Let us turn back in our Bibles to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. Title of my message this evening is The Blessing of Abraham. The Blessing of Abraham. And first of all, let's read our text tonight. Let's read verses 10 through 14. 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 that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not a 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.

Let me remind us first of all tonight of the situation in the churches of Galatia that under God prompted Paul to write this letter, the letter that we have been looking at. False teachers had come among the believers there in Galatia. And they had said and taught that more was needed in order for a person to be declared righteous with God, to be justified. More was needed than just by simply believing the gospel, by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they said what was needed, what must be added to faith in Christ would be the observing of the law of Moses, the rituals and the things that were contained in that covenant. The law of Moses was a covenant that God gave to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. a covenant, and it was a covenant of works. It was very much like the first covenant that God gave to Adam, a covenant of works, do this and live. And the covenant that God gave to the nation of Israel never promised eternal life. What it promised was blessing. Blessing in the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, if they would obey God's commands. And if not, then there was a curse upon the nation of Israel.

We looked last time at the first nine verses in this chapter in which we saw that Paul asked five questions and then he gave one example. He gave five questions to these believers in the churches, which he called brethren. And then he gave one example, the example of Abraham. And I just want to say one more word about what we find in verse eight.

We looked at this, this verse last time, but, and the scripture, the scripture, the word of God, the scripture foreseen. First of all, we see the scripture and God are together. The scripture didn't look ahead. But that's what it says, isn't it? The scripture foreseeing, in other words, the word of God, God foreseeing that he would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.

When God first called Abram, before he changed his name to Abraham. You remember he was living in Ur of the Chaldees. He was an idolater or came from a family of idolaters. And God called him and set him apart and told him, this is found in Genesis chapter 12, when God first called Abram, this is what he said unto Abram.

I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. Now, before I read on, I want to just mention something that I heard a preacher say probably almost 50 years ago, and it stuck with me. When God told Abram, I will bless thee and make thee a blessing. That's the only way any of us can ever be a blessing. that God bless us, right? That God bless us and use us in order that we might be a blessing to someone else. And God told Abram, he said, I will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing. Now here's the part. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Well, at that time, Abram was married to Sarah his wife and his father and their nephew his nephew lot they left her of the Cowdeys but a nation Abram himself had to be made into a nation, right? It was just those two Abram and Sarah and then of course Isaac was born and his two sons, and one of those was Jacob, and Jacob went down into Egypt, and when they went down there, there were 70. The family from those two had multiplied now to 70. I'm talking about the nation that was made the nation of Israel. But God told Abram from the very beginning, in thee, we know that means in thy seed, In Christ all the nations, all the families, families make up nations, that one family made the nation of Israel and all the other nations were made by families. In thee shall all the families, all the nations of the earth be blessed. What am I saying?

I'm saying that from the very beginning that God told Abraham that he was going to call the Gentiles. That he was going to call his people, those whom he had chosen, and we read of those who were redeemed in Revelation chapter five, you remember, out of every nation, tongue, kindred, and people. And so this had always been God's purpose and plan. to call some of the Gentiles, many of the Gentiles actually. Well, let's go on tonight with these next few verses.

Verse 10, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. As many as seek justification, either in part or in whole by the works of the law or under the curse of the law. The law was never given to give life. It was never given to justify sinners.

Now, in Romans, the apostle refers to God's law, and we know this has to be so. He said it's wholly just and good is God's law. It's got to be good, right? It's got to be holy. It's got to be just if it comes from a holy, righteous God that He is. Yes.

But it was never intended to give life. And anyone who seeks to obtain life by observing, trying to keep the law. And the law is much more than just the Ten Commandments. We know that there was other parts of the law that were given to the nation of Israel. I heard a preacher one time say the law, the Ten Commandments is sort of like the preamble. You know, our Constitution, we have a preamble to the Constitution. And he said the Ten Commandments, which were placed in the Ark of the Covenant, is kind of like a preamble to all the law that was given there. And it included many things, you know, diet and it served to keep the nation of Israel separate. Separate from all the other nations until the promised one came, until Christ came. It served its purpose, but it was never given. so that a man or woman might try to observe it and obtain eternal life.

When men look to the law, this is what the apostle tells the church there at Galatia, the believers there in that church at Galatia, if a person is looking to the law, his obedience to the law, his doing, to obtain justification, either in part or in whole, he's under the curse. He's under the curse. I want you to look with me, keep your places here, but turn back to the prophet of Jeremiah, just a moment. Jeremiah chapter 17.

You know, and you've heard me say this, you know it's true that all the world, all the inhabitants of the earth are divided into two groups, the saved and the lost. That's all there is here. That's all there is in this world, those who are saved and those who are unsaved. There's no middle ground. There's no other place where a person could hide and say, well, I'm neither, Lost or saved, yes you are, you're one or the other.

And here in Jeremiah we see how the prophet speaks of this beginning with verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, cursed, cursed be the man that trusteth in man. Now think about that. If a man is trying to keep the law, for his salvation, for his justification before God. Who's he trusting in? He's trusting in man, right? Trusting in himself. Cursed.

Cursed, God said, be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, that is his strength, his ability. whose heart departed from the Lord. Now notice the contrast here between the saved and the lost. The lost they trust in man, the saved trust in the Lord. And what a contrast here we read in these verses. The lost He trusteth in man, he shall be like the heath in the desert.

Now that was a plant that grew in the desert areas of that part of the world and it'd just go up in smoke. I mean, there wasn't much to it. You could strike a match, it's gone. That's what the lobster compared to here. like a heath, like a plant, and doesn't serve any purpose, really doesn't produce any fruit, no. And he shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. But now notice the contrast here.

Blessed, blessed, happy is the man that trusteth in the Lord. and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river. If you've ever been out in a country and the fields, you know, are just where cattle graze or where they plant crops and then you'll see a stand of trees and they'll be on the side of a creek or something running through that property. Why? How do they live when everything else is dead? Because they have water, right? They're planted by the streams of water.

And the Lord Jesus Christ, you remember what he told that woman, that at the well in Samaria, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give unto him shall never thirst, but shall have a well of water springing up within him. And let me finish that verse there in verse 8. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters and that spreadeth out her roots by the river. and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

So if a person is trusting in man, he's cursed. When the nation of Israel went into the land of Canaan, God told Moses that six elders from the tribe, the six of the tribes, on this mount, Ebal, I believe it was Ebal, and there was another mount, and these six are blessing. As the people are going into the land, these are pronouncing blessings, but these six are pronouncing curses upon the people of Israel. And the curses would come if they failed to obey God's law. Now, some men fail to realize this about the law. It's not memorizing the law.

That might be good. Might be good to memorize the word of God. I'm sure it would be. It's not hanging the plaques up on your wall with the Ten Commandments. It's not reciting the law. What the law requires is obedience. Not memorizing, not reading, not reciting. No, the law requires obedience. And those who do not obey are under the curse. The Apostle James, in his letter, said, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and offend in one point, he is guilty of all. The law is a whole. This is a truth that is very easily seen in our state.

You're a citizen of the state of Texas. You may be a good citizen, pay your taxes, and be a good neighbor, but then you commit murder. You murder someone. Well, you've only broken one point. No, you're guilty of the law of Texas, the whole law, and you will be charged and convicted for the whole law. It doesn't matter that you, for so many years, have been a good citizen and paid your taxes and been a good neighbor and all that. No, you've committed murder here. Same thing is true about the law.

Our Lord said is comprehended in these two commands and the first command is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. And you have to wonder if anyone is so depraved, so deceived who would ever think I've kept that law. I've kept that law. I have always, from the time of my birth until today, I have always perfectly obeyed God, loved God rather, with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind.

No, a person doesn't obey the law, he's under the curse of the law. Now Paul, he's saying it's unreasonable. He's telling that it's unreasonable that anyone would think that they're going to be justified either in whole or in part by their keeping of the law. That's unreasonable. And not only is it unreasonable, but it's unscriptural. And that's what he goes on with here in verses 11 and 12. Not only is it unreasonable, because the law pronounces a curse upon a person who does not obey the law perfectly. Well, it's unscriptural as well.

The scripture, and Paul quotes an Old Testament verse here, the just shall live by faith. Paul shows that this has always been the case. Even those who lived under that Old Testament law, that Old Covenant law, all of those who were saved, they were saved the same way that we're saved.

They're saved by faith in Christ, by faith in the Savior, the Substitute who paid the penalty for our sins. The just, those who are justified, those who are declared righteous before God, live by faith. You know what that word justified means? It means to be just as if they had never sinned. They're just and they're justified by faith. Now faith, I think I said this in the message last Sunday, faith is not our savior. Christ is the savior. Christ shed his blood to purchase us, to redeem us. But faith, it's not our faith, it's the object of our faith, which is Christ.

It's through his perfect obedience, through his righteousness, and that righteousness is imputed or charged unto everyone that believeth. When God looks at you, if you're a believer tonight, God looks at you, he sees you before God, before himself as without sin, as if you had never sinned. Why? Because he sees you in Christ and his righteousness.

Verse 13. 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. The word that is here translated redeemed is only used in three other places in the New Testament. Now we have the word redeemed several times. For instance, in 1 Peter, we're reminded, for you're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish. That's not the word that's used here, that's translated here, redeemed. The word that's translated here is, it means to purchase or to buy up. Here, it means that Christ has purchased or set us free from the curse of the law. And the law here means God's law in general.

You know, some people like to argue, well, Gentiles were never under that law. That's true. That's true. Gentiles were never under that law. But that certainly doesn't mean that anyone, Gentile or Jew, has ever lived in God's world a creature of God who has not been under God's law. It's always been wrong to worship another God. It's always been wrong to murder, whether a person had the Ten Commandments, had the law that was given on Mount Sinai or not. And Gentiles Well, it's true, we're not under the law of Moses, but in that law of Moses, there are those moral commands included that the Gentiles that we were under. And how did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law?

Well, Paul tells us here, doesn't he? How did, listen, think about this. Make this as personal as you can. How did Christ, God's lovely son, how did he redeem me from the curse of that law? How did he do that? He was made a curse for us. Isn't that something? Isn't that what he says here? Christ, look at verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. To redeem me, to redeem you, if you're one of his children tonight, he had to become, he had to be made a curse himself. Well, how then was he made a curse? Well, he tells us that here too, doesn't he?

Because God said, let's look at this, turn back with me to Deuteronomy chapter 21. Deuteronomy chapter 21. This is part of the law. It's part of the law that God gave to Moses to the nation of Israel. Verse 22 of Deuteronomy 21, and if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree. Now how did the Jews normally execute a person who was guilty of a capital crime. How did they do that?

They didn't hang them. We've all grown up, I'm sure, some of us in these old Western movies, you know, they hang you for stealing a horse. That's not the way they executed people. They had three ways of execution, the Jews did, but mainly they stoned a person. But when the person was dead, they would take that body and they would hang it on something like a gibbet. And it would be a public demonstration that he was worthy of death and under the curse of God. They didn't hang him by the neck. They would hang him by the hands.

His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day, for he that is hanged is accursed of God. How did Christ redeem us from the curse of the law? By being made a curse himself. And how was he made a curse? By being hanged on a tree. The tree happened to be the cross, didn't it? And he was hanged there by his hands.

Verse 14, the blessing of Abraham. That the blessing of Abraham, what is that blessing? I want that blessing, don't you? I sure do. What is that blessing? Well, it's justification. It's being declared righteous by God. before God's law, before God's holy justice being declared righteous, the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The promise of the Spirit, all the spiritual blessings that come to a believer. the blessing of Abraham. And they all come to those who believe and they all come through Jesus Christ. Same way it came upon the Jews, same way it came upon Abraham.

He was justified before the law was ever given. He was justified before the law of circumcision was given to him and his family. How was he justified? Paul says, Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. That's how he was justified. That's how the blessing of Abraham comes upon Jew or Gentile. That's how it comes upon you and me. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless this word to all of us tonight.