Good evening. Before we start
the service, so I don't forget to tell you, next Sunday we'll
have our monthly fellowship lunch. And remember, there'll be no
Wednesday services again this week, but the Lord will and our
pastor will be back with us next Sunday. Let's all stand together
and sing hymn number 145. 145. Hail Thou once despised Jesus,
Hail Thou Galilean King! Thou didst suffer to release
us, Thou didst free salvation bring. Hail Thou agonizing Savior,
bearer of our sin and shame. By Thy merits we find favor,
life is given through Thy name. Asculent by God appointed, All
our sins on thee were laid, By almighty love anointed, Thou
hast full atonement made. All thy people are forgiven,
Through the virtue of thy blood, opened is the gate of heaven. Peace is made, twixt man and
God. Jesus hailed, enthroned in glory,
there forever to abide. All the heavenly hosts adore
thee, seated at thy Father's side. There for sinners Thou
art pleading, There Thou dost our place prepare, Ever for us
interceding, Till in glory we appear. Worship, honor, power, and blessing
Thou art worthy to receive Loudest praises without ceasing Need
it is for us to give Help keep bright angelic spirits. Bring your sweetest, noblest
place. Help to sing our Savior's merits. Help to chant Emmanuel's praise. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
326. 326. More about Jesus would I know. More of His grace her died for me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love her died for me. ? More about Jesus let me learn
? More of his holy will discern ? Spirit of God my teacher be
Showing the things of Christ to me. More, more about Jesus. More, more about Jesus. of His love who died for me. O'er about Jesus in His Word
? Holding communion with my Lord
? ? Hearing his voice in every line ? ? Making each faithful
savior glad ? More, more about Jesus More, more about Jesus
More of His saving force ? This love who died for me ? More about Jesus on his throne
? Riches and glory own, o'er of his kingdom sure
increase, o'er of his coming Prince of Peace. More about Jesus. More of His saving fullness see. More of His love, her died for
me. Good evening. For our scripture
this evening, if you would, let's open the book of Psalm, and I'll
read Psalm 5. Psalm 5. Give ear to my words,
O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning. O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto
thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God that hath
pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The
foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers
of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak, leasing the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful
man. But as for me, I will come unto thy house in the multitude
of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy
temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine
enemies. Make thy way straight before my face. For there is
no faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness.
Their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God, let them fall by their own counsels.
Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for
they have rebelled against thee. But let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy,
because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. Let's pray. Our great and merciful Heavenly
Father, we thank thee for this precious word, and we thank thee
for the day, Lord, and for the word we heard this morning. We
ask thee once again to send the spirit among us. Bless this congregation
with thy presence. We ask thee to bless Fred as
he brings the word. May Christ once more be uplifted.
We ask thee to bless the downtrodden and the sick of the congregation. Heal them and be their stay.
We ask all these things in Christ's name. Amen. Hymn number 295, 295. He leadeth me, O blessed thought,
O words with heavenly comfort fraught. What e'er I do, where'er
I be, still tis God's hand that leadeth me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me
By his own hand he leadeth me His faithful follower I would
be For by his hand he leadeth me Sometimes mid scenes of deepest
gloom, sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom, by water still
poured Still tis his hand that leadeth
me. He leadeth me. He leadeth me. by his own hand he leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, for by his hand he leadeth me. Lord, I would clasp thy hand
in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine, content whatever lie. Saints, tis my God that leadeth
me He leadeth me, He leadeth me By His own hand He leadeth
me His faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leadeth
me. And when my task on earth is
done, when by thy grace the victory's won. In death's cold wave, I
will not flee. since God through Jordan leadeth
me. He leadeth me, he leadeth me
by his own, and he leadeth me. His faithful follower I would
be, for by His hand He leadeth me. We have Brother Fred Evans with
us again this evening. You come on and bring forth the
word. Again, a privilege to preach
the gospel to you again tonight and pray that God be with us
and ask your prayers even as I preach. I know you guys understand
that worship is an active engagement while you're sitting. It's a
constant struggle that you face as you attempt and desire to
worship God. I like what that hymn writer
just said, very, honest hymn writer, thy faithful
follower I would be. Not that I am, but oh, I won't
do. And I pray, I know this, that
your heart's desire is to worship Christ. And I do pray that you
would actively ask God's grace upon me and be selfish, that
he would do it for you. Pray for me, for you. God, give
me the word that you need this evening. If you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Galatians, Galatians chapter three, Galatians
chapter three, entitled this message, living
by faith, living by faith. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
10 the scripture says, 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 no man is justified by the
law in the sight of God 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 blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith. And the apostle Paul has set
forth this truth that Abraham, Abraham was intended of God to
be an eminent type of every believer. He is called the father of the
faithful because how Abraham was justified is how we're justified. Scripture says, Abraham, what
believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. And
so it is with everyone. So Paul does prove this, that
salvation, that the salvation of Abraham was through faith,
which was before the law. Abraham believed God, he was
counted to him for righteousness before the law was ever given. And so then all who are justified
before God are justified by faith, by faith. And when we say that,
I want you to understand it is a two-fold faith. We are justified
by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's what he says in Galatians
two and verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. So this is how justification
was accomplished by faith, not your faith, his faith. And how then is this justification
received? It is through faith. This is
our faith. We receive what Christ has done
by faith. And so now in verse 10, the apostle
now will turn back. Now you've got to understand
the book of Galatians, I've been through this book with our congregation
recently, and the whole book is intended to do this. These
people were seeking to be justified by faith and by the law. They thought that salvation began
by faith, but they should walk according to the law. And so
he turns again to these legalists, to these who would, who would
be under the law, anybody that would be under the law, Paul
turns to them. And he states this truth in chapter
three in verse 10. He says, for as many as are under
the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. And I want to get this point
across for anyone who desires to return to the law. Now, listen
to this in any measure. For any part of his salvation. Paul is stating here that you
are under the whole law. The whole law is so it's not
a light thing. Uh, we, we know people that say
they believe in the doctrines of grace. They believe that salvation
is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If I were to preach
to them justification by faith, they'd be saying, amen. And yet
for their sanctification, they would return under the law. They
would say, well, I'm justified by Christ. I'm righteous by Christ. Christ is my wisdom, but sanctification
is somehow a cooperative effort between the believer and Christ. It's no light thing to say that. And so I'm speaking to anyone
then, as Paul is in this verse, anyone who desires to be under
the law in any measure, To bring you closer to God. That's what
men say. Well, I want, I want to try to
do those things in the law so I can be closer to God. Well, this verse is speaking
to you. Well, I'm, I'm saved by grace through faith in Christ,
but you know, I need to, I need to progressively be sanctified. I need to become holier. So I
need to obey the law. This verse is speaking to you. If you desire to walk according
to the law, listen to me, you are under the law fully, completely,
and absolutely under the law. And so he says, for as many as
I don't care, whoever, as many as are of the works of the law
are under what the curse, the curse. To all who would begin
by faith in Christ and somehow finished by the law as a rule
of life, you are under the law and you are not under grace. For as many as are of the works
of the law, they are under the full measure, the full weight
and the full penalty of the law, the curse. I deal, and this is very fresh
to me because I've had this happen recently. Somebody that is desiring
to be under the law. And they do this in order to
measure their salvation. They say, well, I wanna know
how much I've grown. And so they say, well, I'm gonna take the
law and put my life under the microscope of that law, just
see how far I've grown. No, that's not what the law is
for. The law is an all or none principle. You are either under the law
and its curse or you're under grace. There are no, there are
no two. No, there's no way to be different here. And I want
you to know this. The law, when we say the law,
what's the first thing pops in your head? I know it does mine.
The 10 commandments, that's just, that just natural for us. Do
you realize that the law has 613 commandments? 613. Somebody said, well, I think
we should use the law as a rule of life. I said, OK, what's commandment
512? You don't even know, do you?
Then how could you possibly desire to be under the law? You don't
even know them all. You want to take 10. But what about the
other 603? And so if you fail then, and
James tells us that if you fail in one point, You are guilty
of the whole law. If you fail and miss the mark
by one sinful thought, one sinful motive, one sinful deed, then
you are under the penalty of the law, which is what? A curse. The curse of God. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law,
to do them. And so is there anyone that desires
to be under the law? It doesn't matter how sincere
you may be or how much you claim to love and seek to honor God
by being under that law. And that's their defense. Well,
I want to honor God. I want to, I want to try to do
those things in a law so I can honor God. My question is, when
have you ever done one of them? When is one thing you've ever
done that you may take to God and say, here, I've honored you?
You can't, you can't. And so what does Christ profit
you if you're under the law? Later on, the apostle tell us
this. He said, if you be circumcised, that's the only one they wanted
to do. They ignored the 612 other laws in Galatia, and they desired
the one law, circumcision. And he said this, if you be circumcised,
if that is part of your justification before God, then Christ shall
profit you nothing, nothing. So my question is why in the
world would anybody want to be under the law? If that's all
the law can do is curse me, then why would I ever desire to be
under it? Why would anyone want to be justified
by Christ and then somehow return to the law as a rule of life? But we who are of faith, we know
this, we will not and we cannot ever return to the law. Why? By the deeds, look at the next
verse, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. Is what? To you that believe
it's what? It's just evident. I don't have
to look at you to figure that out. I looked at me and I figured
that out. I looked at my sin and saw this. There was no way I could be justified
by the law in the sight of God. That's just evident to us. And to us who are taught of God,
that's, that's, it's clear. It's clear. This is clearly seen. To all who are quickened by the
Spirit of God to life and faith in Christ. For God has told us
what the law, what law we should live by. God
has told us what law we should live by. Look at that next verse.
He said in verse 11 again, he said, no man is justified by
the law and the sight of God is evident. Why? This is what
we've been taught for the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Just as God wrote the first,
it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. That is immutable. That is unchangeable. Anybody
wants to be under the law, God says you're cursed. But just
as written with the same finger of God, it is written. Those
who are just, those who are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ.
How are we going to live? The just shall live by faith. That's how we live. Those who desire the law be under
the law. I'm always asked this question.
Well, how in the world are you going to live in this world?
Man, if you don't have a law to live by, man, you, you must
be a very wicked person. I say, you know what? I guess
I'm just like Abraham. Why? Abraham didn't have the
law. He lived by faith. And so this
is how we were justified. Like Abraham, we were justified
through faith. How did Abraham live? If he didn't
have the law there, they'd be, they'd be stumped to figure out
how he lived, how he'd stopped from fornication and all kinds
of wicked, evil things. Surely Abraham would have gone
out and done all these wicked things since he didn't have the
law. No, because Abraham lived by faith. Well, this is how we
live. We live by faith. Our obedience
to the law can never be applied to our justification on any level. It never did, it never could
by any means bring us to God. Now why is this? It's because
we were born sinners. We were born sinners. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. How do you know that? For it
is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. We know this. You know, one thing
about the law, the law of spiritual, it's a spiritual law. It's given
by God. And what the law requires of a carnal man is impossible. The law requires us who are carnal
to do something spiritual. And we can't. But on the other
hand, faith is all spiritual. It is of God. It is given to
us. as a gift of grace. It is a very
spiritual thing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Matter
of fact, Christ said it's impossible for men to do this. You can't
believe no man can come to me except the father which has sent
me draw him. You come to Christ. That's a
totally spiritual thing, isn't it? It's something God had to
do for you, something you couldn't do for yourself. And so we who are come to Christ
by faith, we are justified before God, but not by the law, not
by our works, not by our obedience. And therefore, this is true of
everyone who lives by faith. We'll never go back. We'll never
go back. I'll never go to the law. I'll
never return to the law to try to seek to be justified before
God. Listen, what Paul says in Hebrews 10 38, he said, now the
just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, you know what he's talking about
in Hebrews, he's speaking to those Hebrew believers. He said,
if you go back to the law, my soul shall have no pleasure.
But Paul was confident. We who live by faith will never
go back. He said, but we are not of them
that draw back to perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. You see, all true God-given faith
constantly endures. It will never cease if it is
God-given faith. It will believe until the soul
is raptured into the very presence of Jesus Christ. Faith will endure.
Faith will endure. So the apostle shows us this
wonderful justification that was accomplished. By declaring
the true order and what it means to live by faith. First of all,
I want you to know to live by faith. Occurs only to those who
are given spiritual life. You can't live by faith unless
you're born again of the spirit of God. Our spiritual life, our justification,
our sanctification has nothing to do with our obedience. It has nothing to do with the
works of the law. Look at verse two. Paul asked
him a question before he gets to this part. He's kind of asking
a rhetorical question, a question that's just obvious. They're
just not too obvious an answer to even answer it. He said, this
only what I learned of you, received you the spirit by the works of
the law or by the hearing of faith. How did you receive the
spirit? Did God look down at your works and say, man, that's
a great guy. He's doing real well. He's obeying
the law. Good. So I'm going to give him
the spirit. Is that how it came to you? Or did you hear the gospel
and by the grace and power of God, did you receive the spirit
through that way? Which way? What's a rhetorical
question? Everybody, faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. It's a spiritual thing that came
by the power of the spirit. And so he then asked this, are
you so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made
perfect by the flesh? Are you so duped? To think that this thing begins
spiritually and ends carnally. Begins with the power of the
spirit and ends with the power of your flesh. This is most religion. This is just, it's just 99% of
religion. Is it somehow the spirit of God
gives you the new birth or that you're born again and then you've
got to finish this thing. You've got to you've got to make
up what's lacking. We're talking about Christ being
successful. The reason they do this because
they don't believe Christ is successful. They don't believe
he's actually accomplished salvation. They believe he's done his part
and the rest you've got to do yourself. Paul said, you're so
foolish to think that way. Listen, what he says to anybody
who believes that go back to your text and look at verse 12.
He said, the just shall live by faith. Listen to these words. And the law is not a faith. Paul, I don't think these words
can be clear. Yeah, it's kind of hard to expound
on it so clear. The law is not a faith. These
two can never be mixed. YOU ARE EITHER SAVED BY GRACE
THROUGH FAITH OR YOU ARE SAVED BY YOUR OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW.
THESE TWO ARE NEVER COMBINED. THE LAW IS NOT OF FAITH. The spiritual birth and the spiritual
walk of the believer are only by faith. And any man who takes
the law as his rule of life It's not a faith. The minute you take
the law as a rule of your life, you're not walking by faith.
Why? The law is not a faith. Now let
the legalist at this point rage and let him stomp and boast and
hold his breath until it becomes blue in the face, be angry and
mad. All his railing will do nothing
to change this truth. The law is not a faith. If you're living under the law,
you're not walking by faith. If you're walking by faith, you
are not under the law. These two cannot be mixed. And
so all his ranting will never change the truth. The law is
not of faith. So all who walk under the law
are not of faith, but under the curse of the law. Secondly, the
law always says this, do. Look what it says. The law is
not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. All who are under the law are
to do perform labor. Listen to this constantly, perpetually,
eternally labor. If that's what you want to be
under is the law. You must do these things forever. The law requires you to continually
do these things. And I tell people that desire
to be under the law, you realize that you have to go over there
and knock down a mosque. You have to rebuild a temple.
You got to find a high priest that somehow related to Aaron
and you got to get him to offer sacrifices again. And you know,
if you do all that, you still haven't done anything. Because
you've not done it with all your heart and soul and mind and being
in love and service to God. But listen to the joy of faith.
Faith doesn't say do. Faith says done. Faith doesn't look to something
we do. It never does. It looks always
to something that's been done. We look to Christ and so living
by faith does not involve doing but rather this, trusting, trusting. Believing on what Christ has
done. Look now and see that all religion
today is about doing, blindly doing, blindly doing. They imagine that they shall
somehow by their doing be accepted of God by their religious zeal
or sincere efforts. Listen, I do not doubt their
sincerity. I will in no way doubt their
sincerity about trying to earn God's favor. I would even admit
this, that they do a better job than I do. They may be better people than
I am. I don't shy away to admit that. But all their sincerity and all
their doings will do nothing but curse them. They vainly think
the law, take the law of God and they take it in pieces, dividing
the law and using only what they perceive they can obey. That's
it. They won't take the whole thing
because they cannot. And again, to fail in one point
is to be guilty of the whole law. But all who take to do one
thing in the law must continually live in them. You must completely submit under the dominion of
the whole law. And what does it say? Curses
everyone that continueth not in two words, all things, all
things written in the book of the law to do them. In other
words, one cannot live under grace and then return to live
under the law. You must either live under the
one or the other. You cannot live under both is
the message of the apostle here. Cannot move from bondage to freedom
and from freedom to bondage. Cannot be under the law and then
live under grace. Therefore, everyone who is justified
by faith, listen to what Paul says in chapter 5, verse 1. He says, stand fast. You can't be moving from one
to the other. You are either under the one
or the other. You that are living by faith, stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. See the great contrast of those
who live in perfect liberty and those who live in bondage. You
that are justified by faith, you are at perfect liberty. You
are at perfect liberty. We live in Christ and our life
is hid with Christ in God. Our hope is our vital union with
Christ in the inner man. Our justification is by him and
we have received it through faith in him. So we look now. and see that Christ, what he
has done to live by faith is to look and see what he has done
and constantly hold and trust that rather than looking to ourselves
for any part. And so look now and see your
chains of sin. You that feel the sentence of
death, Listen to this, what the Lord says, if anybody is under
the bondage of the law, if anybody feels the weight of their guilt,
listen what Christ said. If the Son shall set you free,
you shall be free indeed. You shall be free at liberty,
at liberty. Free from what? You that walk
by faith, what are you free from? There are three things, I always
keep these in mind every time I talk about being at liberty.
What does that mean, that I'm at liberty to what? I am free
from guilt. I don't mean I'm free from feeling
guilt. I feel guilt often, but that's
not real guilt. Because sometimes I don't feel
guilt, and I am guilty. So what do my feelings about
guilt have to do with guilt? It doesn't. Christ has set me
free from the guilt of sin. How? Because he bore the guilt. Look what he says back in your
text. He says in verse 13, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. How in the world did
he do that? How did he make me free from
guilt? Being made a curse. I tell you what, I do not understand
that. He was, Paul said in another
text, he was made sin for us. Who knew no sin. Both were true at the same time.
He was made sin. And listen, God didn't pretend
he was guilty. I want you to understand that
God can't pretend. When he made him to be sin for
us, he bore our guilt. And God punished him. That curse
that the law put on us, he bore himself on the tree. And the result is this, he redeemed
us. The guilt of our sin is gone. This is what it is to live daily,
constantly by faith. My guilt is gone. Isn't that refreshing since our
conscience is constantly telling us how guilty we are? When I read about righteousness
and I look in the mirror, I don't see any of that. By faith I see
this, that he bore my sin. Look at what he says in Jeremiah
50. You're free from the guilt of
sin. This is astounding. Look at Jeremiah 50 in verse
20. Look what Christ has done for
us. In those days and in that time,
sayeth the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be what? None. Now who's doing the search in
here? God is. When God looks for your sin,
you know what he finds? Nothing. the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found. You know, when I think about
this, I think about the Great Day of Atonement. What a beautiful,
glorious picture that was of what Christ did for us who trust
in Him. When you talk about that scapegoat,
the high priest comes and he confesses the sin on the top
of that scapegoat, and this big old strong man comes in, he grabs
that goat up, and he takes him out, and he walks. He just keeps
walking. And he walks, just keeps walking. And as he goes, he gets smaller
and smaller and smaller until what? He's gone. That's what the blood of Christ
did for your guilt. He took it away. And those who
walk by faith, they shall never be charged with their sins. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth righteousness. See, that's why you won't be
guilty, because you're not. Again, we're not pretending.
When God saved you, you that walk by faith, when God quickened
you, He gave you a new nature. in that nature is the very righteousness
of Christ. That nature is as holy as God. That's astounding, isn't it?
Isn't that astounding? Now, where in the world would
I even read something like that? Well, John tells us this in 1
John chapter 5. He said, whosoever is born of
God sinneth not. You believe that, is that true? Wait a second, I see it all the
time. Well, John says that in the very first part of that,
doesn't he? He says, if any man say he hath not sin, he makes
God a liar, and the truth's not any. Well, how can both of those
things be true? Well, because God didn't do anything
with the old man. The old man's still full of sin. That's all he does. Matter of
fact, that's all I see. is sin. But the truth of the
power of God the Spirit is that he has made us the righteousness
of God in Christ. And that new nature that you
have in you is holy and without sin. Now you know why you struggle.
Now you know why you're at war with yourself. Because there's
a nature that cannot sin and there's a nature that cannot
be righteous. And these two are opposed to each other inside
of you. And so when you're in struggle,
remember this. Stand fast in the liberty where Christ has
made you free. You are free from the guilt of your sin. Christ
bore it away. Secondly, listen, you're free
from the dominion of sin. I don't feel that. Do you? I
don't feel like I'm free from dominion of sin. Wait a second.
Before Christ came to you and gave you life, could you believe? You couldn't believe. You were
under sin's dominion. You had no ability to believe. Do you believe now? Why? You're no longer under its
dominion. God has given you a new nature
that cannot be tainted with sin. It's not under the dominion of
sin. Yeah, you struggle with sin and you fail miserably all
the time. It's a good thing then the believer
is living by faith and not by sight. We live by faith that
we are free from the dominion of sin, power of sin. And listen
to this, you that are free, you shall one day be free from the
presence of sin. I'm free from his guilt. I'm
free from its power. Oh, but I'm not free from its
presence. One day the Lord will come and
take us to be with himself. He said in another, Paul said
in another place, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God. Is this, this, this ain't going, this stuff
ain't going. It has to be put off. And when
this thing is put off into the ground, what goes to heaven?
What part of you goes to heaven? The part he made, the part he
created, that holy nature that is in you. That's what rises
to glory. And then one day he's going to
come back and take this and make this like that. And so we have this hope that
one day we will be like him, completely, perfectly like him. But how do we live until then?
We live by faith. Listen what John said. He says, as he
is. Now, how is he? If you can, By
God's grace, think of all of the adjectives you can think
about that describe our Lord Jesus Christ. How is he? He's
righteous, holy, glorious, gracious, merciful, kind, loving. All of those things that I don't
appear to be. But listen to this, as he is,
So are we in this present world. How else can you see that but
by faith? You can't. You can't see it except
by faith. And this is why we live by faith,
constantly trusting in the work and the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so as we walk by faith, we
like Paul say this, the things that were gained to me, I count
as loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, I count all things,
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them, but done that I may win Christ and be found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the Faith of Christ. See, that's all my righteousness. That's what it is to live by
faith. It is to count all that I do, all that I've done as done. And count all that he is and
all that he's done as the excellency of the glory of God. I count
everything of his. I want all of what he's done
I want to be found in Him. Isn't that true of you? Do you want to be found in Him? Or do you want to be found in
a mixture of something you do and something He's done? I don't
want it. I don't want what I've done.
Faith continually denies to look at anything I've done. And faith
continually looks at all He has accomplished. And I trust him. I believe him. This is what it is to live by
faith. Therefore, we who are of faith are blessed as with
faithful Abraham. That's what he said. Look back
at your text. He said, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for it is
written curses. Everyone that hangeth on a tree
that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the spirit. How
do we receive it through faith through faith? Uh, I told them
in this, in, in the back and it needs to be repeated. Because there's a lot of believers
who are struggling. They say, I don't know when I
believed. I don't know when the Lord saved
me. Let me give you something. You don't have to. You don't
need to worry about that. The question is, do you believe
now? Faith in the scriptures is always
present tense for a very important reason. Faith 10 minutes ago
won't help me. And faith 10 minutes from now
will not help me. I believe now. And now. And now. And now. You see what it is to
walk by faith? It is to constantly look to Jesus
Christ for everything. And people are going to say,
well, what about good works? Are you telling us that we should
cease from good works? If we cease from the law, then
how are we going to know what good works are? We never said anything about
not doing good works. Matter of fact, all true faith
will work. James is James. That's the book
of James is, is outlining that to justify my faith. If I need
to know if my faith is genuine, James outlines that for us. But the key is this. I am in
by no way justified, sanctified, redeemed, or righteous by my
good works. Faith works, but not by law.
It works by love. Faith works by love. What keeps you from sin? That's
the question of the legalist. What keeps you from sin? You
don't have a law to live by. What keeps you from sin? This
is what Paul said. The love of Christ constraining
us. That's what constrains me. In Romans chapter 12, the apostle
says this, he spends 11 chapters talking about salvation by grace,
11 chapters, which you think most important, how to live or
salvation by grace. There's 11 chapters talking about
now in the end, he starts talking about how the conduct of the
believer, which is, which is important. Listen, what he said,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, Now here's
the foundation of everything you do in this world. The mercy
of God, because God has showed you mercy, how should you conduct
yourself? I beseech you therefore, because
of the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. You that
walk by faith, isn't it just reasonable? Isn't it reasonable
to humble yourself? Isn't it reasonable to account
others greater than yourself? Isn't that just reasonable? If
you understand the gospel of God's grace, it's just reasonable. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again, I say rejoice. Isn't that reasonable? Just reasonable. These works that the apostle
gives us. Let your moderation be known
to all men. Isn't that reasonable for us to be content with such
things as we have? Isn't that reasonable? I don't
need a law to tell me that. That's just reasonable. If I
listen to the gospel of God's grace, then all of these things
that we are to do to one another and be kind to one another, it's
just reasonable. And so those who live by faith,
they work, but the motive is different. I'm not doing it to
be accepted. I'm doing it because I'm accepted. I'm not doing it to be a son.
I'm doing it because I am a son. I'm not doing it for eternal
life. I'm doing it because I have eternal
life. See the difference? And I don't
need the law of Moses to tell me how to live. Why? The just shall live by faith. Is that how you live? Or do you want to be better than
the law? Anybody want to be under the law? It's madness to want to be under
the law. It's madness. Thank God we are saved by grace
through faith in Christ and we live by faith. And I'm so glad
God keeps this, because I can't keep the faith. I couldn't give
myself faith, and I definitely can't keep it. How often do you count your faith
as unbelief? We say often with Asa. Asa, I
know God's good to Israel, but as for me, my foot is nigh well slipped,
he said. I lost my faith. How many times
have you said that? And all of a sudden, faith, boop,
pops back up. Where does that come from? It
comes from God. I hope you get the picture of
this, that salvation from beginning to end is the work of God. It's
the work of God. And I'm so glad. That makes it
sure, doesn't it? That makes it sure. I pray God
will bless this to your hearts. Thank you, brother. Let's have
a word of prayer. Our Heavenly Father, Lord God
Almighty, we bow before you once more through your blessed Son,
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you for this message.
Thank you for all of your word. We thank you for revealing yourself
unto us. Lord, we ask that you would increase
our faith. Ask that you would keep us and cause us to continually live
by faith. Lord, we ask for mercy for those
who are weak and weary. for traveling mercy for those
who are to be traveling. Lord, we ask that you keep us
through this week till we can meet again according unto thy
will. Lord, we ask that all things
be done for Christ's sake, amen. Let's sing Living by Faith. It's
on page 30 in our course books. Page 30 in the course book. I care not today what tomorrow
may bring If shadow or sunshine or rain The Lord I know ruleth
over everything And all of my worry is vain Living by faith
in Jesus above, trusting, confiding in his great love. Safe from all harm, in his sheltering
arm, I'm living by faith and 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, in his sheltering
arm, I'm living by faith and fellow along. 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 In his sheltering arm Unliving by faith And feel
no alarm 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, confiding in his great love, safe from
all You're dismissed. We'll meet again next Sunday
morning, Lord willing.