I think it's comforting when
you start looking at scriptures and you see the Apostle Paul
write the same things in every letter he wrote to every church
he wrote to. What Brother Greg just read is
what he wrote to Galatia. It's the same thing he wrote
to the Colossians. It's what he wrote to the Philippians,
the Thessalonians. You see it over and over in the
scripture. over and over in the scripture. Now let's look here
in Galatians 3, and we have that question we
looked at last time, the last of those five questions, where
Paul said in verse 5, he therefore that ministereth to you the spirit,
and you know that's God our savior, that's Christ that ministers
the spirit to his people. He works miracles among you,
miracle of Life, faith, hope, love, all the miracles of grace
and the things he works in his people. He says, doeth he it
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Is it through
the message that tells you there's something you must do? Is it
through your works? Or is it through the hearing
of faith? Is it through the gospel of the faithfulness of God in
Christ? Those that opposed Paul at Galatia, they used the same
argument as those that oppose us today. It's the same argument. They insist that the works of
the law must be added to faith in Christ. Works of the law have
to be added to faith in Christ. Judaizers then and now, they
declare the same thing. that though it's necessary to
believe the gospel of Christ, the gospel's not sufficient unless
works of the law are added. And it really doesn't matter
what it's for. It really doesn't matter if they
say it's to be justified, to be made righteous. Most will
say, that's not, no, no, it's Christ, the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believe. But it really doesn't
matter if they say it's for that or if they say it's for holiness. Their doctrines are saying, and
what they're saying is, Christ is not enough. That's the problem. That's the message. A so-called
faith that's born out of carnal reason and logic can't believe
the gospel. just can't believe the gospel.
The Jews required a sign, and that's what carnal religion requires,
a sign, something we can see, works that we can see, because
faith is a heart matter. Faith is something that's in
the heart that really only God can see. There's some things
that faith does outwardly, but people without faith can do those
things outwardly. People who are of the works of
the law want to see something outwardly. It was not enough
to the Judaizers that the Gentiles professed faith in Christ. That
just didn't seem like enough to them. They insisted that they
add circumcision and come back under the works of the law and
add that to their faith in Christ. Peter called it tempting God,
tempting God. But true believers are not justified
by the works of the law, nor do we live under the law. We're justified by Christ. We're
made righteous by Christ. And this is what we preach, the
hearing of faith that we preach. And through the Spirit of God,
when he brings you to faith, he imputes to us the righteousness
of Christ. And Christ is made sanctification
to us. Christ is everything to us. When you're confronted with this
opposition, people say you're against the law. And they'll
say, well, if you don't insist believers live under the Ten
Commandments as a rule of life, you're against the law. When
you're confronted with that, remember what the Spirit of God
did right here. Because this is the best example,
the best illustration. He went to Abraham. He used Abraham. Moved Paul to use Abraham. This
is how a believer is justified through faith in Christ and lives
his life by faith in Christ. He says there, he asked that
question, did he do it by the works of the law or the hearing
of faith? And then he said, even as Abraham believed God, and
it was accounted or imputed to him for righteousness, know ye
therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children
of Abraham. and a 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, for as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it's written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. Whoever doesn't do everything
written in the book of the law, all the law, all of it, he's
under the curse. But that no man's justified by
the law in the sight of God, it's evident, for the just shall
live by faith. This is, Those justified by Christ,
he's going to give them faith and they're going to live by
faith. They're going to live, they're going to have eternal
life by faith and they're going to live their life by faith,
looking to the one who justified us, the object of our faith.
And the law is not of faith. They're in two different realms.
The law deals with the earth. It deals with men in this earth
and transgression It deals in a carnal realm. It's spiritual, it reaches to
the heart, but it deals in a carnal realm. Faith is spiritual. Faith takes you to another realm. You have to be dead to the law
before you can live to God. We can't live to God until we're
dead to the law, until our life is at God's right hand. We can't
live under God. We have to be dead to the law,
dead to our works, dead to our flesh, dead to our sin, and live
to Christ. Live to Christ. The law's not
of faith, but the man that does the law shall live in the law.
Now, I pray, brethren, I know that we We hear the same thing
going through Galatians because it's the same points over and
over, but it moves a little further as we go. But I pray we don't
ever grow weary of this doctrine and think of it as a doctrine
that we learn and we understand believers not justified by the
law, we're justified by grace through faith in Christ. Now
let's move on. I hope we don't ever think that
because Turning back to the law and having a spirit of legalism
is something we deal with on a daily basis. This is one of
the most practical things we deal with right here. We are
easily turned from Christ to our own flesh, to our own works,
and to look at others. We are. And when we do that,
we come under law. We come back. It's like we're
trying to put ourself back in bondage. by comparing ourselves
with ourselves. We do that so easily, so easily,
by becoming critical and doubtful of our brethren. So easily, a
brother could do something and come under some providential
trouble or do something, fall or whatever, and we're just so
quick to doubt their faith. And we don't look on the heart,
we can't see the heart. What are we doing? We're going,
we're turning from Christ back to works of the law. And we're bringing ourselves
back into law, back into bondage. But what we see here is so good
to go to Abraham. God made Abraham the father of
the faithful, the father of all them that believe. Brother Greg
just read it. To show us that every believer's justified, we're
made righteous the same way Abraham was, and we live our life the
same way Abraham lived his. Same rule, under the same rule.
That's so wise to use Abraham. That's why God made him the father
of the faithful when he made him the father of the faithful.
Now let's see, first of all, what was Abraham when God called
him? What was he? Paul asked the question
up there, said, how'd you begin? Was it by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith? What was Abraham when Abraham
began? Let's go to Genesis 12. How'd you place there in Galatians?
Let's go to Genesis 12. The Lord had said to Abraham,
get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy
father's house unto the land that I will show thee. Where
was he when? Well, the Judaizer boasted that
they were God's children. They were children of God because
they were Jews, because they were children of Abraham. But
Abraham was not a Jew when God called him. Abraham wasn't a
Jew. Abraham was a, he was a pagan
idolater. That nation wasn't formed until
when God brought them to Sinai, when he brought them out of bondage
and brought them to Sinai and entered that covenant with them.
That's when political history was formed. They weren't Jews
before then. The Judaizers insisted on outward
circumcision and keeping the law Sinai. Abraham was not circumcised
outwardly until 15 years after this. 15 years after this, and
what Brother Greg just read, that outward sign was a sign,
it was a token of what God had done in his heart, 15 years before
that, in this Genesis 12 right here. And the law wasn't given
for 430 years later. What was Abraham? He was a spiritually
dead sinner worshipping idols. That's what he was. And that's
where he'd have stayed. He'd have stayed right there.
Before the world was made, God in sovereign free grace chose
Abraham in Christ and elected him unto salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. If that had not been the
case, Abraham would have stayed right there in idolatry and God
would have left him alone. But God chose him and so God
came to Abraham. Did he come with the hearing
of works or did he come with the hearing of faith? What did
he do? How did God minister the spirit
to Abraham? Verse one says, now the Lord
had said unto Abraham. The Lord said unto Abraham. The
Lord spoke to Abraham. Abraham's life began spiritually. His spiritual life began by God,
the God of glory, coming to Abraham and preaching the gospel to Abraham. That's what the scripture said,
what our text said. He preached the gospel to him. God came and
he spoke the gospel and he ministered the Holy Spirit to Abraham and
gave him life and faith right here. That's what he did. This
is not only the way a dead sinner is regenerated to life, this
is how a believer follows God. He's given a holy, pure heart,
ears to hear, a heart to believe by the Spirit of God. It's not
by our works. It's by God speaking. It's by
the hearing of God's word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. That's what we have right here.
I don't know if there was somebody God used to preach to Abraham.
I don't know how he spoke to Abraham. But it really doesn't
matter because this is what happens when the gospel is going forth.
The Lord comes to his child and the Lord speaks. And that's what
happened to Abraham. What was the message? Was it
hearing of works? Was it what Abraham must do?
Or was it the hearing of faith, what God promised to do? Look
here, Genesis 12, 1. Now the Lord had said to Abraham,
to Abram, get thee out of thy country, from thy kindred, from
thy father's house, unto 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. This is a I will,
thou shalt covenant. That's an everlasting covenant.
That's a covenant of grace. He didn't put a condition on
Abraham. He said, and I will bless them that bless thee and
curse them that curseth thee, and in thee shall all families
of the earth, all nations be blessed. And so Abram departed
as the Lord had spoken to him. That was the blessing. This was
the blessing that God told Abraham about. It was a person. The blessing
was a person. He said, in thee, Abraham, shall
all nations of the earth be blessed. You hold your place there, but
in Genesis 15, we see what he's talking about. He says in verse
one, After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in
a vision saying, fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. When Paul tells you take the
shield of faith, he's not talking about faith itself being a shield,
he's talking about the object of faith. The Lord said I'm your
shield, I'm your shield. And I'm your reward, I'm your
inheritance. And he said, down at verse 5,
and he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven
and tell the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said
unto him, so shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord and
he counted to him for righteousness. Over in Genesis 21.12, he said,
when he was telling him to kick Isaac out, he said in Genesis
21.12, He said there at the end, and
Isaac shall thy seed be called. He said in Genesis 22, 17, he
says, in blessing, I will bless thee. See there, who's doing
the works? In blessing, I will bless thee.
In multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven, as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies. Galatians 3.16, if you
hold your place in Genesis and go back over there and look,
Galatians 3.16, he said, now to Abraham and to his seed were
the promises made. He said not to seeds as of many,
but as of one to thy seed, which is Christ. Look back up there
at verse 14. He says, he speaks there of it. I'm sorry, where is it? Right
here, verse 17. This I say, the covenant that
was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul it, that it should
make the promise of none effect. What we have here in Genesis
12 is when the Lord spoke to Abraham and made this promise
to Abraham, that's the everlasting covenant. He's promising Abraham
salvation, and it's in Christ the seed. And when he says, all
the nations of the earth will be blessed, he didn't mean everybody
in every nation, he meant his elect in every nation. Abraham
was called by the hearing of faith. He heard God promise what
God would do. Not what Abraham had to do. He
didn't give Abraham anything to do. He said, this is what
I'm going to do, Abraham. He would freely give him blessing.
He would freely be an eternal inheritance to him. And that
was something Abraham didn't work for. Abraham is an idolater
not seeking God and God came to him and revealed this to him
and made this covenant with him freely. Our Savior said, your
father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was
glad. Now what was the result? When
the Lord ministered to Abraham the spirit, what was the result
when he did this through the hearing of faith? It said Abraham
believed God. and it was counted to him for
righteousness. Abraham obeyed God by faith. Back there in Genesis
12, 4, it says, so Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him.
He did what God commanded him to do. And when God speaks in
power, that's what we do. Hebrews 11.8 says, by faith,
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he
should have to receive for an inheritance, he obeyed. And he
went out not knowing where he went. We get ready to make a
major move in our lives and we like to scout out the place we're
going to and try to find out something about it and try to
find out if we're going to have a job when we get there. What
are we going to do when we get there? How are we going to make
a living? Abraham's living was God. Abraham's living was Christ
and he obeyed God and followed the Lord because the Lord commanded
him to. He saw Christ the promised seed
and he believed on him and because Now I know that Christ hadn't
come yet. He hadn't laid down his life. He hadn't shed his
blood yet. But in Christ, Abraham was righteous. Because in that
covenant of grace that was confirmed before in eternity, Christ coveted
to come and make Abraham righteous. Just like he promised to make
all his people righteous. And so, as that message went
forth to Abraham, God ministered the spirit, he regenerated him,
he sanctified him, just like he did you and I who believe.
He gave him a pure, holy heart to behold God, to see Christ
through faith and believe on him, and he sanctified him in
heart. He sanctified him in heart, but
he also sanctified him from his family and his country and separated
him out. That's true sanctification, purity
of the heart, which results in God separating us out. And that's
what he did. And all the while, he was robed
in the righteousness of Christ. Christ was his righteousness,
so God, through faith, imputed righteousness to him. Abraham
could say what Paul said. Abraham could say, I through
the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. Say, well,
the law wasn't given yet. Oh, there was a law given already
back there in the garden. And that was the law Abraham
had broken. That's why he was under the curse. But Christ,
his surety redeemed him from the curse. And he was dead to
the law in Christ, though Christ had not yet laid down his life.
He was dead to the law in Christ so that he could live to God.
That's grace. So how did, now once this happened,
once he called him out, so he's justified by faith, he made righteous
through faith in Christ, how'd he walk then? Our text says in
Galatians 3.10, as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse. It's written, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things, written the book of the law to do them, but that
no man's justified by the law in the sight of God. It's evident
that just shall live by faith, and the law's not of faith. Having
begun in the spirit, how did Abraham now live the rest of
his days? Having been given eternal life
in Christ, how did he live the rest of his days? Did he turn
and start living under the law? Abraham didn't have the Ten Commandments. Abraham did not have the Ten
Commandments. What was his rule of life then?
The same as your rule of life is, believer. The very same. God continued to appear to him
and preach the gospel to Abraham, declaring the works God would
do. That's the hearing of faith. And that's how Abraham worshiped,
and walked, and moved, and went where he went. Look at Galatians
12, look at verse six. Abraham passed through the land
into the place of Sycam, into the plain of Mori, and the Canaanite
was then in the land. And the Lord appeared to Abram
and said, unto thy seed will I give this land. And what was
the result? He built an altar unto the Lord
who appeared unto him. He worshiped God. And he removed
from this into a mountain on the east of Bethel and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west and Haiyan on the east. And there he built an altar to
the Lord, called upon the name of the Lord. And Abraham journeyed,
going on still toward the south. And you know what the Hebrew
writer tells us? As he journeyed, The scripture says, throughout
the rest of his days, here's how he walked. By faith, he sojourned
in the land of promise, as in a strange country dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. And here's what he was looking for. He looked for a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
He looked for that city made up of all God's redeemed elect
children, whose foundation is the righteousness of Christ,
the redemption Christ has accomplished for his people, so that that's
a city that can't be moved. It's got foundations. The foundation
is Christ. And that's what he was looking
for. He wasn't somebody that would have argued with you over
God giving him this physical land or whether God was talking
about a spiritual land. The scriptures tell us Abraham
was looking for a city to come. He wasn't looking for a city
here, he was looking for that city. And God never gave him
a possession in that land that God promised him. He saw what
God was saying, he saw the spiritual promises. So through the preaching
of the gospel, Abraham was justified with Christ's righteousness imputed
to him. He was brought to faith and God
imputed Christ's righteousness to him. He's justified. He's
made the righteousness of God. He established the law fully
430 years before God gave it. And then he walked according
by faith. He walked by faith. The same
gospel, God would appear, he'd preach the gospel to him, and
Abraham, he'd tell Abraham what to do, that's what Abraham would
do. And he walked by faith. He lived looking to Christ, and
Christ ruled in his heart, when as yet the Ten Commandments were
not even given. But even then, Abraham could
say with Paul, he could say just what we saw a few messages ago,
back in Galatians 2.19 or 2.20. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I
now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. The Spirit of Christ
made him obedient even against his greatest fleshly desires. When we think of obedience, this
is what God considers obedience, bearing great crosses that God
gives you to bear. You think about this. The Lord
called Abraham to deny himself and offer up his only son, Isaac. And he did it. By faith he did
it. By faith he believed that God
was able to raise that boy from the dead. He knew that all these
promises God had made to him about Christ the seed who's coming
to redeem his people was coming through Isaac. And he believed
God could raise him from the dead. And in his heart, Abraham,
he slew that boy. And all the while, walking by
faith, it made him be a witness of Christ. He said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb. Think about love that ruled his
heart. Lot was with him and the herdsmen
got into an argument. And look how faith, the love
of Christ ruled Abraham's heart so that there wouldn't be a falling
out. He said, Lark, you pick whichever
land you want. And let Lark pick the best of
the land. It wasn't the law that made him
do that. It was Christ constraining his heart, the love of Christ.
Every sinful thing that he did, and he did some sinful things.
That was of his flesh, just like the sin we commit is of our flesh. But every good thing he did,
that was Christ living in him, doing his good pleasure in him. So now let's go back to our text.
Paul brings this home to us now. Verse seven, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith the same are the children of
Abraham. He probably hears speaking to the Judaizers The Judeas were
boasting that their father was Abraham, and so therefore they
were saved. And Paul doesn't argue with them
about that. Paul says, nope, you're not even
the children of Abraham if you're trying to come to God by your
works. Physical, being a physical descendant
of Abraham is not what makes a person a Jew. That's not what
makes a person a spiritual Israel. There's a lot of physical descendants
that weren't children of Abraham. Being physical descendants of
godly parents is not going to benefit us. We have to have God
has to choose us, he has to send the gospel to us, he has to minister
the spirit to us, he has to give us faith, he has to bring us
to rest everything in Christ and to be led of the spirit of
God and follow him. And then he applies it to the
Gentiles. He said the scripture foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham
saying, and these shall all nations be bled. Not elect in Israel
only, but elect in the Gentile land too. And so then they which
be of faith, whether they Jew or Gentile, are blessed with
faithful Abraham. I like how it says the scripture
foreseeing. It means foretelling. Did you
catch there in Genesis 15 when we read it, it said the Word
came to Abraham? The living Word came to Abraham.
The capital W-O-R-D came to Abraham. Christ came to Abraham. He's
the mediator. And he came declaring the end
from the beginning. He didn't say, now if everything
works out and everybody cooperates with me, then all the people
in the world, different places, and my people in different places
are going to be blessed. He said, no, they're going to be blessed
in the sea. You shall be a blessing. I will,
and you shall. And it says here, He declared
God would justify. Now just hang up right there
on that for a little bit. God would justify. It doesn't
matter who it is that's saved, who's made righteous, here's
the thing we all have in common, it's God that did the justifying.
Men preach about being justified by faith and they've just latched
on to another work and made faith to be the justifying, your act
of believing to be what justified you. That's not what justified
us. God is who justified us. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of
him that believes in Jesus. And He did it in eternity. When
He chose us in Christ, the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. They were chosen. When He chose us in Christ and
blessed us with all spiritual blessing, His people were righteous
in our righteousness, in the Lord our righteousness. He justified
us when He came and He laid down His life on Calvary's cross and
declared it's finished. He justifies us in the court
of our conscience when He comes and He purges your conscience.
He makes you hear this gospel. He brings you to faith in Christ
and He imputes the righteousness of Christ to you. He makes you
know you're just before God. That's the first time we'll start
living to God. That's the first time we'll turn
from dead works. Because what He's saying in Hebrews
10, if those worshippers would have been purged, if they'd have
had their conscience purged, they'd have stopped offering
sacrifices. And when He makes you see you're
righteous in Christ, you stop working for righteousness. And
he's going to justify us again before everybody in the Day of
Judgment when Christ stands forth and says, I justified them. They're mine. I made them righteous.
So we're justified by God. And he said there that he would
justify the heathen through faith, not by works. He preached this
gospel to Abraham, saying it's in thee, Abraham, and that said,
in Christ the seed that's coming through you, all the nations
shall be blessed. My elect and every nation shall
be blessed. So brethren, think about it like
this. I was thinking about how could I illustrate it, and the
Lord illustrated it. He said, I'm the vine, you're
the branches. He said He abides in us and we
abide in Him and He said through Him we bring forth much fruit.
Without Him we can do nothing. If we turn from Christ and we
make something, we put something between ourselves and Christ
or something between a brother and Christ or something you have
to add between you and Christ, that's like a peach A branch
in a peach tree being grafted out of the peach tree and grafted
into a thorn bush. It's turning back to a different
vine. And it's in Christ. It's abiding
in Christ with Christ abiding in us. And from Christ, he ministers
the spirit to us. And just like he told Abraham,
Abraham, you go to this land. I'm going to show you where to
go. I'm going to tell you where to go, not go. And Abraham left
his country where he grew up, left his family, and went. Because he believed God. He trusted
God would lead him. And God led him. And that's how
we walk, brethren. There's nothing wrong with the
law. The law is good. It's holy, just, and good. And
the believer now that he's made you a new creation in your new
man, If that new man is truly created in righteousness and
true holiness, God can only communicate that to us by saying he writes
the law on our heart. But it's a new spirit that he
gives you. It's a righteous spirit, a holy
spirit he gives you to where you delight in everything in
the law. You look at the laws, if we could
do the law, we would be in heaven. There's not gonna need to be
a law in heaven. Everybody there is just gonna, I mean, if we
lived in a country where everybody drove the speed limit and there
was no crimes committed, we wouldn't need any laws, would we? If everybody
in the land was righteous, the law's an earthy thing. The law
is something God gave because of transgression to reveal sin. But when he saves you, when he
makes you see you're dead to that law, then that law's dead
to you. All the old writers said that.
That law is dead to us and we're dead to it. It's what Paul meant
when he said, I'm crucified to the world and the world's crucified
to me. It's why Paul said, why as though living in the world,
why as though your life is in this world are you subject to
these ordinances? And really what it comes down
to is it's the motive of the heart, is what it is. Am I doing
this because I love the Lord? Or am I doing this to be seen
of men? Am I doing this to put on a good
religious charade? What is it? Is it because I love
the Lord and the Lord's, and you know how this is, brethren.
You can go to this Word sometime and you can't get anything from
the Word, but the Lord He can speak that word into your heart
and you're comforted and you know exactly what you should
do. It's just clear as it can be to you. That's what we're
talking about. That's Him working and leading
you of the Spirit. But now if you go to this law
and you read, well, I'm pricked in my conscience because of this
and that, and the word says do this, I'm gonna start doing that.
And I think if I start doing that, God will bless me. We've left the peach tree now,
we're back in the thorn bush. We've gone back into bondage.
It has to do with the heart. Why am I doing what I'm doing?
I'm not doing it because I'm wanting God to give me something.
I'm doing it because God already gave me something. He gave me
everything. How can I not want to serve Him? So that's what I'm trying to
say. It's only by the vine. It's by Christ. We're taught
how to love one another. We're taught how to walk in this
world, and we do so looking to Him. Not looking at anything
we do for our righteousness, looking to Him alone. I pray
God will bless it.