Cursed by the Law
Galatians 3:10-12 · Bob Eckel · May 16, 2010
Galatians (2010), No. 20
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492623294753

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So today, we're going to build a case on kind of where we left off last week. And last week, really the text was justification by faith. Galatians 3, as I look forward to what we have to cover yet in Galatians 3, is this kind of pendulum swinging back between law and grace and curse and blessing. It's almost like, gee, do we have to study that again? But obviously the Lord has it there repeatedly because I think we all fall within the trap of being at times unable to adequately, to distinguish faith-based justification and life in Christ from that that's works-oriented. So today, the title is Cursed by the Law.

Now remember, we have a firm foundation in justification by faith. So you've got to keep in mind as we're studying the three verses today, we keep falling back on the fact that we're justified by faith. And we're going to see that repeated in verse 11 here today going forward. So verse 10 says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. And again, remember what verses preceded this last week's lesson on justification by faith.

Now, in justification by works, the alternative to being justified by faith is not only vain, what do we mean by vain or vanity? That man can do it. Well, and what's the literal definition of vanity or vain? Pride. Well, pride relates to vanity, but it's nothingness. I mean, in God's eyes, vanity has zero merit. Worthless. Not only is it vain to think that our justified by nothing but faith, But it's self-destructive and in its own right is the foundation of the curse.

Now again, Stan, the law is perfectly holy. We certainly don't want in any way to detract from the value of the law. Perfectly holy. But to fall under the law or legal principles, by the way, there's no A or B or anything before this. What is law or the law? There's no the law here. This is law which can be interpreted more literally, any set of legal principles.

And I think as we go forward, since there's no article before the law, can this be of any legal system? And by the way, if so, is the Mosaic law excluded? What do you think? No. I mean, just because there's no article doesn't mean that the Mosaic law doesn't apply here. And in context, to whom was the Book of Galatians written? Right. And what did Roger and I and Randy all cover in Galatians 1, right?

This other gospel. And what is this other gospel? The gospel of circumcision. Well, it relates to circumcision. It's trying to mix in the law with grace. It's not very good at legal and it's not very good at grace. I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that that you have received, let him be accursed. I mean, Paul's very repetitive here. And now we're falling back on the same principle of another gospel.

Now, we're thinking about justification by faith, meaning being made righteous. But let's just think about this in a second. And the lesson is going to build on this today. when we think about our justification being made righteous, remember this act of Christianity is not, I was saved, but I'm being saved and I will be saved. I mean this is a constant mindset of application of truthful and biblical theology to the life we live day in and day out. So let's keep that in mind. Doing rather than being. How's that? You okay with that? Another gospel is that there's some merit in doing rather than being.

Now, Stan, of course, being relates to doing. And I've always said to my kids, you know, as I've tried to raise them by grace, and I've failed in one circumstance tremendously, obviously. But the idea is once you know who you are, It's not what you do, it's who you are. And once you know who you are, what you do is an evidence of who you are.

Right? The rose smells beautifully because it's a rose. Right? And so let's let the fragrance, by God's great grace and our faith, make the odor appropriate for the flower that it's in. Stan? And I think that's why Paul could say, I am not judged by any man.

I am inferring that he's judged by, or he's accountable to, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a powerful statement when you think about it, because if he was under the law, or if he was under works, or if he was under anything other than faith, there could be a judge, there could be a Pharisee, there could be another person who could say, you broke this law, and so you sin.

But, he's in covenant with his Lord Jesus Christ and so this covenant says that he has this relationship and when he falls short on that relationship and convicted by the Holy Spirit then he confesses his sin and he goes on from there because it's a covenant relationship. But then would you be saying then that if he didn't confess then the covenant would be broken on his side? Don, I can't answer that question because I'm not gifted enough in covenant to really understand whether that happens or not. I admit, I don't know, but I know it's a covenant and I'm not well versed enough in covenant to know that answer.

Well, it seems like covenant is more of a deal between two parties. Grace seems to be totally on God's behalf and we're beneficiaries. So I'm having trouble with that word covenant. Well, supposedly there's two different kinds of covenant. The one covenant is between a higher power and a lower power, which is the one where God makes a covenant with man. And that goes all the way back, like I said last week, Adam, Abraham, Noah, and all these other different people. There's another covenant, which is between two equal parties.

And that's a marriage covenant. That's between a man and a wife. And so when you get married, and you give the oath, that's a very similar situation as I understand it, because there's a binding agreement there. Sickness and in health, until death do us part, and under God, and all the rest of it. It's a covenant, it's an agreement, it's like a legal contract. But when God makes it, that's a higher party to a lower party. But it's still a contract, it's still an agreement that you have a relationship. So that's why I think scripture...

Salvation by covenant? Pardon me? Is our involvement in the salvation by covenant? That's I guess the question. Randy, all I'm saying is it's a covenant relationship. And it's not salvation by covenant, it's salvation through faith. But once you have that salvation, it's a covenant. I think we're recipients of the blessing of a covenant, but I don't know that we're... See, that's where I think that's the question Don was asking is the distinction of are we Are we members of the agreeing parties or are we recipients of the blessings of that covenant? So are you saying that covenant is only Old Testament? I can't think of any time the relationship between God and the body of Christ reflects a covenant relationship.

Well, I think when Paul talks about the identification truce, he's talking about, you know, taking the identity of Christ and Christ took the identity of man when he came to earth in Philippians 2.5. He took on the identity of man. So I think that's a picture of covenant.

Well, identification really is the truth of who the body is in Christ, given by grace, and we receive that by faith. I think, you know, I just don't identify the justification by faith principle for the body related to a covenant. Well, in terms of identification, another word for identification is a living union. So I think that word covenant is misplaced by putting it, you know, in connection with identification. Identification is our living union with Christ. We've been, like in Romans 6, we've been baptized into Christ. We've been immersed into Christ. Buried with Him with baptism under death. Something that we had nothing to do with. We were immersed into Christ and we've never been taken out.

The picture, the wonderful picture is this living union, this living relationship. I don't know, you know, there is the eternal covenant. That's why dispensations are so wonderful. Dispensations clearly distinguish between Israel and the church. Israel had a ton of covenants. I mean, they had the Mosaic covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, and a whole list of covenants. You said we didn't have anything to do with it, but it says in Romans that if you confess, Jesus says, Lord, and you believe in your heart, that's something that we do. I mean, we may be drawn to God and we may have, you know, but we still do that.

But back to what is faith? Is faith any meritorious act for us? Well, I think just to move on here today, let me just kind of make a statement that I think reconciles this a bit. I mean, the idea of let go, let God is not what the Bible teaches for the body of Christ. The idea is by grace we respond, by faith in every aspect of our walk here. And that response means, part of that is the spirit-led confessing of our sins, right? I mean, what happens if we don't confess our sins? Are they not forgiven? Of course they are. It's the fellowship that's broken, right?

So we have an active role stand in the Christian life. We respond by faith and belief, God, for what is revealed. And if you want to look at that at covenant, I think that's a little tangential to the way I think about it. But there is a relationship that we have to Him to respond by faith day in and day out. Well, I think it's just an important word, and I think He's a covenant God. So in the New Testament, another way to say New Testament is the New Covenant. All right, so let's go ahead.

So this issue of the article, the article tau in the Greek, at times includes, or the word that is tau is connected to the law in the King James or in the Interlinear Greek and sometimes includes the article, sometimes doesn't. So I think this can be generically interpreted or can be more narrowly interpreted as the Mosaic Law.

So what's the curse? Many, as are the works of the law, are under the curse. Well, Katara, I love this, imprecation or execration, those are terms I had to look up, you know, those are really interesting terms. Basically, it's uttered out of malevolence, in other words, the idea of the production of harm and evil. So this kind of curse is an intended act of God to put people in harm's way, I mean, eternally. or even temporally in harm's way. When we're under the legal system, we're kind of in harm's way because the flesh is in control. So that's the idea of the curse. And this curse begins when the law is violated. It doesn't take very long to be under the curse if in fact the law is not perfectly lived down. And if you will, this is the antithesis of blessing.

Let's look at the antithesis in two verses in Matthew. So, Roger, how about Matthew 25, 34? And Stan, would you look at Matthew 25, 41? Is that the New Testament? Matthew, some would consider the Old Testament actually. Okay, 2534. And the king will say to those on his right, come to you who are blessed and my father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. In verse 41, Stan. Okay, 2541.

Then this print gets smaller every day. Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. All right, so this is kind of End Times related prophecy, but nevertheless, it just contrasts the blessing from the cursed. There are clearly two camps here, and that relates to justification, the cursed and the blessed. All right. And just like Israel and Deuteronomy 11, 26 to 28, we are all under one or the other. Whoever gets there first and I might win on this one. I've got a head start. OK, here it is. You don't have to turn there. Deuteronomy 11, 26.

Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse, a blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods which you have not known.

Now keep in mind this blessing and curse in the times of the Old Testament really kind of reflected I think a perplexing act of obedience, and the obedience was to the faith. There was no Christ at that time, and we know that the response by faith in the Old Testament was simply believing God for what he revealed at the time. But clearly those people who chose to not accept what God had laid out in terms of a way of life and ultimately went to other gods to have their needs met were cursed, whereas those who responded to God's message in terms of the commandments ultimately were blessed.

Now the question is, I always have this question, and I have raised it in this class many times over the years, but by what principle did the Old Testament saints respond by faith? I mean, where's that faith come from? I guess it's the same thing as saving faith here. They believed God for what He revealed and went about their day saying, gee, this is what God said, this is what I'm going to do, this is what I believe.

You're blessed if you do that. But we know that the sacrifice of bulls and goats can never take away sin, right? So this in fact is an atonement of part just for a time, right? All right. However, for there's not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.

So Ecclesiastes 7.20 even reminds us in the Old Testament, we've got a problem with this, right? So this act of believing and being under the blessing in the Old Testament still ultimately had a man and a woman be putting their faith in what God had revealed in terms of the whole principle of Mosaic law and its application through the high priest each and every year. So the curse before God is, and comma, results in, And we see that in the verse that I think Roger is going to cover next week, the first verse. Let's take a look at it right now.

Galatians 3.13, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. So this curse, this act of malevolence of the Lord, which puts us into a path of harm and evil, ultimately is one that is paid for by death. And that kind of reflects the curse of the believer walking under legal principles.

This is all worthless, vain, self-destructive, and worthy of death. It has no merit. It's the wood, hay, and stubble of 1 Corinthians 3. We're going to come back to this because I think I'm going to ask a question maybe in 10 or 15 minutes if we get there, is what's this life of faith look like and what's it feel like? We'll come back to that.

What does it mean to be of the works of the law? Well, and by the way, it's a qualified works of law. It indicates the continuing or abiding in all things written in the verse here. So Galatians 3.10 says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it's written, Cursed is everyone that continues, not in all things which are written in the book. So this is a life, a life that requires continued abiding in the principles of the law. So Deuteronomy back to the Deuteronomy chapter 27 now verse 26, cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law and all the people shall say amen. So obviously the nation of Israel was agreeing with this principle that all of the works and words of the law must in fact be heeded.

And then in Romans 3.19, which is setting the stage for justification by faith. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So it's actually taking this curse and making it very, very apparent for what the curse is really about. It's all of the law. It requires each and every element to be responded to immediately. Yes. And the problem with that is the fact that they don't leave any room for God. See, when you have law, you depend on yourself to accomplish everything.

And basically God's taken out of the equation. That's why God had no... That's why he didn't like their sacrifices and their offering and their worship. Because their sacrifices and their worship wasn't touching their heart. It wasn't changing them as individuals. It wasn't pointing out to them what they had actually done wrong. and they weren't recognizing God, they were just going out and doing things themselves in accordance with the law.

It's no different than the Pharisee and the Publican, or however you pronounce that, when they had that prayer. The Pharisee, who had complied with the law and was legalistically righteous, stood there and he prayed in self-righteousness. The Publican, on the other hand, directed his prayer toward God and said, Oh God, I am a sinner, please forgive me. That's the difference between the law and grace and mercy that God gives us.

And then we have David who really was a man after God's own heart who recognized this principle and we have that really tremendously evident through the Word of God. But then we've got the Daniels and the Josephs of the world. I don't know about you guys, I don't see much not living up to the legal principles in those guys' life. God hasn't revealed their Adam nature to us, but yet we know it was there, right? I mean, we have to believe it was there.

But nevertheless, these people of faith of the Old Testament, either like David, understood that he fell short and needed God's mercy, Or alternatively, we don't get any example that there are some people who are looked at as the saints of the Old Testament fell short in any way. But we know the principle is all are under sin and inadequate in keeping legal principles. Another thing that's key in that Deuteronomy verse there is that it says, "...who confirm the words of this law by doing them all the people shall say Amen."

But it's all the words of the law You don't get to just the Ten Commandments. That's my favorite thing. You don't live by the Ten Commandments? No, I don't live under the law at all. And then there's always an exception. Well, what about this, that, and I said, well, you don't get some of it.

And the other theological stance that I've seen people try to work legalism into the church is that, well, whatever the New Testament doesn't supersede, you're still under. Yeah. Remember that conversation I had with this Jewish theological student who was returning to Sydney from spending a year in New York at one of the, I think Albert Einstein, the School of Theology there. But anyway, he felt like he was keeping the entire law. He couldn't see in anywhere in the law he was falling short.

But Bob, that's why one of the first missions of the Holy Spirit is to convince Once you're saved, and you have the Holy Spirit, in fact, Paul asked that question, I can't remember which one of the church, I can't remember all this stuff, but I'm getting too old, my memory is not as good anymore. But he asked one of the churches, you know, if you were saved, and if you have the Spirit, why are you not doing this? Because that's the first mission of the Holy Spirit, is to convict you of your sin. And I think if you really look at your sin, you're going to see that it's fairly consistent with what the law was, but it's more individualized for this particular person.

Well, the Spirit has many, many roles in the believer, right? To convict him or her of sin, I think it's one of those roles. But the idea, I think of the Spirit most simplistically, and this is reductionist view, is to lift us up in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ in each and every one of us. And part of that, by the way, ultimately reflects back on that old guy, right? The sinful nature and what that's all about. So the Spirit is really omnipotent in terms of His role exemplifying the Lord Jesus Christ in our life. That's what His purpose really is. OK, let's move on here.

James 2.10 says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he's guilty of it all. And you like that? I kind of went to a different animated presentation. And by the way, let's go back and look at that again. I did that to get your attention.

Because this effort on our behalf is intensive and extensive. The fact that the intensity is the prefix preposition. So in the verse it says, and let as many as are of the works of the law. Of the works is really intensive emphasis on the importance of the works. We have to be kind of, it's out of the works, in the works, kind of living the works. So it's an intensive statement. And its extensiveness relates to the present tense. This is something we're about day in and day out, this keeping of the works of the law.

And I said here, keeping the law is not two minutes of failure every 20 years. Its acknowledgement is not enough, it must be kept. So the fact that David would acknowledge his sin, wasn't enough. He wasn't keeping the law, but yet God's mercy extended to David because he was founded on right principles.

And that's just like us. When we fall short of God's glory, first of all, we've been sanctified, set apart, and positioned above. We confess and we move on because God has been satisfied. The curse has been paid for each and every one of us. Isn't that beautiful? that we no longer. And by the way, David responded appropriately because he was a man after God's own heart. He recognized his shortcomings before God. It was only God's mercy that could sustain him.

So acknowledging the fact that we fell short those two minutes out of 20 years isn't enough. We blew it. We didn't keep it. We didn't confirm the law in everything it's worth. Oh, what a principle. And we must be continued to be reminded, by the way, Romans 3.20, Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight.

By the law, here's the principle, is the knowledge of sin. It's simply that. The law's perfect stand, no question. and I think you reminded me of that months ago, and that's really sunk, is that we can't detract from the law in any way. It's perfectly holy and righteous, but the purpose of the law was to make men know they fell short of God's great glory.

And Bob, it's the same thing with the sacrifices. That was by faith, because when they laid hands on the animal, you had to believe that your sins were transferred to that animal, and then you became sinless. Again, you were blamed, just like Job. When you went through the ceremonial practices of worship, your sin was removed, and it was by faith that your sin was actually removed, because God took him away, because that was his procedure. But the problem with that is, the first time you had a bad thought, after your sins were removed. You were back in the same condition again until the next year, until you had the atonement.

But I think the believing Jew believed that ultimately God's Word was true and that that would be taken care of, because the person responding by faith is responding to what God has revealed. And even though it might be eleven and a half months until that sacrifice would take place, he or she recognized God's Word. Amen. And with Christ, that's a present, past, active, ongoing, as soon as you confess your sin, It's taken away. Whereas with bulls and goats it was done once a year with the atonement. But it's not when you just confess. I mean, the sin is gone. Well that's what he said. I thought that's what he said. It's ongoing, you know.

The Lord doesn't even see the sin. He sees it through Christ who is sinless. And we're seen in Christ. That's the only way he sees us. I've had somebody discuss this with me before. You think we're a bunch of robots in heaven that God doesn't know Margaret for who she is and Donna for who she is? I mean, no, I don't think we're robots, but God still sees Donna in Christ, and sees Roger in Christ, and sees Cheryl in Christ. He sees each one of us in Christ, and our sin has been paid for, and it no longer is accounted unto us. Isn't that beautiful?

I mean, see, the problem with that theology is some people say, well, let go, let go. No, it's not that. We must respond by act of faith. By the way, that makes the Christian life joyous, and it's uplifting, and it's encouraging, and it's restful, and it's trustworthy. It's a whole different life when we get these legal principles out of the way.

And in fact, that's what I'm bringing up here, and this is equally true for those who are in Christ. How well do you know sin? Well, we could go to the Romans passage. Let's go to the Romans passage just for a second, because I think this is really relevant as an applied truth of what we're studying today.

Romans 7, 9 through 13. And we all know what Romans 7 represents. And those who say Romans 7 was about Paul before he was saved are just ridiculous. We don't have the foundation of Romans 1-6 that precedes Romans 7 for any other reason to show that once we become saved, we've got to turn on right theology. So this is the spiritless life, the life lived under the principles of the legal system. So Andy, read those verses for us and put some passion into them. 9-13.

I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died. And this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me. For sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me?

May it never be! Rather, it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by affecting my death. through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful. Read 14 to give us a soft pillow. but I am of flesh sold into bondage of sin.

So Paul totally recognizes what we all experience day in and day out. And again, I'm repetitive here, but as the light of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes brighter in our lives by faith and his great grace, the sinful nature becomes uglier all the time for what it really is. You know, it really does. I think part of the growth in grace and truth reflects increasingly of how deprived we really are and how the sinful nature really needed a big price to be paid to take us out from the curse we're under. Beautiful, in terms of our life experience.

And in Romans 8-7, to follow this, back to Romans where Paul is now lifted up by the power of the Spirit because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Don't keep living under legal principles. It's just not going to work. All right, moving on to verse 11. But that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.

Shall live is indicative, factual, active, meaning we're all living And it's future. Interesting. Future test. We're actively participating in a factual experience that we're living by grace in Christ and we'll continue to do that into the future. So God is expecting this to be playing out in our life.

The fact that no one is justified by the law should be evident here. We've been about this now for for weeks and weeks and Galatians really from the very beginning of the text. And how much more clearly can this be presented? Of course, the unbeliever doesn't accept the Bible at all, does she or he? I mean, I mean, so the fact that the Bible has been so clear on the fact that we're justified by faith is meaningless to someone who doesn't accept the word of God is the source of all truth. I mean, this is not a principle to a heathen. There are also those believers who pick and choose what they want to believe in the Bible.

I mean, there are plenty of people who do that. Margaret, you're reading the notes here. I didn't plant that. And the point I'm making here is yet in many ways, is this principle any different once we're saved? Not that I got this down pat. I mean, I'm teaching because I got so much more to learn.

But this concept of living under legal principles is really, if you will, the flaw of the body of Christ in the age in which we live. And by the way, it probably has been for a long time, including Galatia at the time. We've been made righteous, therefore is our life now to be lived, need to be lived to use the law as our guide. Sorry for the phrase, not too well written there. So we're justified by faith and made righteous. Why should that principle change? And when we put ourselves under the law, who gets the credit?

I love this verse, Romans 4, 2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. That kind of goes back to what Sam made that point earlier. It focuses on you. I'm doing such great things. Look how lawful I am. It's really true. And again, we're going to come back to this in what I promised a little earlier, but this Christian life, what's it look like? What's it feel like? We're going to come back to this.

For the just shall live by faith. So even in the ceremonial system in the Old Testament, who justified the people? And how were they justified? Justified by faith. And who did it? Well, the Lord. Exactly. So what's changed? The principles, nothing's changed. The principles have changed. They stay the same.

Because the same person is justifying and it's by the same method, which is through faith. That's the point I'm trying to make. God has never asked man to do anything but respond by faith. That's true of Adam and Eve. It's as true as us today in New Testament times. Amen. So this principle of God, I love Schofield, again, faith is believing God for what He revealed. It's a very simple definition.

We can all go to Hebrews 11.1 and read that complicated verse, which is true.

I mean, we all believe Hebrews 11.1, but faith is believing God for what He revealed, right? And it's been true since the garden.

So, Habakkuk 2.4, Romans 1.17, Galatians 3.11, and Hebrews 10.38, the four statements in the Bible that the just shall live by faith.

Now the emphasis is different. Historically, we can't doubt that this phrase has had incredible impact, hasn't it? Martin Luther found this in the book of Romans. And since then, you know, the legal system of Roman Catholicism, at least Martin Luther for the time, had left behind.

And gradually over the centuries subsequent to that, this principle of God's great grace and being justified by faith has been one that's been ingrained in Christianity. We have to believe in the year 743 that probably there were those who had biblical truth and understood this principle. But in terms of recorded history, subsequent to the apostolic times, it's a little difficult to really be sure how important this principle really was in man's understanding of who they were before God, even despite the vibrant times of early Christianity. Now, interestingly, the just shall live by faith.

The Romans' emphasis is on righteousness. The just, the righteousness emphasis is in Romans. In Hebrews, the emphasis is on the faith principle. And here in Galatians, the emphasis is on living. Okay, so it's kind of neat. The just shall live by faith. If you go to the various epistles, you kind of see this different weight of where the emphasis is. I think that's kind of neat. Let's review that again. In Romans, it's on righteousness. In Hebrews, it's on the faith principle. And here in Galatians, it's on the life being lived by faith. Okay? Now, here's what I promised you earlier.

In the sight of God, what's a life lived out of faith? Now, notice that not by faith. I'm really using a stronger, you know, preposition, which we talked about last week. this concept of being justified out of the principle of faith, not by faith. By is kind of weak. Out of the principle of faith is where we've been justified. What's this life lived out of faith look like? And then let's personalize this. What's a life lived out of faith feel like? I want class participation. Okay, but what's that look like and what's it feel like? Can we describe that?

Fruit of the Spirit. I'm sorry? Fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit, okay. In a sense, there's a bit of a danger on the Fruit of the Spirit because we're starting to put a metric to somebody's performance, aren't we? I mean, the Fruit of the Spirit is, in fact, the things listed in Galatians 5 that we're going to get to probably in three months or so. It's sometimes, in my opinion, you know, by the way, the fruit of the spirit, we're going to study this, I'm sure I'm not going to be teaching this, it's going to be Randy and Roger. You know, the fruit of the spirit, often the fruit of the spirit Let me back up a second.

You know, people that are unsaved have examples left and right of the fruit of the Spirit. So how does a believer measure the fruit of the Spirit in the body? And I think The fruit of the Spirit, in my opinion, I'm going to be very, very simplistic here, glorifies Christ. I mean, and that's how you measure it.

Was this glorifying to God? And we're probably not the ones who make that final decision, are we? But we're uplifted by it. We see it. It's exemplified in the body. Stan? I was going to say that. What does it look like? Well, that's what Vern's been talking about in the sermons for the last couple of months.

And that was, you know, to as you said, to become more in the image of Christ and how you live your life. And the example was Christ, and Paul said he was an example that they should imitate, and the apostles were examples that they should imitate, etc. Okay, so that's what it looks like. What does it feel like? That's hard for me to say, because it's a little bit of a juxtaposition, because on one hand you fear God, but on the other hand you have the love of Christ indwelling you through the Spirit, and so you have this compassion, and this mercy, and this caring for other people, and the wanting to please God, even though you fear the God you're trying to please.

That's how I see it, and maybe I'm wrong, but I still have that fear of God, even though I recognize that Christ is my Savior, because I know He's the one who's going to justify me, and He's the one who has justified me, and He's the one who's who is leading my life. I mean, I'm responsible to Him, but I still have this love trying to be lived out in this world, which is really, really difficult in this world, because there's so many things that I have to really put forth an effort to demonstrate this love that Christ wants me to exhibit in my life, especially to my neighbors.

And Roger's one of them! I don't have any problem with Roger. In the sign of God I think this is an interesting episode. Thanks Randy, because notice I underlined that and bolded it and put it in italics, and by the way this is in the verse in the sign of God.

So in the sight of God, what's the life lived out of faith look like? And in the sight of God, what's a life lived out of the faith feel like? Can we describe this? Is this something we can wrap up in a package and open it and see what it looks like? Some of the synonyms of faith, like trust, reliance, dependence, abiding, there's a whole bunch of synonyms. I think that kind of, you know, faith actually The word faith actually has all these synonyms. It's a whole. It's all of those.

Because many times it's trusting. You look at the situation and you say, I don't see how it's like with your daughter. Lord, how's this going to work out? I don't know. But you trust Christ. You trust the Lord for His way through any situation. And so I think trust, in my mind, is at the core of this. You're trusting that what God has said is true about you and about his plans for you, and you may not see a way forward, but you trust that he knows the end from the beginning. Right, and to build on that a little bit, Rod, I think God sees us in Christ, and he sees us in Christ eternally.

And his perspective, and your dad's so good at describing eternity, I've never heard anybody describe it the way he does, but he describes it so perfectly, we can't even grasp what eternity means. I mean, there's no timeline at all here. So the fact that we've been, you know, blessed eternally in heavenly places with spiritual blessings, I mean, God sees our, I think in the sight of God, the life of lived out of faith is one where he senses the dependency we have on him. And that's all I can say. God senses our dependency on him. We don't get merit for that. We can't check off, gee, I've done well.

What it feels like is not saying, gee, Donna, you're saying to yourself, I had a great day today. Praise God, my life of faith really played out. I mean, that's not what it feels like. The feeling I think of a life lived of faith is a feeling that ultimately we are lifted up into heavenly places and that walk by faith really is our eternal position played out in the day-to-day experience. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's not self-directed. It's in fact really identifying us with our position of truth as our condition is transformed to our condition. It's not something we check off on a list of having had a good day.

Donna? I was thinking about how, and you'd have to help me here, but it's about God's purpose, you know, that ultimately that God would be glorified. And I think a life that's lived in faith is glorifying to God. And do we, do we, how do we see that from our own perspective?

I think from our own perspective, and maybe this is very simplistic, but I think you're But I think it's not that we don't have a life that needs to be examined, but the Spirit allows us to examine our life and be lifted up in Christ. And by the way, when we're not lifted up in Him living in the flesh, the Spirit's really true to His being under those circumstances too. But that life led by faith I think is one which ultimately, you're right, allows us to be thankful for who we are in Christ and keep walking by the same principles.

And by the way, that doesn't mean there aren't rough paths along the way. And it's nothing we take credit for. That's the thing I want to get away from. We respond by faith because God has asked us to respond by faith. That doesn't mean we don't have an argument with our spouse. It doesn't mean we don't get distressed over worldly circumstances. I mean, this is a worldly system we live in. We still have a fallen nature.

But ultimately, the life lifted up has citizenship in mind from the very beginning to the very end, which we're thankful for. Stan? That was one of the condemnations that Paul gave in Romans. I can't remember if it was chapter two or three when he said that they did not give thanks and did not give glory to God, which is exactly what Donna said. Both of those things. And he said that they didn't know God, they didn't give him thanks, and they didn't give him glory. Great. Seems like he knew what he was talking about. All right. Amazingly. Let's go on now to verse 12. And yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Back to the principle of being under legal dogma. The law is not a faith. How interesting.

Isn't it faith in ourselves? I mean, if in fact we're living under legal principles, isn't that putting faith in ourselves that we can actually do what God has demanded us to do? I think so. I mean, remember, by His great grace, faith justifies by imputation. That means God declares us as righteous. But the law, by performing the work, is anything but that. I mean it's really relying on us in our own strength and power to perform something that was impossible.

This is a direct quote out of Leviticus. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. So this is a life. We talk about the Christ life for the believer. This is a self-life. attempting to keep a law which was only there to condemn us to say that we're unable to keep it.

In Ezekiel 20.11, a very similar text, it says he shall live by them if in fact he's under this principle. For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of Allah, the man who does those things shall live by them. So Paul even quotes Moses as being the source of that biblical truth in Romans 4 and 4-5.

Now to him who works the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. So Paul twists this around and really puts it into the context where in fact we find ourselves in the book of Galatians.

And in terms of the Christian life, Romans 11, 6 says, and if by grace then it's no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it's no longer grace. Otherwise, works is no longer works. What's otherwise work is no longer work indicate? Let's read the verse again, and if by grace, then it's no longer of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace.

That's easy, right? Grace is grace. Works are works. And if it's by works, it's not grace. That's simple. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Otherwise, work is no longer work. What do you make of that? What does work is no longer work indicate? Stump the stars. Well, the first part, but if it's of works, it is no longer grace. That's pretty obvious. That's easy. Work is no longer work. I don't know.

Okay, but if it works, it's no longer grace? Kind of a restatement? Otherwise you cannot have grace mixed in with the law. They're oil and water and they don't mix to use the second grade science experiment. So when is work no longer work if it's under the principle of grace? When the Lord's doing it, you're not doing it, so it's not your work, it's being being played out through you. It's not your work. Work is not your work. That's not your work. Attitude. Attitude. Okay.

Other thoughts on this? The book of James is very, very clear that those who are saved have some works connected to that faith, right? And to say that works are not part of the Christian life is a mistaken statement, but it's not works under a legal system. They're not tied to justification, right? That's right. And God is not glorified. And back to the vanity concept. I mean, it's worthless. It's wood, hay and stubble. And it's not the work of the Lord. So under the principle of grace, work is no longer works as defined by a legal system. Okay. And that's why I think that it's important is in the sight of God, what does a life of faith look like? It's one in which we're really kind of divorced from our life.

That doesn't mean that, that ultimately the spirit doesn't uplift us at times to kind of recognize that God has been glorified. But the point is, that's not where our focus is on ourself and our performance. It's really in an active acceptance of positional truth and that the life lived here in Christ is one of faith in what God has declared us to be.

Remember, Paul's epistles, the first half of the epistles, almost all of them are doctrine, solid doctrine about who you are in Christ. And the second half is what that life of Christ looks like. It's not a set of works that we're to do in the power of the flesh. It's what the Christ's life ultimately looks like. And we're going to see that in Galatians as we get into the fruit of the Spirit.

I mean, it happens in almost all his epistles that that second half now is an exemplification of what the first half has been all about. Everybody okay with this kind of thought? And what do we need to do to work the works of God? And one of my favorite verses is what I'm going to end with this morning.

Christ had just been seen on one side of the Sea of Galilee and now He's seen on the other side. There's all these people gathering at the other side. Margaret and I had the true privilege of seeing the Sea of Galilee this summer and this last fall and see Capernaum and where it was at. And here's Christ on the other side of the sea. Nobody knew I got there. Of course, He walked across the water, right? And here He is in Capernaum. These people come up and they're inquiring Him. about, you know, how did he get there?

What's this all about? And they asked him, you know, what do we do to work the works of God? And Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that you believe in Him who has sent. Oh, how profound is that anyway? I mean, isn't that profound? I mean, just think about that. The works of God are to believe in Him who has sent. It's not saying, well, there's this, and there's this, and then, oh, what about that? How about this? And how about your neighbor lady? Or how about your distressed boss at work? I mean, all these other things.

There's just no A, B, and C to it, right? These people must have been incredibly confused. First of all, they didn't know who Christ was. And he's telling them the works of God is to believe in him who he hath sent. And they're saying, what's that all about anyway? I would suspect that much of the body of Christ today has no clue about what this is. Not that we got it down here. I mean, I think again, as we grow in grace, we see increasingly the inability of ourselves to live the Christian life. So as you apply this in a day-to-day existence, how do we see that this is enacted in our lives, believing in Him who He hath set?

That's exactly what Paul said at the point of salvation is when you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart, this is the believing in your heart. You believe that Jesus was the Christ, and that he came for the purpose of salvation of the world. And you're working out your salvation with fear and trembling, as it says. But I think you're also uplifted in the process. It's both.

That's why it's so hard to understand. For our human minds to understand this, don't prevent enough children to come to me. Faith is actually a fairly basic, I know we have the analogy, we have faith in a lot of things, but faith at its lowest level is a pretty basic thing. And I don't think he wants us to, in a sense, go to make it more complicated. I mean, there's so much to be learned once we know him as Savior.

But the simple act of responding to who he is is what it's all about. And I think it's a very, very, you know, straightforward, not a complicated concept. And I think that's what Paul was saying. You confess it with your mouth. That's the first step. And then you believe it in your heart. And part of the Christian life is the believing in your heart and carrying it out.

Well, and it's focusing on him. I mean, the work of... It's just, you know, it's not all the stuff that we have to do. It's focusing on him. The more we know him and his character, the more that's going to be reflected in who we are and our lives. I mean, and that's why growth is not an overnight thing. When you become saved, you're not, you don't have it all down.

I mean, I hope by the time I'm, you know, I die, whenever that is, I will have a I mean, it will be more profound in my life. I mean, it's the soul, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, but not I. And it's all this work I've begun to work in you, I will continue to perform.

I mean, the concept of God, through the power of the Spirit, is enacting His own life out in us. And do we accept that by faith? And in my opinion, that's believing in Him who He sent, because that's what He's promised us. And our life on this earth must glorify Him by responding in faith to this great principle of grace He's extended to us.

All right, let's close. Doug, would you close us in prayer here this morning, please? Our gracious Heavenly Father, forgive me, thank You for the privilege and opportunity to gather together. We thank You, most of all, for Your Word, as we can learn more about Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. studied and all, we pray that we might take to heart what you have taught us today, each one of you, individually, that we've learned more about faith and the various things we've discussed today. And we thank you for that, and we pray for the service to follow. Your word taught by Vern, and we pray that an open heart will be there, and it will help us understand it through our mind and our heart. We thank you in Christ's name. Amen.