If you would open your Bibles
with me to Galatians chapter three. Galatians, the third chapter. We'll read the first 14 verses. Oh foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently sent forth, crucified among you.
This only would I learn of you. Received ye the spirit by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish,
having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if it yet be
in vain? He therefore that ministereth
to you the spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he
yet by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith, even
as Abraham believed God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. And the scripture, for seeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful
Abraham, for as many as are of the works of the law, are under
the curse. For it's 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's 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's 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.
We'll end our reading there. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to Psalm
number 257. It is so sweet to trust in Jesus. Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
just to take Him at His word, just to rest upon His promise,
just to know, thus saith the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust
Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. Oh, how sweet to trust
in Jesus, just to test His cleansing blood, just in simple faith to
plunge me neath the heat. cleansing flood. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him,
how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious
Jesus, O for grace to trust Him more. Yes, too sweet to trust
in Jesus, just from sin and self to cease, just from Jesus simply
taking life and rest and joy and peace. Jesus, Jesus, how
I trust Him, how I've proved Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
O for grace to trust Him more. I'm so glad I learned to trust
Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend, And I know that Thou
art with me, Wilt be with me to the end. how I trust Him, how I've proved
Him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus,
oh, for grace to trust Him more. Okay, and if you would, turn
to song number 50, Fairest Lord Jesus. Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of
all nature, O Thou of God and Man the Son, Thee will I cherish
He will I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown. Fair are the meadows, fairer
still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is pure, who makes the
woeful heart to sing. Fair is the sunshine, fairer
still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry holes. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus
shines purer than all the angels heaven can bose. Beautiful Savior, Lord of the
nations, Son of God and Son of Man. ? Glory and honor ? Praise
and adoration ? Now and forevermore be thine If you wouldn't open your Bibles
with me to Genesis chapter eight. Genesis the 8th chapter. We'll just read the first five
verses. And God remembered Noah and every
living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark.
And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the waters assuaged. The fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven
was restrained. And the waters returned from
off the earth continually. And after the end of the 150
days, the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh
month on the 17th day of the month upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually
until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first
day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. We'll
end our reading there. Let's bow together. Our Father, Lord, we bow in your
awesome presence. We bow before your throne seeking
a blessing from your storehouses of grace. Father, we beg of you
that this evening that you would enable us to worship you in spirit
and in truth. Father, as we look into your
word, I pray that you would be our teacher, that you would open
your word to our hearts, give us faith to believe, ears of
faith that would hear and lay hold on the things of our Lord
Jesus Christ that we hear preached. Father, what an awesome privilege
that you've given us to be able to meet together and worship,
that you've preserved and protected your gospel in our town here
for many, many years, many generations. Father, we're thankful, how thankful
we are for your mercy and your grace. How thankful we are you
continue to call out your people and feed your sheep through the
preaching of your word. And Father, I beg of our service
tonight that it may be a true worship service. Father, I ask
that you would send your spirit upon me and enable me to rightly
divide the word of truth, to preach Christ and get out of
the way so all your people here and see is Christ the Savior. Father, we continue to Pray for
our young ones, the children that you've given us, Father,
we pray mercy for their souls. And we also pray that you keep
them safe in this wicked generation in which they grow up. You protect
their minds, their hearts, and their bodies, that you preserve
them and protect them. Till such time, Father, that
you might be pleased to show mercy to them, reveal Christ
to them and in them. Make us faithful to them, to
always and only preach Christ the Savior, to declare our need
of Him, and to declare Him that we might look to Him, be saved,
have life. Father, we pray for our country,
we pray for our world at this time, that you would move in
power, that you'd give peace, and that you'd protect your people
wherever that they might be found, that you'd give us peace in the
land, give our leaders wisdom that they do not have naturally,
and turn their heart to wisdom and to peace, we pray. All these
things we ask in that name which is above every name, the name
of Christ our Savior, amen. Now I was, I preached from here
from much of chapter eight last week, I was getting ready to
move on to chapter nine, but something caught my eye and I
wanted to come back and look at here at a few verses in Genesis
chapter eight again this evening. I titled the message, The Curse
Reversed. Here at the beginning of Chapter
8, Noah and his family had been floating in the ark on top of
the floodwaters for eight months. Been eight months in that ark.
And finally, the waters have begun to recede enough that the
ark hit bottom on the top of a mountain, Mount Ararat. Now,
I had to look this up. Mount Ararat is a volcano. It's on the border of Turkey
and Iran. And just in case that you might
be interested, I'm very confident that that ark is not still there.
I just don't see how it could be that God would allow that
ark to still be there, allow men to find it, make an isle
out of it. I just don't see how that's possible. And just speaking for me personally,
and I would imagine for many of you, I don't need anybody
to find that ark. In order for me to know that
this story I read in the Bible is true, I don't need anybody.
but I'm sure that it's not there. I mean, you think about the end
of the flood. Noah and his family are on this
ark for a year, a year by the time that they get off. They
get off that ark, and I'm just confident Noah cut that ark up
and used wood, you know, to build them houses and different things,
start fires and so forth. And even if he didn't do that,
there are quite a few recorded eruptions of this volcano, some
very large ones. that would have destroyed a wooden
ark up there anyways. I only say all that to say this. People wonder, you know, about
the ark and somebody going up there to find it. They ain't
gonna find it. It's not there. But nothing could
be less important than finding that wooden structure of Noah's
ark. But there is significance to
this place, this Mount Ararat, where the ark rested. Now remember
the ark didn't have a bow, it didn't have a rudder, it was
just like a big old shoebox, a gigantic rectangular box. So the ark couldn't be steered,
it couldn't be sailed or directed. The ark just floated along on
top of the water. God was the one who was directing
that ark everywhere that it went and God was the one who directed
where it rested when the waters receded. Now all the mountains
in the world. Why do you reckon this ark rested
on Mount Ararat? Why not Mount Everest? I mean,
you know, Mount Everest would have been out of the water first,
right? Why not Mount Everest? At least I'm pretty sure. I'm
no geography genius, but I think it's taller. Why not Mount Calvary? I mean, I can see some significance
to that, right? Why didn't the ark land on Mount
Calvary? Why did it land on Mount Ararat?
Well, believe I know. I looked up this word Ararat,
and the word means the curse reversed. That's what that word
means. Now, isn't that amazing? It was
the purpose of God for this ark to come to rest on this Mount
Ararat, the curse reversed, so that we could look at some pictures
here of how God reversed the curse of sin for his people.
And tonight I want to look at how the curse of Adam's sin is
reversed for God's people by looking at the work of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the redemption of God's people.
And first, I want us to start where salvation starts, to see
how this curse is reversed in the election of God the Father.
Now verse one says, God remembered Noah. Now, the Lord never forgot
Noah. We talk about the Lord remembered
Noah, like I was sitting up here tonight, honey, and I remembered
I was supposed to turn this thing around. I forgot. Jan asked me
to put this flower thing out here, you know, and I put, leave
it to a man. I put it up, the front's facing
me. I remembered. I remembered because
I forgot. God didn't forget. God did not
forget. I should have said that, because
now all you're going to be doing is look at this thing, aren't you?
I'm sorry. I just thought I remembered. If you ever preach, don't ever
stray from your notes. I'm sorry. The Lord did not forget
Noah. And after eight months of him
being in that box floating around on top of the water, I had to
remember Noah. Now this is the time that God
thought on Noah because it's God's appointed time. It's time
to fulfill God's purpose to bring Noah and his family and all those
animals off of the ark And at God's appointed time, he started
the waters to recede and that ark to land and to rest in a
specific place and for the earth to be repopulated. All this is
going to come about at God's appointed time. God remembered
Noah. Let me give you a few other examples
of this. When the Lord remembered his people, Genesis 20, 30 verse
22, God remembered Rachel and God hearkened to her and he opened
her womb. It was God's appointed, God never
forgot Rachel. It was God's appointed time for
Joseph, that great picture of Christ to be born. In Exodus
2 verse 24, God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God's appointed time
to fulfill his covenant and deliver Israel from Egypt and bring them
to the land that he promised Abraham was come. And God remembered
Israel. Now, he always knew that they
were there. It's just, this is God's time to think on them and
fulfill his covenant. And I tell you this, when God
remembers his people, oh, they're blessed. They're saved. What
was the dying thief's prayer? Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Would you remember me? in our
Savior's precious response to him. Today, shalt thou be with
me in paradise. If the Lord remembers you, you're
gonna be saved. You're gonna be delivered. Now,
before creation, however long ago you can try to say that was,
I mean, without beginning, God elected a people unto salvation. The Father set his love upon
those people. He chose to save those people
and he will never forget them. Never, ever, ever will they be
out of his mind or out of his heart. The Lord said this, a
mother may forget her nursing child. Can you imagine such a
thing? It happens, doesn't it? But the
Lord used a mother there because it's mighty rare. It's mighty
rare, but it could happen. A mother might forget her nursing
child, but the Lord said, I'll never forget you. I'll never
forget my people. The father will be sure that
his purpose of redemption is accomplished for the people he
chose to save. Everyone the father elected,
everyone the father put in the son will be saved from their
sin. The father will see to it. The
father elected a people to save and you know what else? He elected
a savior for those people. He chose a savior for those people.
He called his son, mine elect. He chose his son to be the savior
of those people and put those people in his son. And that brings
me to the second thing. Here's the work of the son in
reversing the curse of sin for God's elect. Now here is Noah
in the ark. 10 months ago, 10 months ago,
the wrath of God began to fall on the earth. Rain began to,
first time it ever rained in man's history. Rain began to
fall upon the earth. The fountains of the deep opened
up and I guess just water was coming from beneath and above
and water was coming and just flooded the whole earth, killed
every living thing in the earth. That water is God's wrath against
sin. God told Noah, the sin of these
people, it repents me that I made them, I'm gonna destroy them
all. He did it with this flood. This water represents God's wrath. Well, now 10 months later, The
curse is reversed. In verse one, God remembered
Noah and every living thing and all cattle that was with him
in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth and the
waters are swaged. The fountains also of the deep
and the windows of heaven were stopped and the rain from heaven
was restrained and the waters returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of 150 days,
the waters were abated. And look down at verse 13. And
it came to pass in the 600th and first year, in the first
month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from
off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked,
and behold, the face of the ground was dry. Well, the curse was
reversed, wasn't it? There's no more water. to be
seen from Noah. I mean, I know there was water
in the seas and the rivers, but from Noah's vantage point, there
was no more water covering the earth. Man is once again going
to be able to live on dry land and grow crops and thrive and
live there and stuff. But now just a short while ago,
if Noah had looked out of the ark, it would have been water
everywhere, as far as the eye could see. I've been out just
a couple of times, out far enough in the ocean where you could
far, I mean, everywhere you look, no matter how far you look at
every direction, all you see is water. Noah would have lived
like that for about 10 months. All he could see anywhere was
water. And now there's no more water.
The curse is gone. The curse of God's wrath has
been reversed. And this water decreasing, is
a picture of God's wrath ceasing. You know why God's wrath ceased
for his people? Because the sacrifice of Christ
satisfied God's justice against that sin. And verse one tells
us that. You may not think so, but it
does. At the end of that verse, it says, and the waters assuaged. Now I just assume that what that
means is the waters started to recede and go down, go back,
you know, whatever. but it doesn't mean the waters
receded. The word assuaged there trans
or translated assuaged means appeased or pacified. The waters dried up because God's
wrath was satisfied by death. That's why they were assuaged.
God's wrath was pacified. It was appeased. God's wrath
against the sin of his people was assuaged. God's wrath against
the sin of his people was stopped. You know why? Because the death
of Christ appeased God's wrath for the sin of his people. He
satisfied God. He pacified God by paying the
sin debt of his people. The sacrifice of Christ is all
it took to make God's wrath against his elect stop. Stop. Noah and his family lived through
that flood. Every other living thing died.
but Noah and his family, those animals that were on the Ark,
they all survived the flood because they were in the Ark, which is
a picture of Christ. Not one drop of God's wrath,
not one drop of that water came through that Ark. Not one. It
all fell on the Ark. The Ark bore it all. None of
God's wrath, and this is the fulfillment of the picture. None
of God's wrath against the sin of his people will ever fall
on them. Ever. Because Christ bore it
all. He assuaged it. He pacified it. He satisfied it. So there's no
wrath left for God. God said, there's no wrath left
in me. There's no fury left in me because it was all poured
out on Christ our substitute. His sacrifice appeased it. That's why the wrath is gone.
That's why the curse is reversed. Christ was made a curse for us.
and took it away and reversed that curse for his people. And
here's a second picture of the work of Christ in redemption.
I like how this is phrased here. The ark rested, rested. It didn't make landfall. It didn't
dock. It rested. And here's the picture. When the sacrifice was complete,
Christ rested. He rested from his work because
the work's done. Christ right now sits. He sits
on the throne of God, resting. People somehow have it in their
mind that Christ sits on the throne and he's looking down,
you know, seeing what's going on on earth and just worrying
about, you know, what are men doing? Can I kind of, you know,
fix this up a little bit? No, no, no, no, no. He sits on
the throne in complete ease. Nothing is different today than
it was the day that this ark rested on this Mount Ararat.
God fulfilling His purpose. He's not worried. He's not shaken
and wonder what else do I got to do? The work's finished. The
work of redemption is finished. God the Father gave the Son of
people to save and Christ came and did the work. and finished
it. And he left no doubt. What did
he cry before he gave up the ghost? It is finished. Great transactions done. The
work is complete and Christ finished the work. So the curse of sin
for his people is reversed. Not only does the Savior rest,
but God's people, they rest in him. They don't have any work
to do either. They rest in Christ. See, there's
no more obedience to be offered to the law. Christ already obeyed
it all. There's no more works of righteousness
left to do in order to make ourselves righteous or in order to keep
ourselves righteous. Christ did it all. There's not
another sacrifice to offer. Christ already offered the one
sacrifice for sin. There's no more sin debt to be
paid because the blood of Christ paid it all. The blood of Christ
assuaged at all. And the curse is reversed, all
because of the sacrifice of Christ. Look at the end of this chapter
eight. The very first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was
offer blood sacrifices that were pictures of Christ. Look at verse
20. And Noah built an altar under
the Lord and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl
and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled
a sweet savor. And the Lord said in his heart,
I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. For the
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither
will I again smite anymore everything living as I've done while the
earth remaineth. Seed time and harvest and cold
and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease. Now those sacrifices that were
pictures of Christ brought a blessing on all of God's creation. Not
only will man never be destroyed again by a flood, but creation
won't either. The plants and the animals and
the curse is reversed. There'll be no more flood come
to destroy the earth ever again. And that's what the sacrifice
of Christ does for God's elect. It reverses the curse of sin. When Adam sinned against God,
All that God pronounced on everybody, everywhere, was a curse. What
was a curse? Everything was condemned. Well,
after Christ died, rose again, ascended back on high, this is
what the Apostle Paul said, there is therefore now no more, no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. If you believe
on Christ, there is no more condemnation left in God for you. Why? Why is that so? because the curse
is reversed. Christ's blood, his death satisfied
condemnation for his people, and they'll never be condemned.
The curse is reversed. You think of everything that
happened to Adam when he failed, he was thrust out of God's presence.
The way to God was closed. He couldn't come back anymore.
He could no longer walk with God in the cool of the day, could
he? The way to God was closed. Now after Christ's sacrifice,
the way to God is wide open in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam could
have no more fellowship with God. You and I can't have fellowship
with God anymore because of Adam's sin. But now after Christ's sacrifice,
we do have, it's not just you can have, God's people do have
fellowship with God in Christ. The Apostle John said, 1 John
1.3, truly, truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with his
son, Jesus Christ, we have fellowship with God, because the curse is
reversed. A believer born in sin, born
in this flesh, we're born in sin, we're born unrighteous,
but because of the sacrifice of Christ, now we're the righteousness
of God in Christ. Because when he was made a sacrifice
for the sin of his people, he made sin for his people and took
it away. A believer is born into this
world in flesh with a nature just exactly like Adam. But now,
they're made just like Christ. A believer is born with a nature
that is filthy and defiled by sin. Now, after the sacrifice
of Christ, we're cleansed from all sin in the blood of Christ. A believer is born with a nature
that is unholy. We were born under the law. Now,
we're God's people now. You're no more under the law.
You're under grace. You're under the blessings of
grace. A believer is born in this world fearing eternity in
hell. Fearing it. I remember being
a child and people talking much like they do today. It can't get any worse. Surely
Christ is coming again any moment. I mean, I lived in utter terror
of that. What if that happens? And I don't
know Christ and I don't believe what I just in utter terror,
fearing eternity in hell. Now, the believer looks forward
to that day, looks forward to glory with the turn in with Christ
and eternity. Every effect of sin, whatever
effect of sin you can think of, it's been reversed because of
the sacrifice of Christ. Instead of death in Adam, we
have life in Christ. It's all reversed because of
the sacrifice of Christ. And since Christ has died, now
the Holy Spirit has blood to apply. He has faith to give. He has life to give to his people.
That brings me to the third thing. Here's the work of the Spirit
in reversing the curse of sin for God's elect. Now, verse one
here in chapter eight says, God remembered Noah and every living
thing, and all cattle that was with him in the ark, and God
made a wind to pass over the earth. Now, all throughout scripture,
wind is given to us as a picture of the Holy Spirit. When our
Lord was talking to Nicodemus, telling him, you must be born
again, the illustration he used of the work of the Spirit is
the wind. He told Nicodemus that the wind
bloweth where it listed. You hear the sound thereof, but
you can't tell where it's coming from, Well, where it's going,
it's the wind. It moves as it will, and he said,
so is everyone that's born of the spirit. The wind was likened
to the spirit. On the day of Pentecost, there
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and the
people were filled with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is equated
there to the wind. And the wind moving over the
waters here, drying up the waters, and reversing this curse of sin,
the flood that's over all the earth, You know, that's a picture
of the work of God, the Holy ghost and the Lord left us. No doubt. That's true. And I'll
show you something. I think you'll like this. Look
back at Genesis chapter one, Genesis chapter one, verse two. And the earth was without form
and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the
spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said,
let there be light. And there was light. Now the
word spirit there and the spirit of God moved upon the faces of
the waters. The word spirit there is the exact same Hebrew word
translated wind in verse eight. Actually, this word, this Hebrew
word is translated in Old Testament. 232 times it's translated spirit.
92 times it's translated wind. So mostly what this is meant
to show us, this is talking about the spirit of God. And just like
that, what we call the first day of creation, the earth was
without form and void, water covered the earth and the spirit
moved. That word is hovered over that
water. Sounds like that's what's happening
again, doesn't it? The spirit hovered moved over the water
to dry up the waters and to make the dry land appear again. Now
that's the work of God, the Holy Spirit in reversing the curse
of sin for his people. See, the father chose a people
to redeem. He chose a people to, he's going
to save those people. He's going to take away their
sin. The son came and took away their sin, but now something's
got to be done about their nature. Something's got to be, they cannot
come into God's presence in the sinful nature, the likeness of
Adam, which they're born. So the Holy Spirit comes and
He hovers over one of God's elect. He hovers over them while the
gospel is being preached. And He applies that salvation.
The salvation the Father purposed for them. The salvation that
the Son purchased for them. The Spirit moves and He gives
life where there is none. He gives faith where there is
none. He gives light where there is
nothing but darkness. He gives that spiritual life
that Christ purchased by his death as their substitute. The
spirit takes the blood of Christ and applies it to the hearts
of God's people. Just like the day of the Passover,
that lamb had to be watched for seven days and make sure it was
perfect, and the lamb had to be killed, its body had to be
roast with fire. The lamb had to be eaten with
its legs, its body, and the pertinence thereof. But one more very important
thing, that blood better be applied. The father had to catch that
blood in the basin, take that hyssop and dip it in that, or
in the head, take the hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin,
and put it on the door. The blood had to be applied.
So that God said, when I pass through and I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. When I see the blood applied,
I'll know there's been death in this home, and I'll pass over
it. My justice will pass over it.
Well, now that Christ has died, Christ our Passover lamb has
died, The Spirit has blood to apply. And He comes. He hovers
over and He applies that blood to the hearts of God's people.
And there's life. There's life where there was
none before. The Spirit gives faith. It causes them to look
to Christ crucified. Now that Christ has been crucified,
the Spirit can point to the sacrifice and say, look and live. Look
and live. The Spirit hovers over that child
of God and He restores to them spiritually. Everything that
we lost in Adam, we were separated from God in Adam, weren't we?
The spirit, by his spirit, he brings us back to God. In Adam,
we're under the curse. The spirit enables us to see
Christ has removed the curse of sin, and we're no longer under
that curse. We're no longer under the law,
but we're under grace. In Adam, we die. The spirit gives
us life in Christ. And we see that in chapter nine,
verse one, this is immediately after Noah offered these sacrifices. And God blessed Noah and his
sons and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the
earth. Now, you know, people having children and babies
and multiplying and replenishing the earth and all that, it seems
like the most natural thing in this world, doesn't it? But not
always. God told Noah to do something
physically he had no power to do. No power whatsoever. You hear a lot of young couples,
you know, they say, well, we're trying to have a baby, we're
trying, you know. Can't make it happen. I don't
know when it's going to happen. He told Noah to do something
that's impossible. Noah doesn't have the power to
reproduce life and repopulate the earth. Noah can't make babies
be born. Only God can do that. Noah can't
make crops grow. I mean, he can plant. He can
water. He can weed. but only God can
give the increase. I mean, it seems like God's putting
an enormous burden on him to be fruitful, multiply and replace
the earth. How's one, one 601 year old man
could do that. When God gives the commandment,
he also gives the ability to perform it. The gospel says,
look, look to Christ. The gospel says, believe. If you don't believe, you'll
perish. The gospel tells you to believe. The gospel tells
you quit your works. Just quit your works. Quit trusting
in your works. Quit trying to make God happy
with you and believe Christ. That's an utter impossibility
for this flesh to do. Can't do it. You can't quit trusting
in your works. You can't look. You can't believe. As hard as you try, you cannot
make yourself believe Christ. Try as hard as you want. You
cannot make yourself rest in Christ. You're going to keep
doing all these works trying to trust in them. God has commanded
us to do something that's impossible for the flesh to do. But with
the command comes the ability to perform it. God the Holy Spirit
hovers over us and gives us faith and we believe. The Holy Spirit
hovers over us and gives life and suddenly we can rest in Christ. Suddenly I believe Christ and
I can't not believe Him. Suddenly I have life and I can
never die. How'd that happen? My flesh didn't
do it. The Holy Spirit came. He gave
power to obey and the curse is reversed. And suddenly, everything
that Adam lost in the garden is restored, only better. Only better. Adam had it and
could lose it, and he did. If you believe Christ, you have
it and can never lose it. You have life, you can never
lose it. You have faith, you can never lose it. You have a
heart that loves and believes Christ, and you can never lose
it. Now spiritually speaking, all
of that is true right now, right now. If you believe Christ, you
have eternal life right now. You're righteous right now. You
feel holy right now, or you are holy right now. But do you feel
that way? I know and believe from reading
God's word that I'm righteous before God, but I don't feel
righteous. I don't feel holy. I don't feel like I got eternal
life. I feel kind of like eternal death.
I feel like death warmed over most of the time. But the believer
has that right now. Spiritually speaking, you have
it right now. But my brother and sister, you just wait. There's coming a day God's going
to remember this earth. His time for this first creation
is going to be done. He's going to come again. He's
going to gather his people to himself. We're going to meet
him in the air. And he's going to burn up this
creation. He promised he'd never destroy it again with water,
and he won't, but he's going to destroy it one more time with
fire. And then he's going to start
all over again, make a new heaven and new earth wherein dwells
righteousness. And the Apostle John describes
it this way in Revelations 22, verse 3, He says, there shall be no more
curse. There'll be no more hint of sin. There'll be no sin. There'll
be no effect of sin. I don't even know if we'll remember.
It's going to be gone. The curse will be no more. And in that day, we'll see the
curse completely removed. If you believe Christ, it's removed
from you right now, but you don't really feel it. You don't really
see it all the way, do you? Because we're still in his flesh.
But then, you won't see it, it's gonna be gone. Oh, the songwriter
said, what a day that'll be. What a day that'll be. The believer,
sure has a lot to look forward to, don't we? Sure has a lot
to look forward to. And knowing what we know, believing
what we believe, we got a whole lot to enjoy right now, don't
we? A whole lot, I know this world is, what it is, whether
it's heartaches, it's living with sin, I know. But there's
a lot to enjoy right now. Right now. And oh, what we have
to look forward to. Because the curse has been reversed.
All right. Hope the Lord bless that to you.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you for the glorious
good news that the Lord Jesus Christ is undone for his people.
everything that Adam did to us. He's undone for his people all
the condemnation that the law requires, and he's completely
taken it away. Father, how we thank you. What
a glorious Savior, what a glorious gospel that we have to preach. And Father, I pray that you would
take it as it's been preached through sinful, stumbling lips,
and that you cause it to be a blessing in the hearts of your people,
that you cause it to bring glory to the name of Christ our Savior.
For it's in his precious name we pray and give thanks. Amen.
All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn to song
number 175 and stand as we sing, Standing on the Promises. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King Through eternal ages let his praises ring Glory in
the highest I will shout and sing Standing on the promises
of God Standing on the promises of God
my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fears assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises
of God, Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God,
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall. Listening every moment to the
Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all
in all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God.