in verse 13, but I want to go
back to the beginning of this chapter and read the first twelve
verses. Paul starts out, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth,
the gospel, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth evidently preached, crucified among you." Paul preached
Christ and Him crucified everywhere he went. When he went to the
Corinthians, he said, I am determined not to know anything among you
except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He was not saying that he was
not interested in them. But his great interest and his
great desire was for them to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says here that Christ was evidently sent forth, crucified among you.
This only would I learn of you. Received ye the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit, by the works of the law, by the reading and preaching
of the law, or by the hearing of faith, by the preaching of
the gospel. 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 be yet in vain? He therefore that ministers to
you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, doth he it by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" What's going on when
these miracles are being performed? Well, it's a preaching of the
gospel, it's a preaching of Christ. Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness." No mention, no
mention of any works by Abraham in any way, shape, or form. He
said, "'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith the same are the children of Abraham?' Those who
believe the gospel are the true descendants, the spiritual seed
of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing
that God will justify the heathen through faith, that's us Gentiles,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham. The gospel was preached
to Abraham, and when it was preached to Abraham, Abraham believed
it. He believed the gospel. believe the same gospel that
you and I believe." Same gospel, it's not two different gospels,
same gospel. He said, "'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 There is a real curse on this human race, on those
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a real curse. We're
not talking about some kind of voodoo curse. Somebody said they're
going to put a curse on you. That's a joke. That's a joke. Nobody can put a curse on anyone
except God. And this human race outside of
Christ is under a curse, and it is a real curse. Cursed is
everyone that continues not in all things absolutely perfectly
which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident,
for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith.
It does not require faith. The law requires perfect obedience. God's law. God's law requires
perfect obedience. But the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Now pick up in verse 13. Christ. Here's the gospel. Here's our hope. Here's our hope. Christ, the man Christ Jesus,
God's Son, hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. He's redeemed
us, he's bought us back, and the price was not silver and
gold. The price was his blood. We have not been redeemed by
corruptible things as silver and gold. but by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we've been redeemed.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. The law said, the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. There's a curse on us, and the law has a death grip. But here's the good news of the
gospel. Here's the good news. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. How did he do that? Being made
a curse for us. For it is written, Curse is every
one that hangeth on a tree. I want you to turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 21. Before I read this portion of
scripture, Deuteronomy chapter 21, 22 and 23, let me read you
something. I read this to Kathy earlier. Sitting up here looking at this,
we're going to talk about the law, keeping to the law, and
how strict and severe the law is. Listen to this in verse 18. If a man have a stubborn and
rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father
or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened
him will not hearken unto them, Then shall his father and his
mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his
city, and unto the gate of his place. And they shall say unto
the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious,
he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he
die. So shalt thou put evil away from among you, and all Israel
shall hear That's tough, isn't it? That's tough. But the first thing I thought
of after I read that, that's what the law requires. I was
that rebellious son. Every one of God's children are
born into this world, it tells us in Romans, with enmity, with
God. In rebellion with God. And the law says, take that rebellious
son, you take him to the gate of the city, you call the elders,
and you stone him. You stone him. You put him to
death. You put that rebellious son to death. Christ was made a curse for us. That rebellious son was put to
death at Calvary. That's what God did. That's what
he did. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
made a curse, he was hanged on a tree. As my substitute, as
your substitute, you believe the gospel, that rebellious son
was put to death. God's law is relentless. When sin was found upon his son,
when it was placed upon his son, when it was laid upon his son,
his son was not set free. He was put to death. But listen
to the verse here I was wanting to read to you. In verse 22,
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, 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. He's accursed of God. Now let's
read this again. Christ hath redeemed us. He's paid for us. He's bought
us back from the clutches of the law. He has 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. Now, if he was made a curse for
us, now listen, if he was made a curse for me,
it's not possible for God to punish his son, put him to death
for me, and then turn around and punish me and put me to death
for the same crime. Because really, you can read
it like this. Cursed is everyone that is hanged on a tree for
a crime. One of the renderings is that,
for a crime. Crimes that I've committed. We've committed far more crimes
and sins than we'll ever know. Than we'll ever know. And now he says here, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles. What is that blessing that might
come on us? Well, I think one of the blessings
is the promise of the imputed righteousness from God. It was accounted to Abraham for
righteousness when he believed God. And then it's the promise of
the Spirit, or the Spirit of promise. You know, over in verse
2, he said, This only would I learn of you, receive you the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. That's the Spirit of promise
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. And over
here in verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham, that blessing of
righteousness, of imputed righteousness, that blessing of the indwelling
of the Spirit may come on us, the Gentiles, the heathens, as
we were earlier called. that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit or the Spirit of promise through believing, through
faith. Now, he says, brethren, I speak after the manner of men,
using language that we can understand. He's going to give us an example
of something here that we can comprehend. Though it be but
a man's covenant, agreement, yet if it be confirmed, no man
disavoweth or adds thereto. If we make agreement with each
other and we sign a contract, no one else can disannul that
contract. Once it's been ratified by my
signature, it cannot be disannulled. There was a covenant made with
Christ, Abraham's seed, and it was ratified by his blood long before the law was given.
And the giving of the law has no effect on that covenant. It doesn't change it. The covenant
of grace that was between the Father and the Son before the
world began has not changed, and never has changed, and never
will change. And the law, the giving of the
law, had no effect on that covenant. It was ratified by the blood
of Christ. Now, he's saying here if a contract made between two
people, and ratified, doesn't change, can't be changed. Surely
the covenant made between the Father and the Son can't be changed.
Nothing can change that at all. Now, to Abraham and his seed
were the promises made. Now, when was it made? When were those promises made?
Well, back in Genesis, God made a promise to Abraham that in
him all nations would be blessed. that he would have an heir, that
he would have a seed through whom all the nations of the earth
would be blessed. And that was made to Abraham
before the giving of the law, before circumcision, before any
of this was done. And what he's pointing out here
is this. Abraham was justified before God, before any law was
given, before there was a ceremony, before there was circumcision,
before any of this. He was justified in Christ before the law was
given. Abraham believed God. Now, to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. And he saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one, speaking of one seed. And that one seed is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The promise that God spoke to
Abraham in Genesis was ultimately made, it was made with the Lord
Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, the promise of
eternal life, the promise of a people, the promise of the
promised land. All that we will enjoy in eternity
was promised to Christ in that covenant of grace, and that was
long before the law was given. So here's why he's saying the
law has nothing to do with the promises. The law has absolutely
nothing to do with justification before God. And this I say, that
the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the
law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that promise,
that covenant. It cannot nullify that covenant
that was made. As I said, it has no effect on
it. That it should make the promise of non-effect, it has no effect
on it. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it's no more promise. You can't have it both ways.
You cannot be both ways. That's what he's saying here.
It can't happen. If the inheritance of eternal
life, pardon, justification, all that we have in Christ, All
that we've been given in Him, all the heavenly blessings that
it speaks of in Ephesians chapter one, that were given to us in
Christ before the world began. If all that inheritance were
of the law, the promise means nothing. It means nothing. But God gave
to Abraham by promise. God did not say to Abraham, do
this. And I'll do this. I'll do that.
Abraham, you obey this. If you keep my commandments,
if you do this, then I will bless you. He did not say to Abraham,
if you do, he said, Abraham, this is what I want to do. Abraham,
I will bless you. And the nations of this earth
is going to be blessed through you, through Christ, the seed. It had nothing to do with do's
and don'ts. It had nothing to do with the commandment. It had
everything to do with the promise. God promised Abraham that he
would bless him. You know, when Israel receives
the law at Mount Sinai, you go back through Exodus and Leviticus
and you will see that God said, you do this and I'll do this.
If you don't do this, and I'm going to do, then I'll do this.
This is what the consequences. There were no consequences laid
on the promise of us doing it or not doing it. Abraham, I'm doing this. This
is a me. This is a me. Wherefore then
serves the law. Then why was the law given? What's
the purpose of it? It was added because of transgression.
It was added to reveal sin, to make sin appear to be what it
is, exceedingly sinful. You know, when God gave the types
and the pictures and the commandments, it revealed sin, but it also
revealed through the ceremonies, the offering of the lambs, it
also revealed the mercy of God in the ceremonies, that God would
give a lamb, that God would have them to sacrifice the land and
shed its blood, and they would be good for another
year. Another year would go by and
they'd do it again. But the law was given. It was added because
of transgression until what? Until Christ should come. Until Christ should come, to
whom the promise was made. The promise was made Like I said,
to Christ. And it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a Mediator. Now, a Mediator is not a Mediator
of one. There has to be two parties. Moses acted as a Mediator between
God and Israel. He was a picture of Christ, our
Mediator, the only Mediator, the Scripture says, between God
and men. He's our Mediator. But God is one. There's only
one God. You have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Son, the second person in the Trinity, is our mediator. But there's only one God. There's
still just one God. There's not three gods. It's
the law against the promises of God, the promises He gave
to Abraham, the promises that He's given to us through the
gospel. Is the law against the promises of God? He says, God
forbid. Don't even think like that. If
there had been a law given which could have given life, righteousness
should have been by that law. And God would have given that
law. If there was a law that could give us life, that could
give us righteousness, Would God not have given that law instead
of sending His Son and making Him to be a curse for us? Would
He not have done that? That's why I say, would He not
have done that? But the Scripture, the Word of
God from Genesis to Revelation, the Scripture has concluded all
under sin, all are sinners. The Word of God teaches us. There's
none good, no, not one. That's the word of God. That's
not something we come up with. That's the word of God. The scripture
hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them, not of the Jews only, but
of us Gentiles, to them that believe. It doesn't matter what
nation, what nationality you are of. It doesn't matter whether black,
white, or whether you're in China or here in America. It's given
to them that believe. The same promise that was given
to Abraham that the Jews claimed to be basically theirs. They
said, we'd be Abraham's. We were never sinners like the
Gentiles. That same promise, that same
blessing, that same promise of eternal life, that same promise
of righteousness. belongs to everyone who believes
God. Everyone. But before faith came, I have
written over this word faith. But before Christ came, see,
He's the object of faith. It said before faith came, well,
Abraham had faith. Abel had faith. He believed God. You can write over that word
faith. Before Christ came, We were kept under the law. We were
tutored by the law. The ceremonies, you know, the
tithes and the pictures, we were tutored by them. We were shut
up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore,
the law was our schoolmaster, our instructor. Every time they
offered a lamb, the Passover lamb, what was it saying? It's
crying out salvation. It's crying out forgiveness.
It's crying out there's a Messiah coming. The Passover lamb was a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover. Therefore, the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ, not to seek life by it, but to bring
us to a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by faith, by faith in Him, that we might be justified by Him.
He's telling them the law was never given to justify anyone. Listen, a perfect law cannot
justify an imperfect people. It's not possible. For the law to justify me, I
have to stand before the law absolutely perfect. And the only
way that can happen is in Christ, in God's Son. But after that
faith has come, Christ has come, and we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ by the Spirit of God, we're no longer under a schoolmaster.
We're no longer under the law. We don't need the ceremonies,
the types, and all those pictures. We don't need those no more.
For ye are all the children of God. How? By some physical descendant? by a physical ancestry? Is it
because we can take our pedigree and run it back to Abraham? That
has nothing to do with it. You are all the children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized, that is, by the Spirit of God, you have been joined
to Christ, you put on Christ. Now in Christ there is neither
Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither
male nor female. You are all one in Christ. One family, one body, you're one. And if you're Christ,
if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you're Abraham's
seed. You know, that fleshly outward
circumcision does not make me a child of Abraham, not a spiritual
child of Abraham. It does not give me right to
the inheritance of the kingdom of God. If ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham's
seed. And listen, it errs according to the promise. not
according to the law, not according to keeping this and doing that,
but according to the promise of God in Christ. I have in Christ all that he
has. I have all that he has. And I have it by promise. By promise. And the Scripture
says that all the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen. You will have it. You're not
going to have it by... And I'm not saying that we're
disobedient. We're not. The children of God
are obedient children. The law is written on the heart. But what we have and the inheritance
we have has nothing to do with my personal obedience. It has
everything to do with the promise the Father made with His Son.
That's what it has to do with. Isn't that good news? That's
good news. And I tell you, we're a train
wreck. We really are. By nature, we're a train wreck. But in Christ, to whom the promise
was made, we have all that He has. If my head has it, my body
has it. Christ being the head has all
the promises. And listen, He has secured them
all by His blood and obedience. They're sure. They are sure.
That's good news. That's good news. I have it by
promise. God, You promised. Do you ever say that to anybody?
You promised me. I tell you, you don't want to
promise Cole anything. By granted. I'm serious. He doesn't
forget it. And he'll say, You promised.
You promised. God, you promised. This is your
promise. And I'm trusting you, and I'm
trusting you to fulfill that promise. Not because I'm doing
something, but because you promised. And your son did something. He
did something. And that's good news to me.