freshly moved to a new location. And Daniel also moved to a new
location. Everybody wanted to move just
last year. We moved our business. They moved
and you moved. One of our members, Beth, she's
moved to Hollister, Missouri. And so we've got all kinds of
movement going on. Anyway, it's good to be with
you guys today. Remember this morning, Brother
Ed, Bart is on his way to Texas he's going down to his granddaughter's
house and so he'll be traveling and that's we always like to
keep him in prayer for him driving such a long ways you know and
his age and everything it's quite a drive and I can't remember
where they live down around uh is it down by Houston yeah so
this is way down there so he's got a long long drive, so we
pray that his car holds up for him and seems to always have
some car troubles, so pray for that. Also, one of our former
members, Sister Louetta Carlson, one of our founding members here,
she is in ICU in Nashville right now. She's had a heart attack
and some minor strokes. and is not doing very well. So
if everybody would remember Sister Loretta Carlson in your prayers,
I'm sure that she would appreciate that as well. We miss her and
just pray that the Lord will be done with whatever he's doing
and all that. Well, turn with me if you would
this morning into your Gatsby hymn books to a hymn number 45. Number 45. Salvation by Christ alone will
send us in tune of my soldier of the cross. Number 45. How can ye hope deluded souls
to see what none e'er saw? Salvation by the works obtained
of Sinai's fiery law. There ye may toil and weep and
fast And vex your heart with pain And when you've ended, find
at last That all your toil was vain That law but makes your
guilt abound Sad help and what is worse All souls that under
that are found By God himself are cursed This curse pertains
to those who break One precept, they're so small And where's
the man in thirty That has not broken old? Fly then, awakened sinners, fly,
Your case admits no stain. The fountains open now for sin,
Come wash your guilt away See how from Jesus' wounded side
The water flows and blood If you but touch that purple tide
You then have peace with God Only by faith in Jesus' wound
the sinner finds release. No other sacrifice for sin will
God accept but this. Amen. That's what the purpose
of the law was for. We're going to be talking about
that some today. It was to show us that there's no hope in and
of ourselves, and that we need Christ. And we're thankful for
the ministry of the law in that regard. But as that hymn says,
it's only for awakened sinners. Only those who have been born
from above understand and know those things. All right, turning
to hymn 101 in that same hymn book, please. Hymn number 101. We'll sing this to the tune of
All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. Does conscience lay a guilty
charge and Moses must condemn? And bring in bills exceeding
large? Let Jesus answer them. And bring in bills exceeding
large Let Jesus answer them He paid thy ransom with His hand
And every score did quit And Moses never can demand to payments
of one debt. And Moses never can demand to
payments of one debt. Now justice smiles on mercy sweet,
and looks well-reconciled. Join hand in hand, they go to
meet and kiss a weeping child. Join hand in hand, they go to
meet and kiss a weeping child. But ask the Lord for his receipt
to show the payment good. Delivered from the mercy seat
and sprinkled with his blood, Delivered from the mercy seat,
and sprinkled with His blood. The law Thy feet will not enlarge,
nor give Thy conscience rest. Till thou canst find a full discharge,
Locked up within thy breast. Till thou canst find a full discharge,
Locked up within thy breast. The sight of this will melt thy
heart and make thy eyes run o'er. A happy pardon, child, thou art,
and heaven is at thy door. A happy pardon, child, thou art,
and heaven is at thy door. That's a wonderful verse there,
verse three. Now, justice smiles on mercy
sweet. You know, God's justice has to
be satisfied. We can't be saved without justice
being satisfied. The justice demands our condemnation. It demands our being put under
the wrath of God. However, when Christ stood for
us, justice was satisfied and therefore the mercy that was
given to us became even more sweet, not only because God granted
that, but that Christ fulfilled it for us on our behalf. And so, It is a very sweet thing
and how it says there, joined hand in hand, mercy and justice
comes to the child of grace and kisses that weeping child because
that child of grace has been given to know his spiritual inability
in Adam and his need for Christ. And so we look to Christ, we're
given ability to know of our salvation. And so we know that
justice needs to be served and that Christ served that justice
for us. And so what a blessed thing that
that is for us. Turn now, if you would, to hymn
number 164. Hymn number 164. 164, we'll sing this to the doxology. Deep in our hearts let us record
the deeper sorrows of our Lord. Behold the rising billows roll
to overwhelm His holy soul. In loud complaints he spins his
breath While hosts of hell and powers of death And all the sons
of malice join To execute their cursed design Yet gracious God,
thy power and love have made the curse a blessing proof. Those dreadful sufferings of
thy son atone for sins which we had done. The pains of our expiring Lord,
The honors of thy law restored, His sorrows made thy justice
known, And paid for follies not his own. O for his sake our guilt forgive,
and let the mourning sinner live. The Lord will hear us in his
name, nor shall our hope be turned to shame. All right, does anybody have
a song that you'd like to sing in any of the hymn books? 110 in the old
school hymn book. Brethren, we have met to worship. Montana and the Old School. This is a dark purple one. I'm going to put it together.
This is Birdie. Birdie. Brethren, we have met to worship
and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power
while we try to preach the word? All is made unless the Spirit
of the Holy One comes down. Let us pray that holy manna may
be showered all around. Look and see poor mourners round
you, fearing, trembling, as they go. Longing for a consolation. Will you comfort them or no? Let us tell them of the Savior. Tell them that he will be found. Let us pray that Holy manna may
be showered all around. Is there here a trembling jailer
seeking peace and filled with fears? Is there here a weeping
Mary pouring for the flood of tears. Let us join our prayers
to help them. Let our faith and love abound. Let us pray that holy manna may
be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely,
let us love each other too. Let us love and pray for mourners,
till their Savior they can view. Then we'll love them still the
better, Take them to our kind embrace, Journey with them on
to glory, There to sing redeeming grace. All right, anybody else got something? 37 in the blue book. It's like
what a friend we have in Jesus as we're doing. Wretched, lost, condemned, and
dying. Guilty, I deserve God's wrath. Long I fought against my master. Hell-bent, I was courting death. But the blood of Christ had bought
me He refused to let me die This poor sinner loved by Jesus Must
be conquered by and by At the time which was predestined
In the covenant of God's grace God in mercy sent His Spirit
Blessed time of love and grace to reveal His Son's great merit
as the sinner's substitute. I saw Jesus bleeding, dying,
suffering as my substitute. Precious blood of sin's atonement,
justice could not ask for more. I heard Christ cry, it is finished,
and I could resist no more. Thanks to God for intervening. Grace that broke my stubborn
will. Grace that would not let me perish. Grace that rescued me from hell. Sovereign grace I will proclaim,
Irresistible and free, Grace that chose me and redeemed me,
God, by grace alone, saved me. Sinner, now you've heard my story. Now I bid you trust my God. Christ, my all-sufficient Savior,
saves four sinners by His blood. Aren't you glad about that? All right, does anybody else
have a song? A scripture or a verse? 22? Jesus only. Jesus only. Sing this to the tune of tis
so sweet to trust in Jesus that as our great God or our great
savior, but I don't know that tune. But it can be so, it is
so sweet to trust in Jesus. Jesus only is my Savior. Jesus only will I praise. Trusting Him, I need no other. Trusting Him, I have all grace. Jesus is my God and Savior, Jesus
saves me by His grace. Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus
only will I praise. Jesus only represents me. He's the Lord, my righteousness. His obedience, perfect, holy,
is before my God, my dress. Jesus is my God and Savior. Jesus saves me by his grace. Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus
only will I praise. Jesus only died at Calvary, bearing
all my guilt and sin. Precious blood he shed so freely
Has atoned for all my sin Jesus is my God and Savior Jesus saves
me by his grace Jesus only, Jesus only Jesus only will I praise. Jesus only rules in heaven. There for me he intercedes. By his blood I am forgiven. And for me his blood he pleads. Jesus is my God and Savior, Jesus
saves me by His grace. Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus
only in my praise. Jesus only, King of glory, soon
will come to call me home. I will see Him, Jesus only, when
I reach my heavenly home. Jesus is my God and Savior, Jesus
saves me by His grace. Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus
only will I praise. Praise the Lord. Alright, anybody
else got one that you'd like to sing? Anything you'd like to say or
bring up? Alright, we'll move right along
here. Back to Galatians if you would
please, Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. Let's go
to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank you today for your mercy, for your grace. We thank you
for Jesus only. We thank you, Father, that he
has come and redeemed us from the curse of the law. redeemed
us from sin, that he has forgiven us all of our transgressions.
Father, that he has given us peace and hope that he has reconciled
us back to you. Father, we are so grateful today
for the ministry and the work of the Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, and for his spirit that has come into our hearts and
that has given us an understanding of the gospel to give us a hope
in Christ Jesus to let us know that we are your children. Father, we are so grateful for
that mercy and for that work of grace within our hearts. Father,
Lord, I pray now that as we gather in the study, we need your help,
and I pray that you might come and that you might help us. We
need your teaching. We need the Spirit's work within
us in our mind and our heart, Lord, to not only teach us what
is before us in these passages, but Father, that he might apply
that in our heart, that we might truly rest upon those things,
that we might believe and by faith, trust in Christ alone
for all that he has done for us. Father, we thank you for
those that are here this morning and we just pray, Lord, that
you might minister to them. They are your sheep and you've
promised to take care of your sheep, to feed them and to nourish
them and to heal them of their wounds and their sicknesses,
Lord. You have promised to take care of them and provide for
them, and Lord, we trust that you will do that this morning,
even as we gather together now, that you might be with each one,
each person, Lord, and see fit to them as you find, or as they
have need, and that you can supply that need for everything, whether
it be spiritual or whether it be fleshly, Lord, we know that
you can take care of the carnal things, which so often we come
and pray for. But Father, we know that you
definitely are taking care of all the spiritual things that
we cannot see. And so Lord, we just are so grateful
for that as well. Lord, we ask that you'd be with
Brother Ed this morning as he's traveling to Texas to be with
his family. Lord, we just pray that you would
give him safety and travel, that his car will not break down,
that he'll make it all the way, Lord, that he'll have a good
time of visiting his family, and Lord, that you might give
him safety whenever he does come back. And we look forward to
seeing him again whenever he does. Father, we also lift up
our dear sister, Loretta Carlson, Lord. We ask that you be with
her now in the hospital in Nashville with all the doctors and the
nurses, Lord, that you would give them the ability to tend
to her in the flesh, Lord, but Lord, we pray that in the spirit
that you would renew her, that you would give her faith and
hope, that you would encourage her, Lord, that you are in control
of all things and that you are the great physician and that
nothing happens in this life apart from your purpose. And
Lord, we just pray that she might understand those things and that
even in these afflictions that she's going through, that she
can look to you and find hope and that is for her ultimate
good. Lord, we pray for her family, for Mindy, who is there, who
is taking care of her and watching over her. Lord, we pray that
you would give her peace and a calmness, Lord, through all
of this, that she might be strengthened as she attends to Sister Louetta. I know that so often sitting
hours upon end in a hospital can be very tiresome and overwhelming. So, Lord, we just pray for peace
of mind and and rest, that she might receive rest through all
that. And for the rest of the family
also, as I'm sure they are burdened about all these things happening
to their mother. And so, Father, we just pray
for her as well. We're thankful, Father, for Kevin
and Jacqueline and Alessandro being back and for their ability
to move into a new house and for Daniel and his move and that
you took care of all that, Lord. and that everybody is where you
would have them to be. And so father, again, we thank
you for this time together and for these brethren that are here
gathered in your name. I pray that you would help me
now to preach and to minister. I know this morning I woke up
and my mind is in a thousand different directions, but father,
I pray that you would give me a clarity of thought and speech
that you might speak through me to give edification to your
people. And it's in Christ's name that
I ask this, amen. Well, brother, last week we looked
at the last part of verse 19 and then in verse 20, where Christ
is the mediator of the covenants. And we looked at how, at least
as I understand it and put forth much to the disagreement of many
theologians that I read after in the early days, that Christ
is the mediator of the Old Covenant as well as the New Covenant.
Many believe that Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant
and Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, but as we've
seen last week, Christ is the mediator of the Old as well as
the New. We saw that in the fact that
the Bible tells us very plainly that there is only one mediator
between God and man, and that is the man, Jesus Christ. So
if Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, the law
in the old covenant is a covenant between God and man. And so if
there's any mediator mediating that covenant, it is the Lord
Jesus Christ. But we also saw, as we looked
into Hebrews, the Bible said that Jesus hath now obtained
a more better ministry, which means that there was a ministry
that he had other than that ministry, which was the new covenant, that
there was a ministry that he had, which was not better, which
we seen was the old covenant. The old covenant is not a better
covenant. It is a lesser covenant. It is
an insufficient covenant. It was a covenant that was designed
to be faulty. It was designed by God to not
produce righteousness. It was designed to produce condemnation. It was designed to show us, and
we're going to see that today, it was designed to show us our
sin and push us or lead us to Christ for those who are his
people, to show us our need for Christ. And so that older covenant
was weak. It was insufficient. It was not
perfect. The new covenant, the everlasting
covenant, that covenant, the Bible says, is built on better
promises. It is a better covenant. It is
a new covenant. And so Jesus obtained a more
better ministry, according to Hebrews. Therefore, he had a
ministry that was not as better, and that was of the old covenant.
and the old covenant was weak in that it was weak through the
flesh as we'll read this morning. So Jesus was the mediator here
in verse 19 and 20. It says, it says, wherefore then
serveth the law, it was added because of transgressions till
the seed should come to whom the promise was made, that's
Christ, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. I won't go back and rehash what
ordained by angels mean. You can go back and listen to
that. It's on the church's page or it's on a sermon audio. You
can go back and listen to that. But we see that Christ was in
view here and that the mediator is not a mediator of one. You
can't have a mediator mediating to just one person. A mediator
is always a go-between between two people, right? A mediator
represents one and the other. And so we found out that It could,
the covenant, the old covenant could have been mediated by Moses
because if so, there is no other person. Moses was representing
the people. And so if he was the mediator,
he was only representing one side. Whereas Christ as the mediator
there, and of course we've seen all the places in the scripture
where it showed that Christ was there on the Mount with Moses
face to face, was with Moses. It says that he was a mediator
because he was the God-man. He could mediate for God because
he was fully God, and he could mediate for man because he was
fully man. And so Christ was the mediator
of that covenant. And now he's the mediator of
the more better covenant, the new covenant, the everlasting
covenant. And so here we are now in verse 21. The question
is being asked, Is the law then against the promises of God? And that's almost the exact same
question that we've already seen up in verse, I've lost my place here,
verse 17. And this I say, that the covenant
that was confirmed before God and Christ was for, I'm sorry,
I lost my place with that. Ah, verse 19, we just read it.
Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. Is the law against the promise
of God? No, it's not. Is the law then
against the promises of God? And what does Paul say? He says,
God forbid. Paul used that term a lot, didn't
he? He used that term very often. God forbid, absolutely, positively,
no. The law then is not against the
promises of God. He says, for if there had been
a law given, which could have given life, verily, righteousness
should have been by the law. So what's Paul talking about
here? He's saying the law is not against the promises of God. They are mutually exclusive things. They were both intended for different
purposes. The law was never intended to
give righteousness. If the law was intended to give
righteousness, then righteousness would have been by the law. But
the Bible says that no man will be justified by the deeds of
the law. No man, by the deeds of the flesh,
by working out the deeds of the law through the flesh, are ever
going to be justified. And so the law cannot produce
righteousness, either for salvation or to maintain salvation. Matter of fact, The law cannot
even produce within us peace and conscience before God to
remove the guilt of sin that we have. The law only condemns,
always, always. And as I've said two or three
times now, the law is that one thing that is continually nagging
you to death. You missed it. You're guilty.
You're guilty. You're insufficient. You're unholy. You're unrighteous. You're evil.
It is the very thing that continually condemns. The only thing that
the law can do is condemn us. It cannot save us. It cannot
make us righteous. It cannot produce holiness in
us. It was designed to produce within
us a convincing of sin. It was there to convince us that
all we are is sin. And so that was the purpose of
the law. However, the purpose that we
see here of the promise or of grace is totally different. The purpose of that is to show
us of the good news of our salvation, that despite what the law has
revealed in us, our evil, our wickedness, our sinfulness, that
in the promise there has been a righteousness obtained for
us on our behalf, and that righteousness has been given to our account. And God deems that foreign righteousness,
which is by Jesus, as our righteousness. See, that's what the promises
are all about. Remember, Abraham, seeing Christ
ahead of time, that Christ's righteousness would be given
to him, and he looked and he he declared or he reckoned Christ's
righteousness as his righteousness. That's how we are to walk, brother.
Not as that we can produce a righteousness by law keeping, but that we produce
or that we live in the belief or the trust or the hope that
Christ's righteousness is our righteousness. And that's all
we need. You don't need any more righteousness
than that, right? Yeah, I hear these folks all
the time that are preaching that we gotta maintain our own righteousness
before God, but that righteousness is never enough. Even though
our mind wants to do that, it does though, right? We all know
that we want to do righteous. We want to do righteous things.
We want to be righteous. We want to be obedient to God.
We want to do the things we hate to sin. I don't know about you,
I mean, I don't like it whenever I sin. At least, after I've sinned
and had a little bit of time to think about it, in the moment
I might like it because it's a pleasurable lust of some kind
that I'm fulfilling. But as soon as I do that, what
happens? The Holy Spirit of God convicts me of that. The Holy
Spirit shines a little light into me saying, hey, that wasn't
right. And I, what? I come before the Lord and I
ask him to forgive me of those things, which he already has.
But it's an acknowledgement that I am sinful and that I need that
continual reminder that Christ is my righteousness. It keeps
me looking to Christ. And so the law then is not against
the promises of God. The law has a purpose and the
promises of God has their own purposes. It says, but the scripture has concluded
all under sin. The scripture hath concluded
all in sin. Now, we know we can go to several verses of scripture
that teaches that, you know, for all have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not
one. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. I mean, all these verses that
the Bible teaches us that we are wicked, that we are evil,
that we are unrighteous, that we are under sin, that we are
under the condition of sin. We are under the nature of sin.
There is nothing that we can do. Matter of fact, because of
our nature of what we are in Adam, because of that nature,
that fleshly nature, all it can do is sin. Even whenever it's
not actively sinning, it's still sinful. You know, you don't have
to actually commit an actual sinful act. You are sinful in
the very fact that your nature is rebellious against God and
cannot keep the law of God. And as we've used before, you
know, James chapter one tells us where does sin come from?
It comes from inside of us. It comes from the lust that is
in us. The Bible tells us that whenever we are tempted, that
whenever our lust is enticed and is drawn away, whenever it
conceives, it brings forth sin. Well, where does that lust come
from? Well, that lust is part of our condition. It's a part
of our nature. that comes from who we are. We are, by nature,
children of the dust, of earth, earthy. We are flesh, and that
flesh, the Bible says, cannot please God. And so, with that
being the case, all mankind, because we are from the seed
of Adam, me and some other brethren have been discussing this very
thing here recently on Facebook, and a couple may agree and some
disagree, We still have a pretty good conversation about it. But
if you look back, the Bible teaches in Genesis, it teaches that everything
was made after its own kind. The birds were made after its
own kind. The fish was made after its own
kind. The elephants were made after
its own kind. I mean, everything was made after
its own kind. And the Bible says there in Genesis,
it said that everything was made after its own kind with its seed
in itself. Okay, which means that the life
of everything else of its kind was in that one that God had
made at the very beginning. So whenever he made the whale,
all whales that would ever come forth, the seed of that whale
was inside of him, and all whales that would ever come was inside
the life of that one whale. And he would reproduce after
his own kind. Matter of fact, Genesis even
says that, that all of them reproduced after its own kind. Therefore,
a monkey did not have a baby giraffe, right? That's impossible,
okay? Everything reproduces after its
own kind. And Adam, being the last thing
made by the Lord, was the same way. Adam was made and fashioned,
and in Adam was the seed of his whole entire generation. When
he was made, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, that he was
made natural. He was made of the earth, earthy.
He was made of the flesh. He was a man of the flesh. And
so in that, he was made with a nature under the condition
that there was no way that he could keep the law of God. Now,
he had not sinned yet. Sin had not been made manifest,
just as in Satan. Remember whenever the Bible talks
about Satan before he fell? The Bible says that he was beautiful
and great, and everything, and then the Bible says, until sin
was found in him. Now how can you find sin in somebody
unless sin was already there, right? So somehow, however God
created Satan, he created him with the nature and the ability
to sin. And for that purpose, by the
way, every one of Satan and his demons that are with him, the
Bible calls them the non-elect angels, All of them were predestined
for that very purpose. And then Adam, the Bible says,
is a man who God has predestinated to be the one man by which sin
enters into the world. By that one man, sin would enter
into the world. So therefore, inside that one
man, there had to be the principle of sin. Because James tells us
that the only way that sin comes forth and is done is whenever
we are drawn away by the lust of our own heart and are enticed. Okay? So when we look here that
all men are concluded under sin, it is because we are the seed
of Adam. Adam reproduced after his own
kind. Matter of fact, God told him
and Eve, go forth, Be fruitful and multiply. Multiply after
your own kind. Well, what kind is that? Well,
natural man. Because he was a type of Christ. Adam was a type of Christ. Christ,
like Adam, also has his seed in him. From the foundation of
the world, we have been in Christ Jesus. We were a children, a
family, of a generation, as the Bible uses, we were given to
Christ and we were in Christ Jesus. It hadn't been made manifest,
just like all of Adam's descendants hadn't been made manifest, but
they were all there. So Jesus has all his seed in
him. And his seed is a spiritual seed,
where Adam's seed was a natural seed. And Adam's seed, all they
can do is sin, and Jesus' seed, they cannot sin. Remember in
1 John, we read that just a few weeks ago where it talked about
that that which is in us, it cannot sin. It cannot sin. Well, what cannot sin? Well,
we know that it's not talking about our flesh, but that's all
the flesh can do is sin. It's talking about the spirit
that is in us. It cannot sin. That's what's
born of God, not the flesh. What's inside of us is born of
God. And that's what was born of God means if it's born of
God, then that means it's the seed of God. It's his child. It's his generation. It's his, what am I, it's his progeny is
the word that I'm looking for. It's his child. We are his children. Not only by adoption, but we
are his by birth, by spiritual birth, right? And so that spiritual
birth that we receive in the new birth, that life was hidden
with Christ in God, the Bible says. Just like every one of
us was our life, our natural life, was hidden in Adam. It was hidden in Adam. And so how are we all confined,
as it says here, how were we all concluded, that word concluded
there means shut up or gathered up under or put up under. How are we all put up under sin? Well, because every one of us
comes from one blood. Everyone comes from, and unlike
the speech of people today, there are not many races There's only
one race, there's only one blood of men. So whether you come from
Guatemala or whether you come from Poland or whether you come
from, who knows where I came from, I don't know, probably
Germany more than likely. No matter where we come from,
and although our skin colors may be different, and although
our voices may speak in different ways, the Bible says that out
of one blood is made all men. We all come from Adam. We are
all of one blood. Now our nationalities all was
mixed at Babel, right? That's when God mixed the nations.
But we're all of all one blood. And all that one blood, because
we are in Adam, have been confined or concluded under sin. There's none that's gonna escape
that. God looked down upon the inhabitants of the earth and
he seen that intent of their heart was only evil continually
is what says in Genesis. So it says, but the scripture
has concluded all under sin that the promise by faith of Jesus
Christ might be given to them that believe. Now let's look
at this phrase that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ. By
faith of Jesus Christ. I want you to pay close attention
that it does say by faith of Jesus Christ. In the Spanish
Bible, does it say of Christ or does it say in Christ? In Christ? Okay. Um, there's
a lot of the translations that come from, uh, and I'm not, is,
are those, uh, or your Spanish Bibles, uh, King James translated? No. No. Okay. All right. Um, Brother Igor, whenever he attended
here, he had a Spanish Bible, but it was translated differently,
and he said it was said the same thing, so now I'm curious. I
have to do some studying on the translations here. If you pay close attention in
the Greek, if you pay close attention to the translations that come
from the received text, and just for information for anyone listening
and for you guys here, We believe that the scriptures that come
from the received Greek text and not the corrupted Greek text,
that we hold to those translations. So anything that comes from the
line of the Textus Receptus, the received text, we believe
to be translations that are good translations. And we tend to
not really look to them other translations from the corrupted
Greek text, for one, for all of the things that they leave
out about Christ. But anyhow, this is one of the
areas that they differ. In all of the corrupted Greek
text translations, they have throughout the whole Bible, everywhere
that here it says faith of Christ, they have faith in Christ. And
what that does is that makes salvation by your work of believing. But where the actual text says
it's the faith of Christ, we are saved by the faith of Christ. We are justified by the faith
of Christ and not the faith in Christ. And so there is a big
difference between that. As I said, faith in Christ lays
it all at your feet to believe, to get it. The faith of Christ
is something outside of you that done it for you. And so that's
why it's so important that we, and I tell everybody here, they've
heard me say this a million times, that every word counts. All scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. And so when
God does that, and I also hold and believe, and a lot of people
say that translations aren't perfect, and I agree that as
far as how they're translated, they may not be the best, but
I do believe that this is still the inspired word of God. I still
believe that it's inerrant and infallible. I still believe that
this is it, not just the autographers, not just the originals. I believe
that we still have God's word preserved in these Bibles. Okay. And so that we can, we
can know what God's word says through these things. And, um,
we just sometimes have to work through and pray that the Holy
spirit gives us understanding, but it's there. Um, it says here, that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. The faith
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. I believe
this is Christ himself, that the promise of Christ himself
will be given to them. Now, there's some different ways
that we can look at this. We can look at that as saying, well,
faith there is talking about your belief that's God-given,
okay? faith, and that's God-given faith.
Therefore, you have God-given faith, and that God-given faith
is what believes upon Jesus Christ. But notice that this faith of
Jesus Christ is given to them that believe. It's given to them
who are believers. Okay? The faith of Jesus Christ
is given to believers. And believing is given by God. We can't believe without Christ
or without the Holy Spirit giving us faith. Okay? We can't believe. The Bible says in many, many
passages that you cannot come unless the Lord gives it to you,
grants it to you. You cannot know without the Lord
giving you knowledge. You cannot come unless you are
drawn by God. That believing, it says, it is
given unto you not only to believe, so believing is a gift of God. It is not of works, it's a gift
of God, okay? So here we see that the faith
that is in view here is not our faith that God gives us, although
he does give us faith, it is not that, and it could mean the
body of doctrine, okay? But before, excuse me, that the
promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,
I don't believe it's that either. we are given a body of doctrine.
Jesus give, matter of fact, the Bible says that the church is
the pillar and the ground of truth. And Christ give that body
of doctrine to the church whenever he was here and he formed the
church and he taught them for those three years that he was
here, he laid down that body of doctrine to them. And that
doctrine was once, the Bible says, was once delivered to the
saints. And then from there, the saints
through the preaching and the teaching of God's word has perpetuated
or propagated that very truth, the doctrine of Christ. And so it could mean that, but
brethren, I believe this is talking about Jesus himself as the object
of faith. I believe it's talking about
that. And here's the reason why, look at what it says. But the
scripture hath concluded all under sin, So it's made it that
we are all understand that the promise, now what was the promise?
Remember what the promise was. The promise was that a righteousness
would come for us. There would be a seed that would
come and perform a righteousness and he would be our righteousness. Matter of fact, what's his name?
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. We are the righteousness
of God in Christ, but Christ is our righteousness. The righteousness
is not an action of faith. The righteousness is a person.
We receive a person, and in receiving a person, all that that person
is, and all that that person has done on behalf of those who
are his, is accredited to them. God looks upon us as he looks
upon Christ. Christ is our righteousness.
He doesn't give us faith so that we might produce our own righteousness. He gives us faith to trust in
Him as our righteousness. You see the difference? There's
a big difference there. Even among sovereign grace believers,
there's a difference there. There are some sovereign grace
believers that believe that it is by our actually exercising
faith that justifies us at that point. Whereas the Bible teaches
that the justification came by the faith of Christ, not faith
in Christ, the faith of Christ. His faithfulness to do all that
the new covenant was designed to do. He did everything on behalf
of us. So all have been concluded under
sin that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ or by the righteousness
of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now is
it given to them because they believed? No. Believers are just
a category of people. The only people that believe
are those who have been born of God, right? So it's given
that category of those people, okay? Now look at verse 23. And here's where it kind of ties
in with what I'm saying. It's the object of faith, which
is Christ. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut
up under the faith, which should afterwards be revealed. Now again,
some may look at that and say, until our faith came, okay, can't
be that, right? Some may say, well, it was until
the body of doctrine again was given. Well, it can't be that.
The Old Testament saints were justified before God, Whatever
the faith of Christ is that justifies, was already there for them. Even
though the securing of it, which is the cross, has yet to take
place, the declaration of it, the standing in it, was still
there. Abraham stood justified. He was
justified. He wasn't just waiting to be
justified. He was justified. And it was
based upon what Christ would do thousands of years later.
But it was based upon what Jesus did, not upon what Abraham did,
okay? But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up under the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Now, let's put on our thinking
caps here just a little bit and pray that the Holy Spirit give
us some understanding. Before faith came, I believe is also
talking about Jesus. This word faith here is speaking
of Jesus. And here's the reason why. Remember
back earlier in the letter to the Galatians where we talked
about how there was the Jews concept and the Gentiles concept. Remember, the Gentiles never
was under the law ever. But the Jews had been under the
law for all those thousands of years. And whenever it came time
for the gospel to spread to the Gentile, the question arose among
the Jewish Christians, should we tell them about the law? Should we put them under the
law? And we went back to Acts, I believe it was in Acts 15,
we went back and we read where that Jerusalem council came together
with Paul, and they began to discuss these things. And in
discussing these things, what was said? Why should we put those
Gentiles under a law that we nor our fathers could keep? They've
never been under the law. So if you think for a minute,
then that tells me that the Gentiles never were under the law, and
the understanding of the apostles at the time was that we should
not put them under the law. Therefore, the law was only given
for a specific people, for a specific point in time. Okay? So the Jews were given the law
up until a point, but when faith, or when Christ came, those who
were kept under the law shut up unto the faith which should
afterwards be revealed, which is Jesus. Wherefore the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be
justified by faith. or by Christ, justified by Christ. So faith here, you can interchange
Christ in every bit of that. Interchange Christ there. Not
your faith, but Christ. But if you'll notice there, what
about the Gentiles? Well, the Bible says that in
the new covenant that he writes the law on every one of our hearts,
don't he? So now it's not an outward preaching
of the law that is gonna tell us, it's an inward It is an inward
reflection of the law and inward preaching of the law. He has
written the law within our hearts. The Holy Spirit convinces us
of sin. The Holy Spirit. So we don't
have to go out here and preach. You need to do this. You need
to do this. You need to do this. You need to do this and everything
so that you'll be right before God. Now the Holy Spirit is there
inside of us to lead us in the guys and we trust Christ. We
trust in Christ. And so. We are not, as the Gentiles,
we were not under the law. We still are not under the law.
And there's no reason to preach the law because the law was fulfilled
and ended with the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of
Jesus Christ. That's why it's called the Old
Covenant. That's why the Bible says what it says about the covenant. Matter of fact, let's turn over
to Romans chapter eight. We're just about done. Uh, Romans
chapter eight and verse three. That's a true. We're almost done
now. The preacher is almost done. Romans chapter eight. Look with
me if you would. Verse, uh, three, let me get
the Romans over here. Romans chapter eight, verse three. It says, for what the law could
not do. What the law could not do. Brethren, believe your Bible.
Believe the Word of God. Don't listen to preachers out
there who are preaching falsely. And if this preacher here begins
to preach falsely and starts saying that the law can help
you do something, come to this preacher and say, you're wrong.
Let me show you, brother. For what the law could not do. in that it was weak through the
flesh, that was the downfall of the law. The law was never
designed to make anyone righteous or holy because the flesh cannot
produce any of that. It cannot produce anything that
is righteous and holy. It cannot produce, it cannot
keep, it cannot fulfill the law. To keep the law means to fulfill
the law. Whenever it says to keep the
law, it just doesn't mean to obey one by one. Here we go.
Oh, well, I've messed up on that one, so I say I'm sorry, and
now I start over again. No, no, no, no. Fulfilling or
keeping the law is fulfilling the law, meaning every aspect
of the law is kept totally, in totality. Not in just all the
time, but every law that's out there, you've got to fulfill,
you've got to keep. Brethren, that is impossible. Impossible. And the Bible tells us it's impossible.
The law could not do that for us. It could not make us righteous.
It could not make us live. It couldn't give us life. It
says, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh. It was weak through the flesh.
The law in and of itself wasn't bad. We've discussed that. It's
holy and righteous. The law is good, but it was weak
in causing us to have life or righteousness because the flesh
can't produce anything that it tells us to produce. When the
law tells us to produce it, now what does it mean when it's talking
about the law? Is it talking about ceremonial or civil law? Well, it can be talking about
those things because all the law is contained as one whole
unit, but I believe specifically the moral law is what is in view
here. A lot of people say, well, we don't have to do the civil
law. We don't have to do the ceremonial law. That's all went
away. But the moral law, we still have to keep that. That's what's
still here. Well, brethren, you can't keep
the moral law either. The law is impossible. The moral
law and its demands upon you are just as pressing as the civil
and the ceremonial laws. Matter of fact, you can't cut
them out into three separate things because the Bible says
that that law has to be kept, all the law. If you break in
one, you've broken them in all. To keep them, you have to keep
them all. So you can't just say, well,
I'm gonna just keep for myself the moral law and the ceremonial
and the civil, that went away because Jesus fulfilled all that
in his priesthood. Well, what about the moral law? Are you saying you still want
to be under the moral law that tells you All the moral things
that you have to keep, how many of you have coveted? Anybody
here coveted this week? I think all of us probably have.
Who's not seeing some nice car rolling down, well, matter of
fact, me and Daniel rolling down the street this morning. Here
comes this old purple charger from, it's probably about a 68
model charger. Come rolling off this lot. As
soon as I looked at it, man, I like that boy. I'd like to
have one of those. So what did my heart immediately begin to
cover? That's the moral law. Honor your father and your mother.
How about that? Any of y'all done that? That means you have to do it
all the time. So if you've done it and missed it, then you've
not done it, right? And if you've not done that,
you've not done the COVID part either. See, that's what I'm
talking about. It's futile for us to think that.
And to try to cut the moral law out and say, well, we gotta keep
the moral law is just as asinine as trying to keep all them other
laws. We can't keep none of them other ones, much less the moral. For what the law could not do
in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh. So all the sin of all of his
people was condemned in his flesh. But look at verse four. And here's
where I say every word counts. You see that word that in front
of at the very beginning of verse four. Is that in the Spanish
Bible to that that word that means So that, or that here is
the reason, okay? God sent his own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin and condemned sin in the flesh. And
here's the reason why. So that the righteousness of
the law might be fulfilled in us. How do we fulfill the law of
God? By Christ. condemning sin in the flesh.
It isn't by our law keeping. The law is fulfilled in us. The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in us. Every aspect of the law, every
job, every title of the law is fulfilled in righteousness in
us. But it was because of what Christ
did. See that, brethren? That's not futile. We can't keep
it, but He did. And so what does He do? He gives
us faith to trust that that is our righteousness. That I don't
have to work for that righteousness. I don't have to slave to the
law to keep a righteousness so that God would be pleased with
me. He is pleased with me. He knows my sin. He took every
sin that I ever have committed and committing and will commit
every sin and He has condemned that sin in the flesh and He
has taken and in its place put His righteousness. That is the
gospel. That is the very heart of the
gospel. We are justified before God because
of a foreign righteousness that is put to our account and that
we then trust that gospel and not the workings of our own flesh.
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Aha, there
you go, preacher, you gotta walk in the spirit and not in the
flesh. Well, what does it mean to walk
after the spirit? That means to believe. Walking
after the spirit means to believe upon Christ Jesus. That's what
walking in the spirit means. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. The carnal mind is at enmity. It's enemies of God. Our mind,
our flesh, our nature in Adam is by default at enmity with
God and not subject to the law of God. But he doesn't just stop
there. Look what he says after that.
Neither indeed can be See, it speaks of an inability. We have
an inability to keep God's law. Because we are carnal, sold under
sin. We are in the flesh, fleshly.
We are of the earth, earthy. We are the children of Adam. And so we have to be born from
above to understand and know our position But brethren, we
have to be in Christ Jesus so that the promise of this everlasting
covenant of redemption, this everlasting covenant of expiation,
of atonement, this covenant of justification, that the promise
comes to us. If we're not in Christ Jesus,
if we are not His children, if we are not the people that God
gave to Him, and his seed, then we never can arise to that. So then they that are in the
flesh, they cannot please God. They cannot please God. They
cannot please God. But see, there are people everywhere,
all over the place, and I'm one that's included, not only in
my past, but even still today, it comes into my mind that if
I will just do do all these good things, then the Lord's gonna
be happy with me, that I'm keeping a righteousness before God. But
all that is, is pharisaicalism. All that is, is me putting on
a show outwardly, and as Jesus said, you are a whitewashed sepulcher. You look clean on the outside,
but inside is dead men's bones. But thank God the Lord for his
children has caused us to not be dead men's bones inside. He's
put himself in there. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. You are in the Spirit, and if
you're in the Spirit, you're walking by the Spirit. If so,
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his or Christ. And
if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the
Spirit is life. Why? Because of you obeying the
law. Is the spirit alive in you because
of your righteousness, your desire for righteousness? No, it's alive
in you because of righteousness that was given to you. The spirit
is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, We
are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For
if we live after the flesh, if we live after the desires of
the flesh to be holy, to be righteous, it's not just talking about the
desires of the flesh that are evil. It's the desires of the
flesh to try to make ourselves right before God. We don't walk
after that. The child of grace knows that
the righteousness comes from Christ alone. He is our righteousness. And it is not from us trying
to obtain a righteousness or to continue in a righteousness
of our own keeping. So that's why I said we don't
walk in the flesh by trying to keep the law in the flesh. We
walk in the Spirit, and when we walk in the Spirit, the Spirit
is always directing us to look upon Christ, the author and the
finisher of our faith. To look upon Christ, who is our
justifier, the just and the justifier. That's what the Spirit of God
does, who dwells in us. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors,
not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if we live after
the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye live through the Spirit,
or if ye through the Spirit do mortify the needs of the body,
ye shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. That's how we recognize
people. Now, it's not 100% because we
can't know the heart. It's not 100% because we still
have the flesh that still sins, but one thing we know that a
child of grace is going to be looking to Christ alone for their
righteousness. They're going to be trusting
Christ alone for their righteousness, not out here trying to keep a
bunch of rules and regulations to make themselves look good.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba
Father, the Spirit itself, bear witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if children and heirs, and
heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may also be glorified together. So there
it is, the promises of God. Does the law, is the law something
that is against the promises of God? No, it's not. The promises
of God are gonna be given to us, but it never was given to
us to keep. so that we might get the promise.
One last scripture verse here and we'll be done. Hebrews chapter
eight and look at verse six with me. It says, but now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry. We was talking about that last
week too. Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry. by how much also he is the mediator,
how much also he is the mediator. So he's not only the mediator
of a better covenant, but he's also a mediator of a lesser covenant,
which is established upon better promises. For if the first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second. So see the law, That was not ever intended to make
us righteous again. It says here, if the first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second. Now let me ask you, how many in here has ever heard
some preacher somewhere say that we still are under the law, we
still have to keep the law? I've told y'all here before,
there was a preacher that used to be up in Kansas City, and
he's not there anymore, but there's a preacher up in Kansas City
was telling everybody that would call him about our church down
here, he would say, don't go to that church because they're
antinomians. They don't believe that we're under the law, still
under the law. And to which I would agree, we
don't believe that we're under the law. But we don't believe
that the law is without its purpose. But yet he believed that we still
had to maintain a certain obedience to the law for righteousness.
He, at least what he said, is that we may be justified by grace,
but we are sanctified by the law. We have to obey the law
to be sanctified. Brethren, that's, the sanctification
is just as much wrapped up in the work of Christ as the justification
is. He says here, for finding fault
with them, he saith, behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand and led them out of the land of Egypt, because they continued
not in my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their hearts, and will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not
teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the
greatest. For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sin and their iniquities will I remember
no more. In that he saith a new covenant,
he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. Now, if you remember, when Paul
wrote this to the Hebrews, Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed. But
the law and its use, at least towards the nation of Israel
as a nation, was soon going away. And with the destruction of the
temple and destruction of Jerusalem, where they worship and everything,
It was completely done away with. But brethren, Jesus Christ in
his flesh, condemned sin in the flesh and the handwriting of
ordinances which was against us, the law, he put that away
by his death and his resurrection. Okay, so what Christ did, he
did on our behalf and the old covenant was fulfilled for us
in him. It was fulfilled for us in him.
We could never keep it just as the nation of Israel couldn't
keep it, we can't keep it. Therefore it is fulfilled for
us in him. But now a better covenant has
come based upon better promises. Promises that don't revolve around
do this and live. It's promises based upon here
is a faith that I will give you and that faith will make you
look to Christ who did it all for you. Christ is all. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, no matter how well I might look, but I wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand. Brethren, our hope is in Christ
Jesus and his righteousness. And so we see, The scripture
has concluded, all understand that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up under the faith,
which should afterwards be revealed. Now we'll stop right there, verse
24 and 25. We'll look at that, Lord willing,
next time we're together. We'll look at the schoolmaster,
which basically goes along with what we said today. So we'll
probably move quickly on into 26 and 27. in the rest of the
chapter 3. Anybody got any questions or
comments, reviews or corrections? Anybody got an amen? Well, I
think the sanctification came before the grace of God. As it says in John 644, the gods
take us to Jesus, and that's before our words. Because we
want to, you know, obedience to God, but that's before God
chooses us. Amen, brother. And I want to
quote Jesus. Flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto you,
but the Spirit of God has revealed that unto you. Because the majority
of fleshly minded people, they think that sanctification is
something that happens after salvation. That is a lifelong
pursuit that we get more and more holy by following the word
of God, by reading the word of God, by doing good deeds, by
following the law. But that's not what sanctification
is. Kevin is exactly right. Sanctification, we are sanctified,
Christ is our sanctification. We are sanctified in him. The
word sanctification means to be set apart, not to be made
more holy. It means to be set apart. And
we were set apart whenever we, before the foundation of the
world, was set apart from the rest of mankind that was going
to be created and given to Christ. We were sanctified and set apart
and given to Him. And then even now in this world,
we are sanctified, but it's not by anything that we do. We are
sanctified by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God calls us And
it gives us spiritual understanding. And in that new birth, that new
life that's in us, that sets us apart from other people because
we believe and they don't. That's why Jesus said, you believe
not because you're not of my sheep. There is a separation
or a sanctifying work that God does. And he does that by giving
us spiritual life. They don't have spiritual life.
We have spiritual life. They can't believe. We can believe. We're set apart from them. We
are different. There's something different from
them. And eventually, one of these days, the Lord is going
to come and he's going to separate. Again, he's going to separate.
Why? Because the wheat and the tares have grown together. The
Bible says that Satan came and he planted tares among the wheat. And the apostles said, well,
hey, do we need to go tear them tares out? And I said, no, leave
them there. Because at the end of the age,
the end of the age, I'll send my angels and they will gather
the tares out from the wheat. They will take the tares from
the wheat and the wheat will remain. Now let me just say,
in side note, there'll be two working in the field. One will
be taken and one will be left behind. Who's gonna be left behind? The tares are gonna be taken,
the wheat is gonna be left behind. So this whole notion of the left
behind series and all the pre-millennial viewpoints of eschatology is
a little off base according to the scripture. But anyway, the
tares will be taken and the wheat will be left behind. There will
be an ultimate and final separation where the Bible says that he
will put his people on his right hand And his sheep, he will separate
the sheep from the goats. He's gonna separate the elect
from the reprobate. There will be a final separation,
but as Kevin mentioned, that separation has already happened
before we were ever born. It happened before the foundation
of the world. That's when that separation took
place in Christ Jesus. Good point, brother. And that
does it, and that's actually, that's part of what Galatians
is all about. You know, Paul is, well, 90%
of what he's talking about is justification. But don't forget,
don't forget, he also hit on what is commonly thought of as
sanctification. Whenever in chapter three, at
the beginning of chapter three, when he said, this only would
I learn of you received Jesus spirit by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? See, that's
what people think sanctification is, is the flesh being made perfect.
And it can't be made perfect. And so this whole notion of progressive
sanctification is a false teaching, false doctrine. And it's been
purported for many years now, but it used to not be very prevalent.
It wasn't prevalent until around the late 1700s, 1800s. That's
when I began to infiltrate into the churches. And in the Baptist
churches, it started through people like Andrew Fuller and
men like that. But anyway, that's for another
history lesson day. Good work, brother. Anybody else
got anything or any other comments? All right. That's great. Father, again, we thank you for
your word and we thank you for the Holy Spirit who gives understanding
of it. Father, we pray today that the
things that have been said is in accordance to that truth,
the infallible truth of God's word. It's not true because we
believe it, but it's true because you said it and that we are given
to believe it as you ordained that by the Spirit of God. Father,
I pray, Lord, that all these brethren that are here this morning,
that this food, this manna from heaven, this spiritual sustenance
Lord that we feed upon which