Let's turn back to Galatians
chapter three. I have entitled this message,
A Black and White Message. A Black and White Message. Now there are a lot of gray areas
in these lives of ours. And the older I get, the more
acutely I feel that way. There are a lot of things that
we just do not have an answer for. We can see things we agree
with and things we disagree with on both sides of two opposing
views, and we really don't know upon which side we fall. I find
that true regarding a lot of things. There are many things
we really don't know enough about to have a decided opinion on. We can't judge people for what
they do because we don't really know what they're going through,
and we don't have the information needed to make an appropriate
judgment. And if we did make a judgment
or judge someone in some harsh way, we'll have a little voice
coming to us, you're a hypocrite. You're judging them, you do the
exact same things. That's what the scripture says.
So there's just a lot of gray. So much is cloudy. There are
things about ourselves that make us feel conflicted and contradictory. You feel that way. I feel that
way. A lot of gray in there. I'm glad
I'm not preaching on anything like that. I'm bringing a black and white
message. Now, the very heart of the gospel,
the main message of scripture, is brought out in this passage
of scripture I just read by six individual black and white statements. If I said two plus two equals
four, I don't think anybody here would say, well, how would you
interpret that? Well, two and two is four. What do you mean by two? Two.
Well, what do you mean by Four, four, two and two is four. There's
not different ways of interpreting that. It is a black and white
statement. There's no wiggle room. Two and
two always equals four. And these statements from scripture,
these six statements leave no wiggle room. They are black and
white statements from the word of God. And that's what I want.
I don't want anything gray when it comes to the gospel. I want
to hear the truth of God. Now, in verse 10, he makes this
black and white statement. There aren't different ways to
take this. Look what he says in verse 10. For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. Now, how many different
ways are there to take that? As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. Now, somebody may ask, well,
what's it mean to be of the works of the law? Well, that little
word of has to do with origins. Now, if my salvation, if the
origin of my salvation, if the origin of any aspect of my salvation
is dependent upon me in any way to any degree, I am of the works
of the law. Now, let me repeat that. If any
aspect of my salvation, right down to my will. You know, most
preaching sounds something like this. God loves you. Christ died
for you. God wants to save you. He's paid for your sins. Wants
you in heaven with him. But as to whether or not you're
in heaven, it's up to whether or not you accept him or reject
him. It's up to an act of your will.
Now, my dear friend, that's nothing more than salvation by works.
It puts salvation ultimately dependent upon what I do. And that is salvation by works. That's what it means to be of
the works of the law. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 says, for
by grace, I love that word, don't you? By grace are you saved,
through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, that's pretty black and white,
isn't it? There are two different ways to look at that. It doesn't
mean two different things. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. For it's written, Paul said,
it's written. He appeals to the Old Testament
scriptures. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Now, listen to these. Scriptures
concerning God's law. And believe me, I love God's
law. When I'm saying this, I'm not saying this disrespectfully
to God's law. It's God's law. But the scripture
says in 1 Corinthians 15, the strength of sin is the law. You put somebody under law, and
all it's going to do is strengthen their sin. It's not going to
restrain their sin. It's not going to hold it down.
The strength of sin. Now you think of that. The strength
of sin It's the law. In Romans 5, we read, the law
entered that the offense might abound. Not be restrained or
checked, the law entered that the offense might abound. We
read in Romans 3 verses 19 and 20, And we know that whatsoever
things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. That's all it does is expose
sin and curse. It doesn't do anything else.
It gives no power to obey. All it does is curse. Romans
7.13 says, sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Paul said in Romans 7.13, for
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. You believe that? The law is
spiritual, it's exceeding broad, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Now Paul's saying this as a believer.
He says, I'm a slave to sin. I cannot not sin, and that's
all God's law says to me. If you're of the law, in the
beginning of your salvation, in the middle of your salvation,
or the end of your salvation. You put law in there anywhere.
You are under the curse. Now hear the law. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. One act of disobedience puts
you under the curse. All the law will accept is perfect,
sinless obedience to its precepts. That's the law of God. Tell me
ye that desire to be under the law. Paul said, don't you hear
the law? Now this is a very black and white and a very true statement.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now here's the second black and
white statement. Verse 11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. It's evident. It's clear. It's
manifest. Nobody can escape seeing this. And here's why. For the just
shall live by faith, not by the law. but by faith. Now, this statement is found
four times in scripture. The just shall live by faith.
And what an important verse of scripture this is. What does
it mean? Well, the first time it's found in the book of Habakkuk,
chapter two, verse four, and it says, behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright, but the just shall live by faith. Now, this statement, the just
shall live by faith, is the enemy of my soul being lifted up in
me. It's the enemy of pride and self-righteousness. It excludes
pride and self-righteousness. It gives no room for me to boast
in anything that I've done. The just shall live by faith.
Somebody that's uplifted, walking in pride and self-righteousness,
the just shall live by faith backs them down because the just
shall live by faith is the enemy of all pride and self-righteousness. And then Romans chapter 1, would
you turn with me there? Romans chapter 1. Verse 16, Paul
says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it,
the gospel, is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein,
in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it's written, the just shall live by faith. Now here
the emphasis is on the just shall live by faith, is the just, the
justified, Those who stand just and righteous before God actually
possess the very righteousness of God. Now that is amazing. I have whatever God's righteousness
is, I possess it if I'm a believer. I have the very righteousness
of God. You want to talk about having
confidence going into judgment. I have confidence going into
judgment for this one reason. It has nothing to do with any
personal righteousness on my part. It's just blotted out.
I have the very righteousness of God. For he hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. So the just shall live by faith
is the enemy of all pride and self-righteousness, and the just
shall live by faith connects us with the very righteousness
of God, the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ as my actual
personal righteousness before God right now. Now, the third
diamond's mentioned is in Hebrews chapter 10, if you want to turn
there. Verse 38, now the just shall
live by faith. But if any man draw back, and
that word draw back, it's a nautical term. It means you slacken the
sail. You don't go quite so fast. And
it's the same word that was described of Peter when he withdrew himself
from the Gentiles. He saw the Jews coming. He was
sitting with the Gentiles. The Jews were coming. He was
a little bit embarrassed by being with them, so he just withdrew
himself and sat down with the Jews, and Paul called it a denial
of the gospel. He's saying, you're a little
bit more saved by being this way or that way. That's what
the word withdrawal means. Now, the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. We can't live off our works.
Now, this has to do with perseverance. This has to do with perseverance.
I'm not going to persevere by looking at my works. Matter of
fact, I'll fall away if I go to law to look for my assurance,
how my conduct, how I'm acting, anything like that. If I got
to go anywhere like that, that's contrary to faith. The just can
only live by faith. The only evidence to me of my
salvation is faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. It's not how good I am, how much
progress I'm making, how much Bible reading I'm doing, how
successfully I'm fighting against sin. No, the only thing that
causes me to persevere, the only thing that prevents me from drawing
back is living by faith. faith in the Son of God, really
believing at all times that He only is all my standing before
God. The just shall live by faith.
And then in our text, in Galatians chapter 3, the just shall live
by faith is opposed, is the enemy of all attempts at salvation
by law. It's just the enemy. You know,
law and faith are opposed to each other. You can't bring them
together in any way. They're opposed to each other.
Now this is clear. The only way any believer has
ever been saved is by faith in Christ. Look back in Galatians
chapter 3 verse 6. Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was canon to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, that's where they're from, not works, but faith, the
same with the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations
be blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Anybody that's ever been saved
has been saved by faith in Christ. That's it. resting only in Him. Never was a time when anybody
was saved any other way. I've got the same faith Abraham
had. Abraham looked to the substitute. I've got the same faith Abel
had. He looked to the slain lamb. We present nothing else. That's what faith is. You won't
dare come into God's presence at any time for any reason apart
from only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is evident. I love the way he used that word,
but that no man is justified by the law on the side of God,
it's evident. It's real clear. There's no wiggle
room here. And here's how come it's always
been this way. For the just shall live by faith. Now the third black and white
statement is found in verse 12. The law is not a faith. I don't know how many different
ways there are to take that. The law is not a faith. The man that
doeth them shall live in them. The law is not a faith. Any belief in law a man may have
didn't come from faith and it didn't come from God. I love
this scripture. Romans chapter 14 verse 23 says
whatsoever is not a faith is sin. whatsoever is not of actual faith
in Christ, relying on Him, whatever doesn't come from that, whatsoever
is not of faith, all it is is sin. I don't care how, I don't
care the religious veneer it might have over it, I don't care
how good it may appear, all it is is sin. For whatsoever is
not of faith is sin. I love that scripture in John
1 17, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. All the law recognizes is my
own personal continual obedience. And if I don't come up with it
in my flesh, in time, all the law can do is curse me. That's
it. All the law brings is a curse.
But the law is not a faith. It's not generated by faith. Now, here's the fourth statement,
and I love the clarity of this statement. And they're just not,
it's black and white. It says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. Now, obviously, we've got to
know who the us is. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. It's the same us that Paul spoke
of in Romans 8.31 when he said, if God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him freely
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? That's the us. It's God that
justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather that's risen and seated at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. That's the
us. That's all who believe. That's all of God's elect. That's
all who come to Christ. That's who the us is. And notice
it says, Christ hath. Don't miss that. Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. He paid the ransom price. This is the heart and soul of
the gospel. There was an actual substitution
that took place. Christ hath redeemed us. Now, we don't come into this
equation. He, by himself, purged our sins. With no help from us, Christ
hath redeemed us. Now, to present the us, as all mankind
is to go back to the law and make redemption dependent upon
our acceptance or our rejected of Christ's redeeming work. If
someone does not, listen to me carefully, if someone does not
clearly preach what they call limited atonement, particular
redemption, definite atonement, successful atonement, call it
what you want, it's Christ's effectual death for his elect,
the fact that everybody he died for must be saved, they were
redeemed. He didn't make their redemption
possible, he didn't offer them redemption, he half redeemed
us. And to preach anything else is
to go back to law. It's to make our redemption dependent
upon something that we do. And my dear friends, that's a
burden I don't want to have anything to do with. No, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. I love the clarity of that. And
that's a that's a black and white statement, isn't it? Christ hath
redeemed. That means all my sins are paid
for. That means he accomplished redemption for me. It's already
done. He hath redeemed me. That means
all my sins are put away. They're gone. They're separated.
As far from me as the east is from the west. John read back
in the study, 1 Peter 2, 24, who his own self bear our sins. Not just the guilt of the sin,
not just the punishment of the sin, but he bear our sins in
his own body. You know what that means? That
means I'm not bearing my sins. That means I don't have them.
They're gone. He hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law. Oh, I love the simplicity of
that. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Now the fifth black and white
statement is how he redeemed us. Look in verse 13, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. being made a curse for us, for
it's written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now,
made a curse. I don't know of anything, there's
no way that I can adequately describe what all that means,
any more than I can adequately describe what it means for Christ
to be made sin. I don't know. I believe it with
all my heart, but I understand it. I know this, Christ knew
no sin. He never sinned. He's the spotless Lamb of God. And the scripture says, for he
hath made him to be sin who knew no sin. Now, I don't understand
this. But Christ came at some point
in time to know sin. He knew it. He felt it. He felt the awful guilt and shame
of it much more acutely than you and I ever have. And do I
understand that? No. Do I believe it? Yes. He was made sin. When He bore
my sin in His own body on the tree, It became His sin. He became guilty of it. The reason
He opened not His mouth is because He was guilty. He knew sin much
more deeply than you and I ever do. And you think about how you
have felt abandoned before, and you just felt like the Lord's
cut you off because of your sin, and you feel like you've been
cast away, and you feel like He won't have anything to do
with you anymore. You might have felt that way. It was that way
for Christ. He said, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He experienced complete separation
from God. Your sins have separated you. He was separated from his father. He was made a curse. All that the curse of God is,
he was made to be. And that's why I'm not going
to experience God's curse. Christ was made a curse for me.
Now turn back to Deuteronomy 21. Deuteronomy. Verse 22. And if any man have committed
a sin worthy of death, and he 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, that thy land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God give thee for an inheritance." Now, when
someone was punished in the scriptures, for sin, for breaking the Sabbath,
for adultery. As a matter of fact, there are
22 different sins that demanded capital punishment in the Old
Testament. How were they put to death? Stoning. You remember when the
Pharisee said to the Lord, with a woman caught in adultery, Moses
said that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? And this
is the first mention of someone ever being hung on a tree. And
crucifixion was a Roman thing. It wasn't a Jewish thing. It
was a Roman thing. But this is a prophecy. regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ even then. This has always been the only
hope. Cursed be everyone that hangs
on a tree. And Christ, when he was nailed
to that tree, was made a curse. And the reason I'm not cursed,
there's only one reason why I'm not cursed. Because he's my substitute. And he stood in my place. And
my sin became his sin. And he was cursed for it. And
he put that sin away. And now I have no sin. In him is no sin. If I'm in him,
I have no sin. You know, I don't have any doubt
that if we really believed that the way we ought to believe,
we'd be jumping up and doing flips. And even when we say that, though,
I have no sin, we think about our sin. One of these days, I'm
not going to have to anymore. I'll be totally without that. But he was made a curse for us. And here is the, turn back to
Galatians chapter three, here is the last black and white statement. I love the clearness of these
statements. Verse 10, for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. Black and white. Number two, but that no man is
justified by the law on the side of God it's evident, for the
just shall live by faith. Number three, the law is not
a faith. The man that doeth them shall live in them. Four, Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. Five, here's how I did it, for it's written, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And here is the last black and white statement. Because
he was cursed, hanging on this tree for this reason, that the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. The Lord Jesus, by His death
on the cross, and you know, all I can All I can think about when
I think about the way I've tried to been talking about him being
made a curse and so on, I feel so empty because I feel like
I can't talk about that the way it ought to be talked about.
I can't even believe it the way it ought to be believed. And
that's so frustrating. But I do believe it. He hath
redeemed us, being made a curse for us. Cursed is everyone that
hangs on a tree. And every blessing that we get
is solely because of that. Every single one of them. Every
blessing I have, the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the
Spirit, and the promise of the Spirit includes everything. You
know, it's by the Spirit of God that I'm given a new nature.
It's by the Spirit of God that I'm given a new birth. It's by
the Spirit of God that I see my sin. Do you know it takes
a holy nature to see a sinful nature? You know, the reason
people, the folks who don't really believe, they're totally depraved,
are people who only have one nature and they really don't
understand what sin is. You talk about it and they think,
well, it's not that bad. If you had a holy nature, you'd
see it. It's a holy nature that calls upon the Lord. It's the
holy nature that looks to Christ. It's the holy nature that owns
the sin before God. It's the holy nature that perseveres,
being kept by the grace of God. God the Holy Spirit, the promise
of the Spirit, all I experience of Jesus Christ, all I experience,
is through God the Holy Spirit. We don't worship Him in the flesh.
We worship Him in the Spirit. I love that scripture. We are
the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. And you know the only way you
can worship the living God is in the Holy Spirit. It can't
come from your flesh. We worship God in the spirit,
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Now, every blessing we have comes to us by virtue of Christ being
cursed, being made a curse for us. Now, here's an example. God's passing through the land
of Egypt to curse the firstborn. And he said, you get in the house
with the blood over the door. And what is the one thing God
said he was looking for? He didn't say, when I see your
faith. He didn't say, when I see your
repentance. He didn't say, when I see your
progress in battling against sin. He said, one thing, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. And you know something I'm very
thankful for? He didn't say, when you see the blood. He said, when I see the blood. What I'm most concerned about
is what God sees. Be ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake. That's the only
reason he needed. Be ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. The only reason he needed to
forgive you is for Christ's sake. Not because of how sorry you
were, not because of how you asked for forgiveness, not because
of how you promised to never do it again. He forgave you for
Christ's sake. And what Paul is saying here
is that every blessing we have, all the blessings of Abraham,
is given to us for this one singular reason, because Christ was made
a curse for us. Now, these things, I believe, don't have any wiggle
room. And I'm glad they don't. I was
talking about all the grays in my life and the shady, cloudy
things that I feel like I don't know. I don't know the answer
to. But I do know the answer to this. I'm kind of like that
guy that was driving a stagecoach to Bath, England. I can't remember
who the preacher was. They were going along and he
said, where's that road go? He said, I don't know. He said,
well, where's that road go? He said, I don't know. He said,
whose house is that? And he said, I don't know. And
he said, what do you know? He said, I know the way to Bath.
And that's what he was doing. He was, I know the way of salvation. A lot of gray areas, no doubt
about that, but not in the way of God saving sinners, not in
the message of scripture. Listen to this. For as many as
are of the works of the law are under the curse, period. No man's justified by the law
on the side of God, it's evident, for the just shall live by faith,
period. Not by works, but by faith, by
a simple reliance on Jesus Christ as my righteousness before God.
The law is not a faith, it's just not. The man that doeth
them shall live 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 in order that
the blessing of Abraham, all of God's blessing of salvation,
everything God has for the sinner. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. All God has
for the sinner comes through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the curse that he experienced in my behalf. May God enable me and may God
enable you to believe the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
clarity of your word. How we thank you for the promises
that we have of your blessing through thy blessed son. And
Lord, we're so prone to try to look to ourselves for a reason
as to why you would bless us. And Lord, we're thankful that
you don't allow us to find a reason, but that you cause us to look
to thy son only as everything in our salvation. And Lord, we
ask in Christ's name that you deliver us from ever looking
anywhere else. Now bless this message for Christ's
sake. Lord, we ask for your continued
blessing on the Vacation Bible School. We ask that you would
be pleased to make yourself known to these young people. Now, bless
us. We pray in Him. Oh, that we might
be found in Him. In His name we pray. Amen. We
got poll? 205. Free from the law. We'll
stay