The Law is Not of Faith

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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January 9, 2020

00:00: Okie dokie.
00:01: Take out your Bibles and turn with me to Galatians chapter 3.
00:11: Some of you guys are new.
00:13: Looking out, seeing new faces.
00:15: We see new faces all the time.
00:19: Part of my methodology for teaching is I teach verse by verse through books of the Bible.
00:26: And so if you haven't been here, we have started a few months ago at Galatians 1.1.
00:35: And we've just gone verse by verse through the book.
00:38: So if you haven't had the context of the book, I want to give you just a short and very short rundown of what this book is about.
00:49: Galatians is Paul arguing against false teachers who have crept into the church to corrupt the message that he had given to the church when he planted it.
01:02: Paul planted the churches in Galatia.
01:05: Galatia is not a single place, but it's a region.
01:08: And in that region are the churches of Lystra, Iconium, Derbe.
01:12: You've heard of these churches in the book of Acts.
01:15: And when he planted those churches, he planted them on the foundation of the gospel.
01:21: Then he left to go and plant other churches.
01:23: Well, when he left, a group of people came in after him and they taught that Paul had not given them the complete and full gospel.
01:35: And they said, we have to add to what Paul has given to you.
01:39: And what they added was what we call the Judaizers, because what they added was basically the laws of the Jews.
01:52: That you had to be circumcised if you were going to be faithful to Christ.
01:56: You had to maintain the dietary laws if you were going to be faithful to Christ.
02:02: You had to maintain the Sabbath if you were going to be faithful to Christ.
02:08: And so these new people who came in corrupted the message.
02:13: And in the beginning of the book, Paul challenges them and essentially calls them false teachers.
02:18: He says in chapter 1, he says, I'm astonished that you so quickly have deserted him who called you in the grace of Christ and have turned to a different gospel.
02:27: Not that there is another one, because there's only one gospel.
02:32: But there are those who've come and have troubled you by teaching you these things which are false.
02:37: And so this whole book is what we call a polemic.
02:40: Anybody remember what the word polemic means? The word polemic means argument.
02:45: It's an argument.
02:46: It's an argument against Paul's false teachers.
02:51: Or the false teachers in Galatian.
02:54: P-O-L-E-M-I-C So in chapter 1, Paul defends his apostleship so that no one can question that his message is not from God.
03:13: In chapter 2, Paul clarifies his message by explaining that his message is very simple.
03:22: We are saved not by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
03:28: The works of the law cannot save, only faith in Christ saves.
03:35: Yes sir? St.
03:36: Paul of Saul.
03:37: He wrote most of the books of the New Testament.
03:46: He didn't write the larger books, because the larger books are the gospels, but he wrote most of the letters, what we call the epistles, beginning with Romans.
03:57: Some people debate whether or not he wrote Hebrews.
03:59: I don't think he wrote Hebrews, but some people believe he did.
04:01: So depending on whether or not you ascribe him as the author of Hebrews.
04:06: But he would have written all the way from Romans to...
04:08: Was that the first book he wrote was Romans? No, the first book Paul wrote was Galatians.
04:13: That's the one we're studying.
04:15: Yes sir? Who do you think wrote Hebrews? I think Luke might have written Hebrews, but I don't know.
04:20: It could have been Barnabas.
04:21: I think it was somebody closely associated with Paul, because it's certainly Pauline theology.
04:27: But I think it's possible that it was a sermon that Paul gave, and someone else wrote it.
04:32: The reason why I don't think Paul wrote it is because the book of Hebrews is a different style, linguistically.
04:39: Paul writes with a certain style, and Hebrews has a different style.
04:42: It's a higher form of Greek than is usually used by Paul.
04:46: And in fact, it's the most difficult Greek in the New Testament.
04:50: The easiest is John, which is why most people who study Greek start with John's writings, because he writes with a very simple style.
04:59: Hebrews is more of a difficult style of Greek, which lends me to believe it might have been Luke.
05:05: Luke was a doctor.
05:05: He was a learned man.
05:07: And there are some other reasons for that as well.
05:11: It could have been Barnabas.
05:12: We don't know.
05:13: We do know this, though.
05:14: In chapter 2, the person who's writing Hebrews says that he got this information secondhand.
05:21: And we know that's something Paul would not have said, because Paul makes it very clear in other places he did not receive this information secondhand, but got it directly from the Lord.
05:29: So that makes me think he didn't write it.
05:32: Alright, so getting back to Galatians 3.
05:35: In Galatians 3, we have already seen that Paul is making his argument first from experience.
05:42: He says in chapter 3, verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
05:52: Let me ask you only this.
05:54: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Does He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith? So stopping right there, that's Paul appealing to experience.
06:16: He's asking, how did you receive the Spirit? By what you did or what you believed? And the answer, of course, is what you believed.
06:23: When did you receive the Spirit? When you believed.
06:27: And so he's making his argument based on experience first.
06:31: And as we talked about this several weeks ago, experience is a pretty good teacher.
06:34: You touch a hot stove, you know not to do that again.
06:37: There's good things that you can learn from experience.
06:40: And Paul is using their experience and saying, you know when you received the Spirit.
06:43: You know when you came to Christ.
06:45: You know when you got saved.
06:46: And it wasn't by works of the law.
06:48: It was by hearing with faith.
06:49: Therefore, we know that salvation is not by works of the law, but is by hearing with faith based on your experience.
06:56: That's one.
06:58: Then he moves on to use the example of history.
07:03: And he uses the patriarch Abraham.
07:05: We see this beginning in verse 6.
07:08: He says, just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness, know then that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
07:15: And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed.
07:25: So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
07:31: Alright, stopping right there.
07:33: Paul here is now not appealing to their experience, but he's appealing to their understanding of history.
07:40: How did Abraham get saved? He believed God.
07:43: That's right.
07:44: He believed God and it counted to him as righteousness.
07:47: Genesis 15.6 So how are you saved? By works? No, by faith.
07:53: Because you're saved the same way Abraham was.
07:56: And the point that Paul is making is there's a continuity here.
08:00: If Abraham was saved by faith, are you going to be saved by works? No, you're going to be saved by faith.
08:06: And if you're saved by the faith that Abraham had, then you are the true sons of Abraham.
08:12: That's why we sing, Father Abraham had many sons.
08:16: I am one of them and so are you.
08:19: So now we move to Paul's third argument in this series of arguments.
08:25: And in this, he argues from Scripture.
08:29: Now you could say when he talked about Abraham he was arguing from Scripture, and I think I said that last week.
08:34: And it is that he's arguing from Scripture because Abraham's history is in the Scripture.
08:38: But in this way, what we're going to see is Paul actually uses verse citations as it is written.
08:48: And he's going to do that four times in these four verses.
08:50: He's going to point out four passages of Scripture from the Old Testament.
08:55: We're going to look at each one of them and see how he's making his argument from the Bible.
09:01: And might I just add a caveat before we read.
09:06: When we talk about God, we ought to talk from the Scriptures.
09:13: A lot of people that want to talk about God want to talk about things that are not in the Scriptures.
09:21: Well, God spoke to me.
09:23: Well, God made me feel this way.
09:25: Or God laid on my heart.
09:28: And all those things are, well, they're something.
09:32: But what really matters is thus saith the Lord.
09:36: And when somebody comes to me and says thus saith the Lord, I always say, stop.
09:40: Chapter and verse.
09:42: Before you say anything else, chapter and verse.
09:47: Thus saith the Lord should always be it is written.
09:52: Because this is what the Lord has said.
09:55: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching and for reproof and for correction and for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be fully equipped for every good work.
10:08: That's what the Bible says.
10:09: All Scripture.
10:11: Therefore, the Scripture is God speaking.
10:15: That's 2 Timothy 3.16.
10:18: Yeah, 3.16 and 3.17.
10:20: Alright, so let's read verses 10-14 and then I'm going to pray for our lesson.
10:25: That was the introduction.
10:26: So, For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.
10:33: For it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them.
10:41: Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law for the righteous shall live by faith.
10:48: But the law is not of faith.
10:49: Rather, the one who does them shall live by them.
10:52: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.
10:56: For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
11:02: So that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
11:11: Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name.
11:14: Lord, we come to You in Jesus' name and we thank You for this opportunity to study.
11:18: I pray that as I seek to give an understanding of this text that first and foremost that Your Holy Spirit would make His will known through all of this.
11:29: Lord, that He would be the instructor and Lord, me just the mouthpiece.
11:32: And that I would decrease and Christ would increase in this place.
11:36: I pray that You would keep me from error.
11:38: For Lord, I am a fallible man and I am capable of preaching error.
11:42: And for the sake of Your name, and for the sake of my conscience, and for the sake of these men, I pray that You would keep me from error.
11:49: In Christ's name, amen.
11:53: Alright.
11:54: So beginning at verse 10, Paul writes this.
11:58: For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse.
12:05: What does it mean to rely on works of the law? Well, we've already talked about that.
12:12: Or did you want...
12:13: I didn't want to...
12:13: okay.
12:14: That was sort of a rhetorical question but if somebody wanted to opine, that's fine.
12:18: What does it mean to rely on works of the law? Well, this is everyone who is seeking to gain God's favor on the basis of law keeping.
12:28: On the basis of their own obedience to the law.
12:31: All who rely on works of the law.
12:34: Those who would say this, my position with God is based on what I have done.
12:41: I have kept His commandments.
12:43: I have done good.
12:45: I am a good person.
12:48: I know that I am righteous.
12:50: And you say, nobody would say that.
12:52: Boy, people say it all the time.
12:54: In fact, the book of Proverbs tells us that almost every man will declare his own goodness.
13:02: And if you don't think that's right, go with me witnessing sometimes.
13:06: You go out and you ask people, hey, can I ask you a question? Do you think you're a good person? Absolutely.
13:13: Why do you think you're a good person? Because I do good things.
13:18: Okay.
13:19: So, are you going to go to heaven when you die? Absolutely.
13:22: Why? Because I'm a good person.
13:27: Ultimately, what are they doing? They're relying on works of the law.
13:32: They're relying on their own goodness.
13:34: That's why I like this shirt.
13:35: I wore this shirt specifically for this lesson.
13:38: What does it say? If you are not perfect, you need Jesus.
13:44: Because when I ask somebody, are you a good person? And they say yes, I say let me ask you a few questions and see if that's true.
13:49: And you've all heard this.
13:52: You just go through a few questions.
13:53: Have you ever told a lie? Yes.
13:56: What do you call people who tell lies? A liar.
13:58: So you're a liar.
13:59: Are you still a good person? Well, yeah.
14:01: I don't tell that many lies.
14:03: How many times have you got to murder to be a murderer? How many times have you got to lie to be a liar? I mean, really, you're a liar.
14:09: Have you ever stolen anything? Then you're a thief.
14:13: Jesus said, if you ever look with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart.
14:16: So you're a lying, thieving adulterer.
14:19: And you're a good person? You've got to get them lost before you can get them saved.
14:25: I mean that.
14:26: You've got to help them understand how lost they are.
14:30: Yeah, BJ, what's up? Ray Comfort.
14:34: Ray Comfort's my brother, brother.
14:42: They watch your videos.
14:45: Yeah, Ray is such a gift to the church.
14:50: And he has been very influential in my own life and ministry.
14:54: And I've never met him personally.
14:55: I've corresponded with him and I've had interactions online, but never had a chance to meet him personally.
15:04: But he's been such an influence and such a blessing to all of us.
15:09: But yeah, that's the truth, right? Because everybody is relying on one of two things.
15:15: They're either relying on Christ or they're relying on what they've done.
15:19: They're either relying on the finished work of Christ or they're relying on something that they've accomplished.
15:24: And that can be other religions, right? Because in Islam, you have to accomplish things.
15:29: In Mormonism, you have to accomplish things.
15:32: In any other religion, you have to accomplish things.
15:35: Only Christ says it's all completed and done and you have to place your faith in Him and what He has done, not what you have done.
15:43: You bring nothing to your salvation except the sin that makes it necessary.
15:49: You contribute nothing to your salvation.
15:54: Christ has done it all.
15:57: And so that's Paul's point.
15:59: For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse.
16:05: Now what is a curse? Most of us think of the word curse and we think sort of like a hex, you know, or somebody who's putting a curse on someone else in the sense of some kind of a spiritual blackness or something, you know, a spiritual negative.
16:30: That's not the idea that's here.
16:34: The word curse here literally means something that is separated, something that is excommunicated.
16:42: The actual word is execration and it's the opposite of the word consecration.
16:47: You know what consecration is? When you consecrate something, like when we do communion, right? You guys who come to church, we do communion every Sunday.
16:55: We consecrate the bread and the cup, meaning we pray over it and we set it apart for use by God, right? And that's consecration.
17:05: That's setting something apart.
17:06: When you pray over it, when you set it apart.
17:10: Well, execration, you think of like the ex- prefix meaning to put out.
17:13: So execration means you're setting it apart for bad.
17:16: It's bad.
17:18: It's not good.
17:19: It's the opposite.
17:20: One, you're setting it apart for good.
17:21: The other, you're putting out because it's bad.
17:23: And so the idea here is everyone who believes that they're saved by their works, everyone who believes they're saved by works of the law, are under a curse.
17:33: They're out.
17:34: They're anathema.
17:35: In fact, that's the same idea.
17:37: If you remember from the beginning of the book, Paul says, the person who teaches a false gospel, let him be what? Accursed.
17:45: So it's the same root.
17:46: The same idea here is the idea of being under a curse.
17:53: I don't like the word, but I use the word anathema.
17:56: It's not the same Greek word that's here, but the same idea is there.
18:00: Anathema means to be under the curse of God.
18:06: And to be under the curse of God essentially means to be under the condemnation.
18:11: Yeah, to be separated.
18:13: To be under God's condemnation.
18:15: And that's what Paul's saying.
18:17: For all who rely on the works of the law are under condemnation.
18:22: Why? Why? Well, he tells us why.
18:27: For all who rely on the works of the law are condemned.
18:30: Why? Because it is written.
18:32: Notice that phrase.
18:33: It is written.
18:35: He's quoting the Old Testament now.
18:37: Because remember, the New Testament isn't written yet.
18:39: It's currently being written.
18:41: If you think about the way that this is, Paul's writing the very first book that he will write, of the 13 that he will write.
18:49: He's writing the very first one.
18:51: So he's not talking about the New Testament.
18:53: When he says it is written, he's talking about the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.
18:58: So he quotes.
19:00: He says, For it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.
19:10: Now, where is that written? Deuteronomy 27, 26.
19:16: If you want to look at it, I want to show you something about it.
19:19: So just very quickly, turn to Deuteronomy.
19:23: It's the 5th book of your Bible.
19:29: Chapter 27, verse 26.
19:34: But I want you to look at it because there's something you'll see.
19:52: If you have an ESV, which some of you I know do, you'll notice that 26 is the end of the chapter, but beginning up at verse 16, there's a series of curses.
20:06: You see that? So verse 16, Cursed be anyone who dishonors his father or mother.
20:12: And all the people said, Amen.
20:15: Verse 17, Cursed be anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark.
20:19: Basically, steals property.
20:20: And all the people said, Amen.
20:23: Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.
20:26: Who's a jerk.
20:27: I mean, that's just a jerk, right? Sorry.
20:30: But that's a jerk move.
20:32: Cursed be that guy.
20:33: And what did they say? Amen.
20:35: And you go down the list.
20:37: Well, you get to the last one.
20:40: Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.
20:49: And all the people shall say, Amen.
20:53: So what is Paul saying? Well, how is Paul using this Scripture? Paul is saying this.
20:59: This passage does not call for medial obedience.
21:09: It does not call for any type of obedience except perfect obedience.
21:22: All that is written in this law.
21:26: All that is written in this law.
21:28: You understand why that matters? But it calls for it, don't it? You're right, nobody's perfect.
21:38: And we're going to get there in a minute.
21:40: But the point is what the law demands.
21:43: The law demands obedience.
21:46: The law demands perfect.
21:47: Is there any law that you can just break? No.
21:51: Any law that you break, you're guilty, right? Now, you may get away with it.
21:58: You may steal something and nobody will ever know.
22:01: God knows, but we'll get to that at another time.
22:04: But my point is, you may break a law and get away with it.
22:08: But the law is still broken.
22:10: The law stands as a unit.
22:14: And it stands as a perfect demand for perfect obedience.
22:21: Here's what I'm trying to say.
22:24: If you say, I am saved by keeping the law and then I say to you, but what about this law over here that you didn't keep? And you say, well, that law, it doesn't matter.
22:42: No, it does matter.
22:43: Well, that law didn't count.
22:45: No, it does count.
22:46: Well, that law is not going to condemn me.
22:48: No, that's the very one that's going to condemn you.
22:52: In fact, I want to just remind you what does James say in James 2 and verse 10? For whoever keeps the whole law, but fails in one point is guilty of all of it.
23:05: So if you've kept every law, let's say from birth to your life now, you've kept every law, but you've broken one.
23:16: You're still a lawbreaker.
23:19: This is why Paul, going back to Galatians now, this is why Paul says for all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse.
23:26: Why? Because they're relying on the works of the law that they haven't done.
23:30: They're relying on something that they haven't accomplished.
23:35: The law demands perfect obedience and they've not been perfectly obedient.
23:41: Again, if you're not perfect, you need Christ.
23:47: If you're going to be saved by the law, there's only one way to be saved by it and that is to be absolutely perfectly obedient to it.
23:53: And guess what? You have not been by any stretch of the imagination.
24:00: And people say, but wait a minute, there's sacrifices, there's atonements.
24:03: Yes, because even in the Old Testament, people weren't obedient to the law.
24:07: It wasn't as if people were saved by the law in the Old Testament.
24:10: They weren't.
24:10: Everybody saved in the Old Testament was saved by grace.
24:13: Everybody in the New Testament was saved by grace.
24:16: Nobody has ever been saved by keeping the law.
24:19: Ever.
24:20: This is why they have Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.
24:25: Because they knew they broke the law.
24:27: There was 10 commandments.
24:28: Nobody kept even one of them.
24:30: There were 600 and some odd number of precepts that went along with explaining those commandments.
24:35: Nobody kept those.
24:37: And so once a year they would come and they would take this animal and they would cut its throat and they would spill its blood on the mercy seat and they would use that as an atonement.
24:47: And yet we read later in the book of Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.
24:53: So what did they do? They were pointing to the One who could take away sin, who is Christ.
24:59: The whole reason for animal sacrifices was to give a picture of the One who would come who is the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.
25:10: They didn't understand it.
25:11: But they understood this.
25:13: This sacrifice represents my forgiveness.
25:16: So they had faith in the promise that God put in front of them.
25:19: The picture.
25:20: Just like we look at the communion...
25:21: I'll get to you in a minute brother.
25:22: Just like we look at communion and we look back to Christ, they looked at their sacrifice looking forward to Christ even though they didn't fully understand it.
25:30: Their Scripture says my people perished for lack of knowledge because they just didn't know the fulfillment of Jesus Christ.
25:44: And in that context, in that particular passage, there was an abandoning of God's Word.
25:50: Like in the book of Amos, it says there's going to be a drought not for food or water but for the hearing of the Word.
25:56: So it's not just that they didn't know, but a lot of them have abandoned the Scriptures and didn't know.
26:01: That's the lack of knowledge that it's referring to there.
26:03: Okay, you have a question.
26:03: Just something that popped in my mind.
26:05: I was curious.
26:06: When there was a Holy of Holies and they had to tie a rope around the priest before, what did he have to do to be good enough to go in there without being struck? There's no Scripture that says they tie a rope around his ankle.
26:16: I thought that was...
26:17: No, it's okay.
26:18: It's okay.
26:19: A lot of people believe that.
26:22: Where did that come from? It's a traditional thing.
26:24: Is it a Jewish thing? It's one of those things that I think somebody came up with it at one point.
26:30: Everybody thought it sounded good so they repeated it.
26:32: I didn't know that.
26:33: It's easy to repeat things, but there's no Scripture that says...
26:35: Well, that's why I asked.
26:36: No worries.
26:37: No worries.
26:37: You ain't done nothing wrong.
26:38: No, a lot of people believe that.
26:40: There was something that he had.
26:42: His garment made noise.
26:44: The bells.
26:45: Yeah, there were things on his garment that would jingle and jangle and make noise.
26:48: Okay, so it was the same thing except it wasn't the rope.
26:50: Yeah, he would go in and they would hear him in there, but they couldn't see him.
26:53: And he stopped making noise.
26:54: Yeah, he stopped making noise like...
26:56: He didn't make it.
26:58: So what did he have to do to not be stripped dead before he went in there? There was a ritual of cleansing that he had to go through.
27:06: Like sacrificing himself? He had to sacrifice for himself before he could sacrifice for the people.
27:11: This is why in the book of Hebrews we talk about Jesus did not have to sacrifice for Himself because He was perfect.
27:22: So He's not like the other priests.
27:25: Jesus doesn't have to sacrifice for Himself because He has no sins.
27:28: He becomes the sacrifice without Himself having to have any sacrifices for Himself.
27:33: Yes, sir, I see your hand back there.
27:34: This thing's in my way.
27:36: So if the people in the Old Testament believed that they had broken the law and they put their faith in that yearly sacrifice, then that's how they were saved.
27:47: Unless they believed in that.
27:49: They believed they were sinners and they believed that.
27:52: So was there people back then that didn't? That just didn't believe? Oh, absolutely.
27:58: Yeah, oh yes.
28:00: And I would say look at the wilderness wanderings, right? The sons of Korah.
28:06: The followers of Korah who were the ones who rebelled against Moses.
28:10: They didn't want what Moses was giving them.
28:11: They didn't want the commands of God that were coming through Moses.
28:14: And what happened? The earth opened up and swallowed them.
28:17: There literally was an earthquake that killed all of them.
28:20: And it demonstrated, yeah, that's what happens when you don't listen to the Word of God.
28:25: So, yes, there were people who went to hell, certainly in the Old Testament.
28:29: There were people who saw the sacrifices and rejected them.
28:32: There were people who did not follow the commands.
28:34: Absolutely.
28:35: Absolutely.
28:36: Yep.
28:37: Okay, we're going right...
28:38: We've got a lot of questions.
28:39: Go ahead, BJ, and then I'll...
28:40: One more, and then...
28:45: The sacrifices in the Romans bring testables to the Lord.
28:48: That's right.
28:52: That's right.
28:53: That's right.
28:53: What did Samuel say to Saul when Saul came back with all those animals to sacrifice when he was supposed to destroy every man, woman, child, and animal? What did he say to him? I don't desire sacrifices.
29:14: A contrite heart, right? Yeah, yeah.
29:16: The idea is if you offer a sacrifice without faith, it doesn't mean anything.
29:23: If you do this, it's just like going to church.
29:26: Somebody can go to church, pray the prayers out loud, sing the songs out loud, sit and listen to the sermon, and if it doesn't come with a changed heart, they're not saved.
29:39: Just doing things don't get you saved.
29:42: It's who you trust in.
29:44: And we have to trust in Christ.
29:46: Brother, you have...
29:47: And I want to move on, but one last question.
29:49: It's okay.
30:03: That's right.
30:05: That's right.
30:06: And that's the point, right? If we give sacrifices without a contrite heart, then they're meaningless.
30:12: If we have a contrite heart and we follow God's commands and do the things He calls to, we're doing them out of obedience, not in any way to try to manipulate or establish our position with Him.
30:23: My position with God is not established on what I do.
30:26: My position with God is established by what He has done.
30:30: Alright, so we've looked at verse 10.
30:33: Cursed is everyone who does not abide.
30:35: The key word there is all.
30:37: All the things written in the book of the law.
30:39: If you don't abide by all the things, you're under a curse.
30:42: And guess what? Everybody's under that curse.
30:45: If you're trying to find salvation through works of the law, and you've broken one, you're under that curse.
30:52: And we've all broken one at least.
30:56: One.
30:57: You broke one today.
30:59: You broke one since I started talking.
31:07: I'm just assuming.
31:11: Now.
31:12: Verse 11.
31:14: And I want to concede to you that the word now often is very significant.
31:21: It's like the word therefore.
31:23: You've seen the word therefore and you've heard the reason why therefore is important is because it's giving you, based on what you just read, therefore this is important.
31:31: And that's a tying together word.
31:33: The word now is Paul's way of addressing his current situation as opposed to the old situation.
31:44: The old situation was the time of Abraham and Moses and the prophets.
31:49: But now we have Christ.
31:51: Now things have changed.
31:52: Now it's different.
31:54: So the word now, he's looking at it not just, well, now we're going to move on to this.
32:00: No, now it is evident that no one is justified before God by law.
32:06: Now it is evident.
32:07: Why? Because we have seen Christ and we know for certain no one is justified by the law.
32:14: Because if that were true, why would Christ have to be sacrificed? What did chapter 2 of Galatians say? If you could be justified by the law, then Christ died for nothing.
32:24: If you could be justified by works of the law, then Christ died in vain.
32:29: That's right.
32:29: Yeah.
32:30: So, go ahead.
32:31: Do you want to say something? Look what else I found.
32:34: It says in Galatians, I'm sorry, in 5th chapter it says, He said, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased.
32:50: Yeah.
32:51: If, if, if, if, if I keep that ten commandments, the ten commandments, the ten commandments is the, keeping the old commandments, that is circumcision, right? Yeah, you lost me a little bit on that.
33:10: The ten commandments don't include circumcision because circumcision was given before the commandments.
33:14: Circumcision was required since the time of Abraham.
33:16: The commandments came through Moses.
33:17: Okay, I'll show you what I'm talking about.
33:19: Okay, okay, yeah.
33:20: Alright, so verse 11, Now, meaning at this point, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.
33:30: Now, notice, if you have a Bible that uses quotation marks, notice that phrase is in quotation marks.
33:36: So what is he doing? He's quoting Scripture again.
33:40: This time he's quoting Habakkuk.
33:42: Now, you don't have to go there.
33:44: Habakkuk is a minor prophet, but basically, what it says is the same thing that it says here in the writings of Paul.
33:51: The righteous shall live by faith.
33:52: The actual words in the correct word order, the just by faith shall live, but that doesn't sound right to us, so we just simply say the just or the righteous shall live by faith.
34:03: Since no one is justified by works of the law, there must be another way to be justified.
34:08: That's the point.
34:09: That's the point of all of this.
34:11: No one is justified by works of the law, and since no one is, there's got to be another way.
34:15: If anybody's going to be saved, and you can't be saved by the law, there's got to be another way.
34:20: Go ahead, brother.
34:21: What verse? I'm sorry, Habakkuk 2.4.
34:26: Habakkuk 2.4.
34:29: Now, if you can't be saved by the law, there must be another way of salvation.
34:36: What is the way of salvation according to this passage? The righteous shall live by faith.
34:43: And faith in Christ.
34:44: Yes, that's true.
34:45: But if we go back to Habakkuk, Habakkuk is speaking in the Old Testament prior to the coming of Christ, so it would be faith in the promises of God.
34:56: Right? Because the promise of God is the coming of Messiah.
35:00: They had faith in that, and that is how they were saved.
35:05: Justification.
35:06: Listen to this.
35:07: Justification was never by works of the law.
35:12: I've heard people say, oh yeah, people in the Old Testament are saved by the law.
35:15: People in the New Testament are saved by Christ.
35:17: There's a Greek word for that.
35:18: Baloney.
35:19: Absolute baloney.
35:20: It's not true.
35:23: That's it.
35:24: Baloney.
35:25: No one has ever been saved by keeping the law.
35:30: Not ever.
35:31: Not once.
35:35: Justification was never by works of the law.
35:37: It was always faith in the promises of God.
35:40: And now, it is faith in the promises of God which come through Jesus Christ.
35:44: That's where the now becomes important.
35:46: Because the faith has become now objectified.
35:51: We now have the object of faith to look at, which is Christ.
35:56: Whereas before, the faith was in promises, now the promises come.
36:01: And we have Him to look at.
36:03: And we don't have to wonder anymore.
36:05: We now know for certain who the promise is coming to.
36:09: And it's coming through Jesus Christ.
36:11: And I want to read another quick passage to you just to turn in Romans real quick.
36:17: Romans 3.
36:22: Romans is my very favorite book.
36:32: I just finished teaching through 1 Corinthians on Sundays.
36:36: And it's got a lot of good stuff.
36:38: Romans 3 verse 21.
36:45: Now, thinking about what we're learning in Galatians, that you're not saved by works of the law, but you're saved by faith in Christ.
36:50: Now listen to Paul.
36:51: This is later.
36:53: He wrote Galatians before he wrote Romans.
36:57: But he's explaining his theology here.
37:00: Verse 21, But now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.
37:07: The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
37:11: For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.
37:25: This was to show God's righteousness because in His forbearance, He had passed over former sins.
37:32: It was to show His righteousness at this present time so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
37:42: Now what in the world is he talking about there? What does it mean to be just and the justifier? This is very important.
37:51: I'm going to write this on the board because I think it's important that we hear it.
38:10: Justifier.
38:12: The one who justifies is the justifier.
38:15: That's the use of that word.
38:17: So let me give you an idea of what Paul is talking about here.
38:23: If you do something wrong and someone comes along...
38:32: Well, I want to make sure I make this very, very clear.
38:35: If you do something wrong and you stand before a judge and the judge says you are guilty, but I'm going to let you go, is that just? No, it's not.
38:46: It's not just.
38:49: And here's how you know it's not just and I'll make it very clear to you.
38:52: If you went home today and your mama had been beaten and that man who beat your mama was taken before a judge and there was all the evidence in the world that proved his guilt and the judge says, yeah, I know you're guilty, I know you beat this man's mama, I know she's almost dead because of you, but I'm going to let you go free, you'd lose your mind because you would say that's unjust.
39:16: Right? That's unjust that you let that man go.
39:20: You better not meet him in the parking lot.
39:22: That's the attitude you're going to have.
39:23: Because I'm going to bring some street justice up on this guy.
39:27: Justice is going to prevail.
39:30: I'm not encouraging anything like that.
39:33: My point is you understand justice is what is demanded when an unrighteous act has occurred.
39:47: We see these people who are harming people, terrorists who are hurting people.
39:56: What do we want? We want them brought to justice.
39:59: We read about the rapists on television or we hear about them on television, read about them in the paper, what do we say? I want this man brought to justice.
40:08: So justice is actually an internal desire.
40:14: We want to see justice done.
40:18: Exactly.
40:19: Thank you, BJ.
40:19: You beat me up.
40:20: Two seconds.
40:21: We want justice done to everybody else except us.
40:25: For us, we want...
40:27: No, no, no, no.
40:28: We want mercy.
40:31: See, here's the justice...
40:35: I'm going to erase this because I'm going to draw another line here.
40:39: The opposite of justice is injustice.
40:49: And you would say that the guy who beat your mom and is in front of the judge, if the judge let him go, you would say that's injustice, right? But there is another category which we would call non-justice.
41:03: You say, well, how is that different from injustice? Well, non-justice is when justice is not carried out.
41:12: And normally we refer to that as mercy.
41:17: Okay? Is God ever unjust? Never.
41:28: God is never unjust.
41:31: Is God ever non-just? Well, He does give mercy, doesn't He? But upon what basis does Christ give you mercy? He punishes someone else in your place so that He is never unjust.
41:57: You see, you deserve to be punished.
41:59: I deserve.
42:00: I'll point at me because I know you might not like to get pointed at.
42:03: I deserve to be punished.
42:06: God takes the punishment I deserve and He gives me non-justice and says, give me mercy instead.
42:14: But He has to punish the crime because that's just.
42:19: And God is, if anything, He is absolutely just.
42:22: He is the greatest judge in the universe.
42:24: He's the righteous one.
42:26: The only righteous one in all the universe.
42:27: So He must judge sin.
42:30: And so He takes that and He judges someone else in my place and not against His will, but the Bible says that Christ laid down His life willingly for me.
42:40: That He went willingly to take my punishment.
42:45: Therefore, God is just because He doesn't give up His punishing the wicked, but He's the justifier of the wicked because He punishes a substitute in His place.
43:02: Christ becomes the substitute for me.
43:08: That's the gospel.
43:10: That's the simple gospel.
43:11: You deserve to be punished because you have been bad.
43:14: Christ does not deserve to be punished because He has been good and the good man takes the place of the bad man and He takes the punishment of the bad man so that the bad man might be given mercy.
43:38: That's right.
43:40: Even the thief could see that Jesus was not supposed to be there.
43:50: That's right.
43:52: Time is running out today, so I'm not going to be able to get there, but when we get to verses...
43:57: because we're going to stop at verse 12.
43:59: When we get to verses 13 and 14, that's exactly what we're going to talk about next week.
44:02: We're going to look back at Isaiah.
44:04: It says, "...curses everyone who hangs on a tree." But why did He hang on the tree? Because I was supposed to hang on the tree.
44:10: He hung on the tree for me because that was my tree.
44:13: Those were my nails.
44:14: That was my scourging.
44:16: That was my cross.
44:17: And Christ took it for me.
44:21: That's the Gospel.
44:23: But let's look at verse 12 and we'll end here.
44:25: Like I said, I don't want to rush because next week we're going to be introduced to the concept of penal substitutionary atonement.
44:32: That's a long phrase.
44:33: It simply explains what I've been talking about today.
44:36: Penal, the penalty.
44:38: Substitution, Christ the Substitute.
44:39: Atonement, He reconciles us to God by taking the punishment we deserve.
44:43: That's what we're going to talk about next week.
44:45: One more thing before we move forward.
44:46: Bob says, "...and God's mercy endureth forever." This is even like an Old Testament.
44:52: That's right.
44:53: So, the loving of Jesus Christ way back then, it was coming, and that is why God said, "...His mercy endureth forever." That's right.
45:05: And, in the economy of God, in the mind of God, the crucifixion of Christ, even though it happened when it happened 2,000 years ago, from the mind of God, it was surely accomplished from the foundation of the world.
45:19: This is why He is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
45:23: God ascribes mercy to people prior to Christ based on the work of Christ that hadn't even happened yet.
45:30: I talk about this.
45:31: And this is really, if you think it's silly, think it's silly.
45:34: It's fine.
45:35: It helps my brain because sometimes just simple illustrations help me.
45:38: I look at the Old Testament sacrifices like a credit card.
45:42: A credit card doesn't have any real value.
45:45: Eventually, the payment's got to be made.
45:48: You pay with a credit card and you get the benefit of the credit card, but eventually the payment's got to be made, right? Well, every time those Old Testament animals were sacrificed, it was like somebody was swiping a credit card.
45:58: Okay, we're putting our sins on this animal, but this animal isn't really taking away sin.
46:03: Christ is the payment, and He's coming, but this is going to allow us to survive until He comes.
46:11: I know that's a funny way of looking at it.
46:13: Maybe that's just my brain.
46:14: But those animal sacrifices, Hebrews tells us, did not take away sin.
46:18: They pointed to Christ.
46:19: Christ took away sin.
46:21: Alright, so let's look at verse 12 and then we'll close.
46:26: But the law is not of faith.
46:29: Rather, the one who does them shall live by them.
46:31: This is another Scripture verse.
46:32: You'll notice there's a quotation in your Bible if your Bible uses quotation marks.
46:36: And this is actually from the book of Leviticus.
46:39: Leviticus 18 and verse 5.
46:42: And Paul is simply continuing his argument.
46:45: He says the law is not of faith.
46:48: What does that mean? The law is not of faith? Well, I'll give it to you simply.
46:52: The law doesn't require you to believe in it.
46:55: The law requires you to obey it.
46:58: You get pulled over by a cop, and the cop walks up to your door and says, Excuse me, sir.
47:04: Do you know how fast you were going? I was going 80.
47:07: Do you know the speed limit is 55? I don't believe in the law.
47:10: The cop's going to say, I don't care if you believe in the law.
47:13: Get in the back of my car.
47:14: Are you crazy? Get in the back of my car.
47:16: But the point is, the law is not based on faith.
47:19: The law is based on obedience.
47:22: You don't have to believe the law.
47:23: You have to obey the law.
47:26: That's why he says, the one who does them shall live by them.
47:29: If you're going to say, I'm saved by the law, you've got to keep it all.
47:35: You can't say, well, I'm going to have some law and some faith.
47:38: It's either law or faith.
47:40: That doesn't mean that when we're Christians we just live like the devil.
47:43: But the point is, we're not relying on the law for salvation.
47:48: You can't rely on part of it and rely on part of faith.
47:50: It's all faith or it's all law.
47:53: Yes, sir? Even if that was, let's just say for a second, even if that was accomplished, that still is not going to get you ahead.
48:00: That's still not going to justify it.
48:01: That's right.
48:03: You cannot be saved by the law.
48:05: I want to read just a quick quote from this commentary.
48:08: He says this, Those under the law were bound to render strict obedience to all its requirements, whether moral or ceremonial, and whosoever set aside any of whichever class was constituted by the law, a transgressor and a man accursed.
48:25: If you kept the whole law, but set aside any part of it, you were a transgressor.
48:34: You were condemned.
48:36: The law demands perfect obedience.
48:40: Christ demands faith.
48:42: If you are seeking to be saved by what you have done, you will be lost.
48:47: If you are seeking Christ, if you are following Him, if you are trusting in Him, you will be saved.
48:53: It really is that simple.
48:55: The Gospel is a simple message.
48:56: Give up on what you think you have done and trust completely in what Christ has done for you.
49:08: I said if you are trying to rely on the works of the law in something that you have accomplished, you will be lost.
49:16: But if you are trusting in what Christ has done for you, you will be saved.
49:21: Is that the part that you're talking about? Yeah, that's it.
49:24: If you are trying...
49:26: Again, I've talked about this several weeks.
49:28: I said there's two mountains.
49:30: The mount of law and the mountain of Christ.
49:33: You can try to climb Law Mountain and you will always fail.
49:39: If you trust in Christ, He lifts you up and puts you on the mountain of grace.
49:44: Ephesians 2, He has seated us in heavenly places with Christ.
49:51: It's one of two options.
49:53: Jesus said this.
49:54: He said there is a narrow road which leads to life and few there are who find it.
49:59: And there is a broad way which leads to destruction and many will go down that.
50:04: On what road are you on this morning? Are you following after Christ or are you hoping in some way to find your salvation in what you have done? My prayer for you is that you would be seeking only to find your salvation in Christ.
50:17: Let's pray.
50:18: Father, I thank You for this Word.
50:19: I thank You for the opportunity to study.
50:21: I pray that You will use this time to draw men unto Yourself.
50:25: Lord, for those who know You, that they would walk more closely to You, and those who do not know You, that they would be cut to the quick, that their hearts would be laid bare and open, and that they would see that there is no salvation outside of Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved than the name of Jesus Christ.
50:45: And it's in His name we pray.
50:47: Amen.