lord of hosts. Nothing's going to stop it. And
it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house
of him that sweareth falsely by my name, and it shall remain
in the midst of his house, this standard. In other words, what
he's talking about is a judgment. that is brought upon those who
have ignored or denied or come against God's dimensions, see,
God's standard. Here's a judgment against all
who have done that, and that scroll represents the word of
God's judgment, the standard of God's judgment. It shall remain
in the midst of his house. In other words, they can't ignore
it then. Now, men today may ignore it. False preachers may ignore
it, but there's coming a time when they won't be able to ignore
it. They'll be judged by it and they won't be able to get away
from it and it shall consume it with the timber thereof and
the stones thereof. In other words, they will be
consumed and everything they built and everything they live
in as far as safety. That's what the house was back
then. It was a place of safety. Well, there'll be no safety.
There's no hiding place for sinners. who don't have Christ. That's
what he's talking about. What's the lesson of this, the
message of this vision? Here it is, that no one can approach
God and be accepted with God who does not keep the law perfectly. That's right. Psalm 24, you don't
have to turn there. But you remember that's the Psalm
of the King. You know, you have that trilogy of psalms. Psalm
22 is the psalm of the cross. Christ, our great high priest,
our substitute, our surety, going to the cross, having been made
sin and dying for our sins. And then you have the psalm of
the shepherd, Psalm 23. That's Christ, our prophet. The
Lord is my shepherd. Then you have the psalm of the
kingdom. That's Psalm 24. And this question is posed in
Psalm 24, verse 3. It says, who shall ascend unto
the hill of the Lord? that hill being Zion? Or who
shall stand in his holy place? And here's the answer that's
given. Now listen to this. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. Where does that leave us? By
nature and by practice. It leaves us out in the cold.
And notice here, he says, he that hadn't sworn deceitfully.
And here in Zechariah's vision, he talks about he that sweareth
by God's name falsely. It's the same thing. He shall
receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God
of his salvation. Who? Those who have kept the
law perfectly. This vision of the flying scroll
is God's declaration. that no man can approach Him
and be accepted by Him who does not keep the whole law perfectly. Any failure to keep the law must
forever bar sinners from the Holy Lord God. Romans 3 and verse
20, therefore by deeds of law there shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 3.10, what did it say? For any who are of the works
of the law. What does that mean to be of
the works of the law? It means you're trying to enter the holy hill,
trying to enter the presence of God by works of the law, by
being obedient, by being a good person. by doing certain things. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. Why are they under a 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. How good do
I have to be as good as God? That's what that flying crow
says. That's why, that's why then he said it in verse 3, this
is the curse. That goeth forth over the face
of the earth. That's why this is the curse. Because over the
face of the earth there can no one be found who has kept the
law perfectly. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death.
That's the message. And notice again, it goes forth
over the whole earth. It's true of all mankind by nature. We all fail in Adam. Ruined,
ruined, ruined. Sin, sin, sin. And it's open
and it's flying. There's no place where it's light
is not seen in some way or some degree. That's right. Read Romans 1 and 2, it'll tell
you that. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all sin and unrighteousness of men who hold
the truth and unrighteousness. What truth? Whatever truth they
have. Now it's talking specifically about the gospel truth there,
but whatever truth men have, I heard a man tell me one time,
he said, I believe that any, now I want you to listen to everything
I'm gonna say here, don't cut me off in the middle of it with
a, all right, listen to what I'm about to say. I had a man
tell me one time, he said, I believe that anybody who walks by the
light they have shall be saved. I do too. I believe anybody who
walks by the light they have shall be saved. Here's the problem. Nobody on this green earth, born
of Adam, walks by the light they have. It might be the light of
nature. You know there's a light in nature?
Read Romans 1. It talks about things that can
be known concerning God by the light of nature. But no man by
nature walks by that light. What does it say there in Romans
1? It says they'll turn it into idolatry. It's what man does.
See the glory of the sun. What a magnificent thing that
is. To study the sun, the solar system,
and the stars. What do men do with that? Well,
they either turn into idols and worship the sun god, or they
become scientists and deny God. And what happened? That's man by nature. The light
of conscience. Romans chapter two speaks of
the light of conscience, how God has given every man a conscience,
whereby he knows what's right and wrong concerning certain
areas of conscience, natural conscience. But does man walk
by that light? No, he doesn't. And certainly
we know that man by nature will reject the light of the gospel
unless God intervenes. Yes, anybody who walks by the
light they have shall be saved, but man by nature won't walk
by that light. He won't do it. That's been proven
over and over again. The fact that this scroll is
open for all to see so completely that it's written in the heart
and conscience of every person in the world to a degree means
that all are without excuse before God. And notice here the writing
on both sides. He talked about the one that
steals is cut off, cleansed away, wiped away, washed away, on this
side according to it. And everyone that sweareth, verse
three, shall be cut off on that side. It's written on both sides.
What does that mean? Well, there are a lot of different
ideas about that. Some commentators say, well,
it's talking about the Old Testament and the New Testament. And talking
about people then, people now, and in the future. What does
it take to go to heaven in the Old Testament, in the New Testament? It takes the grace of God in
Christ, period. And my friend, here's the thing. If you don't have Christ, What
does it take for you to go to heaven? Well, what did Paul say
in Galatians chapter 5 when he was talking about those who said,
well, you've got to be circumcised to be saved? He said, well, you're
a debtor to do the whole law. You've got it all to do now.
You've got to keep it perfectly. And if you don't keep it perfectly,
what does the law say? What does the flying scroll say?
It says, cursed. If you don't keep it perfectly.
Some say that this is the Ten Commandments. And the both sides
would refer to both sides of the law, the two tables of the
law. You remember the Ten Commandments that Moses, he brought them down
and there were two tables of the testimony were in his hand
and they were written on both their sides and on one side and
on the other side they were written. It explains that in Exodus chapter
32. Well, think about that, all right? I won't discount that
totally. Think about it this way. The
first table of the law, dealt with man's relationship to God. The summation of the first table,
as Christ put it, was love God supremely. Love God with all
your heart, soul, mind, spirit. Love God perfectly. That's the
summation of the first table of the law. In the book of Exodus,
chapter 20, verse 7, when it's reading the first table of law,
the Lord thy God is one God, and thou shalt not take his name
in vain, and there's no other gods before me, all of that.
One of them says this in verse 7, it says, everyone that sweareth. Everyone that sweareth. Just
look at that, or I can read it to you, Exodus chapter 20 and
verse 7. It's talking about reverence and respect and worship of God. That's what it's talking about. And it says there in verse seven
of Exodus chapter 20, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that
taketh his name in vain. Now, that's the same thing that
Zechariah's talking about over here when he talks about everyone
that sweareth the house of him that swears falsely by God's
name." It's the same thing. And what he's saying here is
the Word of God pronounces a curse and condemns all who swear falsely
by God's name. Now, what is it to swear falsely
by God's name? Well, it's to preach lies about
God. That's exactly what it is. It's
to promise things from God that God never promised. That's exactly what it is. It's
to say things about God that do not glorify and honor and
tell the truth of him as the God of salvation. False gospels. It's to profane his holy name.
You realize, you know, we can talk about people who swear,
say swear words, All right, that's taking his name in vain. But
what about those who stand behind the pulpits of today and tell
sinners that God saves them based on any other thing other than
Christ and Him crucified? Who preach conditional salvation
towards the sinner? Who preach in some form, degree,
or other salvation by works? Now my question is, is that telling
the truth about God? The answer is no. The God of
this book, the God who's revealed in this flying scroll, is the
God who saves by pure, free, sovereign grace and mercy in
Christ. And he doesn't save any other
way. And I'll promise you, God is my witness. that he is a savior
of sinners, but he saves by grace through Christ, through the blood
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and I swear to you
that he will not save any other way. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. This God that I preach to you
tonight, that Zechariah preached to the people of his day says
that no flesh can be justified before him by their works. He
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. There's no other way. If I would
tell you or imply to you that there's any other way to God,
to acceptance with God, blessing from God, communion with God,
salvation, fellowship with God. If I were to tell you or imply
that there was any other way but by the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, I would be
swearing falsely by His name. And that was the problem in their
day. That was the problem before they went into captivity. Jeremiah
had to stand against a multitude of preachers, the moral majority,
who kept crying, peace, peace, when there was no peace. What
were they doing? They were swearing falsely by
the name of God. That's what he's talking about.
The second table of the law deals with our relationship with one
another. The summation of that is love
your neighbor as yourself. Here he talks about in that law
where it says, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not steal. And he talks about the house
of the thief and all that. You can read about that in Exodus
chapter 20, also verse 15. And what he's simply saying,
there's all who steal from his neighbor. And listen to me, he's
not just talking about material things there. He's not just talking
about robbing banks or robbing safes or something like that.
But in any way, you steal when you hurt someone's reputation. Steal their honor. But here's the point. Every crime
against humanity is ultimately a crime against God. Did you
know that? So it also refers to robbing
God. Turn over to Malachi chapter
three. We're gonna be studying the book of Malachi here in a
few months. Malachi chapter three. Now this
is a verse of scripture that most preachers get on when they
want to preach about tithing. Well, under the old covenant,
it was required that the other tribes gave their tithes and
offerings to the tribe of Levi, the priest, and they were to
support the priesthood. It's the same as supporting the
gospel. That's what it is, and today we're to be givers. We're
to support the gospel. We're to support the church.
We're to support the cause of Christ with our offerings and
with our money. Well, they were too, and when
they held back, it was called robbery. Look at Malachi 3 and
look at verse 5. He says, I will come near to
you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers
and against the adulterers and against false swearers. Hear
that term again, false swearers? And against those that oppress
the hireling in his wage, the widow and the fatherless, and
turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith
the Lord of hosts. Now look here, he says, for I
am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
See, he wasn't ready to utterly destroy the nation, yet he had
something else in mind for that. That's the promise that Christ
would come through that nation. And that we can apply that, verse
six, to God's elect out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation.
Look at verse seven, he says, even from the days of your fathers,
you're gone away from mine ordinances and have not kept them, return
unto me and I will return unto you. Sayeth the Lord of hosts,
but you said, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me, but you
say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings, you're
cursed with a curse. You haven't kept the law now.
For you've robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring you all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it." All of
that. What are they shown when they
held back their tithes and offerings from supporting the priesthood?
and the tabernacle, or the temple. Well, they were showing their
contempt for God. That's what we do when we show our contempt
for one another in that way. We're showing our contempt for
God, our dishonoring of God. Now go back to Zechariah 4. This
is what he's talking about. In neglecting to honor God by
rebuilding the temple here, back in Zechariah 5, what were they
doing? They were robbing God. They were
like thieves. And they did it under religious
or self-centered ways. But here's the consequences of
it. He said they're going to be cleaned
out, they're going to be cut off. This flying row will enter
every house and consume it. In other words, they're going
to be judged by the Word of God. That same word by which God commands
all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance unto
all men and that he hath raised him from the dead. Now here's
the last question. Well then is there any hope of
salvation for me? I've not kept the law of God
perfectly. How about you? I'm a sinner. Is there any hope
of salvation for me? Well, the word of God, this flying
scroll represented herein, is a word of salvation to all who
believe and rest in Christ. It's a word of blessing to those
who are washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness.
But it's a curse to all who are either ignorant of or not submitted
to him, and his righteousness is the only ground of salvation.
Look back at Galatians 3 that I read in the opening. I want
to show you something here, just briefly, and then I'll close.
Listen to this, verse 10 again. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. That's all of us by nature. 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. So here's
the conclusion, verse 11, that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God. It's evident for the justified
shall live by faith. They look to Christ. That's what
that means. They rest in him. It's grace,
not law. And the law's not a faith. The
law, listen, the law can show us what we are by nature, but
it can't provide the remedy. The law does not require you
or command you to believe. The law says one thing, one little
two-letter word, do. Do and live, disobey and die.
That's it. So the law is not of faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. If you're seeking
salvation by the law, you've got it all to do. You're a debtor
to do the whole law. But look at verse 13 now. Here's
our hope. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How did he do that? That means
he paid a price. Whatever my debt to God's law
and justice was, Christ paid it in full. Now how did he do
it? He was made a curse for us. He came under the curse for my
sins accounted, charged, imputed to him. He was made sin. That's
another way of saying he was made sin. Christ who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He's our substitute, he's our satisfaction, he's our propitiation,
he's our surety, he's our advocate, he's our high priest, he's our
lamb. And it says, for he is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now he did all that,
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. Now what is the blessing of Abraham?
Remember back in Genesis 12 when God made a covenant with Abraham?
And he said, Abraham, I'll make of you a great nation, and I'll
bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing,
not a cursing, Abraham, but a blessing. And he said in verse three, he
said, and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that
curseth thee, and thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed, not just the Jews. Gentiles too, Galatians three
there, verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles. How do you bless Abraham? How do you curse Abraham? Well, what did Christ say in
John chapter eight about it? He said, you claim to be Abraham's
seed, but you don't do what Abraham did. He said, you seek to kill
me. Abraham didn't do that. Abraham believed me. He said,
Abraham, rejoice to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad.
What day was he talking about? He's talking about the day of
the cross. He's talking about the day when Abraham's sins would
be wiped away in the history of mankind on that day. And the
righteousness by which God justified Abraham would be worked out by
his substitute, the Lord of glory on the cross of Calvary. Abraham
rejoiced to see that day. Now, how do you curse Abraham? Well, reject what Abraham rejoiced
in, and you'd do the same as cursing him. If you claim that
what Christ accomplished on Calvary in His obedience unto death is
not enough to save you and to bless you and to make you righteous
before God eternally, you're saying that what Abraham rejoiced
in was no good. You're cursing him. But when
you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and rest in Him and see
Him as the end of the law for righteousness for you, that's
how you bless Abraham. That's the blessing of Abraham.
It's salvation. It's salvation. You see, the
law does one thing. This flying scroll does one thing
for a sinner. It shuts us up to Christ. No
hope of salvation without Him. It shows us in ourselves nothing
but cursing and death and condemnation but it also shows us there is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. It shows
us that what the law could not do and that it was weak through
my flesh God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. He took care of
it. It shows us that in Christ the
law cannot charge me or who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect, it's God that justifies. The law cannot condemn me as
I stand in Christ because it's Christ that died, yea rather
that it's risen again. It's even at the right hand of
God who makes intercession for me. Christ ended the curse for
his people. Because He is the end of the
law forever to every sinner who trusts Him, the end of the law
for righteousness. How has the Lord Jesus Christ
become the end of the law? He fulfilled its requirements.
He kept it perfectly. That's right. He brought in everlasting
righteousness. He ended it by satisfying all
its demands. All the justice of God was fulfilled
in him. The wrath of God poured out upon
our substitute. He became the end of the law
to every ransom sinner by faith. And the day of the law for his
people and its curse is over. Finished, annulled, ended forever. The day of poor sinner believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the good news of the
gospel. So as you look at that, You see who establishes those
boundaries. God does. And those boundaries
are filled up and fulfilled and measured by Christ and him crucified
and risen again. There's no other hope. All right.