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Well, thank you for that wonderful time of worship and music. Thank you, Pat. Thank you for your ministry here. Thank you, music team. What a blessing. Please turn in your Bibles to Galatians. We'll be looking at chapter 3, verses 15, 22 today. Galatians chapter 3, verse 15. I hope you're ready for some good news.

Galatians chapter 3, verse 15. Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations, even though it is only a man's covenant. Yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now, the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, and to your seed, that is Christ.

What I am saying is this. The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer Based on a promise, but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now, a mediator is not for one party only, whereas God is only one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God?

May it never be. For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

I'm going to take just a moment, interrupt the sermon with a family announcement that I need to just clarify to everybody, and it has to do with my will. Nancy and I, this is our last will and testament. And I want to read some things to you today, or certainly disclose some contents into it, so that there isn't any confusion with my posterity, that is my children, about what is to come and how I want my assets to be handled.

So, just a couple of elements of this, so bear with me. But first of all, regarding our vehicles, our thinking was we wanted the ones who've already graduated not to have the best vehicles. We want the best vehicle that we have with the most life left on it to go to our youngest daughter.

So, Elise gets the sedan with the least amount of miles. Heather, on the other hand, gets the little SUV. And then Michael gets my forerunner. That has, we think that one has the next. And then Liza gets what's left of the Toyota tundra. Now, here's what I want you to get.

Everything else, real property, all bank accounts, everything else we are leaving to our beloved beagle, Smokey. Not really. Think of the will as the covenant that God made to Abraham concerning blessing on the earth and how earth is going to be blessed. The promise he made to Abraham is God's last will and testament.

Through your seed, all the nations will be blessed. That is God's last will and testament concerning blessing on earth. Now, there's going to be more detail. Given. But that's it. Now, I want to tell you about another document I have up here. This is my ministry agreement with the Manuel Baptist Church.

This ministry agreement outlines several things. It tells me about what my job is here at Emmanuel, how I'm the qualifications I'm to meet. It outlines ministry duties. And as long as I carry out these duties, guess what? I have a job here at Emmanuel. Think about this ministry agreement more in line with the Mosaic covenant.

Think about the Abraham covenant as God's last will and testament and promise to Abraham how blessing is going to be brought about on the face of the earth. And think about the Mosaic covenant as a ministry agreement between God and Israel. Now, where were we? We'll pick up right where we left off from last week.

We are in a passage that is revolutionary. Chapters 3 and chapter 4 of Galatians have reshaped continents. The core truths of the gospel have reshaped the way people think, have reshaped governments, reshaped ecclesiastical authorities. And we're right in the middle of these verses. Last time, the last thought was in verse 13.

I'll read those. Christ 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. In order that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

What is he saying? Christ became a curse in order to bring us out from under God's curse and bring us into God's righteousness and blessing. Think about the flood. Christ, like that ark, brings us, his people, through the curse of God and into the blessing of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

And that blessing is his Spirit put in us. That is the blessing that he speaks about earlier. Spirit would come upon all who would exercise faith in him. And so Paul is going to continue. We're going to pick it up right where he left off. He is continuing to defend the gospel that he preached there in Galatians.

And what he's going to do in our verses this morning and next week is he's going to lay out an understanding of The law. You know, one of the most significant issues facing the church then, New Testament believer, is what do we do with the law? Same issue is today.

What do we do with the law? How does the Christian relate to the law of Moses? It's one of the most significant issues and one that there is a clear answer in Scripture, and Paul is going to deal with that. And I am excited as we spend the next weeks and months just looking at the glories of God's law when one uses it properly.

But you see, what was happening is that there were those who wanted to make Jews of all the nations. They were called Judaizers. And what they were saying, if you want God's blessing, you basically have to think and act like a Jew. And so, in fact, today, many Christian denominations, including Judaism, still do not understand God's law and how we are to relate to it.

Well, this morning, what Paul is going to do is begin to lay out for us the ministry of the law, the ministry of the law. And I want to point out three core concepts about the ministry of the law so that we will appreciate what the law has done, what God has done through the law.

Very straightforward. Very straightforward. Not complicated. But it does take some paying attention to. Paul is talking like an attorney here, and he's laying some basic principles out which we can understand, and they are glorious. So, first of all, the ministry of the law was not to invalidate, not to invalidate, it was not to invalidate the Mosaic, I mean the Abrahamic covenant, any more than my ministry agreement was intended to invalidate my will that I left to my beagle, who's not worthy of any of that, by the way.

Look at verse 15. Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations, even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. What does he say? You see, this covenant, it's actually the term for testament, will and testament.

In our world today, certainly in our world, in our English society and Roman society, even then, a will could be changed as long as a person was living. But once you died, like once Nancy and I get run over by a train, the will is in effect, and nobody can add to it, nobody can take away from it.

In ancient Greek culture, you couldn't change it. Once it was ratified, it was done. I mean, they didn't have computers. They couldn't cross-examine things. I mean, they have one document. It's ratified. That's it. It's in effect. You can't change it. And so what Paul is saying is God put his promise to Abraham into effect.

And you remember in Genesis chapter 12, he shows Abraham all these stars. Look, I'm going to, this is going to be your descendants. He goes on and gives him some promises, and Abraham says, How do I know that I'm going to possess it? And God says, Bring me a heifer, bring me a goat, bring me a ram, bring me a turtle dove, bring me a pigeon.

And he cut those in half, blood everywhere. And what happens? Abraham sees a smoking pot goes through them. That's God ratifying, saying, This is how you know. I'm going to make good. God put his promises into effect in a way that signified his own death. And then later, you remember, after Abraham had offered, was willing to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice, then God stops him, and then he says this.

Again, ratifying the promise. Genesis 22, 16. And he said, By myself I have sworn. In other words, there's no higher authority. There is no other way to ratify it. By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations be blessed.

God ratified the promise. In your offspring, all the nations shall be blessed. God made a promise to Abraham much like a last will and testament. Put it into effect. It cannot be changed. God has destined one individual to be the source of blessings to all mankind, and his name is Jesus Christ.

But Paul, look at verse 16, going on. Paul emphasized this point, that it is to Christ. Look back at verse 16. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, and to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, and to your seed, that is Jesus Christ, or that is Christ.

You see the promise. Make sure you're paying attention to the details. The promise that God made to Abraham is really, as much as a promise to Abraham, It's a promise to Jesus Christ. In you, all the nations will be blessed. And that's what Paul is picking up on.

This specific promise was not to all of Abraham's offsprings, the Ishmaelites, Esauites, or Edomites, or even the Jews. It was to one individual, Jesus Christ. He would be and is the source of blessing to all nations, including the Jews. Do you see why it's important for you to properly relate to Jesus Christ?

Do you see why it's important for you to come and have faith in him? There isn't another source of blessing outside of him. So you can think of this as God's last will in the testament. You know, my beagle isn't worth, he's not worthy. He's kind of a bad dog.

He isn't worthy of my estate. But Christ is. When God made that promise to the seed, he was worthy to be the source of all blessings to humanity. Look at what Paul goes on to say in verse 17. What I am saying is this: the law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate.

A covenant previously ratified by God so as to nullify the promise. In other words, the Mosaic law, just like my ministry agreement, doesn't invalidate God's promises to Christ. And we know that. Several things ensure that you can be ensure, that you can be sure that God's testament to Abraham is still in effect, even today.

Number one, God ratified the covenant with Abraham. He ratified it, he put it into effect. I showed you two examples of that. Second, Abraham died. So Abraham's dead. You can't amend the promise to Abraham anymore. He's dead. Third, God doesn't change. Fourth, God doesn't want to change it.

He wants to bless all the nations through Jesus Christ. Fifth, Christ has died. The seed has died. And so you can't change it after that either. Christ has died. He is the sin offering and the mediator of the new covenant. The new covenant is in effect, and this is the basis on which God is going to bless all nations.

And this is the gospel that Paul. Preached to Galatia. You see, the blessing of God is in Jesus Christ. There is absolutely no blessing of God outside of that, and that's why you need to come to him today and magnify him. Let your soul exalt in him. He says, Come.

God wants to give you the blessing that he wants to give all the nations in Christ Jesus. Paul goes on, look at verse 18. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise, but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

For if the inheritance, that is, if a person's blessed status and indwelling spirit of God is based upon the law, then it's not based upon the promise. So what he's saying is, if the Judaizers were correct and God's inheritance is based upon the nation's performance to the Mosaic law, then God's promise to Abraham has been nullified.

There wasn't a law of Moses. There wasn't a Mosaic code. And so it's like, okay, God made all these promises to Abraham. And then Moses comes along and he gives this Mosaic code. Now, if righteousness and all the blessings come because of that code, then it's no longer based on the promise.

There is another form of righteousness. And look back at verse 21 of chapter 2. It's what Paul said earlier. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly, died for nothing. But you can think about it again, going back to that will.

Is God really going to break his promises? No, no, no. And that's what Paul is saying. No. And if the Judaizers are right, or if any works-based system that you can earn your righteousness is correct, then God's promise to Abraham and to his seed has been set aside.

Paul's point is that the law did not invalidate God's promises to Abraham. The gospel beforehand. Look back at verse 8 of chapter 3. The scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles or the nations by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed in you.

That's the gospel. More details are going to be given, but that was the gospel preached to Abraham. All nations will be blessed in. You, and as we go on, we understand that in you is Jesus Christ. Paul spells it out. You see, at the time Abraham was declared righteous, there were no Mosaic orders.

In fact, this argument is so strong, Luther effectively used Paul's argument in his time to address the works-based system of the Roman Catholic authorities. Listen to what Luther says. And he's using this same argument. This promise, Abraham believed, and it was counted to him for righteousness. In other words, there was a righteousness in the earth long before the Mosaic Code.

So righteousness must come on a different basis than even the Mosaic Code. Then Luther's going to go on to say, so say we at this day, our sins were purged by the death of Christ long ago when there were yet no religious orders. In other words, he's saying, look, long before there was even a Catholic church, there was righteousness in the earth.

When there were yet no religious orders, no rule of penance, no merits of congruence or worthiness. We cannot now begin to abolish the same by our own works and merits. See, that's what the Judaizers were doing. In their day, they were abolishing justification by faith alone because they're saying the Mosaic orders are what is in place.

And so Luther picks up that same argument and says, Look, there is a righteousness in the earth by faith long before the Catholic Church ever had its first Pope. So you have to understand that there is a different basis for righteousness, and this changed the shape of Europe, did it not?

So I'm saying these are revolutionary truths. And let your soul get a hold of this. Righteousness, blessing is in a relationship with Jesus Christ, and you are invited into that relationship. That's the good news. But then this leads us to an important question. If the Mosaic law didn't provide righteousness, then what in the world was it there for?

Paul says, I'm glad you asked. Look back at verse 19. Why the law then? Why the law? So if the ministry of the law was not to invalidate, but to illuminate. You see, the ministry of the law was not to invalidate, but to illuminate, as Paul goes on.

Look back at verse 19. Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency. Of a mediator until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Until that seed, until he should appear publicly and be put on display.

Remember, as the night sky, the stars put on display, until the seed comes, until he is put on display. Look, you can't believe in somebody that God hasn't put on display. Of course, if he's going to be the source, if the seed, Jesus Christ, is going to be the source of blessing to all mankind that God is going to call for faith in, he's going to have to put him on public display.

But the ministry of the law is to illuminate. It's to illuminate two things. Number one, it illuminates by revealing what sin is. It reveals what sin is. Now, many of you this morning drove on 1179, this main highway out here to get to church. Some of you may have come in the back way or something, but many of you, probably most of you, drove down Highway 1179.

Now, let's just suppose for a moment that the authorities never got around to assigning a speed limit on that highway. Could someone break the law? If there was no law, could someone break it? No. Would there be people on 1179 that drove too fast? Sure. There would be speeders.

But how would we know who they are? We wouldn't really know who they are. We might know there are certainly speeders out there. We just know some people are going way too fast, but we'd have no ability to know who they really are until the speed limit was put in place.

Now, what Paul does, he uses two words here in our passage. In verse 19, he uses the word transgression. And then look at verse 22. He uses the word sin. But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin. Two different words that describe wrongdoing. You think about sin.

It's this general term that describes wrongdoing. And it speaks of a disposition, something in the heart. It's the non-compliance to God. And that may show up in transgression or iniquity or wickedness or other terms. But sin is this general category that encompasses them all. But then he uses in verse 19 transgression.

It was added because of transgression. Now, transgression is a general term for a, I mean, Is a specific term for crossing a moral boundary, breaking a limit, crossing the line. Transgression is about crossing the line, a moral line. Sin, so transgression is sin. It's a manifestation of sin.

Sin, that principle of sin, at work in the world, but then it manifests itself in specific transgressions. Now, if you think about this historically before the law came, the principle of sin was in the world. We know that in Genesis 6:5. Every intent of man's heart was only evil continually, and God wipes out the world with a flood.

But how specifically do we know what they were doing? We just know that that sin was there. But without a law, there is no specific transgressions. You think going back even further to the garden, there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What did it do?

It exposed that sin principle that was at work in the garden. It was at work in Adam and Eve, that sin principle. It was at work in the angelic orders. See the serpent come in. It's under the surface. Rebellion, a disposition of animosity to God. But then it manifested itself at that tree, a specific transgression.

So you think about that. The principle of sin was at work in the world. So was the principle of righteousness. We know that. Look at Cain and Abel. If you go back and read the narrative of Cain and Abel and their offerings, you're looking at it, you're left scratching your head.

What was the difference between Abel's offering and Cain's offering? One God esteemed, one God despised. And you'll see a lot of people struggle with trying to explain it. Why? What was the difference? It's really not expressly said there. We just know there was a difference. Why did Noah find favor in everybody else?

It's not expressly said, but that he found favor. You see, the principle of righteousness was in the world. There were those who wanted to please God. And when God talked to them, when God held a standard, there was a gravity, there was a manifestation of moving toward the standard.

Like Abraham believed God, and it was considered to him as righteous. That principle of righteousness was at work. When he offered up Isaac, was ready to offer up Isaac. Then God said, There, there's an expression of that inner. Principle of obedience and compliance to God, the principle of life.

But there is a principle of sin, and this remains today. There is a principle of sin in the world, there is a principle of righteousness. How does the principle of sin manifest itself? By transgressions, violating God's, violating his law, violating certain codes, God's law, his righteousness, his standards.

That's how it manifests itself. Sometimes you know sin's present, but then you're kind of like going, I'm not sure exactly. But then you start seeing a transgression, ah, just like breaking a speed limit. I get it. There goes a speeder. He's 25 miles an hour over the speed limit.

Speeder. But that's what the law does. So the ministry of the law was to illuminate. First, it illuminates sin as transgression. Second, it illuminates by revealing who the seed is. Look back at verse 20. Now, a mediator is not for one party only, where is God as one.

Now, this is a difficult expression. It's difficult in the English, and it's difficult in the Greek as well. But the gist of what he's saying here is that it seems that the mediator, it's very clear that the mediator is necessary for multiple parties. A mediator is. You have to have at least a couple of parties, multiple.

Whereas God is only one. And so you think about this for Abraham, and really for those who are in Christ, there is no mediator with God. Think about Abraham. God came to Abraham. He spoke with Abraham. He promised Abraham something. Abraham believed that relationship was intimate. But looking back at verse 19, you can see the law, the Mosaic law, was very different.

There were mediators, multiple mediators. God wanted to communicate something to Israel, so he puts it into place through angels and to Moses. There's mediators between God and Israel. First, the angels, then to Moses. But God is one. Think about the oneness of God and his seed, the oneness between God and Christ, the oneness with those who are in Christ.

There is no mediator. God himself is the mediator, seed. And it's clear that this seed is Jesus Christ. The seed is Jesus Christ, as already stated. You see, the point is this: that the law was put into place in Until the seed would come and be put on display for the whole world, for all the nations to be able to behold, put their faith in, and so come out of the curse of God and come into the blessing of God.

That wasn't just for the Gentiles, it was for the Jews as well. And by this time in Scripture, we've already heard about this promised seed. We're going all the way back to the garden. Genesis 3:15. After God cursed the serpent, this is what he said: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.

In other words, the promised seed coming out of Genesis 3 is going to destroy the principle of sin that is at work in the world and in the angelic orders. That son, that seed, is going to destroy the principle of sin. And so the law, it was put into place to provide God's ordained civil structure, ceremonial structure, and moral structure for that promised seed to come.

Now, with the sacrifice of Jesus having put on display, couldn't miss it. With the sacrifice of Jesus, the veil was torn. Ceremonial law fulfilled. The purpose, perfect sacrifice, the perfect priesthood, the perfect mediator had been revealed, Jesus Christ. There is no other mediator. The faith, the Christian faith, is like that of Abraham.

Direct. Think about the civil law. With the Babylonian exile, and certainly the Roman exile, the civil law became inoperative. I'd say, even with the Babylonian exile, the Jews ceased to be able to govern themselves. There was a little period of independence there with the Hasmoneans, but by the time Rome came, the leadership in Israel was not under Mosaic code, but a gross defection from it with the traditions of men.

So the civil law became inoperative. But the moral law is still indicative of God's righteousness. Even though we are not under the law in that sense, we are still beholden to the righteous character of God who is revealed in the law, whose seed. The seed, Jesus Christ, perfectly embodied.

That righteous standard wasn't just for the Jews, it's for all nations. That is the righteous standard that God holds up. And such righteousness was perfectly embodied in Jesus Christ, the promised seed. Think about that. Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Upon these, all the laws hinge. That demonstration at the cross is Jesus perfectly manifesting those two and fulfilling all that, but flows into loving God and loving his neighbor as himself. That's the seed. So the law illuminates who the seed is and that he will do what the law cannot do.

Jesus Christ will do what the law cannot do. Look back at verse 21. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Well, that's another good question. Is then the law contrary? Is it at odds to the promises of God? Paul's response is: may it never be.

Get that thinking out of your mind. May it never even be mentioned. It's a very strong language. Absolutely. Absolutely not. And then he goes on, verse 21, for if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

You see, the law didn't invalidate the gospel. Its purpose was to reveal sin, reveal the Savior. Therefore, it's not contrary to the gospel, it supports it. And then look at Paul's hypothetical case. For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, if a law, suppose for a moment, and this Paul is saying, suppose for a moment with me, if a law was given that could impart life.

Suppose there was a law within the law itself that could actually give us life. Then, yeah, righteousness would come from the law. There would be within the law a means to righteousness. That's what Paul's saying. So in such case, in such hypothetical case, yes, the promises would be at odds with the law.

There would be two ways of righteousness. There's the righteousness that comes by faith that Abraham had. Then there's this righteousness that comes by the law. You ever see dueling banjo? Isn't it kind of fun? Watch one starts out, and the next one, and then the next one, and the next one, you get that kind of back and forth, and it could be exciting.

Watch this back and forth. Well, think about that in the context of righteousness, dueling righteousness. I got the law. And then you get this: Paul is saying, there is no such law within the law. There is no such dueling ways of righteousness. There's one: faith. Faith. You see, Christ will do what the law could not do.

The law could not impart life, but Christ imparts life. The law never did because the law never could. The righteousness of God is associated with the person. And notice, life is necessary for righteousness. Righteousness doesn't precede life. Important concept. Won't get into all that that touches upon. But union with Christ.

How do we get rid of sin? Life is what produces righteousness. Union with Christ is what produces righteousness. Righteousness. The righteousness of God is associated with a real person. It's real righteousness because of a union with Him. Think about it as a joint bank account. Got this joint bank account.

All that's in it is sin, mess. And then Christ says, Okay, let's share accounts. Let me put all my stuff in there. And now there's a joint righteousness that's based on Him. And then He takes away my sin, takes me through the judgment of God. I am crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live. And He brings me out on the other side in God's blessing. So the illuminating ministry of the law is to reveal the sinfulness of man, but also the righteousness of the seed Christ. So the ministry of the law was not to invalidate, don't get confused, was not to invalidate the promise, but to illuminate the promise.

And finally, I don't know. To incarcerate. To incarcerate. Ministry of the law was not to invalidate, but to illuminate and incarcerate. Look at verse 22. But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Literally, it is shut up. It is hemmed to men. It is locked up, like throwing a criminal into prison to incarcerate somebody. By revealing sin, the scripture also revealed all to be sinners. It says this. The scripture, and the Greek says this, the scripture, the all, it has imprisoned scripture, the all.

It doesn't just say all people, the all. The all. I like that. The all. All people. Scripture has locked all up. And Psalm 14:3 says, There is no one who does good, not even one. When God's standard is set out, nobody with an honest conscience can say, Yes, I am perfect in God's eyes.

No, there's transgression, and we can start pointing that out. So that, look back at verse 25. The scripture has shut up everybody in sin, locked them in a prison. Why? So that. Why would the scripture, holy and good, throw us all into prison? Why? Sow that. Look at the sow that.

So that people would be brought out from under God's curse and into his blessing. So that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. You see, God wants all to believe. He wants all to believe the same promise that Abraham believed. What was the promise that Abraham was to believe?

In you, in your seed, all the nations will be blessed. He wants us to believe that same promise. In you, in Abraham's seed, Jesus Christ, all the nations will be blessed. We're to believe like Abraham, we're to believe the content that Abraham believed. That seed is Jesus Christ.

And by believing the good news of Jesus Christ, one comes into and under the blessing of God. Let's go back to the 1179 highway for just a moment. Now I'm going to make some exaggerated changes to this. But suppose that once the lawmakers realized that there was no speed limit, they finally got around to assigning one.

So now there hasn't been a speed limit on 1179 out there, and now they finally come up with one, and they've posted it as one mile an hour. Like I said, I'm exaggerating this to make a point, so stay with me for just a moment. Now, suppose, how many of you would be guilty of breaking that law?

If you've driven on it, you've broken it. Now, suppose the fine was $1 billion or death by public execution. Stay with me for a minute with the analogy. How many of you could pay it? Well, probably not many. Well, that's basically what the law has done. But think for a moment: maybe the purpose of that law out there at 1179 wasn't to condemn people, but there was a greater purpose.

Suppose we had one of the greatest citizens in the world living in our community, and that the greater purpose of this speed limit law was to reveal him to all of us. Suppose you hear about this benevolent person who's willing to pay for your fine and willing to pay for everyone's fine who would ask him.

What would that tell you about that person? Talk to me. Yeah, he's rich. Wow, he's rich. He's got some supply. What else can you tell me about him? He's generous. He's good. He's compassionate. Unselfish beyond imagination. Rich beyond imagination. Good beyond imagination. Now, if you know you're a lawbreaker, you know the penalty, and you know this good guy exists out there.

Would that put you on a quest to find him? And once you found him, would you rejoice when he said, Yeah, I will pay. You will be freed. I know this analogy breaks down because we would all agree a one-mile an hour speed limit is not good. We also know the death penalty is not good for this.

However, not so with God's righteousness. God's righteous standards are good. They're proper. His penalty is just and right and good. And what the scripture has done is it has shut up all of us under sin so that we would go and search and find that benevolent individual who had the resources and the willingness and the compassion to remove that penalty from us.

You see, the law was to put us on a quest to search for Jesus Christ. God doesn't just come to you to point out your sins. He comes to you and points out your sins because that should motivate you to look for the solutions. Now, there's some sinners here today.

Aren't you kind of tired of blaming somebody else for it? Aren't you tired of excusing your own self, justifying it? Come to Christ. The reason that God has revealed this to you is so that you can find Him. Listen to what Martin Luther said about this. The principal point of the law in true Christian divinity is to make men not better, but worse.

That is, it showeth them their sin, that by the knowledge thereof they may be humbled, bruised, and broken, and by this means driven to seek comfort, and so come to that blessed seed, Jesus Christ. See, no one has a rightful claim on God's blessing. You can't say, God, I helped this lady across the street.

Now, bless me. No one has a rightful claim on that. The law allows for God's grace to be seen for what it is. What is God's grace? Grace. And it's the law, the ministry of the law, that allows us to see it for what it really is: grace.

Now, grace, somehow we want to contribute to our salvation. We want just a little bit of it because it smacks against our prideful sensibilities to say that we are really that locked up under sin, but that's where we are. Abraham's promise, like my will, is a promise, how God's going to bring about blessing on the earth.

My ministry agreement didn't set aside the desires of my will any more than the Mosaic code set aside God's promises to Abraham. Ministry of the law was not to invalidate, but to illuminate and incarcerate so that Christ can liberate. I look forward as we keep going through this.

But God has done great things through his law, and we can appreciate them. Listen, the Old Testament bears record that a person could be under the law, but not under God's blessing. There were a lot of people who were under the law, but they were not under God's blessing.

You can go to church and be very religious. But not be under God's blessing. There are many religious systems like Judaism, like Catholicism, like Islam, or many of the cults like Mormonism and beyond, that you can be under these systems, but not under God's blessing. But here's the good news: you cannot be in Christ and not have God's blessing.

And so he calls us to respond in faith to him today. Listen, there's a quality of works that come out of gratitude for the benevolence of our Creator that so dwarfs the character and quality of works that are based upon you trying to earn some kind of favor.

And that's the kind of sacrifices he is interested in. Sacrifices that come out of joy and gratitude. Aren't you thankful that this is the God of the Bible? We rejoice together. Are you ready to come under his blessing? There are some of you that here that need to come under his blessing today.

Then give your life to Christ. Celebrate Christ along with us. It wasn't what Abraham did that made him righteous, it was who he believed in, and that is what made him righteous. God promised that Jesus would be the source of blessing to all mankind, and listen to what Jesus said.

Matthew 11, 28, Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest. John 6, 37, All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. That's the way into God's blessing.

It's wide open for you this morning. And for those of you walking with Christ, let us celebrate Him together and remember these truths and go out and express our joy and gratitude in Him by carrying out deeds and works of righteousness simply to honor Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these truths.

We thank you for your promised seed. Help us to properly relate to this testimony of who Jesus is, what He has done. Help us to grow in following Him and admiring Him and celebrating Him and being thankful for Him every day. Father, we see in Him the spirit and principle of life, principle of union with you, and all the blessings that come with that.

Father, we thank you that you sent your Son to wrap His loving arms around us and to take us under and through your almighty curse, brought us through. To the praise of your glory, new life, Father, thank you for him. In Jesus' name, amen.