Last week we looked at the first
nine verses. This morning we're going to look
at Galatians 3 verses 10 through 14. Let me read these verses to you
first, and then we'll take a look at a few things. Paul writes to the churches at
Galatia, he says, For as many as are of the works of the law,
are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that
continues 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 and the
sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that does 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 hangs 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. Now, we have noted for many,
many years in this place. And we have also shown from the
Scriptures that there is really only two religions in the world. We've looked at this, we've talked
about it for 19 years or more. There's only two religions in
the world. Cain or Abel. Works or grace? Law or love? Man-centered or Christ-centered? And today, in this morning's
few texts, we see the result of each of these two religions
or ways in which people are going. Cursed or blessed? cursed or blessed. Now, it doesn't mean to curse,
like swearing, but I would say that every time that I was cursed
out, cussed out as they say, it was never a good thing. Or
chewed out, whether it was by a boss or somebody else, it's
always a bad thing. It means more than that. To be
cursed of God is to be banished from His presence, is to be sent to hell, is to
be not in the presence of the Lord Christ, to be lost, not to be born again, but then
to be blessed is to be entering into the joy
of the presence of the King, is to be redeemed, is to be saved,
is to be enlightened, quickened, illuminated. So in this passage,
amongst other things, we see these, there's just two things.
When it was early, early on as a young believer that I, it was
like, just one of those times of revelation, I guess, that
because I'm always, I guess that's just my nature. I try not to complicate things.
I try to make them simple, or maybe I appreciated that when
I had teachers, when they would be talking, and I could understand
what they were saying, and then when I would get a teacher who
was a really, what I thought was a good teacher, and even though I might
not fully grasp the theories, or the concepts, and algebra,
or geometry, whatever, but that teacher could teach me to where
I could still understand and solve the problems, could simplify
things. I enjoyed, I enjoyed math. In other words, for years
I couldn't stand it, I got it, but I didn't really understand
all the theories, but I understood what I was doing because of a
teacher. A ninth grade teacher, Mr. Holmes,
A-L-M-S. And I was talking to the kids,
and we might not understand, you might not understand everything
I'm saying, you might not understand exactly everything I'm saying,
but when you leave here, you'll know what I mean. and my desire
is to be clear. And I remember very vividly when
I was reading this book and I noticed things just seemed to be divided
by two in the scriptures. You had works and you had grace. You had heaven and you had hell. You had God and you had Satan. And I started noticing instead
of trying to put these puzzles and things like that, and Matt
made a comment, I think it was last Sunday, another one of those
revelations, this is fantastic, he said when he was looking Basically,
he thought that this Bible was like a puzzle. Let me see if
I'm explaining this right. And he was trying to read this
here and try to put a puzzle there and read a little bit more
and try to put a puzzle there. And then when God revealed the
Gospel to him, he realized that Christ, it was there. He didn't have to try to put
all these pieces. Christ was there. Christ was it. And then as you look through
the Scriptures, you see a little bit more about Him. But you see Christ
and you have everything. Isn't that about what you're
saying? I've never heard anybody explain it that way, but I thought,
that's really good. Because that's it. People get the Bible, and
that's what's going on in Galatia. They're looking at the first,
second, and fifth commandment, and they're saying, okay, tomorrow
I'm going to be a better mother, tomorrow I'm going to be a better
neighbor, I'm not going to think about stealing. And then they
go about trying to do it. And if they can accomplish what
they think, then God did a pretty good job. They look at this book
as simply instructions and rules and doings and don't-doings.
Being a better son, being a better daughter, whatever, instead of
realizing that you can do all these things all you want to
for your whole life, and you're cursed. Because you're trying
to live by law, you're trying to please God, that's the thing,
by law. Now, don't misunderstand me.
Do what your mom and dad say. be a good son, be a good daughter.
I'm not saying to live lawless. What these people were doing
in Galatia is they were trying to do the things of the Bible
for acceptance or what we call justification. And that simply
means to be declared right in the eyes of God. And all through
this world and all through this town and all through churches
this morning, they're saying, I'm going to work. I'm going
to do the Ten Commandments. I'm going to try to do that one,
or the seventh one, or the tenth one. I'm going to try to do these
things." And then they'll read over here in Paul, and they'll
say, you know, husband, love your wives, our children. And
they'll say, okay, we're going to work on that. And they're
trying to do these things, which are right and good in and of
themselves. Because the Scripture says the
law is good. But they're trying to do these
things to gain favor or the smiles of God. And the only way that
God's going to smile on you or smile on me is if you are in
Jesus Christ. Faith. Blessed. So we've noted for many years,
and we see it in the scripture, there's two kinds of religions,
and then there's a result of these two kinds of religions,
whatever denomination you want to tie on it. If you're working, verse 10, as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, curse
it is every one that continues not in all things. There's some
key words here. In all things, there's three
key right there. In all things which are written
in the book of the law, and here's another one, to do them. To do them. As many as are trying to please
God by their own deeds, or works, or efforts, that is trying to
be in a state of justification, a state in which God says, I'm
pleased with you, by the doing of anything in this book especially,
or adding to anything that's in this book. And again, most
people try to live by the example set forth, or the things that
they think are set forth in this book, to try to be good. And
Paul says, if you're going to do that, you've got to continue
in every single one of them. Every single one of them. So, if you're a pastor, if your
mom or your dad, have they lost their temper? Ever get mad at
you guys? Let's just say, for example, you get a hold of a
gun and you put a hole in a brand new shed. Do you think you're going to
get in trouble? Do you think somebody's going to be mad at you? I think you
guys were spared because I was there. I think things were a
little bit mellower. I'm not even going to tell you
some of the things that I did. And the police car is sitting
in there, beating me home. I wonder what that police car
is doing there. I go walk inside, I get one of
those. Being angry and sitting up. Every, all things, all things. And here's the issue with religion
today, which is you and I, we're a part of, and we still have
a lot of hang-ups. You and I think it's the outward
things. God looks on the heart. Oh, I can't tell if you're angry,
but God knows. Maybe you didn't lie outwardly,
but maybe in your mind you already got it all schemed out to where
if you did this, you're guilty. You see, the problem is religionists,
they, they, okay, I'm going to keep these Ten Commandments and
I'm going to make sure my neighbor sees me keep these. And you might
fool a few people, you might even fool your own pastor. But
God looks on the heart. As many as are of the works of
the law, you're under the curse because it's written, cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things. And you can't
just think about them. You've got to do them. The Word of God is more than
the outward obedience which is required. It's inward parts,
the hearts, the thoughts. Perfection is required. Perfection
is demanded. And if you or I are going to
live by the law, that is our works, our merits, our doings
to please God, then it's got to be perfect. In the mind and in the heart. Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, verses 1 through 4. Paul says,
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is they
might be saved. Well, he's saying they're lost.
Well, that's not very kind. Well, here's his clue. You'll know a tree by the fruit
it bears, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.
They have, boy, they're trying to keep the law. They go to church
every Sunday, or they even come to prayer meeting on midweek
services. I saw them at the food bank. I saw them helping a poor
old lady cross the street. They got a zeal. Some of them face Mecca. and
they pray, and they do, and I mean they do, and they do, and they
do. But Paul says, but not according to knowledge. What's he mean?
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, His law, what
He demands, who He is, they're ignorant of that, and they've
gone about to establish their own righteousness. If I do this,
God will accept me. If I do that, God will accept
me. Like that rich young ruler, what do I got to do to be saved?
I've done them all. Christ saw the heart and he went
away sorrowful. They're going about to establish
their own righteousness and have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Why? For Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And everyone
that believes is blessed. And everyone that is blessed
is graced. And everyone that is graced can
have anything to do in and of their own accord. Verse 11, back to our text. But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's
evident, and this should put an end to the debate. For the
just shall live by faith. Where to get that? Well, you
don't have to turn there, but if you want to, you can write
down Habakkuk 2.4. It's a concept that's Not an
old, or excuse me, it's not a new concept, the just shall live
by faith. Habakkuk says it, and then in Romans, Paul says it
again, and then Hebrews talks about it again, the just shall
live by faith. You see, the law is doing this,
or not doing that, but grace is by faith, which we know is
God's gift, and solely relies upon Christ's promises as being
done already. This religious world is busy
doing. I'm trying to do this. I'm trying
to do that. You know, the preacher told me
I need to do this. And oh, I forgot to do that.
He's going to be mad at me. So I need to do this. And I need to tell
him that I did it so he knows that I did it. But to be blessed
is to live by faith. And that is to trust and believe
Christ and the promise. Abraham said he was going to
be the father of many nations before he was that he believed
God. It was counted, put to his count
as righteous. He believed God. How did he believe
God? All by grace. He's blessed. I didn't plan on
going here, but Bruce was in James chapter 3. And here it is right here. Hearken,
my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world,
rich in faith, and heirs to the kingdom which He hath promised
to them that love Him? You see, works and law and the
religion of Cain is, it's always busy doing something to try to
please God. And also, it has to see. If I
see this, then I believe that. But faith and grace lay hold
of the promise. Has anybody here ever seen heaven?
Has anybody here ever seen Christ? Well, how do you know it exists? How do you know what I'm telling
you is the truth? Because it's in here. If you scrap the book, we're
of all men and women and boys and girls most miserable. He says it, He gives grace to
believe it, and you lay hold on it. Faith. Faith. Substance of things not seen. You see, This is why I believe works or
law, as it's used here in Galatians, is so popular among religionists.
Because I get tired of hearing, oh, do this, it's for a good
cause. Like, why don't you just do it anyway? It's for a good
cause. Do this, this is what I like,
it'll make you feel better. All the time. I like this one. Do this, because it'll ease your
conscience. For a while. Right? For a while. You do something
good, ease your conscience for a while, and then you hear the
gospel preached, and you read the book, and you say, there's
none that doeth good, no, not one. You say, well, I got no
hope. Not in other self, but you have all hope in Christ.
You see, the gospel is constantly telling us to quit, don't look
to law, don't look to yourself, for righteousness. Don't look
to yourself to try to please God. The gospel says Christ has
done the work. God's pleased in Him. Look to
Him. Believe the promise. Look and
live. The soul that's in it, the scripture
says, it shall die. But he that believeth on me has
everlasting life. And I'm not going to take you
through steps, because there's no steps. Look and live. Grace and faith says Christ has
done all. Simply trust and believe all
He has done and said and finished. And that's where the real peace
is. And that's the only way your conscience will be cleared and
set at liberty. Because I remember when I was
in high school and I remember in college. And again, I don't
need to go into everything, but I was a stinker. And I would do a few good things,
and then my mind would be eased a little bit. And then stuff
would come back and, yeah, but how do I know I did enough? How
do I know I prayed enough? How do I know, and then? Believe on me, and you shall
be saved. And now when my conscience tries
to smite me, when Satan tries to accuse me, I lay it all at the cross. He finished
it. He did it. And if you're in Him,
now listen to me, if you're in Him, you have all that God and
His law requires. You're perfect. What? Oh, I still
sin. Yeah, I do too. But in the eyes
of God, where it matters, you are like His Son. And God would
be unjust to put all that sin upon His Son, and then again
require it of you, if Christ dies for you. And we'll get to
there in a minute. Look at verse 12, which is just really a repeat
of verse 10. Verse 12, And the law is not of faith, but the
man that does them shall live in them. Now look at verses 13
and 14, and we'll close. The mystery of the redeeming
grace of God in the person and actions of Jesus the Christ.
What a wonderful passage. This is one of those passages
that you'll never get over. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Remember, we're either cursed
or blessed. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law.
How? Being made a curse for us. being made something that he
never was before. And that's why, you know, believers
get so upset when they hear the false gospel that lies on God.
This is one reason. Because we can't stomach it.
Because it lies about God, it lies about the atonement, it
lies about redemption, and we get aggravated because this is
so precious. This is the believer's holy ground,
this is the believer's the apple of our eye, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree, that the
blessings of Abraham, not curses, blessings, might come on the
Gentiles, that's you and I, because we weren't born Jews, through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. We have the marvelous things
unfolded here in this verse. It shows how the sinner is truly
saved by the free and sovereign grace of God. This verse is akin
to that one in 2 Corinthians 5.21, for God had made Christ
to be sin for us, Christ who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. Not of law, but by faith
and by grace. This is akin to that passage
in Isaiah 53, where He had laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He lays on us the iniquity, on His Son, and we get to go free. This is akin to that passage
in Deuteronomy 21, where it talks about the guy that sins, he hangs
on a tree until he's dead, because cursed is everyone that hangs
on a tree. So you mean Christ was cursed of God? You and I were. Through Adam,
by Adam, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
So we are, the curse is on us. We're not born innocent and then
by our actions, now that's what a lot of people religious would
believe, you're born kind of a latent dormant faith that's
just sitting there and then somebody's got to prod it and then it glows.
No, we're born dead. Spiritually dead in the eyes
of God. Can't do anything good. And we're already under that
curse. We're condemned already. Christ was made a curse for His
people as He hung on that cross. He was cursed. He was cursed of men, but that's
just a little bit. The curse of God is what matters. The frowns of men, unfortunately,
we pay too much attention to. We should be concerned about
the frowns of God. All things against us. The curse
of God laid hard on Christ. He became, was made a curse for
us. Because the curse is everyone
hung on a tree. Yes, all that means and everything that that
means. He, Christ, knew not the curse of God. We are the very
curse of God laying upon us for we have sinned and come short
of the glory of God and Adam all die. Christ must become a
curse so we would be set free, let go, pardon, reconcile, and
thereby receive Christ's perfect righteousness in us and upon
us. He was cursed so we could be
blessed. And we're either one or the other.
Either one or the other. We're either the religion of
Cain, or the religion of Abel. We're either cursed, or we're
blessed. And when it comes down to that final day, that's, it's...
Again, twos. That final day, He's gonna separate,
what? The tares and the wheat. It's
two again. The sheep and the goats. He's gonna say, come,
enter into the joy, fellowship of the kingdom are depart from
me and you are connected. Cursed by works and law and self-righteousness
or blessed by grace and love and his righteousness And the promises are only for
God's chosen, elect, predestined, blessed ones. Look at verse 14. That the blessings of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Look at verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us. Now, we won't go into redemption,
but they're redeemed. You can't redeem something that
wasn't always yours. Right? When you cut out the coupons
that your mom and dad redeem at the store, the store, the
store is the ones that print those things, but the store is
the one that says, today we're going to put our milk on sale.
Somebody else didn't say, well, we're going to do this. If you
bring a coupon, If you bring a Burger King coupon to McDonald's,
are they going to honor that? No. Why? Because it's not their
coupon. You bring a coupon to Town and
Country Store that they printed, that originated with them, you're
giving it back to them. They've already printed it up.
It's theirs. And they're going to say, OK,
yeah, we're going to redeem this. This is good. We're going to give
you a discount. The elect were always gods. Born in this world, sin like
everybody else. Christ redeemed. That means it's time for that
one. I'm fetching that one, I'm fetching
that one. We were already His. That's what, in that word redemption,
that word redeemed, that's what it means. And I don't know who
they are. You don't know who they are.
We stand up and we preach the gospel. and He uses the Gospel
to call His people in. Do you believe the Gospel? Do
you trust Christ? Are you still trying to do this
to please God? Or do you realize it's all finished
in Him? And by faith, you trust what
He says, and then you're going to follow Him in baptism, and
then you're going to take the Lord's Supper, you're going to
do those things which He tells us to do in simple obedience
to Him. He became a curse, so we will
be blessed. And we are blessed by grace,
through faith in Christ Jesus, by His own workings in us and
through us. Because this is, grace is so
foreign to you and I. It's something that we would
never think of. He has to open our eyes and our heart. Or we
would just continue on our way. And one last thing, in all this
right here, as in with the gospel, as in with grace, as in with
the religion of Abel and love, have you noticed one thing? The
blessings always come from heaven to earth. We don't bless God. Have you noticed that in any
passage of Scripture? In this here particularly. It's
by faith. It's not by the law. Because
if you're the law, or working, it's cursed. If you're faith,
blessed. And did you notice how God blessed
Abraham? And God blessed Melchizedek? And God blessed Aaron? And God
blessed David? And God blesses you and me? It
always comes down. From heaven to earth. It always
comes from Him to us. It's always from the outside
of us and always initiated by Him. That's why it's called grace. And that's why it's a blessing. And that's why it's through the
promises of faith.