Please turn in your Bibles to
Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. Last
week I preached a message from this passage, mainly from verse
13, which speaks of Christ who hath redeemed us, referring to
his chosen people, his sheep, Christ who hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. being made a curse for us, and
of course that curse is death, eternal damnation and death.
Christ took that upon himself for his sheep, based upon our
sins charged to him, and as a result, and of course it says there in
verse 13, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. It's
referring to his cross work, the tree of the cross, made of
wood, Now all of that that he accomplished, he didn't do it
for himself. He didn't do it as a private
person. But he did it for what we might call the seed of Abraham. And we're gonna look at that.
That's the title of the message is the seed of Abraham. And if
we read the Bible conscientiously and honestly, we're gonna see
that Abraham had more than one seed. Theologians argue, did
he have four seeds, three seeds, whatever, I'm not gonna argue
that today, I'm just gonna go through these verses. But Abraham, the seed of Abraham,
he says in verse 14 that Christ went through all that he went
through as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of a people that
God gave him before the foundation of the world. And the result
is, verse 14, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles. Now, why does he mention Gentiles
specifically? Well, it's because there were
false preachers who were Jews, Israelites, by blood, naturally,
who were trying, who claimed to believe in the grace of God.
We talked about that in 1 Timothy. They claimed to believe the gospel
that you and I believe, But they said these Gentiles have to be
circumcised, these Gentile men, in order to be really saved,
to be sure, to be saved at all. And I guarantee you they would
say that a Gentile man who refused to be circumcised physically,
they'd say he's lost. They'd say he's unrighteous.
So they were preaching circumcision, and they preached other things
of the law, keeping of days, things like that. They added
to, it's like, here's the point. When you claim to be saved by
the grace of God in Christ, let me ask you a question. Is Christ
enough for you? Or do you have to add to his
work? Because if you have to add to his work, I can tell you
two things. Number one, that's not the Christ of the Bible.
And number two, you're lost. Now understand that. And I'm
not trying to make you mad or anything like that. I'm just
telling you the truth. Christ is all and in all. And that's
the point that Paul's making here. Now, what is this blessing
of Abraham? Well, Abraham is what we might
call in literature an archetype. You ever heard that term? I'm
not trying to just impress you with this. But he is a person
that God chose to represent a typical sinner saved by grace, a typical
believer. Now, sometimes Abraham is called
the father of the faithful. Well, we know we have one father
spiritually, and that's God. And he says that we're not to
call any man father except God. Now, so how can we call Abraham
father? We're not calling Abraham father in the same way that we
call God our father. God is our father. He created
us. And if we're saved by the grace
of God, he saved us. He keeps us. He is our heavenly
father. There's no one like him. He's
unique. When we say God is holy, that's
what we mean. It doesn't mean that we believe
God is morally perfect, because God is perfect. But it means
he's separate. There's nothing to compare God
to. There's no painting on this earth that represents the true
and living God. So don't paint him. Nothing like
that. If you want to see God, it must
be by faith in the person and work of Christ. because he's
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians
4, 6. So Abraham is the archetype.
He is the typical, you know, we believe what Abraham believed.
And in that sense, he's called the father of the faithful because
God appointed him to be the typical believer. And there's a lot said
about that in Romans chapter four, beautiful language too.
How does God justify a sinner? And it's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. And you know what? Abraham had the same thing. So
the blessing of Abraham is salvation by God's grace. Abraham didn't
earn it. He wasn't qualified for it. Where
was Abraham when God recorded? God knew Abraham before the foundation
of the world like he knows all of his people. But historically,
it's kind of related like God found him. Well, God wasn't looking
for a lost somebody who he didn't know where he was. But when Abraham
is first mentioned, you know where he was? He was in a place
called Ur of the Chaldees. You know what that is today?
Some say Iraq, some say Iran. He was an idolater. He wasn't seeking the Lord. Now
when God found him and opened his eyes, he sought the Lord
then. And you know what? He found him. But God first found
Abraham. But God marked out Abraham before
the world began. Now that's what the Bible teaches.
It wasn't an afterthought. God didn't look down from heaven
and say, well, boy, there's a guy who's better than the rest of
them. It's kind of like Noah, you remember? You know, Noah
was no better off than the crowd that was said in Genesis chapter
six, that their hearts were evil only. How do you know Noah wasn't
any better off? Because the first thing the Bible
says about Noah is he found what? Grace in the eyes of the Lord. Who needs grace? Sinners. If you're not a sinner, you don't
need grace. That's right, but you are and I am. We all need
grace. So his salvation, that's the
blessing of Abraham. Christ died, that the blessing
of, he bore the curse of the law, which was his death, that
the blessing of Abraham, that salvation might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ. God, what he's saying here is
that God has an elect chosen people among the Gentiles as
well as the Jews. It's not just for the Jews. And
for a person to be saved who's a Gentile, he doesn't have to
become a physical Jew by physical circumcision or any other way,
or by keeping a day, or going back under the law of Moses,
which he was never under to begin with. The Jewish nation was there
for a while, the Israelites, the Hebrew people. All right,
and he says here in verse 14 that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Well, what is the promise of
the Spirit? It's what the Spirit promises. And what do you know
about the Spirit's promise? It's not a dream. It's not a
vision. It's not a feeling. It's the
gospel. If you want to know what the
Spirit promises, it's salvation conditioned on Christ who fulfilled
those conditions and secured the salvation of His people,
Jew and Gentile. And if you, by God's power and
grace, have received that by God-given faith, you're a partaker
of the blessing of Abraham. God saved you just like He did
Abraham. So now look at verse 15. He says here, brethren, I
speak after the manner of men. Now what Paul's saying here is
I'm gonna bring this down on a level that would maybe comply
with our limited minds. And there's a lot of that in
the Bible. You know that? God comes down to our level so
that we might have some understanding of this thing. So I'm gonna speak
in the manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant,
you know what a covenant is, that's a testament, that's an
agreement. An agreement that carries with it certain promises. If you and I come together and
we agree on a particular task that will render certain benefits,
then we form a covenant, all right? He talks about, in the
book of Hebrews, he talks about men swearing by something greater
than themselves. In other words, to bind them
to that covenant so that it won't be broken. So he says, I speak
after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet
if it be confirmed, agreed, sign your name, you know, that kind
of thing. No man disanulleth it or addeth thereto." In other
words, once you've agreed and you've signed your name and you've
made that agreement, classically now, I know there are cheaters
and all kinds of stuff going on. All right, I know that. But
if you go to a classic covenant, when you sign your name and you
agree to it, you can't change it and you can't add to it or
take away from it. Now that's a classic, perfect
agreement between two men. So he says, if two men make a
covenant, all right, Verse 17, or verse 16. Now to Abraham and
his seed, what is his seed? That's his offspring. Like his
children. The Greek word is sperma. That's
what that is. To Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. What promises? promises of salvation
and all the benefits of it. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. Now how can Christ, who is God,
the second person of the Trinity, how can he be the seed of Abraham?
Well, he's what we call the messianic seed. Because Christ is God. Oh, equal with the Father and
the Spirit, no beginning, no end. But He's also a man. And there was a human body, without sin, created for Him
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a woman named Mary, a virgin
named Mary. And Christ, who is God the Son,
united himself to that fleshly, sinless body and was made the
seed of Abraham. His fleshly human body, his sinless
body was a actual descendant from the line of Abraham. You
know, the first time that Christ is revealed as the seed is in
Genesis 3.15. And there, you know what he's
called? Remember, God was pronouncing the curse on Satan after the
fall. And he said, go over and I'll read it. Genesis 3.15. This is the law of first mention,
you might say. He's talking to the serpent. And in Genesis 3.15, he says,
I'll put enmity between thee and the woman. Now, you know
what enmity is, it makes you enemies, it's a hatred. And between
thy seed, that is the offspring of Satan, now he's talking about
spiritually there, and that's unbelievers, those who live and
die in unbelief, that's Satan's seed, and her seed. Now that's strange, because the
woman doesn't have the seed, the man does. But Christ here,
this is a prophecy of Christ who is the woman's seed. Because
He wasn't born of man. He was born of the Holy Spirit.
The seed was implanted in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit. This
is a divine operation, say. He was created in His humanity,
not in His deity now. I know this is mind-boggling,
but somebody says, well, I can't wrap my mind around that. And
I always say, welcome to the club. Because this is awesome. This shows you what kind of person
Christ is. He's God manifest in the flesh. God-man. God with us. And it says, it shall bruise
thy head. This seed of woman's going to
crush, that's what it literally means, Satan's head. He's going
to put an end to Satan. And thou shalt bruise his heel.
Now this seed's gonna die in his humanity, but he's not gonna
stay dead. And then later on, in verse 21
there, you see how, you know what happened, Adam and Eve made
coats of skin to cover their nakedness? And God said that
won't do. Being naked in the Bible is a
picture of not having a righteousness. Standing before God without a
righteousness. So what did God do? Genesis 321, he slew an animal
and made them coats of sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. I believe it was a lamb. And
that's a picture of Christ, the glory of his person, and the
power of his finished work to die for his people. So back here
in Galatians chapter three, the first seed of Abraham that's
mentioned here is the messianic seed. And you know what happened
from Adam on down, the Lord revealed over time more and more concerning
the person and work of Christ. He came down through Abraham
and he told Abraham that the Messiah is gonna come from you.
That's what Genesis chapter 12 and 15 and 17 is about. When
he told Abraham, through you all nations will be blessed.
What he's talking about is through Abraham because the Messiah was
going to be born of his line God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue and nation will be blessed. Not just in Jews,
in Israel. So it come down to Abraham. Well,
now Abraham had children. One named Ishmael, the other
named Isaac. And Isaac was the promised seed. God promised Abraham and his
wife, Sarah, a child. Of course, you know what happened
there. It was like, he was like 100 years old. Sarah was like
99. Miracle baby. They'd already
had Ishmael. So you could call them Abraham's
natural seed. And that's Ishmael. From Ishmael
come the Arab nations. From Isaac came the Hebrews,
the Israelites. And it was through Isaac that Christ would come according
to his humanity, not Ishmael. But both Arabs and Jews claim
Abraham as their father. You know, President Trump had
the Abraham Accords that's trying to bring Arab and Jews together
in peace, what he's trying to do. Because naturally, they're
brothers. So Isaac, and look at Romans
chapter nine. It was through Isaac, not Ishmael,
that God would send the Messiah into the world. And if you look
at Romans nine, he says in verse six, he says not in Romans nine, he
says, not as though the word of God had taken none effect. What he's answering an objection
there is, many people, they see the natural Israelites, the Jews,
as God's chosen people. Well, they were for a while,
but God put them under that covenant of the law through Moses, and
they were the chosen people through whom the Messiah would come.
But the Messiah has come, and now that's over. And the majority
of them throughout their history, just like the majority of Gentiles,
there's only a remnant. Remember the remnant of grace?
The majority of them died in unbelief. even though they were
God's chosen people providentially and through that covenant, law
covenant, which could not save, we talked about that in Timothy,
the law was never given to save them, it was given to show them
their sin and to shut them up to grace in Christ. And so they
would say, well, if the majority of the Israelites died in unbelief
and God promised to save Israel, Then is God's word of no effect? Well, no, God didn't promise
to save national Israel. He promised to save spiritual
Israel, and I'll show you that in just a moment. But look at,
well, he says it right here in verse six, for they are not all
Israel, which are of Israel. You know, the name Israel means
those who have been successful with God. That's what it means.
Some say it's Prince of God, but that's what Jacob, you know,
his name was turned from that to Israel after he wrestled the
angel. He says in verse seven, neither
because they are the seed of Abraham, that's the physical
seed, are they all children, children of God. But in Isaac
shall thy seed be called. So it came down to Isaac, then
it came down to Jacob, whose name was turned to Israel, came
down to David. Christ in Romans chapter one
is called the seed of David. He's called the stem of Jesse,
David's father, all of that. So Christ had a physical lineage
without the aid of man. He came through the Virgin Mary,
who was also the tribe of Judah. That's the kingly tribe. So that's
the seed of Abraham. But here, in Galatians 3, he's
talking about Christ as the promised seed, the Savior. The Savior. And here's what he says. Verse
17, this I say, the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ, that's the everlasting covenant of grace, confirmed
before of God in Christ, that was made before the world began.
The law, that is the law of Moses, which was 430 years after, after
Abraham, cannot disannul or that it should make the promise of
none effect. The giving of the law to Moses and the Hebrew children
did not make the promise of God to Abraham of none effect. The
law wasn't given to be a rival to grace. The law was given to
show them their need of grace. You see that? So they asked the
question, verse 19, well, why was the law given? Wherefore
then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions
till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. It
was given to them to shut them up because of their sinfulness
to the impossibility of salvation and righteousness by their works.
And it was given to them and kept in effect until the seed
should come, until Christ would come. and do his great work on
earth of redeeming his people, his sheep, God's elect from sin.
And you remember what happened when Christ gave up the ghost?
Right before that, he said, it's finished. The work was done. The conditions were met. And
you remember what happened in the temple? The veil was torn
in two from top to bottom, indicating that that law of Moses, that
economy, was abolished by way of fulfillment. So he says that
law was given for that, verse 19, and it was ordained by angels
in the hand of a mediator, Moses. And he says in verse 20, now
a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. When
you have a mediator, it's between two people. But this covenant
of promise that he's talking about here is different. God
is one. Now you've heard me talk about
this, that there are two types of covenant. There's a bilateral
covenant, that's between two people, two nations or whatever.
And then there's a unilateral covenant, that's what he's talking
about here. The covenant of grace was made between the Godhead,
which is one. One God and three persons. What's
that tell us? The blessings of Abraham, salvation,
justification, sanctification, preservation, glory itself. is all conditioned on one person
and one work that this one person accomplished, Jesus Christ, the
Lord, our righteousness. In other words, it's not between
you and God, it's between the Godhead. That's what he means. Now, I know King David on his
deathbed, he said, God hath made a covenant with me. Well, God
does make a covenant with us when he gives us life from the
dead and brings us to believe the gospel, believe in Christ.
But that's his power. That's his gift. That's not yours.
If left to yourself, if left to myself, we never believe in
him. By nature, we're spiritually
dead. If God came down here and said, now I'm gonna make a covenant
with you if you'll cooperate, we wouldn't cooperate. That's
what the Bible teaches. No man can come to me except
he's drawn, except he comes and draws him. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them,
they're spiritually discerned. So he says in verse 21, is the
law against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law." If you could be saved by your
works of the law, then righteousness would be of the law, but you
can't. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And
that's why I said, if grace isn't good enough, the law won't help
you. Look at verse 22, but the scripture
hath concluded all under sin. How many? That the promise by
faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. That's
the faithfulness of Christ to do what God sent him to do. As
our surety, our substitute, our redeemer. And even faith to believe
is the gift of God. Isn't that right? Or by grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, lest any man should boast. And then he says
in verse 23, but before faith came. Now what is he talking
about? He's talking about Christ. Faith is the promise that God
gave to Abraham here. Faith here is not the fact of
believing because when he says before faith came, well, read
Hebrews 11. in the act of believing was the
gift of God to the Old Testament believers, Abel. So that was
already there. So what's he talking about? He's
talking about the faith, the content of the promise. You know
sometimes the Bible when it uses the term faith it means our believing.
Sometimes it means the doctrine, the faith. What faith are you?
What do you believe? And so He says, before faith
came, the promise of the Messiah came. We were kept under the
law, shut up into the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that
we might be justified by faith. The nation Israel was kept under
that law and kept there up until the time that Christ came. Remember Jacob said on his deathbed
to his son Judah, the scepter would not depart from Judah until
Shiloh come. That's Christ. So they were shut
up to the law. And why was that law given? To
show them their sinfulness, their need of grace, to lead them to
Christ. Somebody told me one time, well
there's no Christ in the law. Wait a minute now, who did that
high priest represent? Who did the blood of bulls and
goats represent? Who did the mercy seat represent? Who did the cities of refuge
represent? Now granted, the majority of
the people didn't see that, but some did. I know Moses did. John chapter five, Christ told
the Pharisees, you trust in Moses, he'll be your downfall, he'll
be your judge. Moses wrote of me, he said. Abraham saw him. Now Abraham
wasn't under the law, he was 430 years before, but Christ
said, Abraham saw my day, rejoiced. Christ said before Abraham was,
I am. All of that. So it was their schoolmaster,
their tutor, they were kept under that Mosaic law to expose their
sinfulness and their need of Christ who was pictured in the
ceremonial law. Verse 25, but after that faith
has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. Now that has
to do, you've got the messianic seed of Abraham, you've got the
natural seed, you might even say you got a special natural
seed in Isaac, Christ's humanity coming down through in Mary,
ending up in Mary. Now from verse 26 through 29,
we can talk about the spiritual seed of Abraham, and who are
they? Believers. Jew and Gentile. Everyone whom
God chose before the foundation of the world, everyone who were
justified in Christ, everyone who were redeemed by His blood,
everyone who are regenerated and converted, born again by
the Spirit, and everyone who are kept by the power of God
unto glory. That's spiritual seed of Abraham.
Look at verse 26, for you are all the children of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. Do you believe in Christ? As
he is identified and distinguished in the word of God, God manifest
in the flesh, who saves his people from their sins, not tries to
save them. If they'll cooperate, no, that's not the Christ of
the Bible now, but who has saved his people. And that means you
give evidence of being a child of God. Verse 27, for as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Baptized there doesn't mean water baptism, the ordinance. It means
placed into Christ. And what he's saying is if you
are one with Christ, then sometime in this life, by the power of
God, you're gonna put him on. Now what is it to put him on?
It's to believe in him. When was I originally placed
in Christ? Before the world began. 2 Timothy 1, 9, and 10 talks about
a salvation that was given to us before the world began. Ephesians
chapter 1 talks about being chosen in Christ. All of that. So if you were chosen in Christ,
at some point in time, God's gonna do you like he did Abraham.
He's gonna find you, bring you under the gospel, give you faith
to believe it, and you'll believe it. That's putting him on. You
put him on. You believe in him. Verse 28,
listen, there's neither Jew nor Greek, that's Gentile, there's
neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. Now he's not talking about we're
going to deny our differences. Folks, there's a difference between
a man and a woman. I got news for you. They talk
about transgender, there's really no such thing. All that is is
a person who's defying God. I don't like the way you made
me, so I'm gonna make myself. And that's what that is. And
I'm not saying that we should hurt him or anything like that.
I'm just saying that we should be realistic about this thing. God created man and woman, male
and female. You're either XX or you're XY,
and that's it. But as far as salvation, as far
as the grace of God, as far as being justified, forgiven, declared
righteous, as far as being blessed, our differences mean nothing. The only thing that means anything
is Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Whether you're
male or female, whether you're black or white, whether you're
rich or poor, Doesn't matter. If you're in Christ, you have
it all. And you don't need anything else. So he concludes like this
in verse 29. And if you be Christ, now notice
that's a possessive. You could say it this way. If
you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, spiritual
seed. As far as I know, I have no blood
connection to Abraham. But I have a spiritual connection.
He's my brother in Christ. Christ is our elder brother.
All the blessings went to him and they come to us through him.
Me and Abraham. Abraham's my brother. If you're
in Christ, you're my brother and you're my sister and heirs
according to the promise. And what is the promise? All
of salvation, every blessing of it, every benefit of it, all
that comes with it belongs to us by inheritance. Which means we didn't work for
it, we didn't earn it, we don't deserve it. It's a free gift. The free gift of righteousness,
the free gift of life, all because of Christ.