Thank you again, Mark, for leading us this morning. Good morning to everyone. It's a beautiful drive over on Highway J. This morning, the trees are getting there; so pretty soon, the leaves will all be gone. It'll snow, and we'll be just for eight months. It'll be alright.

Well, I was preparing the message for this morning, and I just had been reminded of Paul's words in Philippians 3, where he says, "It's not tedious for me to write the same things to you again and again, but safe for you." I feel like I'm kind of saying the same things here every week as we work through the book of Galatians and also teach in Romans at the same time and in 1 Peter 1 on holiness. 

So you're hearing a lot of the same things, but that's safe and good, and hopefully, we'll grasp that. I just this week listened to a sermon and read a book and also had a conversation, and all three of those left me thinking, "You know, we have a hard time understanding this law thing." We have a hard time grasping the relationship of the law to the believer's life and what God intends the law to be. So we're going to talk about that again this morning and try and keep the flow from chapter 3.

You remember Paul started in the first part of that chapter, concerned that they were bewitched by this false doctrine that was leading them to look back to the law for living. He emphasizes again and again that "the righteous man shall live by faith." 

So we're continuing our study in the book of Galatians this morning, and Paul is continuing to develop his argument concerning salvation by grace through faith apart from the law. This is true for justification. We're saved by grace apart from works solely by the work of Christ in our place on the cross, satisfying the wrath of God—the wrath that we deserved. 

But Paul has been making it abundantly clear that sanctification is equally by grace through faith apart from the law. The just shall walk; that is, the just shall live by faith. 

What we'll see in our text this morning is that the law for righteousness is mutually exclusive from grace—from a walk of faith, trusting in God's provision for our holiness. Paul makes this point in Romans 11 as well: If it's by grace, it's no longer by works; otherwise, grace is no longer grace.

The false message of the Judaizers who had come to the region of Galatia, seeking to pervert the gospel, was a message of faith plus works for salvation. The core of their message was what I characterize as a progressive justification. We see this in mainline Christian denominations today as well. Justification, being made right with God, they say is a lifelong process. When one believes in justification by faith plus works, he can never know if he is saved, that he's done enough, that he's been good enough to merit heaven. 

This is a continual pursuit with no assurance, no confidence in salvation because it's based on my own merit—a standard of perfection, which I could never meet. The Judaizers taught that a man must keep the law of Moses in order to be saved, and Paul makes the point in our text this morning that this is a futile effort because the law demands perfection. 

Therefore, anyone who seeks to justify himself by the law is under a curse because no man keeps the law perfectly, and it's clear from the scriptures that "cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

In verse 12 of our text, Paul says, "Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." God does not grant salvation and does not do His work of sanctification by the works of the law, but by grace through faith. He gives salvation, justification, sanctification, and glorification by promise. 

It is the promise of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ that accomplishes the fullness of our salvation. We will see that this promise was given hundreds of years before the law was even given to Moses. Abraham could not be justified by the law because he had no law. 

The promise was given to Abraham, and the law came 430 years later. Salvation, my brothers and sisters, is based in promise—a promise received and apprehended by faith. 

As we saw in the first verses of chapter 3 last time, we come to life. We begin our justification by faith, and we continue in sanctification by faith. Paul said, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Are you turning back to those beggarly elements?" He'll say when we get over to chapter 4, "Faith in the promise of God—the just shall live by faith." 

Well, let's look at our text together this morning: Galatians 3 at verse 10. “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.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. 

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,’ that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” 

Brethren, I speak in the manner of men. Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say “to seeds” as of many, but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ. 

And this I say that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant which was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

I have three points for you on your outline: first, redeemed from the curse of the law; second, law or promise; and third, promise by faith. 

Well, I believe that one of the clearest doctrines in the scriptures, but perhaps the most confused by men, is the doctrine of the law. We've been studying this issue in the course of our studies of the book of Galatians for months now, and yet I feel as though we can never really let go of our tendency to go back to the law as a rule of life. 

We need to hear this again and again, and lucky for you, you are! And that's why I believe the New Testament authors spend so much time clearly and forcefully teaching the truth that the believer in Jesus Christ is no longer under the law—that we've been freed from the law and that it was absolutely necessary to die to the law to be released from what we were held by. Paul says in order that—for the express purpose—that we might bear fruit of holiness to God. 

You see, when we study what the Word of God says about the law of Moses, what we see is that binding oneself with the law is counterproductive to sanctification—to living a holy life. Looking to the law as some means, some way to be holy, ends in futility. Paul makes this point forcefully again in our text today: for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. No one is justified by the law in the sight of God—the just shall live by faith. The law is not of faith, he says.

You see, the law requires perfection. The standard of the law is that you keep it perfectly. From the perspective of the law, there is no grace, there is no mercy. Please let this sink in: what Paul is saying. Jesus made this clear also in His law sermon to legalistic religious Jews in Matthew 5. What did He say about righteousness through the law? He said if you're going to seek to justify yourself by works, then your works have to be perfectly righteous—the same as what Paul says here, quoting what Moses said thousands of years ago: "Cursed is every man who does not continue in the words of the law to do them." Jesus said, "You must be perfect, as my Father in heaven is perfect, to enter the kingdom." 

In the summation of His sermon on the mount, Jesus said the man who hears these sayings of Mine—now think about that. Think about the sayings in the sermon on the mount. He who hears these sayings of Mine and does them. What man will stand and say that he has never had hatred in his heart? He's never lusted in his heart? What man will stand and say that he has kept the law in its fullness, every jot and tittle, all the days of his life? But this is what the law requires. 

He who seeks holiness by means of the law builds his house on the sand. That was Jesus' point to those Jews that day. The law gives us a standard of holiness, of perfection. It teaches us about the perfect holiness of God and His perfect standard of righteousness, but it gives us no power. 

It gives us no means to affect holiness in our lives. It serves no purpose but to condemn us. And that's why Paul says that the law brings only wrath. Think about that statement: the law brings what? It brings some means, some way, some contribution to holiness, to righteous living, to salvation? No, he says, the law brings only and exclusively wrath. 

In 2nd Corinthians 3, Paul contrasts bluntly the new covenant with the old, and he specifically characterizes the law as that which was engraved on stones—this is the law he's talking about—and he says it is a ministry of death and condemnation. You see, the law was given for an express purpose. Paul makes this clear in the next verses in Galatians 3:19, right in our context and flow here. Look at verse 19. 

I always say it wouldn't it be wonderful if Paul would just say, "What is the purpose of the law?" and then answer that, and then the discussion would be settled. Verse 19: "What purpose then does the law serve?" Paul, what is the purpose of the law? "It was added because of transgressions.” 

Till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 

But the scriptures have confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 

Why is this so hard for us? Why do we not take what God says and believe Him? What is the purpose of the law? It's to leave us guilty, it's to show us our utter sinfulness and serve the purpose of leading us to Jesus—the only Savior from sin. 

And after justification, after regeneration, we are no longer under the law. The law has served its God-given purpose—to show us our sin and lead us to faith in Jesus. After faith has come, we're no longer under the tutor. 

What we need to understand, I think the hesitation is always, "Well, what are you saying then? Are you antinomian?" Well, it turns out, after I read Sinclair Ferguson's book, I am. I didn't even know it. What I mean by that is I’m biblical when Paul says the law is not the means to holiness in the New Covenant. God has made a better way. 

He has regenerated us and given us a new heart and a new spirit, and He has come to live His life in us and through us, and He says that we walk by faith. When we see the law repeated over and over in the New Testament, what do we see? "Do not lie to one another." You have that in the Old Testament: "Thou shalt not lie," and that's what you have. 

But what does Paul say in Colossians 3:9? "Do not lie to one another." Why? Because you have put off the old man. What's he say to the Corinthians? 1st Corinthians 6? "This isn't who you are; this is who you were. Stop living like this. You've been washed; you've been regenerated, right? You've been sanctified. Live in consistency with who you are by My power and life in you through faith." 

It's really a big deal. It's hard sometimes to nail it down, but when I hear it, I know it's not right. It's a big deal to understand this. After faith has come, we're no longer under the tutor. 

No, Paul says the same thing in Romans 6, and Peter makes this emphatic statement in Acts 15. Remember in Acts 15, the question at hand was a very pointed one: Is the law binding on the believer? Is the law necessary in the life of the Christian? Must one keep the law of Moses? I'm not saying that our life of holiness will not match up to the law of God and His character and nature; that's not what I'm saying. 

I'm not talking about licentiousness. What I'm saying is how do we get there? Do we get there by the law? And this was the question because the Judaizers—the Pharisees who believed, it says in Acts 15—rose up and said, "You must be circumcised and you must keep the law of Moses. This is Christian living. You must keep, present tense, be keeping the law of Moses in order to be saved." Here's Peter's answer: 

Acts 15:10—"Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples?" Who are the disciples? Followers of Jesus, believers. Who are they putting the law on? Believers. "Why do you put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they."

Now, here's the salient question: If holiness does not come by the law, then how does it come? Because it's clear that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, are to be holy. We are to walk in holiness. We are to be Christ-like. What relationship does holiness have to the law? And if not by the works of the law, then how? 

This is where Paul gets very clear in his teaching, and what he tells us is that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Peter says the same thing—1 Peter 1, right?—"You've been redeemed, not with corruptible things and vain traditions and all these kinds of things handed down from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ." 

You've been born again; you've been regenerated. Therefore, be holy. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Those under the law are under a curse. The law brings death and condemnation. The law brings only wrath. But our purpose, our desire, is holiness. Our desire that God has put in our hearts is to live for Him—to now live our lives for the One who died for us in order to bring Him glory.

So what does it mean that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law? And again, I think Romans 7 is the most clear on this—the relationship to law, sin, and holiness. The law was not the problem in the man and Adam. The law, the problem was indwelling sin. The law was holy, righteous, and good. The law is good. The law was given to show us that sin, Paul says in that text, to make sin utterly sinful. 

He thought he was alive before he understood the law. He thought he was obtaining his righteousness through the law. But when the law came—what law, Paul? "Thou shalt not covet." When the law came, when he understood the law, what did he realize? Sin revived, and I died, he said. I realized my dead condition before holy God—dead in trespasses and sins. 

The law showed me my sin, and I turned to faith in Jesus. Turn over to Romans 5 with me, please, at verse 20. Paul's been discussing, especially since verse 12, the contrast between Adam and Christ—the sin and condemnation that came in Adam, the life and justification that comes, specifically the one act of Adam bringing condemnation to the human race, the one act of Christ bringing justification unto life—spiritual life imparted, he says. 

In verse 20, he says, "Moreover, the law entered." Just really important to think about this. There was this vast expanse of time where there was no law. That's what he says a few verses back. From Adam to Moses, Adam had a law; Moses received the law. From Adam to Moses, there was no law.

Paul says, "The law entered." The law was given to Moses in order that the offense might abound, that sin would increase. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more so that, as sin reigned in death—now we understand that, right? We understand in Adam, when we were lost before Christ, sin and dwelling sin reigned in our lives, producing sin out through our members, ending in death. 

We were bearing fruit unto death. We understand that really well. But look what he says next: "Even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 

Here’s where I think we struggle. How is righteousness produced in my life unto eternal life? Grace. God's grace. The law was given so that sin might increase, abound. The law worked with the sinful passions in us in order to bear fruit to death, he says in Romans 7. The law caused sin to become clear, manifest in our lives, Paul says in Romans 7. 

But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more—it's super-abounded. It's by grace, through faith, that we can have a holy life. And the law person says, "What are you saying, Paul? Should we continue in sin? Are you licentious? Are you antinomian, Paul? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Is that what you're saying? And then he says in verse 2 of chapter 6, "No way! Forget it! It can never be!" Why? Because we died to sin. 

We can no longer continue in sin as we did in Adam because we were so transformed by the grace and power of God in salvation. That's his answer. Paul was accused of this all the time. 

In Adam, sin reigned unto death, aroused by the law. But in Christ, grace reigns unto righteousness, and the end is eternal life. How does holiness come? Grace—the power of the Spirit of God, Christ's life in us as we walk by faith. 

I'll say again: only Jesus can live the Christian life—Christ in you, the hope of glory. Look at Romans 7:4. I just cannot get over Romans 7:4-6. It is so clear and so important for our understanding. He’s given the illustration of marriage and how a woman is bound to her husband as long as her husband lives. But if he dies, she's free from that law of marriage. 

Verse 4, he says, "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ." 

And I always want to point out these purpose words—“that” or “so that,” okay? Why have we become dead to the law? "That you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter."

The great truth of regeneration is our death with Jesus. Our old man was crucified with Christ. We were buried with Him and raised to newness of life with Him. We became dead to sin—the controlling power of indwelling sin, which bore fruit unto death in Adam. And we became dead to the law through the body of Christ so that we may be married to Jesus. 

So clear, so powerful—we died to the law when we believed Jesus, when God placed our old man and Adam on that cross. We became dead to the law—why? That we might bear fruit to God—that we might live holy lives. You see, the law—and by the way, Paul tells us again, "Thou shalt not covet"—the law he's talking about—the law brings only wrath, condemnation, and death. That's the purpose of the law, that all the world may become guilty before God, that our mouths would be stopped, that we would have no excuse. 

There’s no one righteous, no not one, no not you either. And Paul says here that our sin might become utterly sinful, that we would realize our need for life through faith in Jesus Christ. So in order for us to bear fruit to God, in order for us to be holy, to see that drastic change in us from bondage to sin and law and fear of death to standing in grace, living in righteousness, and possessing eternal life, in order for us to live a new life, our relationship to the law had to be severed. 

Now listen, not because the law is bad; it's holy, righteous and good. It’s the flesh that is weak, the sin that dwells in us aroused by the law. What the law could not do, he says, in that it was weak in the flesh, God did. 

And He released us from the law of sin and death in our members, and He severed our relationship to the law by death. Paul states it plainly, clearly, emphatically: we died to the law for the express purpose that we might live to God. 

What he's saying is it was necessary for us to die to the law in order to live for God. Under the law, by the means of the law, seeking to establish our own righteousness, we could not live unto God, we could not bear fruit unto holiness for His glory. 

Paul writes again to the Galatians: "Are you so foolish? Do you want to go back to the law? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" 

Look at 7:4-6 again. Soak this in. Hear what God is saying and believe Him. He says, "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to Him who was raised from the dead—that we should bear fruit to God." 

Our condition before in Adam, verse 5: "When we were in the flesh, the sinful passions in us were aroused by the law and were at work in our members to bear fruit unto death." That was who we were; that characterized our life. 

But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that... How should we live now? How should we serve now? Not by the law, but by the Spirit. 

Now if you look at Romans 8:1, he picks this up from 7:6. He says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." 

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. 

On account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law, which we looked at before in Romans 13:8, is love—agape love. Love fulfills the law; it's a command of the new covenant. 

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. God is explaining so clearly, so forcefully the truth that in order for us to live for Him, to bear fruit unto holiness, our relationship to sin and the law had to be severed through death. 

God brought the law to show us our sin, to lead us to faith in Jesus so that we might believe Him, be born again, die to sin and law and death, and now live under grace, under righteousness in eternal life. 

We were under law, sin, and death in Adam. It's no longer who we are. We are now in Christ, and we live under grace, righteousness, and life. This is the purpose and plan of God for holiness, for a new life, and a witness in this world. 

Look at verse 13 in our text. He says, "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,” that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

My brothers, my sisters in Christ, it's either law or it's promise. Paul says the law is not of promise. God gave salvation by promise. 

Verse 15: "Brethren, I speak in the manner of men; though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it." Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say "to seeds" as of many, but as of one, and to your seed who is Christ. 

And I say this, that the law, which was 430 years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it's no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 

If the inheritance is of the law, it's no longer of promise. It's either law or it's promise; it's grace or it's works. To point believers back to the law is to place them under bondage—to put on their necks a yoke they cannot bear—and it was never God's intention for holiness to come by the law. 

It was God's intention to justify sinful men by grace through faith and for those who have been regenerated to now live by the Spirit and not by the letter. Paul makes the interesting point here that God gave the promise to Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12, and the law did not even come until 430 years later. 

We see this promise given to Abraham hundreds of years before the law, and we see it fulfilled in Christ, and we see that the righteousness comes apart from the works of the law through faith in God. 

In Genesis 12 it says, "The Lord said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, from your family, from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you; I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" 

The promise of a nation, the promise of a land, and in the third part of the promise, a blessing to all nations through the seed, and Paul points out that it does not say "seeds," it says "seed," who is Christ. 

All nations would be blessed; the Gentiles would be blessed through this promise of the Christ through the lineage of Abraham. Therefore, only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Paul says back in verse 8, knowing beforehand that He would bless the Gentiles, He preached the gospel to Abraham. 

Those who are of faith, he says, are blessed with believing Abraham. Here Paul says this is the essence of the gospel. The essence of the gospel is promise, faith—a promise for everyone who will believe. Jesus fulfills that promise in His death, burial, and resurrection. 

Turn over to Romans 9 with me, please, and look at the contrast here as well. Romans 9 at verse 30 says, "What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense. Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.’”

God gave the promise of salvation to all nations through Abraham's seed—Christ. And the Gentiles have obtained the righteousness of God, received this promise fulfilled in Christ by faith. But the Jews did not find righteousness. Why? Because they sought it by the works of the law. Righteousness comes by faith—faith in the promise of God in Jesus. 

We are justified. We begin in the Spirit by grace through faith. We are sanctified. We're being made perfect by the power of the Spirit, by God's grace through faith. The way to life and the way of life are Jesus—our grace, the gift and promise of God by faith. The just shall live by faith. 

Paul says, "I do not set aside the grace of God." Look back up to verse 21 of chapter 2, and I want you to look at the context because Paul's coming out of his discussion about his exchange with Peter, where he withstood him to his face, and a stunning statement, I think—we've talked about this before—where Peter would no longer eat with the Gentiles, that he withdrew himself and was with the legalistic Jews, and Barnabas even was carried away with the hypocrisy. 

And Paul says when I saw that they were not straightforward about the gospel. I don't know if I'd characterize it that way; I think it obviously is true, but he just separated himself; he wouldn't fellowship with it. And Paul characterizes that as not being straightforward about the gospel. 

And he's talking about that; he's talking about the law—bringing the law back on the believer's life—and he says in verse 18, "If I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor." If I bring the law back on myself as a believer, I make myself a transgressor. Isn't that consistent? The law brings only wrath. The law gives rise to sin. 

The law's not bad; the law's good. Sin is the problem. If I build those things again which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, died to the law, in order that I might live to God. I've been crucified with Christ; it's no longer I who live. 

What’s he talking about? He’s talking about his life as a Christian; he’s talking about how he lives, how he walks. It’s no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

Now look at what he says in this context: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness..." Now, what kind of righteousness do you think he’s talking about here? Is he talking about justification? No, he’s talking about holy living. He’s talking about a righteous life. He’s talking about how he lives, how he walks. 

And the context continues in Galatians 3:1 to 3, but he says, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness, righteous holy living, comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

I have no idea where I am in my notes, so we’ll just pick it up. The promise of life, of righteousness, of holiness is by grace through faith. And Paul says the law, given all these years later, cannot annul that promise. The promise of Abraham is the basis for the new covenant, and Jesus is the fulfillment of the new covenant. 

Listen to what He said in Luke 22:19: "And He took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ Likewise, He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.’" 

Jesus instituted the new covenant in His blood at the Last Supper and ratified that covenant by His death, burial, and resurrection.

Let's look at Hebrews 8, Hebrews 8 at verse 6. We could look at Hebrews 12 also as he talks about Mount Sinai versus Mount Zion. In that picture, you have not come to the mountain that can be touched, but you've come to Mount Zion, right? The contrast between the law covenant and the new covenant. We have the same thing here in Hebrews 8 at verse 6. It says, 

"But now He, Jesus, has obtained a more excellent ministry." He's comparing Him to Moses. "Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry than Moses, inasmuch as He is mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises." 

Then he says, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second, because finding fault with them—see, it's not the fault of the covenant; it's not the fault of the law; it's a fault of them." Who's them? The Jews, us, right? Every man in Adam, sin controlling him. 

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them," says the Lord. 

What was the essence of the old covenant? Obey, and I will bless you. Right? Disobey, and I will curse you. What happened? They disobeyed, and He cursed them. He says this new covenant is not like that. 

Verse 10: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days," says the Lord. "I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. Look at verse 12: 'For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' 

In that He says a new covenant, what's it say? "He has made the first obsolete." Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Moses mediated the old covenant law. 

God says that Jesus has brought a better covenant based on better promises—the new covenant. The old covenant law said obey, and I'll bless you. Disobey, and I will curse you. The new covenant says, "I have blessed you. I have made you accepted in the Beloved. I have caused you to be born again to a living hope and given you an inheritance—eternal life—through faith in Jesus Christ. You are dead to sin and to the law and you are released from the fear of death because of what I have done in Christ." 

Remember, you go back to Romans or to Genesis 12—what do you say? "I will, I will, I will." Not "If you, then I will." I have given you great and precious promises for the future—a great and powerful hope—confident anticipation of the fullness of your salvation when He is revealed. 

I have blessed you; now live for me, trust me, look to me, abide in me. Jesus says, "Without me, you can do nothing." Paul says, "But through Christ, we can do all things who strengthens us." 

It is the love of Christ that compels us. We love Him because He first loved us. It is God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think. It is by His grace and power and life in us that we can bring glory to Him in the church. 

We live by faith; we live by the Spirit, and not by the letter. God has made us accepted in the Beloved. Jesus died for us; we died with Him in order that—for the express purpose—that we can now live for Him. 

We experience holiness by grace, not by law. The old is gone, the new has come. The old covenant law in its entirety as a rule of life has passed away as an economy to live under, right? That's not the economy that we live under. It has become obsolete because the new has come—the promise of God in Christ, the fulfillment of the promises in Him, and all the promises in Him are yes. 

My brothers and sisters, what shall we do? What are the disciplines of the Christian life? What do we do? Know the Word of God. Continually be in the Word of God, renewing your minds to His truth, and then believe the Word of God. Reckon it to be so and then yield to His life and power in you. 

Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ—every emotion, every feeling, every wisdom of the world. Does it line up to the doctrines of Christ, to the Word of God? Yield to His life and power in you. 

The command of the new covenant is to believe Jesus and to love one another. This is our focus; this is our obedience; this is our privilege because of His grace. The just shall live by faith. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for your Word that's so clear. Thank you for your Holy Spirit who teaches us and guides us into all truth and helps us to understand these things. We just pray that you would show us the truth, that you would help us to believe the truth, that you would cause us to walk in the truth. Thank you for what you've done in Jesus. Thank you for the truth of who we are in Him, and thank you for the great hope that we have for the future. And not only for the future, but your grace is sufficient for today—for the purposes that you have us here for. Help us to focus on you, to abide in you, to believe you, to love one another, to tell them the truth about Jesus and the great gift of salvation through faith in Him. It's in His name we pray. Amen.