Alright, now we're going to be
in Galatians 3. Galatians 3, but we're going
to start in Galatians 22 because this is where the promise is
made to Abraham. Genesis 22 is where we're going
to start. Genesis 22, 15. And the angel
of the Lord, this is Christ speaking, the mediator of the covenant,
and the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, that's very important,
by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast
done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son. This was while, right after Abraham
had offered up Isaac. He said that in blessing I will
bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed. See that word, thy seed, as the
stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore.
And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Thy seed
shall possess the gate of his enemies. Christ speaking right
there. That's Christ he's talking about.
And in thy seed, in Christ, shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." That first
use of the seed up there where it says, I will multiply thy
seed, all the multitude that are as the stars of heaven, as
the sand of the seashore, all the multitude of God's elect
are just one holy nation, one seed, one holy nation. and they're
blessed in one seed, and that seed's Christ. They're saved
in one seed. Now Abraham believed God. He
went up and offered his son as God told him to. He did that
by faith, and God blessed him, gave him this inheritance by
promise through faith. All right, now let's turn over
to Galatians, Galatians chapter 3. The promise that God gave
to Abraham was that God would bless Abraham with one seed,
one holy nation, a multitude of children, but one seed, one
holy nation, in one seed. And that is one spiritual nation
of a race of children, the elect of God. They're one spiritual
people, one race, one holy nation, saved in one seed, and that seed
is Christ Jesus. I've titled this, One Seed in
One Seed. That's the title of it. You remember
the mystery of God that's been hidden from the eternity that
we saw in Ephesians 1.10? It said that God would gather
together in one all things, whether they be in heaven or in earth,
even in one, Christ Jesus. That's what he's doing. He's
getting together all his one seed, his holy nation, in that
one seed, Christ Jesus. Now, let's hear in Galatians.
Men had come to Galatia preaching another gospel. They were They
were not out and out saying they denied the finished work of Christ,
but they were denying Christ by saying there was something
the believer has to add to Christ. They were insisting believers
had to keep the commandments and ordinances of the Mosaic
Law, starting with fleshly circumcision. That's what they were insisting
upon. They were doing what carnal men do. They were exalting themselves
before men over others by building again old covenant distinctions
that are now destroyed and abolished by the Lord Jesus Christ forever.
That's what they were doing. Now, Paul was amazed that the
Galatian believers were falling for the lies of these men that
come in. Verse 1, O foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before
whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth, crucified
among you? He said, who has bewitched you?
Paul was pretty blunt and pretty bold when it came to speaking
against those who preached another gospel, which he said is not
another gospel. He said in one place here, I
wish that they were cut off. He said in the first chapter,
though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you
than that which we preach. Let him be accursed. And he repeated
it. And he said, I say again, if
any man preach any other gospel unto you, that ye have received,
then that ye have received, let it be a curse." And here he says,
they've bewitched you. That's what they've done. Now,
listen to me, brethren. Don't even give an ear anybody
who's saying that something has to be added to Christ or that
you can be justified by some work you've done or sanctified
by some work you've done. That is a lie and they will bewitch
you and they will land you in hell. That's the simple fact
of the matter. All right, now let's look here
at this first thing. Paul preached the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified to the Galatians. And they had received the Spirit
and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here's Paul's first
question. This is our first point. Here's
the first point. It's by the hearing of faith
that sinners receive the Spirit, not by the works of the law.
It's by the hearing of faith that sinners receive the Spirit,
not by the works of the law. Look at verse 2. This only what
I learn of you, receives you the Spirit by the works of the
law. or by the hearing of faith?" Which one? Did you receive the
Spirit by some works that you did? That's what he's saying
to them. This couldn't be because the Gentiles had never been under
the law. Paul never came preaching the law to them. He never came
telling them to do anything to come under the law, except to
use the law to tell them they were guilty before God and needed
a Savior. And for that matter, no disciple,
no apostle in the New Testament ever preached the law. They all
preached the sovereign grace of God in Christ. That's what
they all preached. Now, when he said, did you do
the work to receive the Spirit? We can't do a work to receive
the Spirit. We can't walk an aisle to receive
the Spirit. We can't walk a Roman road to
receive the Spirit. We can't attend ourselves in
a church and receive the Spirit. We can't pray through and receive
the Spirit. There are any other work that
we can do to receive the Spirit and get saved. There's no way
it's going to happen. Paul says, or did you receive
the Spirit through the hearing of faith? In other words, did
you receive it through faith? Through faith. Now that, they
had to answer through faith alone because that's what Paul preached
to them. But now, and that was the truth of the matter. Now
Paul doesn't mean here that you believe and then you receive
the spirit of the faith, the Holy Spirit. We gotta be regenerated
by the Holy Spirit and given faith to believe. But after that
we believe we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. And he may mean
here that they have received some gifts of the Holy Spirit
which were given in the early church that we aren't given now.
But at any rate, it was through faith. All right, here's the
second point. The gospel never commands a believer, after having
begun in the spirit, to return to the works of the law. Never.
Galatians 3.3. Are you so foolish, having begun
in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Have you
suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain? Now having
begun in the spirit, through the hearing of the gospel, That
gospel that declares salvation is by God's grace in Christ through
faith. That gospel that declares by
His one offering Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Are you now going to be made perfect in your flesh by going
back to the law of Moses and sanctifying yourselves? That's
the question. That's what he's asking. It's
the false gospel. that says once the believer is
saved by Christ through faith that you must go to the law to
make yourself holy by the works of your flesh. That's a false
gospel. That's a lie. Sanctification is by God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In our experience
of it, it's a heart work and it's not a work of the law. It's
a heart work whereby we're created anew. Fruits of righteousness
are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. They're
not by the works of our flesh through the law. That's not how
fruits of righteousness are created. We don't grow in grace by going
back to the law and trying to do something under the works
of the law. We grow in grace through a knowledge of Christ
Jesus, through hearing of Him. Paul repeated it in every epistle,
expressly urging believers not to go back to the beggarly elements
of the law. That's what he called them. Thirdly,
Christ sends the Spirit, Christa, He sends the Spirit to regenerate
His people through the hearing of the gospel of faith, not through
the preaching of works. Now did you get that? Christ
sends the Spirit to regenerate His people through the hearing
of the gospel of faith, not through the preaching of works. Look
at Galatians 3, 5. He therefore that ministereth
to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you. Doeth he
it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Now
it's the resurrection glory of Christ, our head, seated on the
throne of God in Mount Zion. It's his resurrection glory to
send the gospel to his lost sheep. It's his glory to do that. and
minister the Holy Spirit to them. That's His glory to do that.
The church is the body of Christ who filleth all in all. It's His body who fills all in
all. Ephesians 4.16 says, From Christ
the whole body is fitly joined together, and Christ effectually
works in the measure of every part, and Christ makes increase
of the body. Colossians 2.19 says, Christ
is the head from which all the body, by joints and bands, have
nourishment ministered and are knit together and increased with
the increase of God. He said here, who ministered
the Spirit to you? That's what he asked them. Who
did it? Did he do it, this one who did
it? How did he do it? Christ, our prophet, priest,
and king, through the Holy Spirit, works miracles among his church. That's what he is. He that ministered
the Spirit to you and works miracles among you. Who does that? Christ
does it. He works the miracle of regeneration.
He works the miracle of faith and repentance. He works the
miracle of growth in grace. He works the miracle of grace
in the midst of his people. It's from him that the Spirit's
ministered to us and that we're grown and increased. That's right. Look at Galatians 3, 5 again.
Let's read it again this way. Christ, therefore, that ministereth
to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he
it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Now,
that kind of makes it a little more absurd when we put Christ's
name in there, doesn't it? Would Christ, who is Himself
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, who
said, this is the work of God that you believe on Him whom
He has sent, would Christ declare that in order to be saved you
must turn now to the works of the law? Or would He send forth
the gospel that says you can be saved by the works of the
law? Would He? Would He? Or is Christ working
faith in you by causing you to hear of His faithfulness? Is He working sanctification
in you, growing you in grace by causing you to hear of His
holiness and what He's done for you? Isn't that the way He's
doing it? That's how He does it, brethren.
That's how He does it. He declares to us over and over
that the law is fulfilled and that He's established a perfect
righteousness for us and that He's our sanctification. And
we hear this gospel over and over and He grows us in grace
and in knowledge of Him. God's the God of truth. Christ
is the minister of grace and truth. The Holy Spirit is the
Spirit of truth. The church is the ground and
pillar of the truth. Therefore, it's the truth that
declares justification is by the faithfulness of Christ Jesus,
that Christ is made unto us sanctification, that we receive him through God-given
faith, which rests in Christ our righteousness. That's the
gospel he sends, because it's the truth. He sends the gospel
which declares man's complete in him. He declares our inability
to justify ourselves or sanctify ourselves by any works of righteousness
that we've done. That's what he sins. He sins
the gospel which exalts Christ as the only one by whose obedience
sinners are made perfect before God. Any preaching that gives
man a work to do is not gospel. It's not good news. It's a lie. And the reason that Christ saves
by the preaching of faith is this. It's the only preaching
through which Christ sends the Spirit and ministers to His people. Because it's the only preaching
where Christ alone receives all the glory and no flesh is glorying
in His presence. And that's the very reason why
it pleased God to save by the foolishness of preaching. that
no flesh would glory in His presence and that Christ would get all
the glory. Now, Christ is going to have that glory whether we
believe this is how He saves or not. The foolish thing that
men do is take our experience and try to go to this book and
prove that our experience is true by finding a place where
we can support it in the book. We need to take our experience
and lay it aside and look at the book and bow to God's grace
and see this is how He saves. So Paul answers the question
for them. He answers the, I'll just have
a seat anywhere you want. He answers the question for them.
We're in Galatians chapter three. In verse six, Paul answers the
question. He says, even as Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, that's how
we're saved. Same way. The Lord said, Abraham,
rejoice to see my day. And he saw it and he was glad.
That's how, that's how. Abraham's the father of the faith,
of the believer. That's how we were saved. All
right, here's the fourth point. We're in Galatians three, verse
seven. Those who are justified by faith, apart from the works
of the law, are the true children of Abraham. This is that true
seed that he was talking about. Verse 7. 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 said, in thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. You notice here in verse 8, God
does the justifying, seeing that God would justify. He does the
justifying. And also notice the Lord preached
before the gospel unto Abraham. He heard the truth declared.
The message was that God has an elect people throughout the
heathen nations. He said, in thee shall all nations
be blessed, meaning it's not by blood. It's not by being a
certain nation that makes men God's people. That's not true.
That's not the case. It's by God's electing grace
in Christ, by God giving faith in Christ Jesus. And he says,
so then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Alright, here's the fifth thing.
All who are under the works of the law are under the curse.
Look at verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Man has got to continue. continue, steadfastly, continually,
always, in thought, word, and deed, in all things that are
written in the book of the law." Six hundred and something precepts
in the law. All of them. You can't get a
tattoo. Can't get a tattoo. That's right. He said, don't put any mark on
your body for the dead, and don't put a mark on your body, period.
can't get a tattoo. If an integral come to God in
the law, that X is out in about 95% of our population right now,
don't it? It's impossible with a sinner,
unregenerate or regenerate, to obey the law of God. Impossible. Therefore, all who attempt to
come to God by their law obedience or to add to Christ's work by
their law obedience are under the curse. Plain and simple. Legal arithmetic goes like this,
Christ plus law equals Christ of no effect to you. That's legal
arithmetic. Galatians 5.4 says, Christ is
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you've fallen from grace. All right, here's the
sixth thing. Believers live by faith, and
the law is not of faith. This is just so clear. Believers
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. Look at verse 11.
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. For the just live by faith, and
the law is not of faith. But the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Believers trust that we're justified
by the finished work of Christ. That's what we believe. We believe
on Christ. We believe He justified us by
His finished work. When He said it is finished,
we believe it was really finished. He justified us. Therefore, we
live because we've been justified by Him. He brings the Spirit
to us and gives us life, and then we live the rest of our
days by faith. Our rule of life is faith, and the law's not of
faith. The law's not our source of life.
Christ is the life. And therefore, we live by faith
in Christ. The law's not the power of our
life. Christ is our strength. So we
live by faith in Christ. The law's not the measure of
our life. In Christ, all fullness dwells,
and you're complete in Christ. That's the measure of our life. So we live by faith in Christ.
Believers are never told, how many times have you heard this?
I think I may have said this before. If you look to the law
of God, you see the perfection of God. That may be true, but
we're never told to look to the law to see the perfection of
God. Never. Not one place in scripture.
We are told Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily and we're
told to run the race set before us looking to Christ, the author
and finisher of our faith. So we live by faith. That's how
we live. Here's the seventh thing. Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
this promise of the Spirit through faith. Some say Paul's only speaking
of the elect among the Jews because of the fact that Gentiles were
never even under the Mosaic law in the first place. And that's
so. Gentiles were never under the law of Moses. Not at all. But the curse he's talking about
is the curse we came under in Adam when the law was broken
in that one transgression. So all men are under the curse
by nature. But Christ has come and He has
redeemed us from the curse of the law, that seed of Christ,
that seed of Abraham, that holy nation, that holy people, that
elect of God. He's come and redeemed us from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for us in our place. Now, because of this great price
that Christ paid, and knowing that He has redeemed us, purchased
us, paid the price, that ultimate price of being made a curse for
us to redeem us from the curse of the law, and knowing that
everybody that's of the works of the law are under the curse,
which we just saw. Because we know these two things,
Christ has paid the price to redeem us from the curse of the
law and everyone that's under the law, the works of the law
are under the curse. We don't dare count the blood
of Christ an unholy thing and run back and get under the law.
We just don't do it. Because we see Christ, we see
what price He paid to redeem us from Him. And He paid that
price for His people. Paul says, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on His elect among the Gentiles. And
he's saying here, not through the law, but through Christ Jesus. That's what his point is there.
Not through the law, but through Christ Jesus. And he said that
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
You know, you notice how Paul here, he's a Jew, and Paul says
that we might receive, that we might receive the Spirit through
faith. Remember Peter when he's speaking
to his fellow Jews after he'd been to Cornelius' house and
some of them were having a problem with the fact that he went into
Gentiles to preach the gospel? And Peter stood up and he said,
we believe that we, Jews, are going to be saved just like those
Gentiles. That's right. Through the Spirit. Through faith. Alright, now look
here. Here's the eighth thing. the
inheritance given of God to Abraham and his seed is by promise. And the law entering in did not
alter that everlasting covenant at all. It had no bearing on
it whatsoever. I wish we could get this now.
All right, watch this, verse 15. Brethren, I speak after the
manner of men. Though it be but a man's covenant,
yet if it be confirmed, No man disanulleth her out of thereto."
Now God's everlasting covenant of grace is what we're talking
about here. And it is confirmed much more than any man's covenant's
ever been confirmed. But even if it's just a man's
covenant and it's confirmed, nobody's going to come along
and add to it or take away from it. That covenant's confirmed.
That promise is confirmed. But now look at this, verse 16.
He says, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. This is what we read in Genesis
22. To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not
unto seeds as of many, but as of one. And to thy seed, which
is Christ. I think there's two meanings
here. I've always read this to you and said to you that He said,
now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not,
and to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which
is Christ, saying it was Christ. But I think what he's saying
here is this. First of all, he's saying the true spiritual children
of Abraham, the elect of God, are the seed of Abraham. All
those multitudes of God's elect already in heaven and those in
earth, from Jews and Gentiles, make up one seed, one holy nation,
one race. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made, he saith not, and to seeds as of many, but
as of one. And, here's the second meaning,
and he said, to thy seed, which is Christ. Secondly meaning,
the promise God made to Abraham was made in thy seed, which is
one, even Christ. It was confirmed from eternity.
So there's the mystery of God that we saw in Ephesians 1 10,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. That's what Christ is
doing. There's that one holy nation,
that one seed saved in that one seed. All right, look now, verse
17. In this I say that the covenant
that was confirmed before of God in Christ The law, which
was 430 years after, cannot disavow that it should make the promise
of none effect. For if the inheritance be of
the law, it's no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. You see, it can't be by both.
It's just by one. God gave it by promise. The law
of Mount Sinai came 430 years after God confirmed that covenant
to Abraham. And before God ever confirmed
that covenant with Abraham, He confirmed it in Christ, between
Him and Christ, before the world was made. So that law entering
in didn't change anything. It didn't do anything. It didn't
add to that covenant or take from it at all. Nothing. Alright,
here's the night thing. The law was added for one reason
and for a limited time only. The Lord knew we were going to
say, wherefore then serveth the law? So he answers the question.
Wherefore then serveth the law? Look at verse 19. Wherefore then
serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. There's that one reason. And
here's the second thing. Till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made for a limited time only. Do you see
that? God added the law because of
transgressions. He's talking about the Ten Commandments
particularly. and all the rest of the law,
it was added that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. That's why it was added. The
law given on Mount Sinai didn't make men sinners. Sin and death
by sin reigned from Adam all the way to Moses because we sinned
in Adam. That's the law we broke. But
that law given there at Mount Sinai exposed that sin that was
already in the heart and it made the offense, that one offense
back there in the garden, abound. It made us see we really did
die in Adam and we really did come under the curse. We can't
keep the law. That's what it was given for.
But the law was for a limited time till Christ The seed should
come to whom the promise was made. Christ came and he fulfilled
all the types and the ceremonies of the law. Christ justified
his people from the broken law. That broken law was put under
the Ark of the Covenant, under the mercy seat, under the blood,
a picture of Christ fulfilling it, literally by himself, by
his blood. That's what Christ did. Christ
broke down the middle wall of partition, dividing his elect
Jew and Gentile, having fulfilled all the law, and he took it out
of the way. He nailed it to his cross. It's gone. It's abolished
forever. So when Christ came, the end
of the law came. Some folks in our day say, well,
the law's still to be used for a rule of life. Listen to me
carefully. I want to say this as clearly
as I can, as simply as I can. I hope somebody will understand
me. The law was never meant to be the rule of life. Never. It's never called that in Scripture.
Here's what it is called in Scripture, a rule of death. It is the ministration
of death. That's why it was given. It was
given to declare all men guilty, dead, dog, sinners before God. Righteousness cannot come by
the law. It can't. Neither righteousness
of justification or righteousness of sanctification. The only way
that comes is by the blood of Christ and the Spirit of our
God. The only way. Paul shows another
way here that the covenant of grace excels that law of Sinai
in the way that each are given. Look at verse 19. He says there
at the end, and the law was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Now I discovered that, looking
at this, that there's about 200 different comments on this verse
of Scripture, about 275 to be exact, of people that have different
thoughts on what this means. I found two that I think are
very, very good. Concerning the law, concerning
that old covenant given on Mount Sinai, Moses was the mediator
of that law. He was the one that God used
to give it. Now, but he made no legal mediation. That's not what he did. Because
a mediator in legal mediation does not represent one party.
He must represent both parties that are at odds with one another.
You see there, a mediator is not of one. He's representing
two parties. A mediator is. But you see, Moses
was only one party And he was on the side of man, because he
was just a man. That's all he was. And he was
a sinner at that. You see? And so he was unfit
for legal mediation. So that wasn't the kind of mediator
he was. So there you go from the get-go.
Forget about that. Quit screaming, Moses, Moses,
Moses. But now concerning the promise,
God fulfills both sides of the covenant in Christ who is both
God and man, he won." You see there? But now Moses, that mediator,
he was not a mediator of one, but God is. Christ is the mediator
for God. and forge people in one, in one. And here's the second thing I
found that I thought was good too. Moses was not a mediator
of that one holy seed, that one holy nation. He only was a mediator
to that one part of the elect seed which was in Israel. Whereas
God the Son represented that one holy nation made up of God's
elect from among Israel and the Gentile nations. You see that?
So, either way, the point is this. The promise fulfilled in
Christ is better than the law given by Moses. The law came
by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He's a better minister, a better
covenant, established on better promises. Do you see that? Everything
about it is better. Now, let's just read out the
rest of this and this sums up everything that's been said.
Verse 21. Is the law then 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. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. Now we're forgetting about Jew
and Gentile now. We're just talking about all
of us together. Just one lump of people. The laws concluded
all under sin. That the promise by faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before
faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith
which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster,
and you can scratch this out of your Bible if you want to,
that word to bring us unto is just flat wrong. Wherefore the
law was our schoolmaster, here's what it should say, until Christ,
until Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come,
we are no longer under a schoolmaster. We're not under the law anymore
at all. For, watch this now, you are
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many
of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ,
there is neither Jew nor Greek, There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. For ye are all one in Christ
Jesus. We're going to look in Ephesians
2 about that middle wall, a partition being broken down. That middle
wall, because of the law, because men used it unlawfully, it separated
Judah from their own kinsmen, Samaria, Israel. They had a lot
of wall between them. They hated one another. They
hated the Gentiles. In the synagogue, there was a
literal wall that divided the inner court of the Jews from
the outer court of the Gentiles and barbarians and Scythians
and bondmen. And even inside the court synagogue,
there was a wall that divided male from female. They just had
walls everywhere. But all based on carnal, fleshly
distinctions. Christ came, broke them all down.
He fulfilled the law, took it out of the way. And by faith,
he makes us all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ,
then are you that one holy seed, your Abraham seed, all of you. Oh, how can all of us be one
seed? We're all one holy nation. Read 1 Peter 2. We're one holy
nation. That one holy seed and heirs
according to the promise. So what I do with all that, preacher,
is real simple. Believe on Christ and rest with
that one holy nation of God, which is in heaven and in earth.
And He'll come real soon and gather us all together in one.
That's it. There's nothing else to be done.
Rejoice in God, believe on Him, and serve Him by love. That's
it. Amen.