I turn back with me to Galatians
chapter three. Galatians chapter three. I really want to focus on verses
six through nine, but I'm going to go ahead and recap and then
get back through the first five verses of chapter three. I'm going to tell this message, the
faith of the righteous, the faith of the righteous. Now the apostle
in the previous chapter has set forth the truth, established
the truth from the beginning that a man is justified by the
faith of Jesus Christ. He said this is something we
know. We know that a man is justified by the faith of Christ and that's
why we believe in Christ, that we might be justified by the
faith of Christ. and never by the deeds of the
law. Our justification before God
was accomplished by Jesus Christ's death upon Calvary and is not
in any measure part of our obedience. Our obedience has absolutely
nothing to do with our justification before God, our righteousness. If we who believe have believed
in Jesus Christ, we receive our justification. How? Through faith. Through faith we receive what
He has accomplished. We look to the perfect work and
obedience and redemption and salvation that is all in Christ. And we now have turned from the
law knowing that by the law we see the sin of our nature, by
the law we see the holiness of God and our inability. And therefore we turn from the
law because we know this, that by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. So then for one who believes
on Christ for all our justification but returns to the law in any
measure, Paul is explicit about this. He is under the whole law. He is under the whole law. The man that is justified by
the death of Christ and returns to the law has discarded the
gospel of God's grace. He set it aside even because the law and grace
cannot coexist. You cannot be saved by the grace
of God through faith in Christ and by the obedience of the law. Notice what he said in the 12th
verse of chapter 3. The law is not a faith. These two cannot be mixed. They
just cannot be mixed. So Paul, in love for these professing
believers, and with the desire that they should repent, begins
by asking some rhetorical questions. You know what a rhetorical question
is? The answer is obvious. It's not meant for you to have
to sit and think about it. The answer to the believer is
an obvious answer. He starts out and says, Oh foolish
Galatians. This word foolish has the idea
of thoughtlessness. He said, You've not really thought
about this. You've accepted this without really thinking about
it. You are thoughtless. O thoughtless Galatians, who
hath bewitched you? Here's the question. Who has
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Now Paul's
not really asking for a specific person so he can point them out.
That's not what he's doing. He knows who it is that's doing
this. It's the Judaizers. He knew that
they crept into the church. But what he was doing is not
trying to figure out who was bewitching them or who was duping
them, but rather he wanted to shine a light on their thoughtlessness. That was his point. He was saying,
look, you that are seeking to go back under the law, listen,
you're thoughtless. You've not thought about this.
And so he's shining a light on this by the question. He's not
seeking an answer. He's just trying to shed light
on their ignorance about this matter. And secondly, He says,
this only would I learn of you. Now listen to this. How did you
receive the Spirit? Answer that question. How did
you receive the Spirit? And He gives you a multiple choice.
He said, did you receive it by the works of the law? By the hearing of faith. How did you receive it? This
is a rhetorical question. Did you receive it by the law? Now, at this point, he is compelling
them to look not just at the doctrine, but at their own experience. At their own experience of grace. Having proved justifications
by the faith of Christ, this question would prove also that
their sanctification is not by their obedience to the law. Their
justification was not by their obedience to the law and the
sanctification that they received is by the spirit of God and not
by the works of the law. By what means did you receive
the Spirit? We that are born again of the
will of God know that we receive this by the power and the grace
of God, not by our obedience to the law. We received Christ by faith and
not by our works or merits, but by the hearing of the gospel. And so he said, I would learn
this of you, that you receive the spirit by the works of the
law and the hearing of faith. Now, Apostle, having set forth
the faith of, forth the justification, our justification by the faith
of Christ, by his righteousness, by his offering, that he has
forever redeemed us, removed our sins from us, satisfied the
just demands of the law as our federal head, thus justifying
and sanctifying us, making us holy and just before God. But notice how Paul makes this
doctrine personal. How did you receive the Spirit?
This is very important. These people were in a great
error. It was horrible what is taking
place in this church. The Apostle understands the danger
of this false doctrine, but yet I want you to see that he, by
his words, assumes that these people are believers. He assumed
that they received the Spirit. I think this is important. Knowing
the danger of this error, he still holds He still does not hold or judge
them to be apostates. He does not go in doubt of their
profession except if they continue in it. Now listen, they were
in great error, it was horrible, but Paul knew this, that we were
capable of it. He knows that believers are capable
of this seduction. We are all capable of this. So it's a good lesson for us
if we find our brother in such a condition. Let us hold the
same. Not to try to call them heretics
at the first sign of an error or disagreement concerning this
matter. Paul didn't. He said, he assumed
that they had received the Spirit and then he said, how did you
receive it? How did you receive it? And I want to stress this
point that if we set ourselves up to be the judges over our
brethren quickly, to be heretics, we fall into the great error
and sin of pride and self-righteousness. And I want to give you again
the fact that Peter fell into this same thing twice. He fell into the same error twice. You remember before he preached
to Cornelius how the Lord had given him that vision of all
that food. And he said, my lips have not
touched any such unclean thing. And the Lord said, no, eat it.
And he said, I will not. Isn't that something? The Lord
commanded him to eat and he rejected it. Why? Because he would honor
the law. The Lord was teaching him that
he is not under the law, but under grace. And then again in
this chapter we read of the time in Antioch when he separated
himself from these Gentiles and would not eat because he would
honor the law. Peter fell into this twice, but
I was talking to somebody this week and he reminded me of this.
Paul fell into it. The very one who rebuked Peter. The Apostle Paul himself fell
into this sin of returning under the law. If you go to Acts chapter
18, you'll read how he shaved his head and vowed the vow of
the Nazarite. And he was ready to go and sacrifice
an animal. But before he could sacrifice
the animal, God had him arrested. So you think about that. Are
you capable of falling into this? You bet we are. And so we ought to be very careful
how we treat our brethren concerning this. We should be very bold
in preaching the gospel. I am very bold. I am very confident
in this, that my salvation, my justification, my righteous,
my sanctification, my redemption are all done by God. I'm very clear about that. I
have no part in any one of those things. None. But I also ought to be humble
when I preach that, knowing that I too can be seduced by the law. So Paul asked these who professed
to believe on Christ, he said, did you receive the Spirit by
the obedience of the law? In other words, did the Holy
Spirit look down and see your obedience and say, you know what?
He's doing a really great job. I think I'm going to come down
and dwell in Him because He obeyed and honored my law. We all know
that's silly because that's not what happened. You that received
the Spirit know this. You did not receive the Spirit
by your merit or your obedience to the law. That's just a simple
rhetorical question. We who have the Spirit of the
Lord know and understand the total depravity of our nature.
We know that the law is just, the law is good, but I am carnal,
sold under sin. I know that. Matter of fact, that's how the
Spirit of God came to me. He first showed me this. That
I am sold under sin and can by no means merit the salvation
of God by my obedience to the law. And we know we cannot be justified
by the law, nor either can we be sanctified by the law, but
only by the Spirit of God in grace. And we know this when the time
of love had come to us. We were lost in our sins. We
were not seeking God. I was not looking for His Spirit.
I was not looking for Him. He came to me. He came to me
in a time of love, I heard his word. How did we receive the
Spirit? By the obedience of the law or
by the hearing of faith? It's a rhetorical question. We
received the Spirit by hearing of the faith of Jesus Christ.
We received the Spirit of God by faith after we had heard the
gospel. This is the means of the Spirit
that it comes to every believer. We heard that the Father had
purpose to save a people, we heard that the Son had accomplished
their redemption, we heard of His success, His victory, how
He ascended to the throne of God, and by the grace and power
of the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, we believed on
Christ. What does the scripture say in
John? As many as received Him, to them
gave He the right to become the sons of God. Well, how did you
receive Him? By the law? No, the scripture
says, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. You receive the Spirit
by a supernatural act of divine grace. That's how you and I receive
the Spirit. And everybody who believes understands
that. Look at 2 Thessalonians, look at that. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, We
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. And here's the means, through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining. of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the answer to this
rhetorical question? Was it by the law or by this
hearing of faith? We know it's by the hearing of
faith. And notice this next thing he says in verse 3. If that's true, if you receive
the Spirit by the grace and power of God through the preaching
of the gospel, through the hearing of faith, Are you so foolish,
having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Did God begin a good work in
you and then expect you, by some service and obedience, to finish
it? To complete it? To add to it? He said, are you so foolish to
think that? You're faultless. You're thoughtless. Why? The scripture says, he that
hath begun a good work in you shall perform it unto the day
of Jesus Christ. Who's beginning this work? Who's
doing this work? And who's going to finish this
work? Is it a cooperative effort or is it all of God? Paul says those who think that
they've begun in the Spirit and are made perfect by their obedience
in the flesh are foolish. You're thoughtless. You've not
thought about this. And then he begins this and he
says in verse 4, he says, Have you suffered so many things in
vain if it yet be in vain? He's saying, look, I don't know
your condition really. I don't. But he's saying, look,
You continue in this path. If you say you are begun by the
Spirit, and you are made perfect by your obedience, all you suffer
is in vain. He's saying, really, if you don't
repent from this, it's because you are an apostate. In the next verse he says, He
therefore that ministers unto you the Spirit, and work miracles
among you. Doeth he by the works of the
Lord, by the hearing of faith. Now who is this that ministereth
unto you the Spirit, and works miracles? Who is that? He's not
talking about the preacher. He's not talking about the minister.
Who ministers the Spirit? Who gives the Spirit? It's God
that gives the Spirit, isn't it? It's Him that ministers to
us the Spirit of God. It's God that works the miracle
of faith in us. How does He do that? How did
He minister the Spirit unto you? How did He work the miracle of
grace in you? By the obedience of the law or
by the hearing of faith? Again, another rhetorical question.
We know this. We know that God supplies the
Holy Spirit and the miracle of salvation by the hearing of faith. It's God that quickens sinners
and comforts the sinners, saves sinners, by the preaching of
the gospel. Isn't this how you're comforted?
Does the preaching of the law comfort you? I picked up a booklet
and a bunch of preachers were preaching from the law. And I
mean, I found no comfort whatsoever in it. They said, you know what? You need to be doing this. You
need to be doing this. You know what I heard? In my
head, I've heard that I've never done this. Not in perfection. And this is not a law. This is
not a suggestion. The law is not a suggestion,
friends. It's not an exhortation. The law is not saying, well,
would you pretty please do this? You know, if you do this, you'll
live a better life. You'll have a better life. It's not what
the law says. Do this or die. That's what the
law says. There's no comfort in the preaching
of the law. There's only comfort and assurance
of grace preaching the success of Jesus Christ. We know it's
not by the law that he ministers the spirit But God has called
us to abandon our works, to abandon our deeds as any merit to attain
any part of our salvation whatsoever. God called us to abandon that.
Cease from your works. God showed us Christ And we heard
of his great salvation, and we believed on him, and we are justified
from all that we could not be justified under the law. In Romans 8, isn't this a comforting
passage of scripture? Paul's struggling within himself.
He cries concerning his wretched old nature. And here's his hope,
he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ Jesus. To them that are in Christ Jesus
who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, for the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. Is that not clear? The law of sin and death is the
law of Moses, in case you missed that. made me free from that. Why? For what the law could not do
and that it was weak to the flesh. Nothing wrong with the law, something
wrong with me. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. So how does he minister the spirit?
How did you receive the spirit? You receive it by works of the
law? Then why in the world would you want to turn back? How God begins this work is how
God's going to finish this work. He doesn't begin it by the spirit
and let you finish it by the law. And so now you come to verse
six. Paul now testifies these Galatians or any believer to
the truth of our experience. Yet we know this, that everyone
has a different experience. He appeals to their experience,
but then somebody might come along saying, well, you know,
hey, my experience is different. My experience is not the same.
So Paul now gives us an example of Abraham. For Abraham is rightly
called the father of the faithful. He is called the father of us
all, all who believe in Christ. Why? Because he is set forth
as a pattern of all who come to God by faith in Christ. He's a pattern. He's a pattern. Paul testifies of salvation by
faith, and that faith of grace, he makes it sure. This is the
same thing he says in Romans chapter 4. He uses Abraham there
too. Look at Romans chapter 4. Romans chapter 4 and verse 16. He says, Therefore,
it is of faith, Therefore it is of faith that it might be
by grace. I think it might be should be
taken out and read it just as it stands. Therefore it is of
faith that by grace. So faith comes how? By grace. By grace. Why? To the end the promise might
be sure to all the seed not to not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee the father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which
be not as they were. So Abraham then is rightfully
called the father of us all and that he is a pattern of grace.
So the apostle here uses Abraham as a pattern. How did Abraham
receive the spirit? How was Abraham saved? Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. See now the very blessed plan
of Paul as he adopted Abraham to prove that by him all God's
saints are justified the same way. Now listen, we're going
to find out Abraham's experience was not our experience. Alright?
Abraham's experience was not our experience. But Abraham's
salvation was our salvation. The same. So he mentions this,
as even as Abraham, even as Abraham. And so I've got several things
concerning this as a believer, so we identify with Abraham as
a pattern of our salvation. We were as Abraham in our nature. By nature, we were the same as
Abraham. You remember Abraham was a pagan for 75 years of his
life. I didn't call Abraham a young
man. He was 75 years steeped into pagan idolatry. He was a man that had never known
God, never heard of God. He was lost and perishing in
his sins. Even so, we like Abraham by nature
were pagans. We worshiped a God of our own
making. Now whether you were Jew or Gentile,
this is who we are. We made up God in our own image. We had our own opinion of God.
And we worshiped God according to our opinion. And so we all, like Abraham,
are pagans. We're God factories. Now just
because you attend a church where the gospel is preached just because
you join a church where the gospel is preached, just because your
parents may be Christians does not make you a Christian. Why?
We were born pagans. We're born dead in sin. I was listening, Audrey goes
to the so-called Christian school and
Every time they have a benefit, they always bring the children
up there, and they talk about how they're to follow Jesus,
and how they live right, and how they do this. They assume
every one of them's Christian. They're assuming. Well, they
go to a Christian school. They've got to be Christian,
right? No. No. Most all of them are just
pagans. Why? Because that's how we were
born. Just like Abraham, we were born pagans. You may know a lot about God,
but unless God, like He did to Abraham, unless God revealed
Himself to you, you will remain a pagan and die in your sins. This is a condition of all of
Adam's race. We are dead in sins, blind and
cannot see. We are deaf to the Word of God.
We cannot hear it. Scripture says the carnal The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for
their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because he is
spiritually discerned. So as you understand this as you're
a believer in Christ, you can identify with Abraham because
we, by nature, are of the same nature as Abraham. Secondly,
we see that the election of Abraham is the same as our election. Out of all the people of that
country, of Ur of the Chaldees, God chose Abraham. One man. Isn't that something? That whole
nation and God chose one man. God called one man. He chose him. Now did he choose
him because of his obedience? Was it because he obeyed the
law? No, there was no law to obey. He did not choose Abraham because
of anything Abraham could do for him. He chose Abraham out
of free grace. He chose him because God purposed
to save him. God purposed to make him a father
of many nations. To become an example for all
the church as to how a sinner is justified and sanctified before
God. Even so, All that God will save,
all that God will call are chosen by God in eternal free grace. Isn't this wonderful that you
were chosen just even as Abraham was? Even as Abraham. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you have reason to bless
God, praise God? You know, we worship, we know
that God is in the trinity of his persons. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. They are equal in all things. Yet, in his own purpose, God,
each person of the trinity has taken to himself a particular
work in this salvation. Isn't that amazing? The work
of the Father is what? Election. It is the will and
purpose of God the Father. to choose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. It was the will and purpose of
the Father that Abraham should be made holy. Even so, as Abraham,
God chose us and purposed, the Father purposed that we should
be holy. Chose us to holiness. And the same means, right? By
Jesus Christ. by Jesus Christ, which means
this, that the justification of Abraham is our justification.
Even as Abraham was justified, so are we justified. Scripture says, Abraham as Abraham
believed God. What did Abraham believe God
about? Not that just Abraham believed
in God, Abraham believed God. Well, what did he believe? He
believed the message concerning the seed. Concerning the seed. He said, in thee shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed. That is, Paul said, in thy seed. When Abraham believed God, he
believed God concerning what? Christ. Christ. God preached the gospel to Abraham,
and the gospel was Christ. The gospel was Christ. Behold
the blessing of God, such as justification, sanctification,
righteousness, eternal life, peace, and acceptance, which
God is only found in the seed, Jesus Christ, seed of Abraham. Our Lord told us he was going
to be the seed of the woman first, right? The seed of the woman
shall crush the head of the serpent, and he shall bruise his heel.
And then we read by Abraham, he said, In thy seed. So we know
this, he's going to be the seed of the woman, but he's going
to be of the line of Abraham. And then later we read the seed
of Isaac, the seed of Jacob, the seed of David. Who is this seed that Abraham
believed in? was Jesus Christ. He was the
seed of the woman, wasn't he? He was made of the Spirit of
God in the virgin's womb, and he came into the world as a representative
man, and he honored the law of God by his obedience, and by
his death he paid the penalty for our sins. And having satisfied the justice
of God, having justified all of his people, The Father raised
Him from the dead, where He now sits upon the throne of glory.
For what purpose? What is Jesus Christ the seed
doing tonight? He said, As thou hast given Him
power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given. He's ministering the Spirit,
isn't He? He's ministering the Spirit. You know where the Spirit's
going to go? Wherever Christ sends Him. Wherever Christ sends
Him. Why? Because Christ has accomplished
all our salvation. And by this he is now sending
the Spirit to save his people. So even as Abraham was justified
by Jesus Christ, that's how we're justified. Thirdly, our calling and faith
is the same as Abraham. When God preached to him the
gospel, the scripture says, Abraham believed God. When he preached
concerning the seed, now his experience was different than
ours, wasn't it? His calling, a little different. He actually
heard God. You heard an ambassador. We are ambassadors as though
God himself did beseech you by us. Be you reconciled unto God. You heard the gospel through
a preacher. But listen, you didn't hear any
different gospel. It is the gospel of God you heard. We heard the gospel through a
man that God has sent. And we beseech you, be you reconciled
to God. But how? By the law? By marriage? By works? No. By this, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's our
message, isn't it? Isn't it a simple, plain message?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in him. Abandon all hopes
of sanctifying, justifying yourself. It's impossible! Abandon it! And look to Christ. And what
do you receive? You receive salvation, full and
free. I wish I could preach salvation
as free as it really is. I really do. The grounds of our coming to
God are not by any merits of ourselves, but this, that God
has made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we should
be made the righteousness of God in Him. You need righteousness? I'm telling you, God made Him
to be sin God punished sin in His Son so that you, the sinner,
might be made righteous. This is the message we call sinners
to. But I'll tell you this, I know nobody's going to believe this
unless God give it to them. The faith of Abraham was given
to him. Abraham believed God. He heard
the message from God. But I'll tell you this, only
God could give him faith. Even so with us. Only God could
give us faith. So as Abraham was chosen, I was
chosen. As Abraham was born a sinner,
I was born a sinner. As Abraham heard the Gospel,
even so I heard the Gospel. Jesus Christ! I was justified by the same One
as Abraham was justified. I was called by the same Spirit.
I was given faith in Christ even as Abraham was. You see, our faith is the same
as Abraham's. It's God-given. Where did Abraham's
faith come from? Did it come from merit or grace? Grace. These are rhetorical questions. These are things you know, believer. You know it came by the grace
and power of God. So many are deceived to believe
that, think that faith is the cause of salvation. Isn't that
something? that they believe that because
they believe they are justified, that their faith somehow enacts
justification? I'm not really justified until
I exercise my faith. Now listen, I never experienced
the justification that Christ accomplished until I believed,
but my faith did nothing to earn it. My faith that was given to
me simply received the justification. did not merit it. We know that the Word of God
declares that faith is a gift of God and not of works. Why?
Lest any man should boast. If your faith is of your works,
you have room to boast. But it's not. It's a gift of
God, just like Abraham's faith was. And so then our faith is
the evidence of our salvation, not the cause of it. Even so it was with Abraham who
believed God, so it is with us. And notice the result of his
faith is the same as ours. Abraham believed God and he was
accounted in for righteousness. Listen, not partial righteousness, full righteousness. Isn't that
what Paul says in Romans 3? the righteousness of God. Terrence, don't you know that
you have the righteousness of God? That the righteousness of
God is charged in you. It's yours. I like this. God doesn't pretend that you're
righteous. God doesn't pretend anything. He's not, Terrence,
you're righteous and he winks at you or something. No, you're
righteous. You are. Isn't that a miracle? Because
there's no evidence of it. I can walk around and follow
you, Terrence. There's no evidence of it. I can't find it. I can't
find it in myself. And yet this is true. As Abraham believed God and it
was counted to him for righteousness, so it is. We who believe God,
it is accounted to us for righteousness. Now, do we add to that righteousness?
Is anything we do contribute to that righteousness. Not a thing. Not a thing. I know this, if I had anything
to it, I'd defile it. That's why we don't go back under
the law, because the law, we'd only defile it. And so the result is the same.
We receive the full righteousness of God. And we receive this continually,
how? By faith. Again, you're not going
to see it, are you? You're not going to be able to
see it. You can do all the work you want to. Just try as hard
as you want to. And you know what? You'll never
see it. Not if you're really honest with yourself. Where do I see my righteousness?
I see that my righteousness is already accomplished by Jesus
Christ. It's already been charged to me and by the Holy Spirit
it has been imparted to me in the new nature. Peter said we
are partakers of the divine nature. Isn't that something? We are
partakers of the divine nature. John says, as he is, so are we. in this present world. And you know I'm not going to
go looking for evidence of it by my actions. I'm just not going
to do it. I won't find any. The only hope I have of that
at all is that Christ has already accomplished it and the Spirit
has applied it. And so what then, how then is
the believer to walk in this life? What is our rule of life? Even as Abraham. Why do you think Paul chose Abraham
for an example? Not Moses. Moses is a good example. Moses was a believer. Moses was
elected. Moses was justified by Jesus
Christ. Moses believed in God and was
accounted for righteous. Why did he choose Moses? Why
did he choose Abraham? Because Abraham was 430 years
Before the law. You mean to tell me, anybody
that says that the law is our rule of life, you mean to tell
me Abraham had no rule of life at all? Abraham just stood around and
said, man, I don't know what to do. I don't have a law. I don't know
what to do. No. Abraham lived by faith. How do we live? The just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. So is the law a
rule of our life? Again, I read that little pamphlet
today, I want to throw up. I swear. It made me sick to my
stomach. People keep telling me that every
part of the law is discontinued except the Ten Commandments. Oh, no! Ten Commandments are
a rule of life. Again, it's not a suggestion. Do it or die. It's not like a, well, I just
hope that you'll do this. No, that's not how the law works. Do we as believers desire to
do those things that are contained in that? You bet. I mean, really.
I hate sin. In myself, I despise it. Little children,
sin not. Well, sure. But what constrains
me from sin? Obedience to the law or the love
of Christ? Which constrains you? Which keeps
you from sin? What does the scripture say? The love of Christ constrains
us. Not the law. The law does not constrain me. It is the love of Christ that
constrains us. Why would you not want to see him? Because
of his love. Because of his mercy. Because
of his grace. I beseech you, therefore, because
of the mercies of God, present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable unto the Lord. Holy and acceptable. It's
already holy and acceptable. Present it. It's just holy and
acceptable. Who made it that way? You? No.
My presenting it does not make it holy and acceptable. It's
already there. I thought this interesting. The word sanctify,
every time it's used, you know it's used in the passive voice. It's not an active thing, sanctification.
Passive. Why? Because sanctification is
something that is done for you and in you, done to you by God. It's passive. And so even as Abraham lived
by faith, how do we live? By faith. I pray that God bless this to
your hearts. I know, again, I long for everything that is confusing
to be removed by his spirit, to remove it from your minds.
that Christ be the only object of our love and our faith, that we would never look to ourselves
for any part of this, but lay hold on that hope that is set
before us, the anchor for our souls that is within the veil.
Christ is my hope. Christ is my life. Christ is
my sanctification. Christ is my redemption. Christ
is my justification. Christ is my righteousness. Even if it was for Abraham, so
it is for us.