Thank you. I'm waiting for Lynn. Galatians chapter 3. I want to read verse
8. Galatians chapter 3. And notice the language, Galatians
3, 8, and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith. The scripture preached before
the gospel unto Abraham saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. How we thank you for your word,
for the majesty of your word, for the message of your word. How we thank you for the Lord
Jesus Christ and the salvation that's in him, Lord. Speak to us from your word. For
the Lord's sake. Forgive us of our sins. For Christ's
sake. Order our steps in your word.
For Christ's sake, may his name be exalted. May we be enabled
to. Truly rely upon him only. Lord, we pray for those of our
number, the trials you sent their way sickness. We pray for your
blessing upon them. Be with all your people, wherever
they meet together in Christ and we pray. Amen. The majesty. Of scripture. George. The majesty. Of scripture. And notice what
he says, the scripture foreseeing only a person can foresee the scripture foreseeing. And
notice it says the scripture preached the gospel, the majesty
of scripture. Now, what I think is amazing
is the scripture would not be written down by Moses for another
500 years. Yet it says the scripture foreseeing,
and the scripture preached the gospel unto Abraham. The scriptures are spoken of
as living, the living word of God, the scripture speaking,
the scripture foreseeing, and the scripture is spoken of before
the scripture has been written. This event took place 500 years
before Moses penned these words. And yet look at the way Paul
speaks of the scripture. The scriptures before they were
written already were. Forever, oh Lord. That word forever means eternally.
Eternally, O Lord, thy word is settled in the heaven. Thou has magnified thy word above
all thy name. There is no saving knowledge
of God apart from his word. Listen to this, sanctify them
through thy truth. Thy word is truth. John chapter 17, verse 17. We have the same reverence for
the scriptures that we do have for God himself, because those
two cannot be separated. The Bible is his word and how
we view God is seen in how we view his word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. Hebrews chapter four, verse 12
says, the word of God is quick living. That's what the word
quick means, living. It's not just ink on pages. It's
the living Word of God. The Word of God is living and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God, is this
talking about the written Word of God? Yes. The Word of God
is living and powerful. Is this talking about the Lord
Jesus who is called the Word? Yes. Is this talking about the
gospel message? Preach the word. Yes. The word
of God. Isn't that awesome? The way the
scripture says to Abraham, but the scripture had not been written.
The scripture foresees exactly what God's going to do. It's
not yet been written because the scripture is the eternal
word of God. And if I don't have the same
reverence for this book that I do for God himself, I have
reverence for neither. He is only known through what
he says in this book. I think of Romans chapter nine,
verse 17, where it says, for the scripture says to Pharaoh,
Even for this same purpose, have I raised you up? Now, wait a
minute. That hadn't been written yet. His word is eternal. The eternal word of God. I think of the Lord's words to
the Sadducees who denied the resurrection. He said, you do
err, not knowing the scriptures. nor the power of God. Now these are two things that
go together, the scriptures and the omnipotence, the power of
God. And if you know the scriptures,
you know something about the omnipotence, the power, the sovereignty
of the God of the Bible. And if you don't know the scriptures,
you're ignorant of his character. The scriptures foresee, and that
word can also be translated foreknow. Only God can do that. Foresee
and foreknow, yeah, but the scriptures foresee and foreknow. Isn't that majestic? Yes. The
word of God. The only thing, the only response
we can have to the word of God is that. bow to what he says,
rejoice in what he says. The scriptures, the scriptures
preach before the gospel unto Abraham. How many times do we
read in the New Testament, something happened that the scriptures
might be fulfilled? hundreds that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. And you know, when the Lord was
dying on the cross, when they nailed him to the cross, it almost
seems like what they would do, they'd have to look up in the
Bible, what do we do next? Okay, here it is. Everything
that he did was because it was determined before by God to be
done. Everything that the scriptures
might be fulfilled. I love it when he said, It is
finished that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Everything
is that the scriptures might be fulfilled. Now there are so
many scriptures we could point to. The majesty of scripture,
the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith. Think of this scripture. First
Corinthians chapter 15 verses three and four. The gospel is
called how that Christ died for our sins, how? According to the
scriptures. Somebody says the gospel is the
death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. No, you haven't given
the gospel, it's how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. And what comes to my mind as
soon as I think about that is the Passover. There isn't a verse
of scripture that's more precious to me than this. God said, when
I see the blood, I will pass over you. Not when you see it,
when I see it. What was he looking for? Not
when I see your works, not when I see your sincerity, not when
I see your efforts, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Everybody that Christ died for
must be saved. That's how the Christ died for
our sins, according to the scriptures. Now let's look at what the scriptures
foresaw. Verse eight, Galatians chapter
three, verse eight. And the scripture 500 years before it took place, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith. Now, this is what
the scripture said. God would justify the heathen
through faith. The Gentiles, the non-Jews, the
nations, God will justify them. You know, the message has always
been justification by faith. And it's always been a message
for the world, the heathen. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. Don't you love that verse? God
so loved the world. People try to twist that. I realize that, but what are
we going to do about it? I can't do anything about that,
but I love that verse. God, so he's the propitiation
for our sins and not for our sins only, but also for the sins
of the whole world. That's what the Bible says. I like it. I like it just like
that. And somebody can abuse that. I realize that people do
it. Well, that means he died for everybody. It means he loves
everybody. No, it doesn't. But I still, Christ is called
the savior of the world. Aren't you thankful for his title?
God's always intended to save the world, the Gentiles as well
as the Jews. He has redeemed us out of every
kindred, tribe, tongue, and nation. There is no people that he doesn't
save. Everywhere, God's gonna save
a people, and I'm so thankful for that. It's just the Lord's
so glorious, And what is it he's going to do? What is it the scripture
says he's going to justify? He's going to justify the heathen
through faith. Now, if you would ask probably the
average professing Christian, how can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Is that even an issue? The Bible
makes it the biggest issue of all. How God can be just, absolutely,
perfectly righteous, and yet justify, make it to... I have some vague idea of my
own sinfulness. And it's a vague idea. None of
us have any understanding of how sinful we really are. If
we did, we'd probably go crazy. And I'm thankful that the Lord
withholds that information from us. I don't want to know how
bad I am, but I have some vague idea of my own personal sinfulness. Now, how can God say with regard
to me? He's never sinned. He's perfect. He's kept my law perfectly. He is absolutely just in my sight. Absolutely righteous. That seems
scandalous, doesn't it? That God would Call me absolutely
just when I know something about, like I said, I got a vague notion
of how vile and sinful and how many bad motives and just go
on and on and on. And if you know yourself in the
teaching of the Holy Spirit, you believe the same thing about
yourself. I have no question about that. Every believer sees
themselves to be the chief of sinners. And every believer is
self-righteous enough, if I say, well, I agree with you, you are,
you'll get mad. That's just how hypocritical we all are. We realize
that, don't we? Yet God has found a way. Like
I said, this is not even an issue with most religious people. You
know, why can't God just forgive us? Why can't he just sweep the
sin under the carpet? And what is amazing is if we
had a judge in our system that did that, I'm a forgiving judge.
I'm just going to forgive that. He'd be thrown out of office.
He'd be an unjust, corrupt judge that acted like that. Oh, our
judge is absolutely just and he has made the way to justify
the heathen through faith. This is what the scripture foresees. Now I would like you to turn
to Romans chapter three for just a moment. Verse 19. Now we know that what thing soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, There shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. Now do you hear that? By the
law. Talk about the Ten Commandments.
You can talk about all of God's law, but just the Ten Commandments.
I shall have no other God before me. Every time I breathe, I put
something before him. Every time I sin, I put something
before him. Uh, the commandment against idolatry, making false
concepts of God. That's all I've ever done. Even
now, are you saying you're not preaching the gospel? I'm not
saying that at all. I am preaching the gospel, but I know this,
that, that my concept of God isn't as high as it ought to
be. My concept of myself isn't as low as it ought to be. I mean,
we're by nature idolaters, aren't we? Making up concepts of God
that we feel more comfortable with. Thou shalt not take his
name in vain. I think that's so glorious that
God is so glorious that even to say his name without the proper
reverence is a sin deserving damnation. That's how holy he
is. Have you ever not taken his name
in vain? Every time we use his name, I
have a feeling of I'm not using the proper reverence and the
proper fear in even speaking his name. The commandment with
regard to the Sabbath day resting. Perfect rest. honoring your father
and mother, the fifth commandment, respecting all authority, the
sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. And that's not just
talking about physical murder, that's talking about being angry
with somebody without a cause, being jealous. Thou shalt not
commit adultery, all sexual sin, not only the physical act, but
mentally. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet. What does
God's holy law say about me right now? Guilty as charged. The law exposes sin. That's all it does. I love God's
law. I love what Paul said when he
said, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I do. I love God's holy law. I love
the 10 commandments. But what does the law do? It
exposes sin. That's all it does. That's all it's meant to do.
It never was given. So if you can keep it, you'll
be saved. Now. Verse 20, therefore, by the deeds
of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his side for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now. The righteousness of God without
the law, without my personal law keeping. Is manifested being
witnessed by the law and the prophets. This is what the Old
Testament scriptures have always taught. This isn't something
new. This is the eternal message of
scripture. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, by his faith, his faithfulness
unto all and upon all them that believe. But there's no difference. There's no difference between
men. You take the most righteous man that you know, and you take
the most vile man you know. In God's side, is one better
than the other? Not in God's side. There's no difference. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now there's a good definition
of sin. Coming short of the glory of God. He's so glorious that
to come short of his glory is sin. Can you say, well, I've
not sinned? Oh my, that definition alone
crushes us. Verse 24, being justified. Now there's the term used in
Galatians 3.8, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith. Being justified freely. Don't miss that word. Freely. You didn't do anything to get
this. You didn't do anything. I didn't do anything to pay for
this. This is the work of God's grace. being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption, the redeeming work of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross. You see, The reason he justifies
me or you or any sinner is because your sins were paid for by Christ
and put away. And now you stand before God
as having never sinned. That's why you're justified.
It's not, it's not, uh, I've heard people say it's a legal
term. Well, I don't may, I guess I've heard, but it's, it's real
is what it is. It's real. I'd stand just before
God. I'm without sin before God because
Christ put away my sin. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God set forth, verse 25, for ordained. This has always been
God's eternal purpose, whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
a sin removing sacrifice through faith in His blood. Do you have faith in His blood?
Do you rely on his blood? Do you believe his blood is all
that's needed to make you clean and holy before God? The precious
blood of Christ. To declare now, look at this,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God. Now that it doesn't say
to declare his forgiveness, although he does forgive. It means he's
righteous. It's an act of his righteousness
to pass over your sins because they've been put away through
the blood of Christ. You see the absolute justice and righteousness
of the gospel in this, this thing of justifying. This has always
been the message of scripture. To declare, verse 26, I say at
this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Now back to our text. Romans or Galatians chapter three. Well, this, uh, this verse of
scripture is packed, isn't it? This one, I wouldn't say little
verse of scripture, but I mean, there's infinite truth in it
and the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith. Through faith. Romans chapter four, verse five,
to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
debt, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. What is the evidence that God's
justified me? Faith. I do, by the grace of
God, right now I do while I'm talking to you. Right now I do. I'm relying on Jesus Christ as
my only righteousness before God. I'm relying on his shed
blood as my sin payment. I'm not working for salvation. I'm not working. I'm totally
dependent upon what he has done for me. Salvation is what he
has done, and I'm depending on him. Look at our text and the
scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith. Now look what the scripture did.
The scripture preached before the gospel and Abraham. And look
at the simplicity of this gospel content. The scripture foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith preached before
the gospel unto Abraham saying, and here's the gospel, in thee
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Now, is he talking about in Abraham?
No, he's talking about the seed that's in Abraham. Abraham's
seed, the Lord Jesus Christ in thee, in Christ, the promised
seed in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in Christ. Now turn to first Corinthians
chapter one. The gospel summarized by that
statement in thee. That's what God, the Holy Spirit
calls a gospel. This is not some random statement. This is what
God, the Holy Spirit calls the gospel in thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed. First Corinthians one verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, have not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. I don't
see very many movie stars here this morning. I don't see many
statesmen, politicians. What's he saying? Not many wise
men after the flesh are called. I like what Lady Huntington said. She says, I'm so thankful for
the word M. She was a woman, a rich woman,
wealthy, and she supplied money for many, George Whitefield and
so on. She made this statement, I'm
so thankful for the word M, because it doesn't say not any wise men
are mighty or noble. She was a noble woman. I said,
not many, but I'm so thankful. It didn't say not any, but not
many. There's so many calls like that,
but not many. Well, you see your calling brethren
have it. Not many wise men after the flesh, not many noble, not
many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the
foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has
chosen the weak. Impotent. Powerless things of
the world to confound the things which are mighty and the base
things of the world and the things which are despised, hath God
chosen. Yay. And the things which are
nothing. Not. It's what you look, what do you,
when you look at an empty box, what's there? Nothing. Nothing. The things which are not to bring
to not the things that are that no flesh should glory in his
presence. But that's one of the best words
in the Bible, but, but God, but of him, are you in Christ
Jesus? Now, this is the blessing. of
the gospel. This is the gospel of him. Are
you in Christ Jesus? Now with God's nothing is impossible. And that's why I can be in Christ
Jesus. I'm eternally in Christ Jesus. Both he that sanctifies and they
who are sanctified are all of one for the witch cause. He's
not ashamed to call them brethren. He's not ashamed to call me his
brother because I'm in Now, what does this mean to be in Christ
Jesus? But of him are you in Christ
Jesus who of God, God did this. I love the way he says of God,
this is, you didn't participate in this. You're spectators, not the right word.
I don't know what, but the fact of the matter is you didn't participate
in this of God. This is his work. of God is made unto us. Wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Now here's what this means. If
I'm in Christ, the all wise God can have fellowship
with me because Christ is my wisdom. An absolutely righteous
God can accept me because Christ is my righteousness. A holy God
can embrace me because Christ is my sanctification. All my sins are paid for. Christ
is my redemption. It's already accomplished. Of
Him are you in Christ Jesus. That's the gospel, being in Christ.
In Adam, all die. In Christ, shall all be made
alive. That's the gospel. And that is the gospel that was
preached by the scriptures, the eternal word of God. The gospel
is eternal. Amen.