Why Trying to Keep the Law Puts You Under God's Curse

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody in, and again we're just going to go right back to Galatians chapter 3. We were in verse 6 last program, we'll go to verse 7 this one. And again for those of you joining us on television, we appreciate your letters and your phone calls, and of course your financial help. We couldn't do it without it. But we'd like to remind you that all the past programs have been made available now, they're on the screen in book form, videotape, and audiotape. And if you're interested in any of that, you give us a call or write to us and we'll send you the information. Again we just want to teach the Word, and we realize that this is what folks are appreciating, and so we won't make any further ado. Let's just come right back to where we left off. Galatians chapter 3, verse 7. Now in our last program we were looking at the fact that Abraham was justified by faith plus nothing. And I can't emphasize that enough. Of course I should be known for that by now, that our salvation rests on nothing that we can do in the flesh, but it is all resting on the finished work that Christ accomplished at the cross through His death, burial, and resurrection. And now we appropriate it by faith, and then after we've had salvation, yes, then we move into an area of service and whatever you might put on it. But not for salvation. Now in verse 7, Paul continues on Abraham as his theme. Galatians chapter 3, verse 7 "...know ye therefore that they who are of faith," in other words those who have entered into a salvation experience by faith, "...the same are the children, or the sons of Abraham." Now I've got to stop there a while. How many people haven't come up to me and said, we've always been told that when we became a Christian we become a Jew. Well I don't know who told you, but they're way out in left field. Because a Jew is a Jew by virtue first and foremost of his birth, his genetics, his bloodline, and of course by being an adherent of Judaism and the keeping of the Law. But a Gentile is a Gentile is a Gentile. And if you've had salvation, then you are simply a sinner Gentile saved by grace, and you are not a Jew. Then they point to this verse. But the Bible says, well you've got to realize what the Bible is saying, and not take it out of context. What the Bible is really saying here in verse 7 is that we who are of the faith way, we have entered in by faith plus nothing, like Abraham did, consequently we are spiritually connected to this man Abraham. Now again we've got to go all the way back to Genesis. I'm sorry, I wasn't planning to do this, but we have to. Come back to Genesis. Last program we were in chapter 12. Now I'd like to have you just turn to chapter 13. Genesis 13, and there's some interesting words in here. Genesis 13, now of course this is the chapter after the covenant, so he's already on covenant ground. He already has all these promises. Genesis 13. Now look what God says to Abraham. Genesis 3. God says to Abraham, I will make thy seed, or your offspring. Now here's another little quirk of Hebrew, you have to sort of discern from the context whether the word seed is singular and speaking of Christ, or whether it's plural and speaking of the whole nation of Israel. Now that takes some doing, I know. I know when we taught Genesis, I gave the example even in our English language. You can have 12 sheep over there, and you can have one over there. What do you call them? It's sheep, and it's sheep. Well it's the same way with the Hebrew word that pertains to the word seed. It can be plural, but the same identical word can be singular. So you've got to kind of use your wherewithal to determine from the text, is it speaking singular, and the Messiah, or is it speaking plural, the children of Israel. Well this of course is plural. So I will make thy seed, the offspring, as the dust of the earth. Now what's dust? Earthly or heavenly? Well it's earthly. So His earthly progeny would be as the numbers of the sand of the sea. In other words the nation of Israel would be, in terminology of course that is comparative, compared to the rest of the nations of the ancient world, were by far more in number. Now turn the page to Genesis chapter 15, and verse 5. Now look at what God promises. Genesis 15. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, now look toward heaven, and count, or tell the stars, if thou be able to number them, so shall thy seed be. Now what was God doing? Playing games? No. God in His infinite sovereign grace was promising Abraham two different groups of people that would be connected to Him. Now naturally the dust of the earth was His earthly offspring, who came by virtue of the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now when He brings him out and says, look heavenward, now He's talking about a heavenly connection. And Lord most of you who have been hearing me teach long enough to know that we have two concepts in Scripture, the earthly people Israel, and the heavenly people the Church. Abraham is being promised a connection to both of them. He will have an earthly progeny, which was the children of Israel. He's also going to have a heavenly progeny, which are those who have entered in like He did, by faith and faith alone. Now He has this two fold promise. The nation of Israel, which would be earthly, but a group out there in the future someplace who would be connected to Him only in the realm of the spiritual. Now I think I've already made my point. As you come back to Galatians, let me put something on the board, maybe it will help a little bit. Back here is Abraham, way back 2000 years B.C. Here stands the finished work of the cross. Here you and I are in this interval from the time of the early Acts, and at least I think with the beginning especially of Paul's ministry, the Body of Christ is being called out. Now I think I've already made my point. How do we become members of the Body of Christ? By faith, plus what? Nothing! Let's put it up here. We become members of the Body of Christ by faith, plus nothing. Abraham became the friend of God, became the recipient of all of God's righteousness because of his faith, plus nothing. Now if you were in an algebra class, what would I be able to say? There's an equality. This is equal to this. Why? Because we all came in the same way. Now to make my point, how did people back here from Adam, and Abel, and then the one who took Abel, Seth, and then you can come on down to Noah, and all the way up to Abraham. How did they come into a right relationship with God? Faith plus nothing? No! Faith plus what? Sacrifice. They couldn't approach God without it. Am I right? Okay, over here it's faith plus nothing, but coming up to the cross, even in Christ's earthly ministry. Did Jesus ever teach the concept of a salvation by faith and faith alone? No! What were they to do? They were still to be adherents of the Law of Moses. They also even had the added responsibility of repentance and baptism, plus their faith. Faith alone wouldn't cut it, even in the early chapters of Acts. It wasn't just faith and faith alone. They had to repent and be baptized. Now that was a requirement. It wasn't just empty words, it was a requirement. But then along comes the Apostle Paul, and this is why he had so much opposition. And that's why I imagine out there, at least silently, I've got a lot of opposition. I don't hear it, but I know it's out there, lest you make it too simple. You've got to repent and be baptized. And I've even had people call and say, Well we've been told that we have to repent and be baptized and speak in tongues before we can save. Well that's not faith plus nothing, that's faith plus something. Now what's my point? Just as surely as Abraham was saved by faith plus nothing, Abraham had imputed righteousness. You and I as members of the Body of Christ have imputed righteousness, and that makes us just like Abraham. Does that make sense? No one else in all of God's economy had that privilege. Let me show you. You're in Galatians, turn over to the right to Hebrews. Maybe that'll make my point. Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 4. You all got it? Hebrews chapter 11, look at verse 4 first. It goes clear back to Genesis chapter 4. By faith Abel believed God? No. What did he do? He offered. He did something. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice, and by it he obtained witness that he was righteous. Well by faith primarily, but it was faith plus. Now you come all the way down to verse 7. By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, and what did he do? Built an ark. He did something. Now let me ask you. If Noah would have stood out there in the Middle East and said, I believe you a flood is coming, and never built the ark, what would have happened? He would have gotten washed away right along with the rest of them. But along with his faith that a flood was coming, what did he do? He built an ark. And all the rest of the way up through Scripture, all those great men of God, Jacob and Isaac and David, yes they were men of faith. But faith alone? No. Faith plus temple worship, plus law keeping, plus this, plus that. Now Abraham never offered a sacrifice until years later. He did not do anything, he just simply believed God. God saw that man's faith, and He imputed righteousness. And so it is with us. Without our doing a thing, we just simply say, Yes Lord I believe it that You died for me. I believe that You were raised in resurrection power, and I believe it with all my heart. And that's all God's looking for. Now let's come back to Galatians chapter 3. I could stay in Hebrews 11 another few minutes and prove the same thing. That all those other heroes of faith were also attached with some kind of a human work. Galatians chapter 3. Now verse 8. Galatians 3. And the Scripture, the Word of God, the Old Testament, and the Scripture foreseeing, now you want to remember God's foreknowledge sees the end from the beginning, and the Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, which was preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. Now I know there are some great theologians who stand on the premise that Abraham knew the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And I stand on my hackles and say, No way! No way could Abraham, and there's nothing in Scripture to indicate that he did. There is nothing to indicate that Abraham foresaw the death on a cross, and the burial and resurrection of the Messiah. Now he had an inkling, all the Old Testament prophets had an inkling that God was going to do something. And they also understood from Isaiah especially onward that God was going to have salvation for the Gentiles. But they didn't know how. In fact we may have looked at this previously on a program. I don't think I have, but I may have. Come back with me to 1 Peter chapter 1, and we may have looked at it a few programs back, but it won't hurt to look at it again. 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 10. "...of which salvation the prophets have inquired, and searched diligently..." Well if they knew it all, why look, and why ask? But they didn't. They didn't know, and so they searched, and they inquired, and they prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. But verse 11. "...searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, who was in them..." That is in the person of the Holy Spirit. "...did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them who have preached the gospel, which the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into." In other words, did those Old Testament prophets understand this Gospel of Grace? Well of course not. God never intended for them to understand it. God had been keeping it secret. In fact, come back with me to Romans chapter 16. This was our theme verse all the while we were sailing the Mediterranean last week, and as we had our classes at four noon and afternoon, we reveled in that. But the weather wasn't all that commodious, so that wasn't all that glorious, but we reveled in the Word in Romans chapter 16. Now if the Old Testament prophets had understood the Gospel of Grace, and if Abraham would have seen that Christ would come and die, and be raised from the dead, and offer salvation to the whole world, then this verse becomes almost spurious. But it isn't. It's the truth. Now to Him Paul writes, "...that is, of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret." The Old Testament saints couldn't know it because it was a secret kept in the mind of God. There was no way that He was going to let them understand. The Twelve didn't understand. Now from all the prophetic references in the Old Testament about His death and His resurrection, you would have thought that the Twelve would have understood that He was going to die. But did they? No. They had no idea that He was going to go to that Roman cross. And when He hung there, did they expect to see Him on Sunday? Well of course not. They thought it was all over, all done. What did Peter say? I go fishing. Why? Everything was now hopeless. But you see, God kept it secret. He didn't reveal it to people. And of course I think it's the same way today. A lot of people are kept blind to the truth of the Gospel until God opens their eyes. But the minute He opens their eyes, they become intensely responsible, because that's His sovereign grace. So the Gospel which was preached unto Abraham, was not a Gospel that Abraham understood. All he had was a concept that God was going to send a Redeemer. My land, every Jew, even if he has a segment of believing left in him today, what is Israel looking for? The Redemption, the Day of Redemption. And what is their Day of Redemption? When Messiah should come. Now of course they've got a few of those things mixed up, but nevertheless this concept of resurrection and Israel coming into a place of Redemption was certainly on Abraham's mind. But to be able to associate it with a death, burial, and resurrection, and the shedding of that atoning blood of Christ, no they had no concept of that, because God didn't expect them to die. Now verse 9. Now let's put that in a little plainer English. Maybe some of the translations have already done it. So then those of us who have come into a right relationship, the faith way plus nothing, are blessed with the man of faith, Abraham. And so Abraham was the friend of God. You and I as believers are the friends of God. We're no longer enemies, and all because of our faith in what He has said, and of course what He has said concerns that which He had accomplished in the work of the cross. Now let's move on down to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3. We're going to make a little headway here today after all. Galatians 3. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. My goodness, do you realize how many millions of people are in that position, and they don't know it? They are supposedly law keepers, and they are supposedly keeping the commandments, and thereby thinking that they're pleasing God. They're not pleasing God, they're placing themselves under the curse. Unbelievable? Well seemingly, except that this is what the Book says. Galatians 3. For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse of God. Now the word curse here is more than just puncturing a voodoo doll with a needle. Galatians 3. For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse of the Almighty. In fact let's go back and look at Deuteronomy chapter 27. This is why our Bible tells us that Christ was under the curse of the Law. Deuteronomy 27. Deuteronomy 27. And he's coming through all the horrible things that mankind can do, which brings down the wrath of God. But we're not going to look at all of them, just come down to Deuteronomy 27. This is what Paul is referring to in Galatians. He's warning people, look when you say that you're going to keep the Law in order to merit favor with God, there's no way that any mortal man can do it, so where do they put themselves? Under the curse. You've got Deuteronomy 27. Now I want you to see it with your own eyes. Deuteronomy 27. "...cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them." Now what does that mean? That if you don't keep every last jot and tittle of the Law, as no man can do, and only God can do, you're under the curse of God. Plain and simple. Now flip back to Galatians once again, this is exactly what Paul is making reference to. Oh it's a warning, it's a tremendous warning. Don't try to put yourself under the Law, since you're human, you cannot keep it anyway. But when you put yourself under a so called legal system, you are actually putting yourself under the curse of God. Now that's serious business, that's serious language. It's not mine, it's the Book. Galatians 3. "...for as many are on the works of the Law unto the curse, for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things which are written in the book of the Law to do them." Oh listen, that's what the Law commands. Do this, and do that. Have I got time? Flip all the way back to Exodus. Exodus 19. Israel has just been led out of Egypt, and they're gathered around Mount Sinai, and God is preparing to, with Moses and Aaron, bring the nation of Israel under the system of Law. Now look how Israel responded. Exodus 19. "...and all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do." And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. I wonder what the Lord said. He must have smiled and thought that's what they think. Because you see, people cannot keep the Law. And yet, anytime someone says, well I'm doing the best I can, I'm keeping the Law, they are putting themselves under the curse. About this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.