Galatians 3, Galatians chapter 3. Let's ask the Lord's blessing before we begin. Our great God and our Father, Lord, we are coming in here out of the wilderness. Our feet are dirty and our Strength is weak, but Lord, if you speak in power, if your presence is here, Lord, you will strengthen our faith. You will wash our feet. You will turn us to behold our Redeemer so that we can continue.

And Lord, that's what we ask. We ask that you turn all our affection to Christ alone and bless us by your presence. In his name we ask it, amen. All right, brethren. Now, we're told plainly in the scripture, we're told plainly when it's revealed in our heart that Christ is all. He is all, and we mean that. We're not just saying that. We believe by God's grace that Christ is all. He is all our salvation.

But now these false preachers were telling the brethren at Galatian that Christ is not all. They were saying Christ is not enough. They didn't say those words, but here's what they did say. In Acts 15, it says, They came down from Judea and taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. They said it is needful to circumcise these Gentile believers and command them to keep the law of Moses. That was their message. And by that, they were saying Christ is not all. They were saying Christ is not enough.

And in our text this morning, The Lord's going to use Abraham because Abraham lived years and years and years and years before the law was given at Sinai. So Abraham could not have been justified by the law, by his works, he didn't have it. Abraham could not have been sanctified by the law, by his works, he did not have the law. The Ten Commandments could not have been Abraham's rule of life because he didn't have the Ten Commandments. What then was Abraham's rule? How was he brought to believe? And how was he led all his days? That's why he's held up here for us and used as an example because he's the father of the faithful.

Here's how it happened. Verse five, just for review, he said, Christ therefore that minister to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you. Miracles like making you believe. Miracles like causing you to follow him and obey him. Miracles of grace. Does he do that by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

Even as Abraham believed God. and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying in thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Now let's go over to Genesis 12 and let's see where Abraham was. Genesis 12. The end of chapter 11 tells us that Abraham's father took him and Lot, his nephew, and Abraham and his wife, Sarah, And they came into Canaan, to Ur, and to Haran. And it says, now the Lord had said unto Abraham. Now let's stop right there just a minute. Let me just state this because of what the end of chapter 11 says.

Abraham was dead in sins. Abraham was an idolater. Abraham was not seeking God. He didn't even know who the true God is. He was worshiping an idol. Now that's a good example of everybody God saves, because that's us. But God saved Abraham, our text says, through the gospel. The gospel was preached to Abraham. And here's what was said.

It says in Genesis 12.1, now the Lord, had said unto Abraham. Do you get that? That's the word of the Lord. The Lord himself preached into Abraham's heart.

And that's how everybody that hears the gospel, that's how it comes, the word of the Lord. That's how spiritual life is given. That is the hearing of faith. It is the hearing of what the Lord promises that he has done and that he will do in and for his people. Now listen to what he says to Abraham.

He said, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, that's sanctification, being separated by the Lord, being called out by the Lord. He said, and go to a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. That's the gospel, that's how the Lord works. I will, I will, I will, and you shall. You shall be what I will make you. That's the hearing of faith. And he said, and I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse him that cursed thee, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Now that's what he preached to Abraham. Now let's go back to our text, and I just want to take this word by word and see what was declared to Abraham. What was the message he heard preached? First of all, the Lord declared he would justify Abraham. He declared he would justify Abraham. That's so of all his people. Verse 8, Galatians 3,

8. And the scripture foreseeing, foretelling that God would justify. Let's just stop right there. God will justify. That's what was preached. God will do the justifying. In Christ, that's why he said, in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because Christ came through Abraham and Christ is God. God was in Christ and he justified all his people by his blood.

Now what is justification? Justification is to not be guilty before God, before the law. It is to be perfectly righteous without any sin whatsoever. The gospel is the good news that no sinner justifies ourselves by the works of the law. Christ justified his people. God justified his people. That's the good news.

No sinner can justify ourselves because we broke the law in Adam. And to keep the law, as far as God regards keeping the law, You have to do it from a perfectly pure heart. It has to be a holy heart with a pure motive. Well, we've got a corrupt heart, we broke the law in Adam, so we're under the curse. Now look at verse 10.

He said, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things. which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's evident, because the just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith. What does that mean? Read the next phrase. But the man that doeth them shall live in them. So that's what the law demands.

God's looking on the heart, not merely the outward. on the heart, he knows the motive. So for a person to be a keeper of the law before God, in God's sight, all things written in the law, he has to do all things written in the law, not just the 10 commandments, 600 plus, and he has to, that includes stoning to death your children when they don't obey. I mean, it's the positive and the negative. All these things that are written has to be done from a holy heart, perfectly pure motive.

And it says there, the law's not of faith. There's no faith involved. You're not looking to God for anything. You have to do it all. The strength has to come from you, the power, the works, everything. No faith's involved. God's not involved. You have to do it yourself. So you see why we Nobody, none, no sinner born of Adam can keep the law.

But here's the good news. The Son of God did. God, the God-man did. Look at verse eight. The scripture foreseeing that God would justify. That's the good news. God came, God came down. And look down at verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, substitution. He took the place of his people. He went to that cross and was made sin for us, and then God poured on him the curse that all his people deserve, and he redeemed us from the curse.

You know, if a person is in debt and they cannot pay what they owe, that was us, in debt to the law, we could not give the law all that it demanded, and keep all things. We could not do it from a holy heart. We were guilty. We were corrupt. We were in debt.

But if a man's in debt and another person pays all the debt he owes so that he's totally free from debt, and on top of that, he gives him more than he lost. He gives him enough to last him all his days. Is that man going to keep paying the creditor? He knows his debt's paid. He's free. That's what Christ did for his people. And that's what he makes us know. Redeemed from the law. The law has nothing else to say to his child because Christ redeemed us from it and gave it everything. And that's where we are now before God. Perfectly righteous.

Past, present, and future. Never waver, never will it be changed. So that's the first thing that was declared to Abraham, God would justify. Here's the second thing, back in verse eight. It says, God shall justify the heathen. Now, what does that tell us? That declares that this salvation's all of God's grace. Here's why. The heathen, the Greek word just means family or nation.

But here and other places, it means Gentiles, everybody outside of Israel. Now you remember the Pharisees were constantly saying that they were God's children because they were born in Israel, they were Jews. And they exalted themselves and were proud of that, and they looked down on us Gentiles and called us dogs. And they were constantly saying they were the son of God because they were children of Abraham. And what God is saying right here, he foresaw or he foretold way back in Abraham's day that I have a people among the Gentiles.

In all the nations, I have a people. And that tells you that salvation's not because of where you were born, it's not because of who your parents were, it's not because of what you done in your flesh, it is by God's grace alone. And it's sovereign grace because there was a lot of family that Abraham had and God passed them by. There was a lot of people in Ur, God passed them by. God saved by grace. And it was free because Abraham didn't have the law. He's a guilty sinner. He's an idolater. And God did all this for him freely. When he called and he saved Abraham, there was no such thing as a Jew and a Gentile. He was just a sinner. He didn't create Israel until after he brought them out of bondage, out of Egypt, 430 years later.

Abraham's just a sinner Just like me and you so this was all of grace go with me to Romans 9 and let's read this again Romans 9 and here's the message. This is what is being said when he said I will save the heathen Christ is coming through you and there's heathens in these nations. I'm gonna save them grace free grace look here Romans 9 verse 6 What if all these ones in Israel that did not believe, what does that mean? Well, it's not as though the word of God had taken on effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, here's what it means, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Here's the promise. So this is the word of promise. God said to Abraham and Sarah, at this time will I, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. I will produce this boy that's coming. That's how God saves his people. He produces his people. I will. And then he gives another example, not only this, but when Rebecca also was conceived by one, even by her father Isaac. Here you got twins, same father, same mother.

He says, the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of grace, of him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. The question is not how could God hate Esau? The question is how could God love Jacob? And it's grace, grace.

And the purpose of God in election is so that he makes us to know salvation's not by our works, it's by God. who calleth, it's by his grace. What shall we say then? Is that unfair? Is God unrighteous? God forbid. He said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy. Don't you see that in Abraham? Abraham wasn't seeking God. Abraham didn't have the law. It's all of God and all by grace. But there's more good news.

Go back to Galatians 3. He also declared that he would regenerate and sanctify. He said here, verse 8, God will justify the heathen through faith. That's a heart matter. But we got a corrupt heart by nature. So if he's gonna justify us through faith, he's gonna have to do an operation within us. And that's all of the Lord. We have an unholy, corrupt nature that didn't know God and can't know God and hated God. And the Lord, by His Spirit, spoke to the heart of Abraham and circumcised him in the heart, created a pure heart in him, and gave him faith to believe. And that's how God saves every one of his people, through this message of what God will do.

Go with me to 1 Corinthians 2. I got a couple of places I want us to look at. 1 Corinthians 2. I showed you Thursday night when Paul said, if you keep in remembrance, and we saw how that the gospel's not trying to preach something new, it's just reminding you of what you already have been taught. Peter said, I'm putting you in remembrance of these things, though you be established in the current truth. That's what we're doing. Look here now, this has to be by the Spirit regenerating and sanctifying us.

Verse nine, as it's written, 1 Corinthians 2.9, as it's written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. That's how faith comes. God reveals by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now here's the illustration.

What man knows the things of a man save the Spirit of man which is in him? Are you gonna know what another man's thinking unless that other man reveals to you what he's thinking? Well, he says, so it is with God. Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. which things also we speak, we preach, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth. We're not trying to craft the word, but we're preaching with that teaching that the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing scripture with scripture, spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they're spiritually discerned.

But he that is spiritual, He spiritually discerns all things. He judges all things. But yet he himself, Christ himself, is judged of no man. A man of himself cannot discern Christ. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? The spirit of the Lord nobody knows unless the spirit of the Lord reveals it to you. So who's known the mind of the Lord?

Think about Abraham. You know, God had not, he had not given his oracles to anybody at that time, like he did Israel. He just come and preached what he would do to Abraham. That's how Abraham learned. God came and revealed it to him. That's how we learn anything. God comes and reveals to us by his spirit. We have the mind of Christ. Wisdom, he's made wisdom to us. Gave us a holy heart and discernment.

Now look at Acts 15. Those false preachers were commanding that these Gentiles be circumcised. And they didn't even know what circumcision meant. And that's what Peter answers right here. Acts 15 in verse seven, he said, you know how that the Lord made a choice among us in Acts 15.7, and he said at the end there that the Gentiles, by my mouth, should hear the word of the gospel and believe. This is our central point. How was Abraham saved? Was it the hearing of works or the hearing of the gospel? It was the hearing of the gospel, of what God would do.

He said, so God sent me to these Gentiles to preach the word of the gospel that they might believe, and God which knoweth the hearts, God who looks on the inward man, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as he did to us. And he put no difference between us and them, purifying, making holy their hearts by faith, by his faithfulness. He gave them the Spirit through the gospel and gave them a holy heart, purified their heart to rest only in Christ.

Now go with me to Romans 4. These false preachers said you gotta be circumcised and you gotta keep the law after the manner of Moses. Well Moses was not the first one to be circumcised, Abraham was. Abraham, the Lord had given Abraham faith. He had worked this work in his heart, circumcised his heart, took away the filthy, fleshly heart and gave him a new heart, a holy, pure heart. That's what circumcision pictured. And then 15 years later, he gave Abraham the outward physical circumcision as a sign and a token of what he had done in his heart, that he'd already been made righteous through faith in Christ.

Look here, Romans 4.9. Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also? You could read that. Does this blessedness come to Jews only or does it come to Gentiles also? For we say that faith was imputed, reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. He hadn't been circumcised when he believed.

Look at this now. And he received, he was given the sign of circumcision. It was a token, a reminder. Lord's Table's a reminder. He was given it as a sign, a token, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised. So you see, the outward thing didn't make him righteous. That was just a sign, a token, a reminder that God had made him righteous. God had justified him. God had given him a new heart. God had given him faith and imputed the righteousness of Christ to him.

And he says that he might be the father of all them that believe. That's what we're talking about. Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. Look at verse 13. For the promise that he should be, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Because if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise of none effect.

You see that? Now, are you of faith? That's the question, are you of faith? Are you of faith? Saved by the faithfulness of God because he did it and he came and preached the gospel to you and made you know he justified you, he sanctified you, he gave you faith, and your righteousness is Christ alone.

If that's so of you, you are a true child of Abraham. In Galatians 3, and look at verse 9. He says, so then, Galatians 3, 9, so then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. I think it's back up in verse 7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. You are blessed of God. They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. In other words, God blessed you and saved you like he saved Abraham.

That's how we're saved. Now, I just wanna read the rest of this just for context and we'll look at it another time. But look here, let's read this together if I can get this thing to operate right. All right, look down at verse 14. The Lord came and redeemed us, that the blessing of Abraham might come on us Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise. I've put a comma here, two commas, and I'll show you.

He came that we might receive the promise, the covenant promise of salvation accomplished. of the Spirit, meaning it's not of us. He received the promise, comma, of the Spirit. It was of the Spirit that he did it, comma, through faith that he gave us. That's what he did. That's why he saved the way he saved.

So don't ever let a man bring you back under the law and tell you, except you do this, you can't be saved. You're not under the law, you're under grace. Verse 15. I speak after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, now catch these next two words, no man disanulleth, and no man adds to it. And that's what they're saying.

It's not enough that Christ is your holiness, you gotta do some works. You can't add to what Christ did. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. And he said not to seeds as of many, but one, to thy seed which is Christ, and this I say, that that covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ to Abraham, the law, which was 430 years after that, cannot disannul it, that it should make the promise of none effect, and it didn't mean Abraham could add to it. Because if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

That sounds like what we just read in Romans. It sounds to me like Paul just had one message. He just preached the same message to every church and every letter. And that's, we have one message and it's Christ. If you believe on him for the first time, you find yourself believing this gospel and seeing Christ in the scriptures and understanding and finding it Striking a harmony in your heart where you agree. I agree. This is how God say Then the Lord said when he works this you won't be ashamed to confess him You won't be ashamed to confess it you want the world to know I'm his and he's mine and we do that by publicly confessing him in believers baptism And then he commands us to unite with his people under the preaching of the gospel.

Because, see, the rest of Abraham's days, he wasn't under the rule of the law. He was under the rule of the gracious rule of the Lord Jesus. Every so often we'll find Abraham, and the Lord appeared to Abraham. And he said, Abraham, I'm your shield. I'm your exceeding great reward. because he had a fleshly nature.

Don't you know when Abraham gave away all those spoils to that king, he did that in faith. But don't you know, as soon as he did that, it came into Abraham's mind, what if I fall on hard times? What if I, you know, what if I need those spoils? What if I'm gone?

And immediately, how did the Lord sanctify him from those sinful, fleshly thoughts and keep him walking, looking only to Christ? What was his rule of life? The Lord came to him and said, Abraham, I'm your shield. I've got you surrounded. I'm going to protect you. And I'm your exceeding great reward. I'm providing it all for you.

What I'm saying to you is we go into this wilderness, we get our feet dirty, we get all these sinful, doubtful thoughts and look into ourselves and we come in here and the Lord preaches Christ to us again. and reminds us of what he has done, what he is doing, and what he shall do, and he washes your feet with this gospel, strengthens your heart, gets you looking to him, and you can go on out and make it till we come back in again.

Because he's just leading us through this wilderness, and he's gonna keep saving you this way till he calls you one last time and he calls you to glory. That's how we're sanctified and kept sanctified, through the preaching that Christ does it all. that Christ does it all. So for you that believe, you just keep looking to him. You keep coming in here in his gospel.

This is what he said in Isaiah. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. That's our sanctification right there. Same one that's our righteousness.

Father, thank you for giving your son. Thank you, Lord, for laying down your life, for teaching us this gospel, and for continuing to lead us and keep us partaking of your holiness, separated by your presence. Lord, keep working this in us. We praise you and give you the glory. It's all of you, and we're so very thankful. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Relentless love preserves my life from unbelief, sustains me through my sin, my doubt, my grief. Since Christ has done it all,