Galatians chapter 3, the title
of the message is the promise of God. The promise of God. Sonship. That's the promise of
God. Sonship. Verse 6, Galatians 3
says, Even as Abraham believed God, it was imputed to him for
righteousness. Abraham was a righteous man.
He was a righteous man in Christ Jesus. He's called in the scriptures
the friend of God. God said, I speak to Abraham
as a man does to his friend, face to face. Righteous man. and the friend of God. And Abraham
is the head and father of the nation Israel. He's the first
Israelite. The first one. He's the first
of the circumcision. He's the first man on earth ever
circumcised. Abel was never circumcised. Adam
was never circumcised. Enoch, Noah, Job, none of these
men. But Abraham was the first. And
he's the one in whom these Jewish teachers gloried. They said,
we have Abraham our father. They said to Christ, you're not
50 years old. Have you seen Abraham? And they would have these Gentile
Galatians circumcised in imitation of Abraham. That's what they
were saying. In order to be saved, you've
got to be circumcised, keep the law, Jewish law, Levitical law. And yet Abraham lived 430 years
before God ever gave the Levitical law. 430 years later, God gave the law
to Moses on Sinai. And Abraham was justified by
faith and declared righteous before God 15 years before circumcision
was ever heard of. That's right, 15 years before
it was ever heard of. He was already declared by God
to be a righteous man. That's the reason Paul said in
the next verse, verse 7, Know ye therefore that they which
are of faith, not of circumcision, not of the law, not of works,
they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. Everyone who has faith in Christ. not those who are circumcised
or keep the law, but those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
as Abraham did, to whom God preached the gospel of Christ. They are
the children of Abraham. For verse 8 says, and the scriptures,
the word of God, the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen, the Gentiles, the Galatians, through faith, preach
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. Let's go back and look at that
encounter in Genesis chapter 12, chapter 15, and chapter 17.
Chapter 12 first. Now here's Abraham, chapter 12, living down in the land of idolatry. That's right, Abraham and his
father and his brother were worshiping idols. He was 75 years old. And God said, chapter 12 of Genesis,
the Lord said, Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Abram was
his name then, God called him Abraham later. He said, get out
of your country, from your kindred, a bunch of idol worshippers,
from your father's house, unto the land I'll show thee, and
I'll make of thee a great nation, and I'll bless thee, and make
thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I'll bless
them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee, and in
thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. How's he going
to bless all the nations of the earth? Through him Christ is
coming. Christ is coming. House and lineage
of Abraham. Tribe of Judah. Root of Jesse. Alright, that's the first call
God gave to Abraham. Now look at chapter 15. 75 years
old. Did you notice that? Verse 4.
First let's go back to chapter 12, let me show you how old he
was. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot
went with him, that's his nephew, and Abram was seventy and five
years old when he departed out of Haran, exactly the same age
I am right now, seventy-five years old, when God called him,
saved him, and gave him his promise of life, and that he would be
the seed through which Christ would come to Abraham. Genesis 15, verse 1. After these things the word of
the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am
your shield, and exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what
wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless And the steward of
my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. I don't have any sons. How am
I going to have a seed? Abram said, Behold, to me thou
hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house, a servant,
my heir, don't have any sons. And behold, the word of the Lord
came to him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that
shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be thine heir.
You'll have a son. Savior will bring forth a son.
And he brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward heaven
and tell the stars if I be able to number them. And he said,
so shall thy seed be. That's the people of God, believers,
people of faith in heaven as the stars of the sky. Millions
and millions and millions, an untold number, innumerable, a
number no man can number. That's right. That's what he
told Abraham. And verse 6 says, he believed
in the Lord. He believed God and he counted
it to him for righteousness. Right there. Abraham is righteous. He believed God and he's righteous. That's what Paul wrote in Romans
4. What hath Abraham found? Well, he's found righteousness.
By his works? No. The scripture said he believed
God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, turn
to Genesis 17. Here's where he met circumcision.
He's already declared righteous before God. God's the only one
who can declare a man righteous. Genesis 17. Now Abraham's 90
years old. That's 15 years later. And the Lord appeared to Abraham,
and said to him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me, and be ye
perfect, or sincere. I make a covenant between me
and you, and I multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell
on his face. And God talked with him, saying,
As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt
be the father of many nations. Now go down to verse 9. And God
said to Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant, therefore, thou
and thy seed after thee, and their generations, and this is
my covenant, which thou shalt keep between me and you, and
thy seed after thee. Every man and child among you
shall be circumcised." That's the first mention. That's it
right there. And you shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin, it will be a token of the covenant between
Me and you, and he that is eight days old, when a child is born,
when he is eight days old, they circumcised him and named him.
When he is eight days old, shall he be circumcised among you?
Every man, child in your generation, he that is born in your house,
or brought with money, or any stranger which is not of thy
seed, even your servants, everybody that lives in your house, everybody
that worships God, will be circumcised. But these fellows in Galatia
wanted to carry that over. And they said to the people of
Galatia, some of the folks heard Paul preach, they said, man has
to be circumcised to be saved. He has to keep the law of Moses
and the Jewish requirements. This is a sign of the covenant.
All right, now let's go down to verse 9. So then, they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abrahams. Abraham was justified before
God and righteous before God when he believed God, I think. And everything that Abraham did
after that was because he believed God. And because God had imputed
righteousness to him. Now look at verse 10. For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. Now
notice Paul didn't say as many as were of the works of the law
are under the curse. He says as many as are, then
and now, as many as are of the works of the law. Everyone, doesn't
matter who he is or who she is, Jew or Gentile, who seeks justification
before God by keeping the law. by the rituals and ceremonies
and deeds of the law, or by works in any form, he's under a curse. You know what it says? As many
as are of law, works, ceremonies, circumcision, Sabbath days, touch
not, taste not, handle not, who thinks that he's accepted of
God by what he does, he's under a curse. Why? Because it's written. Look at
verse 10. Because it's written. This is
what the law says. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
That's what the law says. And that's the reason people
are under curse. We don't keep the law. All of it. Where does
it say that? Well, let's turn and see. First
of all in Leviticus. In Leviticus chapter 18, he says
that everybody, as many as are of the works of the law, who
are trying to be justified before God by their works, they're under
a curse. Because it says in Leviticus chapter 18, Leviticus 18 verse
5, listen to this. Leviticus 18 verse 5, ye, you
have it? Verse 4, you shall do my judgments,
keep my ordinances, walk therein, I'm the Lord your God. You shall
therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which is if a man
do, he'll live. If he does everything God commands,
he'll live. I'm the Lord, that's a promise.
Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 27. He's got to do all of it
now, not just what he's able to do. What appeals to him, he's
got to do all of it. Deuteronomy 27, verse 26. Deuteronomy
27, verse 26. Now here it came to the end of
this chapter of all these commandments. Verse 26, Cursed be he. that confirmeth not all the words
of this law to do them." And all the people said, Amen. Man's
courage. It doesn't keep all the law.
It's not knowing the law that saves or approving of the law
that saves. It's not trying to keep the law
that makes a man righteous. It's being perfectly conformed
to everything God says. That's what he says over here
in Romans 10. Look at Romans 10. Romans 10, verse 5. Romans 10, verse 5. It says, for Moses describes the righteousness
which is of the Lord. Now there's just, there's righteousness
in Christ, His righteousness, imputed or reckoned or charged
to us through faith, or is your righteousness? And the righteousness
which is of the law, is this what Moses said, that a man which
doeth these things shall live by them?" Perfectly. Perfectly. And what's the conclusion then?
Look at my text again, Galatians 3. Verse 10, as many as are of the
works of the law, who are trying to be justified before God by
what they do, they're under the curse, because it's written,
Cursed is everyone that continues not, continues not, in all things,
all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.
Not some of them, but all of them. Therefore, verse 11, but
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, that's
evident. Why is it evident? Because no man has ever kept
the law. That's why it's evident. Now let me tell you something,
three things here. Number one, there were many people who were
justified before God, before the law ever was given. Justified
before God, before the law was ever given to Moses. Abel was
just, that's what scripture says. being warned of God of things
not seen by faith, prepared an ark, saved himself and his house.
Enoch, Enoch walked with God by faith, and he had this testimony,
he pleased God. How did he please God if he wasn't
perfect? He was perfect in Christ, he pleased God, and God took
him home. He just walked into heaven one
day. Job, Job, God said, If you contended with my servant
Job, he's a righteous man. Job didn't have any written law. Abraham, 430 years before the
law, justified. So plenty of people have been
justified before the law was given. And plenty of people were
justified before God after the law was given. To name a few,
Moses, Aaron. Joshua, just before God, Caleb,
David, because Moses wrote of me, Christ said. Jeremiah, Isaiah,
talked about our Redeemer. So many men justified, men and
women justified before the law and after the law, and many justified
by faith since Christ came and obeyed the law and abolished
it. Peter, Paul, James, John, you, me. So there are men justified
before the law was given, after it's given, after it's fulfilled,
but this one thing is so. No man was ever justified by
the law. No man. They've been justified
before it was given, after it's given, after it's fulfilled,
No man, verse 11, no man is justified by the law and the sight of God.
You just pull out any law you want to pull out, doesn't matter
whether it's called a church standard, or whether it's called
a church covenant, or whether it's called a church confession
of faith, or anything you want to, but there's nobody going
to be justified by rules and regulations and works and laws.
Not before God. Not before God. Not before God. For he said, listen, verse 20,
verse 11, for the just shall live by faith. The justified,
that's who that is, the justified shall live by faith. That's in
the Bible four times, you know that? Let's just, you just listen,
I'll turn here and read. Habakkuk 2 verse 4. Behold, his
soul, his soul which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just shall live by faith. In Romans 1, that's in Habakkuk
2.4. In Romans 1 verse 17, listen. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed from one degree of faith to another. For it's
written that just shall live by faith, by believing God. That's how the justified live.
And then in Hebrews 10 verse 17, Hebrews 10 verse 17, it says,
I got the wrong verse, anyway it's in Hebrews 10 somewhere, the just shall live
by faith. What does this mean, the justified
shall live by faith? Well, first of all, It means
those who are justified begin life by faith. That's how we
begin life. When God finds us, we're dead
in sin. You have to acquit them who are
dead in trespasses and sin. And that's the first thing that
takes place when God saves a man. He gives him life. He gives him
life and gives him faith at the same time. That's right, at the
same time. Let me show you a scripture on
that now. We begin to live spiritually by faith. In 2 Thessalonians,
let's turn over and look at this. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul says, but 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. But election's not salvation.
It's unto salvation. Because God chose a man, doesn't
mean he's saved. It means he will be, but he's
not yet. Because he chose you unto salvation
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.
Here's a dead sinner. God loves him. He doesn't love
God. God knows him, and he doesn't know God. God's chosen him, but
he hasn't chosen God. He's his own worst enemy, and
he's the enemy of God by nature. But the Holy Spirit comes, wind
bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound, but you
can't tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth, even so they
that are born of the Spirit. And the Spirit comes and begets
and quickens and awakens a sinner. Of his own will beget he us.
How? With the word of truth. Of his
own will beget he us with the word of truth. We're born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed by the word of God. And a man
is not saved who doesn't look to Christ, is he? A man is not
saved who doesn't believe on Christ. He said, he that believeth
on the Son is born of God. That's right. And so we start
life by faith. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation. It's the power of God. And at the same time the Holy
Spirit awakens you, He'll do it with the Word. I promise you. You can call that gospel regeneration
or anything you want to. It's Almighty God's regeneration. It's spiritual regeneration.
But it's by the Word. It's got to be the seed of the
Word. You can't be saved and not know Christ. You don't have
a bunch of people running around here born again that don't know
Christ, do you? I know whom I have believed.
That's when I began life, is when I believed on Christ. That's
right. He that hath the Son hath life,
he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. All right, I begin
life. The just shall live, shall live
by faith. And the just continue to live
by faith from spiritual birth to the grave. Turn to 1 Peter. We live by faith. We live on
the Word of God. We live on the blood of Christ.
We live on the righteousness of Christ. We live on the Word.
That's the children's bread. It says here in 1 Peter 2, listen. Verse 2, 1 Peter 2, 2. As newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the Word. That's the first
thing that baby gets when he's born is mama's milk. And that's
how he grows. That's how he survives. He can't
survive without milk. I had a preacher. I have to interject
this. These things come through my
mind, I'll tell them anyway. Preachers preaching on bull-headed
children. He said, the reason y'all got
so many bull-headed children, they're not drinking that mama's
milk, they're drinking that cow's milk. That's what makes them
boys. But that child is on milk. And that's what this child's
on. All my life. It says here, newborn babe desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If
so be you've tasted, the Lord is gracious to whom what? To
whom coming. I came to Christ and I'm still
coming to Christ. Still coming to Christ. To whom? Coming. As unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God. Coming to
Christ. Still believing. We live by faith. And let me tell you, turn to
Revelation 7, and that's how you're going to live in his presence. In Revelation 7, when we're taken
to glory, everybody's taken to glory. going to be a believer
in Christ. Revelation 7 verse 13, And one
of the elders answered me and said, Who are these that are
arrayed in white robes, and where do they come from? And I said
to him, Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation, and washed their
robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now there's
not going to be anyone in who does not have faith in Christ.
It can't be. It just can't be. Who are these?
I saw this great crowd that had palms and they were singing salvation
to our God. He said, who are these? These
are they. Came out of great tribulation and washed their robes in the
blood of the Lamb. All right, verse 12. The law
is not of faith. You observe days and months and
times and years and touch not, taste not, handle not, new moons
and sabbaths. This is not a faith. The law
is not a faith. Somebody wrote one time, the
law doesn't require faith. It requires obedience. The law doesn't recognize or
take notice of your faith. Obedience. The law has nothing
to do with man as a believer. The only thing the law says is
you do this and live, you don't do it and you die. That's all. That's the law. That's just it.
The law says the man that obeys, lives, the man that commits one
sin, that's to be guilty of all the law. Just one sin. Word,
thought, or deed. He dies. There's no hope for
any person in the law of circumcision, the law of Moses, the law of
ceremonies. Well, how on earth can a man
be justified before God then? That's what Job and his friends
asked. Just let me turn and read it
over here in Job chapter 25. That's the big question. Job
25 verse 4, listen. How then can man be justified
with God? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? Behold, even to the moon it shineth
not, the stars are not pure in God's sight, how much less a
man that is a worm? And the Son of Man, which is
a worm? Well, we need to read that over and over again. How
can we be justified? Verse 13. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. Oh, there it is. Christ hath
redeemed us. That's how we're justified. That's
how we're redeemed. Christ hath redeemed us. Well,
who is this Christ? A woman at the well said to this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, who was talking to her and said, if you
knew who the gift of God, who it is it talks to, you'd ask
Him and I'd give you living water. After a while she said, well
I know when the Christ comes, he'll tell us all things. And
he said, I that speak to thee, and thee. Who is this Christ? It's Jesus of Nazareth, the Son
of God. The Son of God. In Isaiah, let's
look at Isaiah a minute. Isaiah chapter 42. prophecies
back here in the Old Testament. He's called my servant. Isaiah
42, 1, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, and whom
my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. He'll
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He'll not cry out nor lift up
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed
shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench. He'll
bring forth judgment unto the truth, and he'll not fail. And
he'll not be discouraged until he's set judgment and righteousness
in the earth. The hours wait for his law. Look
at verse 53. This is who we're talking about.
Chapter 53 of Isaiah. It says in verse 10, Isaiah 53,
10. Please the Lord to bruise him. Isaiah 53, verse 10, that pleased
the Lord to bruise him, God put him to grieve, and thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hands. I love these shalls. He shall
see the travail of his soul. He shall be satisfied. Thy his
knowledge shall, my righteous servant, justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. There's who redeemed us. Look
at chapter 61 of Isaiah. I believe I could stay in Isaiah
for 10 years just preaching Isaiah's gospel. In Isaiah 61, the Lord
Jesus is speaking here. He says, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me. He has anointed me to preach
good news to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives,
the opening of prison to them that abound, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, to appoint unto them that morning
sun, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they
might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that
he may be glorified. Who redeemed us? Christ redeemed
us. Christ hath redeemed us. Who
did he redeem? I gave you this years ago and
I dug it out again. Some of you weren't here when
I gave it. But these are the folks that are known, these people
who are redeemed out of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue
unto heaven. They're the people who are called as many as. As many as. He's the Redeemer
now. And who's he going to redeem?
The Lord Jesus in John 17 says, Father, thou hast given me all
power over all flesh that I should give eternal life. to as many
as you gave me." That's who they are, as many as the Father gave
him. In Acts 13, Paul was preaching
to the Gentiles. He said, And the Gentiles were
glad, and they glorified God, and they received the word. And
as many as were ordained alive believed it. That's who believed
it, as many as the Father gave Him, as many as were ordained
to life. And in Acts 2, Peter said to
that crowd at Pentecost, this promise is to you and your children,
and to as many as the Lord our God shall call. That's who's
redeemed. Those the Father gave Him, those
the Father ordained to life, knows the Father called. And
then in John 1.12 it says he was in the world and the world
didn't know him. And he came to his own and his own didn't
know him. But as many as received him, to them gave you the power
to be sons of God. To whom? As many as received.
You receive him. He gives you power to become
the son of God. And in Romans 3 verse 6 verse
3 it says, and as many as were baptized into his death were children of God. Baptized
unto his death. He died the third rose again. And I'm identified with him,
baptized unto his death, his burial, his resurrection. And
Romans 8, 14 says, as many as are led by the Holy Spirit, sons
of God. That's who they are. As many
as. As many as. Well, how are they
redeemed? Let's look at it. Verse 13. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curses of the law, being made a curse
on us. Being made a curse. That word
made, I looked at that. He was made a curse. Hebrews
7 says he was made the surety of the covenant. God made him
our surety. He was made of the seed of David.
House and lineage from Abraham to the house of David. God made
him of the seed of David. John 1 says he was made flesh
and dwelt among us. Galatians 4 says he was made
of a woman, made under the law. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, let's
look at this one. I want you to look at this. 2
Corinthians 5.21. He was made our surety. He was
made of the seed of David. He was made flesh and brought
among us. He was made of a woman, made under the law. And here,
listen to this. Verse 21. For God hath made him
to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him." Who made him surety? God did.
Who made him of a woman? Made him of the seed of David?
who made him sin for us, God did. Why? That God might make
us righteous in him. That's not by circumcision or
law or baptism or church membership. That's by Christ. Now here's
the closing, verse 14, Galatians 3, 14. That the blessing of Abraham,
can you comprehend this? We've been talking about Abraham's
righteousness, Abraham's a friend of God, Abraham's a son of God,
that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, those
same blessings, sonship and righteousness, through Jesus Christ. Through
Jesus Christ. That can't be any clearer. Through
Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ. that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit, the promise of sonship,
how? Through faith, faith in Jesus
Christ. Now, I want to tell you something.
He said, brethren, you know, he called them foolish in the
first verse. I looked that up and one of the old writers said,
well, Paul was upset with them and he called them foolish because
they'd fallen after that butcher and free will preachers it came
through. And now he calls them brethren. He calls them brethren. hoping
that the damage caused by those fellows might be repaired by
the truth of God. Maybe, maybe so. But he says, you foolish Galatians,
and then down here in verse 15 he says, brethren, I speak after
the manner of men that though it be a man's covenant, yet if
it's confirmed, in other words, if a man makes a last will and
testament, puts it on paper, signs it, they witness it, confirm
it, it can't be overturned. It can't be disannulled, it can't
be added to if it's properly signed, sealed, and confirmed. So, verse 16, Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. And he said, not unto seeds,
as of many, but as one, to thy seed, which is Christ, and to
his seed in Christ, and to his sons in Christ, and to his church,
which is the body of Christ, the promise is made. And this
I say, that that covenant, that everlasting, that covenant was
covenant's testament, last will and testament, that was confirmed
before of God in Christ from the foundation of the world.
which was 430 years after, can't possibly disannul it or make
it a non-effect. That's ridiculous. God gave the
promise to Abraham through Christ, his seed. God made the promise
long before, but he gave the promise to Abraham. And that
can't be disannulled by anything that took place down the road.
Because, verse 18, if the inheritance be of law, It's not a promise. But you can bank on this. He
gave it to Abraham by promise. And that's why it's given to
you by the promise of God.