Good evening.

Let's all stand together and sing number one in our course books. Number one in our course book. My hope is in the Lord, who gave Himself for me, And paid the price of all my sin at Calvary for me. For me he died, for me he lives And everlasting life and life he freely gives No merit of my own is anger to suppress. My only hope is found in Jesus' righteousness. For me He died, for me He lives, And everlasting life and life He freely gives. And now for me he stands before his father's throne, He shows his wounded hands and names me as his own. For me He died, for me He lives, And everlasting life and lot He freely gives. My Lord has done it all, no work is left for me. In this I rest, my soul is blessed eternally. For me He died, for me He lives. And everlasting life, and life He freely gives. Stay in your course book and turn to page 29. We'll sing the Crest of the Cross. Number 29 in the course book. On a hill far away Died the Christ of the cross He yielded to suffering and shame And there in His grace He died in my place The purpose of God to fulfill So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King I must crown O the Christ of the Cross, so despised by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, left His glory above, To bear all my sin on the tree. So I'll cherish the Christ at the cross, And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the Cross For He is the King I must crown In the Christ of the cross, and His blood so divine, A marvelous beauty I see. For He opened my eyes that long had been blind To behold Him now on His throne So I'll cherish the Christ of the Cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to the Christ of the cross For He is the King I must crown To the Christ of the cross I must ever be true, His shame and reproach gladly bear. For in love he constrains, till all shall be gained, and his glory forever I share. So I'll cherish the Christ of the cross, And before His throne I'll bow down. I will cling to the Christ of the cross, For He is the King I must trust. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Let me read verses 8 through 12. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham. saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, curse it, 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, 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. Our gracious, gracious Father in heaven, your name is holy, your nature is righteous, you're God of truth, God of absolute power, right in this world. And Lord, we come into your holy presence with thanksgiving in our heart. We always bless you, Lord, that we're allowed to speak to you. And then you turn around, speak to us through your word. And Lord, if you have anything to say to us, I pray that you would do it tonight, that you'd bless us through your word. that you would enable me to speak and make some sense out of the word of God, make some sense out of the scriptures, give some understanding. And, Lord Jesus, we pray for those who are not with us tonight through providence, Lord, that they're not with us. And we pray for them and pray that you would strengthen them, encourage them, uphold them by your free spirit. And, Lord Jesus, we pray for so many among us who need Christ, who need Christ, people that listen, people that come. So, Lord, please reveal Yourself to their hearts, their mind, their understanding. And, Lord, I thank You for the ones watching, the things listening. And we pray that You'd meet with us tonight and bring glory to Yourself. And, Lord, we pray for our dear brother who asked me who has a great burden to bear in his home. Lord, be with him. God, uphold him and meet his needs. Please, oh Lord, have mercy upon our children and our grandchildren. We ask these things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. Back in our course books on page 30, Living by Faith. Number 30 in the course book if you need it. I care not today what tomorrow may bring, If shadow or sunshine or rain. The Lord I know ruleth for everything, And all of my worry is vain. Living by faith in Jesus above, Trusting, confiding in His great love. Saved from a hole, and it's sheltering all. I'm living by faith, and you feel no alone. Though tempests may blow and the storm clouds arise, Obscuring the brightness of life, I'm never alarmed at the overcast skies, The Master looks on at the strife. Living by faith, in Jesus above, Trusting, confiding in His great love. Safe from all harm, He's sheltering us. I'm living by faith and feel no alone. I know that He safely will carry me through, no matter what evils be tied. Why should I then care, though the tempest may blow, If Jesus walks close to my side? Living by faith, In Jesus above, trusting, confiding in His great love. Safe from all harm is sheltering God. I'm living by faith and filled with hope. Our Lord will return to this earth some sweet day, Our troubles will then all be o'er. The Master so gently will lead us away, Beyond that blessed heavenly shore. Living by faith in Jesus above. Trusting and fighting in His great love. Safe from all harm in the sheltering of I'm living by faith, in pillow alone. All right, let's look back here in Galatians chapter 3. You get my subject tonight is curse or blessing. Curse or blessing. And you know, we see that those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham. So then they which are blessed, verse 9, so then they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. as Abraham was faithful. And there's, you know, the Galatians is called the Book of Freedom because that's what it deals with, free, free from the law, oh, happy condition. And that's what we are. That's what he deals with over and over and over again. And it deals with two covenants, the covenant of faith and the covenant of grace and the covenant the Covenant of the Law. One produces a spiritual life and the other produces a deathful life, a life of death and cursing. And God foretold His purpose before it ever came to pass. And the Word of God declared that Abraham, that in his seed, in Abraham's seed, should all nations be blessed. And look what He says down here in verse 16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and thy seed, which is Christ. This was the seed of the woman that was promised in Genesis 3.15, and Galatians tells us later on that He which was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem us out from under the curse of the law. And that seed is Christ. That seed is Christ. Paul told the Romans, he says, you know, that Christ is, that Abraham, he received the promise, not by the works of the law, but by the righteousness of faith. And he also said this, that the promise is of faith. Faith. You know, the promises of faith. And don't have anything to do with law. And it's a faith that it might be by grace. And what he's saying is that everything that we got, grace, promise, everything came by grace. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that's why it says they that who are of faith, they're blessed just like God blessed Abraham. They believe the same gospel that Abraham believed. And I tell you what, they trust the same promise that Abraham promises the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom he looked, that was coming. And the gospel of righteousness in and through Christ was preached to Abraham. And that gospel that he preached was, that was preached to Abraham, was that the Messiah, the Christ, would come through him. And in the Messiah, in the Christ, everybody, all nations, all nations would be blessed. There's been a lot of nations come and a lot of nations gone. And I don't know how many there are right now, but there's not many of us here tonight. But I do know this, that if you are of faith, you are blessed with faithful Abraham. Blessed. Who are those that are blessed? They believe. They believe, they believe. And all my, does it say the Jews only? Who is blessed with faith? The Jews? The Jews who had faith? Or the Jews who live by the law of Moses? No. All those who are faith, whether they're Jew or Gentile. And the difference between faith and law is this. Faith, when you have faith, you're in the spiritual realm. You cannot have faith and not be spiritual in the spiritual realm. You can't have faith without God giving you that faith. And it takes you into a spiritual realm. It's spiritual people that believe. And then the other side of the coin is, is that law has to do with the flesh, has to do with the natural man, has to do with the curse. Life in Christ, faith, curse, and death by law. No middle ground. And look what it says here now down in verse 10. The curse, God says, as many as are of the works of the law. You know how many times God uses the word as many as? As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. And so there's as many as, but here it says as many as. That don't mean everybody, but as many as are of the works that are of the works of the law are under a curse. You know, when you talk about a curse, I read today somewhere, heard it somewhere today, that God said, cursed is he that is cursed. Cursed is he that is cursed. And I tell you, to be cursed by God, to be cursed by something that you're doing, to be cursed, to have anathema, that's what he says, those who believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ, let them be anathema, let them be cursed. Let them be found guilty before God. And oh my, and that's why Paul said, you know, if anybody preaches another gospel that I have not preached, let him be accursed. Let it be accursed. Now you think about the curse that man's under when he wants to try to justify him before God, himself before God, by things that he says, thinks, or does. And when you talk about it, the word curse in the scriptures, it means pronouncing on them evil and ill will from God himself. And the other side of it is that if you're blessed, that's God saying, I am blessing them. You know, when our Lord done the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are, blessed are, blessed are, blessed are, blessed are. And then blessed are our heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And you know, here's the thing about it. The only person that can bless us in any way, shape, form or fashion is the Lord Jesus Christ and God Himself. There ain't gonna be no blessings apart from Him. So anybody that don't have Christ and trust Christ, they're under a curse. What are they cursed for? For trying to work out their own salvation, trying to make themselves acceptable to God. And that's what it says. It says, for as many as are the works of the law are under the curse. It is written. It is written. Where's that written at? Well, you keep Galatians and look over with me in Deuteronomy 27. Deuteronomy 27, that's the fifth book in the Bible. Deuteronomy 27. 27 in verse 26. This is what he says here now. This is all the cursings, you know. And cursed is he that confirmeth not all the works of the law to do them. And look what he says, and all the people shall say amen. You know how many people say amen to that? And over in Leviticus says, is cursed is he who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law. It's written. It's cursed. And I showed you this in Deuteronomy, where on one side they got over here on Mount Ebel, I believe it was, stood on Mount Ebel, or Mount Ger is them over here, and they pronounced blessings on the tribes of Israel. Blessings for this, blessings for that, and blessings for this, and blessings for that. If you do this, if you do that, you'll have blessings. And then another one got over on Mount Evil, and he said, curse it, curse it, curse it. And for every blessing, there was a curse, if you didn't keep that, do that thing that's right. Blessings, curse. Now which one you want? Which one you want? And oh my, and I tell you what, they pronounce cursings, and the law, The law could utterly, utterly bring a blessing or a curse, depending on whether it's obeyed or whether it's transgressed. And, oh, my. And I tell you what, you know what this law does is it pronounces death on a man, death on a man. You see, the law requires doing. The law requires doing, and I tell you what, I remember being under that kind of situation. The law requires doing, not knowing, not hearing, not approving of it, but perfectly, perfectly, perfectly doing all that the law requires in your words, in your thoughts, in your deeds. And look what he said over here in Galatians chapter 4 and verse 21. Oh, my. Look what he says. Tell me. You tell me. Ye that desire to be under the law, don't you hear it? Don't you hear what it says? You know, You know, and this is something, I just thought about this today. You can't go in and out of the law and grace. You can't go in and out of the law and come over to grace. You can't go in and out, and there's people that they call reformers, and they call themselves historically doctrinally right, and all that, and they'll preach grace, and then they'll turn around and bring you right back under the law. Tell you you gotta keep a Sabbath. You know, and like I've told you, I don't know how many people I asked you said, how do you discipline your church? Do you know why they say that? Because they're law keepers. They want you to set an adjustment on people and tell them what they can do and what they can't do. And then they'll come over here and preach grace. You can't go in and out. Either you're all the way under the law or you're all the way under grace. But that's what people do. They go in, go out, go in and go out. And you can't do that. You can't do that. You know, you can't go in and out of Christ, but people try to, they go over here and preach what you gotta do, how you gotta live, and how you gotta dress, and how much church you have to attend, and how much tithes you gotta give, and how much you gotta give to the church every, and then they come over here and say, but boy, I tell you what, I believe we're saved by grace. But you can't go in and out. You can't do that. And people do it. It's either... No wonder Paul says, if it's of works, it's not of grace. If it's of grace, it's not of works. So I see then that there's a remnant, according to what? The election of grace. Oh, my. I tell you, the law is just as holy and as good. But you know what the problem is? Us. Through the weakness of our flesh. We're sold under sin. We're carnal sold under sin. And I tell you what, but who is under this curse? What is the curse? That's to mean God himself. I'm going to curse you. I'm going to curse you. And you know, you go through the gospels and how many times that they would get I read just yesterday, when our Lord was going to heal a man, he was in a synagogue, and a man had a withered hand, had a withered hand, and our Lord said, get ready to heal that man. And they said, is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do evil? To heal or to not? And he said, stress forth on hand. He stressed it out. His hand was straight. You know what the next verse says? They were so wroth and they were filled, the scripture says they were filled with madness because he healed on the Sabbath day. Filled with madness. I'll tell you, I know a preacher that used to be up in Charleston, West Virginia. He had a nervous breakdown. You know why he had a nervous breakdown? Because he was preaching something he self couldn't do. He kept preaching, you know, works, works, works, works, works, works, works, law, law, law, law, law. Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath. And then, you know, he found out that I can't do it, and I put all these people under bondage, and I can't, I cannot do what I'm telling them to do. So he had a nervous breakdown. It's a good thing. I hope he never gets back in the pulpit again. I hope he never gets back in the pulpit. But who's under the curse of the law? As many as are of the works of the law. Works of it. And you know why the law was added? You know the first law that God gave? The first law that God gave, he said, gave it to Adam. Don't you eat of that fruit of the tree of good and evil. Don't you do it? And that was the law. And in that one law contained everything that God required of a man. If you do it, you're going to die. And that's the same way as it is with law. If you do it, you're going to die. And then you know why? So that was a law right then and there, and everybody broke that law. We know why did we break that law? Because we're in our father Adam. What Adam did, we did. And we inherit his fallen nature. And God throwed him, throwed him out of the garden. And put up this flaming sword to keep the way to the tree of life. So anybody can't get there until you have to deal with God's justice. You cannot get into the tree of life and get to Christ because of that sword of justice. You can't get back there. God says you can't. And oh my.

But the law was added. Look what he says down here in verse 19 of Galatians 3. Wherefore then serveth the law. What's the purpose of the law? It was added. Abraham lived 430 years without the Ten Commandments, without all the rituals and all ceremonies and that. They said, how did Abraham live? Just the same way you and I do by faith. And oh my, look what he goes on to say here. It was added because of transgressions. And until the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and I tell you when Christ came, then, that's why, sin is called exceeding sinful.

Everyone, everyone who practice law-keeping, practice works with a view to pleasing God, seeking to be justified by the law and not by Christ, and that's primarily a multitude of people that's in this world, especially the Jews in Paul's day. Oh, they hated him. It's like the Jews, Judaizers, who taught the Christians, believers, that they must keep the law of Moses. Let me tell you something. All men, all men, are morally answerable to the law. How do I know that? Because the Bible tells me that. Every man is morally answerable to the law.

Now you look, keep Galatians, and look over here in Romans chapter 2. Look in Romans chapter 2. Look what he says here now in verse 14 and 15. Well, look at verse 14, excuse me, I'm sorry. Yeah, verse 14. For when the Gentiles," that's me and you, which have not the law, you know, we were never under the law like the Jews are, do by nature the things contained in the law. Now, these are what we call the Ten Commandments. We, by nature, know what's right and what's wrong. But why do we do what's wrong instead of what's right? Because of our fallen nature.

But look what he goes on to say now. He said, when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are law unto themselves. What does that mean? They show the work of the law written in their hearts, in their consciences. God put the evidence of the law in our hearts, in our conscience, you know, and also their conscience bearing witness. And our thoughts, the meanwhile, will accuse us or excuse us. And that's by nature.

And like I've told you before, there's a fella, you know, called me one time and he wanted to come over to our services the next day. And then he asked me, he said, well, what do you do with people in the church that sin? And I said, you know, how do you discipline? And I said, I said, what do you mean? He said, well, by people, liars and adulterers and all that. And I said, listen, When I was lost, when I was a lost man, I knew all that was wrong. I knew it was wrong to lie, but that didn't keep me from lying. I knew stealing was wrong, but that didn't keep me from stealing. None of those things kept me from doing anything. But I had my conscience would tell me and condemn me. And I'll tell you what, I need to quiet my conscience or else I would excuse it, one or the other, to be able to do what I wanted to do. And that's what he's saying here.

And look what he says. And I tell you, God's going to be a day when God shall judge the secrets of men. And you know why he's going to judge it by? Jesus Christ and the gospel. And let me show you something else. Because of this sin in Romans chapter one. The curse of the law was to come upon Israel. But this is a sin that's common to all men. All men. Now listen to this. This is common to all men. Verse 18, Romans 1 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, all unrighteousness of men. And why does he do it? They hold the truth. but they hold it in unrighteousness. That's what the Jews did. They held it in unrighteousness. And men do that today.

And look what he says, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. How? Because God showed it to them. Well, how did he show it to them? Through the invisible things from the creation. How did things get here? How did things get into this world? The things that's invisible and the things that's visible, how'd they come into this world? How did trees come into existence? How did human beings come into existence? How did sin come into the world? How did rivers start to exist? Where'd the sun come from? Where'd the moon come from? Where'd the stars come from? Where'd all that, and then God said, I showed them. I showed them. And it can be clearly seen and understood by things that are made. Who's made? We are. And what do we see? It is eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. You look at creation and you cannot, you have to say somebody made this. Matter cannot make itself. Somebody else has got to make matter. And God made matter out of nothing. and he took a bunch of nothings and made them to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? And oh, I tell you, I got that little old book you all got, Day Under Day. You know what it says, Day Under Day, utter speech. How's it do it? Sun comes up every morning, goes down every evening. And then at night, it starts another round. You get up in the morning, there goes the day. Goes down to the night. Day under day. That's the speech. The scripture says that's the speech. That's the speech of God Himself speaking to human race.

Now watch this. This is every man, I'm telling you. That's why we're morally answerable to the law. Now watch this. Because that When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God. They weren't thankful to God, but became vain, vain in their minds, sick, useless in their minds, in their imaginations. And their foolish heart was darkened. And they turn around and say, boy, we're wise. Oh, we're so wise. And God says, no, you're foo. And ah, this is what people do. You see it yourself. They change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like the corruptible man. That guy that, you know, dresses like a woman, calls himself a father, dressed like a woman, calls himself father. That's changing the glory of the incorruptible God made like under man. Everybody goes over and kiss that Pope's hands. He's changed the incorruptible God unto an image like a man Get you an angel get you get you an angel set him in your front yard You know what you've done you've changed the glory of the incorruptible God like a man like a four-footed beast and all my and birds and four-footed and creeping things so we all that's that's the way we was and

But thanks be to God. Oh, all right, back over in our text again. Oh, this sin is common to all men, what I just read. And men, men, I'll tell you what, men and women who make a conscious effort to obtain justification by law works and rejecting, rejecting the blessed and the glorious complete work of Christ, they're under the curse. They're under the curse. If they try and appease their conscience and satisfy God by the things that they do, you know what they're doing? They're establishing their own righteousness. Oh, my. Not submitting to this righteousness of the law.

And then what's the consequences of this right? Look down verse 11 and 12. But now look what he says. But now that no man There's several places God says no man, no man can come unto me. But look what it says, but that no man is justified by the law, and this is where it counts, in the sight of God. That's where everything counts, in the sight of God. Huh? And it's evident that not a man is justified by the law. It's clear, plain for us to see, for the just live how? By faith. My faith? Oh my. Oh my.

And look what it says. And the law is not a faith. The law has nothing to do with faith. What does it have to do with? Doing. Blessed is the man that doeth them shall live in them. Live in every one of those laws. And oh, knowing that a man is justified not by law, it's obvious in God's sight. How can that which condemns you justifies you? The law only makes sin more sinful and exposes it. And it's evident, the just shall live by faith. There's four times that the just shall live by faith in the Bible. The first time's Habakkuk, chapter two.

And that's why Paul also said in the Gospel, Romans 1, 16, where he said, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. I'm not ashamed of it. I am. Because in that Gospel, God reveals his righteousness. And as it is written, the just shall live by faith. When you believe the Gospel under righteousness, how do you do it? By faith. By faith. Oh, my. And that's what I have for those who lift themselves up.

There's two represented people here. I tell you what, I ain't been 30 minutes yet, so good. I'm not, I try to keep it to 35 minutes on Wednesday nights if I can. There's two people represented here. The natural man, the Jew or the Gentile, proud their souls lifted up in them. And the just, who live by faith before God. Where does it leave those who seek to be justified by law? You know how many people were justified before the law was ever given and even after the law was given? Abel was justified by God. God had respect under his offering. Enoch walked with God and was not. Why not? God took him. Oh my. Noah, rest, comfort her. He walked with God. Job, oh, Job, God said, you're a perfect, adjusted, and upright man. And he come to the conclusion, though he slay me, I'm going to trust him. And I know that my Redeemer lives at the last day on the earth. And what about Isaac, Jacob, Joseph? All of them were believers. And there were many, many, many who were justified when the law was given, but none were ever justified by obedience to the law.

I believe Moses was justified by grace. I believe Moses was justified. The law wasn't given to save, but to reveal sin, to lead us to Christ, and cause us to trust Christ, The just shall live by faith. And I'll tell you something, law and faith are mutually exclusive. You cannot mix them. But look what he says in verse 12 here. The law has nothing to do with faith. Has nothing to do with faith. Don't do it. And that says that in Leviticus 18, 5. Oh, by faith. and law are based entirely on two different principles. If a person keeps the law perfectly, consistently, evidently, he would live if he kept the law perfectly. If he continued in them all the days of his life, God would say, I owe that man, I owe him salvation. He worked for it, and I owe it to him. He done what was right, and now I owe it to him. Oh, but the spiritually alive and accepted by God, that's a whole nother horse of another different color. If a man earned acceptance, he could be justified by works. Would God ever put himself in debt to anybody? But him who does not believe, but him who does not work but believe, his faith, is faith is counted for righteousness. And all these truths about law and works and things, and every one of us has been under them one time or another. Every single one of us right here, right now, and everybody be here Sunday, every one of them has been under the works of the law, trying our best to do the best we could and been under it. One way or another, we have. And God in His sovereign mercy one day crossed our paths with the gospel, a gospel of righteousness by Christ and Christ alone, a gospel of grace by grace Christ alone, and salvation by Christ alone. And when He taught us that, you know what we done? Count it all but done. And what did we do? We turned to our Lord Jesus Christ. And once you turn to Him, you cannot never turn back. Can't you? Can't do it. Our Father, blessed be your name for allowing us to meet tonight. Thank you for enabling me to say some things about your word. I pray that you'd cause it to be a blessing to those here and those that are listening, those that are home. Cause it to be a great blessing to them. and encouragement to Him. Oh Lord, we need nothing but our Lord Jesus Christ. We want nothing but Him. He's the one that gave us life. He's the one that gave us faith. He's the one that gives us grace. He's the one that pulls us day in and day out. And Lord, let us never, ever, ever turn to anyone or anything but our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you, dear saints, as they go their way. Preserve them and keep them, and give them a good night's rest, and do it for Christ's sake. Amen. 205, I think that's if I remember right, 205. We'll stand, and when you get to the end of this, you'll be at liberty to go. Everybody knows what this is. I'm almost sure you know what it is. 205. Yep. Once and for all. Once for all. Free from the law. Oh, happy condition. Jesus has bled and there's remission. Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall, but Christ has redeemed us once and for all. Oh, boy. Good news, ain't it? Free from the law, happy condition Jesus hath bled and there is remission Bruised by the foe and bruised by the foe Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O brother, believe it. Cling to the cross, the burden will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Jesus revives and perfect salvation. Come unto me, oh, here is sweet call. Come and He saves us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O brother, believe it. Cling to the cross, the burden will fall. Christ hath redeemed us from the law. Children of God, O glorious calling, Surely His grace will keep us from falling, Passing from death to life at His call. Bless His salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive it. Once for all, O sinner, believe it. Bring to the cross the burdened will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Well, good night. God bless you. See you Sunday, Lord willing.