Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
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Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
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for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for this message. And today I'll
be preaching from the book of Galatians chapter three. This
is part two of a two-part message entitled, The Seed of Abraham. Last week, part one. Today is
the final message on that, part two, The Seed of Abraham. And what I've been talking about
here in Galatians chapter three is where the Apostle Paul had
been exposing false preachers who came into the church or churches
at Galatia and tried to divert believers, true believers, away
from all of salvation on Christ and in Christ Christ as our all
in all. Salvation by God's grace totally
100% through the glorious person and finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, His blood, His righteousness alone. These false
preachers were trying to divert true believers away from looking
to Christ alone and get them under the old covenant law of
Moses in order to attain or maintain salvation or to be holier or
to be more righteous. And Paul said that was another
gospel. These were false preachers. And
these false preachers were Jewish unbelievers who claimed to be
Christian. And I sort of liken it to today
where you have a lot of people, a lot of preachers who claim
to be Christian who claim to believe salvation by grace, who
claim to believe in Christ, but they will add things to what
Christ accomplished on the cross for the salvation of His people.
They will add things to what Christ did for the believer,
for the person to do. in order to attain or maintain
salvation, or to be righteous. It's kind of like saying, I know
we're saved by grace, but you have to do this in order to be
saved. One of the classic, probably
one of the most common heresies is those who claim, well, you're
saved by the grace of God through what Christ did, but you have
to be baptized. in order to be saved. You have
to persevere in order to be saved. Even today's false message of
you have to believe to be saved. Now don't get me wrong. Do you
have to believe? The Bible says believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. But there's a context
there that has to be considered and it's the gospel. And what
it shows us is that our believing is not what saves us. Christ
saves us. But our believing is just evidence
of that salvation and connects us with Christ. If you never
come to faith in Christ, then you will die in your sins. There's
no doubt about that. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. But I want to show you something
in these passages about the seed of Abraham. We talked about this,
Abraham, when we talk about the seed of Abraham, we're talking
about his descendants, his offspring, as it were. Well, Abraham had
a natural seed, that is physical, and Abraham has a spiritual seed. So what's the difference? Well,
the natural seed, think about this, Abraham had a child, with
an Egyptian bondwoman named Hagar. And you can read about that in
the book of Genesis. His name was Ishmael. He was a natural,
physical descendant of Abraham and out of Ishmael came the Arab
people. So they are his natural seed. But then later on, Abraham and
Sarah, his wife, when they were well past the age of conceiving
a child and bearing a child, they had a child named Isaac,
the miracle child, the child of promise. And Isaac was a natural
seed of Abraham. And so out of Isaac came the
Jewish people. So they are natural descendants
of Abraham. And it was through them through
Isaac and his descendants. Later on, it was narrowed even
down from there, from Jacob. Isaac had two sons, Jacob and
Esau. Well, it was come through the
line of Jacob. And then later on, it was even
narrowed even more to the tribe of Judah and David, so that Abraham
had all these natural descendants. And it was through them, through
Isaac, through Jacob, through David, that the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ would come according to the flesh. So Christ
is the seed of Abraham. Now that's where Paul goes to
in Galatians chapter three when he's talking about Abraham's
seed over in verse 16 of Galatians three. I dealt with this last
week. He said, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
made. Now what promises? is Paul talking
about here in Galatians. You know, God made many promises
to Abraham. Some of those promises were physical
and temporal, like the promise of a physical land to the Jewish
people for 1,500 years from Sinai to the cross. But the promises
that Paul's talking about is the eternal spiritual promises
of salvation that comes through Christ. Look at it. Verse 16,
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. So that's talking about the humanity
of Christ as the seed of Abraham. Christ had to have a human body
and soul without sin in order to do the great work that he
was commissioned to do and agreed to do before the foundation of
the world in the everlasting covenant of grace. And what was
that great work? It was to fulfill all the conditions
of the salvation of God's chosen people. And that's what he did
when he became incarnate and was born of the Virgin Mary and
he kept the law perfectly. And then he went to the cross
to die, to suffer, to bleed, and to die as the surety and
the substitute of God's people. And what he did is he satisfied
the justice of God and he brought forth everlasting righteousness,
the righteousness of God, that's what's revealed in the gospel,
which is the entire merit of his whole work of redemption. And that's imputed, charged,
accounted to his people. So Christ was Abraham's seed
according to the flesh. You see, Christ is both God and
man in one person. Somebody said, well, he's got
two natures. He's got the nature of deity and the nature of humanity
without sin. And so that's who it is. That's
the kind of person that it took. to save his people from their
sins. And so what Paul is talking about
here is, and one of the points he's making here, is that when
Christ came into the world and did his great work, that was
the abolishment of the old covenant law, never to be brought up again.
It was the fulfillment of what God intended from the beginning.
And they asked the question then, well, why did God even give the
law? It was given to expose their sin. You see, the sinnerhood,
you might say, the sinfulness of man, is one of the main themes
of the Bible. The Bible teaches us that God
is holy, God is just, God is righteous, and man is sinful. Man deserves nothing but eternal
damnation. That's why I say on this program
all the time, don't pray for God to give you what you've earned,
or what you deserve, because if he did, the wages of sin is
death. We're all sinners. So that's
why the law was given, to expose the impossibility of salvation,
or righteousness, or blessing, based upon our best efforts to
keep the law. Verse 22 of Galatians 3, listen,
it's the Scripture. That's the Word of God. Hath
concluded all under sin. That's Jew and Gentile. That
the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them
that believe. That's the promise by faith.
That is the faith of Jesus Christ. What He did, He was faithful
to do what He promised and was willing and able to do. And it's
given to them that believe. See, you must believe. When I
tell you that it's not our faith that makes the difference between
saved and lost, between heaven and hell, I'm not telling you
that faith is unnecessary. If anybody goes out and says
that, they're lying. Faith is necessary, but not as
a means or a way of attaining or maintaining salvation. Faith
is not the ground of salvation. The blood of Christ is. You see
what I'm saying? Faith is not the cause of salvation. The sovereign electing love of
God is. So he says, and let me prove
that to you. Look at verse 23 of Galatians 3. He says, but
before faith came, we, that is the Jewish nation, were kept
under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Now, when he says before faith
came, and the faith that should afterwards be revealed. What's
he talking about? Well, he's already told you.
The context, he's talking about the coming of Christ into the
world. When he says before faith came,
does that mean that sinners were not saved by faith during the
time of the law or before the law? Well, the Bible tells us
otherwise. The Bible says that Abel, By
faith, Abel was accepted to God. What was Abel's faith? It was
the blood of Christ. It wasn't Abel's believing, it
was the blood of Christ. Enoch and Noah, Hebrews chapter
11, Abraham, all of those that were saved, they believed. Christ
said Abraham believed and it was imputed to him for righteousness.
What's he talking about before faith came? He's talking about
the promise that God gave Abraham to send Christ. So you could
say it this way, but before Christ came, we were kept under the
law. And that's what it means. The Jewish nation, the Hebrew
children, were kept under the old covenant law from Sinai to
the cross. And when Christ on the cross,
he hanged on that cross and he said, it's finished. And he gave
up the ghost, and the veil in the temple was torn in two from
top to bottom, indicating that the old covenant was abolished
and the new covenant had begun. So he says, they were shut up
unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. You see, salvation
for sinners, even the Hebrew children, was never by their
works under the law. The law was given to show them
their sin, their inadequacy, their weakness, the impossibility
of salvation by works. It was always by Christ and he
was pictured in that law, the ceremonies, the sacrifices, the
priesthood, the tabernacle, all of that, the scapegoat, the feast
days, all of those pictured Christ in salvation by God's grace for
his people based on his blood and righteousness. But he says
in verse 24 of Galatians 3, wherefore for this reason the law was our
schoolmaster. That word is tutor. It was our
tutor to bring us unto Christ. In other words, it was given
to bring them up to the time of Christ that we might be justified
by faith. Now to be justified by faith
does not mean to be justified by our believing. Faith here
means justified by the blood of Christ. Now that's what we
do believe. If we're saved, if we're Christians,
we do believe in Him. You see, it's kind of like this,
and maybe this will help you understand what I'm trying to
explain. There are a lot of people today, I believe, that are sadly
deceived because they have faith, not in Christ, but they have
faith in their faith. In other words, they really believe
that they made the difference. But you see, true saving faith
looks to Christ as the only one who has made the difference between
saved and lost. And so that's what he's talking
about. To be justified means to be not guilty. It means to
be righteous. And whenever the Holy Spirit
brings a sinner to believe, They are justified in their conscience
because they're declared not guilty and they realize there's
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ.
Now look at these last few verses of Galatians 3 because here's
what I'm, the seed of Abraham, Christ is the seed of Abraham.
But who is the seed of Abraham here in these verses? And he's,
you know who he's talking about here? He's talking about believers.
both Jewish believers and Gentile believers. And what this shows
us is Abraham's spiritual seed. Those who are connected to Abraham
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they're called Abraham's
seed, and I'll show you that. Not because Abraham created them
or Abraham saved them. They're called Abraham's seed
spiritually because they are connected to him. He is like
the archetype, as one old writer said, the best example of how
God saves sinners and brings those sinners to faith in Christ.
And look at verse 26 of Galatians 3. He says, for you are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Are you a child of God? Well, if you are, you will, at
some point in your life, be brought under the preaching of the gospel,
and you'll hear about the glorious person and finished work of Christ
for His people, and you'll be convinced by the Holy Spirit
of your sins and of what Christ accomplished to put away the
sins of His people, and you'll be brought to faith in Christ
Jesus. And that pertains to both Jews and Gentiles who believe.
He's preaching here, writing to the church in Galatia. It
was made up of Jewish believers and Gentile believers. And here's
what he says, you're all the children of God, not just the
Jews, but you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Believing in Jesus Christ gives
evidence you're a child of God. And let me say this, and I'll
show you this over here in Galatians 4. Just look down the page there
at Galatians 4 a little bit. Believing doesn't make a person
a child of God. Believing reveals that a person
has already been adopted into God's family in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Look at verse 4 of Galatians
4. He says, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his son, that's Christ, the second person of the Trinity,
God, made of a woman, that's his humanity, his human body
and soul without sin, made under the law. That means all the conditions
of salvation were placed on him as the surety of his people.
Verse five of Galatians four, to redeem them that were under
the law, to pay the price, redemption, we read about that, Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. And he says that we might receive
the adoption of sons, and look at verse six, and because you
are sons, Not in order to be sons, but because you are sons,
children of God, and sons here is just a generic form of children
there. It doesn't exclude the women
who believe, it's all together. Because you are sons, God hath
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. That's that. Abba is a word that
indicates a new and special relationship with God, a right relationship
with God, reconciliation with God, to God, based upon what
Christ has accomplished. He is my father. In verse seven
of Galatians four, wherefore thou art no more a servant, that
is a forced legal slave trying to pay a debt, but a son, a child
in the family of God. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. Because you are sons. Now go
back to Galatians three, look at verse 27. For as many of you
as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now here's
where we have to use what I call the responsible rules of scriptural
interpretation. Most people today, they hear
that term baptized, and what do they think of? Well, if you're
in the Catholic church or the Presbyterian church or places
like that, you think of infant baptism. Well, my friend, and
you're thinking about the right of infant baptism. Well, my friend,
that is totally unscriptural. There is no infant baptism in
the Bible. Many of them say, well, that's
the New Testament replacement for Old Testament circumcision. It's not true. Circumcision was
never a type of the ordinance of water baptism. Circumcision
was a type of the new birth, circumcision of the heart. What
does the word baptize mean? Now, don't get me wrong, believers
are to confess their faith in Christ through the ordinance
of water baptism, believer's baptism, which is immersion. And that's the New Testament
ordinance of confession. But what does the word baptism
mean? First of all, understand that the Apostle Paul is not
talking about water baptism here. The word baptized means to be
placed into. That's why we say it's immersion.
It's not sprinkling, not pouring, but it means to be placed into.
Now, what's he talking about here? He's saying this, he's
saying for as many of you as have been placed into Christ
have put on Christ. What is it to be placed into
Christ? That's talking about the union of believers with Christ. Now, if you're a believer, when
were you placed into Christ? Well, the Bible teaches this,
that before the foundation of the world, God chose you and
gave you to Christ. He's your representative. He's
your surety. All of your salvation was conditioned
on Him. The debt of your sins was placed
to His account and His righteousness to yours. That's representation. That's election. Secondly, if you're a believer
now, you were placed into Christ at the cross when He redeemed
you. He died for your sins. And thirdly,
You were placed into Christ when the Holy Spirit gave you life
in the new birth. You see, even though a believer
has been one of God's children all along, we're born naturally
dead spiritually in trespasses and sins, and there's no difference
between us and the children of wrath, the scripture says. We're
enemies, rebels, and God brings us to be reconciled to Him through
the gospel. And so that's what he's talking
about. When you put on Christ, what does that mean? You believe
in Him, you rest in Him, you submit to His righteousness.
Now, in Christ, verse 28 of Galatians 3, there's neither Jew nor Greek,
that means Gentile, there's neither bond nor free, there's neither
male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. You're one in Him. In other words,
the whole church, the true elect of God, the sheep of Christ,
they're all one in Christ. And verse 29 says this, and if
you be Christ, if you belong to Christ, is what that means,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
You see that? Who is Abraham's spiritual seed? all who believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ as they have been circumcised in heart and ears by the Holy
Spirit. Over in Philippians chapter three
and verse three, listen to what the Apostle Paul writes here.
For we are the circumcision. He's talking about Jew and Gentile
here who have been brought to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit.
How do you know? What's the evidence of that?
How do you know you've been circumcised in the heart? That's the new
birth, given life from Christ because of His righteousness
imputed. Well, we worship God in the Spirit. As we're guided
by the Holy Spirit, we worship God from a sincere heart in truth.
And then we rejoice in Christ Jesus. That word rejoice means
to glory, to have confidence in. Our confidence of salvation,
of righteousness, of forgiveness, of eternal life is Christ Jesus. And have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in anything we
do or try to do. Our salvation is in Christ. That's who Abraham's seed is.
Look at it again, Galatians 3, 29. If you belong to Christ,
then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
So what is the promise? Well, the promise is all of salvation,
all of its blessings. When we talk about the forgiveness
of sins, when we talk about pardon of our iniquity, When we talk
about justification before God, being made right with God, being
declared by God, not guilty, being declared righteous in His
sight, that's the promise. When we talk about the blessings
of salvation, when we talk about preservation, when we talk about
eternal glory, The promise is that all of that was conditioned
on the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all those conditions,
and the believer, the family of God, they're the fruit of
what Christ accomplished. And when you become one who has
been brought to faith in Christ, then and only then do you give
evidence of being one of God's chosen people, being one of God's
elect, being one whom Christ redeemed on the cross, being
one who is born again by the Holy Spirit, being one who is
Abraham's seed. The Bible teaches us that Over
in Romans 2.28, talking about a Jew, he's not a Jew, which
is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, that
is by the law, whose praise is not of men, but of God. That's the circumcision of the
heart, leading sinners to Christ, Abraham's seed. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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